Fashion steal of the week!

I always want to be on-trend with the latest fashion but need to do it on a fairly tight budget. While I love owning labels, anything I have was almost certainly picked up on a good sale. I'm going to let you know my best buy each week. Here' s last week's steal:

Maxi dress from Crossroads: $20 (on sale).

I love this mostly black dress (with some orangey-red paisley patterning), it's made of a stretchy comfortable fabric and is a flattering cut on my cello-shaped figure. Trinny and Suz would be proud! I wore it to church on Sunday with a black singlet underneath to make sure it was modest, paired with flat leather thongs. I've wanted a maxi dress for a loooooong time but found it pretty hard to get a cut that suited my figure (being big up top) and my budget!

Time management

I'm determined to make good use of my time at home with my son. Lately I've felt like I'm drifting along without feeling that sense of achievement I enjoyed during my career girl days. I know it's a little different these days being at home full-time, but I'm sure I can put some order and a little discipline into my days and weeks to change how I feel about this...

So here goes! I've been inspired by reading my friend Jamie's great practical blog baby get green that there are some simple practical things I can start doing to bring some shape to my calendar of seemingly endless blank days.

Here's what I propose to try:

1. Make a weekly plan of housework
2. Make a daily "to do" list of errands
3. Make a fortnightly meal plan for dinners and eventually all meals
4. Make a list of projects I'd like to complete just for me eg. cross-stitch bookmark, hanging scrapbooking album for my son's room, etc.
5. Cut down my TV watching - I've noticed the TV is a real thief of my valuable time!

I guess my thinking is that by bringing some order into my daily life, I will actually have more freedom to relax and enjoy my down-time, once I have achieved my daily workload...

I'll let you know how it goes!

Guilty or not?

I'm sitting here with a daytime soap on TV in the background. The lounge room floor is littered with toys and the air conditioning is running... and the baby is asleep. The kitchen's a mess and the dishwasher needs emptying, a huge pile of baby clothes needs folding and my dressing table needs a serious declutter... but I'm tired as usual.

Every day at this time I face the same dilemma - go for it around the house, or sit down and take a small amount of me-time? Either direction can produce good results, but I feel so guilty if I stop too often... after all I'm home full-time so the house should be sparkling and all the washing, cooking and organisation up to date, right?

I've got to sort this out, I can't keep bluffing my way through with no order to my weeks, so I'm going to give RLO's a shot - rostered lunch breaks off! I'm going to try having Tuesday and Thursday lunchbreaks as guilt-free break time to shamelessly do whatever I enjoy for the entire time the baby sleeps. Then the other weekdays I'll go for it and get as much done as possible with the lure of my RLO tomorrow... I'll let you know how it goes in a few days...

Here we go...

Well, this is it! I've decided to take the plunge and start up my own blog... I'm planning on writing about my everyday life - the great stuff and the struggles, all here for you to see! I plan to be honest with you, to share my real feelings. What better place is there for this?!!