The things I've learned...

I wrote this in Dec 2004 after finishing uni in my Early Childhood degree. I found this tonight and realised that there is some good advice here.

photo credit

I have just done a couple of full days at the Kindy where I'll probably be working next year. For those among you who are, have or ever will consider having children, here are some of my top tips. 

1. Check the child before you pick them up
She had just woken and was crying, so I picked her up and carried her around for ten minutes. Only then did she see fit to tell me that she'd wet the bed. 

2. Lable Everything
I washed my hands with clear glue. 

3. If a child looks sick, they probably are. 
I had only just passed her to another teacher when she threw up.


4. Forget telling a three year old "Don't spill it."   
It's just wishful thinking

5. "We like this story" Doesn't necessarily mean they want to hear it again, just that they've heard it before. 

6. "Watch him, he's a scratcher" is very good advice.


What you wish they'd taught you at uni.

Lunchboxing

My Actual Weekday Lunch Box

I've been a lunch-from-home gal for a few years now, but not every day. With the way I am currently eating, to loose weight gently, I am taking my lunch from home everyday. That way I commit to only eating what is in the lunch box, in any order I like. Once its gone, I'm done till I get home.

Lunch Boxes are easy to do. Truuuust me! Even if you work full time and you are allergic to planning like me!

1. Find a lunch box you really like.
   I use the tupperware one above because I love the size, shape and sections. Find one that fits your portions and foods you actually can be bothered to eat. ie.e don't buy a fancy salad bowl with dual layer freezeable cheese sections and 38 pieces of cutlery attached if you don't eat salad. Sounds like a no-brainer, but in the quest to want to be healthier, sometimes I buy things that I think will make me healthier by magically changing my life. Um. No. 
2. Do your main first.
   I have either a salad wrap with some shaved ham or chicken, or a large garden salad (I bring the dressing separate and add at the last minute, because I have issues). Your 'main' should include a serving of protein. Here is a random photo of healthy looking protein-rich foods:
3. One serve of fruit minimum.
   Whatever it takes, cut it up, buy it in little tubs, whatever floats your boat. Dried fruit doesn't count sorry. If you get hungry in the arvo have another fruit serve in your hand bag. Don't preach at me about the pitfalls of fruit sugar and having too much fruit. Let's face it, does anyone really eat too much fruit? I think not. Go for 2 a day. 
4. One extra serve of vegetables.
   In addition to whatever lettuce, beans, carrot etc that is on my wrap or in my salad, I include either a cut up carrot or cucumber, because I can munch on this in the arvo mindlessly and I feel full rather than peckish for that all-too-tricky-drive-home. That's already 2 out of your 5 recommended serves a day. 
5. Whole grains 
   If I have a sandwich for main, it will be on whole grain bread like 5 seeds etc. I have been eating whole grain for years after being diagnosed with PCOS and insulin resistance, as it is low-gi and easier on the pancreas. You gotta take care of your pancreas. Otherwise I include whole grain crackers - just 2 - don't go getting excited now and putting 38 crackers in your lunch box ok? 
6. Something with taste!I can't go without something tasty. I am a sauce girl ok? So the wrap will have a small serve of whole egg mayo (seriously, if you are going to have sauce don't pouncy around with the fat-free stuff - just have a small (1 teaspoon - yes, get one out and measure it ok? - you will guesstimate larger than a teaspoon - I promise you) amount of the good stuff and call it a day. Otherwise I might have a small tub of light cream cheese for cracker and vegie dipping purposes. Whatever. It can be a small piece of chocolate if you like, just don't add the whole block and don't eat the rest while you are packing your lunch. 

Ok, go find your lunch box and tomorrow I'll let you know how I fit in making lunch every day. 

Another Great Organisation Tool: Cozi

As part of my venture in to the world of Flylady, I tripped across the application, Cozi. Cozi is an online family calendar system and organisation tool, similar to iCal or Outlook Express.

I signed up, and after spending a bit of time setting things up and getting used to the layout, I now have a functional tool to keep track of my appointments, to do lists and schedules.

Awesome is not really a paper guy, and we had tried paper calendars before with only limited success. To get Awesome to read the calendar, which was on the fridge, I would need to put post-it's on the mirror in the bathroom, on top of his work bag, and on the back of the front door. And most of the time he missed them...

So I decided to meet him where he was at. We switched to google calendar and that has been working well. I set up reminders to pop up oh his iphone and iPad. But I was still using a paper diary and that meant transferring things across regularly. Which required a routine, which I didn't have.... Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the new and slightly easier to use features of the Cozi system really suited me, and flylady has a link up so the master lists for her routines automatically link to your Cozi account. Me likey.

Cozi is a free (ad-supported) site, with the option of a paid account with no ads. Joining is quick and easy and you have instant access to your account and calendar. Cozi synchs up with google calendar as a read-only, which worked for me as Awesome's calendar is already set up there. I can see what he is doing, email him directly from the site, and send him a weekly family schedule via email.

Other benefits of the Cozi system are the Daily journal, where you can record a quick snapshot of your day and turn it into a webpage for others to read, either privately or publicly. This would be great if we had kids, or, you know, a life.
There is a shopping list tool where you can create separate lists for each shop you go to. I have set up an Aldi, Woolworths, Costco (oh yes, did I mention I joined Costco? That's another post altogether!) and a general household list of random things. You can set up as many lists as you like, but weeeelll I really hate shopping so I avoid it at all costs.
You can also link all your facebook events and birthdays automatically. This was a most excellent feature for me as I find I say yes to things and forget to transfer them across to my diary... then I have to run around checking emails and sites to ensure I haven't forgotten anything each day.

What I Would Change
It would be good to be able to automatically have your to do lists appear on the daily page on a weekly basis (you can currently have them set up for a certain day, but not repeated, say every Monday). I would also appreciate being able to email the To Do lists to myself each day, but that would prevent me from needing to visit the site, which would mean I wouldn't see the ads, which is how the site makes their money, so I'm guessing that this is probably intentional.

Overall, I have been using this site for a week and enjoying it immensely. Now we will see how long it lasts?

A warning: the site is easy to set up and play around with once you get the hang of it (the help section is awesome), but I have spent quite a bit of time playing with it (because I am a perfectionist like that) and getting it just the way I like it. Don't blame me if you waste a couple of hours organising your life. You've been warned.

Disclaimer: This is not a paid or requested review, simply sharing the love!

Catching Up on Life

Well we are nearing the end of the year and it has been too long between posts. Nov/Dec is always a tricky time for me work-wise, with many extra hours, as well as lots of training. Blogging became something difficult to focus on. 


Christmas Prep:  I am starting to move towards a Buy Nothing Christmas.  At the moment, my effort is token at best due to office Kris Kringles etc. But I am working on it. I will post about our Christmas gift giving this year later in the week, but food for thought - I would love to move towards this kind of Christmas...  
I am working through this free Jesse Tree devotional each day during advent. 


Fitness:  I have completed the 12 week program and have made a total loss of 4.5 kg from my heaviest weight. I still have a bit to go, and will be continuing to train 3-4 mornings a week.  I just need to go to bed earlier to compensate!!


Married Life:  Mr. Awesome and I are still enjoying the wonderful change that his current job affords us. We live just a two minute walk from his work and enjoy shorter hours, more time together and the financial benefit of only one car. We are looking forward to a little time off early in 2011 for our 2nd wedding anniversary. 


Church Life: Mr. Awesome and I have let a few other ministries go this year to focus on music ministry within our service. God has answered our prayers for more musicians and singers in the last few weeks and we are now able to step back a little in our time spent. Its a great thing! We are looking forward to what GOd plans for us next year. 

Today is week 1 of the Making Your Home a Haven Challenge


Here is the challenge from Courtney's blog: Go buy an extra large candle and light a candle everyday in your home.  Each time the candle catches your eye, say a prayer for peace in your home


In Courtney's post, she speaks of the 'slow pace' we are to create in our home.  I nearly fell off my chair. Our home is far from slow-paced! 


Today is a public holiday in our city and rather than lounging round, I was up early (thanks to daylight savings!) and made a long list of things to be done today. I set about doing them, and when I had run out of tasks I could do on my own, I woke my husband and enlisted his help (and in reality I could have done those things by myself too!). THEN, after all that was done I sat down and too exhausted to finish the last two tasks, allowed my husband to finish them for me!  Hardly the restful, content woman I want to be for him! 


So I have lit my candle, and while he is out, I will try to finish a few more things so that when he comes home we can spend time together, and just rest! My prayer is to be a source of rest for my household, not the generator of stress!


Are you lighting a candle today? What will your prayer be?   

Keeping Home

I could have written Brittany's post myself! So I thought I would respond by replying in kind with a post of my own to kick-start my blog once again! Brittany at the High-Heeled Housewife posed this question: 


Do you work?  How do you balance your career with your home?  Where do you draw the boundaries, so it's clear that your home comes first?


I work too, and the balance is something I struggle with constantly. At times I let the little things go, so that I can cope with the big things, but there are days when even that doesn't work!


I am very lucky to have a very helpful husband who is happy to share the workload around the house at this point in our lives, but I still feel that the 'running' of the household is down to me.  


There is no easy solution here, but some things that I have found that help me are:

• I do not bring work home. Ever.
  I have worked from home for a couple of days when I was contagious with a virus recently, but after 'work hours' I put it all away and focused on being home.  Occasionally this means I need to stay back at work to keep on top of things, but once I am home, I am home.
  
• Very well organised cupboards - it sounds silly but it really helps if everything has a place to be. This makes tidying much much easier and allows Mr. Awesome to put away/find things easily too. As soon as my cupboards get out of control, so does the rest of the house.
  
• Several nights at home each week to catch up on tasks and to spend time in the house. One of the great pointers I learnt from Elizabeth George's Life Management for Busy Women, is BE AT HOME. I have always been a person with lots on and places to be. But as soon as I do that 4 or 5 nights a week, its easy to feel snowed under. So we let a few things go so that we could both be at home more often. And it works!
  
• I have after hours meetings I regularly need to attend for work. I made the decision to make them all on the same night of the week this year (i.e. Thursday nights) so that it becomes a more regular part of our rhythm and is easier to plan around.
  
• Pray. I don't get things right. Lots of the time. But when I pray about our home, and our marriage, lots of things seem to run more smoothly. 

What are your tips for balancing home and life?

Completing Him Challenge Week 5

The Completing Him Challenge this week is: Make a list of 5 things you currently do and ask your husband to prioritize them for you of what is important to him. For example - a clean home, home cooked dinner, coupon clipping, service at church, having friends over for dinner, watching/doing sports with him, etc.


Last night I made a list of all the things I could think of that would be things that enter into Mr. Awesome's world. I gave him the list and asked him to prioritise the items. There were 11 things on my original list, and he added one more.  Here are his top five:


5. Keep the social calendar organised
4. Plan and prepare meals 
3. Invite people over to visit
2. Ensure bills are paid and mail is sorted/answered
1. Keep time for me


As we both work full time and I work varying shifts, Awesome is often home before me, so almost everything else on the list (including cleaning, washing, ironing, shopping) we share very evenly. At this point in our lives it works really well, so most of those things scored further down the list as shared items. The things above are those that Awesome prefers me to take care of. The item he added was #1 Keep time for me!  As I am often busy with work and church commitments during the week, it has always been extremely important for me to be at home as much as possible. Every now and then I jam my calendar full with too many out of house activities and by the end of the week things can get a bit wobbly round here! Thankfully we have recognised this pattern and I try very hard to keep it under control as much as possible. 


This was a really encouraging discussion for us to have and I was really touched when Awesome offered me the chance to make a list for him. It was great to just sit and discuss things together. Here (with his permission) is my list:


5. Garbage/recycling duty (that sounds very petty but we are on the third floor!)
4. Washing and ironing
3. Keep an eye on house maintenance
2. Initiate date nights
1. Plan time for us to read the Bible together


A couple of hours later, he asked me which nights this week I was free to read the Bible and go on a date night! We have planned these into the week's schedule! 


How did your top five go? 

30 Excellent Books Update

Back in January I decided to read 30 excellent books in 2010. The point was to stretch my mind and spend time focussed on things that would pull me forward, majorly in the areas of Christian living and spiritual discipline. Its time to review the list and see how I'm doing!

I originally only chose 21 books so that I was open to reading other books that crossed my path throughout the year. It seems that so far I have read more "other" books than those on the original list! 

My 2010 30 Excellent Books List (in no particular order)

1. Disciplines of a Godly Woman by Barbara Hughes
2. A Call to Spiritual Reformation by D.A Carson
3. According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
4. From Clutter To Clarity by Nancy Twigg
5. The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
6. The Lion Handbook to the Bible by David and Pat Alexander
7. The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick
8. Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney
9. Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartin
10. Power of Praying Through the Bible by Stormie Omartin
11. The Plight of Man and The Power of God by Martin Lloyd-Jones
12. How Should We Then Live by Frances A. Schaeffer
13. Guidance and the Voice of God by Phillip D. Jensen and Tony Payne
14. Knowing God by J.I. Packer
15. Knowledge of the Holy by A.W Tozer
16. The Pursuit of God by A.W.Tozer
17. Commentary on Romans by Martin Luther
18. My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
19. The Cross by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
20. Spiritual Blessing by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
21. Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
22. Sheet Music by Dr. Kevin Leman
23. The Birth Order Book by Dr. Kevin Leman
24. How Women Help Men Find God by David Morrow
25. Finding God by Larry Crabb
26. Home Court Advantage by Dr. Kevin Leman
27. Hungry for God by John Piper

Some of the reason for my slowness has been the difficulty of finding the books I originally set out to read - most of these were recommendations so I didn't actually own them (note to self: next year I will pick all the books on my shelf I haven't read yet!). I also have had a number of work related books to read this year which have devoured some of my time and energy. I currently have about 4 of these books on the go (I have a very distractable personality so I like to have different options at anyone time!!) and I intend to blog about several of these that I have recently finished reading also. 

I thought it was probably also time to have a quick reflect on the goals I set for 2010. 

• Find time to have quiet time with God everyday - I am still working on this but at the moment I am managing around 3-4 days a week
• Use less internet each day - create stillness in the home - hmmm..this one needs work...!
• Have less junk in my life - physically and spiritually -physically I have been through 3 of the 6 rooms in our home so far and have been ruthless in riding us of the excess junk we just don't need - typically I have saved the harder rooms for last!!
• Read 30 excellent books
• Complete the first level of the Preliminary Theological Certificate - I am hoping that now that work has settled down I will be able to enroll for the next intake of subjects in the series.
• Plan meals to manage the budget more effectively - we are finally starting to save more effectively through managing our budget and particularly our food. I am learning to use my freezer and slow cooker to help keep the costs down and not throw out so much food. 
• Memorise Ephesians this year- oh dear - this is one I haven't even STARTED yet!
• Remember more and forget less! hmmm.... only those around me can tell me if this is working! I am trying very hard to return phone calls emails and messages in reasonable time frames and to remember the things that I promise people I will do for them! 
• Complete sewing projects for gifts and for the house - is a sewing list ever complete? I think that's a whole blog post in itself!

Overall, I have perhaps been a little ambitious in my goal setting for this year - but on the positive side we are only half way through! Praying that God will give me the strength to prioritise. 

How are your goals going this year? 

1950's Housewife

This is a clip I watched from Rachel Ray's chat show. The woman in the clip, Courtney, blogs at Women Living Well.  Many of the ideas raised in this clip are echoed in the book I read some time ago Life Management for Busy Women by Elizabeth George.

While at the moment, financial commitments mean that I need to work - and will for many years, I can strongly identify with what both these women are saying and I have noticed that many of these points that I have been able to incorporate into our home life have a profound impact on our relationship. More about that later, but to get you started thinking about these things, watch the video, and leave me a comment. What do you think about this concept of 1950's wives? 

Creative Play for Little Hands

I have been searching for ideas for open-ended toys for the children at Kindy. We have a lot of equipment that needs replacing in the next 3 years and I want to make good - lasting choices about the kinds of things that we can choose to give the children.

My criteria are the following;

- must be durable and long lasting - 45 children a day, 52 weeks a year

- preferably open-ended or multi-purpose

- cover a range of developmental areas

- no small parts - most toys in the center are used by children from 6 months to 6 years

- easy to clean and meeting Australian standards where required

- low environmental impact where possible

- cost-effective or low cost

Gee! I don't ask for much do I!

This is what I have come up with so far:

• Playsilks
• Discovery Bags - will have to alter the pattern as the plastic beads would be a choking hazard
• Bilibo - I love this idea, but I think it is financially too expensive for the centre (we would ideally need 6-8 of these)
• Home-made Dollhouse furniture that we could make ourselves with the children
• Tyre Garden Bed (see below) we already have tyres for free from a local tyre store. We just need to organise soil and plants!
• 

Do you have any other ideas of things that we could make or provide for the children?

Getting Organised

Being right-brained, I dread the thought of traditional to-do lists. Staring at a page of things I know I should be doing seems overwhelming. I struggle to think of where to start, do all the unimportant tasks first and then break big tasks into a million little uncompletable pieces. Its maddening to have almost the same amount of work to do each day without really achieving anything.

I was thinking of doing some research into online to-do lists and free services for organising your life and I tripped across this. No need to reinvent the wheel!

I started out by regisitering to use Remember the Milk. Apart from spending the first couple of minutes using code and reading the help menu, it is off to a successful start and I have already begun on my first task of the day - getting through the enormous pile of washing I have to do!

Last night, while I flaked out on the lounge (still haven't really caught up on sleep yet), my husband went on a little cleaning journey and packed away my craft things, flung all over his computer room as I searched for something in the bottom of the cupboard. I really need to improve the organisation in that area of the house! His effort made me realise just how little I have done this week at home. Work has definitely demanded the best of me, and I'm not happy with that.

So, on to my list goes organisation! You can set priority for tasks, and expected duration (I have 4 hours of tasks listed already - although this includes meeting a friend for coffee). We shall see how just how much time I spend writing tasks into the list compared to actually completing the tasks!

Over the next few days I'll be exploring some other anti to-do list options for improving my motivation and staying on task.

How do you manage your daily tasks? Are you a traditional list person or a little more creative?

Woman of Help

After reading from Elizabeth George this morning, and being challenged to commit to being a helper to my husband and not a hinderance, I went ahead and asked one of the questions that Elizabeth asks her husband everyday.

"What can I do for you today?"

He stopped packing his bag for a moment, frowning, stared at the wall and just as I thought prehaps I'd upset him somehow, he looked up and said...

"I'd like for my wife to get some sleep. It would be good to come home to a rested and less grumpy wife."

Well, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting at all...! God is certainly surprising. Rest is not something I am good at, and with the many issues and dramas happening at work at the moment, I have not been taking care of myself well. I look... well, I look like a zombie! And I feel a bit like one too.

So early to bed tonight (after a dress fitting for my darling friend's wedding).

I wonder how I can honour him tomorrow?

New-Found Stillness

I am learning during a very busy first year of marriage, that there is really no rush. No sense in being busy. It helps no one to be short tempered, stressed and worried. And I forget too many things when I am doing everything at once. Especially at work.

So, I am trying to go a little slower, wake a little earlier, pray, read, think, breathe.

If I'm eating, I'm eating. Walking, I'm walking. Talking on the telephone, without doing anything else. Trying to be less distracted.

And I've noticed its working. I am finishing things, returning phone calls, remembering details, passing them on. Not all the time, but more often.

I have made a quiet time box. I want to be intentional in the time I spend with God and not spend 20 minutes looking for what I need. An old shoe box now contains;
-My Bible
-A notebook for recording things I'm grateful for
-The Power of Praying Through The Bible by Stormie Omartin

-A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George

-A small photo album containing photographs of each of the family and friends I pray for each day of the week

-A prayer journal

-The Power of A Praying Wife by Stormie Omartin

-Pens, paper and bookmarks

-A Woman's Book of Prayers

The box is the perfect size and completely portable, depending on when and where I have my quiet time each day. I am aiming to move towards more consistent times each morning, but shift work makes it tricky.

I am amazed how much I can see God changing my heart already, and I think my countenance at work has improved too!

Looking forward to more times with God in the coming weeks and months.

What helps you with your quiet times?

The start of the change

I just recieved a message from my husband which has caused me chills. His boss was made redundant this morning.

We know the department has been in trouble, we know that the industry has been in trouble. That there are too many over qualified and underpaid people working in a break even number of jobs. We know that there have been meetings and discussions about the future of the team. Things don't look too good.

But we are thankful to God that he still has a job for now and that my current income and our savings can keep us out of trouble for a little while. There are options if things take a turn for the worse.

God will provide, this we know.

Contemplation

Its the end of another long week at work and home and I am left once again wondering what I really want to do with my life. God has been so generous in His provision, I am amazed by a loving husband, beautiful home, wonderful family and friends and a job that allows me to express both my creativity and organisation.

But I have been challenged recently about my life purpose. About whether to change jobs to take on the new offer God has placed before me (I have accepted a transfer to another child care centre in the same organisation which will allow me to explore my passion for family grouped child care), about when to try to start a family, when to seek a new church, what to be involved with in our current church.

I have many things to think about, and was reminded of this verse from Proverbs 19:21 " Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

I am unclear about how much of my life's purpose I am to be responsible for.