Monday 31 March 2014

for a look back

This week at My Home Truths Kirsty asked us to link up a post from March 2013...

Scrolling through my posts March 2013 was a big month for me! It was a month of 2 major "NEWs"..

I got a New Car and a New Job!

Wowzers... hard to believe 12 months has passed....

What were you doing in March last year??
Head over to My Home Truths and link up an old post! Easy Peasy!


Thursday 27 March 2014

for my blog list

At The Lounge this week being hosted by Tegan at Musings of the Misguided, we have been asked to share our most loved blogs...

This could open a big can of worms! I am feeling the pressure to not forget anyone as I create my list. There are so many blogs I enjoy for lots of different reasons and at lots of different times. To be honest I only subscribe to a couple of blogs as I find it easier to save blogs into my favourites and click on blogs via link ups. I also feel the pressure in what order to put the blogs I enjoy so think for ease I will just list them alphabetically...

Colours of Sunset
Essentially Jess
Finding Myself Young
Five Degrees of Chaos
Have a Laugh on Me
Kimba Likes
Middle Aged Mama
Ms Mystery Case
Musings of the Misguided
My Home Truths
My Little Drummer Boys
Ness of Boganville
One Mother Hen
Over Cups of Coffee
Red Dolls
This is who I am....by Marleisa
Twinkle in the Eye
With Some Grace

Oh I really really feel like I am missing someone... If you think it's you please comment below and remind me!! There are SO many blogs I like and follow on FB!!

If there is a blog that you think I need to check out... Let me know!!!



Wednesday 26 March 2014

Tuesday 25 March 2014

for another challenge!

As if my reading challenge wasn't enough (as well as my fitness bootcamp challenge and working full time), over the weekend I decided to sign up for a blogging challenge!!!


I stumbled across this one whilst catching up on my blog reading over at Over Cups of Coffee.... Psych Babbler is also joining the challenge.

So what is it and are you going to join me???

The Blogging From A-Z Challenge runs for the month of April, where you blog each day from the respective letter in the alphabet. What you blog about is up to you and some people find it easiest to have a theme. With some help from Psych Babbler I am blogging about...


I think it's kind of perfect...given that my blog is a bit of a random mix of ramblings about my life it seems to really fit. There was the suggestion that I also do stories from my teaching career so will weave that in as well.... I know what you are all thinking... "How awesome crazy is this woman?, she's always complaining about not having enough time!".. Well in response to that, I have now learnt how to schedule posts (Thanks Ms Mystery Case!) and I have 2 weeks off in April so SURELY I can get organised!

So...are you up for the challenge? I know Flood Proof Mum is also joining us...anyone else???

Linking up this IBOT with Essentially Jess of course!



Monday 24 March 2014

for a hospital confession..

I have spent so much time in blogland today...catching up on reading blogs, commenting on blogs and researching about an upcoming blog challenge that it is now 6 minutes past my bedtime on Sunday night and I've just realised I haven't written my blog for tomorrow! My bad...

So here goes for my probably short and sweet confession this week...

I must confess.... hospitals make me cry..

I have been fortunate enough not to spend too much time in hospital as a patient but the few times I have gone under the knife I have woken up crying.... random I know..

I can't explain it and I have no idea why it happens but as I am 'coming to' I feel that big lump in my throat and tears welling in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks...I hear nurses saying "What's wrong Zita" to which all I can do is shake my head and shrug my shoulders.

During my pre-op at my most recent day surgery when they asked me if I had any difficulties with anaesthetic I told them it makes me cry, puzzled, I explained to them that there was a strong chance that when I was waking up in recovery I would be crying...sure enough, I was!


Do you have any side effects from anaesthetic? Are you a crier like me?

Head over to My Home Truths and confess or link up your Open Slather Monday post with 


Wednesday 19 March 2014

Wardrobe Wordless Wednesday..

Really need to get a full length mirror!
Wearing 7/8 length geometric pants from Katies (last season), white sleeveless top with tie at the back.

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys and Twinkle in the Eye for Wordless Wednesday and Kimba Likes for Wardrobe Wednesday! Check 'em out!!

Wardrobe Wednesday



Monday 17 March 2014

for a trip to a theme park!

This week at My Home Truths we are choosing our own confession...

So I am confessing that when it comes to theme park rides I am a big 'ol scardy cat!!!!

Over the weekend my sister and I took advantage of a Shopper-a-Docket deal where you got 2 for the price of 1 tickets to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast (seriously....I would never pay full price! Way too expensive I reckon!)



We looked on in horror as brave little souls lined up to ride The Tower of Terror and other such heart-dropping in your chest rides! NO THANK YOU! I can not think of anything worse than being flung into the air, hung upside down, shot up into space (ok maybe not space but you get the idea!), pushed/pulled/jerked at the speed of light (ok again another slight over-exaggeration) all in the name of "fun".

A train ride is a little more my speed!


Luckily for us there is a lot more to do at Dreamworld than risk certain death go on scary rides! We definitely both loved watching the Cub College Tiger Show on Tiger Island, watching the Crocodile's get fed, strolling through the animal parks and we braved a Train Ride, the Rapids ride and the Log ride, taking any opportunity to get a little wet on a scorching Autumn Day! We were a little sad the Big Brother House was closed - my sister is a big fan!

These big cats are amazing! As are their keepers!


So fess up....are you a theme park ride lover or avoider??
If you've got something you've always wanted to confess...now's your chance!
Head over to the all new looking My Home Truths and get it off your chest!
I also link up each Monday with One Mother Hen! Head over to her blog for what looks like an amazing cheesecake recipe!



Wednesday 12 March 2014

for Wordless Wardrobe Wednesday!

Am linking up so late this Wednesday but am taking the view that better to be late than never!

I am linking up with the lovely ladies at My Little Drummer Boys and Twinkle in the Eye for Wordless Wednesday, but this week I am also linking up with Kimba Likes for Wardrobe Wednesday, making my post Wordless Wardrobe Wednesday....!!! (despite the words I just had to use to explain this!)..

Here's what I wore from my wardrobe today....


Not the most attractive photo! SO hard to take full length selfies!!



Tuesday 11 March 2014

for a bootcamp update!

We have just entered week 6 of 8 of our bootcamp and I am enjoying it so much! When I looked back I realised that I haven't done an update since Week 1!

I spoke then about the things that I was going to find a bit of a challenge but seem to be managing them ok. I thought it was going to be a big struggle training so late in the afternoon (we train from 6pm-7pm), as I have always considered myself a "sit-on-the-couch-and-don't-get-up" kinda girl in the afternoons but work has been so busy that I pretty much get home in time to just change and run out the door again, so haven't had time to think about not going.

There's 18 girls in our group, however for a variety of reasons I don't think we've had a session with the full 18 of us, I guess we probably usually average about 10 girls. I will admit to missing the odd session due to other commitments as well - sometimes things just happen.

We have four sessions a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday nights from 6-7pm and Saturday mornings 6am-7am. We do a wide variety of things which I love, you turn up not really knowing what is in store. I think this is great so that you don't get bored by it. We do a fair bit of boxing but I really enjoy that so I don't mind. I think it's a great whole body workout and have definitely noticed a change in my arms (I not quite ready to claim "guns" status, but am pretty close!).

Saturday mornings are usually a little different from the usual training sessions. Saturday just gone we ran the 10km track from the recent Peak2Park event in Toowoomba (a 'fun run' held each year to raise money for different local charities). I was stoked when I finished with a time under an hour!

Us after our run! So damn proud of all the girls!
The halfway point of bootcamp came at a very emotional time for me. My eating had really gone by the wayside for a few days so I wasn't really looking forward to what the scales and measuring had to say. The scales show a loss of 1.2kg (not great after 4 weeks but better than nothing.. or worse still..a gain) and measurements a loss of 9.8cm from various parts of my body, my waist being the most which is a little exciting! It seems that I may have had a slight increase in the measurements of my thighs, but I am trying to tell myself it's because I am building muscle... (That would be right wouldn't it???)

Two other things that I am trying at the moment to improve my overall health and well-being are:

1. Oil Pulling 





what the..? you may ask! So did I when my sister mentioned it. She saw an article shared on Facebook and was intrigued. So was I, so I turned to my trusty Google and Pinterest and came across a plethora of articles discuss this technique. One of the main ones I read was from a blog written by The Wellness Warrior. Basically the idea is that first thing in the morning you put a tablespoon of Coconut Oil in your mouth and swish it around for 20 mins. The oil pulling has a detoxifying effect on your mouth and rids it of toxins and bacterias. I am not claiming to be any type of expert but if you click on the link above you can read more about it. I have only just started and can certainly report that my teeth feel a lot cleaner, not sure they are whiter but will continue to do it and see what happens. I have noticed a few other changes in myself that are listed as benefits of oil pulling but as I am trying a few different things it's hard to know which one is having the effect or if it's a combination of a number of healthy changes.


2. Green Tea Extract


This is something that our trainer has told us about. I am a bit fan of green tea and usually try and have a cup every morning but this takes it to a whole new level! Each sachet claims to be the equivalent of 20 cups of green tea which, as we know is full of antioxidants and other healthy goodness! The website claims that the product may increase metabolism, increase your energy levels, detox the liver and kidney and is full of trace minerals and vitamins C & D. It is also sugar free, gluten free and diabetic friendly - gotta be happy with that! It comes in different flavours and I bought the 'starter pack' which contains 30 sachets in total - 10 Original, 10 Raspberry and 10 Tropical Flavours. Again I have only been on it for a few days so time will tell..

Overall I have been happy with my progress with the bootcamp. There have been times that I have slipped up with my diet but for the most part it has been good. I am definitely a sucker for chocolate. It is my weakness.... I can forgo sweets, cakes, biscuits all of that, but put some chocolate in front of me and I can't resist.... I wonder what my progress would be like if I could but then we need to have some pleasures in life!

Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT!!!



Monday 10 March 2014

to belong..

This week at My Home Truths for I must confess, Kirsty has given us the prompt...

Which actor would you like to be ” you” in the movie of your life – 
what would you call it?

So naturally this got me thinking about my life and struggling to come up with a person to play me, let alone a title.. "Would anyone even want to watch a movie of my life!?"
Tonight (Sunday night - my usual 'blogging night') I was catching up on some blog reading and suddenly it dawned on me.....

I must confess.... I don't know where I belong...

Image Source

 (The teacher in me really really wishes those were capital I's!)

The blogger was talking about being a local in their small town and I realised, I am not a 'local' anywhere. I was born in a small town in Central QLD, leaving there when I was 9 months old and moving to a sheep farm between Inglewood and Stanthorpe on the Darling Downs. I went off to boarding school for all of my High School years.

Once I finished High School I moved straight to Toowoomba for University, 4 years later I was a teacher and took my first posting in Normanton in the Gulf of Carpentaria. From then until now, 13 years later, I have pretty much transferred with work every 3 years...

Around the time I moved to Normanton, my folks left the farm. It was a bizarre feeling. I felt like I hadn't lived on the farm for so long but it was still 'home'..

I have moved back to Toowomba twice in the last 13 years but I am not sure this is 'home' either. I certainly don't consider myself a local. It's not that it's not a nice town, but I suppose it's a safe town for me. It's like my little security blanket. I know it here, I have friends here, I have family here, but I am not sure here is where I want to be forever. I don't know why, can't put a reason on it, but just can't help but wonder if there isn't something more...

I must confess I have never really felt settled anywhere, I feel like I am always looking for the next place to move to, the next job, the next school... hoping that in the next town things will be different, work will be better, I will meet someone...

Each of the places I have lived has given me some wonderful adventures, some wonderful memories, some not so wonderful memories and everything in between. Some of my best and closest friends are from these places and for that reason they will all hold a special place in my heart, but none of them made me feel the burning desire to stay become a local. There is that old saying Home is where the heart is.. well that doesn't make things any easier as I feel like I have left a little piece of my heart in every place that I have lived.

I suppose I probably have never really given myself enough time in each of these places, but looking back the decision to leave each time seemed right at the time. So I just continue to live where I live and do what I do, for the most part life goes by as if on auto pilot, with the mind constantly wondering 'what is next?'.... When people would ask me where I wanted to live, where I saw myself living in 5 years time, I would joke and say "wherever my husband is!" but to be honest I am really not sure.

So tomorrow is another day and I'll get up and do what I do every day and wait for inspiration to hit and until it does I will  (hopefully) have some more adventures.


Image Source - edited using Pic Monkey
A map of QLD for those not sure where these places are that I speak of...
The stars obviously indicating some of the places I have lived..


How about you? Do you feel like you are where you belong? Are you a 'local'?



Monday 3 March 2014

to outsource..

Confession time again.....

If you could outsource any part of your life, what would it be?

oh the mind boggled...

I think I have settled on..housework! I know I am a single person who lives alone but I really really despise housework.

Image Source
Oh so true! Also for the reason listed above, I can't quite justify getting a cleaning lady. Now it's not just the cleaning that I despise, in fact, that's not so bad as, around here, it really doesn't need to be done every weekend. I also hate doing the laundry, it seems like such a monotonous task that is just constantly repeated, wash, hang, fold, put away, wear, repeat... And throw in there iron and man it's annoying! There are days where I deliberately avoid wearing certain items because they require ironing and that requires getting the iron board out of the cupboard...*yawn*... Boring! Could think of a million other things I'd rather be doing!

I think it comes down to my whinging about never having enough time so when I do have some the last thing I feel like doing is cleaning. I am the sort of person that walks in and drops whatever is in my hands on the kitchen table or on my office desk. It is a bad habit that I am trying to break! I am the sort of person that does more cleaning in the 10 minutes prior to a visitor arriving than I do all week!

Recently a friend of mine became a Norwex consultant and I got roped into having a party offered to host a party after attending her launch party. She was an awesome salesperson and I ended up purchasing more than I thought I would, all with the promise of making my life so much easier and cleaning quicker (and better for the environment! Bonus!), But a few weeks on I am yet to use a lot of the products and am still trying to convince her to come be my cleaning lady and use my place as a 'model home' for her products! lol...

So while I could 'outsource' this part of my life, at this stage in my life, I think it's a bit of a waste of money!

What about you? Are you a housework lover or hater? What part of your life would you outsource?

Head on over to My Home Truths to link up your confession