goodbye junk food, hello clean eating

I'm a bit scared. Tomorrow I get measured and weighed and start a 40 day focus that will see me eating cleanly (ie. no processed foods, only whole unrefined foods and no carbs after 2pm) and exercising like a crazy person. Well not too crazy. Well, the only crazy thing about it really is that I'll be doing this over Easter.

I'm almost too scared to write that I'm doing it here, for fear of failure at this yet again. But no, I can do it, and I WILL do it.

They gym I've joined is running the program so I will have people checking on me. I'm tired of feeling sluggish and not proud of the way I look. I just want to be happier and feel better about myself, and be healthier. But that will involve a lot of hard work. So, yep, I'm scared. But I just need to get on with it and do it. No excuses.

So goodbye junk/sweet/treat food. Hello healthy stuff, like paleo pumpkin bread. Mmmm yum.

Do I sound convinced?

Feel free to hit me with any great sites for 'clean eating', especially lovely clean sweet treats!

so here's the thing...about blogging and advertising and stuff

I know. That was a really long blog post title.

Anyway, the thing is. I don't really like what the world of blogging has turned into in lots of ways. When I first started blogging, it was just a fun little hobby and a way to connect with a wider community of people to help me keep my days sane. And thrown in there, I used to love sharing things that I used, bought, found and these were just my own finds or discoveries. And then somewhere along the line, things changed and now blogs can be platforms to advertise things, and well, now it kind of feels like a product or a discovery can't be mentioned without feeling like it is necessary to explain whether you genuinely are sharing it as something amazing or whether it was gifted to you or is (or isn't) a sponsored post, etc. etc. 

I more or less fell out of blogging while a lot of this blog monetising/advertising thing started to really take off and it has scared me off coming back to it I think. It all seems like such a serious business now, and all the while I can't help thinking......it's just a blog. When did it all get so intense?

So, anyway, from now on, I'm not going to do reviews, give ways or anything else of that nature anymore. I just want this blog to be a place where I can write about whatever I want, whenever I want, like I used to. The blog post content will be mine and not influenced by gifts or money. So if a product is mentioned it will be because I bought it and I genuinely want to share about it.

And now, it's back to normal viewing and posting.....like being silly taking selfies while your 4 year old pretends she's still a baby in a high chair. As you do.

check out my melons!

Well, there's only one melon - but check it out!

I thought it was time for a vege patch up date, so here it is. I continue to be amazed at how quickly everything has grown, and I still get excited when I discover new veges ready for picking! We've had plenty of zucchini's and cucumber, the basil has been great, and of course the watermelon! The vine of the watermelon has gone craaaaaazy. It's growing over the lawn now. Mental note - if we ever grow these again, we will just plant the one vine.

Since the photo above was taken, I've cleared some of the zucchini section and pulled out the remaining rotting bits of cucumber plant and am trying to make way for some new veges in the coming weeks. Our blueberry tree and strawberries didn't fair so well. They were up against possums or rats, so we never got to eat any of the fruit. Actually we did get a few blueberries at the start. So we put netting over the berries but then that got overrun with the sprawling watermelon vine which blocked any sun from getting to them. Anyway, lessons learned there, so for next time we will plan the garden bed a bit better. I'm hoping to plant some carrot, beans, broccoli and maybe some more cucumbers soon.

Am hoping that eventually, we will have enough growing in our little patch that there will always be something that will feed us should we have nothing in the cupboards! Bit ambitious? Maybe, but one can dream!

Anyone got a vege patch they would love to show off? Leave me a link in the comments below!

did you win?

Check the bottom of this post here to see if you won a Moment Watch. Please get in touch with me if it's you! I don't have any contact details for two of the winners.

detox & declutter 2013

I'm on a mission this year.

I want to detox my body and declutter my life.

I want to start on the journey of nourishing my body with the right kinds of foods, and hopefully, along with that, lose most if not all of the excess weight I have added over the last few years. I want to eliminate as many toxins and chemicals as I can from body and skin care products as well as all those non-stick surface and plastics lurking in the cupboard.

And I just want to simplify life really. Have less stuff. I just want things in the cupboard that we use all the time rather than excess. My cupboards are usually chock full of the containers and pots and pans that never see the light of day. There is no point them being there taking up space and cluttering my life.

So yesterday I began. First on the list was the plastics cupboard and then the pots and pans cupboard. I now have a mound of things to get rid of, and I will post them on my local freecycle network so that at least some of them can find a new use rather than going to the trash.

My cupboards now look a little like this. I can actually see what we have. And nothing falls out when I open the door!

If you want to embark on a similar mission and want to share photos along the way of how you are detoxing or decluttering, would love it if you could use the hashtag #detoxdeclutter2013 on Instagram and I'll come take a look. I'll be sharing my photos that way too. Or share your blog post in the comments below. I'd love to hear about it.

3/52

"A portrait of my children (and me!), once a week, every week, in 2013."

Josh: Still loves cars. Always has. Not sure if he will ever outgrow them.

Zoe: Her first love. Sweets. Must be her mother's daughter.

Ben: Peg playing. It's the simple things.

Me: Struggling/cringeing when it comes to the selfies. Looking a little pensive.

Linking up with Jody for the 52 Project.

2/52

"A portrait of my children (and me!), once a week, every week, in 2013."

Josh: At Madame Tussauds this week, Josh posing on the podium with Dawn Fraser.

Zoe: Meeting Marilyn at Madame Tussauds.

Ben: Found him asleep on a pile of his soft toys. Usually he throws them out of the cot, this day, he cuddled into them.

Me: Happy faces. Seeing a very missed friend again.

Linking up with Jody for the 52 Project.