Friday, December 19, 2014

The Festive Season

Ah yes! It's another jolly Christmas season which also happens to be Cheli's first.



She celebrated the beginning of the festive season (DEC 1st) by licking all the glitter off the baubles.

 (Ahh! those cheeks, those dimples.. that smile!)


Boy celebrated by dressing up in 'that guys' hat and wearing stockings as socks. Which totally makes sense..

(It really does, who has big socks just for hanging.. not me!)

Secretly I think Boy is an absolute legend. ( So full of spunk) 


Then with a bit of team work (Cheli quality checked each bauble by taste and Boy hung them) we had finished the tree.


And then of course came the presents. This one is from Boy to Cheli x 

In an attempt to get him into the spirit of giving rather than getting we took a stroll to the local toy store but alas I'm not sure the 4 year old in our house has quite grasped the concept since he keeps suggesting we swap Nora's present with one of his old toys so he can have the new present.

Maybe next year?

Merry Christmas! 

Friday, November 21, 2014

The Co-Op we decided to start.



Aunty R, Aunty J and I got to talking about starting a Co-Op the other week...

Essentially the aim was to be able to purchase organic products at a price which is approximately the same as the current non-organic brands we are purchasing (and hopefully cheaper) so that we can stretch our weekly budgets further and feel good about eating organic products.

So the Geelong Organics Co-Operative was born..

A Co-Op or Co-Operative is: 

A democratic organisation, owned and controlled by its members for a common benefit. 
Co-operatives are traditionally based on values of self-help, self-responsibility, equality and solidarity.
Members of a co-operative can benefit from economies of scale through the combined purchasing, distribution or marketing power or influence of the group. (definition found here)

We are currently investigating options for boxes of organic fruit and veg in the Geelong area (less food miles) but I have managed to find some non-perishable organic items elsewhere at prices which I think are pretty awesome:

Coconut Sugar ( $8 for 1kg)

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil ($15 for 1L)

Raw Cacao Powder ( $16.50 for 1kg)

Desiccated Coconut ( $8.80 for 1kg)

If you want to be a part of the Co-Op or have any idea how to start one - drop me a line x


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

The ball is slipping..

School/Exam

Moving

A Wedding..

The blog ball is slipping - but just so you know we are still alive - here is a picture taken by the lovely Julia Archibald

I asked for her to document an afternoon with us as a family - my favourite type of photographs of us are always leisurely and uncontrived - we seem to seize up when we remember there's someone down the barrel of a lens staring at us..

She didn't disappoint. She never does.


We went down the the boat house in Melbourne a few weeks back now to spend some time with our Melbourne Besties (cause we miss them a lot)

It was a blast. I love having creative and free-spirited friends - it's always going to rock when you get Adam in a boat .. (wink)



And even the geese put on a show for us (think special geese cuddles)

*We have moved three times in the last three years and it was really hard to say goodbye to 3056, it's the hardest decision I've made in the last almost 6 years since getting married - even harder than deciding to move out of Tassie 5 years ago and even harder than choosing when to have babies.

I can only hope that the choices we are making now are the right ones not only financially (our main reason for moving away from the beautiful city of Melbourne) and that we will soon find somewhere to settle which leaves us with memories which are just as vibrant and long lasting.

We are now on the hunt.

If you think your town has affordable housing prices, excellent quality education, a friendly community and lots and lots of good food, hit me up for ideas...

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Cheli is Older. (But apparently not wiser)

Hello - I'm more than 6 months. Nice to meet you.

That's right. I missed it. The 6 month mark. Life +1 point Me -1 point *high five life*

So Cheli is officially right about.. 6.75 months (I am assuming, I can't actually be bothered figuring it out)


Anyway. [over] 6 month old Cheli is:


" so very very beautiful and cute " (Boy)

"fat" ( The guy who came to steam clean the mattress )

"...possibly whiter than you Jess! " (Collette)

" old enough to stop eating ever 3 hours 24/7 " (Me - wishful thinking)

"getting tall... she won't be short " (Mum, who secretly wishes one of the grandchildren would grow up to her short stature )

"placid" (the seamstress)

"does have my ears!" (Aunty Rach, who then recommended she grow her hair out)

"thighs that feel like chicken drumsticks " (Hunna, while giving them a good squeeze)

" .............. " (Hayden, who just likes to stare at her )

"easy" (Simon - on taking her to the zoo)

"just so good at rolling" (Aunty Renee)

"looks like you" (just about everybody)

It's nice to have known you for over half a year Cheli baby. Keep on rolling!

Day at the Zoo with Simon & Sarra




Tuesday, September 23, 2014

The Yearly Fraction -- A quarterly book club


I know, for me, reading is one of my greatest pleasures - However, as a busy Mum, it is always on the bottom of my list of things to do.

I have decided I don't read enough and I have decided I need to prioritise reading more. Hence, I have come to the conclusion that a book club is in order.

Hopefully it will be an external motivator for me to read and broaden my horizons through literature.

Each quarter I hope to choose four books from the categories: Classic, Fiction, Non-Fiction and Spiritual.

If you would like to join in I will be posting the titles before the quarter begins and hosting a book club get together at the end of each quarter.

Read one, read all. For me - it is a chance to do something I love and invite the people I love to join in with me.

If you don't live in the same state as me and you aren't able to come to the book club at the end of each quarter I'll be sure to post about each title here on the blog.


Classic


East of Eden
John Steinbeck

A masterpiece of Biblical scope, and the magnum opus of one of America's most enduring authors, in a commemorative hardcover edition In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called "East of Eden" "the first book," and indeed it has the primordial power and simplicity of myth. Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families--the Trasks and the Hamiltons--whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. The masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, "East of Eden" is a work in which Steinbeck created his most mesmerizing characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. Adapted for the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan introducing James Dean, and read by thousands as the book that brought Oprah's Book Club back, East of Eden has remained vitally present in American culture for over half a century.


Fiction




All the Birds, Singing
Evie Wyld
Jake Whyte is living on her own in an old farmhouse on a craggy British island, a place of ceaseless rains and battering winds. Her disobedient collie, Dog, and a flock of sheep are her sole companions, which is how she wanted it to be. But every few nights something—or someone—picks off one of the sheep and sounds a new deep pulse of terror. There are foxes in the woods, a strange boy and a strange man, rumors of an obscure, formidable beast. And there is also Jake's past—hidden thousands of miles away and years ago, held in the silences about her family and the scars that stripe her back—a past that threatens to break into the present. With exceptional artistry and empathy, All the Birds, Singing reveals an isolated life in all its struggles and stubborn hopes, unexpected beauty, and hard-won redemption.

Non-Fiction



The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot

Henrietta Lacks, as HeLa, is known to present-day scientists for her cells from cervical cancer. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells were taken without her knowledge and still live decades after her death. Cells descended from her may weigh more than 50M metric tons.

HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks was buried in an unmarked grave.

The journey starts in the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s, her small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo. Today are stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, East Baltimore children and grandchildren live in obscurity, see no profits, and feel violated. The dark history of experimentation on African Americans helped lead to the birth of bioethics, and legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Spiritual



All these things Shall Give Thee Experience 
Neil A. Maxwell

In the midst of deep affliction, the Prophet Joseph Smith was told, “All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” The world at that moment was shown anew that God is aware of man's suffering, and that pain is not without purpose. Such concepts are not always easy to accept, but, as Elder Maxwell observes, “the hardness is usually not in their complexity, but in the deep demands these doctrines make on us.”
All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience focuses on some of the “hard doctrines” that members of the Church must grapple with in the latter days. This book will help the Saints prepare for the trials ahead, while assuring them that the power of God's love is constantly available to the faithful.