The week before Christmas...

Oh dear where did the time go?  I find myself suffering a slight case of pre-Christmas anxiety! I don't think I've done enough,  made enough or bought enough.  Which of course is rediculous because Miss 2 doesn't count how many presents she has, or how much Christmas craft we do, or whether we have enough decorations on display.

I'm a list maker, I love my lists.  I had a to-do list going and a nice one from Inner-B.here but it wasn't really doing it for me.  A friend shared that she was using a to-do list for every day this week and I thought to myself 'dur' why didn't I think of that?  I've used it before...so here is my list for this week.  I saved it as a picture and now have it as my desktop background which is great as it's there as soon as I turn on the computer..

How are your plans for this week?  Do you feel in control?

Phew what a weekend!

Two Mums Group Christmas Parties

24 red velvet cupcakes

18 happy kids

add pom poms, pipecleaners, dyed pasta, paper plates and handprints

=  the recipe for a full exhausting and fun weekend..

  The best thing about being a kid is licking the spoon

yummo red velvet cupcakes, frosting courtesy of Betty Crocker!!

a wee bit of craft ~ each girl took home the placemat we did the craft on

Angel printable
How to dye pasta

the final result!



It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

I LOVE Christmas, I love the excitement, the anticipation, the decoration!  I love sparkle ~ from the twinkling lights to the glitter on the decorations.  I don't 'do' tinsel but am a sucker for glitter, on baubles, on trees, you cover it in glitter and I'm in love!

I love decorating my home.  No room goes untouched including yes ~ the toilet!!

So here's a photo or two, sorry it's so photo heavy but a few friends have asked me to share.

First is our entrance, we have a little bench where we take off our shoes.  My errands station is also here.  I love the organisation frame because it has three places for photos or in this case Christmas scrapbook paper.

Miss Matilda's room also gets a special makeover.  She loves her tree and the Christmas book basket is perfect as we read to her every night before bed.  I'm surprised at how many books we actually have, including the same book I read to my son who is now 18 every Christmas Eve, "The Night Before Christmas".

Now if I haven't bored you enough, moving into the living area.  I always decorate my buffet, no matter the occasion that's the focal point.  This buffet is one of the last remaining pieces of furniture from when I moved in with my husband.  I love it. 

This is a terrible photo of one of my favourite pieces of furniture..this is on loan to us from my Mother-in-Law and usually houses my husbands late Dad's beloved Harley Davidson models.  I've repurposed it for now to hold my serving ware. 

And last but by no means least...my tree!!  This tree takes me hours! It's 7ft tall and putting in each branch takes a while but what takes me the longest time it's the decorations.  It's all very precise, I put one on, stand back, check it out and then the next and so on and so on haha.  This years tree is without lights after I had a hissyfit  struggled with the tangled mess that they were...

So there you go, Christmas decorating at my home xx

And the winners are!

With the help of Miss 2 (she clicked the button!) and random.org we have our winners!!

Clare from The HOME She Made

&

Jess from My Family, Our Home

Congratulations, you have both won copies of Christmas Sorted!

Can you both please contact me on BecauseEverythingCounts@live.com.au

Thank you to everyone who entered and helped me celebrate my first 50 likers, I loved reading your stories.

PS ~ I have found another copy of the book, I didnt realise I had bought three....
so a bonus winner is....
Keegan Rigby!!

~Giveaway~ Christmas Sorted!

As promised, to celebrate reaching 50 likers I have two copies of Christmas Sorted! A simple and effective guide to organising your Christmas to giveaway.

I love Christmas and this handy little book contains heaps of tips, recipes, gift ideas and more.

To enter, simply be a liker of my facebook page Because.Everything.Counts and leave a comment here sharing your favourite family Christmas tradition.

Competition starts Monday 28th November and ends 10am (WST) Thursday 1st December (so I can pop it in the mail the same day).  Open to Australian residents only (as I can't guarantee pre-Christmas delivery to overseas likers-sorry).  Because family traditions are special to the individual I'll leave it to random.org to choose 2 winners.

One of my Christmas traditions is every Christmas Eve, I'll wait until everyone is in bed, get all the presents out, pop on an old Christmas movie or Carols in the Domain and lovingly wrap each one. I crazily stay up until the wee hours and always make sure I take a photo of the tree beautifully lit with it's twinkly lights with the pressies underneath before they're attacked in the morning.

Good luck and happy sharing..I can't wait to read your entries xx

5 Things on My Christmas List

source

Clare from The HOME She Made has created a little tagging game where we share 5 Things on My Christmas List and I'm to tag 5 other pages/blogs...so here's mine

Candy Jars - these are my new thing to collect

Gorgeous new camera strap from Happy Snaps on madeit.com.au

This is super cute - another new fav thing to collect

 (oops this should come off my list as I already bought her..and her sister!!)

Love the front cover!

and finally, I'm pretty organised but new ideas are always welcome

I actually have a wish list folder on my computer..when I see something I like for either the home, myself or Miss 2 I pop the picture into the folder..when I need gift ideas or to spoil myself I go to the folders.

These items are all lovely but what I really want for Christmas is a happy family, to organise my time better during the day so I can be more active with Miss 2 (a post to come on that) and my health and that of my family.

Soooo 5 pages to tag..I'd love to see what others come up with

Erin from The Sunny Side Up

Karen from Cavania Australia

Bianca from A Little Delightful

Naomi from Seven Cherubs

(I'd love to see what a Mum of seven chooses)

Kate from Piece of Cake Parties and Celebrations

Sail boats, Sea spray, Seals and Sunburn!

Today we were lucky enough to be part of a flotilla of boats of all sizes and types to see the start of the next leg of the Clipper Around the World Race.  For more info on the race see http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com

We spent a few leisurely wild hours on my brother in laws ex fishing boat.  I'd like to say leisurely but I'm still swaying despite being on dry land for longer than we were out, I'm covered in bruises from all the rocking and sporting a gorgeous sunburnt forehead!  Oh and suffering the dreaded Mothers Guilt!!

You would think by now having been a parent 18 years (eeeeek) that I would remember everything we need or have to do....but no! It seems I missed a few spots on Miss 2's cheeks and didn't make sure her hat was on at all times, so she's a little pink and I feel sooo bad!

So the lesson of today is Slip, Slop, Slap ~ we're heading out tomorrow to buy some coloured sunscreen (I need to see what I've missed) and a hat with a draw string which I'm hoping Miss 2 will keep on her gorgeous little head! Esp as she's a little blonde haired blue eyed poppet.

But a great day was had by all...

Hi and welcome...

Welcome to my little blog.  In here I'll be sharing organising tips (I'm so not an organising queen but I do google a lot - ok so I'm the Google Queen) , some "ooh look what I found" moments, you'll see photos of things I love - my latest love is setting up my craft space. This will be my little creative outlet, my me time. 

I'm a Mum of two, a handsome 18 year old young man Kris who one day soon will join the Army but for now is experiencing life and a gorgeous cheeky 2 and a half year old girl Matilda who with a mop of blonde hair and blue eyes looks nothing like me!!

I really love planning and celebrating birthdays, holidays and I love Christmas!  

 

You won't find perfection here, just real life.  My photos are going to be far from perfect (blame the bad lighting not the photographer haha).  I'm not looking to be famous but hope to have a few readers along the way.  I'm not setting out to impress but to share.  There's a good chance my grammar is not going to be the best but I do promise to use spell check!


I hope you enjoy, share your thoughts and ideas and join me on this amazing journey...Because Everything Counts..