from somewhere in my imagination

Bluescreened

On Thursday night I turned on the laptop to do a few things.

The laptop, unfortunately, had other ideas.

I was greeted with the failure to boot message, repeated attempts to repair were unsuccessful which left us resigned to the fact that our old faithful laptop had finally died.

Steven was quick to pull out two other laptops, hop on the internet and order a replacement.  He’d obviously been researching it for months.  I don’t weigh in on purchases of electronic things usually, he’s a gadget man and knows what he wants.  Me, I’ll just be happy to have left hand shift and control keys I can use again and computer speed that is faster than something powered by two aging mice.

Until the replacement has arrived and my clever husband has retrieved the unbacked up portion of our hard drive and installed a few key programs blogging might be a bit sparse.  Frustratingly I had several posts planned out, but photos and all are frozen inside the old machine for the moment.

Have a happy week, hopefully I’ll get a chance to pop by.

Tatum xx

My New 23

Age is a funny thing.

Chantelle, AKA Fat Mum Slim, posted last week about only being as old as you feel, and I couldn’t agree more.

It’s my birthday in just over a week so, naturally, it’s a time for reflection about the year behind me and the new year ahead

For the longest time I think I’ve felt somewhere around 23 in my head.  At times I am stunned at the realisation we have a nearly 10 year old.  Where did that time go?

Music always takes me back to years earlier and suddenly I’m 18 again in my mind. 

When I am standing in crowd, much like I was on the train this morning, I often wonder about how old I appear to other people.

Do I look like a nearly 34 year old mother of 4, wife of 11 ½ years, mining engineer, blogger and crafter who loves running, reading, travelling, fashion, good food, good company and generally enjoys being happy.  Or do I look like someone else?

When I read Chantelle’s post I commented that I feel about 23 in my head.  I have for a long time.  I often find it difficult to assimilate the fact that I am a grownup person, responsible for 4 little people.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge it in the slightest, it is part of my core and I love it, it’s where we want to be right now.  Sometimes it’s just hard to comprehend how it could have possibly happened so fast.

The funny thing is, in reflection it occurred to me that I actually don’t feel 23 anymore. 

I’m an entirely different person to who I was when I was 23.  In essence the main two differences are that I know myself much better than I did 10 years ago and, probably as a result of that, I am a much more confident person.

I have made mistakes, I’ve learned and grown from them.  I’m certain I will make more but I hope that I will learn and grow from them too.

I’ve become more compassionate and understanding of others, I am good at it even, my favourite ever manager told me that once.  It made me feel proud.  I have a better handle on when to offer my opinion and when to keep my mouth shut and just listen.  I don’t worry a whole lot about how other people view me, I’m not sure if that is entirely a good thing or not?  It's just that I am who I am; I know that I am an open and genuinely giving person. 

I’m living my life, not just simply putting one foot in front of the other to just get through from one day to the next, there are days when that is a challenge, although thankfully they are few. 

I’m a happier, more determined, more positive, busier and more giving version of the person I was at 23.  I like who I am at 33 so I think it's time to replace the 23 year old in my head with the 33 year old version of myself.

I am excited for the year ahead, with more travel, new challenges and plenty of ideas and dreams to work on.  I’m going to jump in and tackle it head on.

Do you feel content with the person you are right now?  Do you 'feel' the same age that you are?

Tatum xx

In Need of a Fun Injection? #funinjection

I am.

The Week 8 exhaustion is setting in.  The kids are tired.  I'm tired of making lunches and breaking up squabbles over silly little things.  Unfortunately it's only Week 7.

We are still settling into the big changes, each week is a little different to the last.  Some weeks are steps forward, others are steps back. 

I'm feeling a touch responsible for the collective kiddie exhaustion, I do the wake up call at 6.30 three mornings a week and right now the sun hasn't even started to peek at that time.  I am really enjoying my job but I am pining for my kidlets a bit.  I need to be more aware of making the most of the afternoons we spend together...that can be tough when they are tired.

It's not just me that's in need of a fun injection the kids are too.

So, I'm pledging to inject an extra bit of fun into every day.  To take 5 minutes here and there and be silly instead of sensible.  I'm going to drag Steven in on the act too...kicking and screaming if I have to.  That man has been way to sensible lately.

If it's something I think twice about doing I'm going to make the effort to do it anyway.

I took a baby step today and made watermelon stars for 'brain food'...I didn't have time really, but I did it anyway.  Thankyou Pinterest for some late night inspiration.

Tomorrow I've got some special Lemon Meringue cupcakes for their lunchboxes.  I think homemade pizza and family singstar/move/guitarhero might be just the ticket for Friday night.  Saturday night we are heading to the Australian Swimming Championships. 

The weather is supposed to be perfect on Sunday so a stroll along the beach and a perhaps a picnic would just be perfect.  I think there will be a day next week that is perfect for fairy bread sandwiches (like the ones I packed on valentines day) and a little after school treasure hunt in the garden just for a bit of fun. 

I'm not sure how much fun Tuesday will be, I have a 5.45am flight...I really can't see any fun side to that...but I'm sure I can find something :)

I'm going to be more unplanned and spontaneous (much like this idea), smile more, make art after dinner, laugh lots, eat dessert before dinner...those sorts of things :)

In between there will be the 'sensible' stuff like school, work, washing, cleaning and grocery shopping but all in all I'm going to be focusing on injecting more fun into our days.

Are you feeling in need of a fun injection too?  Why not join me for the next week injecting a little more fun into your days?  I'll be sharing photos from the week on my facebook page and tweeting with the #funinjection hashtag, I'd love for you to join me and share the extra bits of fun you inject into the week ahead.

Tatum xx