Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans...

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

Damn straight it is!

Shit's been going down the last couple of weeks, and when I say that I actually mean that good stuff be happening.

Do you ever find that just when you start to lose hope and despair that things are really going to get tough, but you decide to just let it go and not worry about it, because worrying won't change anything, that those things then somehow have a way of working out?

Do you think I could have made the above sentence any longer?

Punky was a bit worried after she threw a box of Jatz at her Aunty, not realising they were already open. You could tell she wasn't sure how to react. But we all had a laugh and it worked out in the end. Punky got an entire box of Jatz dedicated to her at any rate. Her own special box of floor buicuits!

Things working out has kinda been the theme of this house lately and I am lovin' it! Of course the fact that I am daring to write this post does in fact mean that the proverbial will most likely hit the fan come tomorrow, but hey, I'll take the chance. I'm embracing the idea that there is no use crying over spilt milk or worrying about what tomorrow might bring. As I said, worrying doesn't change anything, and tears don't either!

The other week I was driving over to my good mate Kel's house (THE Kelly, you know, the kick-arse awesome blogger over at Handmade Tears and Triumphs) to drop off some True Blood DVDs. Yes, she is lame and was totally not on the bandwagon that is True Blood love, but never fear she has been educated!

Anyway, as I was driving I was doing some thinking, as you do, about the fact that I wouldn't be able to afford to order anymore Lite n Easy. It's been going awesome in case you were wondering, and at that stage I'd love almost 6kgs in 6 weeks (I'm now up to 7kgs lost and only 800g away from reaching my first goal of pre-Zee weight!). But that stuffs not cheap, and when you're living on one income you sometimes have to make sacrifices, and doing Lite n Easy was going to be one of them.

So I was thinking how much it sucked, and thinking about what sorts of things I needed to do in order to ensure that I continued to eat healthy and lose weight without the help of Lite n Easy. When I got to Kel's I checked my phone for texts and there was one from Mum. She was telling me that she wanted to shout me a week of LnE meals because she knows how hard it can be to lose weight, and that she wanted to see me continue to do well in my weight-loss endeavour. She told me she still had some of the money Grandpa left to her and she would really like to do this for me.

Seriously, do I not have the BEST mother in the whole wide world! (I'll cut you if you don't agree so just nod and smile!)

So there was the first awesome thing that fell in to place.

The next day, I went online to do some banking and pay some bills and discovered a whole bunch of money in my account. Turns out my request to receive the minimum Family Tax Benefit payment fortnightly had been approved, and to top it off they had back-payed me for the financial year to date!

It's not a lot of money, but it's enough to allow me a few extra weeks on LnE, and the fortnightly payments will help on the weeks when there are more bills or payments due than usual (why does everything always fall due at the same time I ask! Bad planning financial people, bad planning!).

So that's the first awesome sauce stuff.

Next up we have the fact that I have started an online Tafe course. I've enrolled in this course through Open Colleges, Fundamentals of Design. It's for people who want to study Graphic Design at a more advanced level but don't have the practical skills or portfolio to get in to the Diploma course. I've got 6 months to complete it, and once I have I can then gain automatic entry to the Diploma of Graphic Design, or credit towards Certificate IV in Design.

The Cert IV in Design is the course I really wanna do as it specialises in Digital Design. It's basically Graphic Design but with an emphasis on Web Design and digital publishing. I've been wanting to do it for a while but although I have a basic understanding of design, and have been doing graphic design at work, I felt I needed a bit more knowledge under my belt first. That's why the Fundamentals course is a perfect first step.

This could be me one day, I tell ya. Except not so leathery. Or extinct!

There are two reasons for finally enrolling in Tafe. Number one, is that these courses would be a real help to the work I do when I am not on maternity leave. And number two, is with some qualifications and more specialised knowledge, I will be on my way to be able to work freelance and from home, something that I've always wanted to be able to do, more so now that I have two kiddies to consider.

I've already powered through the first part of the first module and am working on my progress challenge (like an assessment of sorts, it allows you to demonstrate to your teachers that you are understanding what you're reading and learning), a visual representation of the history of graphic design. It's as fascinating as I always thought it would be and I'm really looking forward to learning more.

What it meas though is I am seriously gonna have to get good at managing my time and not faffing about on Faccebook and Pinterest when I should be working on the blog or Tafe stuff. I have nap times and evenings for study and blogging and I am gonna have to use those wisely. Eeek!

Let's just say that it's a very good thing that I'm not a super neat-freak and don't mind having piles of clean washing sitting on the lounge, as I have a feeling those piles might be staying in place for a little while longer in the coming days, weeks and months!

You do if she's been wanting one since the beginning of time!

The final awesome thing is that as you read this, my bathroom is being demolished! That's right, our long-awaited bathroom reno is finally starting! You have no idea how freaking excited I am about this. Just the thought of being able to bathe the girls in the bath, rather than having to try and shower them all the time, is blowing my mind!

We have been talking about getting the bathroom done ever since we moved in 6 and a half years ago and it's finally happening! The bathroom gods smiled on us (along with Dave's Grandmother and her early bequeath of inheritance!) and the show is well and truly on the road!

I can not wait to put the girls to bed and take a nice, long, hot bath once it's all done!

So that's what's been happening in my world the last few weeks, I know you've all been dying to know *insert sarcasm font here*. I promise there will be an update on my whole Operation Lose Baby Weight progress and experience with Lite n Easy. Before the end of the month. Maybe.

So what's been happening in your neck of the woods? Any tips on surviving a bathroom reno and having to beg showers from friends and family? Any advice for time management when it comes to kids and studying? Lay it on me!

Linking up this demolition Tuesday with Jess for IBOT. As usual!
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