A couple of people have been bugging asking me what I’ve been up to over the last year.  I think there were only about 3-4 blog posts in 2011 in total.  So here goes:

Business – I sold SuperWAHM in May 2011 and have been business-less ever since.  It feels strange; I haven’t been unemployed for several years now.  I do have a website up still at http://melindabrennan.com but it’s just a placeholder site – nothing to see here folks.

Facebook – as per my last post in 2011, I quit Facebook for about six weeks.  However I seemed to miss out on so much information that wasn’t sent out any other way.  After finding out a friend’s mum had been in hospital for a week and I hadn’t known I went back on.  At present I’m attempting to not allow it to be as much of a time suck as it was previously.

Dian – the kiddo is now 14.  Where did the time go?  She’s very much a teenager, wears electric blue mascara and purple lipstick every day, dresses eclectically, has good days and attitude days.  Overall, she’s one of the most loving kids I’ve ever known.  Of course, I’m biased.  I’m quite proud of her.  She’s not afraid to be her own person, to wear what she wants because she likes it and not because it’s trendy.  She has hobbies that are outside the norm for her age group (collector dolls, photography and zoo-ology) yet follows them passionately regardless of what others think.  That is truly something to be proud of.

Homeschooling – we took Dian out of High School last year and began homeschooling her.  She was getting further and further behind at school, and a few other reasons that motivated this decision – such as the fact that after completing Year 7 she tested at year 5 level for maths.  Her education is going well now and she’s nearly caught up to where she’s meant to be.  We’re aiming to have her caught up to her peers by Year 11 so she can go to College with them, or continue homeschooling.  That’s a decision we’ll make in two years’ time.

Eddie – he’s still Eddie.    Currently in Egypt on a six month military deployment and gets home late April this year.   We have our 7th Anniversary in August this year, but I’ve been telling him that while ‘I’ have been married for seven years, he’s been away so much he’s only up to six!

Me, myself and I – I’m still me too.  The year away from business has been wonderful.  I’ve been able to think about what I want and need to do.  This year, 2012, I’ll be completing my Cert IV in Workplace Training and Assessment, completing my Diploma in Auslan (Australian Sign Language) and possibly doing a Cert IV in Project Management.  It’s going to be a fun year!

I’m still interpreting (Auslan sign language) for the two wonderful Deaf guys at church. Last year at Christmas we put on a Love Canberra Love Christmas event that was amazing, and wonderful to interpret for.  These two are so faithful and such wonderful guys.

Unfortunately I’ve had Tennis Elbow in both arms for the last six months or so, which is continuing to be quite painful and shows no sign of improvement.  This has been a slight impediment to my signing, not to mention just in being able to do everyday activities.  At its worst, there were a few weeks where I had trouble just picking up a coffee cup, thankfully the drugs I’m on reduce the pain to just a minor dull ache most of the time.

Toastmasters – I’m still in Toastmasters and recently achieved my Competent Communicator award.  It took me two years to get there, as there were so many other things I did during that time!  I’m the VP-Membership and Treasurer of Woden Lunchtime Toastmasters, and as of last week the VP-Education for Training in Focus Toastmasters.  In the two years I’ve been a toastmaster I’ve also mentored a new Club through startup and charter, and been a Co-ordinator for a Youth Leadership Program in one of the Primary Schools here.  Both of those were fantastic experiences.

Garden – still have my vegie garden although it’s changed a lot from when we first moved in here.  I’ll put an update for that up soon.

Pets – We still have four chickens in the backyard, although not the same four we started with.  Two of them are the originals, two are new.  Our two black Australorps died, one from a fox attack, one from cancer.  We replaced the first one, but that one also had health issues and had to be put down.

The cats are still here.  Suzy continues getting fatter and hairier.  Friday is still the same – the half wild except when he wants food character that he always was.

I think that’s pretty much everything up to date from the last year – so here’s to more updates this year!

I found this gem of a story at Single Mom, Rich Mom:

A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer. The lecturer was happy to see them.  Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups – some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves.

When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke:

“If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups.”

“Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold or maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn’t change.”

“If we only concentrate on the cup, we won’t have time to enjoy or taste the water in it.