Speechless

Warning! This is not a joke. I should probably provide the disclaimer that I mean speechless for me though. This may or may not be the same thing as speechless for a normal person ;)

I have been all worded out. After a week of holidays I think I have talked myself out. Or maybe my brain is on strike knowing it has to go back to work tomorrow? And uni next week!

We are on the look for inspirational blogs though. So if you know of one for making/saving money. Or one on someone's life-changing journey (literally or metaphorically). Or just a lovely happy blog please let us know! And if you are someone who reads our blog and who has yet to say hi or follow us. Please feel free to do so.

Have a wonderful week people!

Cath xx

Phew ... Just made it!

Hello dear followers. Just when you thought I might have forgotten it was Monday ... here I am with another week's musing! I admit I almost forgot! Not to post, but actually almost forgot it was Monday. I am on holidays (and yes I am very excited about it!) and we all know how easy it is to forget about the date/time/day when you are holidays. Before you get too jealous, it is most definitely a 'staycation'. My new favourite word of the moment!

So I am at home this week. Planning on some excursions with my little ducklings. Planning some serious cleaning and re-organising. Both physical cleaning and sorting but also of the more paper based side as I look at my finances and at some "challenges" I am setting myself for the next year or so. I have been a Girl Guide for too long I think! I have worked out I do thrive on setting challenges that can be "mapped" and "followed". Why I didn't start blogging about things years ago I don't know! Just think of all I could have achieved. I am sure all I could have accomplished twice as much if I had been keeping some sort of record. Hmmm ... definitely something for me to think about! Just the little we have started with our Two Mummy Ducking has inspired me to look at so many other areas of my life!

Also planned for later in this week is a TMD plus duckling sleepover. So expect a post about this one. And also our long awaited and often mentioned post about our first official adventure.

Until next Monday ...

Cath xx

Getting down to basics

I am in a bit of an organise-my-life type phase at the moment. I do this periodically. I know I go a bit over the top, but when I settle down a bit I am always in a better position then I was when I started even if I don't stick to all my good intentions. I am not going to bore you all with details here. If you are interested I am sure I will post on my blog at some point about it. (I haven't yet, so please don't check! Well, I would love you to check my blog of course but not for this reason. Right, now that is "clear" ...).

I am looking at my fitness, my general health, my house, my plans (long term and short term), my dreams, my career, my studies, my finances. These are all deliberately "mine". Obviously my girls feature in them all but at the end of the day they are my decisions. I am the mum and it is my job to look after them! And take responsibility for the way our lives are going. And to bring them up so that one day they can do the same.

For the purposes of our Two Mummy Ducking, obviously at this point the setting financial goals are important! I have been inspired by what we are doing here to work out ways of better managing my money in my real life too! So now we (and this we is me and Lela) are on the search for any good blogs about how to manage/make/save money better. If you have any suggestions please let us know. We would love to hear from you :)

So that is my musing for this Monday. I feel I was less vague this week ;) ... until next time!

Cath xx

Tuesday Tally Up

Alrighty we have missed a few weeks....

Previous balance

$112.68

Plus

Direct deposits $80

Interest 40c!!

New Balance $193.08!

Flash!!

Don't you hate it when you have a sudden random thought and then it is gone? I had the best idea for my "Monday Musing" post this week, but I was at work and too busy to even start a post. Now I can't remember what it was. It could have been brilliant! In fact, I am sure it was, but now we will never know.

So instead I am going to share my favourite quote of the moment:

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort".

This just makes me laugh! I like to think I am a positive person, most of the time. And while it isn't actually my intention to annoy people with it, I would rather annoy people with non-stop positivity then non-stop complaining.

[**disclaimer** Acquired from a facebook friend who I am sure got it from somewhere else, so please take this as my acknowledgment that it not my original thought. I am not sure why I felt the urge to say this when I am not sure I have any other time. Argh. Too much thinking for this time of night].

That is my random waffle over for another week. Unless I remember what my original thought was! Maybe there will be a "Waffling Wednesday" as well as a "Monday Musing". (Please note, this a joke! I would not subject you to that! I have another blog for those who want to read my waffle on a regular basis).

Until next time peoples. Stay happy .... you never know who is falling in love with your smile ... or being annoyed by your positive attitude ;)

Motivation ...

... or lack of. It happens. Sometimes it is high. Sometimes it is not. As long as it all happens, it is all good. Right?! For our three loyal followers, please do not be disheartened if you do not hear from us in a while. We are still here!

I have a magnet that I tried very hard to take a photo of for this blog. It didn't want to come out and play but it says "Life is what happens when you are busy making plans". As you know from my love of quotes, you have to take what is written on fridge magnets seriously. And we are busy enjoying and living our lives as well as making plans! We have a couple of posts in draft format so stay tuned for those and if you want to know what is happening in the rest of our lives check out Lela at It's All Good ... and Catherine at Mummies Are People Too!.

Until next time :)

Cath xx

Monday Musing .... on Tuesday ;)

I have pretty much worked out 'Monday Musing' is just an excuse for me (or Lela if she is inspired to as well) to write a post about whatever comes into my head. Consider this your warning! This post is waffley and really has no point :)

Today I don't have any inspirational quote. Nothing has sprung to mind and plus you might be sick of me philosophising by now! Today I am musing on my muse. I fell in love with history when I was about 6 or 7 and I took out a book from my school library on children in 'olden days'. It really was the olden days late nineteenth history I think from memory. Then a children's book followed on English history. The story I remember was of one of the boy kings and a whipping boy for when he got into trouble! (I can't remember which king it was now.) Followed by the story of the princes smothered in the tower.

A few years later, my mum gave me some Jean Plaidy books to read. I must have been about 10? Maybe even younger. I was hooked. After high school, I went on to study history at university (specialising in European and Australian history) and completed my Honours thesis on a topic about late nineteenth century England.

The point of this waffle isn't to point out how much I know. If anything it is me reflecting on how little I know. I am only too aware of how little I have really studied. I grew up reading not only a Enid Blyton, but a lot of other children's books from around that era. Many years of reading, fiction and non-fiction, has given me a mental image of what it is like. So, for those of you who bothered about reading my musing to the end, the question is, will I ever be ready for the shock of the reality? And is it really weird I have spent so much time studying places I have never been?

Cath xx

Inspiration comes from all sorts of places

This weeks Friday fantasy has received a little bit of inspiration from a few different places!

First just the reminder: Lela is italics, and responds to Catherine in bold italics. Catherine is non-italics and responds to Lela in bold non-italics.

And the inspiration hasn't just been from the movies but also from blogland.

Portobello Lane is on my wish list now. Courtesy of 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' and blogger 'Did you say six?'(who co-incidentally became our third follower and first commenter!). You can check out the post that inspired me here.

Ooooo love this movie so much.

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Buckingham Palace. Need I say more! Can't go to London unless we schedule in a visit with the queen (or her home at least).

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Boadicea Statue. My 4th born, if he had been a girl would have been named Boadicea. I think it is a beautiful name, and although the story of Boadicea has brutal parts, she was one hell of a woman. I totally agree it is a fascinating story. She is someone I always have every intention of reading more about, but it never seems to quite get around to happening. This statue can be found in Westminister, London

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And while we are looking at statues of what my would have been daughter would have been named after, we might as well go look at something my 4th born was named after (sort of). My son was named after Cadel Evans, the cyclist, because Tour De France was on around the time of his birth a wonderful early King in Welsh history and also another Cadell, Saint Cadell. Of course.

Well I found out about the King after he was born, and I just found out about the saint while I was searching for a pic for this blog post........ Anyway 'ol King Cadell goes way back, and a visit to a castle from around his time (from what I understand it wasn't HIS castle, but it is in the same area) would be kind of cool.

Oh the idea of Saint Cadel(l) makes me laugh soooo much! (In a very loving type way of course!). Ooh .. maybe this is how he has survived so many Stuntman adventures?

While we are on the topic of castles ... we have to stay in one! Just one night. At some point we need to discuss critera for said-castle stay, but I think that will be a whole post in itself!

Oooo definitely. A big stone one.

Image of parade celebrating Shakespeare birthday!

And of course the other place we need to visit is Stratford-upon-Avon for the love of all things Shakespeare (and yes for those of you who have been following we do have a post coming about our recent TMD adventures).

Definately. We can even visit the schoolhouse where his teacher sat!

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And maybe his grave. I just found out there is a cursed attached!

I like graves, I didn't even realise his grave was around!

And maybe even the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London?

So a few more places on our wish list ...

Our first TMD Adventure (Where TMD = Two Mummy Ducks but for lazy people)

So ... in case you missed my earlier post it is ;) here, but we are pleased to announce (drum roll) we have officially been on our first official TMD excursion!

(Just for clarity, Lela is italics, and responds to Catherine in bold italics. Catherine is non-italics and responds to Lela in bold non-italics)

Firstly I need to say that we made an effort to dress the part. I attempted to wear a head band fascinantor type thing. I love hats and hair things and scarves and stuff but never quite feel I have the knack of wearing them. For some reason I feel TMD adventures will give me the confidence I need. Oooo and I wore make up!

Second drama was that of parking. Let me first say that as a general rule we are very law abiding citizens. Really. Plus it was dark and cold and rainy and we were on a very tight time schedule. Not because we were running late! But because we have children. Trust me. But parking in the motorcycle bay, I think was justified. It was raining and wet, no one was going to ride in that weather.

Performed by three actors, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) was a hoot! It was really funny, had local references (a reference to the training centre in my home town, negative implications, but funny none the less) and was fast paced.

The actors looked like they were genuinely having fun, not that the actors wouldn't be haven't fun, but that fun camaraderie was contagious and inclusive for the audience.

So basically a good time was had by all and we are already looking forward to our next TMD adventure! If you have any ideas of things you think we could or should do ... please let us know!

It is the little things

Lela posted a few weeks ago about using 5c coins and change jars for saving. Suddenly 5c and 10c and 20c have a whole new meaning! I am now picking up random coins, putting them in the jar before the girls see them (mean mummy I know!) and not using change when I buy things to round to the nearest whole dollar. You know what I mean (eg when something costs $6.20 and you give them $10.20 so you don't end up with a whole heap of 'little' coins). Now I want those coins for my jar, I don't mind getting more of them!

$112 (and something cents see the Tally up Tuesday post below) may not seem like a lot in the overall scheme of things. But it is! Well, it is a lot out of my weekly budget at least to put it practically, and for us Two Mummy Ducks it really means we have begun! In case anyone is doing the sums towards our initial goal of $20,000 and our target of 2020 we do realise that we will need to re-assess our contributions at some point but at the moment it is a great start!

Can I share a thought with you today? I know it isn't Monday! But it made me think and apparently at the moment for me to think is to blog, and this felt like the blog to post it on!

At the train station there is this lady who collects money for the Salvation Army on a regular basis. Not every day, but at least once a week. She is fairly elderly (obviously I don't know exactly how old) and has been collecting there in all weather for as long as I can remember. At least 15 years I would say if not more. I work on the theory that if she can stand there (and today was freezing) the least I can do is give her something. I didn't have a gold coin today, so she got my silver change. It only came to about 90c I think (remember I have been putting it all in my change jar at home) so it wasn't a lot. I felt bad it was so little. But when I thought about it I realised that for me that silver change is now part of a dream and I have a new appreciation for how much it is worth. Today that dream isn't mine. Today I am hoping that those few coins will make a difference in someone's life. My dream with my change jar is for a luxury and this is ok! But I know my little thing today will be part of a big thing for someone else's dream of survival. The little thing was given with love and prayers and hope.

And in case you are wondering how you make a difference, we are so very, very excited about our two followers! (Hello!) And hello to anyone else out there who is reading but not "following" (yet?!). The little thing of you sharing our journey with us means a lot!

Have a fabulous day!!!

Cath xxx

Tuesday Tally Up

Previous Balance: $59.23

ADD

Lela Shrap jar: $6.65

Catherine Shrap jar: $7.00

Ebay Sellings: $9.80

Direct Deposits:$30

New Balance!!!: $112.68

We have reached the hundreds!

Pause for a moment

Today's musing was stolen from the fabulous Lela's facebook album. I have no idea where she got it from, but I love it!

Life is wonderful! Even when it seems to suck. Our plan for our travels is a long term goal, but we don't want to lose sight of the things that make everyday amazing. As we said on Friday, we are having fun imagining and planning, but we are also savouring every moment.

Everyone is on a journey to somewhere. Even if you don't know where somewhere is yet! Don't forget to stop and think about today :)

Now I have said that .... I am sooooo excited about our excursion tomorrow night! I also discovered what I think is the perfect place for our second Mummy Duck outing over the weekend. Lela doesn't know what it is yet though. So I should really tell her before I tell all of you! Happy journeying everyone. Please feel free to share some of your journey with us!

Cath xx

A sneak peak into a conversation

As you can imagine, we are spending a fair bit of time dreaming along with our goal-setting. We are thinking for the time being Fridays might be our day for dreaming about where we might go! This week to kick off our 'Friday Fantasy' posts with we thought we would let you have a sneak peak into our collective thoughts and have a bit of a general brainstorm ... but let you read along.

(Just for clarity, Lela is italics, and responds to Catherine in bold italics. Catherine is non-italics and responds to Lela in bold non-italics)

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Waterstones

Waterstones is the biggest bookshop in Europe. Be still my beating heart. You have no idea how much this excites me! Its flagship store even has a bar! Not that I am much of a drinker, tea is more my thing, but, oh how fun would it be to grab a stack of books and good glass of red! Imagine that!

Books? Did somone say books? I am soooo with Lela on this one! Well except for the not being much of a drinker bit ;)

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The Berwick Street Cloth Shop

This shop claims to be the leading supplier of fabric to theartre, film, fashion and interior design and claims to stock a range of 14000 fabrics. 4 Yards of each please!!

When I walk into this store the first thing I'm going to do (before I fondle all those bolts of fabric) is to breathe in the sweet scent of 14000 different fabrics. MMMMMM.

I don't really sew. But I love materials. I like pretending I could do cool stuff with them! You can hold all the bolts I buy!! And push the trolley! I will work on building up some muscles.

They even offer a made to order service.

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The Fashion and Textile Museum

I love designers. I love fabric. I love finding out what inspires designers and I love the history side of fashion. Fashion itself, in terms of me being fashionable, I'm not really that fussed. Odd hey.

I just like museums :)

This place looks awesome and they offer courses to! I'm sure I could easily work a course in on our travels.

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My turn! Top of my wish list is Pax Lodge. One of our homes and the home of 10 million other girls and women world wide. I am really hoping we will be able to stay here. They even have an Australian room!

I totally forgot Pax Lodge, one of the inspirations for this entire adventure! This is why you keep me around!

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I would also love to do a Jack the Ripper tour. I love history so no it is not all about Johnny Depp. Or some fascination with murder.

Mmmm Johnny Depp, could we just tour him instead. Lol that sounds ruder than it is meant to be. A Jack the Ripper tour would be fascinating. And I totally think we should do this at night. And get dressed in costumes circa 1880's!!!! Dressing up sounds great! But night? You remember I am a wuss right? If I have nightmares you will be forced to wake up and talk to me. You can talk while I read the books we buy at Waterstones, lol.

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And ... drum roll .... I really want to see a show at the West End. I have a feeling picking what we see will be the hardest choice!

"A" show? I think it will have to be more than one!

A show or ten? How does that sound? I think we need to pick one each, then one for each of our kids, you know, for belated congratulation gifts. That would bring us up to 9 shows. I really think this would work for the best.

Ooooo that was fun, we'll see you next friday!

Tuesday Tally Up

It's Tuesday!

Balance so far: $48.35

ADD

Direct Deposits: $10

Shrap Jar: 85c

Interest: 3c!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have earnt free money!!! Thanks Ubank!

Grand Total: $59.23

Woop! We have some stuff up in eBay, so hopefully that should bump up our tally next week (or the week after if they are slow payers).

Monday Musing - Enid

I love to read and like so many people Enid Blyton gave me my first adventures into the wonderful world of books. So much so I remember being forced to consider that there were other authors out there that might be worth my attention! As a parent, I now love it when my children get excited about the same books I loved when I was their age. Many of these, of course, are Enid Blyton books. As these stories are one of the things that make England one of my dream destinations, I thought this was appropriate place to blog about her!



One of my friends suggested I watch the movie "Enid" starring Helen Bonham Carter.Helen Bonham Carter never would have been the person I would have imagined as Enid Blyton. She was brilliant as always. Although I wasn't expecting quite so much of the 'Red Queen' feel to come through.

Be warned! The movie is very much based on Enid Blyton's life and not on her books and is not a cozy ginger-beer drinking, midnight-feasting, adventure story complete with pixies and eccentric French mistress and a mystery to solve. The movie shows a different side to the still popular author and if you think it will alter your view of books don't watch it. However if you are enjoy biographies you will like this movie. It is important to note it is a movie based on true events and of course the writers have exercised poetic license.

While the insight into the private life of Enid Blyton might not have been one I was expecting, I love biographies and enjoyed the movie. And my love of her books has certainly not changed.

Ebay!

Okey doke, I've got the ebay side of things happening!

User name is two_mummy_ducks

But to make it easier for our blog readers (hi two followers!!! You have no idea how thrilled we are to have you!!!!) and people who might stumble upon this blog, I have installed a widget on the side bar linking directly to our listings.

Can I interest you in a electronic head lice comb?? Some vintage Enid Gilchrist mags perhaps.

How fun!

Tally up Tuesday

A bit late, but time for a Tally up Tuesday

Balance: $24.50

Shrap Jar: $3.85

Direct Deposits: $20.00

Total: $48.35

:)

Two Mummy Ducks Adventuring with the Bard

I don't think that will take off as a book based on title alone!

Have we mentioned that one of the things we love to do together is go to the theatre? We have a group of friends that go reasonably often. Generally it is amateur theatre. There are some companies in sleepy little Perth that do some very professional stuff.



However ... (drum roll please) .... I am pleased to announce that Two Mummy Ducks has just booked tickets to what will be our first official outing! This time it is just Lela and me going to see "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Unabridged)". I have read facebook comments that it is very funny and I am very much looking forward to it! The fact is is some form of Shakespeare feels very appropriate for our TMD outing and the theatre is always fun to dress up for ;)

Stay tuned for our post after the event.

Cath xxx

Monday Musing - Never Say Never

And may I just say I am a little annoyed with Justin Beiber for tainting that phrase? This is pretty much irrelevant except I have always loved the saying and now everyone laughs at me when I use it! Or it could be I hang around with too many people under the age of 25.

Anyway, my musing for this Monday is short, but I want to say I am excited we are excited. This said, I know that when our mission gets more public, which it will, we will come across some negativity. Sadly this is life. I am not expecting this from any of you out in blogland, but more from people I know we both have in our lives. Sucky, but true. So the phrase I am musing on today is:



And all I am going to say is this is the attitude we are going to stick with. See? Short and sweet :) I am supposed to be doing other stuff ;)

Feel free to share any other words of inspiration with us though!

Cath xxx

Tally up Tuesday

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Bank account opened. Check.
Automated Direct Deposit set up. Check.
Silver Shrapnel collection started. Check.

So lets get this party started.

Ok that might be a little over the top! It's Tuesday and it's time to tally up and report in our savings.

Direct Deposits: nil. Huh, I hear you say. Our pay days are next week, so these kick in from next week.

EBay earnings: $19

Shrap Jar: $5.50

Total: $24.50

Total to Date: $24.50

Only $19 975.50 to go!

Money Making Idea

5c coin

I was listening to 720 radio the other day and they posed the question, "Would you pick up 5c coin?"

Now, I would pick up 5c. Not because it's money but because I could chant

"Find a penny,

pick it up.

Make a wish,

it'll bring good luck"

But it got me thinking, 5c and even 10c coins, on their own are not really worth much. But collectively, they can be worth quite a bit. And this idea was confirmed when a sweet lady called the radio station and told us listeners how her church has been collecting 5c pieces for the building fund. I can't remember how much she said the balance is now at, but I believe it is in the tens of thousands.

So I've decided to start a 5c jar. I won't exclude 10c or even 20c, I'm not the sort to discriminate. ;) But every few days I'll clean out my purse and my 'shrap' box in the car and pop these worthy silver coins in my 5c jar.

And if I find a penny on the street, I think you can guess what I'll be wishing for. (and after I put it in my pocket, it'll be going in the 5c jar).

We have a bank account!

Cute Pig Image found here

Woop Woop!

We are on the way to achieving our goal!

Today, thanks to modern technology, we applied online, about 30km apart, and opened an online savers account.

We decided to go with UBank mostly because it rates highly by Money Magazine and Choice and because of its ease of applying. It also has an attractive interest rate, always a bonus when saving money.

At this stage we are aiming for a joint deposit of $80 a month, plus earnings (more on that in a minute). To get to our target of $20 000 it will take 13.25 years by only depositing $80 per month.

This is ok. But we have a plan.

On top of this we are going to have a bit of fun and start selling things on ebay. So far I have made about $50 (excluding ebay fees) selling 1 book, 1 scrapbooking trolly and an assortment of scrapbooking items. This was via my personal ebay/paypal account. Because of ebay/paypal fees the total made will be not quite $50, but once it all clears, I will be depositing this into our Ubank account.

Very exciting stuff.

We also have a few other fun money making ideas in the pipeline, mostly for our own amusement, but if it gets us a few $'s closer to our goal......

In the next few days, I'll see about setting up our ebay account and linking it on the blog.

xxLela

Walking Wednesday

Yep I realise it is Friday. But better late than never. Right.

Wed:1534

Thur:8947

Fri:6380

Sat:3156

Sun:9682

Mon:11297

Tues:9007

Total: 50 003

or about 40km

Well short of my 70 000 step goal (10 000 steps a day), but 40 virtual km closer to London.

A Story Worth Telling

There two stories which were part of my inspiration for blogging this story. Not that I am expecting book deals or really anyone to follow this journey other then ourselves and maybe our children one day, but I love that fact that people can put their stories out there for others to read if they are interested and I love that you can cheer random strangers along in their journeys. Whether it be life in general for for a specific task.

The first time I came across this was when I found a random book in a second-hand booksale. 'Save Karyn' tells the story of how one girl blogged her way to clearing her debts. You can check out her website at http://www.prettyinthecity.com/save-karyn/.

The second story, of course, is 'Julie & Julia'. Every other person in that cinema seemed to walk out with a desire to cook, I left dying to start a blog!!! (This also says something about my undomesticatedness but that is another story). Which I did, although I still don't think I quite have the hang of finding my own niche. Needless to say I loved the movie and I have now found the book. I will post again when I have read it! The original blog is found at: http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/.



I fully admit with both these stories, that I didn't follow the blogs as they were happening. I only found out about them afterwards, but I love the idea that one of the random blogs I follow may one day be an awesome movie or a fun book. More importantly, I love the fact that I get to share these people's stories through their blogs even if they are never publised any more widely then that.

What is your story? We would love to read about your life too!

Cath xxx

Stepping stones ...

A random thought that I just had to share: "Every journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". So apt! Especially after Lela's initial post, I felt it was so appropriate I just had to share it.

We have taken our first step and we are baby-stepping along. Keep watching as we progress to walking, power-walking, jogging and hopefully, eventually, a full-on run. I just had to throw some more walking metaphors in there ;).

Cath xxx

Lady Grey Sew A Long

I sew. I love sewing. I run a small business that sells some of my sewing. But I don't often sew for myself. Part of this is because I don't like my size and how clothes sit on me. And mostly because I am time poor and I spend much of my sewing time on creations that bring in money.

However winter is approaching and a lady needs to have a coat for luncheon dates. Last year Gertie of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing hosted a sew along for the Colette Lady Grey pattern.

Firstly Colette patterns. They are exquisite. When I picture a lady traveling the world and seeing the sights, I imagine a lady wearing clothes made from these patterns. And the blog is a wealth of information too.

Anyhow back to Gertie. Back when she proposed the Lady Grey sew along I remember thinking, 'ack, we are going into summer, I really don't want to be sewing a coat in the heat of summer' (I live in the southern hemisphere). So I sat back and enjoyed reading the sew along. Now the seasons have changed and I'm a lady on a mission (with a goal), I'm in need of a coat. And it is never too late to start. Right.

This is going to take a while, I may will need to allow more time than Gertie proposed in the sew along (about 5 weeks) as I still have to do my business sewing and normal raising 4 kids type stuff. However I will try my best and link to the relevant posts as I sew along at my own pace. I'll aim to have a coat fit for a lady in about 8 weeks.

So (sew!), first up will be the muslin. I will start this part on Monday and have a blog post up by Tuesday. In the meantime, I'm having a think about what fabric I want for the coat, and I'm thinking red, and something luxurious, perhaps a trip to Fabulous Fabrics with my lady friend is in order?

These boots were made for walking

Did you know there are 14481km between Perth and London.

And an average person takes about 1243 steps to walk a km.

And that equates to 17 999 883 steps if I was to walk to London (from Perth).

Cathy and I have undertaken the goal of 'walking' to London, the first stop on our world tour, to add 'in the moment' interest to our goal. I didn't quite realise how many steps that would be....18 million....thats a lot of steps......

Generally, we are encouraged to aim for 10 000 for a healthy active lifestyle. So using this as our daily aim it will take about 1800 days to walk to London. Or nearly 5 years. Hmmm that's a long time.

However, I think this will be fun. We are working on a google map to track our step tally, but I think a ticker will work well on the blog too...stay tuned for that. And so you don't get bored, we'll update our step tally as a meme, These Boots were made for Walking Wednesday.

And once we have achieved our goal, I think we'll need a reward. Not really sure what that can be, but we are open to suggestions.

xxLela

Once upon a time .....

Every story has a beginning and many have a prequel! This blog is the beginning of our 'dream with a date', but it is not the real beginning of this story.

We became friends just over ten years ago in our (very) late teens when we were both young Girl Guide leaders just out of high school although our paths had crossed before this. Since then we have had seven children between us (currently aged between 2 years and 12 years) and have run Guide units separately and together. Between us we have studied Education, Law and History, had a few business ventures, engaged in other types of work (volunteer and paid), had the fun of bridesmaid duties, supported each other through pregnancies, family and marital problems and health issues.

A trip to Europe, and in particular to the two World Centres found there not to mention the two World Centres out of Europe, has been part of our 'one day' talking for so long I think I had almost forgotten it was something we could actually do. We have finally decided to put a date to our dream and change it from merely dreaming to a goal.

A Princess Party to celebrate the Royal Wedding followed by our (almost) weekly multi-hour phone conversation, combined with a sudden coinciding motivation and we decided to set our date for 10 years time. Every journey must begin with a single step, but we know that every step towards a goal is part of the adventure .... and this is where we are now! And we are determined to make this decade a journey of a lifetime, a long time before we even think about setting foot on that plane!

To finish ... some pictures of us all princessed up to celebrate the Royal Wedding in style.



Lela



Catherine

Dream. Dream Big

We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving. And we all have some power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing.

- Louisa May Alcott

And when you dream, dream big
As big as the ocean blue
'Cause when you dream it might come true
When you dream, dream big

--Ryan Shupe