Thank you to everyone who popped by and entered the Mums United and the Heart Foundation giveaway....
I hope you have all had a chance to try some of the great recipes from the Heart Foundation website...we have tried a few now and they are fast becoming family favourites!
Well without further ado I am happy to announce that the lucky winner of a $200 grocery voucher is Debra with her creative entry...
Mango & passionfruit smoothie gets my tick;
so quick to prepare, does the trick.
Full of goodness to get me on my way;
knowing it's heart healthy, great start to the day.
So congratulations to Debra and again thank you to everyone that entered.
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Friday, 11 October 2013
A Healthy Start Part 3
{sponsored post from Mums United and The Heart Foundation }
Well after two weeks of school holidays I can tell you that I am exhausted!! Dropping the girls to activities here and there, driving them to friends houses or movie sessions.....no rest for the wicked as they say!
I feel like I am starting each day tired already....so by the time the afternoon rolls around it is all too easy to reach for a chocolate bar...or two...to try to give me a little boost to get through the rest of the day. But in an attempt to provide healthier snacks for myself and for my family I went searching the recipes at the Heart Foundation website and found this one here... Apricot and Oat Balls and it is super quick and super easy to make...!!
Well I love anything that is this quick and easy to make...and it doesn't leave me with a huge mess to clean up..!!
I would like to thank everyone that has stopped by my blog in the last 2 weeks to enter our $200 grocery giveaway. Entries have now closed and the winner will contacted via email and will also be announced on Tuesday 15th October on the blog....so pop by to see who the lucky winner is !!
Thursday, 3 October 2013
6 weeks in.....
Well week one of the school holidays arrived....and with it came a stomach bug that hit hard.
Miss 9 was the first but luckily for her she was only out of action for a day. Miss 4 was next and she was hit a bit harder. She took about 48 hours to get over it. Having nursed her through it I was next in line! I was completely out of action for 48 hours and was still off food for another day or so. Miss 12 was the last victim but she recovered after about 12 hours.
So that week saw no exercise and no attention to eating.
I did have a weight loss of 700 grams on the scales on Sunday but that was purely from being sick.
It was disappointing but to look on the positives I am lucky it was the school holidays so I had less running around to do and could take a couple of days to get better.
Moving on from here...will see what next week holds....
Miss 9 was the first but luckily for her she was only out of action for a day. Miss 4 was next and she was hit a bit harder. She took about 48 hours to get over it. Having nursed her through it I was next in line! I was completely out of action for 48 hours and was still off food for another day or so. Miss 12 was the last victim but she recovered after about 12 hours.
So that week saw no exercise and no attention to eating.
I did have a weight loss of 700 grams on the scales on Sunday but that was purely from being sick.
It was disappointing but to look on the positives I am lucky it was the school holidays so I had less running around to do and could take a couple of days to get better.
Moving on from here...will see what next week holds....
A Healthy Start Part 2...and the giveaway continues...
{sponsored post from Mums United and The Heart Foundation }
We are well into the second week of the school holidays here and what a week it has been!! Sunday was spent sightseeing in Sydney. Monday saw us arrive at the airport at 7am to welcome home Miss 14, she finally emerged well after 8am!! We then went for a little trip to the beach at Brighton-le-Sands to relax and listen to her recount of her trip to Japan. Tuesday saw Miss 4 off to preschool and the rest of us off on a shopping adventure. Wednesday saw three of the girls at a death by chocolate adventure and myself, Miss 9 and Miss 4 off to the local markets. And today has been filled with workshops for the girls...fishing from 9.30am til 2.00pm and then off to a sports activity for the rest of the afternoon. And tonight my great nephew...we'll call him Master 4....is having a sleepover with us....!!
The cupboards and fridge are looking quite bare. So it was no surprise that hubby was hesitant to ask what was for dinner tonight!!
Usually on a day like this he would be lucky to get frozen party pies!! But thanks to the Heart Foundation website I actually had it covered!
I had browsed their dinner recipes earlier in the week and had made quite a list of favourites. One of the recipes on my list was the Linguine with Garlic Prawns.....you can find the recipe here...
Now this is a new favourite of mine for a few reasons....firstly because it has so few ingredients, secondly because it can be prepared and cooked in only half an hour and thirdly because it doesn't create a lot of extra washing up :-)
I have to admit that hubby was quite impressed with this meal and it will definitely be a regular in our meal plans from now on.
Don't forget that thanks to Mums United and The Heart Foundation I have a
$200 supermarket voucher to give away.....so now you too can go shopping for some Heart Foundation tick products....
Here's all you have to do to be in with a chance to win...
* pop over and 'like' my Facebook page.....just click on the button on the top right of this blog
* post a comment on my previous heart foundation blog by clicking here and tell me which of the recipes from the Heart Foundation website tickles your fancy the most.....and why?
* please include your email address in the post so we can contact you if you are the lucky winner
terms and conditions
- competition closes at midnight on Tuesday 8th October 2013
- competition is open to Australian residents only
- only one entry per household
- we will be looking for original and creative answers
- judges decision is final
- winner will be announced here on the blog on Tuesday 15th October 2013
So pop on over to the Heart Foundation website, check out all of their wonderful recipes and remember to pop back to my previous Heart Foundation blog and complete your entry....feel free to share the competition with family and friends too...and good luck !!!!!
We are well into the second week of the school holidays here and what a week it has been!! Sunday was spent sightseeing in Sydney. Monday saw us arrive at the airport at 7am to welcome home Miss 14, she finally emerged well after 8am!! We then went for a little trip to the beach at Brighton-le-Sands to relax and listen to her recount of her trip to Japan. Tuesday saw Miss 4 off to preschool and the rest of us off on a shopping adventure. Wednesday saw three of the girls at a death by chocolate adventure and myself, Miss 9 and Miss 4 off to the local markets. And today has been filled with workshops for the girls...fishing from 9.30am til 2.00pm and then off to a sports activity for the rest of the afternoon. And tonight my great nephew...we'll call him Master 4....is having a sleepover with us....!!
The cupboards and fridge are looking quite bare. So it was no surprise that hubby was hesitant to ask what was for dinner tonight!!
Usually on a day like this he would be lucky to get frozen party pies!! But thanks to the Heart Foundation website I actually had it covered!
I had browsed their dinner recipes earlier in the week and had made quite a list of favourites. One of the recipes on my list was the Linguine with Garlic Prawns.....you can find the recipe here...
Now this is a new favourite of mine for a few reasons....firstly because it has so few ingredients, secondly because it can be prepared and cooked in only half an hour and thirdly because it doesn't create a lot of extra washing up :-)
I have to admit that hubby was quite impressed with this meal and it will definitely be a regular in our meal plans from now on.
Don't forget that thanks to Mums United and The Heart Foundation I have a
$200 supermarket voucher to give away.....so now you too can go shopping for some Heart Foundation tick products....
Here's all you have to do to be in with a chance to win...
* pop over and 'like' my Facebook page.....just click on the button on the top right of this blog
* post a comment on my previous heart foundation blog by clicking here and tell me which of the recipes from the Heart Foundation website tickles your fancy the most.....and why?
* please include your email address in the post so we can contact you if you are the lucky winner
terms and conditions
- competition closes at midnight on Tuesday 8th October 2013
- competition is open to Australian residents only
- only one entry per household
- we will be looking for original and creative answers
- judges decision is final
- winner will be announced here on the blog on Tuesday 15th October 2013
So pop on over to the Heart Foundation website, check out all of their wonderful recipes and remember to pop back to my previous Heart Foundation blog and complete your entry....feel free to share the competition with family and friends too...and good luck !!!!!
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Another Falls Victim....
** probably would advise against reading this if you are eating your lunch **
Well it is the first week of school holidays here .....time for trips to the movies, adventures at the park, dvd nights filled with pizza and lollies, outings with friends....
But no....not here in our little part of the world.....
Instead we are one by one falling victim to the stomach bug from hell.....
When Friday of last week rolled around exhaustion took control of my brain and I offered the girls the chance to stay home for the day (a very rare treat but considering Miss 14 was in Japan it was slight consolation !!) Miss 15 and Miss 12 jumped at the chance...but as expected Miss 9 wanted to go to school.
Hubby was working locally so he dropped her off much to my pleasure. There was no morning rush to shower and be dressed. It was lovely.
But around 11.00 am I had a call from school that Miss 9 had vomited and was in sick bay so could I kindly pick her up. :-(
Well when I got there Miss 9 seemed perfectly fine, in fact she wanted to go back to class, not come home!! But rather than be frowned upon I convinced her to come home and rest up. There were no more symptoms displayed by Miss 9....she had bounced back so we attributed it to a warm day and running around after eating.
Come Monday afternoon after an exhaustive day of shopping with Miss 15, Miss 12 and Miss 9 some thirty kilometres from home we picked up Miss 4 from preschool. Before we could complete the five minute journey home she was complaining of the need to vomit.
Another hot day and busy playing at preschool she seemed to feel a bit better after we arrived home and she settled on the lounge. But that all changed about half an hour later as the poor thing proceeded to vomit up the entire contents of her stomach and some. The vomiting continued for a few hours until Miss 4 was utterly exhausted. Thankfully she is proficient at vomiting into the container!
Then the battle to keep her fluid intake to small sips instead of huge guzzles began. And sadly each time I was distracted and she got more drink in than I permitted it would come back out within 10 minutes. It was a long night that night as she was restless and tossed and turned all night.....and I was constantly on edge thinking there might be more vomiting.
The next day thankfully the vomiting had ended but Miss 4 was a pale shadow of herself. Most of her day was spent dozing on the lounge. A quick trip out to pick up Miss 15 and Miss 12 from their photography workshop felt like an eternity as Miss 4 cried the whole time because every sound was giving her a headache.
Thanks to the day of napping a late night was had. Morning came and with it came my turn to fall victim to the bug.....great!!
Somehow I managed to get Miss 15 and Miss 12 to their workshop and returned home with Miss 9 and Miss 4 in tow. I threw myself onto the lounge and that is pretty much where I stayed for the day wallowing in self pity!! The house was trashed (well even more than usual), the girls had to fend for themselves (thankfully the fridge was well stocked) and a request from them for lunch nearly made me puke! The best that I could do was to put some chicken nuggets in the oven, throw them onto a plate when they were cooked and seek refuge from the smell.
It took all the strength that I could summon to get everyone into the car to pick up the older girls.
We made it home and I made it back to my position on the lounge. I cold now entirely relate to how Miss 4 felt the previous day when she said noise was giving her a headache. The sound of others breathing was enough to drive me insane....though luckily the moaning and groaning emanating from my mouth was like music to my ears oh and it served as a reminder to the others to stay away!!
Hubby arrived home after a 14 hour day at work to sheer disaster. Mess as far as they eye could see, no dinner in sight, a list of things that needed to be prepared, found or organised for the next day....and he managed it all like a trooper.....even cleaning up the vomit from Miss 12 who became the latest victim.
Seriously that was one nasty stomach bug that likes to hang around for a more than 24 hours...just to make sure you don't forget it in a hurry!!!
Hopefully week two of the school holidays will be a bit more fun !!!
Well it is the first week of school holidays here .....time for trips to the movies, adventures at the park, dvd nights filled with pizza and lollies, outings with friends....
But no....not here in our little part of the world.....
Instead we are one by one falling victim to the stomach bug from hell.....
When Friday of last week rolled around exhaustion took control of my brain and I offered the girls the chance to stay home for the day (a very rare treat but considering Miss 14 was in Japan it was slight consolation !!) Miss 15 and Miss 12 jumped at the chance...but as expected Miss 9 wanted to go to school.
Hubby was working locally so he dropped her off much to my pleasure. There was no morning rush to shower and be dressed. It was lovely.
But around 11.00 am I had a call from school that Miss 9 had vomited and was in sick bay so could I kindly pick her up. :-(
Well when I got there Miss 9 seemed perfectly fine, in fact she wanted to go back to class, not come home!! But rather than be frowned upon I convinced her to come home and rest up. There were no more symptoms displayed by Miss 9....she had bounced back so we attributed it to a warm day and running around after eating.
Come Monday afternoon after an exhaustive day of shopping with Miss 15, Miss 12 and Miss 9 some thirty kilometres from home we picked up Miss 4 from preschool. Before we could complete the five minute journey home she was complaining of the need to vomit.
Another hot day and busy playing at preschool she seemed to feel a bit better after we arrived home and she settled on the lounge. But that all changed about half an hour later as the poor thing proceeded to vomit up the entire contents of her stomach and some. The vomiting continued for a few hours until Miss 4 was utterly exhausted. Thankfully she is proficient at vomiting into the container!
Then the battle to keep her fluid intake to small sips instead of huge guzzles began. And sadly each time I was distracted and she got more drink in than I permitted it would come back out within 10 minutes. It was a long night that night as she was restless and tossed and turned all night.....and I was constantly on edge thinking there might be more vomiting.
The next day thankfully the vomiting had ended but Miss 4 was a pale shadow of herself. Most of her day was spent dozing on the lounge. A quick trip out to pick up Miss 15 and Miss 12 from their photography workshop felt like an eternity as Miss 4 cried the whole time because every sound was giving her a headache.
Thanks to the day of napping a late night was had. Morning came and with it came my turn to fall victim to the bug.....great!!
Somehow I managed to get Miss 15 and Miss 12 to their workshop and returned home with Miss 9 and Miss 4 in tow. I threw myself onto the lounge and that is pretty much where I stayed for the day wallowing in self pity!! The house was trashed (well even more than usual), the girls had to fend for themselves (thankfully the fridge was well stocked) and a request from them for lunch nearly made me puke! The best that I could do was to put some chicken nuggets in the oven, throw them onto a plate when they were cooked and seek refuge from the smell.
It took all the strength that I could summon to get everyone into the car to pick up the older girls.
We made it home and I made it back to my position on the lounge. I cold now entirely relate to how Miss 4 felt the previous day when she said noise was giving her a headache. The sound of others breathing was enough to drive me insane....though luckily the moaning and groaning emanating from my mouth was like music to my ears oh and it served as a reminder to the others to stay away!!
Hubby arrived home after a 14 hour day at work to sheer disaster. Mess as far as they eye could see, no dinner in sight, a list of things that needed to be prepared, found or organised for the next day....and he managed it all like a trooper.....even cleaning up the vomit from Miss 12 who became the latest victim.
Seriously that was one nasty stomach bug that likes to hang around for a more than 24 hours...just to make sure you don't forget it in a hurry!!!
Hopefully week two of the school holidays will be a bit more fun !!!
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
A Healthy Start.... and a giveaway!!
{sponsored post from Mums United and The Heart Foundation }
Being a busy mum of five girls I often feel that I should be doing more to promote a more active and a more healthy lifestyle in our home.....but where do you start?
Well recently I took part in a Mums United - Heart Foundation Challenge which was perfectly timed as the focus was on improving our family's health by making simple changes in our diet such as looking for Heart Foundation approved products.....and by increasing our exercise, starting with simple things like a walk around the block.
As part of the challenge we were sent some wonderful Heart Foundation approved recipes. So I decided that that was the place to start. You can check out the recipes for yourself at the Heart Foundation website by clicking here .
With a few family members popping around for a visit I decided that the banana cake from the website was the way to go.....here's the recipe....
At first I thought this would mean a quick trip to the shops but I was actually surprised that some of the ingredients right there in my fridge and pantry were already Heart Foundation tick products.....
So I was able to get straight to making the cake which was an easy to follow recipe.
When all the ingredients had been combined it was into the cake tin and into the oven.
The aroma of the cake cooking was torture....it smelt so good! Time was up and the cake came out of the oven looking wonderful.
As soon as it had cooled I whipped up the icing and put it on the cake....just in time for our afternoon tea with the family.
The cake was devoured by all with high accolades received. When I revealed to all that this was in fact a healthier version of banana cake the requests for the recipe were overwhelming !
So the cake was a hit and it was simple to make the changes to Heart Foundation tick products (though most for this recipe I already had!).....
Next I think I will pop over to the website for some dinner inspiration....check back next week and I'll share the results!!
But wait.....
Here's some good news.....thanks to Mums United and The Heart Foundation I have a
$200 supermarket voucher to give away.....so now you too can go shopping for some Heart Foundation tick products....
Here's all you have to do to be in with a chance to win...
* pop over and 'like' my Facebook page.....just click on the button on the top right of this blog
* post a comment below on this blog and tell me which of the recipes from the Heart Foundation website tickles your fancy the most.....and why?
* please include your email address in the post so we can contact you if you are the lucky winner
terms and conditions
- competition closes at midnight on Tuesday 8th October 2013
- competition is open to Australian residents only
- only one entry per household
- we will be looking for original and creative answers
- judges decision is final
- winner will be announced here on the blog on Tuesday 15th October 2013
So pop on over to the Heart Foundation website, check out all of their wonderful recipes and remember to pop back here and complete your entry....feel free to share the competition with family and friends too...and good luck !!!!!
Being a busy mum of five girls I often feel that I should be doing more to promote a more active and a more healthy lifestyle in our home.....but where do you start?
Well recently I took part in a Mums United - Heart Foundation Challenge which was perfectly timed as the focus was on improving our family's health by making simple changes in our diet such as looking for Heart Foundation approved products.....and by increasing our exercise, starting with simple things like a walk around the block.
As part of the challenge we were sent some wonderful Heart Foundation approved recipes. So I decided that that was the place to start. You can check out the recipes for yourself at the Heart Foundation website by clicking here .
With a few family members popping around for a visit I decided that the banana cake from the website was the way to go.....here's the recipe....
At first I thought this would mean a quick trip to the shops but I was actually surprised that some of the ingredients right there in my fridge and pantry were already Heart Foundation tick products.....
So I was able to get straight to making the cake which was an easy to follow recipe.
When all the ingredients had been combined it was into the cake tin and into the oven.
The aroma of the cake cooking was torture....it smelt so good! Time was up and the cake came out of the oven looking wonderful.
As soon as it had cooled I whipped up the icing and put it on the cake....just in time for our afternoon tea with the family.
The cake was devoured by all with high accolades received. When I revealed to all that this was in fact a healthier version of banana cake the requests for the recipe were overwhelming !
So the cake was a hit and it was simple to make the changes to Heart Foundation tick products (though most for this recipe I already had!).....
Next I think I will pop over to the website for some dinner inspiration....check back next week and I'll share the results!!
But wait.....
Here's some good news.....thanks to Mums United and The Heart Foundation I have a
$200 supermarket voucher to give away.....so now you too can go shopping for some Heart Foundation tick products....
Here's all you have to do to be in with a chance to win...
* pop over and 'like' my Facebook page.....just click on the button on the top right of this blog
* post a comment below on this blog and tell me which of the recipes from the Heart Foundation website tickles your fancy the most.....and why?
* please include your email address in the post so we can contact you if you are the lucky winner
terms and conditions
- competition closes at midnight on Tuesday 8th October 2013
- competition is open to Australian residents only
- only one entry per household
- we will be looking for original and creative answers
- judges decision is final
- winner will be announced here on the blog on Tuesday 15th October 2013
So pop on over to the Heart Foundation website, check out all of their wonderful recipes and remember to pop back here and complete your entry....feel free to share the competition with family and friends too...and good luck !!!!!
5 weeks in....
Well nearly every waking moment of this week was consumed with getting miss 14 packed and ready for her trip to Japan....and Wednesday night saw her depart safely....
It was a terrible week for food as the dining table was covered with clothes, suitcases, yen, toiletries....you name it it was probably on there somewhere.....
So meals were more of a rushed convenience type....ranging from toasted sandwiches to two minute noodles !!!
A check of my Lorna Jane app shows zero exercise this week.
Sunday's weigh in showed no loss....no gain....I had to be happy with that knowing that zero effort had been put in by me!
A busy life with 5 daughters and a hubby who works long hours is always going to throw these kinds of weeks at me....I have to work at being prepared or having a back up plan.....if I could cook up some of the meals and have them in the freezer for these situations it would be ideal...just to find the time to get this done!!! And to find a back up plan for exercise when time is tight.....
School holidays are here....that makes me nervous as most of my exercise is currently being done walking to and from school..... I'll have to see what I can do.....hoping I don't just lose it for the next two weeks...already disappointed with myself at how slowly I am progressing....well more realistically it would be that I am disappointed at how I can't stick with it 100%.....
It was a terrible week for food as the dining table was covered with clothes, suitcases, yen, toiletries....you name it it was probably on there somewhere.....
So meals were more of a rushed convenience type....ranging from toasted sandwiches to two minute noodles !!!
A check of my Lorna Jane app shows zero exercise this week.
Sunday's weigh in showed no loss....no gain....I had to be happy with that knowing that zero effort had been put in by me!
A busy life with 5 daughters and a hubby who works long hours is always going to throw these kinds of weeks at me....I have to work at being prepared or having a back up plan.....if I could cook up some of the meals and have them in the freezer for these situations it would be ideal...just to find the time to get this done!!! And to find a back up plan for exercise when time is tight.....
School holidays are here....that makes me nervous as most of my exercise is currently being done walking to and from school..... I'll have to see what I can do.....hoping I don't just lose it for the next two weeks...already disappointed with myself at how slowly I am progressing....well more realistically it would be that I am disappointed at how I can't stick with it 100%.....
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