Freaky Friday

As promised, today is a chat about the Spiritual side of life. You all know how much I love going to Circle and connecting with Spirit so I thought today I would share a couple of messages and incidents that really make you go "hmmmm". Just as there is no way to "prove" God exists, there is no way to "prove" communicating with Spirit is real, but for me, the more I dabble in it the more positive I am that it is very real indeed...

Just before I start sharing some stories I need to preface this post by saying that all communications I have with Spirit are done so in a completely safe way! I have been taught very effective methods to keep myself safe and the people around me safe from negative Spirits so all messages come from a place of love and light.

OK, let's get started. I was doing a blind psychometry (having a piece of jewellery to make a connection with Spirit but the item is in a little silk bag so you don't know who the item belongs to) for a lady who we shall call Mrs A. This is part of the message I received:

"Christmas is going to be of particular importance this year for you and your family. I feel like there is a new family member, like a baby, but I can't quite put my finger on where this baby fits in to the picture. Also, I am getting the date May 18th"

Mrs A unexpectedly broke down in tears. She revealed that her young adult daughter had just had an abortion and the baby would have been due at Christmas time (hence why I couldn't quite work out where the baby fir into the picture). As for May 18th, this was Mrs A's birthday!

During another blind psychometry, I had an item that belonged to Mrs B. The message was: "I feel there is a bit of a disconnect with a loved one, it seems like a parent/child relationship. It is not over anything too serious but enough to cause distance if you allow it to be so. You need to be the grown up here and be the hero of the situation and reach out to bridge that gap. This may not be well received immediately but you must persevere. This person needs you more than they or you even realises". 

Mrs B then revealed that she was having some trouble with her young adult son and very much felt her communications to him were falling on deaf ears. 

I was doing a reading for Mrs C and I had her Grandfather come through. It was very emotional and she asked after a tattoo of his. I was shown that the tattoo was a snake wrapped around a sword on his forearm and I was getting a sense of camaraderie and mateship relating to the tattoo. Mrs C confirmed that the tattoo was indeed on his forearm and he was in the Army, which tied in the sense of camaraderie and mateship.  

I was doing an exercise called a photographic psychometry for Mrs D where a photograph of a deceased person is put in an envelope and you make a connection with Spirit about this person. Here is the message I got:

Female energy. I saw "snow screen" like when the TV is not properly tuned. I saw mineral springs. I felt this lady had a real zest for life and had lots of love in her heart. I got the words "loved very young" and felt that she died from something to do with her lungs not working, like there was pressure on them. Then I got a real sense of peace that this lady is very happy and loved in the Spiritual realm. 

Mrs D revealed that the lady (we'll call her Emma) in the envelope was her best friend and they had met in Canada in the snow (hence the snow screen vision). Mrs D and Emma went on a holiday to some mineral springs (in New Zealand I think she said..?) and Emma did a lot of travelling around the world. Emma did indeed have a huge zest for life. She was in her early 20's when she died and had been with her partner since she was about 18 (hence the "young love" part of the message). Emma died when she was overseas handing out Christmas presents to orphan children at a swimming pool (I think Mrs D said it was in India but I can't remember exactly). She was unloading these gifts from the back of the truck when it started to reverse (with no lights or beepers of course) and it crushed Emma between the truck and the wall. So very sad. 

Finally, I'll share with you a message I got for Mr E. Several times I have had his deceased wife come through (and understandably, it results in tears all around). She came through recently and gave him the message "So much love and light to you Mr E. Your loving wife Mrs E. You have my blessing and I love hearing your heart sing again". Mrs E then put her hand on his shoulder and her hands across her heart. This message related to the new love interest in Mr E's life (Mr E is in his 70's). 

Hope you enjoyed this post and please leave some comments below if you would like to hear more spiritual messages in future posts xox

Running shoes on

Good morning everyone :-) Yesterday was insanely busy so computer time was quite difficult to come by, hence no blog. I celebrated my busy day with far too much wine so as I type this morning's post, I am sipping some rather revolting Hydralyte to try and replenish my stores. Thankfully I am not too dusty so one glass should do the job. 

The busyness of yesterday revolved around swimming lessons, the break up party for Soph's dance school, the usual chores and humdrum of running a household and also some cake decorating for this weekends cake order (photos to come once the job is done!!! Excited!) Thank goodness I had my trusty mate Shaz here to help with the decorating and she also did a few other things to help out...

She came loaded with her Vet kit (a real one, not a toy) and gave Toby an exam. When your friends can pop over for a cuppa and stick their fingers up your dogs bum, that is true friendship right there, lol. I assure you she is a Vet (and a very good one at that) so it doesn't seem weird at all that this would take place :-) 

She also came with her Dyson vacuum cleaner in hand because my charming son dabbled in a little exotic cooking on the carpet the other day...he poured a whole tin of curry powder on it, along with some Weetbix, salt flakes and All Bran. Needless to say, my house smells like the Punjab curry club and it is a job only a Dyson can take care of. It is still a work in progress but the situation has definitely improved. 

Today is looking to be busy again but thankfully not of the insane kind. Mum's group this morning, groceries this arvo, cake making this evening and hopefully I will manage to make a nutritious meal for the family and get all the washing folded all whilst playing with the kids and doing the internet banking. Lucky I am in a good mood otherwise none of this would be getting done!

Anyway, I am off to get this day moving. Have a wonderful Thursday and I think I might make tomorrows post a bit of "Freaky Friday" and share some of my spiritual communications and stories with you. Stay tuned xox 

  

Breath easy

Thankfully, today, I am feeling much better! Still not on my 'A' game, but better none the less. I embraced my bad mood, ran with it and, just like everything else in our lives, it passed. Surprise, surprise. 

Interestingly, I came across an article at the Library...hahaha, I am totally kidding. By "came across" I actually mean "Googled" and by "Library" I actually mean "the Internet". Lol. Anyway, the article is titled "The Science behind having a bad day (and how to solve it)". I've added the link below so you can read the article in full if you like but following is my interpretation of the article, along with my own thoughts and feelings on the topic of a "bad day". 

The notion of a "bad day" does not actually exist in reality. All events are pretty well created equal and it is our interpretation of these events as either good or bad that has an impact on our mood. Take a classic example of your child spilling milk on themselves and all over the floor when you are running late for the day. You have to clean up the mess, change your child and race out the door. Option A is to interpret this as a "bad event" and consequently find yourself in a bad mood. A few little things throughout the day don't go exactly as you had planned, which frustrates you and causes you to perceive yourself as having a bad day. Option B is to not react negatively, get on with cleaning up the mess, head out the door and let go of the event that just occurred.

These two possibilities relate to my belief in the power of positive thinking and the idea that the energy that we exude is the energy that we attract. Essentially, we have the ability to make a bad day exist if we believe it to be so. 

So, with this in mind, what can we do about being in a bad mood or if we find ourselves having a bad day?

The first tip given is to label the incident in just a few words, in order to separate the emotional response you have to it. For example, "bloody spilt milk!" Once labelled, push it aside and don't think about the negative feelings or event anymore. If it comes into your mind, refer to it using its label and then let it go. 

The next idea is to re-evaluate the situation, thinking of a more positive outcome that could have occurred. The idea is not to make you feel guilty about the way you responded to the situation, but rather to help you grow and learn from the experience. The other idea is that, if this fails, think of how the situation could have been worse...another valuable self reflection tool :-)

The third tip is to "remember that the outcome of the previous minute is not indicative of the outcome of the next minute. Likewise, the last hour has no bearing on the next hour and this morning is no indication of what this afternoon will bring" Steve Schwartz, 2010

The final tip is one I am bringing to the table from my own thoughts and experiences...breath! Deep breathing can do wonders for calming you down and clearing your mind to help put things in perspective so give this a go:

• Exhale completely through your mouth, making a woosh sound. 
• Close your mouth and inhale quietly through you nose to a mental count of four
• Hold your breath for a count of seven
• Exhale completely through your mouth, making a woosh sound to the count of eight
• This is one breath. Repeat the cycle for a minimum of four breaths. Relax :-)

Full article can be found at http://lifehacker.com/5595104/the-science-behind-having-a-bad-day-and-how-to-solve-it  

Speak to others how you wish to be spoken to

Happy Monday everyone :-) I am feeling absolutely awesome today and I am crediting it to my morning exercise. I woke up just as day was dawning (I know all you Mum's out there have just started singing the Postman Pat tune, lol) and took the dog for a walk/run. It was glorious! I could run much further and with more "oopmf" than when I take E-man in the pram and Sophie on her scooter. Dawn is hands down my favourite time of day because I just adore the peace and quiet and that cleansing feeling of breathing in fresh, crisp morning air. The energy at the beginning of the day is truly remarkable! If there is one piece of advice we should all listen to on enhancing our mood, it has to be getting outside to exercise every day.

Speaking of moods, I kind of want to touch on that subject for our Motivational Monday post. I know that whenever I am in a bad mood, hubby and the kids cop it. I snap at them, I get frustrated over insignificant things and generally just turn into a raving lunatic. Fun times for all. I am sure as women and mothers, this is something that you all experience at various times too...we all know the saying "If Mum aint happy, aint nobody happy". Well what if we tried a little experiment to see if we can turn this around...

This week, I challenge you all (myself included) to talk to your family and loved ones as if they were "strangers". Of course I don't mean you treat them like strangers, what I mean is that you speak to them just as politely and with as much enthusiasm as you would when meeting a person for the first time, or passing someone on your morning walk. After all, we are always polite to people we don't even know, or people we meet at social gatherings (years ago, before children, these social gatherings would have been called "parties"...oh how times have changed). 

We must remember that our family and loved ones are the people we care most about, the people that we want happiness for and to know they are loved. Our loved ones are the people who deserve to be spoken to and treated with kindness so lets give it a go this week and see how much of a difference this can make xox 

Feel good Friday

As I sit here typing this mornings post, I keep catching glimpses of my beautiful manicure, courtesy of Sophie the beautician. She has done a lovely job smearing bright pink nail polish all over my finger tips and I think this textured look could really catch on :)

You know, it's times like these I remind myself that perhaps I am actually doing something right in this mysterious game called parenthood. I am my own worst critic and can be so hard on myself with all the errors I make raising the kids, but I think it is actually important to shut that critical inner voice up sometimes and recognise a job well done. And of course this can apply to all elements of our lives, from work and finances to relationships and hobbies. It really is important for our own wellbeing to recognise our strengths and be kind to ourselves from time to time (more often than not would be best!!!)

So you may be asking why a nail painting activity has me thinking I am having a good Mum moment? Well it is quite simple really. Every day I am caught up in the jobs that need to be done, tending to the kids needs and trying to juggle all the other balls up in the air at once. All too often I forget to be present with Sophie and Elliott and engage in activities that make their hearts sing. To me, nail polish is nothing exciting but to a four year old, it is right up there with living in a castle made of lollies! All I had to do was sit with her for 10 minutes, chat, have my nails painted and just be fully immersed in the moment with her. What a gift to give to a child: being present and making them feel like the most important thing in the world.

Seeing my kids happy and finding joy in the simple things makes me feel wonderful and allows my inner voice to talk kindly to me for a moment. Take some time today to quiet your inner critic and let yourself feel good for the great things you are achieving in you life, the great things you are doing for yourself and the great things you are doing for others. You really are a wonderful person, if only you could see yourself the way others do xox      

Dear Thursday

Dear Thursday, 

I see what you are up to. You are testing me. I know I shouldn't have consumed that entire bottle of wine last night but lets face it, your friend Wednesday drove me to it. Now that I am in a bit of a dusty state you thought it would be best to test my resolution to speak kindly and not lose my cool with the kids today? Really, today of all days? Thank a lot for that, Thursday. 

So lets see what it is you are testing me with. Well, it is 7:30 so I have been awake for around two hours. My wake up call was of course Elliott screaming like his leg had been cut off, causing me to jump out of bed before my post wine brain could work out what was going on. A few cuddles later and he decided it was time for breakfast. Weetbix in the bowl and E-man decides it is a good time to fill his nappy. Gross, at the breakfast bench! Thanks again, Thursday. The cereal waited while I hosed the smelly little guy off in the bath, much to his protest (his preference was food first, nappy change second). While tending to the boy, Sophie woke up and decided she wanted to be Mum. She got herself a bowl of Weetbix, then topped both hers and E-mans breakfast with LOADS  of honey. She was so proud of herself for helping with breakfast that all I could do was smile and say thank you. Sitting through breakfast and Sophie knocks her near full bowl onto the floor. My sparkling clean kitchen cupboards and kick boards are now covered in food. Nice test but you didn't get the better of me...I giggled with her and let the dog in to clean it up. Ha!

Then things kind of went downhill. Elliott thought the latter event got such a good response that he simply turned his bowl upside down and poured milky cereal everywhere. I didn't giggle. Moments later with breakfast finished, the fight over toys began with both kids fussing and fighting. Then Sophie ended up in time out for not listening, Elliott found Mat's Fathers day chocolate and helped himself, the dog thought it would be fun to try and trip me over while I was juggling a huge basket of washing and finally, I logged on to blog and the internet was down! 

You haven't won yet though Thursday. Yes you are testing me and yes I am ready to scream then go straight back to bed but I haven't yelled or lost my cool yet. Doing well I think. I can't wait to see what you have in stall for me for the next 12 hours of parenting time today...     

Ride the endorphin wave

Fact: Exercising releases endorphins.

Fact: Endorphins are your body's feel good hormones and naturally boost your mood. 

Fact: Exercising with children underfoot really pushes the limits of these so called "facts". 

I got up late this morning so the kids were awake while I was doing an exercise DVD. Things were going pretty well with them both sitting peacefully watching on and I dared to ask myself "why don't I do this with them around every day?". Jinxed it...

Sophie: "Muuuuuuum, Elliott keeps putting his foot near me. Don't Ellllliiiiott!"

Elliott: Ahhh, whinge scream. cry, fuss.

Me: "Move away from each other". huff puff, huff puff. "All I am asking for is 40 minutes".

They relocate to opposite sides of the room. I nearly roundhouse kick Elliott in the head as he passes me during a kick boxing move. Elliott clears off the coffee table and begins climbing onto it and jumping onto the armchair. Should I stop him and prevent possible injury or keep exercising while he is clearly entertaining himself? I go with the latter. 

Then Sophie starts with the 50 million questions that pass her lips every day...

"Mum, what is her name?"

"Mum, why aren't you doing it like those ladies on the telly?"

"Mum, what are we doing today?"

"Mum, why do they all have ponytails in their hair?" 

"Mum, why do I have a freckle on my neck?"

"Mum, why did the dinosaurs get extinct?"

I get on the floor to start doing the core workout. Turns out, I am free game. Elliott moves from his coffee table bungee jumping to trampolining on my stomach. Sophie comes over and starts using my leg raising moves as a tunnel game. My plank move becomes a delightful horse back ride for the kids as I struggle with the extra 25kg plus on my back. My mind is screaming "Piss off kids, I just want 40 minutes" but my mouth says "I love you guys, I just need to finish this and then we can play. No, no, seriously guys, you can play beside me but just stop climbing on me for a few minutes. Guys, come on". 

I eventually finished the workout and believe it or not, the combination of exercise and a giggly wrestle with the kids has made for a pretty happy morning. Got to love those endorphins xox

Take two

So yesterdays grand Spring cleaning plan didn't exactly unfold as I anticipated. You see, I got the kitchen looking fabulous then moved onto my craft room...and that was where I stopped. I came across so many little projects that I just wanted to get stuck into, and so I did. Here is one I have been wanting do for a while:

I glued a whole lot of crayons to the top of the canvas, cut out a love heart shape from adhesive vinyl and stuck it on the middle of canvas. Then I got my embossing heat gun and began to melt the tips of the crayons until I got the coverage I wanted. Then, once set, I peeled off the vinyl heart and replaced it with a paper heart that I have written the words on "please excuse the mess...". Then, in nikko pen, I finished the sentence on the bottom of the canvas "my children are making memories". In hindsight, I would have glued the paper love heart onto cardboard and then popped it on the canvas to give it a bit of depth, but I think it has still turned out OK. It is hanging on a door in the children's play area and I think it looks really cute. I am going to print some photos I have of the kids engaged in various activities and stick them around the canvas to show the memory making in progress. I love getting my creative on!!

Credit given where credit is due and I got the melting crayon idea from a pin that I saw on pinterest.com. Here is a link to a crazy crayon lover and some of her creations http://pinterest.com/katlyn213/melted-crayon-art/ 

So needless to say, I must dabble in a little more self discipline with this Spring cleaning business. Today, I am staying out of my craft room and leaving it until the very end. I shall sort toys when E-man has a nap and I'll wash all the sheets and towels, doonas and blankets to get rid of the Wintery feel they have to them. I've also got to do the floors but since my steam mop broke and I have had to manually mop the whole house, I think I might just become accustomed to paw prints and blobs of food underfoot...Nahhhhhhhh, my OCD (or CDO lol) will get the better of me. Side note, I don't actually think I have OCD, what I have is thoroughness compulsive disorder...totally different. lol. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go and wash my hands for no good reason at all. 

Kate xox

Spring to it

Good morning everyone. I am super excited today because Spring has officially sprung and we all know what that means...Spring cleaning time!!!!! I hear some of you cheer with that news and I hear some of you groan but the reality is, a good clean out can do wonders for improving our lives. I am not just talking about scrubbing the cupboards and washing the curtains, I am talking about cleaning, de-cluttering, organising, beautifying and re-energising our lives. A total revamp our home, our mind, our body and our soul. Sounds great to me! 

Spring brings with it a feeling of fresh starts and new beginnings. You can hear birds chirping away, you can see flowers beginning to bloom and you can see randy little butterflies flapping about in pairs trying to have sex mid-air (geez, get a branch guys). Yep, it is a beautiful time of year indeed. So with September being the beginning of the season, I have actually decided (right this moment in fact) that I am going to commit the whole month to a Spring clean of my life. And guess what? You can come on this journey too and dabble in a bit of a spring clean for yourselves. I am sure many of you are not quite as messed up as I am so a total life overhaul may not be completely necessary, but surely you will find some helpful information in the coming posts. Fingers crossed :-)

So, what is the first step to a total life overhaul then? I would assume it is to identify the areas of your life that you want to change/improve...um "everything", this is a total life overhaul after all. Onto step two...

For me, a messy home equals a messy mind so my first order of business is to get this house cleaned up. Clean, de-clutter and organise. This part takes a lot of time so here are a few tips to try and make it a little easier:

• Pick one room or area to clean up at a time. It is far less daunting to do it this way and once it is done, you are filled with a sense of accomplishment and motivation to move onto the next space. 
• Forget sleep. Spring cleaning takes time and spare time is a luxury many of us don't have so clearly the only solution is to forgoe some of your precious zzzz's. This lack of sleep is only temporary and all for a good cause so just do it. 
• A dear friend of mine once said "sometimes, you just have to knuckle down and do it". She's right. Just keep reminding yourself of this any time those negative thoughts like "I can't do this" or "I am too tired" creep into your mind. Knuckle down and do it. Simple. 
• Fit little tasks in around your daily routine. Like this morning, Porky was having his morning tea at the bench so I took the opportunity to scrub the kitchen cupboards and clean the kickboards. I even got the long armed dusting thingy-majiga-me-bob and swept out under the fridge and dishwasher. It was gross but I feel a lot better knowing those spaces are now clean. 
• Don't waste money on 50 different cleaning agents to get your house sparkling. I keep it simple albeit not entirely environmentally friendly. Bi-carb and vinegar are old favourites and I use these to clean everything from bench tops to bathrooms. For the shower though, I totally use that horrible Exit Mould stuff. It kills my lungs and harms the environment but it kicks the moulds arse. I also use proper toilet cleaner to clean in the bowl of the toilet...sorry marine life. Other cleaning kit essentials include water soluble lavender oil for dusting and mopping; Windex for stainless steel appliances, windows and mirrors; cloth nappies as rags and some of those Chux magic erasers to do damn near everything. 
• Be ruthless when de-cluttering. Have piles for keep, rubbish, recycle, donate, re-home. Stop holding onto things because they might be useful "one day". Side note though, a week after you throw whatever it is away, you will find about 10 uses for it and kick yourself for throwing it out. Just saying.
• Get organised!!! This will require several individual posts to cover the topic adequately so I wont go into it today. Today, we shall focus on the idea of cleaning and de-cluttering. Once that is done, then we can get on with the all important task of organising.   
• Most importantly, just get started. Success breeds success so once you accomplish task A, task B will seem a little more achievable and so on and so forth until you have achieved your goals of a clean, tidy and functioning home. Sounds great to me!

I'm off to do some more spring cleaning. Happy Monday xox    

PS - Common sense reigns supreme here so if for some reason you decide to forgoe sleep and consequently drive a forklift into a swimming pool because you were so tired, I will assume no responsibility for that whatsoever. You know your own body and if you can't survive for a few nights with less sleep, don't listen to my advice to skip the zzzz's. Do what works for you.