Monthly Archives: March 2012

What happened to March?

Posted in Exercise, Family, Food, Friendship, Life, The List by

So seeing as another month has flown by I thought I would give a little list update to tell you about the things that I have done from my 2012 list this month, and a few in Feb, which I haven’t had a chance to share yet… so here they are in list order…

31. Go to the museum – completed 11.2.12 with Davo… and education and enjoyable day!

42. Finish unpacking my stuff in the study – completed 3.3.12 also with Davo.  This ‘little’ task turned out to be a little more complicated then I had originally thought as while I tidied the study and unpacked boxes, Davo swapped our mattress over which took a lot of manuvering, but I was very appreciative. Now that I have crossed this off I can now say I have unpacked from Castlemaine… it’s only take 18months… but it is done.

72. Have a hot Jam Donut
73. Go to a football game both of these occurred together on 10.3.12, as they should, in the company of my brothers and Davo… it may have only been a nab cup game, but the hawks still dominated, buddy kicked some freak goals and the dees got done… it doesn’t get much better than that.

76. Go for a term without Maccas… completed term 1 2012… 1.2.12-30.3.12… the unexpected struggle is documented here and this is the satisfying burger once the term was done… Oh and with my return to Maccas I was pleasantly surprised by the return of the 30c cone… good job maccas!

And last but not least

84. Do 3 exercise classes… I have now down more than that, mostly in the form of Zumba, but I can safely cross it off the list – completed 6.3.12.

So there you go… those are the things that didn’t quite make a blog of their own… but you got to share them with me now…

Oh and its now 26 things down and 74 to go…

Three 11year old girls and Taylor

Posted in Family, Life, The List by

I feel like time is flying… seriously flying I should have blogged about this two weeks ago but I never got a chance so here it is now… better late than never I guess.

I love country music, something that I was originally ashamed of, but something which I now embrace completely.  And one thing I have learnt is that more often than not country artists, maybe all artists are better in real life than on the cd, there is just something about hearing them live.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I was given the opportunity to go and see Taylor Swift’s concert but it came with a catch, a catch which I think in the end made it even more special than it ever could have been without it.  I got a ticket to see Taylor Swift on the condition that I accompanied my younger cousin and her two best friends to see her too, so that their mothers and fathers didn’t have to.  This was an offer that was too good to refuse… I love Taylor Swift so getting to go to her concert was very exciting and taking the girls certainly didn’t bother me, it was a win win situation.

This was their first live music concert and it was very very very exciting.  As we arrived the girls were desperate for the merchandise they had been investigating on the internet, so we joined the queue of what felt like hundreds of people all franticly trying to get that t-shirt with Taylor’s face on it.  Once we finally had the desired purchases, a little something to eat and a quick trip to the toilet we found our seats.  As Taylor came out onto the stage I watched as the girls faces lit up.  At one point there was even tears of joy, they were so excited, they sang, they cheered, they oo’d and aahh’d and it was the best.   I felt really privileged to share this moment with them as they experienced the joy of live music for the first time.

The concert would have been great if Taylor just stood there and sang, but what made it even better for me, and for the girls were the sets, costumes, dances just the whole creative production that was the concert.  There were balconies, staircases, aerobics, you name it, and it was in the show this meant that my memorable evening helped me to cross two things of my list… 28. Go and hear live music and 19. See some fire works… that’s right I even got to see fireworks during the concert… it was very very cool.

And to answer the question would I take three screaming 11year old girls to a concert again… absolutely!

Fixing my attitdue

Posted in Faith, Family, God, Life by

So I have something exciting to share with you… it turns out my husband is a lot wiser than I thought. Seriously no sarcasm intended… he is really wise. He has been writing this blog called ‘just a thought’ for a while now and each time he posts something I learn something… I think he is on to a winner… so if you are looking for some interesting thoughts… check his blog out… seriously do it… you won’t regret it.

Another wise man has been sharing some rather wise words in the form of a podcast I have been listening to this week. I have been listening to Steven Furtick speak at Life Church about the favour of God and what it means to walk in the favour of God. I have found it quite challenging, which was quite unexpected, because normally when I think of the Favour of God I think of it raining down blessings of all kinds. In fact, to be honest, I normally get a little sceptical when people start talking about the favour of God, because it makes me think of prosperity gospels and doing things so God gives you stuff, but usually it’s a feel good message so I gave it a crack. But that’s not what it is about at all… seriously the favour of God could not be further from that. Sure while you are walking in the favour of God you might get some good stuff, your blessings may increase but that’s not the point… the favour of God doesn’t mean favors from God… in fact Steven defined favour as:

The guarantee of His presence and the provision of His power to accomplish His special purpose, in and through my life.

Pretty cool ey? I really like it… The other thing that hit me was the attitude it should come with, Steven talked about the fact that lots of people walk around doing life and when bad stuff happens they say things like ‘that would only happen to me” or “that’s the story of my life” but if that’s the way we are thinking then we need to get a new writer/director… because our current is terrible! Instead we should be waking up in the morning saying “I wonder what blessings God is going to give me today” or “I wonder how I will see God working today”, we should have a grateful attitude as gratitude is the gateway to favour.

This really made me think, I have been guilty of having a ‘woe is me and my life’ frame of mind for probably a couple of years now, granted I have encountered some pretty life altering events and some of them haven’t been that awesome… in fact some of them have been less than average. But through this I have come to expect that I will always get the rough deal, that me, and my family are destined to have second best, to always be facing something bad and that when things are looking good for once, not to get too excited because it probably means that the next disaster is about to strike. This is a terrible way to live… and it doesn’t really scream hope, faith, love, grace and favour… in fact it pretty much says doubt. I know I have blogged about changing my attitude before and it probably seems like I just round in circles, which is probably true in many ways, but I think each time I go round I get a bit better at taking steps in the right direction. I need to start living like God likes me, like really does have something special for me to do, which he does, like he loves me and wants the best for me, which he does, like all things will work for good, for those who love the lord and are called according to his purpose, which I am and he will. I need to get thankful, like really thankful, not just for the big things, but for the little things too, in fact for everything (because he is worthy). I need to expect wonderful, powerful, amazing stuff all the time, I need to trust that even if I can’t see, I’m in his favour so I am safe, secure and heading in the right direction, and I need to do this consistently… I need to life the bar of expectation for my life… and when/if… no, when the bad stuff comes, be thankful for the people, the prayer, the power that I have been given to lift me out…

So one of the things I am going to do to help me be more consistent is get more thankful, like really thankful because I am and I should be! So one day each week I am going to stop and take a moment to post about the things I thankful for, it might just be a wordless Wednesday, or it might be a day of its own, perhaps marvelous Monday… Or something along those lines, either way, when ever it is it will be full of thanks, not just for big things but for all the small things too… I am going to share the favour that have received… And slowly but surely my attitude will change… I hope… but just to get me started, I super thankful for God’s beautiful earth… how’s this for favour…

massivebeautifulfavour.jpg

I haven’t grown out of it yet

Posted in Study by

Yesterday I handed in my first assignment for my second degree.  As I have previously blogged, I have just started my dip ed while continuing my full time work and if it is going to be like last week all the time, it may just kill me.  I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s true, last week was busy, really busy and of top that, I had this stupid half sickness (which continues, just FYI) and my first assignment due. 

To be honest with you I thought it would be different this time around, I mean this time I am a fully fledged adult… and perhaps I even classify as that annoying mature aged student (although I am not sure that 24 really counts as mature… just yet).  I was ready and organised but then stuff just kept happening, my motivation lagged and while I am not behind yet, I am pretty close.  Completing my first assignment also brought with it a lot of memories… I have also referred to myself (when talking about my school/uni work) as a perfectionist, there are lots of things I don’t do perfect but when it comes to my academic life I just can’t cope with the P’s get degree’s philosophy of my husband.  As I prepared to hand in my assignment all the anxiety I used to feel came flooding back, did I answer all the questions?  Will my word count be ok? Is this the right way to submit it? Have I proofread everything a million times? Is my reference list done correctly?  All these things stress me out and unfortunately take a toll on those around me.  Last night as I got Dave to check something for the 100th time he rolled his eyes and told me it was fine, I have to admit I was a little shocked and explained that he knew I was like this when we got married, and he responded ‘well I did think you might grow out of it” and in fairness to Dave, it’s probably fair enough.  I thought I would have out grown stressing about that part of uni too, but I haven’t, not yet anyway.  It made me realise though that the next two years are going to be really intense, there will more than likely be more weeks like this… it isn’t always going to be easy and there will probably be times I wish I could give up, but I am in it now and I will keep going… perhaps I will learn how to not stress about assignments as I get further in?  Perhaps it will help me become the super organised person I always wanted to be?  Perhaps it will leave me stress and exhausted with just an extra piece of paper?  But here’s to hoping that I do ‘grow out of it’ but in a good way and this expereince makes me stronger and better…

Please stop messing with my shows

Posted in Life by

I need to have a whinge… why do TV stations insist on changing the night programs are on… seriously, we started watching because it was convenient, we weren’t watching at the other time slot because it wasn’t… this is not going to change because you would like it to! 

At the moment I am hooked on the biggest loser, which is strange for me… I love reality TV so that’s not the bit that is strange, but usually I have to turn the biggest loser off because it is filled with terrible nutritional advice and sets crazy weight loss expectations which are not maintainable or in some cases even achievable, which usually makes me so mad that I yell at the TV and the channel is switched by someone else to shut me up.  But this season has me hooked, I think it’s the combination of reality TV with the hope of love… I know it sounds corny, but I think that is what has me hooked. 

Now because my life is filled with more than just TV, I couldn’t watch it every night, but I did enjoy watching it most Monday nights, which coincidently was the best night to watch because it was weigh in and elimination night… the best bit.  But in channel 10’s lack of wisdom, they have decided after weeks, maybe even months of Monday nights they are moving it, well have moved it to Sunday night… this makes me mad… why?  Because Sunday nights don’t work for me, I am busy on Sunday nights and I will not skip church just because the biggest loser is on, regardless of what the promos promise.  Surely I am not the only one in this situation? Perhaps it’s not church on Sunday night, but maybe something else, perhaps even another program… you can’t just change things channel 10… It’s just not right! 

Look, I know there are more important things in life than what night biggest loser is on TV, but it made me really mad so I had to let it out… now it’s out and I can now go and watch the copy that Davo taped for me (well DVD’d) for me last night… but channel 10… consider yourself warned.  

Half Sick

Posted in Life, Work by

I hate being half sick… this is where I am at the moment… half sick, not really sick enough to stay home or stop doing anything, but not really functioning on all cylinders if you know what I mean and it sucks. I wish my body would just make up its mind… am I sick or not? Its been a little like this all week really, but yesterday I thought I had beat it, I felt great, but I think perhaps I have jinxed myself because now I am back to being half sick. I think that I am not alone though, there appears to be lots of half sick people around, either that our they actually are sick, but still coming into work and just making my half sickness worse.

The thing is though I want to just get it over and done with because if it stays as half sick it is not going to end well. In fact, what will probably happen if this continues is that Dave and I will enter the never ending circle of half sickness for the rest of the colder months, because I will pass on my half sickness to him and while I am getting better he is getting worse and then he will pass his half sickness to me and so on and so forth… we did this last year and I am not really interested in doing it again, but I guess that’s the joy of learning to live with some one. Is there are cure to half sickness or do I actually have to treat it like real sickness and just stop, give myself a chance to get over it and then start again?

I just want a burger

Posted in Food, Life, The List by

I would kill for a burger… seriously kill, I feel like they are taunting me with their delicious smell and tempting sides.  Yes I know I am a dietitan and burgers shouldn’t even be on my raider, but they are.  I decided that this would be the term without macca’s for my list this year.  I choose term 1 because it is the shortest term this year, and to be honest I thought it would be easy, I thought I would have no problems giving up the disgusting habit that is McDonalds, but oh my goodness, with only 2 and a half weeks to go, I just really really want a burger… and some fries… and a watered down diet coke…. Oh and a sundae… I want the lot… maybe even some nuggets.  Oh man, I am on struggle street… I need to stop talking about it, it’s making it worse, but at lunch today I walked into my office and smelt pickles… like burger pickles… and now it’s on my mind again… arrgghhh bring on the holidays and my celebratory McChicken