General - Nightwolf's Den

My week according to Instagram

I’m still not 100% sure what I think of all the proposed changes at Instagram but I’m gonna give them the benefit of the doubt for now and keep using them. I did end up deleting a heap of photos though. I’ve started using EyeEm to see what they are like & am posting stuff on Flickr again too. If you want to keep up to date with my photos I’m taking for Fat Mum Slim’s Photo-A-Day I’m posting them all at ShutterCal. If you’re using any of these I’d love for you to link me up so I can follow you 🙂

Anywho, onto my week according to Instagram

100 things to do in 2013

Hello 2013!

Part of the Goddess Workbook I shared with you all the other day is a list of 100 things you would like to achieve in a year. It can be a list of anything at all. And for a bit of fun I thought I’d share my list with all of you. So here goes (& yes a lot of these are on my 101 things list to do in 1001 days)

Work out a decent filing system
Double my twitter followers (currently 519)
Go to ProBlogger event (or get digital pass)
Book ticket for DPCON 2014
Blogger meet up in Tassie
Blog everyday for 1 month
Organise our office
Set up a veggie garden
Get a shed
Set up a composting system
Do Habithacker – Nest
Find an inspirational quote & make it into a piece of artwork
Get the laundry finished
Paint lounge & dining room
Hang photos of K & family
Get curtains for kitchen
Start bathroom reno
Get front yard done
Have parents over for dinner more
Spend a day at the beach
Go on a picnic
Have a regular ‘date night’
Buy a Thermomix
Do a recipe book cull
Create a custom recipe book
Have more TV free time
Get K into daycare 1 day a week
Learn to make sour dough bread/rolls
Make our own bread
Have a candlelit dinner
Do something for our wedding anniversary
Write a letter to K to open on her 18th
Start putting $$ into K’s bank account
Open a Christmas Club account
Get a new tattoo.
Buy J a tattoo
make/buy Christmas presents through the year
Get our wills written
Finish JYC from 2011 AND 2012!
Swim more
Exercise more
Organise digital scrapbooking stuff
Scrapbook with Mum at least once a month
Scrap with others
Organise a scrapbook event
Do Frocktober again
Read more books
Drink more water
Have a massage
Have a facia
Have a manicure
Create a book of advice for K
Finish our wedding album
Go see Amanda Palmer in concert
Get my L’s
Take a burlesque class
Spend a rainy day in PJs watching TV
Banish bad memores
Create a playlist of meditations
Create a playlist of my favourite songs
Watch 20 movies in our new movies folder
Rewatch all 6 Star Wars movies
Rewatch all 3 Lord of the Rings movies
Go to bed before midnight
Do every Fat Mum Slim Photo-a-day in 2013
Go out for High Tea
Buy mum something special
Organise our MP3 collection
Write J random love notes
Complete a cross stitch
Do 1 art journal page a week
Catch up with friends more often
Go watch an A League game live
Go to Melbourne
Xbox more
Finally organise our bedroom
Learn to play the guitar
Go visit the snow
Go camping
Improve my cake decorating
Photograph a lightning storm
Take more photos of the moon
Create a mini Goddess altar
Watch all the James Bond movies
Write/finish a piece of fan fiction
See more of Tassie
Celebrate the seasons
Finish our work website
Work on family tree
Do Fox in Flat dares
Go fishing
Go watch the cricket live
Take K to the footy at the MCG
Go to the dawn service
Go to the Botanical Gardens
Buy K some guinea pigs
Visit QVMAG
Check out MONA
Rejoin the Goddess Circle
Enjoy life!!

I’ll post again mid year with an update on how I’m going.

2012 – this is the year that was

So on this last day of 2012 I thought I’d do a bit of a retrospective of the year

January saw me make a heap of resolutions. I kept a few (journal every day) and didn’t keep others (like do Habit Hacker). I finally joined the Goddess Circle and think it’s one of the best investments I’ve made. Mum & Dad lost the second of their 2 dogs to cancer. Started doing a Project Life album for Miss K. Mum & Dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. We bought a house! Admittedly it’s the house we were renting from my parents but still….

In February I did lots of planning for our upcoming trip to Melbourne. We started cleaning the garage. Miss K was a hit with the footy players at the Hawks season launch in Tassie. Miss K turned 2! Where has my baby gone? Mum held an Afternoon Teal raising funds for Ovarian Cancer awareness. Cake decorating is turning out to be a bit of a thing for me lol Getting a bit addicted to Chef’s Toolbox cookware.

March – a pretty quiet month. AFL player Jim Stynes passed away. Went to Hobart to visit bro b4 his big trip OS. Left for Melbourne: DPCON12 here I come! DPCON – OMG what an amazing day. Learnt so much. Wentto my first Bloggers BBQ

April – still in Melbourne for a few days after DPCON. Caught up with some family. Made choc chip hot cross buns for the first time. I got a tweet on screen during Q&A (sad I know lol). Miss K moved to a single bed. Helped run a quiz night for Tassie Hawks Supporter Group. My 6 year blogoversary.

May – I opened my Instacanv.as gallery. Checked out the Harvest Market in Launceston for the first time. My Grandmother (on Dad’s side) passed away. Dungeons & Dragons playtest. Started painting the kitchen

June – Started a new blog. Went away for a few days to Shearwater. Got food poisoning. Never want that again! Our kitchen got tiled. Nearly finished – just need new flooring & curtains. Miss K got to see her first real frost. Played with Windows 8 preview. Qld won rugby State of Origin. Buddy Franklin kicked his 500th goal.

July was super quiet. Lots of footy watching, staying warm and then catching a cold.

August saw us get an addition to our cat run, ordered a heat pump and bought new iPads. One of the rellies visited from New Zealand.

September and I started The Organised Housewife’s 20 days to organised challenge. Got the new Amanda Palmer album. We got our heat pump installed. Started to wean Miss K. Jobe Watson won the Brownlow. Hawks made the finals and lost to Sydney by 10 points. Gutted!

In October I gave Frocktober a go. A dress everyday is a big thing for me (I hardly wear dresses). All for a great cause. Watched the Peter Crimmins medal stream. Gee Josh Gibson looks good in a suit. Got new laptops. Connected to the NBN

November – loving playing with full version of Windows 8. Obama elected to second term in office in US election. Worked out how to make Scottish tablet in microwave. Mum got a thermomix, would so love one. Got vinyl in kitchen, laundry & sunroom. Caught up with an old friend I haven’t seen in years. Took Miss K to Launceston Christmas parade. Loved it & got a cuddle from Santa.

December – Lots of prep for hosting Christmas lunch here. Started potty training K (again). Going well so far. Went to a Thermomix demo party. Really want one now. Started the Tassie Bloggers List. Closed the blog I started in June. Miss K had a Santa photo at Myer. Christmas celebrations. Miss K got a summer cold. Bringing in the New Year at home. Hubby and mates playing Doctor Who RPG. Me most likely on Twitter.

Hope your 2012 was great and that 2013 will be awesome!!

Planning for 2013

Can you believe we’re nearly at the end of 2012? The year has just flown by!

I’m hoping to make 2013 more organised for our family and for me in general.

Starting out with my Inner B organiser. This is my second year using this diary and I’ve got to admit I love it. In 2013 I’m taking a bit of a cue from the lovely Tina and using some of her ideas in my organiser.

I’ve added a section for my 2013 Goddess Workbook, my blog and a section for Christmas. I even got a bit creative in Photoshop & made my own dividers. I’ve also culled some of the pages I probably won’t use in my diary but have added them to my home notebook (that’s a whole other post in itself).

Before the year starts I like to go through and add birthdays, anniversaries, Hawks events in Tassie and any other events I already know the dates of.

I love how the Inner B diary pages have four sections under the daily page and birthdays. I’ve assigned these for work, bloggy stuff I don’t want to forget (like sponsored posts, giveaway ending dates and the like), our menu plan for the week and Fat Mum Slim’s photo-a-day prompts (I’m hoping to do all 365 prompts in 2013)

First is one of my favourite sections – Leonie Dawson’s Goddess Workbook. I could seriously give this section it’s own post! If you are interested in reading a bit more about the workbook you can check out my post about the 2012 workbook. I’m on my third workbook now but this is the first year I’ve printed it out and added it to my organiser. I’m hoping that works for me better.

Each year you are given prompts to help ‘close’ the previous year before planning the year ahead. For 2013 I’ve actually managed to write a list of 100 things I’d like to do during the year (I’ll be sharing that list in early 2013). And there’s still many pages to fill in and my oracle reading for 2013. I’ll be doing this on New Year’s Eve – a good way to close the year of 2012

Then we get into the section dedicated to my blog. (If you notice in the above photos it’s not in there yet. I stuffed up when I printed it so have to reprint it all) I used Organised Housewife Blog Planner for 2012. For 2013 I’ve printed a selection of pages I know I’ll use from the planner and left out things I know I won’t use (like the conference section cause there’s no conferences in sight for me in 2013 *sad face* but that is cool cause it means I can do awesome stuff closer to home). I’m going to try out the Confessions of a home schooler blog planner in 2013 to plan my blog post, giveaways and the like. She has a 2 free printables to choose from: a calendar style layout and a lined format post planner (I’ve gone with the lined format)

I seriously have some big plans for my little blog in 2013 but you’ll have to wait til the new year to find out *wink* one I can announce is I will be starting an email newsletter. Not 100% on what it will include but I’ll let you know when it goes live 🙂

Finally I have a section just for Christmas. In 2012 I used the Organised Housewife Christmas Planner. Helped make everything much more organised & I plan to use it again for 2013. I’ve even started my gift idea list for 2013!!

So that’s my start to getting organised in 2013. Have you started your planning for 2013?

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

Stay safe and have an awesome day tomorrow

I’ll be back in the New Year (maybe a little before) with my Journal Your Christmas posts

Christmas – Pinterest Style

Ah Pinterest, what did we used to do before it? Oh that’s right – lots of things.

Seriously though, Pinterest is a great tool for keeping things we find on the net all in one spot that we can access anywhere we have a net connection. Throughout the year I’ve been Pinning various bits and pieces I’ve found that I may use at Christmas time. Ideas for food…

Decorating …

Scrapbooking & card making

Elf on the Shelf

and so much more! I’ve got a Christmas Ideas board, a Christmas Food board and a Christmas Scrapbooking board

Do you Pinterest? What great Christmas Pins have you found?

On the go at Christmas

Disclaimer – I received a sample of the four Smooze Fruit Ice flavours. All opinions are my own.

Most people are super busy at Christmas time and parents probably more so. When you’re on the go things like breakfast can be a super quick affair.

For something quick you can make and take try a super quick and healthy smoothie. Smooze Fruit Ice are a healthy base to have in the cupboard or freezer..

There are for flavours to choose from – Coconut & Mango, Coconut & Pineapple, Coconut & Pink Guava and Simply Coconut.

I tried the Coconut & Mango flavour, mixed with some crushed ice and some Fanta. Delish! So refreshing, and apart from the Fanta, pretty healthy. I can see that going down a treat with a dash of vodka or some fizzy wine (I’m not a wine drinker so have no idea when it comes to wine)

Looks pretty good yes?

I’m planning on trying the following out tomorrow for a slightly tropical breakfast
1 x Frozen Coconut & Pink Guava Smooze Fruit Ice
1 shot of apple juice
a handful of ice, crushed

I’m sure I’ll chuck a picture up on Instagram when it’s made – that’s if I don’t drink it first

Smoothies are also a great idea for fussy eaters. Most kids love a milkshake and you can hide pretty much anything in it 😉

The following were all found on Pinterest and might give you some other breakfast smoothie ideas

Strawberry Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie

Breakfast Smoothies

Almond Breeze Breakfast Smoothie

What’s your favourite go to for a quick breakfast?

Christmas 2012 – Our tree

Wow December 1. Where has the year gone? (It’s now Dec 10 – where is December going LOL?)

It’s tree day in our house. Miss K loves ‘helping’ to decorate the tree and this year she decorated 2 trees in one day.

This year we’ve gone a bit more selective – I’m being more selective as to what ornaments are going on the tree. More silver and purple, less tacky. Plus hubby’s decorations (he’s decided we need another tree just for his Star Wars decorations). Plus Miss K’s number decorations.

In 2012 our new ornaments include:


Silver Reindeer	#3 Frame	#3 (coming soon)

Tardis	Red Dalek	Tie Fighter

Mini Death Star	Mini Star Destroyer	Original Series Cylon

	‘dancing’ bear

Do you have a tree theme? Certain colour schemes? Any special ornaments or new ornaments for 2012?

Summer storms

So today I was going to have a post for you all about Xmas trees and link to a heap of cute stuff on Pinterest but last night we had a wicked thunderstorm and instead of writing that post (and getting lost in Pinterest for a couple of hours) I spent a couple of hours trying to photograph lightning!

Now I don’t own a dslr or any fancy camera equipment. I have a Sony quick shot point and shoot and my iPhone. The Sony has absconded most likely into miss K’s bedroom as, even at not-quite-3 she loves taking photos and will often steal the Sony or just run round taking pics on her iPhone (yes she has an iPhone – it’s basically an iPod touch now as the antenna is bung and it has no sim). But I digress.

So I was left with my phone. Now the iPhone4s has a pretty decent camera for a phone and I tried to get some still shots just using the camera but alas I’m to slow.

Switch to camera mode and I managed to capture some awesome claps of thunder and a few bolts of lightning. Sadly most of the really clear bolts happened after I finished shooting 

I put a call out on twitter hoping one of the photo types might have an answer to how to get stills from video and while I waited I also did a bit of searching on Google. One app that came up a few times was StillShot (iTunes)

Grabbed it and had a play around and managed to grab these shots out of the first 2 videos I took. A bit blurry but pretty happy with that.

I did some more searching cause I thought well there might be some tips out there on shooting lightning with an iPhone and one of the first things that came up was an app called iLightningCam (iTunes) the only thing I managed to capture with it though was street lights. Next time there is lightning though I’ll be a bit better prepped and will try shooting from somewhere a little different – like undercover outside not inside where I kept getting reflection from the glass.

Christmas 2012–Getting organised

Up until recently I was so unorganised around Christmas time. I’d leave things til the last minute and would panic buy on the pay before Christmas. I’ve even been known to be doing shopping on Christmas Eve! Then, about 3 years ago I decided enough was enough and did some searching on the internet to become a bit more organised over the holiday period.

One of the first sites I came across was Organized Christmas. I already used the Organized Scrapbooks site for their printables so decided to check out the site. They, at the time, had two choices for holiday organisation – Christmas Countdown and the Holiday Grand Plan. I went with the Christmas Countdown. It’s a 6 week workshop starting in October and finishing on the 1st December, designed so you’re organised and can relax and enjoy the holiday season come December. Each week is assigned a theme – get organised, reality check, gifts & giving, get cooking, decorating and celebrating. And there’s the printables to help you stay organised and less stressed.

The first year I followed along a bit half heartedly but the following year I followed every step and was ready for Christmas (minus a few small gifts) by the end of November. A huge bonus as I was a new mum. Last year I followed along again, a lot more loosely, picking and choosing what worked for our family.

This year I’ve decided to check out some other systems to see if I can find something that is really me.

I’d seen The Organised Housewife’s Christmas Planner last year about half way through doing the Christmas Countdown. I bought it last week and have printed it out and added it to my Inner B organiser (thanks to Tina for the awesome idea of adding extra sections to my organiser).

I’m loving supporting an Australian mum and I love how this planner isn’t centered around American holidays (sorry to all my US readers but I really don’t need to know about celebrating Thanksgiving lol)

There are lots of great checklists and planners and the graphics are too cute. It’s actually making the planning process more fun. A couple of planners that aren’t relevant for me this year but may be useful later.

If you want to know how to put your Christmas Planner together you can always check out this post. And you can buy your own copy of The Organised Housewife’s Christmas Planner here for $14.95 (Australian dollars)

The boring bit – I’m doing a series on Christmas (again) this year. You can follow all my posts here