Queen of Procrastination

Today I have mostly been avoiding housework and all the others things I am supposed to be doing - my excuse - my back is hurting and I am resting it whilst spending time on Pinterest, Etsy, facebook and checking out the website of Heron Island ~ our destination for 2 nights - we leave on the 11am boat in the morning - so really I should be packing the swimsuits, sunscreen and bug off!

Husband is picking up an underwater camera on his way home from work today so we can try and get some great shots of our own - would be awesome to get this close to a turtle! Sons have been practicing their snorkeling, personally as youngest is only 21 months old I will be using the clear bottom buckets for my underwater viewing this time, and the 3 year old is still learning to swim. The 6 year old son will likely be off with Dad having a fantastic time snorkelling - he was a natural in the pool - really helped with his floating and confidence once he began to trust the snorkel. 

Although me and husband are qualified scuba divers, neither of us have actually dived in years!

Will be sure to post some photos when we get back on Sunday.......watch this space!

Oops - I'm back after an extended leave of absence!

So....it would appear that I was unable to sustain writing a blog - indeed I had forgotten I had even started one or what it was called!

So, why start again now and not start with a new name and everything - pretend this one never existed - well I like the title - there was a reason I chose it and this past year has been one incredible journey - too busy to remember to blog and most certainly following my motto of No What If's or If Only's....!

Apologies if this ends up being one of the longest posts you'll read in a while - I promise the ones that follow will be shorter . . . I shall see if I can condense one year into a few paragraphs or perhaps bullet points would be clearer?

My last post indicated we were moving and indeed we did move to a beautful part of the world called Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula in Canterbury, New Zealand.

• Moved to Le Bons bay - multiple trips with horse float and father-in-law in tow - moved in 11th Feb, friends arrived 14th Feb - devastating magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch 22nd Feb - felt it as a large aftershock because I was in a carpark on the other side of the Port Hills - such a sad day for the people of Christchurch, Canterbury and New Zealand - wasn't as large as the original 7.1 that hit on the 4th September 2010 but it did kill 185 people, injured 100's more and left 1000's homeless
• Jack started school joining 8 other local children in a mixed age classroom - he felt quite grown up!
• The continuing aftershocks brought continued strain on families and lives - quite a few days school was closed so we could have our scared kids home with us - was hard to let them out of my sight - I wanted us to all be together if another one hit.
• Started a new business - I am now an Independent Phoenix Trader Follow me on Facebook too!
• Husband accepted a job in Perth, Australia due to continued effects of recession and farmers not responding to our invoices, phone calls or pleas :(
• We visited Perth for 6 weeks and had a fabulous time being tourists and visting everything (husband had a car accident that wasn't fabulous - whiplash and almost broken shoulder - still needs physio)
• Le Bons Bay life carried on - making friends with local ladies and their families - got chickens, dug a veg garden and tried really hard to settle, even let the chickens have chicks - but couldn't do it - made a decision to pack the house and kids up and head for Perth - sold cars, furniture and anything that might have held our stuff up in customs - spent 2 weeks in Perth and headed for the east coast instead with husband accepting a new challenging role in Gladstone, Queensland.
• Spent 3 weeks in a caravan park trying to break into the terribly expensive rental market - succeeded with a 4 bedroom home with pool - such fun :)
• Restarted my Phoenix business after a bit of a false start in New Zealand - had been tricky with husband away and parents almost 2 hours away in Darfield.
• Having fun with my new craft (always been creative and needed a new outlet) making women's neckties out of men's ties and jewellery out of buttons. Visit Ties'n'Buttons for updates but will be posting images and tutorials on here as I get time to make new ones. Can follow on Facebook too!
• Been busy promoting my businesses online and at local markets - a few custom orders and lots of sales reassures me that someone loves what I am making and wants to wear them - I love wearing them too!
• Tried Distance Education with eldest son - not fun for either of us so now we are almost officially homeschooling the natural way (just need to finish off some paperwork).

So, if you want to read more about our life of homeschool, craft, food allergies and Failsafe living through the haze that is Aspergers - then please follow my blog and we'll see where this next stage of the journey takes us!

Life with 3 kids!

.......is busy !!!!!

Sooooo.....busy!

Sometimes I wonder why I do it to myself - 10 days seemed plenty of time to pack the house for moving. Two days running around after a broken down car and 4 days of headcold means I got a little behind - move in less than 48 hours and only 4 boxes packed!!!

Sorry - no time for blogging - will post a picture from the new place asap

TTFN

Tomorrow is another day!

Have so much to do and don't seem to have achieved anything positive. However, I had 3 children in bed asleep by 8pm this evening and  they are all bathed, well fed and happy - so really I achieved miracles today. Weather forecast is at least a bit more promising for tomorrow.

Sunday is set to be exciting as we check out a catalyst for a serious life change and a new direction for the Sullivan family.

Watch this space.....

Love thunderstorms

Lily slept from 8pm to 2.30am, woke for a feed and then slept until 7am in her own cot - fantastic result :D

Now if only I had had the foresight to go to bed instead of waiting for baby to wake up!

So, what was different about last night? Maybe it was the new mattress in her portacot (still waiting for Nana to finish refurbishing the boys old blue cot into a white one suitable for a grand daughter).

So why was I still woken at 7am this morning - the awesome thunder and lightning storm that passed over this morning as a southerly blast hits the South Island. Did I mention that we live in New Zealand? A beautiful country we (partner, now husband) emigrated to over 8 years ago now...will be sure to post some pictures.

May investigate how to add extra pages to my blog so I can do some history and background information as I am 36 and there are many years of history to share for those interested in reading.

My kids love thunderstorms and generally sleep through them now - I put it down to when they awake to their first one (or see one during the day) we throw open the curtains and watch the light show, listening for the thunder and trying to work out how far away it is - demystify and educate are my core parenting theories when it comes to things that are generally scary and never start something you don't want to continue and become a habit (e.g pacifiers) is another.

hmmm...well that's 2 post in 2 days...can I maintain this pace?

Hello

Well...I did it...been meaning to for a while now...discovered facebook recently and love sharing status updates with family and friends...been able to get back in touch with people I went to primary school with...oh sorry...rambling already and only my first ever blog post..that's what I did by the way....finally started my own blog instead of just reading other peoples.

There are a few ways this will go:
1) I will post everyday and become boring to follow because my life just isn't that exciting!
2) I will post once a week and write huge lengthy, boring posts about what I had for dinner or the weather!
3) I will never post again! (this one unlikely as I am enjoying typing this and wondering if anyone will ever read it and do I care if they do or care if they don't! I mean what is the purpose of a blog anyhow - online Dear Diary with no padlock?)
4) I will write irregular, witty posts that people follow because they like the way I write and think I am funny and are keen to hear about the odd and interesting things I have done in my life and have yet to do.

I have been playing around with squidoo lenses lately and had fun creating them using templates - quite easy to pick up really and the templates are easy to use for adding photos, videos etc ... so hopefully I'll pick up this blogging idea really quickly too - other wise going to get old pretty quick with no pictures or anything more substantial than the ramblings of a tired mother of 3 children under 6 years old who should really be in bed asleep at 2am on a Friday night - but is instead sitting here creating her first ever blog and waiting for the 5 month old to wake up for her night feed (probably be tonight she sleeps through and I'll still be sitting here at 7am!!!)


....night, night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!