Amazing plans for 2014!

One of my favourite activities to do from Leonie Dawson's Amazing Biz and Life Workbooks is to write a list of 100 things to do this year...

I just love it...

Last year's list can be seen HERE.  I only managed to fulfil 21 of the things I set out to do but really, I don't think that effort was half bad!

I achieved the following:

1. Climbed 1103 stairs in the Step up for MS challenge
2. Raised $1145 dollars for the MS Society of WA
3. Tried yoga and fell in love
4. Visited my friend Coralie at Rainbow Farm and had family photographs taken
5. Visited my Nana
6. Told my Nana I loved her
7. Fell in love with belly dancing
8. Bought myself a bicycle
9. Dyed my hair black, purple and pink
10. Started using FaceTime to make video calls 
11. Bought new pillows (but need new ones again - they weren't so great! LOL)
12. Expanded my music library a little
13. Started drawing and shared my work with a couple of people
14. Completed my training at Lifeline and am now a Telephone Crisis Supporter
15. Started a public blog
16. Consciously asserted myself
17. Volunteered at the kids school a little
18. Went swimming with the kids
19. Got dressed up and went for drinks with the girls twice
20. Tried my first green smoothie... Not as offensive as it looked!
21. Got my tooth fixed

What I didn't achieve last year, I either rolled into this year's list or scrapped altogether.  My theory is that some weren't getting done because they just don't light me up now.

But I love this exercise that much that I kinda went a little overboard.  I have more than 100 and I categorised them so they are easier to find and mark off when I achieve them!

So... I give you... MY LIST FOR 2014!

Challenges…

1.           Step up for MS Challenge – Climb Central Park Tower again in less than 20 minutes!

2.           Raise $3000 for the Step up for MS Challenge. ($250 so far!)

3.           Watch 6 movies.

4.           Walk 50 km in a week!

5.           Read 12 books.

6.           Watch the House series!

7.           Partake in a photo challenge.

8.           Take part in a writing challenge.

9.           Sing in public and get over a fear!

Things to Learn

10.       Learn to crochet.

11.       Do a self defence course.

12.       Learn enough Dutch to hold a conversation.

13.       Attend workshops and courses that interest me.

14.       Horse riding lessons

15.       Dig deep into what the Amazing Biz and Life Academy has to offer!

16.       Restring and play my guitar.

Creativity

17.       Knit something!

18.       Blog regularly!

19.       Restore an old piece of furniture

20.       Write my children’s book

21.       Scrapbook!

22.       Journal

23.       Draw!

24.       Cover my rocking chair

25.       Sew fleecy pj bottoms for the kids!

26.       Restore my giraffe pot stand!

27.       Research my book

Things to Do!

28.       Send snail mail!

29.       Try Zumba

30.       Ride a camel

31.       Spend a day in Kings Park alone

32.       Go to lunch with friends more often

33.       Dress up and go out for drinks and dancing!

34.       Get a manicure and pedicure!

35.       Have sexy photos taken

36.       Take a solo trip to somewhere new!

37.       Try another form of dancing

38.       Spend time with my bunnies

39.       Eat outdoors

40.       Go to the cinema alone to watch a movie that makes me cry!

41.       Spend a day at the zoo alone

42.       Go for a long bike ride!

Things to Buy

43.       Get a belly dance costume

44.       New underwear

45.       Buy a corset!

46.       A red dress

47.       Kickass boots!

48.       Panniers for my bike

Home & Organizing

49.       Find creative storage solutions!

50.       Store my digital photos

51.       Create a corner in the garden just for me

52.       Keep the kitchenette clear of junk!

53.       Have a bathroom again!

54.       Work on routines to make life smoother

55.       Update my address and birthday books

56.       Convert old movies to DVD – relive the memories!

57.       Have an organised Christmas I enjoy!

58.       Decrapify my home – bless others with my excess!

59.       Let go of the baby stuff

60.       Create a ‘creative haven’ for myself

61.       Decorate Celeste’s room

62.       Make a jewellery hanger

63.       Spend time making things pretty

Family and kids

64.       Bake and make interesting lunches for my children

65.       Spend more time playing!

66.       Make icecream sundaes

67.       Do jigsaw puzzles and play board games on a rainy afternoon

68.       Play hide and seek!

69.       Make glittery play dough

70.       Invent a character and make up stories

71.       Play practical jokes

72.       Take a family trip to somewhere new

73.       Go ice skating

74.       Say “I love you” more!

75.       Go to the movies in my PJ’s with the kids

76.       Go bowling

77.       Visit AQWA

78.       Go to Esperance to visit Nanna

79.       Do craft projects together

80.       Go to penguin island!

81.       Record us singing songs we love

82.       Foot print butterflies

83.       Blow bubbles!

84.       Go and feed the ducks

85.       A family dinner somewhere new

86.       Go on a picnic

87.       Renovate and redecorate the cubby house

88.       Sleep in the cubby one night

89.       Toast marshmallows and tell spooky stories by a fire

90.       Go to the beach!

91.       Volunteer at scouts

For my health and fitness

92.       Join the gym

93.       Learn to do the splits

94.       Give up cola

95.       Drink tea

96.       Drink water

97.       Get a massage

98.       Run 5kms

99.       Take care of my skin

100.        Grow food!

101.        Green juices!

102.        Go swimming

103.        Get a pap smear – living the dream!

104.        Create a meditation practice

105.        Create a yoga practice

106.        Give up resistance to taking my medicine

107.        Reach a comfortable weight.

Money and Career

108.        I want minions!

109.        Earn Money

110.        Sell on ebay ($10 made so far!)

111.        Save my $2 coins

112.        A regular Lifeline shift

113.        Start a business from home

114.        Make something worth selling

115.        Publish my book!

116.        Pay something off!

117.        Make decisions about my future study!

118.        Write something I get paid for!

119.        Make money from Nutrimetics

120.        Pursue speaking engagements

121.        Release my fear of money

Feel Goods

122.       Become an organ donor

123.       Send a “just because” gift to someone special

124.       Donate blood

125.       Volunteer at school

126.       Keep chalk in my bag and write love notes to the world

127.       Pay a total stranger a compliment

128.       Practice tonglen

129.       Buy lunch for someone who needs it

130.       Smile at strangers in the street

Just for me!

131.       Sit alone in the sun and think

132.       Sit alone in the star light and think

133.       Wear jeans!

134.       Have a bowl of pretty crystals - healing crystals

135.       Burn more candles or incense

136.       Hang windchimes

137.       Paint my nails more

138.       Make new friends & renew old friendships (Already underway!)

139.       Journal my romances

140.       Create a dream board  DONE!!! Upcoming blog post!

141.       Write a bucket list

142.       Write a travel bucket list or blog for my travel dreams!

143.       Become more assertive! Keep growing those gonads!

144.       Expand my intuition

145.       Celebrate my 40^th birthday

146.       Listen to more podcasts

147.       Be more grateful!

148.       Make my last wishes known

149.       Listen to the radio – stop being such a mushroom to the world

150.       Deepen my relationships

151.       Write my baby’s birth stories

152.       Spend days being crafty – to hell with what I “should” be doing!

153.       Expand my music library

154.       Get my glasses fixed

155.       Wear perfume
156.    Visit my tree

Here's to checking a lot more off this list this year!  I'm so keen!  

February is the New January!

As the clean slate of 2014 lies there before me, I'm filled with eager anticipation of what I can achieve this year.  I'm filled to overflowing with zest to just get going and DO!  I want to make wonderful things happen this year!

But there is a problem..

3 problems actually...

They are called, my children.

Now don't get me wrong. I love them to pieces, and I wouldn't change having them for anything in this world.  Or the next.  They are my reason. (And sometimes my undoing... LOL)

I have reached the conclusion however, that summer school holidays and that urge to get the New Year off on the right foot, are incredibly and completely incompatible!

My urge to dive into MY year and follow MY aspirations, is regularly thwarted by, "I'm bored," "I'm hungry," "Mama! He won't leave me alone" and a myriad of minor child induced dramas.  Spilled milk, lost items, endless laundry piles, first aid incidents, cartoon reruns, toy strewn living areas and aaarrrrggghhhh!!!  I am frequently left feeling frustration and impatience instead of eager and excited.

On the flip side, while I'm struggling to find scraps of time to devote to MY year, or irritated that I can not, my children are vying for my attention or zoning out in front of the TV or xBox.  They are missing out on precious holiday time with their mother.

We are missing out on precious holiday time TOGETHER!

So, I have declared that February is the new January!

What point is there to waste time struggling to make MY New Year great, just because the calendar says it is time to start fresh!  Especially at the expense of making our school holidays less enjoyable!
Why can't February, when school returns, be the beginning of MY year?

When my babies go back to school I will blissfully submerge myself into my dreams and projects for 2014.  I will let my imagination fly and fill the blank canvas of this year.

But until then, I am focusing on children.  January needs to be about them.  I'm easing up on myself as a woman with her own interests  AND as a mother.  I'm giving myself permission to start MY year when it is most convenient for ME!  In so doing, I'm allowing myself space to enjoy my babies, work on ways that will set up our year together as a family and doing MY PRIMARY JOB of being a Mama.

In 13 days I will take my babies to school, I will get them settled for their year, and I will come home and dive into mine.  For now though, its all about fun, school preparation and loving time with one another.

I feel so much lighter in my heart and head with this excision in place.  The New Year pressure is lifted.

Start where you are and do what's right for you.  A calendar and social perception should not dictate how things should happen.  You're allowed to bend the rules and make them fit to you.

Goodbye 2013!

My family

And just like that... It is 2014!

I feel like I blinked and missed the end of 2013!  What happened???

Whatever!  I am here now, and it is time to wrap up the old and ring in the new!

For the most part 2013 was SPARKLING!  Just as I intended it to be!

But oh boy, 2014... You had better watch out!  I have plans for you!  You are going to be huger, exquisite and more luminous than 2013 ever was!  Mostly because 2013 taught me so much! I now know the power that I have make it so!  And I can't wait to wield that power over you, my pretty 2014!

In years prior to 2013 I didn't feel I had much power at all.  I was managing life with, or recovering from postnatal depression.  My husband was assaulted at work and became unemployed as a result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  He then experienced his own dark nights of depression.  Life really was a struggle for many many years.  I went from disaster to disaster, moment to moment.  I existed rather than lived.  And existing didn't have any real colour to it besides grey, and greyer.

I searched so many times for a way out of my existence.  I desperately wanted to colour in all the spaces and really feel whole again.  Or was it, really feel ME again?  whatever "me' was.  It had been so long I had no clue about that!  But searching for a way out was so hard.  From time to time I would encounter a wonderful light beam of knowledge in author, a webinar, a visionary, sometimes even my friends. But in the end, they were just pinpricks of light breaking through the thick blanket of grey hanging over my family and me.

Then, in January of 2013, a miraculous health scare occurred.  I am already legally blind. I have been since birth.  But suddenly my eye appeared 'different' to look at.  A thick white arc was visible through in my pupil.  I knew that my lens was a little dislocated back in high school.  But as that didn't affect my sight, it didn't really affect my life.  But now, the question was out there... What if it dislocated entirely?

Not knowing anything about such things, because I never needed to, the wait to see my ophthalmologist was a little daunting.  It took 4 months.  During that time, I wondered just what my already poor sight disintegrating into nothing, could mean for me?  One thing for sure, I was scared.  I feared not losing my sight, for I know many 'blind' people (blinder than my legally blind status) and they get along just fine. I am aware of incredible technologies and aids to help daily living.  I am already a user of audio books, can read braille and use a white cane... But what I did fear was losing access to photographs, being able to see my children's faces, the independence of reading just about anything without total dependence on aids or others, losing the dream of 'seeing' the colours of fall in Canada... So many things that real blindness would steal from me... If it was to be my future.  Was it?

Well in April of 2013 I found out from my dear ophthalmologist that no, I was indeed not going to go 'blind'.  In fact my dislocated lens was already slipped so far out of the path of sight that I wasn't even using it!!! Who knew?

Well, me... NOW!  :-)

But, during those months of not knowing, I rode the emotional roller coaster of 'what if?'  Tears, tantrums, sleeplessness, anger, questions and gratefully a miraculous RESOLVE!  I decided that if my sight was to suffer more then I'd go all out and do as much as I could while I had what I had!  Why not?  What was there to lose, besides opportunities?

So with this mindset I tackled 2013 with my word SPARKLE to live by!  I think I did rather well...

My highlights...

• I participated in the Step up for MS. I raised $1133 for the event!
• I took up belly dancing! I even performed on stage! (Now if a belly dance costume doesn't sparkle, I don't know what does!)
• I got brave and started THIS BLOG! Although it is humble, it is here!
• I gave yoga a try and loved it!
• I undertook the training to become a Lifeline Telephone Crisis Supporter.
• I bought myself a sparkly new bicycle and plucked up the courage to ride it! (It had been about 15 years since I had been on a bike!)
• I wrote an article that was published in an online magazine! (Depepi Magazine)
• We had family photographs taken by Rainbow Farm Photography!
• Finding colour and joy in raising my children became easier.
• I regained control of a large gaping personal flaw that was holding me back... (For now this flaw will remain nameless except to say that it's colour is a ugly shade of green. I may write about it one day... I may not...)
• I became the mama of 3 little bunnies
• We visited my family for New Year, I saw my Nanna. (<3 my Nanna!)
• Redecorated our living area.

I am pretty proud of my achievements!

I believe, I would have had a successful year regardless of the threat to my sight and the resulting mindset shift.  I was already in the process of a shift before we noticed anything was wrong.  

Shimmy on!

My Fantastic Step Up For MS Team!

In the middle of 2012, whilst searching for a way out of my bleak life, I encountered Leonie Dawson of the Amazing Biz and Life Academy, one of those pinpricks of light shining through the gloom.  I signed up to the academy because a friend was, and because there was a special on... LOL what other reason does one sign up to things for when they are in perpetual gloomsville?  My membership sat for months untouched.  Then I decided to get involved in a 'circle'.  A forum of like-minded women from all over the world, in very different circumstances.  But it was a blessing to me.  Everyone was very encouraging and the group was relaxed and comforting.  And we all decided to undertake Leonie's Create Your Amazing Biz and Life Workbook and Calendars together!  It was inspiring to dream as a collective rather than as an isolated unit.  It really was!

Much of what I desired to achieve and my intention to do it in a way that SPARKLED was already in place.  The issue with my vision gave me the final push to make it happen!

Bunny & Rosie

Rocky

But now... as I sit in the first few days of 2014 I feel so much more confident and certain that I can make miracles happen in my life.  I will do more, see more, be more... I know now that I do not have to cower to my old fears. I can stand up to them, face them and even raise the bar and make them more of a delicious challenge than let them devour me!  

2014... Bring it!!!  I am ready. I am willing and I am able!

Krispy Kreme For MS!

Who feels like some Krispy Kreme Doughnut love in Perth?

I am beginning my fundraising efforts for 2014's Step Up For MS Challenge, right now, with a Krispy Kreme fundraiser.

Orders can be made now until September 27th, via email or through my On Sparkling Wings Facebook Page.  Just send me a message with what you desire, and I will respond to confirm your order and send you my bank details or Paypal details so that you can pay.  All payments must be made by September 27th.

Your delicious, delectable, doughy love bombs will be delivered via airplane to Perth on October 13th, where we will arrange for you to collect or us to drop off! :-)

So exciting!!!

One dozen of Krispy Kreme's Classic Doughnuts cost $21 or One dozen Mixed Krispy Kreme's cost $25.

All money raised go to my Step Up For MS Challenge fundraising efforts.  :-)

Yes, I'll be climbing Central Park again next year!  1103 stairs await me... May 4th 2014!  Bring it on!  I have a lofty goal of $3000 to raise this year!  Please help me do this and support people with MS!

Of course, if you are not in Perth, Western Australia, and can not partake in my yummy Krispy Kreme Fundraiser, please feel free to support me by making a donate directly to my Step Up For MS page.

All of your support is greatly appreciated.  It would be wonderful to see a world free of MS sometime very soon!

Now get your order in!

My Week In Review!

The Weekend...

The best laid plans can sometimes go pear-shaped.  We were going on a day trip to Busselton, but delays caused us to reschedule. We did have a busy weekend though, nonetheless.

• Talked to my daddy on the phone.
• Went to Kmart - bought bicycle locks and kids clothes
• Went to Coles - bought plastic containers for the kitchen
• Went to Gosnells Markets - got eyebrows waxed and bought fresh fruit and veg
• Went to Bunnings - bought casters, plants and the kids had a play!  Drooled a lot.
• Cleaned out the bunny cages
• Reorganised our pantry!
• Caught up on washing
• Dyed my hair
• Enjoyed the kids giving their Papa, Father's Day gifts in bed
• Woke up to find a missing bunny! I guess I didn't close the cage properly, so after some hunting, we found him.  Then after some coaxing, I caught him and returned him to his hutch.
• Got ready to go to Busselton
• Started driving and realised I'd left a bag of gear behind that we needed & one child had no shoes! Decided to reschedule.
• Came home and had bacon and eggs
• Enjoyed a nap
• Spent some time researching bicycle accessories
• Went for a ride with the family
• Went out for dinner

The Week

• Took the Daisybug on a bus and train journey to the city to collect some important papers
• Caught up with the folding
• Went to belly dancing class
• Did a ton of online browsing for bike gear, belly dancing gear, boots, candles etc
• Took a hot lunch to school for the boy people whilst letting the Daisybug jump in muddy puddles!
• Did my e-learning for Lifeline, Mental Health
• Did some stair climbing at the train station while waiting for a friend! <puff puff>
• Bought shoes online
• Went to Lifeline for face to face training
• Slept a lot
• My bike trailer arrived!!!
• Spent an afternoon with my brother and his family at the park!
• Had coffee and biscuits with my Jenfriend
• Took hot lunch to the boy-people at school again - 10 mins on the bike!
• Voted
• Posted letters
• The children had friends over after school
• Took the kids to the shop on the bikes - NOT DOING THAT AGAIN ANY TIME SOON!
• Home made fast food - chips and nuggets!
• Wrote this post because I couldn't sleep

Hopes for this weekend...

• Clean up the house
• Clean up the patio
• Do some study
• Get casters on the rabbit hutches
• Do some blogging

My Week In Review

My Weekend... Nice!

• Slept in until MIDDAY on Saturday
• Posted My Week in Review
• Wrote Day 18 and Day 19 posts for the 30 Day Blog Challenge
• Ate bacon and eggs with grilled tomato - delish
• Collected the new bunny and got all 3 settled in a new location on the patio
• Played the mean-mummy card on my naughty boys. Will they get the xbox back?

My Week

• Got swamped in the laundry department, still floundering!
• Blogged Day 20 of the 30 Day Blog Challenge
• Had coffee with my brother and sister-in-law
• Belly dancing class - SHIMMY!!!  Happiness is, a new coin belt!
• Penned a post for Day 21 of the 30 Day Blog Challenge even though there was no set topic
• Enjoyed coffee with my Jenfriend! <3
• Had a bit of an emotional meltdown over hormones and life
• Spent an afternoon talking and snuggling with one of my boys
• Baked cookies from my freezer dough stash
• Moved the bunny houses out of the rain - 2nd relocation this week!
• Completed the e-training for my Lifeline course - topic, addiction
• Wrote Day 22 and Day 23 posts for the 30 Day Blog Challenge
• Bought new containers for my kitchen reorganisation!
• Got back into the school baking swing of things with a double batch of pikelets and a single batch of white choc-chip pikelets. 
• Baked pizza scrolls for lunch.
• Walked an extra school run to deliver forgotten library books to the big boy
• Became the proud owner of a bicycle for the first time in 18 years!
• Had a parent teacher meeting
• Watched my little boy's class host the school assembly!

Hopes for the weekend...

• A trip to Rainbow Farm for photos in the flowers
• Get my eyebrows done
• Organise my kitchen
• Get some sleep!

Secure Home and Adventurous Trips

Eeek, I've very quickly fallen behind.  That was NOT my intention but somehow time just slipped between my fingers.  Oh well... Catch up time! :-)  I'm not skipping any of this section, because I want to explore it fully.

Today's prompt... Or Day 23's...

What is your level of location independence and your Nomadic Quotient?

When I wrote about my perfect day I was surrounded by comforts of a home, family, friends, security of work, community and a hint of freedom each day.  I did not envision a day travelling as 'perfect', although it so easily could be.

I could have written about waking up in a chalet somewhere in Europe, riding my bicycle to a bakery to buy fresh bread and cheese to eat by the river or a canal.  I could have imagined riding a horse to the edge of Lake Louise and enjoying a picnic in the autumn sunshine.  I could have envisioned walking through markets in India, or Brazil, or Vietnam...  Focusing on a visit to the bubbling mud of Rotorua, Disneyland in Florida, or Lapland to visit Santa!  An elephant ride in Thailand, watching giraffes in the wild somewhere in Africa...

All of these could and would be perfect.

But I surprised myself with a story of contentment at home.  :-)

This does not mean anything when it comes to my urge to travel, find adventure and see the world.  It simply means I want a secure home base to return to.

Ideally, I think I would travel 2 or 3 times a year, a month or two at a time - returning "home" in between to nest and work and recharge for the next destination.

I know that when I have travelled before, I LOVED it.  I felt like a different person on my own and away from ome.  I didn't have to 'be' who everyone knew me to be.  I could BE anyone I liked, do anything I wanted and no one around me would question if it was out of character.  I was free to experiment, to take risks, to manage the fall out if things went pear-shaped and to grow in new directions.

Just talking about it makes me feel giddy.

Some of the best experiences I had whilst travelling where the pear-shaped ones. Certainly, at the time those moments were emotion charged and often chaotic.  But in the softer vision of hindsight, those same experiences were enriching, hilarious and I wouldn't change them.  Every one had a silver lining. And silver linings foster gratitude.

So what is my Nomadic Quotient?  My Propensity for Adventure?

I think in years gone by, although I was experimenting with who I was when I was free, travelling solo...  I was not as courageous with the boundaries as I could have been.  In the past 2 or 3 years I feel I have had a big leap into daringness.  I think its something to do with getting older, wiser, and over giving a shit what people might think.  Although it felt I was free when I travelled in my mid 20's, I wasn't as brave as I feel now.

So with that in mind... I see myself far more adventurous than I was before.  Where in the past I'd have turned down the opportunity to swim with dolphins because I might look silly in a wet suit and I am not an athletic swimmer, today I'd get in there without the damn wetsuit if I had to!  Where I'd have shied away from climbing a tower or a bridge or riding a bike or a horse to see something unmissable, because I don't do exercise...  Well now I'd just do it and be focused on the sight and see the strenuous part as good for me.  Where I'd hesitate to talk to strangers then, I'd just do now.  What's the worst that can happen?  Making a fool of yourself can be funny!  Making friends can be priceless.  You'll either come out with one of the two outcomes... :-)

I can feel my feet itching!

br />