Home Organising System 1 - grocery plan

Well it’s the first day of October and whilst it might just be the start of another month, for this household it means the start of a few new home organisation systems that were going to start.

There are 4 main systems that I’ll be putting into practice : A new grocery shopping plan, a toy box-a-day system, a laundry schedule and a cleaning schedule.

I’ll share with you in detail over the next couple of days the systems were putting into practice in order to have a cleaner more practical home. At the end of the month I’ll let you know the result, what worked what needed tweaking and if I’ve scraped any.

First up A new grocery shopping  plan

As our local farmers market occurs each Monday so it makes sense for me to meal plan and head out to grab the fresh local fruit and veg that are better priced than what you find in the grocery store.

 

I’ll then head to our local butcher then finish up at Safeway to grab anything else. It makes for a long trip with two kids to lug around however I’m sure it will be worth it. Nothing beats fresh local fruit and veg!

Once home I then prep all our food taking the time to go through the fruit and vegies and pre-wash and chop any that I can before put them away.

colourbox.com

 

Pre-cutting all our veg then placing it into my Tupperware containers makes should make it easier each night at dinner rush time. I like the idea of just being able to go to the fridge and grab out any that you need to use with dinner!!!

 

I’m hoping this system will saves us a lot of time and money. Hopefully by having it pre-cut I’ll be more likely to use it all up and thus the amount that I throw away will decrease.

 Less waste = saved $$

Do you precut your fruit and vegie? How has it worked out for you?

Would love to hear you tips or ideas on making dinner time easier so please feel free to share

 

^YKylie

 

Beer Tasting Bash

So we had my husbands 30th birthday party over the weekend. He didn't want much just beers with the boys however being his 30th I insisted on something a little more. So a week out from his party I got to planning and decided that a beer tasting party was what was in order.

I wiped up some invitations and sent them out.

 

 

I then got started on the cake. After some idea searching on the net I decided to make a bike cake as hubby is always at me for a bike so I decided that I'd give him one.. 

 

 

With the cooking and decorating of the cake taking up all of Friday all that was left was the decorating and set up for the party to be done on the day.

 

So with a few hours till guests arrived I looked through my scrapbooking paper stash and pulled out a few different papers going with a beer coloured theme. I had seen many party set ups with paper rosettes and decided that's what I'd make. With my good friend google I found out how to construct the rosettes and made a few in different colours and sizes.

 

 

I sent hubby off to the local bottle shop with instructions to get 6 different bottles of beers, 4 of each and lots of ice. He almost got it right..lol.. coming back with 8 different types, 4  in cans not bottle's... but he tried ha ha ha :) So with what I had at hand along with my stash of ikea tubs I set up hubby's beer tasting bash. Here are a few pics of how it turned out...

 

 

Hubby was very impressed and somewhat amused that I'd created his 'beer with the boys' into the above display. None the less the beer tasting bash was a big hit with everyone.

 

Overall I was very happy how it turned out. And it just shows that you can quickly throw together an eye pleasing party display with a little effort.

What themed party have you put together at the last minute?

^YKylie

A Speedy Arrival

 

With the very speedy arrival of our little girl at home we were in shock for a bit and had to keep pinching ourselves to make sure it was all really true. This is a day that I will never forget and a story that I've kept close to my heart as the raw emotion of such an experience is one that I can not explain. None the less, I'm now ready to share with you all the story of how Miss Charlotte Grace entered this world...

 

We have just moved house and were in the process of cleaning up the old house. Saturday was the day that we were finally going to complete everything at the old house and we would finally be free of it. I had a restless night and had woken up in a bit of pain however put it aside as I had the daunting task of cleaning an entire house whilst 40 weeks pregnant in front of me.

 

The day went well and everything got done, despite my growing pain in the bottom of my tummy that constantly gave me grief. The cleaning, steam cleaning, mowing and garbage removal had all been completed. Yes finally free and on our way home. It was however on the trip home that it became apparent to me those pains I'd had all day were all of a sudden coming regularly... I convinced myself that they were not contractions as it was nothing like the full tummy contractions I'd experienced with bubs #1.. it was just pain like I was busting for the toilet.. I'll be fine!

 

Little did I know that 3 hours later I'd be holding our precious little girl in my arms whilst laying on our en suit floor! That's right our bundle of joy decided to enter the world in a hurry.

 

Once home I rushed to the toilet whilst hubby unpacked the car. We had decided that a bath then a call to our midwife was the plan of attack. However our little girl had a different idea and whilst hubby ran a bath I went into full labour with my waters breaking the min hubby came to get me. I calmly told hubby that my waters had broken followed quickly with a panic yell of oh god I need to push. 

 

After Hubby freaked out as our 2 year old had hidden his mobile he grabbed my mobile and calmly asked me "Who should I call first.. your mum??" I reinforced that I have an urge to push and that we needed 000 NOW!! The 000 lady was wonderful. Guiding us through each step with instructions and encouragement, we were extremely grateful we had her. I didn't want to push till we had paramedics but hubby reassured me that we were OK and could do this alone. And so three contractions later bubs was born with her 2 year old brother looking on. We had done it.. however we could not relax yet. Bubs had the cord around her neck and hubby was panicking as he didn't know what to do. I sprang into action and without thinking grabbed bubs pulling the cord up and over her head. She was OK.. I wiped her face, she was crying and pink. Thank goodness she was OK. I held her close to me as the paramedics arrived and now we were able to relax as we had help at hand.

 

 

Bubs and I stayed in hozzy overnight and then returned home where we were more comfortable.

We were showered with well wishes, flowers and gifts. Everyone was very excited and want to know all about the extraordinary unplanned home birth.

 

I however was still in shock!

And as everyone around me said how wonderful it was I could not help but feel guilt and worrier. Guilty that if only I had not ignored the pain then our experience would have been how we had planed for.. in hozzy with our midwife, my hubby and my mum. At home alone was frightening and somewhat traumatic as our 2 year old had witnessed the entire thing with clenched fists screaming in worry and concern.. mummy was in pain screaming and he hated every min of it!

I worried for the well being of our son. I hated the fact that I was in so much pain that I could not console him and constantly have the vision of him screaming and shaking with fright. Would he remember it, be scared for life from it or hate me for it?

I was worrying about so many things, my emotions had turned into a whirlwind going from ore, to disbelief, to what if.. what if something went wrong... what if I could not have got that cord loose from around her neck or if she stopped breathing... But nothing went wrong.. were all OK and our son knows none of what he saw.

 

 

So now a little over a month on I can look back and be thankful.

Thankful we have a beautiful healthy little girl who one day will here her amazing story of how she quickly entered this world.

 

 

 

And a little advice for all those second time round mums... its not guaranteed to be just like the first time so don't ignore what you might brush off as little pains!!

 

 

^YKylie

 

p.s. Sorry for being mia recently.. our little princess is keeping me from blogging as I'm LOVING every minute I have with her!

Waiting For Baby

I've been kept busy moving house and taking care of my wonderful little 2 year old, but my belly has been getting bigger and bigger...

and all of a sudden the due date for the arrival of our little miss has come and gone!

All of a sudden I am in shock that 9 months have passed SO QUICKELY. However I now find myself looking at the clock every min wondering when our little miss will grace us with her presence. Not to mention all the impatient phone calls from family and friends driving me crazy... it was time to get out of the house..

So of to the shops we went... found some bargains at the beloved Reject shop and that was all I could master. I was in to much pain to brows the shops to waist time so back home it was for us. :o(

 Once home my Mr2 gave me loads of cuddles ad his baby belly lots of love to..

We unpacked some more boxes.. LJ loves helping when it comes to an empty box he can play in...

 I then did some baking... more cos I was hungry and wanted some sweets than anything ;0)

Then I decided it was time for a brows around our new garden to see what we could find...

And now I blog about how I have killed time today...

It as if time has been put on extremely slow as I just want to have our little girl NOW!
I was not so impatient with our first. He was 7 days overdue and I was happy for him to stay there as long as he liked. Perhaps it was just that the first time around I was approaching the unknown and was happy to put it off a little longer. Not the case this time around! I enjoyed a hot bath last night and tonight I'll be getting the Clary Sage out to try bring on labour.

Please tell me I'm not going crazy... ladies please share did anyone become as impatient as I have?What have you done to try evict bubs and bring on labour?

^YKylie

A Quick Party

Amongst packing, moving and being almost full term in our 2nd pregnancy we also had out little mans 2nd birthday... just cos there was not enough going on. Family had suggested to postpone LJ's 2nd birthday celebrations with everything that was going on but I was not having any of that! He is our little boy and he deserved a small gathering to celebrate his 2nd birthday!
So with not much time and the very little energy I had left I got to organising a birthday party.

Whilst packing up our old house I had been mindful of where I had packed all the left over party supplies from LJ's 1st birthday and so this box was first on my to open list.

This saved me heaps of time and money. I already had blue plates, napkins, forks, spoons and knifes. I also had some blue tissue paper and a bunch of different coloured balloons. And so the necessities were covered... now to theme the party... hmm what did I have in the cupboard??

Looking in LJ's toy box I came across a jack in the box, a spin top, some wooden alphabet blocks and his red waggon. So I decided to pull these modern vintage toys out and use those as decorations.
I did a quick shopping list and struggled to the shops where I just grabbed a red table cloth, some red tissue paper and a happy birthday banner.... decorations done - check!

The cake.. what to do for the cake?? Last year I made a 3D owl...

But this year I could not do anything like that! Not at 38 weeks pregnant with bubs giving me so much pain. And so I decided a simple two tear square cake would have to do. This time however I cheated and bought two square sponge cakes, cut one smaller for the top and then iced it..

With only hours to go till people arrived this was what I was faced with... ahhh.. my worst cake ever!
I had trouble rolling out the icing with my big belly getting in the way I just ended up giving up and the perfectionist in me took a back seat.

It worked out OK in the end.. not my best cake but a cake none the less.

Now for the food... Usually I would make everything from scratch as I love to bake however with little time and NO energy I cheated again and made packet cupcakes and a brownie slice then got each family member to bring a plate of food. Easy.. food done - check!

I could not believe that I had everything organised and under control considering we had been in our new house for 5 days and were living out of boxes.
I even managed time to style my hair and put some make up on... make up.. I never get to do that!

Now it was not much but it was better than nothing... and apparently the only thing I had forgotten about was our camera...  lol.
Non the less it was a great day...

And what a surprise when LJ got given some very theme fitting gifts also...

A vintage tin push car

A sketch-o-gram

A car floor mat

Overall, our Mr2 had a wonderful time running around playing with family and friends. A day full of fun and the sound of giggles... And I loved watching every min of his enjoyment!

 

^YKylie

Shopping 4 Hozzie Bag

As most of you know were due to have our second bubba at the end of this month. I have been a little layed back or slack in packing for hozzie but with week 36 passing along I thought it was about time to get my bum in to gear.

First I convinced my wonderful little sis to take me shopping for a new overnight bag. I totally love Kate Hill and so we headed straight to the DFO outlets. Now yes I could have purchased this wonderful bag online with free postage however I was being very impatient and wanted it NOW! I also needed an excuse to get out of the house after being cooped up for 3 weeks with back pain.

And so I purchased the above Kate Hill Venice Weekender bag. I've fallen so in love with it that I'm also thinking of using it as our new baby bag after our hozzie stay. The idea of using the separate shoe compartment for storing nappies and wipes has me excited... no more scrounging through the nappy bag for a nappy like I was always doing the first time round with Mr LJ.

Anyway going through bubs clothing organising what to pack I suddenly realised that she had no small sized under suits or nappies so I would have to go do some baby shopping.. oh what a shame! I headed straight for my local Kmart and all I can say is wow - when did cloths become so cheep?? Or did I just get luck?? ;0)

I picked up a new set of PJ's - pink polka dot pants $8 & grey long sleeved top $10. A pink polo top $8 and a maternity tank nightie $15.

My new cloths

Not bad since I only was really going to get bubs some under suits... 4 for $10 not bad!

I also stoped passed Pumpkin Patch (how could I walk past the 60% off sale signs) and picked up 2 beautiful jumpsuits at around $11each. BRAGIN!!
I then stuck my head into Best & Less and purchased another pink spotted jumpsuit along with some essential singlets and beanies.

Bubs new stash

Overall I was so happy with all my new purchases that when Mr LJ decided to fall asleep in the pram I grabbed the opportunity to sit down and have a delicious iced coffee and gorgeous chocolate cupcake at The Cupcake Bakery... YUM!!!

A perfect way to end a perfect shopping day... that was until I suddenly realised that I had 15min to get home for my Cole's online grocery delivery at 3pm.... ahhh... I waddled as fast as I could and made it home in time! lol

As for the hozzie bag.. well it is still not packed :-s but I now have everything I need in order to pack it :0)

Washing and drying is in progress and I promise the hozzie bag will be packed this weekend for sure!

^YKylie

New Do

Time for a change... I've been feeling a bit down of late probably due to this pregnancy not being so lovely as the last. Having morning sickness the majority of the time, feeling fat and generally downing negative thoughts on my entire appearance called for a change.

So I decided it was time to try spruce myself up with a dramatic change of hair style... as we do!

I came across this lovely hair do on pinterest and instantly loved it. The idea of having something easy to maintain yet still a style really appealed to me.

This my ultimate hair style goal

 I currently have long, frizzy hair that I always chuck up into a ponytail as it is so hard to control and style. So I decided it was time to come off!

With much hesitation from my sister who is a hairdresser I finally convinced her to just chop it! She was so concerned that it was a pregnancy hormonal thing that I was going to majorly regret.. but I managed to convince her otherwise and so the chop was done!!

Chopped.. an arm length of hair off

And I'm very happy to report that there was no regret what so ever! I can not remember the last time I had short hair but wow my head instantly felt lighter and my mood instantly lifted!

I just kept running my fingers through it and smiling stupidly! lol. My wonderful sis then styled it for me and walla ... MY NEW DO!

My new do!

OK so it is not exactly like my original pic that I love but it is dam close. I came to the conclusion with a little learning on how to get volume into the back of my hair and it would be perfect! Overall it's totally better than what I originally had. My hair finally looks shiny, healthy and glowing like I always see on others. Who would have thought a simple hair cut would spruce me up so much..lol

Even my straight out of bed hair style look pretty good don't you think.. lol

I'm finding it so much easier to control and style. All I have to do is run my hair rolling brush through it and I'm done! Quick, simple and effective so with bub's number 2 on the was I'm confident that I will now look good even in the sleep deprived states that are yet to come :0)

So any of you out there trying to decide i you should or should not take the hair cutting plunge... I say DO IT!! Worst case you grow it back right.

It might be just hair but it certainly has made me feel a lot better!

^YKylie