Challenge 20: 10 things you want to do in your lifetime...

I have been rather slack of late following through with the "Blog This" challenges, but I thought it's about time to stick my toe back in the water, and what better time than on the cusp of a birthday? I love setting goals and striving to reach for them. Doesn't always work, but striving to achieve something tends to get me going.


I love this challenge, aside from goal setting, it has really let me reflect and focus on what *I* would like to do in *my* lifetimes. A lot of them involve my family, some don't. But it's proven to me that travel is certainly something I love and enjoy. Road trips are certainly a focus now with the family, but I hope with achieving some of the other goals, particularly number 6, which we're striving to achieve in the next 5 years or so, that that would enable us to take the children on some trips overseas while they are old enough to remember it, and young enough to appreciate it.

There are so many things I've already achieved that were on my list (like home 'ownership', travelling to NZ, working for an airline, being a parent), and so many more than I could add!

Challenge 20: 10 things you want to do in your lifetime...

Tell use TEN things you want to do in your lifetime that you've yet to achieve.

1. Go for a ride in a Hot Air Balloon.


2. See around Europe - and travel on the VFT.



3. Drive around Australia with or without the children!
4. See a snowy Christmas - New York, London, I'm not fussy!
5. Get to my healthy weight range, and stay there!


6. Pay off our home (65% of the way there!) to enable goals 2, 3 and 4.


7. Learn to sew. Actually do a course. I don't want this to become a dying art!


8. See the ballet at the Sydney Opera House.


9. Go kayaking/canoeing.



10. Grow old with my husband and watch our family learn and grow.

Blog This - Challenge 13 - Gifts, glorious gifts...

I'm getting back into my blogging groove. Blog this has issued a new challenge that I though i'd particularly enjoy, given it's my birthday (and the big 3-0!) just around the corner.

Challenge 13 - Gifts, glorious gifts...
Do people think you're hard to buy for or are you constantly dropping hints? What's on your ultimate gift list? If you were to write a list of 5 things that would be on the list of perfect presents for your next birthday what would they be? Would it be a particular thing or anything from a particular store/shop? An experience or something with pretty bows? Practical or whimsical? They don't need to be physical or even attainable gifts - tell us (and those who read your blog) what you want!!

With the big 30 birthday coming up in October, I'd definitely like to make it a "memory" birthday. Who knows what gifts I will get? I'm not particularly fussed, I have no expectations, as long as I have some family around me to celebrate.

Below is my top 5:

Hot Air Balloon Ride over the Hunter Valley

(perhaps accompanied by a night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Hunter Valley!)

A picnic with the family

Crabtree & Evelyn Rose perfume.

Hubby bought this for me of his own accord a few years back, and my bottle has gone AWOL (thanks kids!). I'd love a replacement bottle.

Learn to Scuba Dive course

Something I have always wanted to try - but haven't because I never wanted to get into a Wetsuit because of my size.

And finally, an eternity ring.

I can dream! Some might, or might not come true, but I'd be happy enough with my family.

Challenge 8 - Shopaholic

Blog This: Challenge 8 - Shopaholic

Bought something fabulous lately? Wanna share? Wanna brag? Blog some pictures, write a sonnet about it, tell the story about how you got it in the house without your husband noticing. What made you buy it? Have you been secretly coveting it for a while? Or are you an impulse shopper. And of course, now you have it, was it worth it??

A relatively recent purchase was a framed wedding picture of my husband and I. We were married in 2002, but other than our album, we had never had any pictures framed! So for our anniversary, I had our "freebie" picture professionally framed, with this beautiful border, and surprised him.

Taking 3 little kids, who like to touch everything, into a tiny little framing shop was a little bit of a nightmare. Glass, breakable ornaments, framed pictures, and 6 inquisitive hands to touch and play. Hmmm.... But I was determined! I quickly picked up the frame, and four weeks later returned with the same 6 inquisitive hands to pick up the finished framed picture. Luckily the woman took pity on me, and closed up the shop to take the picture to the car, as the frame was easy to scratch.

Then I had to hide it at the back of my wardrobe from Hubby for a few days until our anniversary! He was totally blown away and so pleased at the gesture. The picture is on the wall in our family room, where I can look at it every day and remember such a wonderful and romantic day.

It's not a terribly traditional purchase, but we honestly don't purchase a lot other than ordinary everyday things like bills, groceries, bits for the house, the odd ordinary piece of clothing and the mortgage!

Challenge 7 - Fifteen Facts

I didn't participate in Challenge 6, it was just a busy week and couldn't give it my full attention. Plus, I'm not one for fuss and flair. I like simple, homecooked meal, so coming up with a big fancy menu and party was a bit overwhelming!

Challenge 7 - Fifteen Facts

Tell us fifteen facinating, far fetched, frightening, funny or frivilous facts about yourself. Those bits of trivia that are floating around in your life. Can you eat 10 burgers in one sitting? Do you sleep with your eyes open? Can you tie a cherry stalk into a knot? Speak 5 different languages?All those things that you've bored your friends and family with for years - We want to know.

1. I love to cook.

2. I love to eat. Lots. I love food. The taste, preparing it, savouring it.

3. I can't decide if I want to have baby #4 (and it would DEFINITELY be my last). The only thing really holding us up is which 'new' car we'd need. And there aren't any that we like, without moving to a big 'bus'.

4. Roadtrips are a favourite holiday of mine, just watching out the window, watching everything just go by.

5. My hubby and I met on the Internet via ICQ in 1998 when it was unmentionable that that would be how potential mates would meet.

6. I can't sleep with the wardrobe door open.

7. I can eat a packet of Tim Tams. Or a block of chocolate. In one sitting. But it's getting harder now!

8. During our Los Angeles/Vegas trip in 2003, we stayed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Amazing. A huge bath filled up in less than 2 minutes. The hallways were seriously so long you could barely see the end of them. And Vegas has a whole shop devoted to M&M's. Really.

9. I regret giving up Netball when I began working at 15.

10. Thai red curry chicken is my favourite dish to order if we go out for dinner.

11. My favourite Disney character is Cinderella.

12. I don't like to eat fruit. I don't like the texture. I'll eat an apple or watermelon if I have to.

13. I have lost 118cm off my body since losing 25kg.

14. My childhood barbies and legos are safely packed up at my parents house.

15. "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtney is one of my favourite books.

Challenge 5: Holiday Nostalgia

Challenge 5: Holiday Nostalgia
Everyone loves Holidays. Everyone has had a holiday - be it a great big backpacking adventure, a luxury weekend away,a caravan trek as a kid with the family taking in Big Bananas, Big Prawns, Big Pineapples et al, Camping in the neighbours yard under the stars for a few nights. Elaborately planned holidays, impromptu 'let's get out of here' holidays. Blog about a holiday you've had that stands out - adventure, relaxation, family, friends, disaster, hilarious events! Who were you with? Where did you go? What made it so memorable? Share a photo if you want!

Holidays. I didn't have many as a child, and certainly nothing elaborate. In fact I did, and still do, prefer to have some quiet days at home. But the holiday destination and trip that I will always remember is to Windang, on the South Coast of NSW. Windy Windang. And boy was it! I would have been about 8 or 9 at the time, and we'd join my Mums best friend and her family in the summer holidays.

Mornings we'd wait for the milk truck, as it drove past our little van, and we'd run out and buy an Oak milk to have as we wished through the day. Then we'd load up and spend the morning at the beach. Lunch we'd come back for easy sandwiches. Then the afteroon would be spent riding our bikes up and down all the laneways of the caravan park, reading our books, eating any Christmas goodies we had. Every other day, we'd go for a ride around Lake Illawarra. The television never went on!

In the evenings, it would be a simple BBQ, and occasionally we'd walk up to the fish and chip shop to buy dinner and eat it at the park on the way home. After dinner, we were usually exhausted, and we'd huddle into our little 3 tier bunk beds for a good nights sleep.

Bliss. Relaxation. I was only a child, but the memories will live on!

Challenge 4: Random Acts of Kindness

Blog This has issued Challenge 4 - If you could name one small gesture someone else has made that had a big impact on your life, what would it be?

I've found this item really hard to think about, let alone write about. I find it very hard to accept help from anyone. I've always been a very independent person who hates to accept help. Mainly because accepting help would mean opening myself up - and possibly to getting hurt. So I find it easier to stay shut. Not accept help, and to me, a random act of kindness would be something that would help someone, and therefore make a big impact on that person - whether it be on their life, their day or that minute.

Mine would have to be back at high school, from The Canteen manager (and I still remember her name!). Mrs Mulett often took volunteer from students to run the canteen. To help with lunch orders, and mainly to assist in serving other students - giving them food in return for money. I was younger than most volunteers, being 14. But I asked whether she would consider my assistance. She took a risk. She said yes. To me, that was a huge random act of kindness - she didn't know me from a bar of soap!

Every Friday I would volunteer - every Friday until I finished high school, throughout my entire lunch break. She taught me how to fill lunch orders, how to count change and bag it at the end of the lunch break, and how to re-stock food. She took me under her wing, and taught me all of these things, and more, which led me to get my very first job at IGA. That experience - and her very kind letter of reference - made the biggest impact to my life. I looked forward to that Friday every week for 4 years.

She made me feel wanted. Needed. The volunteer job allowed me to escape the meanness of the playground. It enabled me to get a job. It held me in good stead and gave me a great work ethic when I started university and got my first graduate job.

Her cudddles when I was having a dreadful week or day at school, her shoulder to lean on, her ears to listen to me, and her time and patience will never, ever be forgotten.

Challenge 3: It's the little things

I'm a little late with all the business! Here is my (late) contribution.

Challenge 3: Photographic Challenge - "It's the little things".Simple, everyday things which make your life a pleasure.Limit of 10 images...no minimum. You don't have to be a fabulous photographer, just have fun.No words required, let your photos tell the story...

Blog This - Challenge 2: If I could invent anything....

Our Blog This challenge this week is:
"If I were to invent something to make life easier or more fun for me...and WHY..."
What is the bane of your existence?Now it doesn't need to be a real invention or even feasible!It can be chocolate that makes you lose weight (hey isn't that a laxative?)It could be the machine like in the Cat In the Hat that tidies up your house in 2 minutes. It could be anything - what's the bane of your existence?


I would invent a transporter - Star Trek style. I could be anywhere, anytime, in an instant. I have to travel a fair distance to see my family - last weeks visit to my Mums house took me 3.5 hours because of peak-hour traffic, 2 hours in regular traffic. That meant 3.5 hours for the kids too, sitting in the backseat. They behave extraordinarily well in the car, but a transporter would mean they would have more time to play, and more time to spend with their grandparents, or other family and friends, instead of stuck in a carseat.

But I hate being so far from my family, I miss that support. A transporter would mean they could visit me for a quick coffee and not take a whole day. People often don't visit us because of the time and distance, and a transporter would mean I would feel much less isolated.

Blog This - Challenge 1: When I grow up

I've recently joined Blogged, a network of Australian bloggers, with our aim to complete a challenge every week or so, and meet some new friends.

Challenge 1: When I grow up

A ballerina? A vet? An astronaut? As a small child, what did you dream of becoming? Tell your story, on your own blog, in words, pictures or a combination. The choice is yours. As long or short as you like.

When I was a child, I always dreamed of working in a supermarket as a check-out chick. I know it sounds plain and boring, but I absolutely loved doing the grocery shopping with my Mum - choosing what went in the trolley, helping to scan the items, unpacking them, and then helping to make lunch and what we'd eat for dinner.

As soon as I reached working age, I put my name down at the local IGA, and scored a position within a month, thanks to my volunteering in my highschool canteen for the past year. I moved up to a supervisor position after 3 years, and my dream changed to run a supermarket. However, after completing my uni degree in Business and IT, I left IGA, to work in the IT division at Qantas.

Part of me really does wish I had pursued it further and done a graduate traineeship with Woolworths or Coles! It's never too late though...