10 on 10 Photography Circle - May

April saw somebody here having a birthday....eeek it was me!!

Usually I prefer a no fuss birthday at home but my mother in law had sent me a little bit of spending money which I decided to put towards a lovely meal out....something that NEVER happens around here with 5 children because of the cost....and well because taking children out can sometimes be less than pleasant !!

Hugely excited we headed off to what has to be one of my favourite restaurants of all time....because a)  it used to be a church from about the 1860's....just take a look at it, it's gorgeous!!

and b)  because it is so quirky....everything that you see here on the walls or hanging from the ceiling is for sale...YES!! FOR SALE!!  You can sit down and eat and look at all the things that you want to buy at the same time.....win/win!!

Okay I'll admit that I want to buy almost everything .....but this is one piece that I would have loved to have taken this one home with me...  I love it!  p.s. the photo does not do it justice because I get a tad shy taking photos in crowded public places so I just zoomed in from where I was sitting!!

The meal was totally amazing....and I am not just saying that because I didn't have to make it myself, though that was a plus!

And this had me wishing that I had ordered from the kids menu....I can't resist ice cream with chocolate topping!

But miss 6 didn't need any help polishing that off...

Seeing it was my birthday I will grace you with one photo of me...clearly not taken by me....but hey!

Well and truly full we headed home to don pj's and slippers and to watch the all new series of Midsomer Murders.....boy I'm getting old!!

Once again all of my photos were taken on my iphone and using the Sony Smart Lens....I love this lens so much, especially when I want to take sneaky photos in a restaurant!!

Please check out the other blogs in this photography circle....
there's a lot to love in our wonderful group....  

I am linking to Shannon  over at  Forty Up  

Be sure to check out her great photos for this month by clicking HERE

and wishing all the mums out there a very happy Mother's Day xx

Top 5 Favourite Movies...

Sticking with blogging (almost) every day in May!!


Today's prompt is....


Day 7....Your top 5 movies of all time....those movies that you have to watch over and over every time that they are on tv...

Have I mentioned before that I am hopeless at the favourites thing....oh well here goes....


1.  Grease 

2.  Top Gun

3.  The Great Escape

4.  The Sound Of Music

5.  Misery

6.  School of Rock


Okay so I know there's 6 but I just couldn't leave one out !!!!


Linking up with Cate over at Life Behind the Purple Door

Tell me what movies would be on your list....?

The Foods We Eat...

Today's prompt for blog every day in May is....

Day 6.....Foods We Eat..... Do you menu plan, or fly by the seat of your pants each day? Do you eat the same foods over and over, or try new foods regularly?

Haha not a good prompt for me today!!  Dinner for us tonight comprised of McDonalds because hubby is away for work, I have a headache and spent way too many hours at school helping with the Mother's Day wrapping, the fridge is a bit on the empty side! 

I menu plan for a day or two each week then lose the plot!!  I really do need to get  on top of it because I waste too much time at the grocery store and spend too much money each visit.

I'm not very good at trying new things....I have an amazing ability to know that I don''t like certain foods just by the mere mention of them and sometimes by the sight of them!!  I think I'm worse than some two year olds !!  But I know that we need to try new things and that it starts with me {hence why it hasn't started!!}

I'd love to be more package free and additive free....something to strive towards I suppose!

Linking up with Cate over at Life Behind The Purple Door

Say Hello to Monday.....

So today's prompt for the blog every day in May challenge is....



Day 4....Say Hello to Mondays...


The idea behind it is to change the focus of your week, to put yourself in a more positive mindset, to embrace the week ahead. A great time to plan the week ahead, make your list of things to do or a list of things you are grateful for....


Okay so I'll be the first to admit that when Monday comes around I'm a bit more like ......  

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There's not a spring in my step or joyful cheer in my voice!  The weekend has come and gone way too quickly and I am going to take that out on Monday!!

I wasn't sure today was going to be any different.....I had three teenage girls to get up and ready for school photo day and Miss 10 and Miss 6 to get up and off to school.

During the week I have a whole heap of stuff that is going on in my head with overdue bills, not enough money to pay said overdue bills, worrying about whether there is enough money in the bank to cover direct debits, wondering how I can stretch the money we have to last the week etc. etc.. etc...... I goes around and around in my head all day all week....but on Friday night I seem to be able to turn it off and take a break for the weekend.  But when I wake up on Monday morning it all starts again!!

So today I decided to try to embrace Monday!!

Instead of laying in bed repeatedly pressing the snooze button which in actual fact just makes me get up later and grumpier I {almost} leapt out of bed.

The motivation of photo day saw the older three get out of bed more easily than usual and even Miss 10 and Miss 6 were getting ready ahead of time.

That's when I made a big call.....we were going to walk to primary school!!!!

It is only about 1km and takes roughly 15-20 minutes with Miss 10 and Miss 6 but somehow each morning we end up jumping in the car with three minutes until the bell rings, blood pressure rising as we rush, rush, rush!

But today we set out {although I was going to claim that it was too cloudy at the last minute!} and walked to school.  

It was a huge change from the mad rush.  It was calm, we took our time. There was no {ahem} yelling, screaming, bickering.  There was just time to take deep breaths of the fresh morning air.

Miss 6 even had time to collect some treasures along the way that she entrusted me to take home and mind.

So I hope this week to walk to school more often, continue blogging every day in May, book that doctors appointment for Miss 14 and the specialists appointment for Miss 6.

I think the secret to my to do lists for the week is to not write everything that I have to do but to focus on say 4-5 essential things, anything else that gets done after that is a bonus!!

You know, maybe I owe Mondays an apology....coz they kinda aren't all that bad if you come at them the right way.

Linking up with Cate over at Life Behind The Purple Door for blog every day in May.

How do you like Mondays....do you love them or loathe them?

My Favourite Quote...

On a blog every day in May challenge and today's prompt is....


Day 3......Your Favourite Quote


Ugh I am one of those people who doesn't have a clue what their 'favourites' are!  Heck I don't even know my favourite colour or favourite meal let alone my favourite quote!


But for the purpose of today's post I am going to choose Oscar Wilde's quote.....

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And the reason for my choice is that I'm not always sure who 'yourself' really is.  I'm a mum, a wife, a daughter etc... etc... but sometimes I'm not sure who 'I' really am.  And I don't think I've ever really known.

I can also get a bit caught up in who other people are sometimes and want to be a bit like them.

So I'm choosing this as my favourite quote as a bit of a reminder to me to find myself, be happy with myself and to just be myself!

Tell me, what's your favourite quote?

Linking up with Cate over at Life Behind the Purple Door for the blog 

everyday in May challenge

What I'm Reading Right Now

Day 2 of my attempt to blog every day in May.  Here's today's prompt...


Day 2...... 'Reading Right Now'

Well other than probably a few too many blog posts here and there I haven't been reading much lately.

But for Christmas we gave my mother in law a book voucher and with it she purchased Jodi Picoult's 'Leaving Time'.  Well she had finished reading it when they came to visit for Easter so she brought it along so that I can now read it.

After about a 20 minute run down of the details of the book fro her I realized that I have no interest in reading it at all !!  For one it is some 405 pages long, for two it is heavy on facts about elephants and for three my mother in law had to read it twice because there was so much going on.

It could well be a very good book but Christmas holidays seem to be my only time of the year to get through a whole entire book and the rest of the year gets too busy for reading.

Ugh I know that the next time she telephones or visits she will quiz me on where I am up to with the book.

Have you read it?  Anybody want to read it for me and give me a brief book review!!!

Linking up with Cate over at Life Behind the Purple Door

My Family Right Now

This month I am attempting a challenge to blog every day in May.  I read the idea over at Cate's blog Life Behind The Purple Door and thought...why not??!!  So here goes!!


Day 1...... 'Your Family, Right Now'

So here's a photo of my girls at a family function last year.

Miss 17 is currently doing year 12 and has just completed work placement at the Easter Show where she was involved in the running of The Daily Telegraph stage which she really enjoyed.  At the moment she is focused on her Design and Tech major work.  This year she is playing all age ladies soccer.

Miss 15 is in Year 10 and her favourite subjects are Art and Japanese.  She spends way too many hours drawing but when the results are amazing it is a bit hard to be angry at her!  She is putting in an application form for a Japanese exchange program through our local council.  This year she is in the Under 16's soccer team.

Miss 14 is in Year 9 and likes school more for the social life than anything else!. She has way too many groups of friends!  She is into all things fashion and spends way too much time on YouTube! She is in the same Under 16's soccer team as Miss 15.

Miss 10 is in Year 5...I really don't know how that happened!!  She is in the Girl Guides and really loves it.  In a few weeks they are having a camp out, well in the local guides hall!.  She is playing netball again this year, her third year with the same team.

Miss 6 in in Year 1 and a bit reluctant to go into the classroom once we arrive at school!  She's fine once she has been coerced into the classroom though!  She has endless energy this child!!  She is playing netball for the first time ever...she looks so tiny!!

So there's a glimpse into my family right now!