Chocolate biscuits

This is a chocolate biscuit (cookie for all you non-Aussie's).

It's a gluten free, dairy free mint chocolate biscuit, but that's beside the point. If I could eat a real Mint Slice without spending the rest of the afternoon in the bathroom I totally would.

I'm having a shit day. I've been up since just before 3am dealing with kid issues. And I wanted a chocolate biscuit with my lunch.

And so I'm having one. It's not a 'treat', it's not a 'cheat', it's not a 'guilty pleasure' - it's a biscuit. And it's all mine because no one else likes mint 😛

I still had my veggie-packed lunch. One biscuit isn't going to make or break my day. I may even have another one if I feel like it after dinner. It will slot in quite fine with my everyday normal balanced diet. Nothing is off limits (unless it makes me sick, obviously)

This is balance and moderation.
No guilt required.
No shame felt.
And I'm not going for a run or hitting the gym to 'work it off'.

It's just a biscuit.

Juice fasts

I was quite happily listening to my podcast playlist during lunch.

Until one of the newer podcasts started talking about doing juice fasts.

Delete.

Which is annoying because I had quite liked that one.

But no, juice fasts are not a necessary part of life. And they have no place in mine.

And yes, I am quite brutal when it comes to social media.

Back squatting over bodyweight

This morning I squatted 46kg (101lb).

Yes, I am a teeny tiny person, so that is 6kg-ish over what I weighed the last time I stepped on the scale.

I'm feeling slightly badass at the moment. Just saying.

No, leave my boy alone... or in other words, the dilemma of the parent of a sporty child.

It's a little weird standing on the sidelines watching your kid play footy and then hearing parents/coaches from the other team telling them to 'go for number 2 - watch him!'

My boy is number 2.

Leave him alone.

Gahhh... he does love his football. Now if only he'd have a growth spurt some time soon...

Thankful for friends

Who take your teenager for a sleepover.

And bring your other child home from youth group.

That made for a much more relaxing night than expected!

Making time for others

I took time out this morning to go to my boy's awards assembly. I knew he was getting a certificate for being age champion at the swimming carnival and I know he gets a kick out of having mum or dad come to things like that.

So, for him, I sat through a very long primary school assembly. I even managed to get a couple of dodgy pics of him and a couple of friend's kids. Which I then quickly texted to their parents who I knew were either busy or at work.

I love the smile my kid gets when he sees me walk in the door, especially when he isn't really expecting it. His whole face lights up :)

I like squats

There, I said it.

This time last year I was loving deadlifts. But this year, I like squats.

And this morning I squatted 41kg for 3 sets of 10 reps.

That's over bodyweight. Which is awesomeness and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy :)

Because I like that sort of thing lol

Almost done with the Hypertrophy stages and nearly ready to move on to Strength & Power (I follow the New Rules of Lifting Supercharged program) for the second time... very excited to see how much stronger I am this year!

And then I shall pull back to basics and lighter weights again and slowly work my way back up...

I can't lie, I do love lifting weights.

I'm not a power lifter, I'm not an Olympic lifter, I'm not a cross fitter and I'm not a body builder. I'm just a little mum who likes to lift heavy things in her garage for fun.

Happy Birthday to me!

37 years old and still hanging in there lol

A friend took me for coffee this morning and I've made my cake and have a yummy dinner planned.

I may also have stopped at Liquorland on the way home from coffee and bought cider ;)

Happy Birthday to me!! :D

A sporty little dude

Today the small dude competed in his very first Christian Schools cross country carnival. He went on the bus with the other kids from his school to Ipswich and did his very best.

He was quite nervous, but I knew he would enjoy himself.

And he did :) He came 37th out of over 100 kids in his age group, which I think is pretty awesome.

Now he's asked me to train him to get ready for the athletics carnival and so that he can do better in the cross country next year... I guess we'll give it a go :)

Happy Mother's Day

To all the other mothers who just did everything they usually do on every other day.

Well, I did cook crumpets for the kids this morning. That was something different.

And they did give me a couple of little pressies - some lavender and a lovely framed picture from the boy and a Lincraft voucher from the girl (she bought it all by herself!).

Four loads of washing later with cleaned bathrooms and toilets and laundries and a vacuumed downstairs... I'm ready for a new day.

A loooonnnngg day, but a hell of a view

We left home a little after 7.30am this morning. We got home a little after 6pm.

That's what you call a long day ;)

Out to Kalbar for the boy to play footy. He played the first two quarters for his team and then subbed to the other team to make up numbers and scored their one and only goal - I know a few of the older boys on his team had been having discussions about not playing their best while on the other team, and I asked him about it. He shrugged and said it's no fun if you don't try your best, regardless of which team you are on.

And that made my heart swell with pride.

Unfortunately he also copped a footy boot to the knuckles which saw the end of his game (he broke his hand last year, so he's a little extra sensitive about it), a little bruising, but it's all good.

But he got man of the match :) For putting everything into it and doing his very best.

Afterwards we went looking at properties to buy. One with a lake view and one with 360 degree views of the Brisbane Valley.

Both really spectacular, so a lot of thinking and research to be done.

We need somewhere to go for weekends where the kids can run around and explore and we can have some peace and quiet before heading back to the work grind again. Something unique just for us.

We'll find it.

Brisbane by night

We had dinner out tonight with the IL's at South Bank.

It's a nice warm night, so we went for a little walk afterwards so the boy could go to the playground.

He spent the entire time on the 'mouse wheel' and came off sweaty and stinky and with a slight rubber burn to the elbow from not jumping off the wheel fast enough ;)

A little family train trip is always fun when the kids are in a good mood.

Cleanse, Detox, 'Clean Eating', Wrap, Shake... rattle and roll??

Well that could be catch-phrase heavy title if ever I saw one.

Let me spell this out for everyone.

On my social media, if you use the word 'cleanse' as something you encourage... instant unfollow.

'detox'... unfollow

'wrap'... unfollow

'clean eating'.... I may ignore, but that phrase grates me up the wrong way so badly. Using the word 'clean' suggests that some foods may be 'dirty', which is basically the same type of language as using 'good' and 'bad' to describe food, and reeks of superiority and food elitism.

It's.Just.Food.


If clean eating to you means eating mostly whole foods (fruits, veggies, meat etc), then that's cool - but you don't need to use the terminology of it being 'clean'. That basically describes the majority of the food I eat, but it's not 'clean'... it's just food. And if eating a doughnut means that you have somehow 'failed' or 'cheated' with your clean eating... well that's just wrong. There is no failing or cheating - life happens and It's.Just.Food.


Now if you use the word "shake"...

A "shake" can be any number of things. A protein drink for those who have difficulty getting enough into their daily diet - cool.

A weightloss drink? Not so cool. Particularly if it is joined to the consumer having to consistently buy a particular brand on an ongoing basis at an inflated price and is somehow linked to their chance of 'success'.

And don't get me started on 'juicing' or whatever. Throw stuff in a blender, mix it all together and drink it if you enjoy it. It's not magical it's just another way to get some extra fruit and veggies into your day. I like to eat my fruit & vege, someone else may like to drink them... cool. But neither is better than the other.

And there endeth my rant for the day.

Now that is out of my head, I can get back to work ;)

May the Fourth be with you...

Star Wars day... That was cool, so I decided to screw with the husband's head and make the Vulcan salute while saying it...

He groaned.

Probably didn't help that I can't actually make the sign - my fingers just don't work that way lol


But the business announcement is now made public.

I'm shutting down my retail store as of 31 May.

Huuuuuuuggggeeeee relief here as I've been struggling to stay on top of things for a while.

This way I'm still doing wholesale orders (and getting some income), but it's not as many hours each day and I can have more time to focus on the kids and eventually study.

And maybe I'll even get to read some books or, I don't know... just chill out properly for once (ok, that may be a pipedream, but I'll work on it)

What day is it again?

My routine and schedule is all out of whack.

But I have work to do...

I've been mulling  over a big business-related decision for a while and I finally decided what to do. I feel excited, but I know I have to get through a hard patch first. That's muting the excitement somewhat ;)

Public Holiday

Two public holidays in a row.

Add that to the student free day the kids had at the beginning of the term and they've only had one Monday at school so far this term.

We are going to the movies though - Captain America Civil War... that's a bonus!

All day in bed... hello new month.

Well yeah, I have spent pretty much all day in bed. I fell asleep while eating lunch. Sitting up. On the couch, watching Landline.

I did manage half a load of washing though... and I helped the boy child piece together one of the racing-car tracks (seriously who comes up with those 'instructions'??) and supervised the older one while she finished off an English assignment.

And my bed is calling again.