Tales of an Ordinary Life

Semester is 4 weeks in and the assignments are starting to come due. This week my head has been stuck in the mirky world of Ethics. Ethics is something we don't really think about in every day life but it something that does affect the way we make decisions and choices. Do we choose to do something because the end result will be of benefit to the majority or we will not do something even though it may be the best to do for the majority but it ends up hurting up one person. I was surprised to see that most of us make these decisions all the time, yet how often do we weigh up the consequences of our decisions? It has challenged be to think about what I choose when I make decisions in my life. If you want a light hearted view of the world of Kantian Ethics watch this

This time of year in Brisbane produces the most spectacular days and sunsets. Technically it is winter time and the nights are cool but the days warm up to a lovely 22 - 23 C. This gorgeous shot was taken at New Farm park just after the kids had a great afternoon playing and as we were packing up to go the sky lit up with this beautiful palette of colour.

My second semester is in full swing, assignment due dates are marked on the calendar, groups for group assignments are formed and the panic of where will I end up for prac has set in. Yet I would not trade this choice to study for anything, yes it is hard and draining but it is something worthwhile. With maturity on my side I can see the importance of every single thing helping me to become a better teacher. Instead of the lure of partying and drinking to drag me away from study, it is three beautiful children who call to me on a fine Sunday afternoon "what are we going to do today? Can we go somewhere?" that helps me to lift my hands off the keys of the computer and my head out of a text. Yet they remind me of the importance of why I am studying teaching and why it is important to do more than just get a "pass". They are the future generation who need to be guided, shown how to look at the digital world through a much more discerning lens. That is the role of a tea...

I have just started back at uni for 2013. One of my subjects is Society, environment and health and one that I am going to enjoy immensely. Why? Because the subject is right up my alley - teaching children how to begin living sustainable lives and how to become responsible global citizens. As part of this subject I have to do an online test that measures my ecological footprint. After doing my calculation, I saw the need 2.1 planets to sustain my current lifestyle. I was quite disappointed to get this result as I actively try to live a sustainable life. Over the next 8 weeks one of the challenges is to take steps to minimise my ecological footprint. One area that was highlighted as contributing to my footprint was my consumption of red meat. That is something I can try to do as well as minimising how much I drive the car. You can have a go at trying the test  here . Image from:  http://www.wrsc.org/attach_image/your-ecological-footprint

Last night I met together with my beautiful sisters from my home group. It was the first time we had managed to get-together since the start of the year ( I know it is nearly the start of March). We spent the evening catching up with what has been happening in each others lives and just reconnecting again. We decided we would like spend the next few months looking at Ann Voskamp's amazing book 'one thousand gifts'. Also we are sharing with each other the blessings that God bestows upon us every day of lives. They may be small and some days they may be hard to find but this is a time for us to develop that heart of gratitude. If you feel like some further inspiration head on over to Ann's  blog .  gratitude #2 Early morning Coffee gratitude #3 Studying and learning about the environment at the same time

Six is a very big thing - in someways it is one of those milestone birthdays. You are now old enough to do things by yourself but at the same time you are still young enough to ask someone to do something for you such as tie your shoelaces. My youngest boy turns six today. For me it is a bit sad as it means those years of early childhood are slowly coming to a close. Yet at the same time I am enjoying every bit of independence that he achieves. He is in his second year at school and he is beginning to discover the delights of reading. Lego and cakes how contented can a boy be.

I have been on a 4 month holiday! At the start of 2011 I began studying an Education degree and at the end of a very hard year comes a very long break. After working for so many years, I thought what am I going to do with all that time; I do not have a part time job and I am not going to go travel the world like some of my fellow students will be doing. After thinking about it I decided I was going to use the time to get fit and lose some weight. I was not very overweight but I was carrying some extra kilo's. I enrolled in an online program with the trainer who does 'The Biggest Loser' in Australia, you can go to the website of 12WBT by following the link here . The program sent me all my meal plans, recipes and a workout plan every week. The thing that I found I needed was self motivation and time. There is no way I could have done this whilst studying as my mind is focussed on study and family. I am pleased to say as a result I have lost 9kg, 11% total of my body wei...

Australia does have an alpine area where in winter it is covered with snow and in summer you are treated to the most beautiful vistas. We have just spent the past week camping in Kosciusko National Park. We did not camp up in the alpine area but down on the flats but we were overlooked by these towering peaks. Isabella, Jasper and I tried to get the peak of Mt Kosciusko ( Australia's highest mountain but not that high compared to major peaks of the world) but unfortunately Jasper's little legs just could not keep going so we had to turn around before we got the top. The natural beauty of this place just takes my breath away and I tried to imagine it all covered in snow and was a bit sad as the snow would take away from it's breathtaking ruggedness.

At the moment I am in the midst of a two week road  trip with the family. We left Brisbane last Monday and have wound our way down through central NSW. Our family enjoys getting out on the open road and exploring the amazing and unusual places of our wonderful country. Cook Park in Orange. This park was amazing as many of the trees in this park were nearly or over 100 years old. They looked so grand.   Outside Orange there is a historical town called Millthorpe, the main street is picture postcard as you can see. To top it off there is a cafe that has the most divine cakes that you want eat them all. Out side Wellington there is this quirky sculpture made from recycled bits an pieces. It sits by the main highway and the majority of cars whiz by and miss something totally special. The next stop on our Journey was the Wellington caves. These are limestone caves with spectacular formations and fossilised mega fauna.  This is an amazing find. Found...

Last week I picked up a book from my local library titled The Mother's Group. The basic gist of the story is about a group of women who meet at parenting classes at their local child health clinic,  afterwards they form their own mothers group and it focusses on the ups and downs of their friendships. This book got me reminiscing about my own mothers group that formed 9 years ago this weekend. We first met on a hot January afternoon at our local child health clinic, some of us with babies only a couple of weeks old, for some child/baby rearing advice from the child health nurse. We were all first time mums, from a range of backgrounds and ages, we went through that first hard year together. We met at each other's homes and parks, did swimming lessons together and began to form friendships on the basis of our babies. Things changed as a result of people going back to work and eventually second children coming along but we tried to get together regularly. Since then we have trie...

Two weeks into 2013 and I have already failed with one of my New Year's resolutions - to blog once a week ( I thought surely I can take 20 minutes out of my week to write, but alas it seems so far ....no). As one can see it is a new year and I want to take the time to highlight some of my highlights of 2012. Our biggest highlight of the year was our road trip to Adelaide. We got to see some amazing parts of our country.   This is an sunset shot taken from the sculpture park outside Broken Hill, this is an amazing place that is well worth a visit. Here we are from one of the lookouts in the Flinders Ranges.  The next highlight was Oscar starting school. Here in Queensland, children start school when they are 41/2 or 5. So Oscar had reached that magical age. A month after Oscar started school, I started University. I ventured on a four year journey studying a Bachelor of Education. It was an amazing year, I loved what I was studying and learnt so much...