Drink More Water

Yeah, yeah, I know - drink more water.  In summer, I'm really good at drinking water, but sometimes I tend to forget.

Source: google.com.au via Stylish on Pinterest

Why should I drink water?

Because it's good for you! 

There are so many reasons - boost energy levels, promote weight loss, regulate body temperature, improve your skin, help prevent headaches, fight infections, decrease water retention, aid digestion, eliminate toxins, keep things moving (if you know what I mean), and your brain, heart and kidneys will thank you for it.

Tips to build the water drinking habit

• Carry a stylish water bottle with you.  Well it doesn't have to be stylish but it helps.  Living in Brisbane, water bottles can heat up pretty quickly so I use a stainless steel insulated water bottle to help keep the water cold (Camelback or Thermos are good)
• I take my drink bottle in the car or wherever I go, and try to refill it at least once during the day.
• Drink water at the temperature you like - chilled, room temperature or warm.
• Add a gentle flavour to your water - cucumber slices, a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, mint leaves, slices of apples & strawberries.   Don't add cordial and sugar.  There is a great article on drinking more water and links to flavoured water recipes at Good Life Eats here.
• This isn't an option for everyone, but we bought one of those fridges with the water dispenser and ice-maker and I noticed a big difference in how much water everyone in my family drinks now.  Convenience helps.  If you can't do the fridge thing, consider keeping bottles of water cold in the fridge and a bucket of ice in the freezer.
• Herbal tea counts as water. 
• If you drink caffeine or alcohol you need to be the water police and fine yourself with an extra glass of water.
• Find triggers to remind you to have a drink of water.  Eg:  drink from your water bottle everytime you arrive at school to drop off or pick up the kids, or when you pull up at a red light.

  

How much water should I drink each day?

There are all sorts of guidelines and formula's to work this out. 

8 x 8oz (240ml) glasses a day = 1.8 litres

Weight in kilograms divided by 50 (or weight in pounds divided by 2) 

Eg: 60kg/50 = 1.2 litres per day

I'm not one for counting and measuring too much, so I follow the Innocent Smoothie Wee-ometer.  Innocent smoothies are to the UK what Nudie smoothies and juices are to Australia - healthy and really yummy.  I have a copy of their recipe book which you can find here.

So if your wee looks or smells like you've been at the office party or spent a night out with Keith Richards rather than Wee Nirvana or I can pee clearly now, then you need to drink more water.

Remember if you're thirsty, you're probably already dehydrated.  You need to drink before you feel thirsty.  Now go grab a glass of water.  Be kind to your body.

Have a New Teenager by Friday

When I did The Interior Addict's Interior photo challenge in July, this photo got quite a few comments.

I thought I'd tell you a little bit about the book.  The book is divided into sections:

Introduction - I'm Telling You, They'll Get Weirder than weird
Monday - He Used to be Normal. What Happened?
Tuesday - Talking to the "Whatever" generation
Wednesday - Belonging Matters more than you think.
Thursday - You're Grounded (I Hope So)
Friday - Ka-ching, Ka-ching.  Dividends on the Way
Ask Dr Leman - This is an A-Z section of hot topics or issues you may face with your teenager and tips on how to handle them.  For example; acne, bad-mouthing others, eye-rolling (my daughter is the Queen of this), Internet use, and parties etc...

The book is a really easy read, with summary boxes and 'It Worked For Me' examples throughout.  Now here's the thing ..... it's pretty hard to change a teenager.  They know everything and the world revolves around them. There is no magic pill that will make them perfect.  This book is really aimed at managing how we, as parents, deal with and treat our teenagers.  As Dr Leman says, Your teenager will change to the degree that you change.

There's lots of good advice and tactics to use.  Some of the things I've done since reading the book are:

• I say hello to my son or daughter when they get in the car, but then I'm quiet rather than bombarding them with questions.  The last few times my son and I have been alone in the car together, he has really opened up and told me things that I wouldn't have learnt by asking a million questions.

• My son was in a tennis tournament recently and he didn't do as well as he'd hoped.  I said, you must be disappointed.  He then said, you must be so disappointed in me.  Not at all.  I was disappointed for him not in him.  Rather than try to have a big discussion with him about it when he was so down, I let it go.  The next day I wrote him a letter saying how proud I was of him and that he has my full support.  I left it on his desk, and didn't say anything to him about it on the way home from school.  He went up to his room when we got home, then came down to the kitchen and gave me a big hug.  Not just a shoulder nudge, I'm too cool to hug, but a real, genuine, heartfelt hug.  He was thrilled.

• The other thing I'm learning to do is stop the nagging.  My son is not a morning person, and although he's quite organised he is often running late in the morning, or can't find his Go Card (card for the school bus).  My normal response is to nag - this isn't good enough, you have to get up earlier, it's not fair on your sister.  When this happened again, the other day, rather than nag, I let it go and took him to the bus stop.  When he got home in the afternoon, I had a quiet talk to him in a calm voice.  I asked him to come up with a plan for getting ready on time, and he did.  He decided that he needed to set his alarm earlier, he needed a set place to keep his Go Card, and he needed to have everything ready for school the night before.  Now it's early days, but so far we haven't been late chasing the bus down the street and the mornings have been much less stressful.  The best bit is, it's his plan, his rules for getting ready, not mine.

This is the first Dr Leman book I've read, but he has quite a few.  My sister read the Birth Order Book, and apparently I definitely have the personality of the first born in the family.  Another book that looks interesting is How to Have a New Husband by Friday, and Sex Begins in The Kitchen, which I'm guessing means, if you help me cook/clean up after dinner instead of reading your Blackberry/iPad, you might get lucky!

You can see Dr Leman's web site and books here.

So there's my thoughts on the book.  I'd love to know if there are any other good books you've read, or lessons you've learnt raising your kids.

Organic Dish Cloths

You're excited about a dish cloth?  Yes - Tragically I am.

When my mum came to visit recently, she introduced me to Rhonda Hetzels blog and her beautiful book of the same name Down to Earth.  I poured over the book until she left (taking it with her).

The book and blog are about Rhonda and her husband Hanno living a simple and fulfilling life in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.  In the book, Rhonda talks about knitted dish cloths.  You can see the blog post here.  About two weeks ago, I received a parcel from my mum containing 3 hand-knitted organic cotton and bamboo dish cloths.

I rang mum to thank her, and she said to me make sure you use them -They're really good and they don't smell.  Given that my mum hand knitted something that I would use to wipe down my benches, really touched me, so I gave them a try.

You know what?  They're really good and they don't smell.  No I mean it - they really don't smell.  You know those cheap blue wipes you buy in the supermarket. You hold them up to your nose, take a whiff, and nearly pass out before throwing it into the bin and scrubbing your hands because they now stink too?  Well hand knitted organic cloths don't smell, and because they're stronger than the cheap blue ones, you can wash them over and over again.  I found the bamboo one (brown in the picture) is slightly better than the cotton one (pale blue).

I'm not much of a knitter.  Drop one, pick up 5 kinda girl, so I have asked my mum that whenever she feels like sitting beside the fire to knit, that I would be very grateful for any bamboo or cotton dish cloths that make their way north to Brisbane.  If you're a knitter, why don't you give them a go?

Getting Organised for 2012 (a bit late)

You know what it's like, every year you say to yourself "This year I am going to be organised".  Hmmmmm.  Well I have tried to set myself up for success this year with a calendar and a few apps.  Of course, if I was really organised I would have done this in December last year!

Firstly I created a family calendar.  I usually use Snapfish but this year I tried a Kikki K one.  I like creating my own calendar as you can add all your favourite photos.  Once I got the calendar I recorded many things on it:

• Public holidays
• School term dates and holidays
• Birthdays and special occasions
• My son's tennis fixtures and competitions and my daughter's dancing commitments
• and social functions

I then entered all the same information on the calendar on my phone.   The advantage of the iphone calendar is that you can set up recurring events and alerts/reminders.  Although I use the calendar on my phone when I am out and about, I like having a paper calendar in the kitchen where everybody in the family can see what we have on.  It's easy to see at a glance what's coming up.

The next thing I did was to set up a "To Do" list system.  I chose a free app called Errands.

See the app here

Using this app I can create a list of things to do.  Each task is given a due date, priority, and category.  The app then sorts all the tasks in the order you specify.  Here's an example:

There are a couple of things I like about this app.

• I can set up recurring errands.  For example, I like to check what bills I have to pay every Monday, so I have set up this task.  When I tick that I have completed this, the app automatically creates this task again for next Monday.
• When tasks need to be completed in the next 24 hours, a red circle showing the number of tasks shows on the apps icon.  There is also a folder called Focus which only shows the tasks requiring your immediate attention.  I like this as I will often happily pin away on pinterest instead of doing something I really need to do.
• The other thing I like is you can create a project such as Re-decorate Bedroom, then create a list underneath that task listing each action you need to do to finish the whole project.  For example, buy paint, sand/wash walls, clean carpets... Each item on the list has it's own check box so you can tick each one off, as you work towards your final goal.

So hopefully, these couple of things will help me to stay organised.  We'll see!

Controlling Clutter - Finish the Cycle

I like to think I'm pretty organised and keep my home fairly neat and tidy but I have a few hot spots that are just a magnet for clutter.

I was listening to the radio on Sunday morning as I drove my daughter to dancing rehearsals (3 times).  There was a man on air talking about controlling clutter and he made 2 points that really appealed to me.

First - Finish the Cycle

He used the analogy of a washing machine cycle.  If you were to run a load of washing and turn it off after only 15 minutes, then come back to it in 3 days, you would find a mess of wet smelly mouldy clothes, and you would have to start all over again to get them clean.  So it is easier to finish the cycle than to start and stop.

He gave an example of how to apply this.  For example, when you bring the mail in and open it, don't just leave it on the kitchen bench.  Finish the cycle.  Put the junk mail straight in the bin, and put the other mail in your 'to do' or 'bills to pay' folder/tray so you can find them and deal with them.  I am guilty of this.  I create piles of paper and then get cross when I have to look for some form that needs to be returned to school,or find an overdue bill under one of the piles.



My daughter wrapped a birthday present on the weekend and left everything on the floor - the paper, scissors and sticky tape.  She needed to finish the process by putting everything away rather than stopping half way through the cycle.  This concept of seeing the cycle through to the end and finishing makes sense to me.

Secondly - Ban the word Later

The man on the radio said ban the word 'later'.  In other words, don't just open the mail and think 'I'll put it away later'. DO IT NOW.  Like the Nike phrase - Just do it!

If I can try to implement just these two things, I think I will go a long way towards controlling the clutter in my life or at least on the kitchen bench.

Flower Food Recipe

Since I started this blog in May, I have tried very hard to live in the present and be grateful for the little things.  One of the promises I made to myself was to buy more fresh flowers, and I have been.  Last week the supermarket had beautiful pale pink roses in support of breast cancer.

When I bought flowers in London, they always came with a sachet of flower food to add to the water.  This helped the flowers have a longer vase life.  The supermarket flowers here don't come with flower food, so I researched recipes so my flowers would last as long as possible. 

There are many recipes out there but the one I have had the most success with is this:

1 litre of room temperature water

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 tablespoon white sugar

a dash (half teaspoon) household bleach

Other tips are to remove any foliage below the water line, cut the bottom of the stems on an angle, and keep the flowers out of direct sunlight.

The roses are beautiful but you know what - they don't smell.  They seem to be grown for looks rather than perfume. 

Still they are beautiful.

I know 3 women my age with children the same ages as my children who have all fought their own battle with breast cancer - be grateful.

Sharing here

Between Naps on The Porch

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

French Country Cottage

How Much Stuff is Too Much?

I recently read this quote in Country Home Ideas magazine:

In the early 20th century, when Californian bungalows were in their heyday, the average family was said to own roughly 120 things.  By contrast, today's average adolescent has up to 10,000.

This got me thinking - how much is too much stuff?




When we moved to London three years ago, we sent a 20 foot container to London, another 20 foot container to storage and I probably sold/gave away nearly another container load.  That's ridiculous!

When I was a child growing up in Melbourne, we lived in small inner-city terrace houses.  There were no built in wardrobes or storage.  We didn't own much.  I was reminded of this need for paring back when we lived in our London terrace.  There just isn't room to hoard.  No buying bulk laundry powder as the entire laundry was in a cupboard.

How much stuff do you own?  When is it enough?  Do we really need it all?

On the weekend I went through my son's bedroom and the 'junk' we store in the guest bedroom wardrobe and managed to find two bags of things that could go to the op shop (charity store).  I'm sure there's more 'stuff' lurking around.  I'm off to go through some more cupboards!  De-cluttering is definately theraputic.

I'm Grateful for Fresh Flowers

I love fresh flowers.



Lavender at Kew Gardens, photo taken by my son on a school excursion

In Melbourne and Sydney all the high street greengrocers have buckets of fresh flowers out the front.  In London, Northcote Road had a number of flower stalls filled with beautiful flowers, especially peonies.  Here in Brisbane if you were to put fresh flowers outside your shop they'd be wilted from heat and humidity very quickly.

Rain forest Flower at Mt Tambourine, photo taken by my husband

When my husband and I lived in Sydney I would often by flowers from the street stall on the way home from work or on a Saturday morning when I walked up Glebe Point Road. I would do the same in Northcote Road, but back here in Brisbane I've barely bought a bunch. 

Daisies at Kew Gardens, photo taken by my son on a school excursion

When we eventually get around to re-planting our front garden beds, I want to fill them with flowers that I can cut and bring inside.  In the meantime I will just have to treat myself to some bought flowers.

Lilies from Suzi

I like simple floral arrangements, not the overly fancy ones you see in florists.

Take time out of your busy life to stop and smell the roses, or gardenias, or whatever flowers you enjoy.

First Post - Be Grateful

Hello Blog land.  This is the first post in my self-imposed therapy to enjoy life and be grateful for what I have.



I am really very lucky.  I have a happy family life with a husband, 2 school-age children and a lot of pressure to get a puppy.  We were fortunate enough to spend two years living in central London.  We had a great time full of opportunities and experiences.  When we returned to Brisbane in August 2010 we were so happy to be back with our friends, and to move back into our house.  When I opened the door for the first time in two years I was grateful to be home; for the sunlight streaming through the windows; for the green parkland that we back onto; and for the sheer size and space compared to our little inner-London terrace.  The house looked better than I had remembered.

Fast forward 10 months and what's happened?  Suddenly I am unhappy with the house.  When I walk into a room, instead of seeing what's lovely about it, I only seem to see what needs to be done ... that wall needs painting, I hate that ceiling fan, there's no point cleaning the bathroom when the shower screen's so old and yucky.  I would see pictures of beautiful homes on blog sites and in magazines and start to feel depressed.  Why don't I have a house like that?  I was spiralling into a very negative thought pattern and I needed to change.  So the idea for this blog was born in an attempt to remind myself to be grateful for what I do have, to get enjoyment out of the little things in life, and to be proud of the changes I can make.  Here we go!