Some changes for the better

It's been a long time, I know.

To be honest, I have been hating on myself for a long time. Too ashamed to even post about the slightest thing. So called "bad" eating, no exercise, due to some incredible exhaustion and a knee injury, sick kids, late nights working on orders and all around stress. I also just haven't had time.

Just one of the things I have been busy on - hosting my first Showcase!

But I wanted to just stop in this morning to say this: I have recently had a bit of a shift in my thinking when it comes to nutrition. And it is helping more than I can say when it comes to my attitudes about what I eat. To be fair it has only been a couple of weeks, but  I am already down 1.5kg, still not eating perfectly (though that is the point), and still not exercising, so the only way is up. (or, down in this case)

I will be back to elaborate, but for now, I have a sick-ish 3.5 year old and a sick 15 month old that need my attention, and they always come first.

Nice to see you again :)
Nikki

My lovey, huggy kiddies

Wow... it's been a few months!

Oops. I've been so caught up with the busyness of life that I have completely forgotten to post on here since January!!! I'm sorry.

I've been so busy on a wee project I like to call AmbiDexi. You can see AmbiDexi on my Facebook Page or on my other blog AmbiDexi.

Or, just take a look below and get in touch if you would like to arrange anything. There is jewellery, fairy wings and other accessories to come, and I am also working on some grown ups' jewellery as well.

My little star, Amber. Loves to dress up, which is helpful!!

So that has been me for the last couple of months, it is going pretty well, starting to get quite a few orders now. Hoping to build it up slowly to be something that I can do around the kids. Currently that means I have about 2 hours a night from when they go to bed, until my bed time that I can work on them, but as time goes on I will get more and more time!!

My baby girl is one now!!

Ok, so she turned 1 last Friday, her party was a week ago today. I'm just a little behind. Am determined to get back into blogging this year, but have so much on right now, it hasn't quite happened!!!

Anyway, Amber's Birthday Party (Teddy Bears Picnic) in pictures:

My new piggy bank toy!!

My first attempt at a Rainbow Cake, about to go into the oven

Lil miss cake face!!

One very tired baby at the end of her party. Managed to find a blue pebble on the ground and this is what happened...

A very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Little Miss Ray of Happiness is one year old this Friday!!

Hello, hello, it's me. Yes, I know, it's been awhile.

Oh yeah, I met Batman

There has been so much going on in our house lately that blogging got put to the side for a bit. But I am back now and will hopefully be a bit more regular with my posting again.

Christmas was great here, the kids got overly spoiled as always, Christmas lunch was at our place. So much easier than traipsing around seeing everyone seperately.

Loving my first Christmas!!

Recently I took on a challenge (with myself) of going to a Market Day and selling my tutus. This involves having to make a whole lot beforehand, as there is not a lot of point going to a market with nothing to sell!! I also have some jewellery to sell as well. Market is on 2 February so I am a busy girl!! Good thing I like to be busy.

We went on a holiday to Coromandel over New Years. Nowhere even close to relaxing really. Was great to get away and do something other than the normal daily grind of housework housework, groceries, more housework, but with a busy 3 year old and an almost walking almost 1 year old, it was a busy few days!!!

I have set up a group on Facebook for ladies looking to lose weight and wanting a support network to help keep them going. We are almost up to 40 members already, I have set it to secret, so no one can see who is a member or what we are talking about. If you would like to join, pop a comment below this post and I will add you. It's a great bunch of ladies, and we are only a week into our journey, so feel free to join us!

That's enough of an update for now, hope you all had a great Festive Season!!

Tonight, I ran (though my boobs and butt ran further)

All I can say is thank goodness for good sports bras!!

It wasn't very far, and it definitely wasn't fast. But I ran, for the first time in almost 2 years. 

We got the kids in bed at 8pm (working on a 7.30 bedtime for them) and was feeling a bit fidgety, so told hubby I was going for a wee walk. I couldn't be too long as it would be dark soon and there are some shady types around us.

It was very short,  but it involved going up the 2 steep hills around our place, and running for about 5 minutes continuously, mostly downhill, and then flat, but hey, I'm still proud I did it! I've done the same short walk many times, but I never attempted running. Made me feel like I will be able to keep going and run further. 

Yay for feeling positive!!

My big walk up The Mount today

It's been about 4 years or more since I last walked up Mount Maunganui, and a friend mentioned some time back that it had been 15 years since she last walked up. We decided that we needed to fix that, so set a date to head on up.

After a few false starts, what with very little walking being done lately, tummy bugs in both families and a neck injury on my part, we finally got to do our walk today!

It was with great dread that we drove to The Mount, both joking about dying, leaving our funeral instructions with someone etc. We were also very excited about the Copenhagen Cone's we were going to treat ourselves to when we got back to the bottom.

It went so much better than either of us expected, neither of us died and we even felt energetic enough to skip/jump occasionally on the way back down.

Here is our journey in pictures:

Clean Eating - Chocolate Peanut Butter Icecream

Recipe and picture from The Gracious Pantry

Clean Eating Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream
(Makes 2 servings)

Ingredients
2 cups frozen bananas, thawed on the countertop for about 10 minutes
2 tbsp. peanut butter (more if you want)
1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (more if you want)

Directions

Step 1 – Allow the bananas to sit out on the counter for about 10 minutes so they just begin to thaw (just barely).

Step 2 – Put the bananas through the Yonana’s machine (or in a processor with a small splash of milk and blend till smooth).

Step 3 – Stir in the peanut butter and cocoa powder. Mix well and serve.

Eat and Enjoy!

Nutritional Content
1 serving = 1/2 the recipe

Calories: 230
Total Fat: 9 gm
Saturated Fats: 2 gm
Trans Fats: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 78 mg
Carbohydrates: 39 gm
Dietary fiber: 5 gm
Sugars: 19 gm
Protein: 5 gm
Estimated Glycemic Load: 13

Nutritional Information estimated at Nutritiondata.com. Data may not be accurate.