At a crossroads...

For the past week I have been stressed...more stressed than usual...

 

 Stress is not good for me or the life that is growing inside me nor is it good for the relationships with the people I love most in the world - my husband and my daughter...

 

The major cause of this stress is work...in particular my boss, his unrealistic expectations and his constant penny pinching ways with respect for not paying me for all the work that I do (he's not the only one with a family to feed!!)...

 

So I'm at a bit of a crossroad...do I stop work now to try to nurture what's left of my sanity so that I can be calm and in control for my family or continue to bust my guts for the next few months for a man whom will not appreciate an ounce of effort that I put in to earn a few bucks before the birth of baby #2?...

 

My head and heart both scream "Get out NOW!!" but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "Nobody's work is perfect", "I've only got to last another 4-5 months", "Will I feel lost or guilty that I'm not working while I know my husband works his bum off at work and not always under the best conditions"...

 

I'm meeting with my boss in the morning...

 

I have asked another senior adviser to sit in on the meeting as in the past he has said things in the moment that satisfy me but never followed through (I'm sure he never had any intention of following through)...so having her as a 'witness' makes me more comfortable....

 

I do not want to be confrontational...I do not like confontation...

 

I need to stand up for myself...

 

I need to feel calm...

 

I need to be healthy...

 

I want to be happy again...

 

I guess there are two distinct paths and I need to choose one...money or happiness...

 

Of course I know that leaving my job now will not eliminate all stress from my life and will probably introduce a new set of issues, such as living on a reduced budget but I'm chasing a simple kind of beautiful right!?!  Less trying to please others who are never satisfied an more time injecting myself into what's important (i.e. my family, my home, myself) may be just what I need...

 

I know which way I'm leaning but stay tuned for the next installment...

Pictures of me...

As part of Photoberfest Katie Evans is trying to get the photographer in front of the camera...

 

Now one thing that I've always known for sure is that I HATE having my photo taken and I NEVER (ok, very rarely) find a picture of myself that I actually like...

 

But the idea of taking photos of myself to make memories that I can look back on is kind of appealing to me...  I'm sure that in 10-20 years time I will not be as critical of the 27 year old me as I am now and will enjoy looking back at pictures of myself, yes the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY!!

 

Here's a couple of recent ones I'm just throwing out there!

 

6 weeks pregnant!!

So I definitely ain't no supermodel - but I am the one and only me!  And I'm pretty happy with that! 

The wall that was...

It's been a little while since we started the demolition of the wall between our kitchen and family room... (first mentioned here)...

 

But here are some pictures of the process...

 

My handy hubby with his trusty little helper Missy Ives...(loving that she's finally got enough hair to have cute little pigtails by the way!! and she refused to get out of her pretty dress to put on "work clothes"...such a girl!!)...

 

 

At times it was a little noisy...

 

 

But she was always there to oversee and make sure everything was going smoothly (loving the hand on the hip whilst casually leaning on the table!)...

 

 

 

And down it comes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So at the moment I guess it's fair to say that our home is a bit of a mess, a work in progress...

 

Bring it on!! (did that sound confident?!? I hope so cause I'm a bit scared and daunted at the moment, but we WILL get there!!)

 

 

Been a little while...

So it's been a little while since my last post...

 

Partly because I've been a little busy with work, life and trying to make the house look presentable even though the walls are coming down and the dust just keeps reappearing everywhere!!

 

Partly because I haven't been feeling the best... 

 

Today I am feeling much better (although I took a sickie from work - always the way isn't it!) but thought I would take the chance to get on top of my housework before the weekend and spend some quality time with my Ivy who has been going through a bit of what we're calling an "anti-everything" period...

 

By "anti-everything" I really do mean everything!! Every question we ask the answer has been "NO!!", we even went out for tea the other night for my brother's 23rd birthday and she even said

"no chippies"!! So I think a fun day full of "yes" is definitely in order!!...

 

The reason that I haven't been feeling the best is due to morning/all day sickness! I have been constantly nauseous, dizzy and exhausted, my skin's terrible and I feel like I've got an enormous belly already and I really shouldn't!!  eek!! (Yes there's definitely only one in there!)...

 

But other than that, I've still been feeling incredibly excited, although often emotional (I cried during Sesame St this morning!! - Gina had just bought home her adopted baby boy Marco...that's a pretty good excuse right?!?)

 

A friend of mine has kindly offered to take progressive belly shots during my pregnancy so I am really excited to see where that leads.  She is very creative and I'm looking forward to recording this beautiful journey on my blog...

 

This post is lacking a little as I haven't taken any pictures lately...

 

As motivation to take more pictures I am going to try to take part in Photoberfest (click on the picture to the right for more details).  So watch this space!!!

The search for the perfect dress....

My brother is getting married at the end of November and I am in need of a new dress!! Yes, I know I do have a few that would be suitable sitting in my cupboard, but it's my BROTHER's wedding so surely that justifies a new outfit?? Yep, I think so!!

 

So I'll be nearing 4 months pregnant at the time of the wedding so I'm not sure if I should look for a maternity dress (as I've also got two weddings of friends to attend nearing the end of the pregnancy) or just go for a flowy style non-maternity dress...

 

As google is my friend I've been doing a little searching and found a couple of examples of things that I like - I think my favourite at the moment is this one from Forever New

 



 

And I will look exactly like this model as soon as I put it on...Of course!!

 

(even with a preggers belly!)

 

I can always dream...

 

I quite like the simple and elegant style of this dress from Queen Bee and it would be good for the weddings later on in the pregnancy...

 

But I do not think it would be suitable for my brother's wedding in Brisbane, in late November where it is very likely to be stinking hot!!

 

There are a couple of options on ASOS that i've found...

 

but not sure if they're exactly what I'm looking for...

 

 

Maybe a little too short....

 

But then again I'm nowhere near as tall as the nearly 6ft high model is!!...

 

But I will have to be bending down and tending to a 2 year old so maybe not such a great idea!

 



Maybe a little too black for a summer wedding...

 

But could possibly brighten up with accessories?...

 

Hmm think I'll sleep on it for a while...

 

To be continued...





Let the renovations begin!

So this week has been a major step forward in our plan to renovate our home.  After talking about it for months we have really made a start and there is definitely no turning back now!!

 

The reason I say there is no turning back is because there is a whopping great whole in our family room wall...but more on that later...

 

At the start of the week I told myself that this would be the week that I got our colour scheme sorted.  Over the last couple of weeks I've bought 5 sample pots, none of which I was overly impressed with... 

 

The top 3 made it to the wall - the one on the right is the one we like, love the tone but we may still try a half shade just to see how it looks a bit lighter.

So i figured I had to look at it from a different angle and went to our local tile shop, Metro Tiles. I saw a floor tile that I really loved and then it all just kinda fell into place and I ended up with a colour scheme....

 

 

And the previously mentioned hole in the wall (and reason that there's no turning back!!)...

 

well here it is!!

 

 

Our electrician came around and took all the power of of the wall so that we can prepare to knock it down this weekend.  We had a building inspector come around a couple of weeks ago and for $100 he told us that it wasn't load bearing and did a drawing for us to show us a few things we had to do to reinforce some of the beams in the ceiling.  My hubby (who is pretty handy!) got all the ceiling stuff sorted so now it's all ready to 'rock n roll' (as Ivy would say)!

 

By the way, I think Miss Ivy has also caught the renovating 'bug' and has been 'painting' the deck with water the last couple of days...

 

 

20 Days to Organise and Clean your Home Challenge - Day 1

In an effort to simplify my home, and therefore my life I am taking part in the '20 Days to Organise and Clean your Home Challenge' over at The Organised Housewife.

I am a little late starting but this week I am going to do my best to catch up!

Day 1 -  you can read more about the challenge Day 1 here.

KITCHEN

Clean

Load Dishwasher - would love to tick this one off but unfortunately we do not own one :-( So yep I washed and wiped up a whole sink full of dirty dishes!! DONE

 

 

 

Wipe over Sink - DONE

 

 

 

Clean the Benches - DONE

 

Wipe down the Cupboard Doors - DONE

 

 

 

Clean the Microwave - DONE

 

Wipe over Walls - DONE

 

Clean Window and Window Sills - DONE

 

Dust light fittings - DONE

 

 

Declutter

 

Kitchen Benches - DONE

 

 

Organise

Under the Kitchen Sink - eek!! after all that cleaning and decluttering I really don't wanna even look in there...but here goes nothing!!!...

 

Before...now you know why I said eek!!

 

 

Emptied and cleaned...

 

 

and finally...TA DA!!

 

 

I still want to buy a few containers to help keep it organised but it's definitely a lot less overwhelming! I can see everthing that's in there and everything is easily assessable.

 

Day 1 = Done :-)