36 week update!

Wow I can't believe that I've reached 36 weeks already. Here are 10 things I want to note about this milestone:

1. In 1 week, or up to 7, we're going to have offspring. I'm going to miss having a Puggle under my heart but I am keen to meet them. Not so keen on the regular back ache and slight cramps and other feelings I'm having. Another 7 weeks of that, plus the agony of waking up with sore, will make me a very unhappy person.
2. I have started a "sentence a day" journal for Puggles. This is part of The Happiness Project Toolbox, which includes a Happiness Manifesto:

• To be happy, you need to consider feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.
• One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
• The days are long, but the years are short.
• You're not happy unless you think you're happy.
• Your body matters.
• Happiness is other people.
• Think about yourself so you can forget yourself.
• "It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light."—G. K. Chesterton
• What's fun for other people may not be fun for you, and vice versa.
• Best is good, better is best.
• Outer order contributes to inner calm.
• Happiness comes not from having more, not from having less, but from wanting what you have.
• You can choose what you do, but you can't choose what you like to do.
• "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy." —Robert Louis Stevenson
• You manage what you measure.
  

3. I am having my 2nd 30th birthday tonight. My birthday is actually in a month's time, but that of course is roughly when Puggles is due, so I celebrated early.

EDITED TO ADD: Kate from Craftastrophies completely and utterly outdid herself. She organised my friends (which is probably similar but a lot less fun than herding cats or nailing jelly to a tree) to buy me a Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer:


This is completely blowing me out of the water. I have a freakin' KITCHENAID in my kitchen! And I'm not afraid to use it! There will be LOTS more baking going on here!!

4. I have my blessingway next weekend. I am excited about this but it also feels a little like all my women friends are coming to wish me farewell and good luck on a journey only I can go on, alone. Oh wait - that's exactly what I'm doing.
5. Puggles is growing apace, bobbing in and out of my pelvis depending on what day it is, which is all kinds of fun.
6. My plan is to insist on a 10 day baby moon, where I stay in bed and not a lot else goes on. Gloria Lemay suggested how to ask for help during this period for this but I'm lucky to have friends who are not that intrusive!
7. I've been having some issues with my (low) blood sugar so my midwife encouraged me to get a blood glucose monitor. Easy done - just go to a chemist and buy. Or so I thought. Found the one I wanted and nope, the $35 prices was actually $65. Not ok in my book but my midwife is going to buy it off me so it's not really a matter of $$ at this stage. The consumables though - $55 for a box of 100 test strips!!! SHEESH! Then to get home and test drive it before I have to do a fasting one (first thing in the morning) only to discover that I was sold the wrong test strips. So now I'm waiting for the pharmacist to open so I can go back and sort this out.
8. I'm looking forward to my new body. Soft, squidgy, booby and stretch-marked.
9. The next set of 10 will be "10 things pregnant women won't tell you" because there are some lessons I want to share in the last few weeks of this pregnancy.
10. Happiness is handmade pasta and meatballs.

A walk in the park

x

Hippo birdy two ewes

I'm older today! 29 now! Yay! Nearly at the end of my 20s. Not sure how I feel about that. Today's horrorscope tells me:

It’s not a good day to postpone tasks or chores until tomorrow, no matter how straight-forward things may seem. Right now the signs are looking good for getting ahead of yourself in terms of work or school, so take advantage, because tomorrow’s planets warn of an unforeseen increase in your workload!

which means I should get organised to get out of the house to go and renew my license (wow that means I've had it for 10 years now!) and do a few other things. And do more of my assignment instead of playing online Uno...

Other dot points in my life:

• Doctors don't have a clue, and what they say is usually crap. I have little respect for most obstetricians to give honest, balanced advice but am rather spoilt by having a lovely GP who does call it like it is. The fact that a physician then doesn't do the same thing as my GP shouldn't surprise me but it did. Physicians make money by convincing people that they are broken, incapable, at risk and on a long slow path to barely being able to function (MUCH LIKE MANY OBS!!!!!) and I need to talk to more people who know I'm amazing, driven and focused, as well as progressing amazingly well and if not, then I'm able to adapt.
• House hunting blows goats. Especially when you find the perfect house, and the perfect landlord, who thinks you're perfect... only to say absolutely not to having a cat. And so I have to call up and beg for a reconsideration. When we're getting, but in the meantime my stomach is in knots waiting.
• Baby show was horrendous and amazing and fabulous all in one today. There were LOTS of formula companies there that made me VERY VERY angry. The only helium balloons were from K@ricare for eg and that made me want to break things. I made a point of going to the cloth nappy places, and to the sling places, and to the breast feeding association and so forth, rather than the standard crap. I did look at prams but that was more for fun with my sister. I miss being around women and midwives something fierce - October can't come soon enough!

Cutest toddler ever:

Very cute puppy:

New hair:

And so on and so on - more are on Flickr

101 things in 1001 days

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years or 33 months) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:

1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.
2. Stay Focussed. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.
3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.
4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.
5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

And here's my list!! I'll keep you updated for sure!
Bold - Completed tasks!

Start Date: 01/01/2009
End Date: 29/09/2011




Well, I'm going to do it. I'm going to give you a very long list, and in 1001 days I'm going to do them. That's til

29 September 2011

which seems like a LONG time away! But it isn't really...

1. Ruthlessly clean my closet out
2. Organise a craft retreat
3. Write a will
4. Watch ManFriend graduate as a real Dr
   
5. Throw him a party to celebrate!
   
6. Become a marriage celebrant
7. Get my ears pierced some more (3 more times)
   
8. Do some preserving
9. Get married
10. Finish my Bachelor of Midwifery
11. Go overseas
12. Visit my paternal grandparents
13. Give blood
14. Save $1000 for baby
15. Go bushwalking/hiking
16. Get something published
17. Eat from the garden 10 times (4 / 10)
    
18. Make foot stools
    
19. Buy no new clothes for 3 months (within guidelines - there are still things I'm going to need to buy underwear occassionally during that time)
20. Sort out superannuation and consolidate
21. Write to 5 people by hand
22. Shop once a month at the Central Markets for a year (5 / 12)
    
23. Plan a surprise birthday party
24. Take a weekend away with my sweetie
25. Try a new cuisine
26. Get engagement/wedding tattoo
    
27. Take a photography course
28. Learn tai chi
29. Go camping for a weekend
    
30. Finish 10 knitted items in 2009 (8 / 10)
    
31. Start and keep alive a worm farm or bokashi
32. Go to the snow for a holiday
33. Visit Tasmania, Northern Territory or WA
    
34. Have friends over for a meal each month for 6 months (6 / 6)
    
35. Sew 5 items of clothing and wear them (4 / 5)
    
36. Something in = something out for a month
    
37. Learn to quilt
38. Go on a winery tour of the Maclaren Vale
39. Buy and learn to use a power drill
40. Bake and decorate a cake a month for 6 months (2 / 6)
    
41. Paint 2 inspirational canvases
42. Take a beginner's piano course
43. Exercise 3 times a week for 6 months
44. Instigate a backup process for my laptop
45. Get 5 singing lessons
46. Decorate the bedroom wall
    
47. Visit someone interstate by surprise
48. Do a "photo a day" for a month
    
49. Cook for a camp
50. Master 5 fabulous recipes for the crockpot
51. Do a burlesque class
52. Have a slumber party!
53. Buy 5 pieces of lingerie
    
54. Catch a train across the country
55. Go somewhere tropical
56. Celebrate 4 pagan festivals
57. Make my handwriting into a font
58. Go horseriding
59. Go on a girly road trip
60. Find a volunteering gig
61. Convene a festival
62. Do a pottery class
63. Go fruit picking in autumn
64. Sort out my CDs and iTune them
65. Sort out my books and sell / give away what I don't want to keep
    
66. Attend a wine vintage festival
67. Get pregnant
68. Get a pair of real stud earrings to replace the crap novelty ones I have
    
69. Swim naked
70. Celebrate my 30th in style
71. Dye my hair platinum blonde
72. Celebrate Australia Day
73. Take 6 'us' photos and frame them
74. Host a photo scavenger hunt
75. Make a list of 100 things that make me Happy
76. Have my innards and eating investigated
77. Write out 10 family recipes in a cook book and share them with siblings (6 / 10)
    
78. Inspire 3 people to make a list like this!
    
79. Send someone flowers
80. Spend a day in a day spa - massage, scrub, pedicure
81. See someone amazing in concert
82. Buy a digital SLR camera
83. Get a cleaning timetable - every two weeks thoroughly, doing the dishes each day - and stick to it
84. Taste 5 ciders (3/5)
85. Infuse vodka
    
86. Watch 5 musicals
87. Go away for a trip by myself
88. Get another kitten
89. Buy a pair of blue high heels
90. Make a new friend
    
91. Learn how to cut hair
    
92. Attend a book signing
93. Learn how to make great coffee
94. Learn how to surf
    
95. Go to a never-before-visited museum
96. Buy a cast iron frying pan and learn to cook with it
    
97. Go to the cricket
98. Attend a homebirth
    
99. Lose 5kg
100. Make bread
101. Write another 101 things list

32 / 100 on 9th September 2010

Treasure map

Millionaire Mommy Next Door has written some interesting and inspiring stuff recently. I'm not saying that she has all the answers, or that I want to be like her, or that I want to be a millionaire even, but her post on how to increase your financial bliss came out of her ealier post how to create a treasure map for a rich life and got me thinking.

I am heading towards the big 3-0 and more serious stuff (heck, I just made tea and cake for morning tea with my sometime-to-be-husband Manfriend, and it made me think of my dad's routine!) and if I had $1m in the bank at the moment, the interest alone would keep me in good stead. I could go and do indy midwifery for a reasonable income but also at an accessible rate for those who need it, I could sleep til I woke up, and I could do what I wanted to do because I wanted to do it, rather than feeling like I Have To Do It.

MMND's suggestions for making a treasure map for your rich life (and she doesn't just mean money-rich - it's whatever makes you happy!) is like making an ideas board for a designer, or a planning board for a large event - it's not hard but it is challenging.

1. Grab something to stick it on to (cardboard, thin plywood), as well as scissors, glue and sticky tape, pens and textas etc.
2. Grab any magazines you have handy for this kind of project and flip through them, cutting out whatever catches your eye. This can be quotes or pictures or stories or ideas - anything that inspires you and gets you thinking, or makes you curious as to why it tickles your mind.
3. Attach #2 to #1 with bits of #1 - just like in primary school! I've not made a collage in *years* and this is going to be fun!
4. Add notes and ideas into the collage for things that you've not been able to find pictures for, or can't yet articulate.
5. Review it all and see if it sums up "happiness" for you. If it doesn't, change it!
   
6. Title it, date it and sign it (my idea, not hers actually).
7. Work out how many moneybucks you need to live this kind of life. MMND suggests being specific rather than accurate - but also to write it down!
8. Hang your collage on the wall where you'll see it every day.
   

Interestingly, MMND goes on in later blog posts to look at how to identify and prioritise your values so that you can live according to them as a key to finding happiness. I know that when I am conflicted about something that I am doing, it is most often because it clashes with what I want to be doing - not just in a "I'd rather be doing anything other than studying" (oh look! I'm blogging instead!) way, but also in a deep down, do not want, do not agree with doing this kind of way.

Go and read and be inspired :).