Beyond the Edge of Adventure

Soooooooo......my latest news is that I've started a 'no yelling' promise with myself. Yeah. I know. How long will it take me to get back to where I was (a feral, out-of-control cranky unpleasanty person)? I don't know. But I do know that I'm tired of behaving so badly in front of my children. It's so sobering when I see them get cranky with their sibling in exactly the same way I do. So, on Tuesday - I got sick of me yelling and decided enough was enough. No yelling to get them to school on time. I walked up to their rooms if I needed them, spoke clearly and made them look at my face when I told them something. It worked really well! My blood pressure was lower, I reckon! I had to talk myself down a few times. I raised my voice a couple of times, but I still didn't resort to full on spit-flying ranting. Since then, I've only slipped up once. Joseph was told to put the compost for the chooks through the cage and DO NOT OPEN THE CAGE DOOR. So, h

Had to share this post by Robyn over at 'Slightly More Depth Than a Teaspoon' about the supposed cruelty of goat races in Roma. Awesome - go Robyn!! Slightly more depth than a teaspoon: Because people from the country are obviously stup... : I live in rural Australia. I am not a real 'country' girl. I have only ridden a horse once when I was a little girl, and that was strictly i...

So, I bought this book a few months ago. I bought it because although it's full of diet tips some of which I can't necessarily use, it also contains information on fitness, hormones and sex. Since it's written by two mums (sisters - Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett), one with eleven children and one with five, I thought that if they have tips for fitness, general healthy stuff and of course, sex - then the tips will be practical, easy and most importantly of all: they will work! These women are serious about being healthy and have made a LOT of mistakes, which they freely admit. Personally, I think that makes them ideal people to listen to, rather than someone who hasn't. I'm not going to review the book except to say that every mum needs to purchase one! You can get a copy from The Book Depository for around $30 delivered. I just wanted to share a few things from the book that I found amazing. I'm going to talk about sex again, so just scroll down past the

So, I've had a think about this post. And after chatting with a brother in Christ, I've decided to remove most of the letter that I wrote to Julia Gillard. It had a bitter spirit and I regret it. I apologise. However, I have realised that my issue with Julia Gillard is not just her government, but her claim that Tony Abbott is a misogynist. As a survivor of childhood abuse at the hands of a real misogynist, I am really upset about that. I've forgiven Ms Gillard and hold no grudge - but the fact remains that Tony Abbott is not a misogynist. That was the issue I was aiming to address. So, here's an excerpt of my letter. This is the issue that rocked me more than any other with our Prime Minister. "So much was made of you being a female. Our first female Prime Minister. But you are someone who has affairs with married men. That's not pro-woman. You support the brutal killing of unborn infants up until the day they're born - half of them female. That'

These days, it seems that there's a rather hostile attitude towards christians. And in some cases, perhaps this is warranted. Roald Dahl, in his auto-biography, 'Boy', recalls when at boarding school a young student was punished severely for a minor issue. The principal handing out the unjust punishment talked at school assemblies about mercy and love but turned around and showed no mercy towards a young student who had committed a misdemeanor. Roald Dahl goes on to say that the principal at his boarding school went on to become the Archbishop of Canterbury - the head of the Anglican church. That principal was bestowed with the most wonderful gift. No, it wasn't the ability to teach well. Obviously. Not his upright teachings or moral standards. It wasn't his wife or family or his money. He was given the gift of free will, given to him by the Creator - God. This principal took God's gift of free will - that is the right to choose - and decided somehow that admi

I don't like days like this. When you come home from school drop-offs to a few loads of wash to hang out and quite a few administrative tasks. You knock down all the jobs because the toddler goes for her nap early and the baby miraculously sleeps. You manage to co-ordinate the baby, the toddler and lunch so that you score a whole hour of down time. You feel good! Feeling confident, loving the hard work. You've done heaps of jobs and only have one thing left to do: prepare dinner. After weighing up your great arvo rest (during which you can't sleep, but do manage to lie still) against the trauma of trying to cook dinner with five children swinging around your house, you decide to risk cooking dinner whilst the children are at home rather than race to prepare it before you pick them up from school. Then it hits. You arrive at school, get the toddler and baby out and carefully lock the car - leaving the boot wide open. Not just any boot - a gigantic van boot *sigh*

We've taken a few big steps in our family lately! Neve, who turned two late last month, toilet trained herself a week or so before her birthday. Yup. I didn't do a thing besides help her with her pants and undies and shriek with excitement when she actually did a wee in the potty! It's a relief to have one child easy to train after Denna and Joseph being a bit more difficult to train - for reasons that aren't necessarily their fault! So that's exciting. Joseph officially started kindy this year. He's almost four. He LOVES kindy and loves to learn. He's also started beatboxing. I kid you not. He's copied his Dad and now he walks around like a little rap artist, beating away using only his mouth. He does it without really thinking, so he stops whenever we take a video! My eldest two children, Matthew and Denna are in the same class this year. I've decided, after a long period of not being sure how it'd go, to like it. I like that they'v