Well then

after 4 years of avoiding it ,we’ve all managed to catch Covid. Eldest went down with it on Good Friday, then me a few days later, hubby on hist birthday and then the youngest a week after her sister.

We’ve been lucky to only have a mild case but good lord, it was horrible. I have never felt so drained and unmotivated. I spent the majority of my time between bed and the couch with a puddle of foster kitties to keep me company.

A week out and I still feel tired and a little snotty but I do feel a little better day by day. Glad the loss of smell and taste only lasted a couple of days, that was truly horrible.

Upside of it all, I got lots of sleep and got to binge a bunch of TV when I wasn’t sleeping.

Anywho, I’ve started doing some cleaning up on the blog. I’m moving all my craft posts to Nightwolf Crafts, going through old posts to re add photos that went missing during the move from my old hosting, deleting some posts that are outdated or are old giveaways and tidying up all my recipe posts.

Until next time. Hope you all stay healthy.

2023 in review

So here we are again. It’s February and I guess it’s time for my yearly review.

January – school holidays, lots of cleaning, working on junk journals, fostering kitties, started to make different types of bread, set up my 2023 planner, got ourselves a 4 poster bed, Dad’s birthday, family issues, my birthday, K cooked me tea.

February – back to school prep, K started Grade 7, A started Grade 3, more bread making, visited Lulworth (where I spent lots of time as a kid), K turned 13.

March – D&D party for K, school swimming comp for K, school athletics carnival for A, first lots of bottle fed fosters, school athletics for K, mil birthday, playing Cult of the Lamb, bought myself a drop down desk.

April – James’ birthday, K diagnosed with anxiety, inter high athletics for K, more bread making, school holidays.

May – School issues for K, hockey season started, K went on school camp to Camp Clayton, I got sick.

June – K still school can’t, more bread making, inter school cross country for A, A got Influenza A, my first counseling appointment (on what would have been Mum’s birthday), pride round for hockey, J got influenza A,.

July – K had meeting at school to try & get her back attending, K played first Div 3 hockey game with her cousin, specialist for J to follow up on last year’s lung clots – she said things look pretty good for having ~99% clotting in lungs. A back to swimming lessons but locally now.

August – A turned 9, school photos, A started to play school hockey with the 5/6s.

September – started walking at the beach, K got coach’s award for hockey, K helping with primary school hockey, new glasses, Hobart for nephew’s birthday, discussed part time home school for K.

October – applied for part time home school for K, I did Shark Cage program, K diagnosed with depression & on wait list for ADHD/ASD assessment, K started back at school doing Maths & science, first TasPop cosplay picnic.

November – K started anti depressant, did Yoga for the first time and really enjoyed it, new bottle babies.

December – local Christmas parade, TasPop cosplay picnic, last day of Grade 7 and Grade 3, Just Cats Christmas do, yearly Christmas do with friends, very quiet Christmas.

Another interesting year for us. Here’s to a better 2024.

Month in review – January 2024

Well here we are at the end of the first month of 2024. Time for my first review of the year.

What we’ve been up to

  • setting up my 2024 planner (while waiting for my new planner cover to arrive)
  • cleaning and decluttering
  • enjoying a quiet school holiday
  • watching the cricket
  • setting up home school stuff for K for Term 1
  • new shelves in the kitchen
  • dropped one lots of fosters back and picked up another lot
  • Dad’s & my birthdays
  • J had 30ml of fluid drained off his knee. Gout.

In the News

  • Queen of Denmark abdicates
  • Plane collision in Japan
  • Taiwan elects a new president
  • Israel-Hamas war

New recipes

Monthly stats
Photos taken – 340
Books read/listened to:
started – Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torz
finished – The Clean House by Katrina Springer

Plans for next month

  • Read 2 books
  • Continue working on Declutter 365
  • Get my 2024 planner setup in my new Melody cover
  • Planner blog posts
  • K turns 14

Hello

Is there anybody out there? *knock, knock*
Hello there if there is still anyone who reads my little spot on the net.

Happy New Year 2024

It’s been awhile & I’m hoping to get back into blogging again this year.

I’ll be blogging my planner spreads, sharing some of our favourite recipes, what I’m reading/listening to, our current foster kitty adventures and who knows what else.

All my craft stuff is over at Nightwolf Crafts and, I’ve got a new blog, as our eldest started home schooling at the end of last year – Schooling in the Den.

That’s all for now. Til next time

Planner Set Up for 2024

Note – some links are affiliate

(And the changes over at Planners Anonymous)

2024 is a whole new setup at Planners Anonymous. At the end of 2023 they introduced Chapters and a massive change to how their subscription kits work. Chapters is going to be more than just a subscription though. To quote the website

Welcome to ‘Chapters’, a fresh beginning in our journey together. We’re so beyond excited to bring you an innovative approach to our range of goodies. ‘Chapters’ is more than a product; it’s a journey and a narrative, a series of moments crafted to enrich your planning and journaling experience. Join us as we turn each page in this new chapter of creativity, self-expression and self-exploration.

Sami and Team PA

Anyway the subscription line up used to be: standard sub box, extra sticker book and extra paper pack. Chapters now gives you 3 options – Planner lover, Paper lover and Sticker lover.

Planner Lover is for those who love to focus mainly on their planners and aren’t interested in all the extras. Think planner stickers, washi, note pads & sticky notes.
Paper Lover is the papers, journaling cards, stamps and die cuts.
Sticker Lover is for those who just want stickers.

Then each quarter there will be a special release – a bigger sticker book or the Bundle – sticker bundle, locket refresh, charm builder, plastic pockets, stencil bookmark/ruler and special item. SPOILERS
Q1 -Washi cutter
Q3 – Desktop Easel
Q4 – Script Headers Stamp Set

Anywho, along with all of that Sami designed and released an A5 Melody planner cover. Now I started as an A5 planner girl so my heart was getting pulled towards grabbing that for my 2024 setup. Then the kiddos bought it for me for Christmas so 2024 is me going back to my A5 love.

I’ve gone purely rings for my set up as I found I didn’t use the string inserts after a couple of months. Set up is in 4 sections – Yearly, Monthly/Weekly, Misc and Chapters.

Section 1 – Yearly
It’s my birthday and anniversary list, Fun Days calendar, Rate my Day (it’s like a Year in Pixels), Health log, Dream log and some witchy stuff (full moons, sabbats etc)

Section 2 – Monthly/Weekly
A monthly themed cover, my monthly spread, weeklies, songs (& playlists) for the month, sleep log, One line a day and a monthly reflection

Section 3 – Miscellaneous
Lots of lists – Movies to watch, To Be Read list, Books read, shows to watch, what we’ve watched, podcasts, future me problems (things I want future me to do or would like to do), present idea lists

Section 4 – Chapters
This is going to be a bit of a work in progress. It’ll be the Chapters extras and some of my own journaling.
No spoilers though for this one. I may share my own journaling pages at a later date though.

So there you have it. What’s your planner lineup for 2024?


Monthly Review – March 2023

March was a quiet one blog wise as life has been super busy but here’s my monthly snapshot.

Latest posts

New recipes

  • quick chicken curry
  • chicken leek & corn pie
  • curried beef & noodles
  • beef fried rice
  • meatballs in sticky plum sauce
  • garlic butter chicken
  • chicken satay rissoles
  • bbq pork ribs
  • spiced rubbed chicken w maple glaze

What I’ve been consuming (videos, podcasts, books, music)

Lots of craft & gardening videos
AFL

Gratitude

  • family
  • craft time
  • internet friends

Events

  • a 13th birthday party – we played D&D
  • so many craft/business workshops
  • our first lot of bottle fed foster kittens
  • School athletics for both kids
  • MIL’s birthday

Monthly stats

  • Number of photos taken – 364
  • Books/pages read – 4 books

Monthly Goals

Current

  • Photo-A-Day
  • Declutter 365
  • Clean up this blog
  • Set up April & May in my planner

Next Month

  • Photo-A-Day
  • Declutter 365
  • Winter planner setup
  • blog posts

Want to see previous reviews? Check out the 2023 monthly review tag

Monthly Review – February 2023

Welcome to something new I’m doing in 2023 – my month in review. Each month I’ll be sharing

My posts for the month, new recipes I’ve tried, what I’ve been consuming (media wise), how I’ve done with my monthly goals (& sharing the goals for the month ahead), things I’m grateful for, events that happens, stats and anything else I want to share

So onto February 2023

Latest posts

  • No new posts since the last review

New recipes

  • RecipeTinEats Chicken shawarma
  • Beef kebabs
  • Meatloaf cupcakes
  • Creamy chicken pasta
  • RecipeTinEats Chicken lasagne
  • Stir fry beef bowl
  • Ginger chicken & crunchy noodle salad
  • Tandoori chicken wraps (with homemade flour tortillas)
  • Chinese pork & vegetables

What I’ve been consuming (videos, podcasts, books, music)

  • More junk journal videos
  • Lots of history docos
  • Death in Paradise
  • Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch by Rachel Patterson
  • Creative Watercolor by Ana Victoria Calderón
  • The Witchy Homestead by Zoe Ingram, Nikki Van De Car

Gratitude

  1. Long warm days
  2. Kids going back to school
  3. James being allowed to drive again

Events

  • Lots of craft workshops for me
  • Kara turned 13 – I have a teenager!!
  • Dad doing a presentation on my Grandfather (his Dad) at the Chin society

Monthly stats

  • Number of photos taken – 292
  • Books/pages read – 3 books started. 2 books finished.

Monthly Goals

Current

  • Photo-A-Day – all done
  • Declutter 365 – all done
  • Get back into the school routine – daily alarm set for M-F but we still run late most days 🙁
  • Clean up this blog – started

Next Month

  • Photo-A-Day
  • Declutter 365
  • Clean up this blog
  • Set up April & May in my planner

Want to see previous reviews? Check out the 2023 monthly review tag

Monthly Review – January 2023

Welcome to something new I’m doing in 2023 – my month in review. Each month I’ll be sharing my posts for the month, new recipes I’ve tried, what I’ve been consuming (media wise), how I’ve done with my monthly goals (& sharing the goals for the month ahead), things I’m grateful for, events that happens, stats and anything else I want to share

So onto the review of January 2023

Latest posts

New recipes

  • English muffins
  • Baguettes
  • Mongolian beef meatballs
  • RecipeTinEats Chicken salad
  • Beef rissoles with scallop potato
  • Chicken Kyiv pasta bake
  • Creamy French onion chicken salad
  • Thai chicken meatball salad
  • Cheesy one pan sour cream chicken pasta

What I’ve been consuming (videos, podcasts, books, music)

  • Junk journal videos
  • Cricket – Tests and Big Bash League
  • History Channel
  • Death in Paradise S10 & S11
  • The Legend of Vox Machina Season 2
  • Egyptian Mythology by Garry J Shaw
  • Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch by Rachel Patterson

Gratitude

  1. Family
  2. Super relaxed school holidays.
  3. Fresh summer fruits – hello mangos

Events

  • School holiday workshops for the kids
  • Birthdays – Dad & Mine

Monthly stats

Number of photos taken: 363
Books/pages read: 120 pages

Monthly Goals

January Goals

  • Photo-A-Day – all 31 days done
  • Declutter 365 – a couple of days behind but mostly done
  • 1st quarter vision board – done and in my planner

February Goals

  • Photo-A-Day
  • Declutter 365
  • Get back into the school routine
  • Clean up this blog

Want to see previous reviews? Check out the 2023 monthly review tag