Sunday Share #30 - Currently

And just like that, Week 1 of Term 3 is done and dusted! Only 9 more weeks till the next school holidays. Another week down, means we are that much closer to moving in to our NEW HOME! 

In case you missed last weeks "Currently" post (you can read it here), we bought a house!!! Woohoo! Settlement is next Friday and I am counting down till we get the keys in our hot little hands. We are all very excited (and a little relieved because it's been a long process) however, it's going to be great to be finally settled in our new family home next weekend. I just realised that next weeks Sunday Share is going to be shared from our new place, how exciting!

We've had a great week - Miss B is back at school, I am back at work (on Tuesdays) and there are lots of calves being born on the farm. This weeks words are: Watching, Making, Feeling, Planning, Organising, and Loving. 

Watching: Since we are currently staying on a farm, and it's calving season - I have decided I really want to see a calf been born. I vaguely remember seeing one born when I was a lot younger, so it would be cool to see one born now I am older and a mother myself. I have been going out every night for the past couple of nights to check the cows, I've seen a few 'fresh' ones (maybe an hour or two old), however I am still waiting...We are here until Saturday, so fingers crossed I see a calf born before we leave. 

This week I have been making Rainbow Rice. Originally, I made it for my Coffee Group, because we were having a "Rainbow" theme and thought it would be a great 'sensory' activity for our toddlers (and it totally was, they had a blast!) Master M loved it so much, I decided to make a batch for him too. 

Feeling like I am on winning streak, I might have to buy a Lotto ticket! Last week, I mentioned that I won a $150 voucher at Howards Storage World, and this week I won a Brother P-Touch Label Maker  (like this one)from Kiwi Mummy Blogs. Woohoo! I am going to be super organised in my new home - I am super excited - talk about organisation overload.

We are getting closer and closer to our Big Latch On event, which is happening next Friday. This week, I have been busy planning, organising and collecting our amazing prizes from local businesses and sharing them on Facebook, on our event page and also our local Mums & Bubs FB page. We have a meeting tomorrow to: finalise details, organise prizes, and make sure we have everything we need for our event to be a success (which I am positive it will be).

I am loving the theme for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2015.

Whāngaihia te Reo ki ngā Mātua

Nurturing the Language in Parents  

I am very passionate about Te Reo Māori (Māori Language), and I look forward to sharing my knowledge, and passion with my children, partner, friends, family, colleagues and students. Kia Kaha whānau! 

What have you been MAKING and ORGANISING this week? 

Kia pai tō wiki e hoa

4

PLAY IDEA: Easy Rainbow Rice Recipe

What you need:  

• White rice (inexpensive) 
• White Vinegar (inexpensive) 
• Food colouring 
• Glad Snap Lock bags (for each colour) 

What you need to make Rainbow Rice

What you do: 

• Pour 1 cup of white rice into a snap lock bag
• Add 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar
• Add a few drops of food colouring (the choice is yours)
• Seal snap lock bag (make sure it is sealed properly) 
• SQUISH & SHAKE until all the rice has been covered with colour
• Open bag, leave to dry*
• REPEAT with other colours, using a separate bag for each

*You can leave your rainbow rice to dry in the open snap lock bags, on a plate, paper towel, baking paper or meat tray/plastic tray

Leave to dry - see options above

What next? 

For some fun and creative ways you can play with your rainbow rice, check out the following links...

10 Super Simple Rice Sensory Bins - Little Bins for Little Hands

Playing with Rainbow Rice - Happy Hooligans

50 Fun Ways to Play with Rice - Mama OT

Have Fun!

6

Sunday Share #29 - Currently

I can finally announce: WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!! Woohoo! Last Friday, we went Unconditional! Yes, I've kept it quiet. It was really hard not to share our news last week, however we wanted to inform our family and close friends before it became "Facebook"/"Blog" official. And this Friday, I was finally able to share it on my personal FB page and on my blog page.

Oh, the relief! It has been such a long process since we sold our house, however it has finally worked out for us in the end. Thankfully, we requested a short settlement, so we will be moving into our new home in a couple of weeks! Yippee.

In the meantime, we are back at the Farm, after spending two weeks house sitting for our friends. We will be here until Settlement. We are loving it so far, it's calf season, so we have met some gorgeous newborn calves today - Master M is in his element being surrounded by animals - he is one very happy boy.

It's Back To School tomorrow, and Miss B is looking forward to catching up with all her friends. In fact she has requested that we leave home earlier than normal, so she can chat to her friends before the bell. We will see how we go in the morning.

***

Now it's time to share what is CURRENTLY happening in my life (other than the fact WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!). I am going to use the same words as last week - Watching, Reading, Listening, Making, Feeling, Planning, and Loving.

Watching: Ooh I am going to fast forward to this Tuesday, when I will be joining a group of my mummy friends to watch Magic Mike XXL! It's going to be AH-mazing! We are all very excited about it. Have you seen it? **Please no spoiler alerts**

Reading: 
To The Husband with a Depressed Wife by Swords and Snoodles went VIRAL this week - Such a great read! A MUST READ!

If you love, K-Mart and even more so, K-Mart Hacks - Then you must check out Girl on a Missi0n's K-Mart Hacks post. It has some amazing hacks created by people around the globe, including some of her own hacks. I love the black geo candle idea - I think it would look gorgeous in Miss B's new Paris themed room.

I am also reading Click.Love.Grow's guest post 4 Easy Tips - Improve Your Photos using iPhone or DSLR via The Organised Housewife. I love learning about photography, and these tips are a great place to start for a beginner like me.

Listening: well, reading the lovely comments my readers, YOU, have been leaving on my "How I feel about my body" post. It was really hard for me to share my own feelings and emotions about my body, however I did and you all loved my post, some were even inspired...it warms my heart to know my words inspired others to be open and honest about their own bodies, so THANK YOU, THANK YOU ALL. I am now ready to focus more on the positives and be thankful for my body.

Making: some meals in advance thanks to my blogging friend, Tegan over at A Kiwi Mumma for sharing these yummy recipes on her blog. The Potato, Onion, Cheese Frittata looks divine.

Feeling: FANTASTIC. That.Is.All

Since our offer was accepted, I have been busy planning how I am going to organise our new home, including an office for me *squeal*. Buying a few new items and sketching plans of how the kids rooms are going to look, to match their themes. I have been getting a lot of inspiration from Instagram and Pinterest (I love Social media) and I can't wait to get stuck in! Moving into a house and setting it up is the best, especially when you OWN it!

Loving: Howards Storage World - Oooh I forgot to share some exciting news (my bad)...I WON 1 of 2 $150 vouchers for Howards Storage World - thanks to the lovely Michelle from Keep Calm Get Organised for choosing me as the Facebook winner, during the Declutter Challenge. It totally made my day when I read Michelle's message, congratulating me and letting me know I was the winner. I spent hours, yes hours, perusing the website and narrowing it down to these items (pictured below). I can't wait to receive my goodies, and use them in our new home! Yaye for organisation!

Have a great week! 

10

How I Feel About My Body (#TuesdayTen/#1Word)

I don't really like to talk about my body, let alone find the words to describe how I actually feel about it and put it in a blog post. Then I had a lightbulb moment...I recently watched the latest Disney movie Inside Out - a movie about five emotions that come to life in a young girl's conscious mind, and thought this would be a great way to share how I feel about my body, using these five emotions - Sadness, Anger, Disgust, Fear and Joy. 

Image credit: via

Sadness

I get upset when I look in the mirror, see my reflection in shop windows or when someone else takes a photo of me because all I see my are my flaws. I am my own worst enemy, seeing the negative rather than the positive. Days like this make me want to cry in the shower, or curl up on the couch , wearing my baggy trackies and a hoody, eating chocolate and drinking coke. I shut off from the world around me and feel sorry for myself. 

Anger

I admit, I have days when I hate my body, especially certain parts, but some times I bring it on myself and often blame myself for getting into this predicament. I chose to eat that Big Mac and large Coke for lunch the other day, or refused to go for a walk because I don't want to be seen in public. That's on me! No one else. Me.

I hate when I compare my body to others, and constantly ask myself, "Why don't I look like that?", Man, I wish I had... a small waist, no double chin, and a 'thigh gap'! Comparing yourself to others is one of the worst things you can do, however in today's society it's kind of hard not to, because it's always in our face! Lisa from The Golden Spoons shares 10 ways society is destroying my daughter's body image and I know many of us can relate to most, if not all, of these points. 

Disgust
There are times when I have been disgusted in what I see, thinking this is not the body I had envisioned for myself after having my second baby. With my first, I gained 9kg and bounced back to my pre-pregnancy weight pretty quickly, actually I lost too much weight and looked quite sickly. With my second pregnancy, I gained quite a bit of extra weight (in my defence, I did give birth to an almost 11 pounder) and that weight has lingered a lot longer than what I hoped. 

Fear

By now, you know I have many insecurities, especially when it comes to my body. I am always thinking about how I see myself, the way my family and friends see me and also the way other people see me. I know you are not meant to care about what other people think, but sometimes most times, I do. I have had people make comments like "Oh, you've put on a bit of weight" or "How long to go (assuming I am pregnant again)?". My first thought was WOW! I want to slap you in the face, but then the other part of me, is like - thank you, thank you for saying what everyone else is thinking. At first, I would laugh it off, to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation, but then later on, I will over-analyse it and next thing I know, I am back to Sadness. 

One fear I have is that my insecurities of my own body will affect my daughter, so I am cautious about what I say around her or in front of her. I keep most of my issues to myself, because they are my issues, not hers. I will, however, focus on the things I love about my body. I need to be a role model for my daughter and I want her to love her body, so I need to change my thinking and my lifestyle so that I love my body too. 

Joy

One thing I have learned to love and accept are my stretch marks, also known as my tiger stripes. I earned them and I embrace them. They are a reminder of my pregnancies - the good, the bad and the ugly - and I gave birth to my two beautiful children, who are my world - my stretch marks are with me forever and I am okay with that. 

On the topic of children, another thing I love about my body is that I have been able to breastfeed both my children. I breastfed my daughter for 25 months and currently breastfeeding my 16 month old and he is showing no signs of slowing down either. I absolutely love breastfeeding and promoting it too.  In fact, I am currently organising our city's Big Latch On event on the 31st July and I can't wait. 

One final note, I came across this amazing body image comic by illustrator Colleen Clark. She reminds us that our bodies don't define us. I love this and it is so true. Yes, I have body issues, insecurities, low days but my body does not define who I am. I have a body...it's not the only thing I have. I will still get #inthepicture with my kids. 

How do you feel about your body? 

Linking up with:

Tuesday Ten with Lisa & Rabia

One Word (#1Word) hosted by The Golden Spoons, Confessions of a Mommyholic, and Blogitudes. 

35

Sunday Share #28 - Currently

0

#inthepicture - July 2015

I look forward to the 10th day of every month, mostly thanks to this inspiring post by Bron at Maxabella Loves. She encourages mothers all around the world to get #inthepicture with their children, and I for one totally love this idea and attempt to get in the picture no matter how I look or feel - leaving all my insecurities behind the camera, and stepping in front of it with a big smile on my face! I know my kids will appreciate it more in the future - when they look at their photos and see me - MUM! 

So last month, Bron introduced a little photo game, for those participating in #inthepicture and for JUNE, the prompt has been HANDS - now I have to be honest with you, I completely forgot about the game (oops, my bad) however, I take A LOT of photos, so I perused my JUNE photos and found a few to share today! (YAYE)

Here are my #inthepicture snaps (including HANDS & our standard photos too)! 

Did you get #inthepicture this month? 

Share your photo on

Facebook and tag @Maxabella Loves, 

Twitter and tag @hellomaxabella

Instagram and use hashtag #inthepicture 

#inthepicture - With my kids and my MUM, after a yummy lunch date. 

Snuggles with my kiddies xx

Being silly with my daughter, Miss B

On the farm, with my 16month old son

Teaching my son "Gentle Hands", with my friend's newborn baby girl

#messyplay #hands #inthepicture

#waterplay #hands #inthepicture

At PLAY with my son - after this photo was taken, he wrapped his hands/arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder, "Ready for sleep time, Mum!" 

#inthepicture - Big Smiles with my son

And just for fun - an #inthepicture selfie - feeling relaxed after a MUMMY "ME" DAY, enjoying my HOT cup of tea in my big mug!

See my February, March, April, May, and June

Have a great month everyone and don't forget to be #inthepicture

PS: the prompt for JULY is Food. Have FUN with it. 

Much Love 

8

Sunday Share #27 - CURRENTLY

So many things have been happening for us in the past week, and I am still trying to catch up...so please bare with me as I find my 'blogging' feet again and share with you what I am 'currently' up to. This week I am using the words...Reading, Thinking about, Organising, Loving...

I asked a few of my blogging friends to share their favourite or most popular post from the week...so I am currently reading: Weaning: Crying with My Toddler in the Dark - A beautiful post written by Courtney at Raising Queens. She shares her thoughts and feelings of weaning her toddler. 

Are you looking for a way to make "kid's lunches more interesting"? Head over to Happy Mum, Happy Child and check out her list of Bento-Style Lunchboxes found locally (New Zealand) and internationally

Claire at Girl on a Mission is sharing some great and very handy uses for pool noodles - Fun with Pool Noodles - Have you used pool noodles for anything else other than in the pool? 

I am thinking about our 'potential' new home...so a little update on that...we have our eyes on a property, and really like it...but we have reached a little bump in the road and it's a little  very frustrating. I am trying to keep it together, thinking positive thoughts, and really hoping everything works out for us. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, but in this case - I really want it to happen for us...I want a home for my family! NOW! Please! In the meantime, I am VERY thankful we have amazing friends who are able to give us a 'temporary' home until we are sorted. 

Speaking of which, I am loving our second 'temporary' home. For the next two weeks we are house sitting for friends and I am happy to report we have settled in really well. We are enjoying snuggling up next to the fire, looking after the two dogs, cat and goldfish. I cooked a Roast last night and we have WIFI, so I am a happy Mama (and my partner is pretty happy he gets to watch his boxing/UFC).

I am super excited about organising this year's Big Latch On in our city. (there is also a Global Big Latch On). I am teaming up with another Mum & our local Lactation Consultants to get the word out...Last year we had a really good turn out, however this year, we plan on being bigger and better, encouraging as many breastfeeding mothers from our community to come and join us to positively promote and encourage breastfeeding in public places. And also raise awareness of breastfeeding support and knowledge available. 

In only a few days, since I published the event, we already have 50+ mums who have joined the Friday event, and another Mum who is organising the Saturday, has 20+, so together we are hoping for about 100 - which would be absolutely amazing!

For me, breastfeeding is all I know...I breastfed my daughter for 25 months, and currently breastfeeding my 16 month old son, who is showing no signs of slowing down, so I will not only be helping out with the organisation of the event, I will also be an active participant. 

Are you currently breastfeeding? Will you be participating in this year's #BigLatchOn? 

Tell me, what are you currently READING, THINKING ABOUT, ORGANISING and LOVING? 

DIY: Tool Bench - Guest Post by Grillo Designs

Taking Stock - June 2015

Sunday Share #25 & #26

0

DIY: Tool Bench - Guest Post by Grillo Design

This post was created by the incredibly talented, Medina Grillo, from Grillo Designs. Medina shares "unique, creative and easy to do DIY designs for the home". Today she is sharing a tutorial for the DIY Tool Bench she recently made for her son. Enjoy!

My husband and I are quite hands on when it comes to decorating our home, and it's certainly rubbing off on my three year old. He loves to pretend that he is drilling holes or putting together furniture just like his dad! We bought him a little toolset a while back, and I decided to take it a step further and make him a tool bench to store all his DIY bits and bobs. Buying one was out of the question...because well, what's the point of buying something when you can just make it and have so much fun doing it ! 

My first thought was to convert an old cabinet into a tool bench. Although I hadn't seen many tool bench makeovers before, I had seen quite a few DIY play kitchens up-cycled from cabinets so I knew couldn't be that hard surely! ;) 

Here are some of my inspiration pictures from Pinterest: 

Here's the cabinet I eventually sourced off eBay for 10 pounds (what we call a bargain here in the UK). It was a little battered and old with a few knocks and holes but I fell in love with it! It opened up at the top for internal storage as well as having two shelves underneath! It was great and perfect for the makeover.

 I gave the cabinet a light sanding with sand paper and dusted off. I also removed all of the old antique knobs. They wouldn't have fit the makeover I had in mind so they had to go!

I painted with Valspar tester paint (Red, Sea blue and light blue ) using a roller to get a smooth finish. I watered the paint down ever so slightly and did about three coats of paint leaving 2 hours in between for drying time. 





Once it was all dry, I then used a customised plastic stencil that I had also bought of eBay, to paint my son's name. I used a white acrylic paint for this and a thin paintbrush. 
I also added in a chalkboard element (I love my chalkboards) on the cabinet doors. I thought I could use it to list all the things my son needed to do around the house (can't beat a good to do list!) 





I then sprayed the whole cabinet with two coats of varnish (yes I'm a I'm a little lazy and I'm not a huge fan of painting so spray ons are my go to all the time!)

Next: Attaching the 17mm hole peg board to cabinet This is where my hubby comes in. He sawed the 3.5mm peg board to the desired length ( as it was slightly bigger than needed at 600 mm x 600mm) He used L shaped brackets to attach the board to the cabinet. 















Now that the basic frame was completed, I then proceeded to add little bits and bobs to make the tool bench more appealing. 
- peg hooks: for his tools
- plastic tubs: for his screws etc
- an old spice rack: for wood storage
- a dowel bar with hook: for his tool belt
- a wire basket: to store his drill
- a clip on IKEA light
- CAUTION sign
- old measuring ruler
























































Apart from the IKEA light and the peg hooks which I had to buy off eBay (my second favourite 'go to place' after IKEA) everything else I added was things I had lying around the house not in use anymore... So yes very frugal! Frugal is always good. 
Medina Grillo


***FINAL PRODUCT***






Inside the lid:




 Inside the cabinet:













Want to see more DIY projects like this? 
Follow Grillo Designs on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM & PINTEREST

7