I'm Back, Really Back!

Howdy Peeps,

I'm back in real time for 2014. It's been a lovely holiday with the kids and an interesting time of self discovery for me and so 2014 will most likely take this blog into a slightly different direction.

You see I preset my posts towards the end of December, to coincide with Julian taking some time off work and the kids going on Summer holidays. My plan was to use my weeks away from the blog as a chance to get a pile of posts in draft for this year.

Guess what? It didn't happen! What did happen though was that I truly enjoyed my time with the kids. We went swimming at the beach, sweated during a week of over 40 (110) days and the nights dropped all the way down to around 30 (86), we played a million games, I nearly went broke shouting them frozen yoghurt, (no jokes, $50 yikes!) and played under the hose with Nana.

We finger painted, we played with play dough, and I read a million books and guess what? I loved it.

Max also explored mixing fashion trends with cycling, Madeleine did too but she preferred to be nude so err not blogging those.

Then I had a bit of an issue in my craft room (more on that in coming posts) which lead me to look at the other rooms I have done and I realised I hate them (except for the kids room) but I do love how my entry is coming up. So I spent hours every night a little time on Pinterest looking at what I had pinned and then in the home decor section pinning décor I really love, no matter how ridiculous and imaginary it seemed. Which made me realise what my "style" is and why I love the entry and not the rest of the place. (Entry completion will take place soon).

So why am I sharing this, well 2014 for me and therefore the blog, will be more about me discovering and attempting to have that style on a minuscule budget, at some point last year I lost my way on the DIY and ended up doing mostly crafts. This post, aptly titled "There Is Always Hope" from Maureen at It's all Connected, made me cry and was a bit of a kick in the butt I needed to get me back on track with the house,(read both parts) left me feeling very inspired about no budget decorating. It also left me feeling very grateful for what I have in the mean time.

It also made me realise that my projects need to have a purpose, I feel I wasted a lot of time in 2013 doing things I don't really care about. I also have been searching the net for free things which I hope to share with you guys because lets be honest, anyone spending time DIYing is probably on some kind of a budget even if that budget is different for everyone.

So 2014 will be about trying new things with and for the kids and trying to organise my most hated household tasks (think cooking dinner and grocery shopping) I'm looking forward to this year and whatever it brings.

Kids are now officially back to school, and as much as I enjoyed most of the time, I am very glad to send them back!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo