Lightening Online

I feel like everywhere I look (read) at the moment, all I find is blah, blah, blah and boo, hoo, hoo.  Everyone seems so down at the moment. :(  I’m not sure if it’s the winter blues here in Australia or what it is.

There certainly seems to be a lot of illness around at the moment.  Maybe that’s part of the reason.

I’m almost at the point of avoiding facebook.  Not because I don’t care what all my friends are going through but because I’m not in the best place to handle it.

It’s dragging me down.

Making me sad.

Then this morning I read a comment where someone was gloating over another person’s misfortune. 

And that just made me sadder.

Is life so bad that our greatest source of joy needs to be at someone else’s expense?

So, my challenge to everyone today (and especially myself) is to think of something I can do today to make someone’s day a little brighter.

A smile?

A hug?

A note?

Some flowers?  Chocolate?  Cup of coffee in bed?

Why not share your ideas in the comments section?

Or better yet, share something you do to brighten someone’s day.

Let’s see if we can’t bring out a little sunshine and lollipops into the lives of those around us.

Want an extra challenge?

Brighten the day of someone who really annoys or bothers you in some way. 

Cute isn’t it?

I can count on 1 hand the number of Valentine’s I’ve been sent in my life.

So it was a welcome surprise to receive this in the mail!

Singstar Princess had fun putting it together for me.

I <3 her too!

Pity my font doesn’t make a very nice heart.

Lucky Lego does!

I do. not. know. HOW. they do it!

I take my hat off to them.  Juggling kids, housework and paid work must be a nightmare at times.

And where does the crazy notion come from that once the kids are at school, you’ll have more time on your hands????

So far this term I have not had 1 single week where I haven’t had at least one kid home sick.  Some weeks, I’ve had as little as 1 day in the week to “myself”.

Well, I always thought it was stupid when the government decided to bring in the rule that certain benefits were to be cut off once kids reached school age as mother’s could go back to work.  Pffff….

Alright, back to four foot nothing now (just stepped off my soapbox).  That’s what one of my school friends used to call me.  Reckoned I was 4-foot to the shoulders with nothing above.  LOL.  Couple that with “Lightening” and another nickname I was called at school - “airhead” and you’d think I’d develop a complex or something.  ROFLOL.

Anyway, I’m rambling.  I tend to do that when I’m excited.

Today is a ME day!!!!

I’m going out to lunch with a wonderful friend.

Then getting my hair done (my trip “do”).

Then we’re going out to tea for a friends birthday (shhh…it’s a surprise).  Pretty sure they don’t read my blog so it’s all good.

Ooh, and I have to buy a couple of birthday presents today too.  Shopping!!!!!

Lleyton is still home from school.  He’s been sick all week with viral tonsillitis.  Poor kid.  His teacher even called last night to see if everything was alright because he’d been away for 2 days.  Isn’t that sweet?

So, lucky for me Farmboy isn’t going to be working too far away today.  He’ll be able to keep an eye on him so I can go flit about like a social butterfly.  LOL.

Alright, enough rambling.  Better go and practise the piano before my lesson.  I’ve been procrastinating again….

Some time back I was contacted in regards to participating in this Round the World Envelope Race. Two teams of bloggers, pitted against one another in a race to see who can get their envelope around the world first!!!

Sounded like fun.

So I said yes.

And was assigned to Team Power Tac.

The purpose of this challenge? To help raise the profile of the humble, almost forgotten envelope.

Now, you know how much I LOVE to get real, live touchable mail!!! So, real live touchable mail from another country was REALLY exciting.

And the envelope - so thick and sturdy!!! I didn’t know they knew how to make “real” envelopes anymore.

Here is a photograph of some of the envelope contents:

It came to me from a lovely blogger in the US and I’ve now sent it on to Simone in Italy.

It’s quite exciting seeing the flags from various countries accumulate as the envelope circulates around the world. As you can see, I added some Aussie ones, as well as a few other little bits and pieces related to my blog and the envelopes visit here in rural Australia.

Don’t forget that in honour of the Great Round the World Envelope Race, I’m offering to send mail to any of my readers (and yes, you can be anywhere in the world). Simply enter your postal details on the form in this post.

Make sure you have a look around the Pushing The Envelope Blog. You get involved in your own envelope challenge, and of course, follow updates on the Great Envelope Race.

Go Team Power Tac!!!!

Thank you so much for all your well-wishes and encouragement on me taking the plunge on the netball court yesterday.

It turned out to be quite a day of “firsts” for our family.

Singstar Princess’s FIRST Netball “Game”

Yes, it was a scratch match. But it was played and umpired as a “real” match. At first she was a little unsure but by the time Saturday morning rolled around, she was ready to give it a go. There is SO much to learn when it comes to playing netball and she didn’t really well.

Trailer Boy’s “First” Football “Game”

At half time of the A-grade match, we often have a “mini-mini’s” game which is basically a chance for all the “little” kids to run around chasing after the football and try to kick through some smaller goal posts. It’s so cute to watch. Trailer Boy (who is 4) decided he’d like to give it a go on Saturday. I didn’t actually get to see him but FarmBoy was there and said he had a grin from ear to ear.

Our FIRST Time Staying At the Club For Tea

We’ve always planned that one day we’d stay for tea at the club after sport. Last year we never did get around to it. So last night we decided to stay. For $25 we both had Rump Steak, Chips and Salad and the kids each had nuggets & chips. Talk about a BARGAIN!!! The steak was soooo good too!

Farmboys FIRST Speech

I had no idea that the club had a sort of presentation type thing at the end of a home game. Just a few minutes of speeches sharing results and other bits and pieces of news. Farmboy is Assistant Coach for our Juniors and gave the speech in place of the coach (who wasn’t there). It’s only about a minute or so but he did SUCH a good job (particularly given it was off the cuff AND he was the first of the football coaches to speak so he had no idea what was normally said).

Lightening’s First Netball Game (well, in a LONG time - and a first with this club)

While I had my moments, I didn’t end up getting quite as nervous as I was expecting. I DID get nervous but I suspect I will always get nervous before a game. My MAJOR moments were:

• Not being able to stay hiding in the change rooms once I put my uniform on. You don’t feel like you’re wearing very much in those dresses.
• Facing up to the team when I wasn’t sure how they would react to me playing.
• Just before the game started when I realised it was all really happening and I was there, uniform and all.
• Putting on my “patches” just before I went on (and all the hub-ub going on around me).
• Walking on to the court and standing next to the GIANT I was opposing (I’m sure she was TWICE my height!!!!)

The support and encouragement I was given by my team-mates and others in the club was UNBELIEVABLE. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. I’m not even sure I’m ready to put it into words yet. It was all a rather emotional experience.

And how did I go? Okay. I could probably tell you almost every single mistake I made. Actually, I could probably tell you about half the mistakes I made. LOL. The others are in areas I’ve yet to learn.

But I feel like I did okay. Which is HUGELY significant because I am very hard on myself. And while I know there’s lots more for me to learn. I feel like I’ve made a good start.

And it was AWESOME!!!!!

Really, really AWESOME!

And the score?

I forgot to look.

I was watching it from the sidelines when I was off-court.

I was watching it from on the court.

And at the end of the game, I forgot to check.

ROFLOL.

But I did find out after the game that we lost by 1 point.

That’s okay. We’ll beat them next time.

My FIRST Netball Award

The end of the game is a bit of a blur for me. My team-mates were very encouraging about how I’d gone for my first time. There was some encouragement from people who had come to watch. And of course, the coach.

As the team congregated with the coach she said something along the lines of me doing well and she was awarding me the something or other. LOL. Like I said, there was a LOT going on.

I think each game the coach gives like an incentive or encouragement award to one of the players. At the presentations, there was one player from each team which was given something.

Who knew you could get presents by playing netball???? I didn’t!!!!

So I was given a towel with the name of the club embroidered on it.

Funnily enough, I saw one of these towels a couple of weeks ago. The Netball President was showing one to someone else and I just happened to be there. And I thought they looked fantastic.

I’m figuring maybe they’re used for awards and stuff because in her speech, the president made some comment about how some people had been playing for the club for years, really wanting one. And here I was at my first game, getting one.

Interesting symbolism I thought. I can’t help but look at that towel and think “wow, I belong. I really belong”.

I had to fight back tears a couple of times during the day. But they were the good kind. The “oh my goodness, people are being so NICE to me” tears.

I wonder how I’ll go next week when I’m “last week’s news”.

As I guess you can tell from this post, it was a really GOOD day.  Today I’m very tired.  Which is to be expected.  But it’s a really “happy, satisfied” kind of tired.  I kinda like it.

This is one of those times when you take a leap into something that terrifies you.  But in the end you’re REALLY glad you did. 

Let’s talk about sex for a minute.

Some of you might do a double take to find a comment like that here on my blog. I do have what some might term “conservative” views when it comes to sexual relationships. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not a fan. Of sex that is.

So when I was asked if I’d like to review something from the Madame Rouge range I thought “why not?” “It could be fun”. Hee, hee.

Firstly, here is a bit of information about the Madame Rouge website:

Madame Rouge was started to cater for the discerning tastes of a ‘today’s modern women”.

In Europe it is common place to have women’s erotic boutiques, where products are irresistible and everything is beautifully presented. The idea of a woman enjoying and experimenting in her Boudoir is now accepted and so there is no need to hide it away.

Sourced carefully, tested thoroughly and recommended confidently by a team of female experts, Madame Rouge understands exactly what the modern day woman’s intimate needs are.

At Madame Rouge we believe that “tasteful” and “sexy” can exist together, and that you’ll be spoilt for choice by what you find…

I’d be the first to admit that I’m not all that “adventurous” when it comes to things like this. In browsing the website though I was quite impressed that the range had items to suit quite a wide range of interests.

My own interest strayed to the “erotic potions dresser” where I finally settled upon the “massage therapy kit” as a good place to start.

It was lots of fun when my parcel arrived. It was packaged in a lovely PINK box and tied up with ribbon. Inside, the products were nicely wrapped in PINK tissue paper. I felt very special and decadent.

The massage therapy kit comes with 5 bottles of massage oil in a variety of blends.

And while I would love to give a detailed description of my experiences so far, well, there are some things that are better left “off blog”. What I can tell you is that they come with the Lightening tick of approval.

Liz from Madame Rouge has kindly donated one of these massage therapy kits, valued at $54, for me to give away to one lucky reader.

If you’d like to enter this giveaway, simply complete the form below answering the question “name one of the oils in the massage therapy kit“.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Oh, and Madame Rouge does deliver internationally too!

Wanna hear about my day? You’re all nodding right? RIGHT????

Last night I actually slept through the night. No nightmares (well, nothing that woke me up anyway). AND I slept in this morning.

A good night’s sleep is a good start to a great day.

Then this morning I make the decision I’m going to have a totally self indulgent day. Go me!!! Good decision.

Some blogging over cuppa and breakfast.

Then onto a lovely soak in our huge tub. Accompanied by a cup of tea, half a packet of Tim Tams (Double Coated ones at that!!!) and one of my favourite magazines “Australian Natural Health”.

Few more online bits and pieces.

Lunch with my lovely husband (yes, he turned up. He always does eventually).

Did some relaxation and meditation exercises from my “On the Go Meditations” CD. Listened for the first time to the track “Your Perfect Day” which was fabulous and positive and is something I’m going to try and listen to more often.

Changed the sheets on our bed to BRAND NEW, soft and snuggly, flannelette sheets. Did that so I can look forward to hopping in to bed tonight. I LOVE fresh sheets but even better are NEW sheets and even better still is that first night in flannelette sheets after having cotton over the warmer months.

Ate the most delicious Pink Lady Apple.

Did the Gratitude Dance for:

• new sheets
• healthy food
• my wonderful family
• my fabulous friends both online and off
• abundance

Walked down to the bus stop to meet the kids. They have to cross the road this term and Trailer Boy is a bit young to do that by himself. Had a lovely conversation on the way back to the house including Trailer Boy pointing out all the wheel tracks in our driveway.

Out to netball training. I’m still unfit!!!! Played Goal Defense for a bit this week. Had to remember NOT to stop at the goal ring. LOL. Really enjoyed myself and starting to feel like the “old me” more than I have for a long time. I’m hoping that’s the old me coming back and a result of reducing the medications and not just a temporary thing.

Just helped Trailer Boy get into his pj’s and he pointed out “pants tracks” on his skin. LOL. A mark his jocks have left.

Now I’m looking forward to snuggling down in my NEW sheets.

I think I should have a “me day” more often.

LOVE the suggestions for a “ME” weekend!!!!!

We are fortunate in our finances in that we usually finish each of our personal financial years (which for us run Feb 1st to Jan 31st) with some kind of surplus in our bank account.

This hasn’t always been the case. In fact, a little over 3 years ago we were basically living BEYOND our means, spending around $3000 a year MORE than we could really afford to.

It was at this point that we decided it was time to separate our finances from the farm a little and work on tracking our spending and living more WITHIN our means (and perhaps even a little under them).

Still, it was somewhat of a surprise to us to get to the end of the first year and actually have MONEY in our account. At this point I was mighty glad we’d moved to a separate bank account for our personal drawings as this meant the left over money was OURS and wasn’t simply going to be swallowed up the endless black hole for money that a farm seems to be.

So, we needed to come to some kind of decision. What do we do with this surplus money? Spend it? Save it? Use it toward the mortgage?

I thought it would be a nice incentive toward NOT overspending, if we put at least SOME of any surplus at the end of the year toward something “fun”. Kind of a reward for our efforts throughout the year.

We started off using a split of 60% toward the mortgage, 20% toward our emergency fund and 20% “blow money” (meaning we didn’t have to spend it on something “practical” or “sensible”).

Now that the mortgage is paid and our emergency fund is at a level we feel comfortable with for now, we make decisions at the end of each year based on our needs and plans at the time. But still, at least 20% gets set aside to be deliberately spent as a “reward” for our efforts (which do involve hard work and sacrifice from time to time).

This system works well for us and we feel far from deprived even though we tend to spend less than others in some areas of our budget.

One year we took the kids to the Adelaide Show as our “splurge”. It’s great to be able to say to our children that we “choose” to spend our money in this way and have money available for ………. . We want to show them that frugality is about a lifestyle CHOICE. We are not deprived. We are not “poor”. We just choose to spend (or not spend) our money the way we do.

Yesterday we went on a spending spree. It’s not “normal” for us to spend our “splurge/blow money” quite this early into the next year but we had a plan. It was a plan that made sense to us. The money was sitting there. So we went ahead and instituted it.

We’d been discussing for a while the need to buy a netball ring for Singstar Princess as she’s constantly using our old kids basketball ring to shoot hoops and given she’s interested in starting netball training, we figured a ring would be a useful backyard item. The basketball ring is a plastic adjustable kids one and doesn’t go very high.

We’ve also been talking for a while about how useful a punching bag would be. We’re finding that Leighton is prone to fits of anger and aggression that really need some kind of physical outlet (that doesn’t include throwing a pillow at the light and snapping the bulb off). Being able to let off steam would also be helpful for me and I know Farmboy will make use of it as well.

I noticed Sports Power were advertising both of these items and suggested to Farmboy that we *could* use our 2007 “splurge” money and just go out and buy them.

It still felt strange to walk into Sports Power and just spend $500 in the space of around 5 minutes. Then again, it also felt GOOD to know that we were spending money we HAD.

This is the netball ring. The “normal” me would have gone for the $20 ring that you need to attach to a carport or similar. The “splurge” here was buying a free standing ring that is easily adjustable in height and movable depending on where it suits us to have it. We also bought a netball for her.

The grin on her face last night when we told her what we’d bought was priceless. If it got any wider she would have lost half her lips as they fell off her face.  Despite the hot day she had to have a go when she got home from school today. 

And this is the punching bag set-up. It’s a bit flash for our usual “buy the cheapest you can find” style. Given at least 3 of us plan to use it on a regular basis, we felt it was a worthwhile investment.

Farmboy admitted to me on the way home that he has always wanted to own a punching bag. He’s a practical kind of guy and it would never have ocurred to him to go out and buy a set-up like this. It was only that I suggested we buy it with our surplus “blow” money that he’d even contemplate it. I was rapt when he said that because he really IS bad at spending money on himself. It’s nice to think we’ve bought something that will make him smile.

Not to be missed out, Trailer Boy (note: new name for “The Bomb”) got a new yellow football. His first EVER real football. Last season during football training he was asking for a yellow football. So now he has one. And it is definitely his most prized possession.  He doesn’t actually attend training yet but likes to go along and play with the other younger boys that are there.

Spoilt? My kids? Yeah….I know.

All that didn’t quite add up to $500.  Farmboy also bought himself a weights set.  He’s noticed since he broke his collarbone a couple of years ago that he no longer has much strength in that arm so he wants to work on rebuilding some of that.

Being frugal is boring?  Not in our family. 

I guess you can call 2 kittens that are from the same litter twins??? They’re nothing alike but you get that with twins don’t you? I always thought it would be nice to have twins.

Our kitten, Max went missing in October. I was too upset to blog about it. Plus I thought if I said he was gone then I was losing all hope that he might come back. He didn’t come back. I still miss him. As you do. When you love a pet.

I wasn’t so sure I wanted to get any more kittens. *sigh* I don’t need more sadness by getting attached to more pets.

But we have mice. And snakes. And cats are really a good pet to have on a farm for those 2 reasons. Plus they’re cute.

So we saw an advert giving away Ginger kittens. And I nagged Farmboy to ring until he got hold of them. We thought we’d just take one. But they said we could have two. And it’s nice for them to have some companionship. So we got two.

Silly little things they are.

This morning one of them got himself stuck between the glass door and the screen.

Aren’t they funny the things they’ll do and the places they get themselves stuck in?

So, now we’re going to have ourselves a little caption fun. You can come up with a caption for photo 1 OR photo 2. Or you can come up with a funny caption for both. Please leave your caption ideas in the comments section and indicate which photo it is a caption for.

Will there be a prize??? Indeed. Winners will receive one of these fantabulous, hot off the press, just arrived today, “Lightening - It’s Pink!!!” magnetic calendars.

These are a limited edition so make sure you get your entries in so you have a chance to snaffle one. Or get your entries in anyway so we can all have a giggle.

Winning entries (I haven’t decided how many there’ll be yet) will be published as part of my Smiley Saturday post this weekend.

So get those thinking caps on and see if you can come up with something to make us all smile.

WARNING: This post contains material which may cause jealousy.  If you struggle with the green eyed monster when it comes to romantic husbands, please do NOT read any further.  LighteningOnline.com cannot accept any responsibility for fits of jealous rage, pouting, sulking, foot stomping, whining or any other behaviours or actions that may result from reading this post.  You do so at your own risk. 

You may have noticed that I haven’t been around much over the past couple of weeks.  My family have been staying at our in laws shack over the Christmas and New Year period.  I’ve popped back home a couple of times for quick “do the washing and other stuff” type reasons but for the most part we’ve been relaxing at the beach.

Farmboy’s sister and her family have also been staying there.  Between us we have 5 children although put together it can seem like 10 some days.  LOL.  It’s been lots of fun though.  My SIL called us back before Christmas and kindly offered to have our children for a night so that Farmboy and I could have a nice romantic night away.  Being the romantic practical person that he is, Farmboy suggested that instead of booking in to a nice romantic establishment by the seaside somewhere along the coast, that we instead come HOME.  Actually, this suited me quite well as at least I have internet access at home and could get a desperately needed “fix” while we were here!  Of course, this came with the added bonus of him being able to squeeze in some farmwork not having to book for any set night AND of course, not having to pay for any accomodation getting to sleep in our own bed! 

As it turned out, it was a good thing we decided to go this way as our youngest hadn’t been well so we brought him home with us too.  A nice romantic evening for two three.

We had to stop in for some food on our way home as I’d cleared out our fridge and taken all our fresh food down to the shack.  DH told me to leave everything to him, so I did!

Here’s what he rolled out……

Entre (we have this so seldom, I’m not even sure how to spell it!!!)

Freshly prepared prawn cocktails (my favourite)

Main Course

Flame grilled t-bone steak (from our 1/2 cow in the freezer) served with bbq roasted zucchini (freshly picked from the garden), carrots (some in fridge from the 5kg I bought before Christmas) and potato.  Accompanied by pink champagne (also my favourite).

To say it was delicious almost doesn’t do it justice.  It was suberb!!!!  Farmboy is sure turning into the BBQ king around here!

Pampering

We were so full after that we decided to postpone dessert until after our 4 year old was in bed.  Once he was safely tucked away DH ran a bath in our spa bath and we relaxed in the spa with more champagne, fresh strawberries and some Ferrero Rochers.    Twas delightful.  He even added some of my peppermint bath salts to the bath.  And gave me a foot massage in the bath.

Dessert (yes, there was still dessert to come after all of that!!!)

Strawberry cheesecake (generic - because we both really like the local generic brand cheesecake) served with ice cream and fresh cream and garnished with extra strawberries.  He was going to add a swirl of strawberry sauce to the plate but we didn’t have any left.  It’s the thought that counts though!

It was a really lovely evening!    The next morning when I woke up, he cooked me bacon and eggs for breakfast as well!!!  While he popped out to do a few jobs around the farm (like make sure the sheep had enough water), I treated myself to a microdermabrasian facial (I’ve been slack with skin care while we’ve been at the beach) and defuzzed with some Nair (I’m allergic to pain so waxing doesn’t really rate as an option for me!) and dry brushed my skin.  It was so lovely to take a little time out for myself.  DH took The Bomb with him so I had some nice quiet alone time (always something to be cherished!).

Estimated Costings and Savings:

Spa Room overnight $200

3 course dinner for 2 with champagne $150 (at least)

Cooked Breakfast for 2 $50

Massage $50

Hair Removal $30

Facial $30+

Total Potential Cost $500+

Total cost to us for food, champagne etc approx $60 (not including food already on hand)

That’s a pretty massive saving isn’t it?  Who said frugality had to be about deprivation?

Isn’t my DH a very clever bunny?  And a most adorable hunny?  Jealous yet?