GUEST POST | Tanyalee from The Drawing Board

Today I am welcoming my first guest Tanyalee (TL), the lovely author of The Drawing Board. 

We have known each other for over 15 years and she is one of my bestest friends on the planet. TL is a busy mother of three, works full-time, is studying AND finds time to craft in-between responding to my text messages all day lol.

I love TL's crafting style - clean and fresh with the focus on her photos, and always gorgeous. I am in awe of how she picks the most perfect filler cards to highlight the  beautiful tones in her photos, every single time.  

I'll let TL introduce herself further and tell you about the Project Life Challenge we set for ourselves.  

"Well this is a new experience for me. I have only been blogging for five months so making a guest post is a little daunting. But when the idea came up that Sue and I guest post on each other's blog I couldn't pass it up. Thank you my gorgeous friend for having me. 

The idea of this post came up after I took a trip to Queensland in March to visit Sue and her family (and some other friends and family). You see Sue and I have been friends since we worked together at TAFE many years ago. Our friendship developed quickly, but when my family moved to regional Queensland and then Tasmania, and both of our lives became busy with work and family, things changed. 

But thanks to the wonders of the digital age and social media we connected again and have rediscovered all of the things we have in common. We 'talk' to each other every day - numerous times a day. Sue is like the sister I never had - and I love her to bits. To be honest, sometimes I don't know what I would do without her. 

So more about our challenge. Before I even made it to Queensland we came up with the idea of creating a layout using photos that we took during the visit. The catch was that we couldn't share our progress with each as the end result had to be a surprise. 

I totally underestimated how hard that would be. You see we share progress shots with everything we work on. We help each other with card choices and photo placements and colour matching. I guess you could say we cyber-scrap. 

Well enough about that. Let's get down to the business end of this post. The reveal of my Queensland visit Project Life page. 

We both have very similar styles with our Project Life so I was very excited to see Sue's layout. If you want to check it out too, it's over on my blog The Drawing Board now. 

This was such a fun challenge. I can't wait till our next adventure - and our next crafting challenge. Stay tuned. 

Thanks for letting me hijack your blog today Sue. Love you long time girlfriend. Xx"

Thank you my beautiful friend for popping in and sharing your amazing page. So much fun and can't wait for our next catch up so we can do it all again xx

To see more of Tanyalee's work, visit her blog The Drawing Board.

IN MY KITCHEN | My Obsession with Chicken Bone Broth.

I am obsessed with Homemade Chicken Bone Broth. I love it! 

During the past couple of months, I have started a weekly ritual of making my own chicken bone broth every weekend. Aside from it tasting amazing, it is unbelievably healing and full of nutrients that is easier absorbed by the body than taking a supplement.

The large stock pot of bone broth I make does not last long in our house. My youngest asked me if it was "chinese healing soup like what Jackie Chan drinks after a fight". Put it this way - my little man needs time to deliberate when given a choice between soup and chocolate. 


WHY THE BONE BROTH OBSESSION?

I have allergies which present as eczema. Fifteen years ago, the allergies hit me like a tonne of bricks and Dermatologists said they could not help me. Not one to be disheartened, I went on a quest for answers which lead me to an Environmental Medicine doctor who was awesome. Dr Barry (not his real name) told me I had leaky gut syndrome -- also known as gut hyper-permeability. This is essentially what causes food allergies. (Google it to read more)

The most difficult phases of my condition were after the birth of each of my babies. My doctor wanted to hospitalise me. I likened the pain to being severely sunburnt with chickenpox itch. 

Through self nurture, soul searching, commitment and the guidance of a wonderful acupuncturist/mentor/nutritionist/friend, I have my life back! I have the occasional mild flare up, but grateful to feel "almost normal". 

I appreciate the ordinary and "mundane" of my every day more than ever, having experienced the physical inability to do these ordinary every day things when I was unwell. Showering without the water stinging my raw skin is one such ordinary thing I appreciate greatly. 

So here's the thing. Bone Broth HEALS leaky gut! It is all the rage at the moment and for good reason. 

Check out these links to read out more of the amazingness of what I call "liquid gold".

Top 5 Reasons why Bone Broth is the Bomb

Bone Broth - One of Your Most Healing Diet Staples


MY CHICKEN BONE BROTH RECIPE.

The supplies and ingredients I use:

- large stock pot
- enough filtered water to cover the ingredients in the pot
- 1 x large leek* washed and chopped in half
- 2 x onions* quartered
- 4-5 cloves of garlic* peeled
- half bunch of shallots* washed and chopped in half
- 4 organic chicken frames 
- juice of 1 lemon
- sea salt
- Coconut oil

*use organic where possible

Heat a few tablespoons of coconut oil in a stock pot. Add leek, onions, garlic and shallots and fry until lightly browned and fragrant. Add chicken frames and filtered water to cover the ingredients in the pot. Add lemon juice*** and sea salt (I use himalayan sea salt). Increase the heat to high and bring to boil. Skim off the scum (the frothy stuff) that comes to the surface and discard. Turn the heat to low and pop the lid back on the pot. Simmer for 6-8 hours. Strain (I use a sieve) and store in fridge or freezer**. Enjoy!

**please follow food safety precautions regarding the amount of time it is safe to store the broth in the fridge and freezer.
***I use lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar due to my sensitivity to fermented foods. The lemon juice/vinegar helps draw out the minerals from the bones.


HOW I USE THE BROTH.

I portion and freeze the broth for use in soups, and in general cooking (risottos, stews, gravy etc) where the recipe calls for stock. The glass jars I keep in the fridge as I know I will use them within a few days.

Mostly, we love to drink it straight. I bring it to the boil in a saucepan, season with sea salt to taste and drink it from my favourite soup mug. It's the one pictured above. My eldest son bought it for me at the school Mother's Day Stall a few years ago. I love it.

Homemade Bone Broth is how I am boosting the vitamin/mineral intake for my family. And hopefully healing my gut. 

I am sure there there are plenty of ways to boost our vitamin and mineral intake, but bone broth feels right to me. It is affordable. Easy to make. And it tastes so good!

Let me know if you try it out, would love to hear how you go! 

Making cards with the boys

I've always followed the Chinese calendar for mum's birthday and that of my Grandparent's birthdays.

I cannot read or write Chinese, so working out their birthdays required a little guess work. I know the symbol for moon (month) and the numbers which was just enough to get me through.

This year, mum didn't have a spare Chinese calendar for me. Knowing that most years mum's birthday is in May, I phoned my brother early last week to ask what day mum's birthday falls on this year. He said matter-of-factly "Yeah...she's already had it. It was on Anzac Day." Nobody bothered to tell me! I was disappointed, as this is the first time I've missed mum's birthday. 

Thankfully, mum's birthday based the Gregorian calendar was Friday so I could still do something for her. 

The boys and I got busy and each made her a birthday card.

Here's the card I made using the diamond stamp from the Shapes stamp set by Kellie Stamps. I stamped it to create a flower shape, cut around it, and added a gem to the centre. 

The boys woke up early on Friday morning and got their craft on before school.

They go a little nuts with my old Stampin' Up! punches. Here's my eldest creating "raining gumballs".

I had the day off work so I spent the morning baking muffins (after I burnt the sushi rice, but that's another story) to take to mum's house. It was nice to just sit and talk with her, and just catch up. We rarely have the opportunity when we have little people with us busily making their own noisy fun.

The boys didn't finish their cards before school so they added the finishing touches when they came home from school.

This is the result of their card making efforts. I helped with the stamping, and they did the rest themselves. 

Stamps: Birthday stamp set by Kellie Stamps

There's something really special about watching the boys create. Although they start off unsure, once they let go of their own expectations of themselves, they always create something unique and beautiful. 

ON MY MIND | Babies. Do we ever stop wanting another?

My cousin gave birth to a beautiful baby boy almost two weeks ago.

And any day now, my brother-in-law and his wife will be having their first baby! 

The truth is, I get a little jealous when someone has a baby, because it makes me want another one.

I am too scared to have another baby. I was unwell for many years following the birth of each of my babies, and there are no guarantees it won’t happen again. I am very grateful for my two little boys. 

I love watching the boys' unique personalities develop as they grow. And I am in awe of the amazing little people they are becoming. I just wish there was a way to bottle all those little moments when I catch myself thinking, “Wow, I want to remember this moment forever".

My eldest was almost 3 when we were expecting baby #2. I wanted a little girl. So very much. I knew how silly this was because every child is a blessing.

The ultrasound scans showed we were having another little boy. I was disappointed for my own selfish reasons. 

I dreamed of having a daughter. I wanted to put her hair into piggy tails with pretty ribbons, buy her cute little outfits, have magical princess/fairy birthday parties for her, and go on mother-daughter outings together. I wanted us to be best friends.

More than that, I wanted to have a daughter so that I had a chance to give her what I didn’t have when I was a girl. A father who stayed.

When I was 5, my father dropped me off at school and never returned to pick me up. I never saw him again until I was 18, and have never seen him since that day. 

I thought time would heal that sad feeling. We went to my old primary school when looking at options for our eldest's prep year. I stood frozen as I looked at the old grade one block and the memories came flooding back. I felt like I had just stepped back in time 30 years. We decided against sending him to my old primary school, lol.   

When baby #2 was born, I fell in love instantly with my littlest man. My now almost 7 year old “baby” lights up my day with his sunny smile and he thinks nothing of random public displays of affection. My eldest prefers to give cuddles and exchange his "i-love-you's" with us when we tuck him into bed at night. I love their individual quirks and eccentricities. 

My old feelings of wanting a daughter have been stirred once again. My reasons are a little different now. 

I worry that when my boys are married and have babies, I will be pushed aside because their wife/partner will prefer their own mother by their side. I fear being cast aside as the interfering mother-in-law who doesn’t get to see her grand babies often. I don't want to lose my connection with my boys when they become men. Although I can see this as a possibility as they approach their teens. 

Perhaps it's the fear of one day not being needed anymore. Maybe that's what it really comes down to. When our children are babies, we are their everything. They rely on us, they adore us, and we are responsible for their every happiness. When they grow up, our contribution to their happiness lessens. We aren't needed as much.

Well, back to the NOW. The only thing I can do in the meantime is continue to nurture the relationship I have with my boys. To be open, and open-minded. Listen and love without judgment, and speak my truth without expectations. Tell them how proud I am of them everyday. And tell them how much I love them everyday. That much I know I can do.