It’s a week since we (Mindful Parenting Magazine, Easy Peasy Kids and Leaf) launched the ]]> Making Mindful Moments work for us.

It’s a week since we (Mindful Parenting Magazine, Easy Peasy Kids and Leaf) launched the Mindful Moments Journal Project to the world.

I must say, I’ve been absolutely delighted with the response… so many people have already downloaded the eBook and we’ve had such wonderful feedback.

Originally, we intended to create Mindful Moments as a bit of a challenge – sort of like Fat Mum Slim’s Photo a Day challenge. But I soon had to admit my own efforts at these sorts of challenges were not particularly promising AND I really wanted to share this experience with my Munchkin (who is NOT the “project” type – unless it was his idea in the first place…). For my family, Mindful Moments needed to be more about the journey than the destination. (Of course, if you think a 28 Day or 31 Day Challenge would work well for your family, please feel free to do the project this way – we’d love to hear how you go!)

So in Week 1 this is what has happened…

1. I have started noticing and, where possible, recording my own Mindful Moments. I have shared some images on Instagram and popped a few status updates on my personal Facebook page – more as memory triggers than anything else. I have also jotted down a few in my notebook.
2. I have shared my Mindful Moments stories with my hubby most days, in our usual daily catchup chats.
3. As I tuck my Munchkin into bed each night, I have thanked him for the day we have spent together (as we’re still on school holidays) and mentioned my Mindful Moment if it involved him.
4. We have started discussing the meaning of the word “gratitude” and what it means to be grateful.

So far, we haven’t printed out any Thank You pages or stickers from the eBook, and he remains blissfully unaware of his own Mindful Moments. That will come…

During the week, I also finished reading Gretchen Rubin’s top-selling book “The Happiness Project”. Toward the end of the book, I was struck by a passage describing the difference between resolutions and goals – “You hit a goal, you keep a resolution”. A resolution is something you try to do every day, forever.

While I’m not a massive fan of the word “resolution”, this really resonated with me. It is not my goal to become grateful, or to teach my son to be grateful. It is my resolution to practise gratitude every day, and to share this experience with him. So there’s no rush… every day brings a new opportunity to recognise, reflect on and record a Mindful Moment.

Enjoy your Mindful Moments Journey! I’m sure looking forward to what mine will bring over the next few weeks, months, years

Sign up to receive your FREE eBook – Mindful Moments: Creating Happiness through Gratitude.

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It’s been a slow start to 2013. Slow is good. Days to explore, play, relax, read, just BE!

The last six ]]>

It’s been a slow start to 2013. Slow is good. Days to explore, play, relax, read, just BE!

The last six months of 2012 were challenging; not always in a good way. I ended the year exhausted – physically, mentally and emotionally. I wonder if it was because my Words of Wisdom last year (Wellness, Wealth and Connection) were all about striving…

In the middle of all this turmoil, there came an answer in the form of an opportunity – a gratitude project. Perhaps, in the midst of all that chaos, being grateful was just what I needed.

The project finally “hit the streets” this week as an eBook called Mindful Moments, in partnership with Mindful Parenting magazine and Easy Peasy Kids. It’s about co-creating a gratitude journal with our families – teaching our kids gratitude and calling on them to be our “training partners” in our own gratitude journey. It will be interesting to see how it goes in our family

Which leads me to my 2013 Word of Wisdom – Grateful.

The truth is, many of the challenges of 2012 have not gone away. Tough decisions have to be made. People close to me still need support. The clean up continues. Life goes on…

Yet how I feel about them affects my happiness. I can be grateful for the hard stuff. I’d like to be more grateful for the wonderful stuff. I want the Munchkin to build these skills too – to protect his unique sparkle, in a world full of cynicism and dissatisfaction.

Today we visited Werribee Zoo. As I watched the Munchkin play delightedly in the hippo water playground, I realised that just in that moment, there was a whole multitude of things to be grateful for… the sunshine, the bedtime stories we’ve shared about this park and its characters over the years, the freedom to be there with him instead of an office somewhere, the chance to observe that sheer essence of him – to experience pure love.

For those few hours, I was able to put my troubles behind me and just live my “amazing life”.

Today I am grateful.

Download your copy of Mindful Moments: A Gratitude Journal Project for Families.

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Getting outside – be it backyard, beach or bush – is a big part of being a kid. Being let ]]>

Getting outside – be it backyard, beach or bush – is a big part of being a kid. Being let loose to discover and explore the world around you is loads of fun AND it’s good for you!

Creating a nature journal offers an fun, hands-on way to record all the cool things you discover and learn about nature. You don’t have to write too much if you don’t want to. Draw diagrams, take photographs, do some research on the internet and print it out.

The main thing is the discovery. The world is pretty amazing… keeping a nature journal will help you understand why.

How to keep a nature journal

1. Ensure you have a good, sturdy journal or scrapbook to work with (e.g. the dirtgirlworld scrapbook from Leaf), some good craft glue that’s safe to use, plenty of craft materials and pencils, markers etc.

2. Go exploring. Look for things that interest you. Take notes in the field about what you see, feel, smell, hear (but no tasting unless you’re 100% sure it’s safe, OK!)

3. Collect. Gather leaves, flowers, seeds, cicada shells, seashells, rocks. Draw them or take photos – or if they’re small enough, paste them in your scrapbook. Notice the shapes, colours and textures. Think about why they’re like that… nature usually has a purpose for things, what has made them that way?

4. Ask questions. Research. Answer them by finding out more information from books or on the internet. Write or print out what you’ve learned.

5. If you need help from a grown up, ask for it! They’ll be only too please to help I’m sure… In fact, I think they’ll be excited to see you exploring nature and finding out more about it.

It is just as well that I never dreamed of being a photo-journalist – for yesterday, I would have failed!

The ]]>

It is just as well that I never dreamed of being a photo-journalist – for yesterday, I would have failed!

The most popular drinking spot for the local bird-life at My Place is “The Dish”. Magpies, kookaburras, wattle birds, rosellas and King Parrots have all been known to hang out (at least for a short while) at The Dish, which is strategically placed at the far edge of our front deck.

However, after a couple of days of warmer weather, yesterday The Dish was drunk dry. (I’m thinking evaporation may also have had something to do with it!)

A thirsty King Parrot dropped in not long after breakfast. Noticing her disappointment, Hubby grabbed a jug of water and very slowly and carefully edged his way toward The Dish. The parrot noticed him and edged slowly and carefully along the railing toward him. He held out the jug. She drank. And drank. And drank. Occasionally they made eye contact – like they were talking to each other. It was amazing to watch.

But did I grab the camera? No! I continued to read the story I was reading to the Munchkin at the time… despite the fact that he was completely ignoring me, totally mesmerised by the scene unfolding outside.

Eventually, I gave up on the book and headed out with the camera. Of course the parrot had gone. Hubby had filled The Dish. The guy (probably her partner) pictured above had shown up instead. A very poor replacement ­– rather like seeing file footage on the news.

But did I watch the whole scene in awe? Absolutely! And that is enough for me.

Do you have a feeder, water bowl or bird bath at your place? What birds like to visit it? Are they native birds or ones that have been introduced to our country? Do a little bird spotting and record which birds you see in your scrapbook or nature journal.

There is only one thing cuter (and harder to photograph) than tiny tadpoles, and that is the Munchkin going on ]]>

There is only one thing cuter (and harder to photograph) than tiny tadpoles, and that is the Munchkin going on about how cute tadpoles are. “They’re just sooooo cute!”, he raves several times a day.

Yes, My Place has become a taddie nursery. We adopted a single egg sac from our pond (strictly for observation purposes) and set up a taddie tank in the Munchkin’s bedroom. It’s his responsibility to turn on the pump each morning and feed them frozen lettuce. Good training for looking after chickens, I reckon. So far, I’m not liking the chooks’ chances. But we’re getting there.

Outside, in the top pond, the remaining results of some rather noisy Spring evenings are progressing a lot more slowly. The cold water really seems to slow down their development.

Anyway, meet Mum and Dad (and they call it froggie lo-o-o-ve!)

and their offspring…

Actually they had us worried at first, when the egg sacs all disappeared mysteriously for a week. Had we accidentally sucked our helpless babies into the filter? Had we poisoned them by topping up the pond from the hose? Had we not made the pond deep enough after all? No, seems our babies had just found a quiet place to sleep for a while.

Did you know they do that for the first week or so? Just like human babies… in theory.

Now our taddies are swimming all over the place and thoroughly enjoying their lettuce. I love hearing the Munchkin’s morning giggles about their antics. For the life of me though, I can’t get him to put a Tadpole page for his scrapbook together

Might have to do it myself.

In case you are wondering, they’re native Southern Brown Tree Frogs (Litoria ewingi)

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Do you have a pond or a lake nearby? See if there are any tadpoles there. Research the types of frogs that might be in your area. Some sites have audio recordings of their calls, which is a great way to identify them. Go back to visit the pond every few weeks and make a record of the tadpoles’ progress in your dirtgirlworld scrapbook or other journal. What happens to them? How long does it take them to change into frogs?

Following an exhilarating and exhausting couple of days at the recent ]]> There is something incredibly nurturing about digging in the dirt.

Following an exhilarating and exhausting couple of days at the recent Problogger Training Event, the promise of coming back down to earth – quite literally – was most welcome.

And at My Place, there is no shortage of dirt to dig. Meet “The Stumps”!

During our last incredibly wet Winter, we had a massive 30 metre stringybark gum fall down one night. It had always been on a precarious angle, so having it fall downhill, away from the house was no surprise. However, it also took out two of its neighbouring tree friends (almost as large), plus everything else in its way down hill. What a mess!

Fortunately, nobody was hurt and relatively little damage was done to property (although the pond below is now more a swamp!) Things could have been so much worse. It could have been any one of the myriad other trees on our property, which surely would have crushed our house and anyone in it – which we all were at the time. Talk about lucky!

Once our fabulous local SES crew had cleared the driveway, the lumberjacks had cut the trees into logs and my brother-in-law had worked his magic with a hand splitter, the question remained… what to do with the stumps – and the massive holes in the ground?

The solution – time to dig it!

Digging away amongst the tangle of roots has been an adventure in itself.

The discovery of huge worms, witchetty grubs and all manner of other critters has kept the Munchkin entertained for hours. The Stumps have been transformed into an archaeological dig of ancient burial grounds, a magical kingdom where a beautiful princess (i.e. me) carves a special chair for her soon-to-be husband, an impenetrable fortress, a rocket ship…

They have also provided me with hours of thinking and meditation time – as I dig and dig and dig.

And with that digging, a new realisation… While it is fun to venture out into the crazy world sometimes – into the energy, excitement and concrete jungle of the city – I am incredibly fortunate to live so totally surrounded by nature. Sometimes that even means coming face-to-face with one’s own mortality. As Richard Louv says in his book, “The Nature Principle” (which fittingly, I was reading on the train to the conference), “The pleasure in being alive is brought into sharper focus when you need to pay attention to staying alive”.

Being here, I experience what it is BE alive. That is a gift for which I will be eternally grateful.

I am looking forward to having The Stumps gone though; to creating a new pond for the birds to visit; to having an expanded garden area for our “garden party” setting; to having new pathways to venture into our story/fairy garden; to having order restored.

But in the meantime, we’ll just keep on digging!

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Do you like to dig in the dirt? What creatures have you discovered? Do you know why they live in the earth?

Create a “beneath the ground” page about them in your scrapbook.

Today held so much promise…

Hubby took a day’s leave so we could visit Scienceworks. We had been longing to see ]]>

Today held so much promise…

Hubby took a day’s leave so we could visit Scienceworks. We had been longing to see the Wallace and Gromit exhibition and go to the Planetarium for some time, and today was finally the day. It was a stunning Spring day – one of the first warm and sunny days we’ve had. It almost seemed a shame to be spending it inside, especially when there were so many projects on the go in our garden. Unfortunately, we ran into some major traffic jams and spent the vast majority of the day in the car – getting there, and then getting home. We found the exhibition disappointing (too much IP Australia advertising and not enough W&G for our liking), and missed out on getting tickets for our first choice of Planetarium show – although we greatly enjoyed seeing Tycho take a trip to the moon. Such a disappointment

Too exhausted to cook, I prepared a simple meal of cheese, crackers, dips and raw veggies for dinner, which we decided to eat on our front balcony. The sun had just set and the evening was pleasant, although rapidly cooling.

Looking out into the vast sky, we spotted two little bats darting all around, obviously on the hunt for tasty insect morsels. The Munchkin was delighted! We had often told him about seeing bats flying at dusk, but as it was always after his bedtime, had always missed out.

Suddenly, one flew over our heads. We’d never seen them that close before… Hubby pointed out the obvious, we used to have a tree canopy there and now that had gone.

After dinner, the Munchkin and I jumped onto Google to do a little research. I wanted to see if we could find out what kind of bats they were. To be honest, I still don’t know… They could be Gould’s Wattled Bats or Chocolate Wattled Bats, but I’d like to think they were these little cuties, the Little Forest Bats.

Image: D Whitford ©  Australian Museum 

I know a lot of people are scared of bats, but I’m not. I love bats. I think the Munchkin does now too.

Maybe today wasn’t so bad after all…

(No, there are no bats in the sunset shot. They’re way too quick for me to photograph!)

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It’s always good to find out more information about the critters that live near your place, so you can learn more about them, what they eat, their habits and what you can do to help protect them. Try looking on the internet or in a wildlife book that covers your area. Ask local experts (e.g. volunteers with conservation groups or park rangers) at community events. Include your findings in your scrapbook or journal.

When we first moved here, there were hardly any plants in the ]]> I can tell it’s Spring… the natives are flowering!

When we first moved here, there were hardly any plants in the back yard that weren’t weeds. Slowly we landscaped and planted Australian native plants – lots of them! Grevilleas, correas, dianellas, kangaroo paw, lomandras, banksias, hakeas, tea trees… the list goes on. Six years ago, I didn’t even know what a lomandra was – now we have hundreds of them! And the birds, bees, butterflies and frogs LOVE them

We’ve planted a large number of indigenous plants to help improve the biodiversity of the local area, but we’ve also planted things just because we like them. With all the Winter rain we’ve had, they’ve gone mad! A good pruning is probably in order…

My favourite is the boronia. Nothing can really match the smell of boronia as it wafts out on a warm Spring evening. I might have to get some more!

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Do you have lots of flowers at your place? Paste some photos or do some drawings of different flowers in your scrapbook or journal. You could even pick some and press them in a flower press. Are any of your flowers Australian native plants? Flowers from Australian natives are fun to look at, as they come in such unusual shapes! Take care, many Australian native plants are very prickly!

Yes, it’s a yabby – halfway ]]> The Nature Detectives (i.e. hubby and the Munchkin) made an interesting discovery on the weekend…

Yes, it’s a yabby – halfway up the mountain! Which only goes to show just how wet it’s been over Winter here.

We have no idea how it got here, although our neighbour assured us they can travel through ground water. He even showed the Munchkin a yabby hole on his own property, even further up the mountain! The Nature Detectives found him in the new foundations for our bottom stair landing, filled with water, so it’s hardly surprising.

They were keen to protect him from the beady eyes of nearby kookaburras, who would love a yabby for a afternoon snack, so released him under some grasses in the nearby drainage ditch, in the hope he would make his way down the hill to the creek at the bottom. Then again, after the little bit of research we’ve done about how yabbies survive all manner of climate conditions, I wonder whether we’ll see him again.

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Critters can come in all sorts of unexpected places… have you had any unusual “visitors” at your place? Record them in your scrapbook or journal.

Yep, that’s it – right at the ]]> Trying to grow veggies at My Place is an act of madness. Here’s why…

Yep, that’s it – right at the top of the hill! Under a gum tree… with a resident possum

However, flat ground is at a premium here, and that’s the only place it will fit. Last year, we hauled 2 cubic metres of compost up there (note: the distance down to the carport drop off point is the same again), so despite the lack of full sunlight, having to work under possum netting and a reluctance of a certain Munchkin to help carry water up the stairs (even with a shiny new watering can), I am persisting again this year.

Here’s our official BEFORE photo. Thanks for joining us for this special occasion, dirtgirl!

Last year’s veggie garden was a bit of a disaster. In the end, we harvested 2 cucumbers, 10 cherry tomatoes, about 30 snow peas (of which only 7 made it to the kitchen), 5 strawberries (none of which made it to the kitchen), 1 radish, a couple of lettuces, 1 tiny red cabbage, 0 zucchinis and 0 beans. We had a beautiful crop of beetroot, but only harvested about half of them before the ants got them. At least we’re still picking carrots. This is turning out to be an expensive venture! Time to take things a little more seriously.

I’ve taken the advice of Kate from Picklebums and planted out some bean and tomato seeds in newspaper pots.

I’ve bought the latest book from The Little Veggie Patch Co.

I’m going all greenie, and planting mostly heirloom and organic seeds this year. (Although I’m fully prepared to make a last minute dash to Bunnings to buy seedlings if they don’t come up!)

I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

The Munchkin has diligently written our proposed crops in his scrapbook – carrots, peas, beans, beetroot, cucumber, tomatoes, spinach. We’ll probably plant other things, but that was enough writing for one day!

Stay tuned for updates.

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What are you growing in your veggie garden this year? Make sure you take a “BEFORE” picture of your garden, and paste it in your garden journal, and then take photos every few weeks so you can see how your garden has grown. And most importantly, remember to take photos of your harvest before you eat it all!

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