Happy 2016

Happy New Year everyone!


For lots of reasons, 2015 was terribly sucky for me.

It wasn't a case of me being negative - it just sucky and there was really nothing that I could have done to reduce it's suckiness - no positive thinking, no lifestyle changes, nothing like that, I seemed to

My Mummy Musical Rut

So since I was younger, I always thought I had pretty good taste in music. I liked all music, except I wasn't keen on trance and electronic music (and hey, that's OK).

Sometimes I'd go to Chapel Street in Prahran,

100 Days of Happiness

Yesterday I was 'researching' ideas for ninja midgets on/at Fat Mum Slim (because Chantelle has got some really good stuff on her blog) and I came across 100 Happy Days.

Happy

So a few weeks ago, I decided that I would start eating more healthy food. I have not had the happiest 2015, and have decided that 2016 will be THE YEAR

100 Things to do in 2015

Hey there,
I have decided instead of doing resolutions for 2015 (which I am only average at keeping), I've made a list of 100 Things to do in 2015 - and you are welcome to comment and come along for the ride, if you so wish.
Some activities are easy to do. Some are harder and might need some effort from myself. Some are solo efforts, and some require a degree of participation from other people.
So starting in January 1st, lets see how many of the things I manage to tick off my list.

My blog looks freaking awesome!

I've totally been neglecting Ninja Midgets. I am so ashamed. I haven't even visited in months! And I just came here and saw how freaking awesome my blog looks, and its completely out of date.
So sad!
But you know, life gets in the way a bit sometimes. Life and work, and little people. We are heading into birthday season - both little people's birthdays are within a month of each other, so expect a birthday post or two.
I've decided that as of October 1, I am back on the FatMumSlim Photo wagon. I will be up to date with photos by the end of October. I WILL BE UP TO DATE! *checks where she actually stopped* It seems that I need to go back to the beginning of June. So here is a list of what I need to take pictures of:

and this:

and of course this one:

and last but not least, the current month: 

As well as October's prompts which are yet to be revealed. Do-able? Maybe. Will I have a crack at it? You betcha.

I'm throwing down the gauntlet here and now - I will be up to date with my FMS photos by Friday 31st October.

Fitness? Schmitness!

For the last two weeks (or thereabouts) I've been trying to become fitter, and to lose weight.
Apart from the great chocolate cake investigation, where I was trying to find an edible sugar-free chocolate cake, I have been eating really really well. Hardly any carbs, minimal sugar, vegies galore and more water than you'd believe. I've cut out my normal sugary white tea and porridge for breakfast and having green tea and weight loss smoothies instead. No bread, no pasta, no rice, no potatoes, etc etc etc.
I've been walking and skating and generally moving all the time - Buddy has started walking all the time so chasing him has helped.
Last night I attempted my Level 2 test for roller derby and ended up absolutely knackered and my legs felt like jelly.
Afterwards I weighed myself to see how the weight loss is going, and I've gained a kilogram.

Maybe weight loss is not for me?

PS I still have not passed my Level 2 roller derby test.

Photo bomb - May 16 2014

May 16 - CREATE

Today I created a tiny seed of an idea that I could pursue.

I need to thoroughly look into it, but I do think my idea is do-able and accommodates my various skills and interests.
PS. The seed in the photo is a sunflower seed. I didn't actually create it. I created the idea. The seed is a metaphor.

Updated the blog

I've updated the look of my blog - do you like it?
The busy-ness of how it looks has been annoying me, pretty much since I started blogging on it, and today when I was graced with an extra two hours to the day, I decided to fix it.
I can't credit anyone for its design - it's all me. Except for the cute little ninja that I found on Google Images, but he was a free clipart anyway.
Well... back to the midgets now...

Food confusion

So you may have noticed via my ramblings that I dabble in roller derby.
Well, currently I'm doing Freshmeat training and a few weeks ago they did Level 1 testing, and soon they are doing Level 2 testing.
Since I began derby training I have tried and tried to pass the Level 1 test, which is pretty much a safety test to make sure you can stay upright on skates. On my last try, I failed by .3 of a point. GAH!
Anyway, Level 2 testing is coming at me (all the Freshies are doing it) and there is a fitness component and I'm not really fit so have been practicing push-ups and sit-ups and planks and stuff.
Then I thought, how easy would this planking business be if I weighed less? And I've been googling weight-loss plans and recipes. And I'm totally baffled. One page says more veggies, another says no grains, then there's things like 12WBT and Weight Watchers and Lite N Easy, and the overriding concerns for me are the following:
1. I am poor, and no matter how much I want to lose weight, I can't afford to pay for the privilege.
2. I have a husband who does not need to lose weight.
3. I have children who need all the food groups
4. I am essentially lazy and I like having dinner cooked quickly with minimal mess as I don't like cleaning up afterwards.
So after asking lots of people what I should do and getting lots of answers, I've decided to try everything (I am probably setting myself up for failure).
But anyway - here we go with my first healthy meal option:

Two Ingredient Wholemeal Pizza Dough (makes a large pizza that serves 4)
(Lose Baby Weight)

• 1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
• 1 cup natural or Greek yogurt (I used Pauls Natural Yogurt as it had half the kilojoules of the Greek yogurt)

1. Mix together in a bowl.
2. Knead with your hands until it's springy when you poke it.
3. Roll out with a floured rolling pin.
4. Top with tasty ingredients.
5. Bake in a moderate oven until cooked.

My toppings were tomato paste, mushrooms, red onion and cheese.

Was this meal cheap? Yes. The ingredients worked out to cost about $3-$4.
Was this meal quick to prepare? Pretty much - because the base is just flour and yogurt, I reckon I could prepare a bulk batch of bases and freeze them for whenever I want to make pizza.
Was this meal tasty? It wasn't bad. Perhaps I could have put more toppings on the base, or used some Italian herbs (The Man loves Italian herbs) for more flavour.
Would my family eat this? Probably. The Man would probably supercharge it with toppings - the midgets however like picking toppings off pizza so they'd probably would be just as happy with a bowl of pizza topping and we could forget about the base.

Midget-free Tuesday

Yeah,
So I've been a bit busy in the last two weeks with this:


Roller derby

And this:

 

Graduating from my university course

And especially this:


Honey

and


Buddy

But today is midget-free Tuesday (for this week anyway) and I'm going to take lots of photos!
So stay tuned eh...

Photo bomb - April 7 2014

April 7 - WHERE I'D RATHER BE

One day when I am far wealthier than I am now, I would like to visit places like these. I suppose I could even take Honey, Buddy and The Man along with me. Maybe.

Failure

Sad news.
Sad sad sad sad news.
After nearly three months of staying strong and not drinking Coca Cola, I slipped!
I went to McDonalds (where I should not have gone in the first place) and ordered a small meal. I forgot to ask for lemonade and they smacked down a Coke.
Me being parched took a big mouthful then felt sadness.
Sad and depressing despair at the realisation that I'd broken my arguably longest standing New Year Resolution (the other being doing the FMSPAD), especially as this week I've had a few brain fades and forgotten to do my photos.
(Yes, March 27 is missing - I'm working on it).
Now the only question is whether I jump back on the wagon or keep drinking Coke.
What do you think?

This is not a photo bomb

The Man has challenged me to only drink water and green tea this week because last night I threatened him and the midgets with ONLY CLEAN FOODS because I quit Coca Cola at New Years and I'm no lighter now than what I was then, so obviously I'm making up for it in other ways (I suspect in Lindt balls which are my new favourite thing ever).

So today I'm eating porridge with about a quarter teaspoon of brown sugar and green tea. It is an 

exciting meal!

Yeah.

So does anyone know any good breakfast ideas? Because when I was a kid I'd love porridge for breakfast but now I'm getting over it quickly.

I'm thinking I could go some vegemite toast - what's the low carb clean version of that?

Photo bomb - Jan 31 2014

Hooray, we've lasted a month in the Photo A Day Challenge :D

Jan 31 - POLKA DOT

Honey loves her Hello Kitty umbrella - even though as you can see from the state of my lawn, we haven't yet had any rain in which she can use it.
Never mind.
After a month of negotiations we now no longer put the umbrella up in the house, and if she takes it outside, she has to make sure she brings it inside and away from the dogs. We have a 50% strike rate with that happening...

Australia Day "Holiday"

Hello.
My name is Ninja Mummy and its been 27 days since I've felt the sweet embrace of Coca Cola.
It's been a hard journey, but it's getting easier every day.
I've been substituting Coca Cola with Pepsi, but as they taste completely different, it's just not the same. Not bad, but it's like coffee and tea, you either like one or the other.
Coca Cola is everywhere.
Yesterday at the Australia Day celebrations in Melbourne I forgot to take a drink and my only options to buy a drink (without having to walk forever) was Pepsi (which I'm not wild about as you'd have gathered), Fanta, Solo and the old favourite Coke (or water, but water gets a bit boring sometimes all the time) I ended up doing a walk-past by all the food vans until I found a can of Sprite. Then I topped up my empty can with someone else's lemon mineral water.
Today I did the food shopping while the midgets stayed at home with The Man. I came home to Honey in just her knickers and Buddy trying to scoot in his wagon. Right now Honey is wearing my glasses pretending to be me (Look at me, I'm Mummy) and Buddy is climbing me and blowing raspberries on me.

Photo bomb - Jan 20 2014

Jan 20 - TO DO LIST
I wasn't the nicest person today. My snark levels were quite high. This should have been the only item on my to do list.

2014: The Year of the Dragon

So I do roller derby.
Do you know what that is?
If you don't, think a cross between rugby and ballet on roller skates. Drew Barrymore made a movie about it starring Juno. Lots of cool people in Bendigo and surrounds do it.
(Other derby enthusiasts might have a better way of describing it than me, but its very graceful, very tough and it's all done on quad skates). You have to have respect for anyone who does it well. And those who do do it well get awesome derby names like Smashley Simpson* and Babe Ruthless* and Maggie Mayhem*.
I am what's called freshmeat which means I'm at the bottom level of training which means when I do go to training (I've slacked a bit since Honey was in hospital and then I was trying to finish uni) I usually watch the other girls and boys zoom past me because I'm a wee bit uncoordinated and I get frustrated with the stuff I can't do
BUT
I am very very gradually getting better.
My league, Dragon City Derby Dolls are having a freshmeat intake in a couple of weeks and they want YOU! to come and have a try. And who knows? You might love it.
So how about it? Will you come and have a go? DCDD are having an open day and for a gold coin donation you can come and see one of Bendigo's best sport teams showing off the skills which make them awesome.

*These are characters from 'Whip It',  the Drew Barrymore movie I was talking.about earlier. The derby names of the boys and girls in DCDD are much better and much cleverer.

How are the resolutions going?

Well, I am glad you asked.
I have not sipped a drop of Coca Cola since December 31 (yay!). I have been fairly good with the not eating of crappy foods. It all depends who you ask. The Man allowed me to have FOUR Lindt balls each night, seeing as he bought me a tonne of them for Christmas and it seemed quite wasteful for him to eat them instead. I had grilled fish and chips in the park with The Man and the midget ninjas, and yesterday I had a chicken teriyaki sub because we were out and about and I forgot to eat lunch before we left home.
I've eaten porridge EVERY MORNING this year, which makes me hungry. So hungry. And vegies for most lunches. And my poor family are being forced to come along on my healthy eating safari.
So yes, although I am not posting about it daily, I am still trying to eat the right things and drinking so much water that its ridiculous.

New Year. Same Me (sorry about that)

New Year resolutions eh?
I've been there and done that so many times. And failed miserably. Boring!
So today, which so happens to be 1st January, I've decided to stop drinking Coke and to stop eating processed food.
Coke is easy. The Man doesn't drink it and Honey and Buddy sure don't so really as long as I resist that glossy red label, I'll be fine.
Processed food not so much. I live in a house where quick meals reign supreme. I've changed this *resolution* to be a challenge to myself to see how many hours I can go before I eat junk. If I should lose weight or get fitter along the way - awesome! But currently more homecooked food = less money spent... in theory.
Right now I am cooking steamed veggies which are boring so I'm looking for ways to zazz them up.
Wish me luck!