2021 Happenings

Another year is over and what a year it's been.

January

We had a quiet bbq with friends for new years eve so started the new year bright and early as usual. 

January was filled with socialising with friends and family, swimming and enjoying the school holidays. 

A highlight was going to Hamelin Bay and feeding the manta rays. 

Chai was diagnosed with autism.

February

Tiger was promoted to supervisor.

The boys were due to go back to school on the 1st of February, but there was a case of community transmission of COVID so we went into a 5 day hard lockdown.

The boys returned to school on the 8th of February.

 

March

Chai turned 10! He's finally double digits!

April

School holidays! We've been staying pretty close to home this year. Covid has bought a lot of tourists and visitors to the area, so we tend to stay home and just enjoy lazy days. 

May

May was lovely and wet, just the way I like it. 

June

So many birthday parties. We had 3 in one weekend.

July 

School holidays were one of the wettest holidays we've had. It rained almost every day, we only had about three clear days.

August

Eljay turned 8!

September, October and November were rough so we're just going to pretend they didn't happen.

December

We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.

Eljay received the Endeavour award at the school celebration night.

Chai found out that he'll be part of the school leadership team next year.

Chai lost a tooth!

Thoughts on new years resolutions

Now that this clusterf@ck of a year is almost over, I've been thinking of what changes I'd like to make for next year.

 

I thought about the resolutions I'd made in years past and realised that most of them were about taking things away, losing, reducing etc. I wonder if that's why they often don't work? Because we focus on what we'd like to reduce, instead of focusing on what we'd like to gain.

 

This year I'm going to do things differently. I'm not going to take anything away, I'm just going to add in more of the good. More things that bring me joy, more things that add value to my life. I figure that as I add in good there will be less time for things that aren't so joyful. 

 

Naturally there are things that I'd like to reduce, but I'm not going to focus on them. So, instead of having a goal of reducing spending on unnecessary purchases I'll focus on shopping more intentionally and mindfully. Focusing on the positive instead of what I want to reduce feels better. It feels like I'm doing something good, instead of the focus being on something I'm not doing, something I'm missing out on.  

 

With that being said, here are my goals for the new year. These are the things I'll be adding into my life:

Plant based meals

I have a fairly healthy diet, however I'd like to add in more veggies. I also want to find a few vegetarian meals that my family will eat.

 

Mindful purchasing

Often my purchasing decisions are not based on what I need, they're impulse buys or stress buys. I'm going to aim to be more mindful with what I purchase.

 

Decluttering

The clutter in our house is a constant source of annoyance for me so I'm going to devote more time to decluttering. Even if it's only five minutes a day it will make a difference.   

Rest

When the boys are at school and Tiger is at work I don't allow myself any down time. I treat it like it's my work day and I'm on the go the whole day. That's silly for two reasons. Firstly, even if I was at work I'd get a breaks and secondly, my job is 24/7. Unlike Tiger I don't clock off, I'm always Mum, always cooking, cleaning etc. The time that the boys are at school and Tiger's at work is the only chance I have for down time, so I'm going to take it. I'll spend at least 30 minutes every week day resting.

 

Move

Prior to the kids starting school I had a great exercise routine. I'd go to the gym three days a week and go walking or riding with the kids four days a week. Since they started school my routine has gone out the window and I've struggled to keep a consistent exercise routine. Instead of treating exercise as something that comes last I'm going to prioritise it, other things can wait.

Me

I've put myself last in so many ways for so many years. I'm not going to do that any more. My exercise routine is the perfect example. I put it aside for other things/people. I'm important. I run the family. If I'm not well it affects everyone. From now on I'll prioritise my needs. I'll look after me, get the massage, go to the dentist and do the other things I need to do to be the healthiest version of me. 

What good things will you be adding in this year?

FFS Friday - School's Out!

We did it! We survived a whole year of school! What a year it's been. I'm exhausted.

My boys have grown so much this year, both emotionally and in height. 

I am so looking forward to no schedule and some time at home with my family.

I hope you have all survived the end of school year and get a little bit of rest with your families.

 

Thoughts of the week

1. Four days until school holidays!

 

2. I still have Christmas shopping to do.

 

3. Bushfires have started here already. I hope it's not going to be a bad bushfire season.

 

4. Our finches are having more babies! The other ones are only six weeks old! Once the new babies are old enough we're going to take the nest away so they don't make any more babies.

 

5. I was quite disappointed with the christmas releases this year. They weren't as good as they usually are.

Saturday Stories

I've been noticing lately that we like to blame the messenger. A lot. It's just not right.

 

I'll give you an few examples. Both of these examples involve police, however it happens across the board not just with police.

I recently witnessed an event. 

The police were called out to do a welfare check on someone. They didn't handle it correctly, the person freaked out when they were touched, they all ended up on the ground and the person they were doing a welfare check on was placed under arrest for assaulting a police officer. (No one was injured).

If things had been handled correctly, this would have not have happened. Instead of helping, the actions of the police made the situation worse not better. 

Now, we could sit here and blame the officers involved, but the truth is that they were just acting to the best of their abilities. The blame goes on those higher up who allow things like this to happen. The blame lays with the police department for not having adequate policies and training. 

NSW has recently introduced a policy where all welfare and mental health checks are attended by two trained police officers and a mental health nurse. This should be the rule across the whole country.

 

There was recently a case where a police officer shot someone then faced murder charges for shooting the person. Imagine going to work every day and knowing that you could face criminal charges for doing your job. It wouldn't be nice.

Once again, the person they were dealing with had mental health issues. Where was the mental health support? It wasn't there, they just sent the police, things got out of hand and someone was killed. It's a tragedy for everyone involved.  

 

Nurses are another great example. If they give out the wrong medication or do something that harms a patient they're blamed. How about blaming the system that allows them to constantly be overworked and understaffed? How about blaming the system that allows them to do double shifts all week with less than an eight hour turn around time? 

 

Perhaps if we give proper support and training to people they wouldn't make mistakes. If something isn't done to rectify the broken systems we won't have enough police or medical staff and where will that leave us?

 

FFS Friday - Zebra

One week until freedom! This time next week the kids will be on holidays and we'll be free. 

 

I said to a friend this week that I can't wait for the holidays. She told me I'm the only person she's heard say that, everyone else has told her they aren't looking forward to the holidays because looking after kids is stressful. How sad.

 

I can't wait for school to be over. We can have lazy days doing whatever we want to, it'll be wonderful. There will be times when it's not fun but that's life. 

 

We aren't going away these holidays, we're staying home and just enjoying each other's company. 

 

I'm so tired. This time of year is so crazy, it's exhausting. End of year wasn't like this when we were home schooling, it was just business as usual. End of year when your kids go to school is a totally different story. 

This is Eljay's first full year of school and Chai's first full year in four years. They've both thrived this year. At the end of year celebration night Eljay received an award for working hard and improving so much. Chai received a spot on the leadership team for next year. They were both so happy. 

This school has been amazing for us all. I'll be eternally grateful for everything they've done. Everyone at the school is kind, nurturing and brilliant with the kids. You can tell that they all really like children. You'd think that would be a given but it certainly wasn't the case at their first school. 

Poor Chai is exhausted and ready for the holidays. He's so tired.

 

It's suddenly got really hot here. Hot as in 38 degrees. Gross. The only good thing about 38 degree weather is that lindt balls get all soft and melt in your mouth when you eat them. Oh and iced coffee is good too. 

 

I do have more to say but my brain has melted so I can't remember anything I wanted to complain about. 

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.