Author Archives: paulainauckland

Book Review: Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine

Posted in books, grateful, growing, me by
  • Subtitle: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life
  • Publisher: Nelson Books
  • Subject: 248.843 – women, conduct of life, stress + time management
  • Recommended by: library find
  • Author blog/website: www.moneysavingmom.com/

Moments for me: Comparison is the thief of Joy.

Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are – Marianne Williamson.

While a lot of the financial tips are United States-centric there’s more to be found in this book from the main blogger at www.moneysavingmom.com

wpid-20150913_080916.jpgThese are the things I took from this book. Yours will be utterly personal to you (as it’s that sort of book) but hopefully you’ll be encouraged to pick this title up from your local library. It’s available on most e formats too.

  • Changing attitudes – it’s OK to let routines go when I need to bc I can always impose them later
  • Give, give give – time effort or money, the recipient will be blessed.
  • Involve others in running the home
  • Budget to bring down your big monthly household spends
  • Plan to use my wardrobe (this is working out well, I’ve given away 4 tops already)
  • Get up 30 min earlier to get peace, time to myself, complete my devotional without interruption

On Sunday Si & I talked about the visa (which is linked to his account so I can’t see the balances). We agreed to take this more seriously and a/p $100 a week to it regardless of the balance (our bank pays interest on positive balances). Load lifted by such a simple action!

Blurb: Calling the super busy, the stressed out, the overtired.

You know you’re made for a more fulfilling life. With this book, you’ll know where to start.

You wake up tired. Your to-do list is too long. The commitments—and the laundry—are piling up, but your energy keeps dwindling. You feel like you’re simply making it through the days, not living or enjoying any part of them.

In Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, you’ll find both practical ideas and big-picture perspective that will inspire you to live life on purpose. As a wife, mother of three, and founder of the wildly successful blog MoneySavingMom.com, Crystal Paine has walked the road from barely surviving to living with intention. With the warmth and candor of a dear friend, she shares what she’s learned along the way, helping you:

  • feel healthier and more energetic by setting priorities and boundaries
  • eliminate stress with savvy management of your time, money, and home
  • get more done by setting realistic goals and embracing discipline
  • rediscover your passions—and the confidence to pursue them

Packed with straightforward solutions you’ll use today and inspirational stories you’ll remember for years, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode is a must for any woman who’s ever longed for the freedom to enjoy life, not just survive it.

High 5 4 Friday!

Posted in cross stitch, family, grateful, High Five For Friday, me by

Hello! I hope everyone reading has had some great moments this week!
As it’s Thanksgiving period for my State-side friends, I thought this month’s High 5’s would be things I’m grateful for.

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COURAGEOUS great movie, better book. Reminds me of what’s important, being a role model to my family.
STITCHING TIME I’m grateful that my family supports this addiction and understands is my creative outlet. I’m grateful too for the relationships gained and sometimes lessons learnt.
BEING CHILDISH this is me, and Monty, the Westfield kids mascot. Sarah & I chased him thru part off St Lukes mall. Grateful we took the time to embrace our inner child!
PODCAST ADDICTION an android app that links to thousands of RSS or iTunes feeds so you can have podcasts on your phone. So handy, I’m grateful that it helps me thru the mundane stuff like weeding or washing dishes.
And lastly I’m grateful for the happy moments I can give my children. I used my cleaning and sewing skills to breathe new life into Tiggr. Mase was so pleased to get him back.

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WIP Wednesday & a Smalls Update

Posted in cross stitch, round robin by

Regular people will know that I picked up another set of RR this month, so it’s all about the Smalls.

Gingerbread House

Gingerbread House

There’s Andie’s piece, a Shannon Wasilieff Gingerbread House (Andie is beading later on) then progress on Keely’s Christmas Angels.

Keely's piece is nearly done!

Keely’s piece is nearly done!

I had a goal last night to get as much of the actual stitching done as possible, so that I could be back stitching by the weekend and look! I’ll be starting on that tonight. I watched From the Rough, which was a based-on-a-true-story-sporting-chaff-becomes-winners movie but it was perfectly done, much like Remember the Titans. And it had Michael Clarke Duncan in it! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1704586/ And I do like Taraji Henson too. She plays Joss Carter in Person of Interest, another smart show.

Steptember Update

Posted in steptember 2015 by

steptemberI couldn’t get inspired this week, even tho it was the final week. The loose ends from the weekend kept haunting me – and they aren’t even my loose ends!

  • Tuesday – 11875 steps or 6.7k
  • Wednesday – 8765 steps or 4.8k
  • Thursday – 13848 steps or 7.5k
  • Friday – 9772 steps or 5.3K
  • Saturday – 8361 steps or 4k
  • Sunday – 9089 steps or 4.1k
  • Monday – 11594 steps or 6.1k
  • Tuesday – 13440 steps or 7.4k

As a group we raised $170 of our $200 target (HERE) , and personally I walked 303,771 steps or 192.4k. That meant I averaged over 10k steps a day.

Next challenge is to keep up the daily walks!

WIPocalypse, October Goals & Contest Reminder

Posted in cross stitch, round robin, WIPocalypse by

Crap – this is a lot for one post!

20150928_205449This full moon is beautiful! Not a “blood moon” here in the Southern Hemisphere, but as Auckland skies were clearing, I got some good shots even with my Galaxy S3 phone.

With personal things there was no real WIPocalypse check-in last month, so here’s a couple of updates.

August 29 – Topic:  Pick one of the WIP pieces you’ve stitched on this month, and tell us about your stitching journey with the piece.

IMG_20150929_080302I’ve stitched on quite a few things this past month. I finished Mediterranean Mermaid, and worked on two round robins from a crashed & burned RR – Andrea’s gingerbread house and Keely’s Christmas angel. Andie in turn fixed my boo-boo in the Toy Story birth sampler! I have three more to work on this month as well as finishing Keely’s piece, which I hope to do this week, as I have Thursday/Friday off. Daylight savings has also kicked in which means more light at night and BBQs – Simon is cooking more which takes a load off.

20150928_215907Of my own pieces, I worked on Persephone. With the frustrations involved in the RR I needed to do something that was MINE, and I’ve gone past where I wanted to get too – the back wall paper is completed, and last night her pomegranate/leaves/stem was done. I did make a small mistake in one leaf, and decided to work around it. I don’t think anyone else will be able to tell where I went wrong. She’s looking as rustic as I wanted to, with the slightly coarse fabric – I don’t think it’s what it was labelled as! – and will be a good piece to take into the next year.

Yes, I’m thinking of 2016 already! I joined the FB “16 in 16” group, which is not about new starts but about finishing the WIPs that I do have. Currently this is very small – my over-one Arezzo, Persephone, a freebie Angel, the Toy Story piece that is with Andie, the TW Tapestry Cat and TW Noah’s Ark.

I think I’ve just given myself grace to make a few new starts 🙂

September 28 – Topic:  Where do you buy most of your stitching supplies?

I get most of mine through either Ribbon Rose in Ellerslie (the other side of Auckland, so a minimum 40 min travel time one way), through Elizabeth at http://www.stitchnz.co.nz, running to the DMC stand at the local Spotlight and I have tried Amanda’s Stitching Menagerie. I’m reasonably loyal & go where the service is. I did buy some kitted up stash recently so don’t really have a need to shop right now. Don’t worry, I’m perfectly well and I’m sure I’ll invent something!

So while I “adult” for a little bit, the October goals are:

  • Print out the last 10 days before Christmas & journal to complete my December Daily for 2014
  • Complete my portion on Keely’s RR (Christmas Angels) – this is the one that Z didn’t even open L
  • Complete my portion on Lisa’s RR (Tattie Teddy)
  • Complete my portion on April’s RR (Mira – my pick of one that speaks to me, & I’m thinking a reverse Provence Roses will fit well)
  • Complete my portion on Kathryn’s RR (flower LOVE letters)
  • And if all that’s done, make a start to Raven Queen

Also please don’t forget to enter my blog giveaway!  Check it out HERE and make a comment – entries are open until next WIPocalypse!

You Can Quote Me

Posted in DIY home, family, grateful, House, house - gardens, me, OLW, You Can Quote ME by

YCQM is a semi – regular post based on my One Little Word for 2015, Serenity.

It’s school holidays (yay, said no working parent ever). I’ve taken some time off this week and next (Thursday’s wardrobe choice is your first clue) and there are a number of things I want to achieve.

So, list. I love checking things off. And most of these will take 30 min or less. That’s a lot of achievement buzz and I’ll still have a lot of playtime.

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Also achieved: merit team manager. Hoping this opens more doors in 2016.

High 5 4 Friday!

Posted in books, cross stitch, DIY home, family, grateful, growing, High Five For Friday, me by

LISTENING: I got a couple of recs from Caroline TeSelle this week, so I’ll be downloading podcasts from Tsh Oxenreider & Annie F Downs on Sunday when I refresh my iPod. Caroline blogs HERE

rock redemption coverREADING: Not really reading this week. It’s been full on at work and home so my nightly wind-down read is anything that doesn’t involve thinking. However the new ARC from Nalini Singh has downloaded to my account so there goes housework on Sunday!

persephone after 2 TV episodes and the AB's v Namibia

persephone after 2 TV episodes and the AB’s v Namibia

CRAFTING:  Working away on Persephone this week – more progress since Wednesday.

ANTICIPATING: new herbs as I plant more seeds. Summer salads are best from your own garden.

CELEBRATING: Not only did the rep team win game two, we clinched the series. I’ve made some new contacts and one I would consider a good friend.

Also – while I missed the club prize giving the Under 6’s took out a club award for Team Dedication (yay! Such a reflection on the awesome attitudes) MASON won the Sportsmanship award for the team. That’s now all three kids winning what I consider to be the highest award. And doesn’t he look so cute! This is his version of the Rugby World Cup, as made in class yesterday…

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Don’t forget to enter my giveaway! I’d love to have so many comments that I would need to open up to more winners 🙂

https://sewscrapmuse.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/wowzers-be-in-to-win/

Wowzers! Be in to win!

Posted in cross stitch, embroidery, freebies, friends, grateful, High Five For Friday, me, Smalls SAL, WIPocalypse by

UPDATE 29/10/15: This competition is now closed.

When I started blogging I didn’t think that anyone other than family would notice. I’ve been blessed by your feedback and comments, and now I’d like to pay it on!

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The prizes are:
A Lizzie*Kate snippet, Cross Stitcher in Residence plus goodies
OR another snippet,  Stitching Forever plus goodies
OR if you follow me because I read & you read, I’ll custom make you a book mark. It could be the design pictured here, or something else that depicts you or what you read (let’s keep it pg tho!).

So to enter, you need to be a blog follower and comment below with “snippet” or “bookmark”. If you comment with bookmark, let me know what genres/authors interest you, or a cross stitch designer or theme of you prefer. I’ll post wherever so this contest is open internationally.

Three winners will be announced on October 27th, two WIPocalypses away from today.

Good luck!

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, family, grateful, me, Mirabilia, round robin by

Today’s WIP are brought to you with a bit of bitterness on my tongue. I won’t go into this too much, as I am not out here for sympathy, but I am choosing to walk away (click away?) from a FB group. I will miss some aspects of the community but it’s healthier for me (& less drama for others) if I just leave. So that’s what I’ve done. This way I can forgive & then forget without the constant reminder that someone let me down then broke my trust in them.

Keely's choice; Angels from XS Crazy 2012

Keely’s choice; Angels from XS Crazy 2012

Anyways, let’s get onto the good stuff. This is where I left Keely’s piece at last week. Since then I have completed most of the Angel’s skirt, her wings (blah to DMC metallic) and some of the presents that are on the bottom left. I forgot to take a more up-to-date shot (even on Instagram) so next week’s will look much more complete. I won’t be posting it this week tho, which gives Kathryn a bit more breathing space.

I’m waiting on the international Mira RR to get to me still but I had to get back into something that was my own for a little bit.

progress as at 9th Sept

progress as at 9th Sept

The rugby world cup has started and so I pulled out Persephone while the AB’s played Argentina (very) early Monday morning. I got two cranes done then, and a half plus the ribbon done while supervising homework later than day. I love working with the silks of the Waterlillies – this is the first piece I’ve used them in, as they are quite expensive down here and previously I’ve always subbed them with the DMC. I’ve now got the frame around the top done so it will be all about filling in this last section of “wallpaper” this week. I can’t wait to start back-stitching to define her face but that beading should wait until the end. It’s heavy already given that I stitch “in hand” & I don’t think I should add to that weight yet!

Let’s see if that thought lasts until Christmas, hmm?!

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progress as at 22nd Sept

Steptember Update

Posted in steptember 2015 by

Sarah & I are into the final week of Steptember. Neither of us hit the goal consistently this week.

  • Tuesday – 10005 steps or 5.5k
  • Wednesday – 15693 steps or 8.9k (I went for two walks)
  • Thursday – 11474 steps or 6.3k
  • Friday – 6920 steps or 3.3K
  • Saturday – 8332 steps or 4k
  • Sunday – 7005 steps or 3.3k
  • Monday – 9677 steps or 5.3k

So far, I’ve walked 207390 steps or 131.4k. I am now noticing a little shape change which is incentive to continue this on into the next month 🙂

As a team, we’re nearly at that magic $200 mark. Just a little more to go! http://bit.ly/1JuNI9k