Happy New Year!!!

Oh my, how quickly time flies, another year already!

Last year turned out to be a great year for our little family. Some of the highlights have been:

• Our dreams of land, animals, growing our own food and space for the boys to run and get dirty and make noise came true when we found our wonderful new home. 
• Continuing to live my dream of being at home with the children. I am so thankful every day for the choices Matt and I have made as a couple that allow us to give this wonderful opportunity to our children
• We finally got chickens! This only just snuck into 2010, we picked them up on the 30th December!
• Strengthening and building relationships with some wonderful women in our new town. Moving to a new place is pretty scary, but I've made such a great little group of friends. They are so supportive and thoughtful, all our children get on really well and they have been an invaluable part of my adjustment to moving away from my amazing Brisbane family and friends.
• Watching my Mum take an amazing leap out of her comfort zone and travel around India! What a massive culture shock for her, but I'm so proud of her!
• Finally, the most exciting part of 2010, becoming pregnant with our third child!

I'm so looking forward to all the possibilities of a new year and of course meeting our new baby in late May/Early June! Instead of a list of resolutions that are impossible to keep, this year I'm focusing (with the help of some wonderful womenfolk) on just one word. My word for 2011 is:

ACTION!!!!

Action for us to take leaps and do things, instead of just having great ideas.

Action around the house in terms of keeping on top of housework, laundry, yard work etc

Action in taking time out for myself when I feel myself needing it, not when it's too late and I've snapped.

Action with the boys and being present with them.

Action out in the yard, to continue working on our sustainability, adding infrastructure and building more on our plans.

Wishing you all a happy, joyous, productive and enjoyable start to 2011! May our enthusiasm now last all year!

Slightly Taken Aback

Over the past few days this blog has gotten a few more followers and a lot more new readers leaving comments. I absolutely have to say a massive and heartfelt thank you to those of you that have left comments and decided to join up and follow.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and taken aback that people are interested in our little lives and this journey we are on. I love being able to share it with you all and offer a little glimpse into our wonderful, mundane, not-always-exciting lives. We're not off tramping all over the globe (although have pangs of jealousy when others do, my brother is getting ready for 3 weeks in India!), we're not out chaining ourselves to trees or picketing MP's offices (although I've always wanted to have a good demonstrate. I'd love a boob-in or feed-in even more!!!).

We are however, changing our lives and making changes that affect our world from the 'inside' out and I believe that is equally, if not more important than all the protesting and letter writing and grandstanding. If we each live whatever changes we can, surely the collective of all these changes will make a difference? I am daily reminded of Ghandi's quote "Be the change you want to see in the world". Sometimes these changes are small, easy and seemingly insignificant. Other times they are much larger and increasingly difficult. Each has their place and each are important.

So thanks again for the bottom of my heart for sharing this journey with us!

Vic xx

A Day of Journeys Ending Part 1

Today has been a big day, with two big events taking place. For the ease of reading and me typing it all out, I'll post about one today and the other tomorrow!

This afternoon at 2:30, our house in Brisbane settled. We are no longer the owners of a sweet little post war home in a beautiful, quiet street in the leafy suburbs. We will in a month or so be the owners of a new, big home on 2.5 acres in the quiet, leafy country.

I am so relieved that the settlement went off without a problem. I am disappointed that I am so relieved, as I am also full of sadness and happiness and anticipation too.

I am sad because this is our sweet little first home. I am sad because this is the home we brought our two babies home to. It is the home of Elliot's first smile, words, steps, Chirstmas and his big first birthday party. It is the home of Archie's first smile and his newborn loveliness.

I am happy because we have made wonderful memories within those walls, memories that I will forever cherish. I am happy because through living in that house I have made some wonderful friendships.

I am full of anticipation at the next step, our new home. We have lots of plans for the garden and yard of the new house, chickens, an orchard, a bigger and hopefully more productive veg garden. Space for the boys to run and play and make noise without disturbing neighbours at 5:30 in the morning while I hang out the washing!

It has been a day of mixed emotions. Matt brought home some champagne to celebrate, and it was lovely however tinged with sadness.

Time For Some Honesty

This blog is about our journey as a family trying to live simply and mindfully and you can read a bit more about why we are on this journey here. One thing I've not really written about is my own personal journey of moving away from my family and friends. So now, I will, in the interests of keeping this blog honest and not "Oh my gosh, we have the perfect life, look at us!!"

It has been hard. Really hard. We moved here when Elliot had just turned two and Archie was 2 months. We moved from a street in which some of my best friends literally lived within shouting distance (and we often did shout out to each other). We moved from my very supportive parents who we saw a couple of times a week. Elliot did not adjust to moving well, and we've had some really hard days with him. Archie is most definitely not an easy baby. He doesn't sleep, he feeds a lot, he is just very demanding of my time. Which is fine, I'm his Mum, that's what I'm here for. But it is very tiring and draining. Apart from when we visit my parents, or when they come up I have no 'extra' help with the children. I can't leave them with someone and go to the hairdresser, or get a coffee by myself. I feel guilty if I do this on the weekend because I feel like we should be having family time together.

It is getting easier. I still have days that are incredibly difficult, but I think about how far we've come. I think about how I've grown in the past year. I have more confidence in myself and my ability to do this incredible job that is mothering, whether I have family and friends surrounding me or not. I know that if I can get through the past year I will be all the more strong when other difficulties come my way. I've learnt that friendships change and grow.

I've made some wonderful friends here, some of whom I clicked with immediately. You know when you just meet people and you get each other? I am actually having morning tea with some of these ladies tomorrow morning, a very rare outing with friends by myself since Archie was born, in fact I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've left the house without him and done something fun!

So at the moment, that is where I am on this journey. I am learning and growing everyday. Sometimes there is a backwards step, but there are always forward steps too. I'm so thankful that I'm on this road, learning and growing. I'm so thankful that I have wonderful, understanding family and friends.

Thanks Shel, love you and miss you xxx

Smug Satisfaction

In our house the rubbish is Matt's job. Pretty much everything to do with rubbish is all him, taking out the bag, putting the bins on the curb, bringing them in, you know the drill. Everything except putting a new bag in, why is that? (for what it's worth, we reuse plastic shopping bags to line the bin. I think we probably use 2-3 a week. We are always walking a fine line between having no plastic bags for the bin because I absolutely refuse to buy bin liners and most of the time take reuseable bags to do the groceries.) Anyway, I have little to do with the rubbish and that is the way I like it!

This morning however I made a mad dash out to the wheelie bin that was already on the curb, with the last bag from the kitchen. Monday is our rubbish day and Matt normally puts the bins out the evening before. He had done this, but hadn't taken out the last bag from the kitchen because we were up all night with a certain 15 month old who thinks sleep is an optional extra.

As I hurled that last bag in I had to double check that the bin hadn't already been collected. I looked across the road, bin full to overflowing. Same next door. And down the street a bit. The truck had definitely not come, but our bin was less than 1/5 full! The bottom was lucky to be covered! I knew we didn't make much rubbish, but until this morning I hadn't actually seen how little our family of four actually produces! I asked Matt later if today's bin was a 'normal' amount for us, his response "I don't know, the bin is always really light though".

Today was such a validation of one of the reasons why we choose to do what we do. Why making as much of our own food from scratch is a good choice. Why making many of our own cleaning products is a good choice. Why using reuseable products over disposable is a good choice. Why buying in bulk and choosing products with as little packaging as possible is a good choice. Good choices for our health, the environment, our budget, the education of our boys.

I couldn't help but feel proud, and a teeny bit smug! :)

Homemade Spray and Wipe

I have been on the homemade journey for a while now and one of the first cleaning products I started to make myself was this recipe to replace commercial spray and wipe. To be honest, we never really used that much spray and wipe anyway, we'd usually just wipe the benches over with hot soapy water from when we did the dishes. Once Elliot started solids and there was food everywhere, some of which was sticky and gluggy, I realised we needed something that could be used more often than just when we did the dishes!

For most cleaning I simply use bi carb and vinegar but that was really not cutting it on the kitchen benchtops and I wanted something that was simple to use. Sprinkling the benches with bi carb and then spraying the vinegar is too much mucking around (not to mention difficult on a high chair)! I needed something as easy to use as the commercial stuff, easy to make, better on the environment, cheap and that used household ingredients.

After some googling I found this recipe but to be honest, I now can't remember where I found it. I wrote it down on a piece of paper that has been stuck to the noticeboard in the kitchen for about two and a half years. When we moved I packed it in a really special place because I have tried to find on the web since and have failed.

So, this is not my recipe. If it is yours, thank you for sharing it! If it is someone's that you know, can you let me know so I can thank them and give them the kudos they deserve. Other than that I'd like to share it with everyone so we can all be part of the home/green revolution together.

Homemade Spray and Wipe

4 l hot water (just tap is fine, it doesn't need to be boiling)
2 tbls cloudy ammonia
125 ml white vinegar
2 tbls bi carb soda
2-3 drops of essential oil (I use a lot more than this, just a good
glug of Eucalyptus or Tea Tree Oil)
2 tbls dishwashing liquid

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.
Stir to dissolve bi carb. It will fizz up a bit so make sure the bowl is a bit
bigger so the fizz is contained.
Decant into bottles for storage and spray bottle for immediate use.

Use in place of commercial spray and wipe.
Will keep indefinitely.

A Bit of Background

I have always had an interest in the more ‘homey’ things in life; cooking, reading, knitting, gardening, being at home instead of out and about. While I was on maternity leave after the birth of our first child in 2007 I found more time to indulge in the things that I loved. I started making my own bread, knitting woollen nappy covers for his cloth nappies, reading books that I chose rather than those that I had to read for work.

This was also the time that my husband’s work really started to ramp up. He was working long and tiring hours, finishing jobs off over the weekend, taking phone calls from clients earlier and earlier in the morning and then later and later in the evenings. We started to talk about what we really wanted of our lives. Was this it? Was my husband happy at his job? Was I happy with having to return to work when our baby was only 11 months old? We had so much that was good, a lovely little house we were renovating, supportive and loving family close, an amazing group of friends but something was missing. One day my husband came home from work and said that he’d had an email from a friend letting him know there were positions coming up in his dream job. With some hesitation he applied, knowing that we’d be willing to travel rural but not too far. Within a month or so he’d been offered a position and we knew where we were heading: Maryborough, about 3hrs north of our family and friends in Brisbane. The Government being the Government (his new employer) we waited for the date of our move. We waited and waited. Then I became pregnant with our second child. Still, we waited. Every Obstetrician appointment started with “So, are you living in Maryborough yet?” Our response was always the same “Nope, not yet!” We eventually moved in May 2009 with a toddler that had just turned two (Elliot) and a baby not yet two months (Archie).

So, almost a year on, here I am. We’re still not exactly where we want to be but we’re on the road and getting closer every day. We are renting a house in a noisy part of town. I can’t wait to have our own place again, a place to put down roots and get away from all this traffic noise (I thought living in the country was supposed to be peaceful!). But in the meantime, this is our home, our sanctuary, our place to stage our quiet revolution. Our revolution against a society that places too much emphasis on external goals, our revolution against Mums being asked “but when are you going back to work?”, our revolution against supermarkets whose aisles are getting more and more full of ‘convenience’ foods that seem to have little or no nutritional value.

I hope you enjoy reading about our little revolution and I look forward to reading your comments, ideas, experiences and suggestions.