~ taking stock : January ~

Making : a big mess as we move furniture around and rearrange the office (and 2 of the kids rooms)
Cooking : I've hardly cooked all holidays - have big plans to trial a new recipe each week from now though
Drinking : san pellegrino mineral water and mint and lavender tea (and too much wine all month)
Reading: lots of YA fiction (trying to keep up with my daughters).  I've just finished The Protected (Claire Zorn) which was great. I loved We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves (Karen Fowler)
Wanting: more storage space in the office
Looking: for a square table for our dining table - we've outgrown ours
Playing: words with friends and lots of cricket
Deciding: whether to fish out my patchwork (and hopefully finish it this year!)
Enjoying: the school holidays (mostly)
Waiting: for a letter from os (impatiently)
Liking: summer fruits
Wondering: how my big girl is going to go on her first day at high school this week
Loving: the apricots I bought by the roadside today
Pondering: a dry February
Considering: starting a little online shop to sell some cards/photos
Watching: the tennis on tv (when the cricket or soccer aren't on)
Hoping: for a few more beach days this summer
Marvelling: at how much sand we brought back with us - its everywhere
Needing: to get back to some pilates/yoga classes
Smelling: the yummy hair mousse stuff in my hair
Wearing: warm clothes - it's chilly tonight
Following: lots of pretty streams on IG
Noticing: how well behaved my children were today
Knowing: that life is good
Thinking: I need to get out weeding in the garden
Admiring: all the growth on our tomato plants
Sorting: out washing from our holiday (still)
Buying: school books
Getting: organised for the new school year - naming uniforms and covering books
Bookmarking: soup recipes for winter (I love soup)
Disliking: so many of the things our government are doing
Opening: mail from friends - its one of the things I miss most when I'm on holidays
Giggling: at the answer Jack gave to the question in our 365 questions book today - "why are you a good friend?"  "because I'm good.  I'm good at being good.  I'm good at being sensible"
Feeling: happy to be home after 3 weeks at the shack
Snacking: on almonds and cherries and apricots
Coveting: a sewing machine
Wishing: I was more organised
Helping: Grace clean out her room (its a big task)
Hearing: my husband patiently answering the million and one questions Jack has when he watches anything new on tv (soccer tonight - "why is he running there?"  "what happened?"  "what was that whistle for?" " why don't they kick to him?" "what if his shoulder touches it?" "what are green cards?" "why did he do that?")

Thanks Pip for the list and your endlessly interesting blog

~ taking stock : me, today ~

I really enjoyed Pip's taking stock list last month 

(I asked Lil if she would like to do one too and it was a great insight into my very quiet and introspective child)

So here's today's - its very clear I'm suffering a bad case of purple fever.   

Here's me last month as well.

Making : the kids blow up balloons in Freo colours
Cooking : purple meringues
Drinking : green tea with rose petals from T2 – my new addiction
Reading: Jo Nesbo
Wanting: new sandshoes (mine are falling apart and a bit stinky)
Looking: at the mountain out my window every day for a moment of calm
Playing: sleeping queens with the youngest
Wasting: good sleep time by staying up too late watching crap tv
Fixing: Flop the dog whose ear is falling off
Deciding: whether to sign the contract for a new job
Wishing: on shooting stars
Enjoying: spring popping up in my garden
Waiting: for snail mail surprises
Liking: greek yoghurt and fruit on my muesli
Wondering: how in can possibly be nearly October
Loving: my new rainbow cushions
Pondering: activities for the school holidays
Considering: planting some new seeds today
Watching: Cloudstreet on dvd and loving it
Hoping: that Freo will play well today – and maybe even win
Marvelling: at my children’s resilience
Needing: more uninterrupted sleep
Smelling: all the lovely jasmine in the garden
Wearing: purple today (have you spotted the theme of the day?)
Following: lots of lovely blogs
Noticing: the little things (always)
Knowing: my intention are good
Thinking: I really should get around to learning to crochet
Feeling: calm
Admiring: pretty spring gardens in the neighbourhood
Buying: some new gym gear with my birthday voucher
Getting: stronger
Bookmarking: recipes for spring salads
Opening: lovely surprise mail from our IG mail exchange
Giggling: at my children’s dancing 

 

Did you try this last month?

Do let me know if you join in today - I may not make a lot of lists myself but I love reading them!

 ♥

Go Freo 

~ playing catch up ~

I'm playing catch-up with the 52 lists project today but I also feel like that's a bit like what my whole life is at the moment.

 - I fished not-very-dirty-but-definitely-not-clean soccer socks out of the laundry for Lil to wear to training today (I don't think I'm ever going to catch up on the washing until the weather clears).

 - I'm playing phone tag with a couple of friends whom I haven't spoken to in months (I probably will never catch up on their winter news).

 - I owe a couple of people snail mail  - a nice job but not high on the priority list.

 - the front path is still waiting for a make-over 4 years down the track of me promising to get onto it.

 - last years bulbs are still in the garage!!

 - let's face it ... I'm never going to get on top of editing/filing/sorting all my photos...unless I put down the camera for a year and dedicate myself to it full time that is.

How are you going?
Are you super-organised and on top of things?
Or playing a little catch up?

What are your favourite childhood books?

♥

~ a few things about me today ~

Making : slow headway in the "clean up the office" project

Cooking : butter chicken in the slow cooker and rhubarb compote for my porridge

Drinking : green tea with lemon

Reading: the best exotic Marigold hotel

Wanting: the red print dress from the new Country Road collection

Looking: at the rain outside and wondering if my washing will ever dry

Playing: snakes and ladders, uno, spotto

Wasting: time reading lovely blogs

Sewing : up a hole in a beloved stuffed toy

Wishing : I'd planted more tulips and grape hyacinths

Enjoying : Offspring on TV

Waiting : for bare legs weather again

Liking : my new blue dotted shirt

Wondering : how I can possibly have 13 odd socks in the wash this week

Loving: the cosiness of the wood fire Hoping : my leg is not too sore to play hockey this week

Marvelling : at the general lack of compassion for refugees from our politicians and media

Needing : time alone

Smelling : the daphne I "acquired" on a walk this week

Wearing : a woolly scarf, boots and a warm cardie

Following : my son as he scoots away on our walks to the post office

Noticing : the exciting beginnings of spring all around

Knowing : that I worry too much about things that don't matter

Thinking : about our big trip next year

Bookmarking :  I forget to bookmark - I take a snap on the ipad!

Opening : a bottle of wine tonight after the kids have gone to bed

Giggling : when my kids sing along to songs with all the wrong lyrics

Feeling : content

I saw this here at Pip's and then read Vanessa's as well - and thought what a great idea for a rainy Tuesday.

How are you travelling this week?

♥

~ lists about biscuits and things... ~

 

A catch-up pictorial list of lists!
I remember to post these on instagram but then forget to update them here.
I think we're up to week #18 - and I'm really enjoying this #52 lists project - thanks Pip!

What are your favourite biscuits?
Do you still have your swap cards??

♥
(ps - I did add another thing to my warm my heart list before I stuck it in my journal - witnessing a birth - I've been lucky enough to have been present at many births as part of my medical training  - I think I've cried at every single one)

~ baking, relaxing and my style icons ~

Autumn's chill is definitely here today - I've lit the fire (before lunch.  I've heard that lots of people try to wait until Anzac Day for the first fire but we've had an occasional one for a few weeks now - I do love the comfort of it), put the uggs on and am craving soup.

I'm also catching up with my list making - I've been posting them on IG but not getting around to putting them on here.

So here are my favourite things to bake (keep in mind I am no baker), my style icons (I struggled with this one but it seem Quentin is up there for lots of us according to the IG comments) and what I find relaxing.

 

Who are your style icons?
Are you relaxing or baking today?

I'm joining the #52lists project here.

♥

~ good games for Good Friday ~

It's Good Friday
Always an odd kind of a day.
Particularly today - we woke up with both girls away at sleepovers and the house feels strangely empty - Jack has not stopped asking for them.

We've had coffee.  (Any day is better with real coffee in it).

I've cleaned the office (and thrown away 126 pens - mostly old drug company ones - they make me feel a bit nostalgic for the good old days when we apparently sold our souls for a dodgy pen - now we just can never find a working one).
The boys have sanded and oiled the verandah.
We're ready for a late lunch.

It's a day for reading, jigsawing, watching old movies...we might even end up playing some games - maybe one of these (my list for this week as part of the #52 lists project).

Tonight we'll have fish and chips even though I don't really know why it feels wrong to eat meat today.

What is your Good Friday looking like?
What games does your family play?

 ♥
(ps - it's not too late to start making fun lists - read all about it here).

~ cosy thoughts on a rainy Thursday ~

This week's list was all about being cosy.
Was it really only yesterday that it felt so remote as our indian summer was still lingering outside?
Today it's chilly, the rain is teeming down outside.
My baby is off on his first ever school excursion and I couldn't go because I'm working today.
So I'm slightly sad and worrying about slippery roads.

 

I'm sipping green tea with mint and I've wrapped a woolly scarf around my neck.

I forgot to put both these things on my list.
I'll definitely light a fire later if it stays like this.


I'm making lovely lists every week (and learning more about myself!) with Pip  and her #52lists project. 

What makes you feel cosy?
 ♥

~ what's on my (breakfast) table

{on our kitchen table this week - smelling divine}

I'm generally a bit boring when it comes to breakfast time.
Muesli (I'm a Carman's convert - the gluten free one even though I don't need it to be) with plain Greek yoghurt and some fruit when it's warmer.
Porridge with brown sugar and maybe some stewed fruit in the colder months.

The kids are only allowed weetbix or porridge on school days (saves so many fights and so much angsty standing in front of the cupboard thinking)...then we let them have free rein on the weekends with whatever they can find/convince someone to cook.

I do love going out for breakfast though.
Breakfast always tastes better if someone else makes it.
We used to go out every weekend (in those long ago no kids/portable kids days) but now (soccer weekends, big kids with big appetites) its much more of a random treat.

Here is my list about good things for breakfast as part of the weekly #52lists project.

The very cute fridge magnets are origami arrows made following a quick and easy tutorial I found here.  I even found some magnetic sticky tape to put on the back of them - such cool stuff!

What are you having for breakfast tomorrow?
Are you a creature of habit like me?

♥

~ words, words, words ~

I've been thinking about lists a lot more this year than I ever have.
(List is not one of my favourite words... or even close)
I can barely imagine compiling 52 lists about me... but a list of favourite words is one that I kept thinking would be easy to do as I regularly write down fabulous words anyway (weird, I know).

Do you have favourite words?
Do you see them written in certain ways that just makes sense?
Are you list making with us? 

♥

~ more favourite flowers ~

I quickly wrote my list of my favourite flowers this week (and was already ruing some of my omissions as I hit publish) and Iris kindly asked me to show my favourite shots of my favourites.

And so here they are.  
Well sort of.
These are the ones I could find today.
Minus daphne and gardenia because I simply cannot find a shot of them in my archives (although they're there - its my lack of organisational skills that are to blame - I really need to find the time to sort all my photos) and I really can't believe that I can only find an orange ranulcula (my least favourite colour of flower).

We're off to Victoria for the weekend for A Day on the Green (Lisa Mitchell, Paul Kelly and Neil Finn) - I'm so excited...I just wish I knew what to pack (always the dilemma).

Hope your weekend is fabulous.

 ♥

~ the list about favourite flowers ~

This was almost as hard as choosing favourite books or (gasp!) children.
They're in no particular order
And already I'm regretting the absence of magnolia.
What's your favourite flower?

You can join up here  - its not too late to play along


 ♥

~ the pattern of my days ~

This is my #52 lists contribution for this week's theme of "things I do everyday" (you can play along on IG or blog....details are here.)

I listed the things I feel I choose to do - not the everyday musts like eat/sleep/toilet.

What do you do everyday that defines the pattern of your days?

♥

~ more lists ~

I still haven't written a shopping list but here are the two most recent lists from my #52lists project.

list 4 - favourite smells/scents

list 5 - favourite snack foods

I'm really enjoying this project.  I'm learning more about me as I sit and think then write it down.  
I don't give myself very long so its really the first things that pop into my head.  
Then I have a few "lightbulb" moments when I read other people's lists and realise I maybe should have added something else but really, they are what they are.  
A snapshot of me.  In a list.  Which is not really me at all.

What's your favourite snack?

♥