Our home is our castle!

 “A man’s home is his castle” Darryl Kerrigan says in the 1997 Australian film, ‘The Castle’, and I must admit I wholeheartedly agree. No matter what home improvement ideas we have, we all have this belief that home improvements are all about making our environment happier and nicer to live in. It’s all about the serenity, our safe place, our refuge, from the world in which we live in.

I have learned so many really important pieces of information through this group. Obviously getting your medication right is vital, but there are a number if different foods one should avoid when your hypothyroid inclined. Broccoli and cabbage are two I’m thankful to be off the list! The kids feel that it’s entirely unfair that I don’t have to eat broccoli.

While my weight hasn’t changed much over the last few weeks, I feel that my mind is far less foggy, and I can finally think more clearly. I think I mentioned in a previous blog post that the author (William Davis M.D) of the wheat belly book, says that people who suffer hypothyroidism should avoid wheat. Now I realise that avoiding wheat helps relieve brain fog, but I think there is enough proof in the last few weeks to say that my new thyroid medication is working a treat. I must say I do feel rather excited about this!

Over the last few days, I have been thinking about getting more organised in the kitchen. Meal planning has never been my forte, so I decided to write a meal plan for a 3 month period of time. Why? Well the battle of sticking to a budget and the success of any weight loss plan is won or lost in the kitchen. Oh, and if I don’t have to actually stress about what we are going to have for dinner, and all I have to do is grocery shop and put it together – I think I’ll feel much better about meal times.I will admit that I got the idea of a 3 month meal plan from a website called simplesavings.com.au, a site that I’ve been tuned into for a number of years. It got me thinking about a few home organisational ideas over the holidays,as well as a few practical ways in which we can save money.

I have also found cleaning product recipes, and while this may bore some of you to tears, I’d like to remind you of the harmful chemicals that are used in making those convenient ‘spray and wipe options on the shelves of the supermarket.  My goal this year is to simplify our lives, and connect with family and friends on a much deeper level, and I believe that fine tuning our home and lifestyle will help us significantly with these desires.   As I research what it is to live simply, it seems that I am peeling back the many layers of an onion.

The kids are all very interested in planting a vegetable garden at home. We bought a mini green house from Coles at the plaza, to grow some seedlings. Amy’s class last year planted a Stephanie Alexander garden at school, so based on a few comments Amy has made, I think she may have a green thumb – I’m hoping! I have my fingers crossed someone here has a green thumb as if it’s up to me – I’m not sure how this is going to go, although I’m trying to stay positive. I think we may need the help of my green thumbed friends – you know who you are!

Our home, our health, our work life, our relationships, our belongings and our finances are all being assessed. The ultimate goal here is simplicity – simplify the way we run our household, simplify our stresses into manageable bite size pieces, simplify routines, and simplify our belongings into what we need verses what we have, for instance. I love relaxing, and pottering around at home – I am a real homebody, but the one thing I am coming to terms with is that when you have a home, there’s always something you can be improving on it. I think simplicity may be the holy grail of a balanced life – eventually reachable and attainable, but serenity is the ability to look past the chaos and enjoy life, your family and your friends. It’s living in the moment and enjoying it for what is here and now.

How’s the serenity? Well, I am discovering that Serenity just might be the meaning of true happiness.