Rocky is Real & Refreshing!

So we’ve been in Rockhampton now for 3.5 months and I just need to say that everything in Rockhampton is real! The people are real. Life here is real! This might seem like a basic reality. But for me this means so much more. I’ve been living in a life that I’ve not really enjoyed. I’ve enjoyed parts sure. I’ve met great people sure. But there has definitely been a falseness to my life. Maybe that’s a sign of me taking life for granted. Either way I am not now! I’m totally enjoying being real. And life has been more enjoyable as a result!

xxLlloveliesxx

Insight

We will be moving to Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia soon… and although little t is very excited about the move I’m also very wary of the fact that this will be little t’s second move in less than 12 months and I know that he will miss his friends that he has made in Sydney. Just like I know he misses his friends from Hong Kong.

So I thought it might be nice to help him start his own blog as a way to keep in touch with all his mates. Well we did his “about page” and I asked him what he wanted to tell everyone about himself. Answer…

I’m t. I’ve got diabetes. If you have diabetes it’s not very fun.

For the most part I think little t copes very well with his diabetes. In fact I thought he pretty much just ignored it. I was naive. My heart breaks for the boy.

xxLLLoveliesxx

Christmas story starring…. Yoda?

Honestly sometimes I wonder what Little t actually learns at school! Or more precisely what is he learning in his scripture class.
Given its the season to be jolly my kids have been extremely excited about their advent calendars. Each morning they get there little chocolate and compare the shapes. The other day Little t came to me and we had the following conversation;

Little t ~ What is this chocolate shaped of?
Lllovelies ~ Oh, it’s a wise man. (and I start singing “We Three Kings”)
Little t  ~ Um, actually it’s Yoda
Lllovelies ~ It’s a wise man
Little t ~ It’s Yoda as he is wearing a cape and holding a stick. (Little t toddles off with “Chocolate Yoda”)

Well that conversation left me speechless albeit giggly! but seriously what are they learning at scripture? ;-p

xxLlloveliesxx

Matter of fact

I’m so tired.
I should be sleeping but I’m so restless. Little t has just had what was freakishly reminiscent of a night terrors.
Little t has school pictures tomorrow.
His uniform is not ironed.
I have to rush out early to get the correct change for the photos.
I feel like I’m just drifting from one task to another.
I don’t know “where” I am.
Everything feels wrong.
I feel so lost.
I have 4.5 hours until I need to be up and happier.
I need to sleep.

xxLlloveliesxx

Far out!

I grew up as 1 in 5. I was number 4. 4 girls and 1 boy. Like most families we have our little and big spats/scars but for the most time we can get over them. I always thought I had a close family up until recently. Now I’m starting to feel like we don’t know each other. I can tell you I’ve been quite surprised with the reactions from members of my family. Mostly I’ve been very disappointed. ;-(
I’ve got a sister M. She would be number 2 on the totem pole. I love my sister. I’ve shared things with her that I haven’t shared with anyone. If I had good news, after my husband, I would call her. We have been very close. I used to visit her almost everyday before I went to HK and whilst being in HK I used to skype her daily up until around December. In December she started avoiding my calls and texts. She was evasive. In December I started getting calls and emails from other member of family asking me if I know what is happening with M? I had no idea. I started to worry. Then I found out allegedly M had been having an affair with the drum teacher of her sons. I was shocked. In my mind she was the last person in the world who would cheat on her partner. Why? In their marriage she called the shots. Brother in law L, BILL, really couldn’t do anything without het approval. Also, she would be the first one to judge an adulterer. And having had a discussion about cheating years before, going to a strip club and viewing porn was considered cheating by her and punishable by separation. So like I said I just find it hard to comprehend she even thought of cheating.
M decided she wanted a separation from BILL. There was really no warning and no reason. She apparently days before telling BILL that was it for her she was text messaging “I love you”s. It all seems surreal to me. Then she left the house and moved into the family home. At the time I remember asking M if she was sure about it. We discussed the possible repercussions of her move. Since then things have just spiralled out of control. Initially I was quite sympathetic towards her but slowly things she was saying just didn’t make sense. I confronted M about her behaviour and told her to grow up and get some help as she can’t continue to act this way. Needless to say M did not take that so well. M no longer speaks to me. She ignores me. It hurts but honestly I believe that M has problems. M really needs help. M is not the person I knew. I believe she is suffering from a mental illness and refusing treatment under the guise that she believes she is normal. M is now MIM to me. It’s all very sad and worrying.

This afternoon MIM yelled about me infront of my children and the weeks of bottling her behaviour went off. I confronted her about what she said and she just kept saying “I’m rude, I’m rude…” I asked her to tell me what she thought I was doing was rude as I don’t know and if I don’t know how will I ever be able to change the behaviour. Her retort to me was “People like you, with your personality will never change” “we’ll never be a happy family” and then she went off with numerous accusations that apparently I have done but have no recollection of.

I called my other sister, number 1 on the totem pole, D, to get her to speak to MIM. Normally, I try to keep D out of it but this time I had enough and since D is the only one really on speaking terms with MIM I wanted her to relay a message for me. I didn’t handle the conversation with D very well. I was really upset and ended up telling her to “f*** off!”

I’m still upset. The more I think about the conversation I had with D the more upset I feel. Why? Well D had mentioned some things that MIM had told her that I had done. These specific incidences being part of the reason she can’t stand me at the moment. The thing that both upsets and worries me the most is that these incidences never happened! And instead of D doing what I would have done (and I have done for her when MIM has gone off on a little tangent) she just believed MIM. That’s the most upsetting part that D believes that I’m the type of person who would swear in front of children, or worry about petty things. And realising that someone doesn’t really know you at all sucks!

xxLlloveliesxx

I haven’t blogged in a while…

… mainly because life has generally been shit over the last couple of months and in retrospect I can see how I’ve just been holding on.
But I’m a lemonade kind of gal after all and I’ve been trying to make lemonade with the humongous lemons that have been placed before me.
It’s not all doom and gloom, there have been some good time and great memories. It’s just that I’m not where I want to be in life and I’m nowhere near where I thought I was either! So meal plans and post a day oaths have long gone flown the coup. Having said that, today’s topic intrigued me.

Topic #219 Can anger be constructive?

After stirring up my grey matter I’ve decided it can be both constructive and destructive.

Anger can be constructive as it can energise you I to brainstorming and action. For example, Being tired and angry about being told that you can’t do something for no apparent reason can lead to innovation.
I’d hazard a guess that a lot of things have been accomplished by anger motivation. Personally, this sort of motivation probably got me through high school!
And then there is the deconstructive anger which prevents you from seeing clearly and impairs your decision making process. For example, one of my sisters is currently very angry at me. She is pissed big time! And as a result she has decided to completely ignore me despite living under the same roof. Why? Because I told her she was behaving inappropriately and should think about her kids. In her defence, I do think she is currently suffering from a mental illness but her anger towards family who are questioning her has lead to her denial about receiving help. The saying “cutting off your nose despite your face” comes to mind.

So in my opinion it can be both. There is a place for anger in the way we live. It can be a healthy emotion but it also has the ability to impair our judgement.

All this has left me feeling quite sombre.

Night night.

xxLlloveliesxx

One down… only 51 more to go!

So although I’ve been slack with posting recipes and even lazier with the photo taking we have completed our first week of New Year’s resolutions and I’m pretty chuffed.

As you can see I amended our meal plan due to failure to locate goods and tons of leftovers in the fridge. But all is cool as the meals I missed out on making last week have bumped up to this weeks meal plan.

Week 2 Meal Plan

Monday 10th Jan – Chicken Pasta with green salad

Tuesday 11th Jan – Sausages; pasta salad; broccoli,carrots & corn

Wednesday 12th Jan – Chicken & prawn spring rolls with mango fried brown rice

Thursday 13th Jan – Beef & pear tangine; cous cous; chickpea & pumpkin salad

Friday 14th Jan – Prosciutto & Zucchini cups; home made chips & salad

Saturday 15th Jan – Pork with mash potato, peas & carrots.

Sunday 16th Jan – Lamb roast; roast potatoes; brussel sprouts & carrots.

Hope everyone out there tonight is as sated & content as I.

Cheers,

xxLlloveliesxx

Seriously… not even a week?

It has been 6 days… 6 sometimes infuriating days… but so far I’ve kept true to my Resolutions for 2011.

#1. I haven’t yelled at Little t at all! This in itself is a feat despite it being just shy of a completed week in the New Year. He has tested my patience at times. I’ve had to remain calm whilst being yelled out, stayed strong whilst he cried (Sad but true. Little t has the most piercing cry… One of my brother in law’s once said it reminded him of the winged Nazgul’s cry from Lord of the Rings and as much as I laughed he is/was sooo right! Not even MMM newborn cry bothered me but my 5 year old son’s cry still does.) and followed through with all consequences. I have not found this so easy. But I have down it! I’m keeping a score  of our battles and I am happy to announce Little t - 0, Lllovelies – 5. Yeah!

#2. As for the meal plans. I’ve been organised so far and feeling good for it. We’ve also been sitting down as a family for dinner which is nice. Nicer still is the effect of the chain reaction of being prepared and able to set dinner on the table earlier. The kids are often sound asleep by 8PM which makes for a nice change in our household. There have been some amendments, like on Tuesday we didn’t have the edamame beans as I couldn’t find any. And I think we will be having home made pizzas tomorrow as well because we have all the ingredients! And it’s so easy to make. But I will post all my amendments to meal plans and the future meal plan on Sunday. :-)

As for #3. Sunday hasn’t been yet. But we have ordered are roasting chicken from our local butcher which we, or maybe just T, will be picking up tomorrow.

I did think of one more thing to add onto my New Year’s Resolution List. #4. Learn to use my damn sewing machine!

Last year (more like 2end of 2009) when I was heavily pregnant and obviously nesting I thought it would be a grand idea for me to go and make a quilt! I mean, I can’t imagine what hormones were flowing through my veins to make me, Lllovelies, a person who hasn’t completed one sewing project all her life, who also never really learnt how to use a sewing machine!, think that I would be able to complete a hand pieced machine quilted throw for my daughter before she was born? I mean seriously! None the less, a good friend of mine decided to head out to Megabox, Kowloon Bay to visit the Spotlight store in Hong Kong before it shut down, hearing there were bargains to be had. There actually weren’t too many grand bargains to be had but I did however manage to pick up my Janome. I was so pleased with machine that I hadn’t used it until yesterday!

What did I sew you say? I managed to bring up the hems of Little t‘s sport tracksuit pants for school despite only knowing two parts of my sewing machine… the needle and the handle to transport the thing. It’s ok to laugh about the handle, my darling husband, T, did! I read the manual laboriously going through step by step. It’s not the prettiest or the best job in the world but I did all by my ownsome! I was pretty chuffed with myself for doing so as you may be able to tell.

Little t was fairly excited about the concept of his Mum taking up his pants as well. When they were done he said, “Wow, now can make all of M‘s clothes!” To which I thought “You clever, cheeky sod! Of course your Mum’s shoddy sewing is good enough for your sister but not so good for her big brother, eh? Smart…very smart” None the less, I think there will be more sewing projects for this year.

I will be posting the recipes from what we ate this week sometime soon. I’m just too pooped to do that right now.

I have one more thing to add to my list, I was blog surfing and stumbled across my #5. Participate in the Post a week Challenge. Although, I wasn’t aware at the time that I would be doing it, I think I’ve more than covered my quota for this week. :-p

Anyways, I’m done for tonight. But before I go I would like to leave you with a wee bit of knowledge. T, who has been systematically been going through the C25K program (and I’m uber proud of him for doing it too!)  and hence been addicted to the health and running sites, has just told me the Swedish name given to a conditioning method in training is fartlek. When he first said it I thought he said fartlick!

As always, I’m easily amused,

xxLlloveliesxx

First Meal Plan for the year.

So as per my #2 New Year’s Resolution I thought I would post our meal plan for this week. It’s a little underwhelming but I’m starting small by just planning the dinners and hopefully by 2012 I will have incorporated all meals. None the less, this is what we will be eating this week.

Monday 3rd Jan – Spaghetti Carbonara & green salad.

Tuesday 4th Jan – Vegetable & Pork Spring Rolls with brown rice & edamame beans. (There was none to be found)

Wednesday 5th Jan – Home made pizzas with salad greens

Thursday 6th Jan – Beef & Stout Stew with dumpling & salad greens

Friday 7th Jan – Chicken pasta with salad (Little t had all day playdates so T & I ate leftovers)

Saturday 8th Jan – Sausages, macaroni salad, carrots, broccoli & corn ( Another playdate dinner party so leftovers again.)

Sunday 9th Jan - Roast chicken, roasted root vegetables & broccoli

Cheers,

xxLlloveliesxx

Here’s to the New Year!

2010 was a good year for us. Nothing particularly big happened (apart from MMM entering our life & Little t starting school) but when I sit down and think about the year that has been I feel generally good about it.  We’ve had our ups and downs (I doubt 2011 will be any different  in that regard) but during the year we’ve made some stellar friends, we’ve experienced new things and basically all’s good. I’m happy with our life so far.

Having written that, I’ve still have some New Year’s resolutions that I’m committing myself and the family too!

#1. No more Yelling. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit but we tend to yell at each other a lot. Mainly to Little t. And pray tell does the yelling make Little t comply? No, not at all! He is absolutely immune to my yelling! Our neighbours probably aren’t but Little t is oblivious to it. Screaming requests at my child makes me feel horribly. This is not a habit I want him to pick up. So the yelling is out in household.

#2. Meal plans & Shopping Lists. Since moving to HK I have slowly let myself slip in this department. I feel like I’m letting my family down and there is no reason I can’t get on top of things. So I’m making a conscious effort to plan, plan, plan… cook, cook, cook, & provide, provide, provide a variety of meals. I’ve got this week all sorted. Did my online shop for most of the items I will need for the week and have shopping lists all sorted for this week. Plus have allocated time on Wednesday to plan for the next week. Wish me well… I have a feeling this one will involve a lot of encouragement to keep with it.

#3. Sunday Evening Roast. We went to a friends for dinner just before the New Year. He set out an absolutely delicious spread of perfectly roasted beef, beautiful down root vegetables & sides. The  pièce de résistance was the yorkshire puddings and gravy. Yum! The talented cook then explained through the meal how his Mum always put the effort into making a Sunday roast. Which led T and I to think that’s something we would like to do in our family. In fact, T is particularly excited about this as his Gran taught him how to roast. So basically I will be handing Sunday nights dinner duties off to him.  We did have our first roast yesterday. Well only T & I as he started it off a bit late. But there was a Roast dinner in our household and it was scrumptious! I admit I did roll my eyes at T when he said “he does a mean roast” and so glad I didn’t voice my scepticism as I would be eating my own words!

Of course I also have the serial New Year’s resolutions aka lose weight, be more organised, exercise, get 8 hours of sleep per night etc. etc. but I should be doing those already!

Happy New Year to all! Here’s hoping 2011 brings us all some peace.

xxLloveliesxx