Well I did a thing and now I’m starting from scratch to see if I continue getting errors.
Please bear with me as I slowly re-add all my content.
Category: General
Personal reflections, life updates, and thoughtful posts from Nightwolf’s Den, sharing stories, insights, and moments that don’t fit neatly elsewhere.
Month in Review – February 2025
Welcome to my monthly review of what we’ve been up to, what new recipes we’ve been trying, and plans for the month to come.
What we’ve been up to
- Back to school prep for the kiddos. Youngest in Grade 5 and the Eldest starting year 9 at Indie School.
- Finish setting up my planner for 2025
- General life stuff
- Eldest turned 15
- I started uni – O week and Week one
What I’ve been posting (links open in new window)
- Celebrating the Wheel of the year – Lammas
- Birthday Week
- Planner set up for 2025 Pt 3
- In the Den Kitchen
- Updating
- It’s a throw back
New recipes we’ve been trying
- Sweet & Sour pork
- Crispy chicken burgers
Monthly stats
Number of photos taken:200
Books: 2 (1 finished, 1 started)
Plans for the month ahead
- Celebrate Autumn Equinox
- Hooked In2 Hockey
- International Women’s Day events
- Birthdays
- 100 Happy Days
Want to see previous reviews? Check out the monthly review tag
Month in Review – January 2025
Welcome to my monthly review of what we’ve been up to, what new recipes we’ve been trying, and plans for the month to come.
What we’ve been up to
- NYE with friends. Had a great night until youngest tripped and skun both knees then big had an allergic reaction to something
- Massive New Year clean up in the bedrooms, lounge room and kitchen
- Setting up my 2025 planners & creating videos for my YouTube channel
- K at leadership camp for 3 days
- Chinese takeaway for Dad’s birthday
- K had first Youth Council meeting
- Birthday week
What I’ve been posting (links open in new window)
- December month in review
- Planner set-up for 2025 Pt 1 and Pt 2 (part 3 & 4 coming soon)
- Celebrating the Wheel of the year – Southern Hemisphere style
New recipes we’ve been trying
- Tandoori chicken
- Rolled Pork Belly with apricot honey stuffing – Give this a go if you love pork & apricots. It’s very yummy.
- Lamb & apricot meatballs – These were good. Going to retry them as rissoles as some didn’t like the sauce
- Mongolian meatballs
Monthly stats
Number of photos taken:201
Books: 3 (1 finished, 2 more started)
Plans for the month ahead
- Celebrate Lammas
- Get the kids ready for back to school
- Inchie challenge
- K’s birthday
- I start uni!
Want to see previous reviews? Check out the monthly review tag
Month in Review – December 2024
What we’ve been up to
- Christmas shopping
- Indie School interview for K
- Christmas parade
- Annual D&D group Christmas dinner
- Early Christmas lunch with my family
- End of school year
- Christmas with in laws
- Boxing day with Dad
- Doctor Who Christmas special
- Bestie’s mum’s funeral
- New Year’s Eve party
In the News
- Martial law declared in South Korea by the president. He is then impeached about a week later.
- United Healthcare CEO shot & killed by Luigi Mangione
- Earthquake in Vanuatu
- Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, an Embraer ERJ-190AR, crashes in Kazakhstan. Twenty-nine out of the 67 on board survive the crash
- Jeju Air Flight 2216, a Boeing 737-800 passenger flight from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, veers off the runway at Muan International Airport and crashes into a barrier, killing 179 people. Two injured survivors are reported.
New recipes
- Beef steak fajitas
Monthly stats
Photos taken – 505
Books read/listened to: 1
Plans for next month (January)
- Tidy my bedroom & get my craft corner reorganized
- Get back into creating videos for my YouTube channel
- Finish December Daily /Journal Your Christmas
- NYE
- 2025 goals
- K at leadership camp
- Dad’s birthday
- My birthday
Until next month!
You can catch up on previous months by checking out the Monthly Reviews tag.
Happy New Year
Planner setup – November and December 2024
Planned to make a new YouTube series of my planning each month but November & December didn’t go as planned.
November ended up a little pre-done as I had the idea to record stuff half way through the month and I’d already done my planning and created the pages.
Then the stickers I wanted to use didn’t arrive in time so I set up the weeks and then just ended up decorating them with stuff I already had. I ended up just taking a bunch of photos of the complete pages and made them into a video.
So here’s the video – no voice over, just the video and some tunes.
What I used:
- Bullet journal spread planner from JashiiCorrin
- Planner – Planners Anonymous Chapter: New Dawn A5 Melody planner cover & rings
- Paper for inserts – J. Burrows Premium 160gsm A4 Digital Copy Paper
- Christmas inserts – Lights Planner Action (link to each insert)
- Washi tape (November) – PET from Temu
- Washi & Stickers (December) are Planners Anonymous -Heartfelt Home, Christmas at Home and Deck the Halls
Other stickers are from Luscious Labels
Other bits and pieces from my scrapbook stash
Month in Review – November 2024
- First lot of neonates for the 2024 kitten season. 5 little babes.
- Hooked into hockey program
- 18 years of marriage
- 20 years of business
- Ovarian Cancer Australia Workout 4 Women
- Visit from some of the family from Scotland
- Art Street Art launch
In the News
- US election Trump wins
- ICC issues arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif on accusations of war crimes committed during the Israel–Hamas War
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces that a ceasefire deal has been agreed to end fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon
- Flooding in Spain
New recipes
- Chinese chicken curry
- Arabic chicken & potatoes (Tonight p 181)
- Golden Garlic Chicken Bites over Creamy Parmesan Pasta
- Greek Kofta Kebabs
- Ultra Crunchy Fried Chicken Burger
- RTE Chinese BBQ chicken & Garlic Noodles
- RTE Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin
- RTE Chicken Chow Mein
Monthly stats
Photos taken – 508
Books read/listened to: 2
Plans for next month (January)
- Tidy my bedroom & get my craft corner reorganized
- Get back into creating videos for my YouTube channel
- Finish December Daily /Journal Your Christmas
- NYE
- 2025 goals
- K at leadership camp
- Dad’s birthday
- My birthday
Until next month!
You can catch up on previous months by checking out the Monthly Reviews tag.
Month in Review – October 2024
Seriously, how is it the 1st of November? Must mean it’s time for another monthly review…
What we’ve been up to
- New laptops. Kids got our old laptops.
- Finally got & set up desks for the kids room.
- Relive the Rivalry footy game. We were sick so missed it.
- Watched the Hawthorn FC Best and Fairest count.
- NRL Grand Final.
- K graduated from the Seagulls to Chips program
- New brakes and tyres for the VW
- J 2 year anniversary of not dying from Pulmonary embolism.
- Watched Bathurst
- First lot of neonates for the 2024 kitten season. 5 little babes.
- Checked out Indie School for K next year
- Packed away winter clothes
- Hooked into hockey program
- Halloween/Beltane
In the News
- The Israel Defense Forces invade southern Lebanon, expanding its conflict against Hezbollah.
- The Japanese parliament elects Shigeru Ishiba as the new prime minister of Japan.
- SpaceX achieves the first successful return and capture of a Super Heavy booster from Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever to fly.
- Spain experiences its worst flooding in half a century, with at least 158 killed and many more missing, as a year’s worth of rain falls in eight hours.
New recipes
- Chinese Sizzling Beef
- Everyday Hokkien Noodles
- glazed hoisin chicken sir fry
- Normandy pork chops
- black bean chilli
- Honey Pepper Chicken
Monthly stats
Photos taken – 319
Books read/listened to: 1
Plans for next month (November)
- Tidy my bedroom & get my craft corner reorganized
- Ovarian Cancer Australia Workout 4 Women – my donation link
- Get back into creating videos for my YouTube channel
- Moving the fridges
- Visit from Scottish rellies
- Our Wedding anniversary (18 years!)
- December Daily Prep day
- Hooked in2 Hockey
- Craft group
- TasPop Geek market
- Gem & Mineral Fair
- Art Street Art launch
Until next month!
You can catch up on previous months by checking out the Monthly Reviews tag.
Month in review – February to September 2024
Since we’ve missed so much of this year here’s a pretty general overview of our year to date – February to September.
What we’ve been up to
- K turned 14
- Back to school. K part time
- K went on camp
- State election
- Back to hockey. A playing U14. K playing U14, U16 and Div 3
- Started an art group at A’s school.
- Joined a local art group
- Started coaching school hockey.
- Went to Hobart for the Battle of Crete memorial
- So much hockey
- Checked out Big Picture School as an option for K next year.
- Uni open day
In the News
- State election. Liberals won.
- Eurovision
- Julian Assange freed from prison
- UK Election – Labor wins in a landslide.
- Attempted assassination of Trump.
- US Election debates.
- Biden steps out of the US Election race and endorses Kamala Harris
- Olympics in Paris.
- Global IT outage
- WHO declares mpox a public health emergency
- Hurricane Helene hits the US state of Florida.
New recipes
- Pork Tenderloin with Honey Garlic Sauce
- Chow Mein Ramen Noodles
- Parmesan crusted baked fish & potatoes
- spicy apricot chicken
- chicken satay noodle bowl
- country beef dump dinner
- slow cooker honey soy beef brisket
- chicken casserole with cheesy damper top
- Quick french onion chicken pie
- one pot honey bbq beef brisket
- coconut chicken curry & yoghurt
- slow cooker kung pow chicken
- slow cooked melting pork ramen
- RTE doner kebab
- Slow-cooker beef with tomato chutney
- Slow-cooker spiced chicken meatballs in tomato sauce
- Slow Cooker Coca-Cola Chicken
- Slow cooker Chinese beef
- thai sweet pork
- general tsoa’s chicken
- yakisoba
- pork & hokkien noodle stir fry
Monthly stats (Feb-Sept total)
Photos taken – 2568
Books read/listened to: 2
Plans for next month (October)
- Apply to go uni.
- Get my planner caught back up.
- Get back in0to blogging.
- Tidy my bedroom & get my craft corner reorganized
- K graduation for Seagulls to Chips program
- Get our front car brakes replaced
- 18th birthday do for a friend
- Alt market
- Halloween/Beltane
- Finish some of the books I’ve started
Until next month!
You can catch up on previous months by checking out the Monthly Reviews tag.
IDAHOBIT
On May 17 we acknowledge IDAHOBIT as a day for our communities to go rainbow, and stand up against discrimination. Whether you’re part of the LGTBQIA+ community or you’re an ally – today we stand together.
What is IDAHOBIT?
International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) is observed on May 17 and aims to coordinate international events that raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide.
But why May 17? This date commemorates the anniversary the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases in 1990. Prior to this, homosexuality was classified globally as a mental illness.
That’s only 33 short years ago.
As recently as 1997, being gay was illegal in some parts of Australia – and until just five years ago, same-sex marriage was not recognised in our country. While we have certainly come a long way in the advancements of LGBTQIA+ equity, the unfortunate reality is that these milestones are very recent in our experience.
With this in mind, IDAHOBIT has two main purposes.
- Today is an opportunity to celebrate the pride and allyship of the people who have worked to build equality around the world.
- And to raise awareness of the discrimination LGBTQIA+ people still face today.
Australia-wide research conducted by La Trobe University highlights the prevalence of discrimination still occuring around our country:
2 in 3 LGBTQIA+ youth experience harassment or abuse due to their identity. That’s 66% of our young people.
But discrimination of this kind is not contained to the classroom.
A study of almost 7,000 LGBTQIA+ people of all ages in Australia found that 1 in 3 people have experienced verbal abuse in the past 12 months because of their identity. This includes insults, humiliation and threats, just for being who they are.
It’s worth repeating again. One third of LGBTQIA+ people have experienced verbal abuse in the last 12 months.
When it comes to creating a world where everyone is safe to be themselves – there’s still work for us to do.
We need safe spaces where LGBTQIA+ people belong that are inclusive for everyone.
We can donate to places like Minus18, who do so much great work for our LGBTQIA+ youth.
IDAHOBIT is coordinated by Minus18, Australia’s charity for LGBTQIA+ young people across the country. You can find out more about the day, and discover information about identity and inclusion through the website www.IDAHOBIT.org.au. Check it out, there’s lots for us to learn.
Together, we can build a world without discrimination, today and every day of the year.