A Broken Wrist - More Rain - A New Book

Our 11 year old son has a broken wrist. He fell off his cousin's Power Wing Scooter on the weekend. Josh has great balance on his Rip Stick, but the Power Wing scooter moved a little differently and he wasn't use to it. 

It is still raining. We are happy though as our dam is now full. We would just like a bit more rain so our water tank can fill. It must be close, but a bit more will fill it completely. Our dam water is used for our garden, other plants and for our pony.  The tank water is for our house use. We live a bit out of town and do not have town water. It is lovely being able to drink filtered rain water. 

With Josh laying low I thought a new book would be a good idea. We have watched the Soul Surfer movie and loved it, so we thought we'd give the book a go. It is nice to have a true story written for children. 

Capturing Beauty

 Apple and Oat Breakfast Cake

 View out the front of our place.....lovely rain.

Salvias - growing out the front.

  Camellia...

Views from out the back of our place.....

 Violas out the back...

Alyssum....

So Kind - My First Blog Award

What a lovely surprise it was to find that the gorgeous Kim over at Feather and Nest has passed on a blog award to me. So kind of you Kim. Thank you!  

It’s called the:

Liebster is a German word for dearest or beloved or favourite. How kind of Kim to give this award to me.  

This is what the award is all about:

In the spirit of fostering new connections, the idea of the Liebster Award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers. Just a few rules for the recipient which come with acceptance of the award:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2. Copy & paste the award onto your blog.

3. Reveal your own five picks for the award & let them know by 
leaving them a comment on their blog.

4. Have faith that the love will spread...

…

Here are my five picks for the award. Enjoy and congratulations to you, lovely bloggers!

This Whole Family

This blog by Meagan is inspiring. Meagan has written tutorials,

posts on eco-living, natural parenting and recipes including vegetarian recipes. Her family is striving to live more simply, 

to eat and grow whole foods, to slow down and  to spend more

time in nature. All things I'm interested in. 

Embracing Imperfection

Kika lives in Western Canada and is another person with similar interests to me. She home schools her children, who are similar 

ages to mine, and she is also studying about natural nutrition.

Like me, Kika has only recently started this blog. It is a

great read. 

Mothering with Mindfulness

Kim, the author of this blog, and I, share many similar interests: nutrition, similar parenting ideas, 

growing her own food and working towards simplicity. I love reading Kim's blog because it is great 

connecting with people with similar interests.

 

Slow Living Essentials

In this blog Christine posts about her life on a three acre 
property in the Victorian bush in Australia. Christine's blog 
is a place where she keeps a diary as she makes her way towards 
a slower, simpler life. 

FuoriBorgo

The author of this blog is Francesca and she blogs from an ancient village in 

northern Italy. This is what initially attracted me to Francesca's blog as I have 

a thing about Italy. I love the scenery in Italy and the importance the people 

place on family life. 

Francesca blogs about family life, gardening, self-reliance, cooking, crochet, embroidery and sewing. I love reading about her family's life in another country. 

So that’s my lovely five. It would be so great if you would pop on over and say hello to them as well as to Kim who passed this award on to me. 

Thanks again Kim for sharing this Leibster Blog award with me. 

xxoo Julie

Don't you just love it when......

........you're out shopping (which I don't do very often as I don't like shopping) and you find something that you have needed for a long time?...... It's just what you've been looking for.

Well, this happened to me yesterday. I was in Bunnings looking for some fairy lights when I spotted some timber chairs that we had been wanting. We had some cheap fold up chairs and they were breaking one at a time. We only had one left and when we wanted to sit out the back we had nothing to sit on, except for this one chair to share between the four of us. It was a little embarrassing when visitors arrived too. We kept borrowing my mum and dad's spare chairs which was a pain.

Not any more....we now have six brand new timber chairs......four out the back and two out the front. This makes one mum very happy and the dad and boys too.

Here are the ones out the back......

I love this table too. Our 11 year old son made it with the help of our neighbour. The top is made from recycled fence palings and the legs were cut by our neighbour from a tree that had fallen to the ground. The table isn't quite finished, it needs to be braced. It was meant to be Josh's wood working table. I think he might need to make another one as it looks perfect just where it is. Don't you think so? 

The chairs out the front. Maybe I should have watered after I took the photos.

Our first camellia for the year.....

 Violas......

Notice the heart shape of this one.....

It's Who You Are

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . .

(inspired by SouleMama)

This photo was taken in January this year of our boys with their cousins. It is a very special time as the cousins travel quite a long way to visit us each January. We always look forward to their visit as there is lots of fun and laughter. I hope this tradition continues for many years to come.

Feel Like Some Chocolate? I Just Had To Share This Healthy Recipe With You

I just made this delicious "Chocolate Smoothie" and IT IS GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!

1 cup milk ( nut or cow's milk)

1 frozen very ripe banana

1 tab. cacao powder

1/2 teas. vanilla

1 tab. agave nectar (or honey or maple syrup)

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend and ENJOY.

Exciting News!!!

I have some exciting news to share with you!!!!

Well, it's exciting for me, anyway.

Drum roll please..........

Today I enrolled with The Institute Of Integrative Nutrition!!!!!

I am now studying to be a Holistic Health Coach!!!!!!!

I am so.......... excited.

I have been thinking about doing this online course for a while now, and I was planning on enrolling in April, as I am currently participating in Heather's Whole Food Kitchen Online Workshop.  However, the Institute of Integrative Nutrition(IIN) sent me an offer today that was too good to refuse. They offered me quite a substantial discount if I enrolled today. A Valentine's Day gift. What a fantastic gift for me. It couldn't have been better.

So I am now a student at IIN, studying to be a HOLISTIC HEALTH COACH.  The beginning of a new career for me and I couldn't be more excited.

I hope your Valentine's Day is also a good one.

Happy Valentine's Day to my beautiful readers. xxoo

PS. If you take a look at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition website and you decide to enroll, please mention my name (Julie Maloney) and I will receive a bonus. Thank you.

Capturing Beauty

Some 'beauty' from my week.......

Beautiful rain....

Beautiful flowers.....

Kale seedlings poking through from the ground.....

More flowers.....

Heather's workshop that I am loving (my printer didn't print the picture very well).....

My son grinding some flax seeds (linseeds).....

Blackberries picked from our yard......

Blackberry slice.....

My yummy lunch ( quinoa, french beans, fetta, homemade dressing, roasted veges and salad).....

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

SouleMama

Much needed rain. This photo is looking down the back of our property.

In Our Kitchen

Tomato based sauce with leeks, ginger, garlic, curry powder, carrots and chickpeas, served over brown rice with steamed broccoli. Garnished with parsley. Delicious!!