Grow Just One Thing

Each year for Christmas, we like to give the kids a gift that will challenge them a bit, help them explore the world around them a bit more. One year it was a huge box of Lego blocks, another year it was a trampoline. Last year, it was flower pots and gardening gloves, and packets of seeds.

As a gift, it was a bit of a fail. I had the best time shopping for all the bits and pieces, then figuring out how to wrap it all up, but my enthusiasm ended there. Because I knew that within five minutes of opening the gift, the kids would want to plant the seeds. And I suck at gardening.

We've been down this path before. Back in 2012, I had the crazy idea of building a garden bed, and planting flowers and vegetables. The idea was that the kids would grow their own vegetables, and we'd have pretty flowers, and then the kids would want to actually eat the vegetables they'd grown. 

But these beautiful plants that were lush and green and just ripe for picking confused us. What did we do next? How did we keep grasshoppers away? How did we know when it was ready to eat? In the end, we gave up. The grasshoppers got their way, and the caterpillars were well-fed that season!

But the idea of growing our own vegetables, and eventually convincing fussy children that vegetables are good things to eat, still niggles away at my brain. And maybe I'm getting old, but the idea of growing something with my own hands is appealing to me, too.

And with the help of this book from Kyrstie Barcak at A Fresh Legacy, I'm hoping we can actually grow something edible!

Launching this weekend at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Kyrstie says the book

is based on the premise that by growing one thing, you gain momentum through the joy of your experience in producing and harvesting your own food, developing a new lifestyle and approach to food.

Grow Just One Thing document's Kyrstie's fresh food journey with her family, and shares tips for families wanting to start their own journey. With chapters on how to get started (grow one thing), seasonal planting guides (so helpful for Australia), and using the produce (why grow if you're not using it), I can see that this book will become a fantastic guide for us.

The book is available to purchase on Kyrstie's website for $AU24.95

Do you grow your own vegetables? How do you convince kids to eat vegetables?

An InLinkz Link-up

Food We Eat

Today's prompt foods we eat. Do you menu plan, or fly by the seat of your pants each day? Do you eat the same foods over and over, or try new foods regularly?

We don't eat the best diet in this house. I menu plan, because that makes shopping easier, but as I heard a friend recently describe it, we eat "5 year old food" (although her 5 year old happily eats veggies, mine gag at the thought)

Roast chicken and roast pork would be at the top of everyone's favourite food list, followed by chicken parmigana (with bacon and plenty of melty cheese. Except for 5 year olds, who just eat crumbed chicken and no cheese.)

Sophie eats corn with every meal. It's just about the only thing you can guarantee she will eat (and chocolate. She loves chocolate.) Douglas hated pumpkin when he was little, but often asks for seconds now.

Sausages, mac&cheese, crumbed chicken, chips, chips, chips.

Vegetable-averse children make eating a balanced meal hard. And in all honesty, the effort to cook food that will just be thrown out doesn't seem worth it to me.

Maybe I need to take inspiration from previous attempts at month-long meal planning? Or at least try something new every week for variety. I haven't even read the last two cooking magazines that hit my iPad!

How do you get out of a cooking slump?

Tomorrow's prompt  top five movies of all time what movies do you have to watch over and over again, every time they're on tv?

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An InLinkz Link-up

5 lessons from my daily walks

If you follow me on instagram or facebook, you'd have seen these purple-clad feet appear a few times over the past weeks. And if you're a long-time reader, you'll know that this isn't the first time I've declared a health journey in this space. But what you may not realise is that I've stuck with it. Procrastinator-Cate, the biggest excuse maker ever, has embraced BRAVE, and ended up somewhere new and exciting.

Along the way, I've pondered many thoughts. None of them are new ideas, but many of them are the sorts of things that you need to figure out for yourself, because you don't listen when others tell you.

1. I've learnt patience. Even knowing change doesn't happen quickly doesn't stop you from thinking that you might be the lucky one who sees it quicker than others.
2. I've learnt celebration. The small victories are sometimes more important than the big ones. I was so excited the day I realised I had walked all the way around our path, and talked the whole distance without puffing.
3. I've learnt perseverance. It takes a lot to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I've been lucky so far, of a possible 45 days available to walk, I've walked for 42, but 40 of those required effort to get out the door. I keep reminding myself to take it one day at a time, and the best bit is I keep listening to me!
4. I've learnt routine. I haven't done anything with great regularity since Sophie was born. But the routine required to get out the door each day has been a little bit of calm in the chaos of our days.
5. I've learnt about a new friend. Sometimes sharing the journey can be pretty inspiring. Caitlin has been along for the ride for 7 weeks now, and she's noticing differences, too!

Now that the school holidays are looming, I need to figure out how to keep putting one foot in front of the other with an entourage.

white bread is my weakness

As we head full speed towards the end of another year (it's February, people, the end of the year will be here before you know it!) I ponder my wellness goals for the year. Because it has to be a wellness approach, not a "lose weight" or "get fit" approach, I've tried and failed at all of those things.

As I looked at this photo of Toni and I from the event in Melbourne last month, I realised that I had to stop deluding myself, and take action.

Yep, I know I've had four babies. And I'm still breastfeeding. I'm not one of those lucky mums who loses weight while breastfeeding, either. And I finally had to admit defeat when shopping for those jeans, and go up a size. (Man, what a difference the right size clothes makes!)

But, I never wanted to reach that point. Where I needed to go up a size in my clothing. I've stayed the same size through 3 babies (something I'm told doesn't happen often) The downside is that I weigh as much now as I did when I was nine months pregnant with Sophie.

So, I've started walking. Because I work better with small steps, rather than overwhelming big goals. I know, I've been there before.

And I haven't cut out the white bread, just reduced my intake. Not easy to do when PMS strikes.

{linking up with Jess for #ibot}

all photos from kidsbusiness on flickr

wellness | veggies in the backyard

Back in 2010, I intended to build a veggie patch. I've never been a gardener, often killing pots of herbs on my kitchen window sill (in fact, whenever I buy them, Steve asks "how long will the experiment last this time?")

But, in the time of healthier living, a pile of timber was quickly turned into a veggie patch.

Steve has been composting grass clippings, so we filled the bottom half with them.

Wetting the cardboard meant watering the kids, too.

This is where we are so far. Zucchini, cherry tomatoes, parsley, basil, marigolds and a "tea mix" of peppermint, lemon balm, chammomile and {something I can't quite remember, but smelled awesome}. Next weekend we'll top up the soil, and start planting.

Do you have a veggie patch?

wellness | MMEW January

I shared last week that I joined Weight Watchers for the first time ever. And that I was taking Cathy Zielske's class at BPC. Spending Sunday washing loads of clothes recovering from camping, I forgot about class starting until late, and didn't download and print anything until Monday.

There was a pre-class task, to photograph your shoes, and write out your intention for the year.

You also had to photograph yourself, and share five things you do well.

January's tasks included sharing your story of how you got to here.

{The spot on the right is for a photo of me, where I'm at now. I've taken the photo, but need to print it}

And to share your numbers (which haven't changed in a year), and choose one thing to focus on this month. My one things is to eat one serve of fruit each day. (lucky for me, grapes are in season!)

I think I'm going to be able to make it work this month.

{did you know pavlova with cream, banana and passionfruit is only 6 ProPoints?}

wellness | the first thing

About an hour ago I did something pretty dramatic. I jumped on the scales again.

Source: m.moneysavingmom.com via Cate on Pinterest

My whole wellness journey this year has been virtually non-existant. It's part of the reason that the word DO kept jumping out at me every time I thought about OLW.

It's only a little bit less than the last time I put myself out there. I signed up for Cathy Zielske's Move More, Eat Well class at BPC in November, and today I signed up for Weight Watchers.

This week is going to be about wrapping my head around everything, and jumping on the treadmill. And figuring out how to make it work for our family. And committing to myself to reach for my first goal - losing 5% (by my birthday in March - giving myself plenty of space, but maybe too much room to fail)

Do you have a wellness goal for 2012?

wellness | coke or pepsi?

I know, it doesn't make sense, does it? Cause we all know how much sugar is in Coke, so how does that contribute to my wellness?

Eight weeks ago I decided to stop drinking coke. I haven't been on my treadmill, or made any changes to my terrible eating habits, so I thought that this would be something tangible that I could do to jump start my wellness journey again.

It took me four weeks to actually google pepsi max and discover that my belief that it didn't contain sugar was correct - but it contains lots of other yucky stuff. But I kept drinking it.

When I stopped drinking coke, a friend asked how the headaches were - I didn't get any (which surprised me), but I've been suffering with them since I started drinking pepsi max. I'd have a glass of pepsi with lunch, feel a headache staring and increase my water intake, have another glass after tea and crawl into bed every night with a headache.

On top of gastro over the weekend, my headache was migraine-level, and that's when a friend on facebook said she had the same problem when she used to drink pepsi max. That was enough for me to say "stop", and I haven't had any since, and there's been no headaches. (I've had one glass of coke, but my fragile tummy didn't enjoy it at all.)

So, coke has been good for my wellness. Next step - use that treadmill!

What changes have you made for your wellness that backfired?

I forgot my mantra

{source via pinterest}

When Chloe's father and I split up I spent a lot of time reading self-help books and watching Oprah. I steered clear of John Gray's "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" (because it had a place in my parents failed marriage), but purchased "How to get what you want, and want what you have." I collected quotes out of the book that resonated with me, and quotes from Oprah's shows as well. And still today I can be heard saying "if it's important, you'll find a way to make it happen"

But I forgot to remind myself. I have become the queen of excuses, here on my blog and in my life. I don't like the me I have become, I feel like I am always whining about stuff, (even when I'm not), but I'm not sure how to shake myself out of this funk that my life has become. 

I realised yesterday I don't have a diary this year. I think it's the first time in about ten years I haven't had a diary - even in recent years I kept one, just for writing appointments, jotting notes I didn't want to forget. It has always worked in well with the family calendar in the kitchen. I think I need to go and buy a diary today.

Do you have a mantra (or quote) that guides you?

wellness | motivation

Oh, dear. I'm failing myself here. For the first two weeks of April, I exercised every day, was mindful of what I ate (eating smaller portions, but not changing the foods I eat), but in the lead up to school holidays and Easter that changed.

I'm frustrated with meals and food. I was very good with sticking to my menu plan for the first two weeks of the month. But even with a menu plan visible to the entire household, I still get asked five/six/seven times a day "what's for dinner?" (especially by Steve!) And I haven't changed many of the foods that I'm eating, just significantly reduced the amount I eat (and I only ate two small eggs on Easter Sunday, and up until today only ate 1 or 2 each day). But reducing the amount of food that I'm eating is only leaving me tired and un-energetic and feeling sick and hungry. Not helping me change bad eating habits and making better ones.

{source}

I remember sitting at home watching daytime television with Chloe when she was about three. The ad breaks were saturated with diet company adverts, Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig and Lite'n'Easy and probably others as well. Chloe turned around to me and said "I need to go on a diet, mum, I'm fat." I vowed then and there to not become obsessed with numbers and size, for myself and for my daughter.

And then we live with the spectre of Douglas' mum, Steve's first wife, who passed away in 2005 from a blood clot in her lung. She was unwell at the time, and was diagnosed after death with a chronic illness, and was also carry extra baby-weight that she was struggling to lose; all contributing factors to her untimely death, and an ever-present reminder in our house that saying "it won't happen to me" is no way to guard against "it" ever happening.

There's a little piece of me that thinks that wanting to get healthy for the kids and myself isn't enough. That wishes I had the support of my husband in making these changes. Yes, I understand the theory that "I'm the size I'm supposed to be", after all, I've been telling my almost-13 year old that for the last 5 years. But this is my long-term health we're discussing. And I can't do it on my own.

Does your partner support your wellness efforts?

wellness | starting over

I haven't been doing well with my move more, eat less wellness journey this year. I made it one month with a weight loss, and while I haven't put it back on, I haven't lost any more.

This face when I'm getting ready to jump on the treadmill doesn't help me stay motivated. It is easier to say "oh, well, I have to pick him up, there's always tomorrow" Restless sleeping doesn't help. Steve has said to me a couple of times in the last week "just jump on when he's having a nap", but his naps are too uncertain, he might only sleep for twenty minutes, or he might sleep for three hours.

But it's time for the excuses to stop. If I want to, I can find a reason for every single thing that I want to avoid doing (and I quite often do), but this is one area that I don't want to avoid any more. It's important for me, and it's important for my family.

So I've updated my move more, eat less journal, and I'm using it. I'm being more mindful of what I'm eating, and while it isn't perfect every time I am trying. I haven't updated my photo, but I have taken new measurements. And this time I have a goal for each month - this month it will be a 1 hour massage if I lose four kilos.

a monthly make

I jumped on the bandwagon at the start of the year, committing myself to creating something each month. Just to add variety, I told myself scrapbook layouts didn't count, but off the page items did count (because I like to do little projects as I'm inspired)

In January, my make was a snowman ornament for a swap through swap-bot.

In February, I made a quilt for a friend who's baby was born at 25wks.

In March, I made some shadow boxes with Echo Park's For The Record

I think I'm going to use some of these as my pay-it-forward gifts.

wellness | more organised meals

I don't enjoy cooking dinner for my family. The food battles with children drive me insane, the arguing and bickering and incessant chatter at the table drive me insane, the need to cook foods that everyone will eat AND have it be healthy and some nutritional content has me going out of my mind. I shared my menu plan during March, with the hopes that it would help me stay on track with meals each day.

I'll be honest, it didn't work every day. I think there was too much variety. And not enough flexibility for the days when I was running on empty. And the kids weren't really receptive to having their time taken up with preparing AND cooking food (although they liked the idea of being included, the reality was much different).

On the up side, we love zucchini slice (even when I forgot the cheese on top), and roast pork is always a winner, and chicken wings are much loved. So I'm trying it again for another month.

I've changed Tuesday's theme to "meals mum makes", so I can include some of the much-loved foods that I've always made - those fall-backs that you can make on five minutes notice with your eyes shut, the ones that tend to be used all the time when you're stuck-in-a-rut. I've also left a few more blank spots, reduced the number of new recipes for the month, timetabled the takeaway and easy nights. I've also printed out the new recipes for the month, and stuck them to the fridge with the menu, in the hopes that it takes me one more step closer to being organised at meal times.


Do you try new recipes regularly? Or do you stick with the tried-and-tested-and-eaten-by-everyone?

Cate | today you are thirty seven

Do you think age is just a number? Does it get easier to tell the world how old you are as you get older? I've never had a problem telling the world how old I am, although it wasn't until I turned thirty that I stopped feeling like a little kid dressing up in mum's clothes and pretending to be grown-up.

I even took photos of my grey hair when we were away last July, just imagine how many more I've cultivated in the nine months since then!

 I had this photo in mind as soon as Lee shared Brene Brown's site. 

It just made sense to me.

I'm not very good at keeping my promises to myself - although if I have them in front of me, I am better at making it happen. I have only successfully crossed off ten things from my list last year. This year I'm just going to focus on wellness, and how that will impact my life.

how do you define | friendship

 is it the girls I've been meeting with once a month since June 2003 to discuss books and eat chocolate cake?

or the friend from high school who lives two states away, but doesn't bat an eyelash when she gets a message via facebook that says "can you email me a photo of you, please, because I've got to write this blog post"

Or the far away friends that I may never meet, but they bring a smile to my face when they share their stories.

I've been focusing on the negatives a lot lately, because that seemed like the easiest thing to focus on. But I've had enough of that, so I'm going to try and turn negatives into positives. This is my first positive from the oft-spoke lament "I have no friends"

wellness | organised meals

At the start of February I saw a menu planning idea via One Pretty Thing that sparked my imagination. So I sat down and worked out what our categories were, and what meals we enjoyed that fit those categories, and then I asked everyone in the family to contribute some meal ideas.

As you can see, I haven't implemented it yet, but today I start! To start off with I'm trying not to repeat a meal in the month, just to get some variety happening in our meals - we've been in a rut since I was pregnant with Riley and we all need a bit of a shake up in the eating department!

Where I have written {taste}, that's a recipe from the taste website. I'm feeling revitalised by having a menu plan - I know when I stick to it feeding the family is much easier!

Do you menu plan? How do you stick to your plan if you're having a "blah" day?

wellness | finding your way

After I finished LOAD on Monday, I decided to sign up for Karen Grunberg's class at BPC (did you know you get rewards for buying BPC classes? For every $10, get a star, every 10 stars gets you $10 off. I forgot about it, and had two vouchers waiting for me! And if there's anybody left in the world who isn't a member at BPC, click this link to be referred by me, and we'll both receive 10% off our next class)

Layout-a-day definately helped get me scrapping again, and I've remembered some of the things that help make my pages authentic, but there's some stuff that I'm still struggling with, so I thought this class would help. When I made the decision in January to complete layout-a-day for February I went back to Karen's summary post last June from her  layout-a-day project (which is what she based her BPC class on) and scratched out some notes that would help me stay up-to-date. Those notes went like this -

sketches

• ella books
• 2 peas in a bucket
• something from almost nothing

products

• basic grey product of the month kits
• white/kraft cardstock
• my minds eye
• echo park

techniques

• paint/ink
• stamping
• stitching/sewing
• fabric

tools

• border punches
• butterfly punch

I also decided to get some photos printed in a mix of sizes - 4x6, 3x4 and 2x3

What I learned about this list while doing my layout-a-day project

Sketches - I had a couple of pages of favourite layouts from two peas printed out, and a couple of pages from pagemaps, and I referred to these constantly for a spark of sketchy inspiration. I only looked through my folder of ella books once, but was too pressed for time to follow through on the idea I had. I completely forgot about using something from almost nothing.

• I'm still in the scraplift/seek inspiration/use a sketch stage.
• I need to write down those sparks of inspiration so I can remember them next time.

 Products - I don't love Basic Grey as much as I used to. I went through a stage of buying every new release, which was part of the reason that I signed up for the product of the month kits. But I don't like the products. I'm going to complete the suggested layouts in the kits, because it could be that I just haven't played with it enough lately, but it might not be.

• having a kit of products, or matching embellishments, helps reduce the embellishment-anxiety I seem to be suffering at the moment. It also reduces the need to make decisions about what papers to use.
• I prefer bright coloured papers on kraft or white backgrounds. 12x12 and 8.5x11 are my go-to sizes, but I like to mix in the occasional 6x12 as well.
• Manufacturers of the moment include Echo Park, Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon, My Minds Eye and American Crafts

Techniques -  I think because I was creating at the kitchen table instead of downstairs in my craft room, it never occurred to me to pull out paints or mists. I did, however, use ink to edge most papers and some photos. Colour of the moment is versa colour pinecone, but I've also been known to use bark, charcoal and black. I only sewed on layouts twice, once by hand and once with the machine. Sewing by hand is very calming, sewing by machine is stressful at the moment as the tension on my machine is terrible. I didn't use fabric on my layouts.

Tools - Border punches rule! I only have three at the moment, and a Martha Stewart double punch, but I need more. Using them adds a fun element to pages, and they are suitable for boy and girl pages. I even managed to get butterflies onto a boy page (or two), and need the middle-size butterfly to match my whale-of-a-punch and tiny punch.

Other stuff before you start - I need photos and a story in order to create. I'm flexible enough with photos that I can print them at home, although I did like having some photos pre-printed and then remembering the story behind them (or sometimes telling a completely different story). I definately need to write down the stories rambling through my brain. Having the stories written down is almost as important as having the photos taken.

I'm going to work on a layout-a-day-or-two starting next Monday (I say a-day-or-two purely because March is birthday month for Natalie and I, so we've got a few days out planned) as Karen suggests in class, and see if any of these things change once I'm creating in my craft room instead of the kitchen (with all my supplies around me instead of limited supplies)

Do you have a notebook/other method of writing down stories to scrap?

how do you define | housework?

I came to the realisation last week that I define housework differently to most people.

{source}

I was at my local scrap shop, chatting to the owner, explaining to her about the layout-a-day project I was doing in February. She asked me how was I able to fit it all in, and my flip answer was "I don't do housework" Driving home, I reflected on the conversation, and wondered if my definition was different... and so entered facebook and google.

Dictionary.com defines housework as "the work of cleaning, cooking, etc to be done in housekeeping"

Wikipedia defines housekeeping as "the act of cleaning the rooms and furnishings of a home" and homemaking as "a mainly American term for the management of the home, otherwise known as housework"

And 9.6% of people on facebook say housework is "any job that needs to be done inside or outside the house" *

Cate's definition - any job that is superfluous to the daily running of the household. eg, clean clothes are required by everyone, therefore laundry is a required chore. It doesn't class as housework because it is necessary to do this activity {most} days. Vacuuming is not essential every day, therefore classes as housework and I don't do housework! **

Further examples - dishes and dish washing is required {most} days, mopping is not. Cooking meals is required {most} days, dusting is not.

* I thought 9.6% sounded better than "only six people answered my question"

** the big stuff does get done, on a weekly basis, and we all pitch in to get the jobs done.

ritual

ritual, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I'm not sure I like chai, but I love the idea of taking a daily activity and elevating it to a ritual

I think I chose the wrong word for 2011

I chose the word COMMUNITY during December, and shared my thoughts at the start of January.

But as my year progresses, it feels as if community isn't ENOUGH. That somehow it is limiting the things I can achieve for myself this year. I think I need a word that can encompass everything, and still give me room to grow.

WELLNESS is defined as "a multi-dimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of well-being." (source)

I was inspired to start on this journey of reassessment after reading Karen Grunberg's series on resolutions at Write.Click.Scrapbook. I realised that my priority list had lots of things on it that were important, but COMMUNITY didn't provide focus to those priorities.

While I was exploring the dimensions of wellness (social, occupational, spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, environmental, financial, mental, medical) I realised that it was easier to summarise those dimensions as mind, body and spirit. Then I took my priority list, and worked out which priorities fit into these areas. (and I made some pretty labels to keep me on track)

Karen's idea of a project for each priority was what motivated me to sign up for LOAD. I'm still thinking of ideas for projects that tie in with the other priorities, but I plan to focus on one priority from each dimension each month.

Is your word still a good fit for your year? Are you creating a project to guide your word this year?

{purple and yellow labels from songbird avenue March 2010 kit, font is lobster 1.4}