Meandering through motherhood

Huge week

2012-01-20T08:20:00.000+11:00

Where to start internets? Where to start...

Huge, big, massive week here at Casa de Aneets.

We had the first big night on the town sans little D (I think baby D is now a thing of the past. Sob...). I had been stressed for months about leaving little D with his grandma so we could attend a family wedding. In the end he was totally fine and barely made a peep.

Doesn't everyone spit roast an entire pig for a 1st birthday party? (image)

This big night was followed up by little D's first birthday party. The morning of the party there was torrential rain and it looked like the entire day would be a washout. Luckily, the sky cleared and the sun came out just in time and a great time was had by all, including D who was an angel the whole day.

Finally, little D started daycare this week. Nobody in the history of motherhood has been more ready to take a break from their child. Nobody. However, as the day approached I started stressing and worrying about how he would cope without me.

You and me both Jesse (image)

Once again little D took the change in his stride. He didn't cry for me once the two days he was there. He loved the new surroundings, the food, the kids and even napped fairly easily.

Who is this kid?

Happy birthday baby D

2012-01-10T08:06:00.001+11:00

Today is Baby D's 1st birthday.

I ate so many of these while pregnant I was shocked D didn't come out covered in sprinkles (Image)

Going in to this whole 3rd kid caper I knew it would be hard, but had no idea exactly how hard I would find it all. However, I also had no idea how much he would complete our family.

I know with certainty that we are all here now. That is how I describe my pre D life. It always felt like we were missing a member. I know now that D was the missing link & we all love him so very, very much. I love watching him laugh with the hubs, I love watching Miss M & Miss V chase him around the room, I love breastfeeding him every night with him snuggled against me. I love all of it.

To say thanks for bringing him into the world he slept through for only the second time last night. After the sleeplessness of this year it seems a fitting gift.

Happy birthday Tenacious D!

Snippets

2012-01-08T06:32:00.001+11:00


Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose (	Image)

Hey there internet! I was not scheduled to take a blog break over the festive season but life kind of got in the way of online time.

What's been happening? Well, highlights include:

* Baby D sleeping through, proper sleeping through, for the first time on Christmas night. Thanks Santa!

* Of course, it has not happened again since and he woke up 3 times last night, but that 24 hours was glorious.

* the Parlux is everything I thought and more.

* The Boxing Day sales with P23 were fun as usual. The highlight this year was having 'lunch' at the new Sydney Westfields foodcourt. Hamburgers at 10am? Don't mind if I do. Yum!

* First time in my life I actually went to bed before midnight on New Year's Eve. I lasted until 11pm and then the hubs and I looked at each other and decided sleep was more important. Nannaville has a new member.

* Have delved into the world of Friday Night Lights with the hubs and am smitten. I order everyone to watch this, you will not be disappointed.

Not much else to report. Am enjoying having my big kid home and spending some quality time at home without the chaos that school brings. Am in the process of getting organised for Baby D's birthday festivities this time next week. Good lord where does the time go?

Season's greetings

2011-12-20T20:54:00.000+11:00

Future Christmas photo shoot idea perhaps (image)

Does anyone out there in real life send their friends and family Christmas cards any more? Real cards that you have to hand write, put in an envelope, affix a stamp and post.

E-cards don't count. Sorry, they don't. I will, however, award half a mark if you send a card you created using your family photos and a fancy computer program.

Every year, in the lead up to Christmas I tell myself that this is going to be the year that I finally say goodbye to sending Christmas cards. However, by mid December I usually relent and spend an evening up late getting writer's cramp writing out the damn things.

This year I stepped it up a notch and printed out an awesome photo of the kids (I had an impromptu Christmas card photo shoot in the front garden a few weeks ago. Come on, doesn't everyone do that?) and stuck it in one of those frame like cards you see around the traps. It looks fab, if I do say so myself. Of course I may be biased as I think I have the world's most gorgeous children, but take my word for it, it looks GREAT.

However, I seem to be getting fewer and fewer cards every year. This year the number of cards we've received is at an all time low.

I would love to know where everyone stands on the Christmas card issue. Yes, hitting the hard issues this week folks!

Bad hair be gone!

2011-12-19T10:50:00.002+11:00

Come to mama you sexy thing! (Image)

I have wanted one of these babies for AGES but unfortunately my old, 11 year old, Remington hair dryer just would not die. I felt it was frivolous and wasteful to buy a new hairdryer when the other one still worked.

Having had a crappy few months with sickness invading the household I decided I needed to treat myself for Christmas. Given the amount of panadol, nurofen and antibiotics I have dispensed to the kids lately I deserve something frivolous.

I had a hard time choosing which colour but in the end decided to go with my favourite, green. Isn't it pretty?

For those in the market for a new one Hairhouse Warehouse have them for 20% off at the moment. Bargain!

I have heard such raves about this hair dryer and am looking forward to giving it a burl on Christmas day. At the very least it is going to save me some time, which, given I am going back to work next year, will be in short supply.

A pox on germs

2011-12-16T15:41:00.001+11:00

One of these would come in handy to combat the suitcases I am sporting under my eyes (image)

I don't know about you guys, but I am so looking forward to new years eve.

For Sydney's firework display?
Nup.

In order to get dressed up and have a night on the town?
Nup. The three kids put a dampener on any big night time plans for the foreseeable future. Do you know how hard it is to get someone willing to watch all 3 of them at once? Trust me it is hard.

Is it because 2012 is just going to be so awesome and exciting?
Not really.

I am so looking forward to NYE because I so want 2011 to be gone.

2011 has, quite frankly, sucked. A lot.

With the exception of the safe and healthy arrival of baby D in January, the rest of the year has been a haze of over tired baby, sleep deprived me, screaming (mostly baby D but sometimes me), crying (mostly baby D but sometimes me) and running around with the other kids. I have a hubs in the mix too but he has sadly been a tad neglected as I've dealt with the other louder, screamier and more demanding parts of my life.

The past 3 months in particular have been the worst. Sickness has arrived at our house in insane proportions. We have had from baby D alone, ear infection, throat infection, double ear infection with almost burst ear drum, virus and now this week's bomb shell: chicken pox. It is breaking my heart seeing him suffering through the pox at the moment. Quite frankly it sucks. Big time.

As an aside, how can they have worked out how to clone people since my time as a kid but still have no better treatment for the chicken pox spots than calamine lotion? It makes you feel useless and like you are failing your baby, who is in so much discomfort, by having nothing better to use but calamine lotion. Get on this scientists please.

I need not mention that Miss M and Miss V have also caught some of these ailments (though thankfully not the dreaded pox, they had them this time last year though) and even the hubs has not been spared.

I have been lucky in that I have not caught a thing. Instead I have put in hours and hours nursing everyone back to health. As a result I am wiped out. Done. So ready for a week where I don't have to trot us all off the the GP yet again. We have been such frequent visitors I am even getting the GP and his lovely receptionist a Christmas present this year. Seriously, I wish we were not on such friendly terms, being strangers to one another would be way better.

So on new years eve this year I shall be toasting to good health for 2012 and praying that it is a reality for our crud filled house.

This post amounts to Christmas sacrilege

2011-12-05T07:33:00.000+11:00

Blogland is currently awash with posts which are about decorating for Christmas. Pivotal to any Christmas decorating is the Christmas tree.

I have to admit, these posts give me hives. I hate putting up our Christmas tree. Phew, there I said it. I seriously HATE it.

I hated it before kids too, don't think that my kids have somehow sullied this experience for me. The hubs and I have a long history of fighting about the Christmas tree. Not about where decorations go or how to decorate it, but rather who is going to put it up. You see, he hates putting up the tree too.

The time spent, the mess, the attempts to put the decorations evenly only realising too late that they are all somehow bunched at the bottom of the tree. Did I mention the mess? Ugh.

These days? I have no choice but to put the damn thing up. The kids have been asking about the tree incessantly and I can only distract them for so long. So I will plaster a grin on my face, grit my teeth and fake Christmas joy with the best of them. Sigh.

More botanical talk

2011-12-04T07:23:00.000+11:00

I have never really been a flower person.

I have always thought receiving flowers as a gift as a waste of money. The flowers look nice for a few days sure, but they eventually make a mess and die. I know, sometimes I am too practical for my own good.

However, I love having flowers in the garden. My favourite flower is the hydrangea and thankfully they have thrived in our front garden. We have an abundance of them in all sorts of colours and they are just so gorgeous.

Miss V and I spent a fun morning a week or so ago picking a bunch of them to put in vases around the house. It has been a shitty week and looking at these in my pretty vintage vase has brightened up most of my days.

This post is brought to you by my endorphins

2011-11-28T20:29:00.002+11:00

Image

You know you are addicted when:

this ranks as one of the best gifts your husband has ever given you;
you spend time and money on itunes purchasing songs which you think will be great to run to;
you spend even more time making up running playlists; and
you are hooked on websites where you can map your distance.

It balances out the choc chip cookie addiction nicely.

Walking down memory lane

2011-11-27T09:28:00.000+11:00

I have written about my initial foray into reading the girls chapter books before. We have done a lot of Roald Dahl since that post. In fact we have read The Magic Finger and The Twits at least 3 or 4 times such is the love.

For Miss M's birthday I picked up a box set of all of the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary. To say my girls LOVE these books in an understatement. They are obsessed by them and love, love, love Ramona. She is such a great character and the books are so well written.

In fact most nights I have to wait at least once or twice for Miss V to stop laughing so that I can continue with the story. I am also having such fun rereading them with the girls every night. I may even sneak off after they're in bed and read ahead so I can find out what happens. Don't worry, I always act as surprised as the kids the following night when we continue reading about the adventures of Ramona and Beezus.

For Christmas this year I have bought Miss M the Little House on the Prarie box set. Fingers crossed we will all love reading about completely new adventures together. At the very least I am certain I will have fun rereading them alone.

Break time

2011-11-12T10:45:00.002+11:00

Yes, I so need a break. Chocolate is also welcome.

I feel like I have never really been a proper stay at home parent before.

When my eldest, Miss M, was born I stayed home for 6 months and then went back to work full time.

When my middle child, Miss V, was born, I took a year off before going back to work but this was largely due to us owner building our house and I used the extra time off to project manage the process.

This time round the birth of baby D (in January) came after I had already had a year off the paid work force, studying full time at uni. While the year was hectic beyond measure, it wasn't exactly the same as having a paid job. I was still the primary parent at home, even if I was studying while doing so.

This time round I have no distractions and am effectively a stay at home mum.

I am seriously not cut out to be a stay at home parent. Baby D has thankfully gotten a spot at the local daycare and will be starting in the new year.

I cannot wait. While I know it will be hard to leave him with other people taking care of all of his needs, I am so ready for a break. I am so ready to spend the day using my brain and interacting with other people. I am so ready to have a reason to put on some make up, perhaps a nice dress and drink a cup of tea in peace.

I am lucky that the daycare where baby D will be going is the same one Miss M attended almost 7 years ago. I trust the carers completely and I know they will take good care of him. I am lucky that I am only going to work 2 days a week so I will still get to have days at home with baby D and not miss out on too many of his milestones.

Regardless, the last couple of years have been LONG. Many days I am so consumed with taking care of everyone elses needs that I forget that I also have my own. Getting back to work is a way of finding out what they are and maybe even satisfying some of them.

Bring. it. on.

Hair envy & bad perms

2011-11-10T10:32:00.002+11:00

I often say I fell in love with my husband's hair before I got to know him. My dad is bald, my grandfathers and uncles are bald and my brother always knew growing up that he would be bald too.

My own hair is very unspectacular. On the thin side, fine and dead straight. Dead, dead straight. I have spent a fortune buying products which promise 'body' before realising that short of a hair transplant, my hair is never going to come alive the way I would like it to. Let us not speak of the perms I had in the 90s trying to achieve my hair dream. I must destroy all of those photos at my parent's house one day.

My 90s perm twin. I asked for it to look 'natural'. Do you think people realised my hair wasn't really curly? (source)

My husband's hair on the other hand? Oh so gorgeous. It is thick and curly and always looks fantastic. He barely has to use and product and spends about 5 seconds doing it before heading into the office every morning. Even the grey hair he has gotten looks fine and doesn't detract from the pretty.

Thankfully my girls have been lucky in the hair department and inherited his pretty hair genes. Their hair is curly but not too curly. It has that perfect wavy, bed head look that tonnes of people (myself included) would kill for.

At the moment Miss V is sporting the most awesome hair that I have ever seen. The humidity we've been having in Sydney is doing wonderful things to her mane & her curls are out in force. Jealousy is a curse. Even more so when the person you are jealous of is somebody you gave birth to.

Her hair seriously looks like this today, only prettier. Sigh. (source)

Dolly days

2011-11-07T22:44:00.001+11:00

My boob twin! (image)

I love breastfeeding.

I am still breastfeeding baby D and this is my third time doing the breastfeeding thing. I think I have loved breastfeeding more each time I have had the privilege of doing it. For me it is a privilege because I am lucky enough to have the ability to breastfeed with ease and any breastfeeding woes are usually ones involving too much milk production. Ask any woman who has had issues trying to breastfed their baby and producing too much milk is not generally high on their list of issues.

However, this overproduction means that most days I am sporting a rack to rival Dolly Parton. I am normally a B cup, yet these days am at least a D. I find it really uncomfortable and downright difficult to dress. I have to make sure whatever I wear allows easy access to my chest area and most importantly actually fits. I would venture to guess that at least 60-70 percent of my wardrobe is currently off limits as it doesn't meet these two criteria.

I seriously don't understand the big boob thing. I am not loving the attention the rack gets. At a recent party an acquaintance asked me if I had had breast implants. I find it baffling that there are women out there who like this kind of attention and actually go under the knife to achieve it.

While I will be sad once my breastfeeding days are no longer I am so looking forward to smaller boobs and wearing the rest of my clothes once again.

Sweating the tough stuff

2011-10-30T20:21:00.000+11:00

Artist's impression of how I look when I run. I never said it was pretty! (source)

I have never been an athletic person. Ever. Ask P23, when we had the annual 'fun run' at school I would always walk. Always. I did not do any type of sport growing up, I can barely swim, and the gym and I? We do not speak the same language.

However, somehow since the birth of baby D I have really gotten into running. At first it was because I wanted to lose the couple of kilograms breastfeeding didn't get rid of. In the last month or so it has become something I need to do in order to remain sane. I have long lost those kilograms and now I seem to be hooked on the endorphin high I get after I go.

Sundry talks about the 'sweet spot' you hit when you run. I have found that I am chasing this feeling every time I go out. Tonight? It hit about 15 minutes in and once it did? I felt like I could keep going forever. The only reason I came home was that it got dark and parenting duty called.

What do I love about running? The ability to lose myself in the music I have pumping on my ipod. Thinking of nothing but getting up the next hill without passing out. The ability to shut out the crazy making thoughts which run through my head at home all day with the kids. The serenity.

My teenage self would be horrified I am sure. However, I think if she could travel into the future and meet my brood she would understand.

I am the anti Martha Stewart

2011-10-25T10:50:00.001+11:00

I thought I would do a follow up post to my mini rant about the sugar free mania infecting the blogosphere lately, based on the banter which arose in the comments. Thank you for your intelligent banter clever readers!

Is it just me or does the 'styled' nature of so many events these days drive you bonkers? It seems, along with outlawing sugar, so many bloggers these days are throwing parties where the aim seems to be to ensure it looks like Martha Stewart planned the whole thing.

The first compulsory ingredient appears to be bunting. What is bunting you ask? I give to you exhibit A

WTF is with the bunting peeps?

I have lost count the number of blogs I read where the blogger is busy preparing bunting for their event. If you hit etsy or madeit there are a tonne of crafty people who sell it ready made for you to buy and bunt to your heart's content.

Next is the tissue pom pom. Pom pom? What is this pom pom you speak of? I give you exhibit B


Tissue pom poms hard at work

Pom poms in their natural habitat

Hit google or you tube and you will find hundreds of tutorials on how to make these fluffy beauties.

When did all of these parents, or even the non parents, find all the extra time to craft this much? What happened to buying a happy birthday sign from one of those party places, along with some streamers, and sticking those on the wall with some tape? If you want to go really big remember those things called balloons? When did everyone start trying to outdo each other by having the most 'home beautiful' party?

I have thrown a fair few kids birthday parties in my time and I can tell you right now that decorating for said parties has always been one of my lowest priorities. I mean, I'll make sure I have the requisite sign and some balloons, but as for the other frippery everyone seems obsessed by? No thanks. I'm too busy making sure there is enough food (P23 and I have made an art of overcatering) and alcohol to help the parents get through the day.

Don't get me started on the insanity surrounding the decoration of kid's nurseries these days! Given the sleep issues we've been having with baby D, if there were any pom poms in the vicinity of his room I would have drop kicked them in order to vent my frustrations a long time ago.

Don Burke eat your heart out

2011-10-22T10:26:00.001+11:00

We have planted these babies and I cannot wait to eat them with some fresh basil and olive oil. Yum! (source)

My dad is Don Burke's long lost brother. Seriously, the man has a serious case of the green thumb. His backyard has an impressive vegetable garden and array of fruit trees. He has a mini vineyard going on such is his prowess.

You know how they say girls always marry their father? Well, I can't say that my dad and the hubs are similar in many ways, but the green thumb thing? They are total twins. Well, ok the hubs has a way to go before he reaches the gardening prowess of my dad, but he is on his way my friends, he is on his way.

I was out in the garden this morning doing some weeding (never has a sentence made me feel more grown up) and I was just awestruck by how great our vegetable garden is going to be this summer. We have basil, tomatoes, rockmelon, squash, zucchini, lettuce, celery, asparagus, capsicum, corn and cucumber all growing perfectly in our vegie patch. These were planted by the hubs about a month ago and so far they are all thriving. He takes care of them so beautifully, watering, fertilising, pruning and weeding regularly.

In fact, as I was weeding, I realised that there are at least 20 or 30 basil & tomato plants that have sprouted independently due to the awesomeness of the compost that the hubs used when planting our summer crop. We are big on composting around these parts.

Now to get the hubs to pull out the excess plants and gift them to others so they don't go to waste. Anyone need some tomato or basil plants?

Questioning the bandwagon

2011-10-19T10:17:00.000+11:00

I have noticed a trend among many of the bloggers I follow lately. They all seem to be giving up sugar. Sugar free seems to be a new way of life for so many people out there.

I am going to confess, I just don't get it.

I have never understood these kind of diets. Look, I know that part of the problem is that there is lots of hidden sugar in lots of the food people are eating & we all know too much sugar is bad for you.

However, I still think that if you follow a diet where not only is the food as close to the way nature intended it as possible AND of course in moderation, you don't have to go on some radical diet to attain a healthier lifestyle.

As I type this I am eating choc chip banana bread. However, it is home made. I know exactly how much sugar is in it because I added it to the bread myself.

I don't buy processed foods for our family. We don't have chips or junk food in the pantry for me to grab when I'm feeling like a snack. Nuts, fruit or some yoghurt? Sure.

I am no earth mother type but I have also never given any of my babies pre prepared baby food. I like making it myself (and it is hardly difficult to mush up veggies or fruit for a baby) as I know exactly what is and isn't in there.

I guess I just don't understand how the simple fact of eating and enjoying food became so hard?

Going against the grain

2011-10-18T19:51:00.000+11:00

How can something so great looking taste so gross?

Is there anything out there that everyone else loves but you just do not get?

For me it is food related.

First example? Mangos. I just do not understand the love peeps. They look wonderful, I agree but despite trying them quite a few times over the years, I find them gross. I cannot even tolerate orange and mango juice. Blergh to the mango.

Bananas elicit a similar response. It is worse actually as I think they positively stink. Nothing worse than a ripe banana in my fruit bowl, it is enough to make me gag.

Of course I buy these fruits as I have kids who eat them enthusiastically & are probably glad they don't have to share either of them with me. Also, give the cost of these fruits I have probably saved a fortune over the years.

Anything out there you guys just don't get?

It's my blog & I'll whine if I want to

2011-10-11T17:27:00.000+11:00

Seriously this exists. May look into getting one for baby D if his evil ways continue.

Some snippets of my day at Casa de Aneets...

* baby D has gone on a sleep strike today and only slept one 20 minute stretch since 6am. Hold me. Well, if you don't mind a baby attached to my person permanently.

* I have spent almost 3 hours trying to get my child to sleep today. I think I may have some hearing loss from the long long time listening to him scream. Don't worry am doing controlled comforting, am not abandoning him to scream (though it is tempting).

* puke has featured today for the first time in a week or so. Baby D is now on the move (albeit s.l.o.w.l.y) which means I have found some ripe puke trails today. On the rugs of course.

Is it too late to wish it was Friday?

Lame Claims to Fame

2011-10-06T20:16:00.000+11:00

Have any of you out there got any lame claims to fame?

Know what I am good at? Speed reading. Seriously, give me a 500 page novel and I can turn that baby over in a day. Two days tops (accounting for the parenting responsibilities I have these days). I don't skim either peeps. I just read really, really fast. It comes in handy sometimes (especially during my uni & corporate days) but for the most part just means I go to the library more than most people to get new books.

You know what P23 is good at? Accents. Seriously, if Red Faces was still on air P23 would be a shoe in for the top prize for her awesome impersonation of Rosie Perez in White Men Can't Jump. It's an obscure accent but flawless none the less. She is also good at a cockney accent. Just put a couple of drinks into her and she will take you on a trip around the world via her vocal stylings.

Anyone else out there got some random talent they want to shine a light on?

Suck it cancer

2011-10-02T15:27:00.000+11:00

I totally would have gotten her this for her birthday. She would have loved it.

Four years ago today my cousin M, one of my best friends, passed away from breast cancer. She left behind a 3 year old daughter, my gorgeous godchild, and many precious memories.

She spent a large part of her adult life living overseas and we corresponded first by mail (yes I am a dinosaur) and in the later years via email. I spent some time this morning going through her old letters and photos and remembering all the fun we used to have together. Once she passed away it took me a long time to get used to no longer getting emails from her.

It feels strange to me that I am now the age she was when she passed away. My next birthday I will be older than she ever was. So many things have changed in my life since she has been gone and it is also strange that she knows nothing about our new house, my career change and the arrival of baby D into our family.

This is an extract from the eulogy I read at her funeral:

'Growing up she was that one person I was always in awe of. The cool girl that everyone wanted to be like, be seen with, be friends with. I can remember spending hours in her room as a teenager as she raided her bookshelves passing on her cheesy romance novels. We would talk about everything and anything. From make up, to school, to boys, to our parents and how crazy they were driving us. She was that cool older sister that every girl wishes they had and I was lucky enough to find in her...

She was the person I would message about the perfect pair of shoes I just had to buy, the shocking thing some random celebrity had done or the greatest book she had to read right this minute...

I will never forget my gorgeous M, her laugh, her smile, the way she made even the most boring times the most fun times of your life and her bravery which lasted until her final days with us. I feel privileged to have known her and love her and been able to be a part of her life.'

I miss and love you M.
x

Tenacious D

2011-09-28T13:26:00.000+10:00

An artist's impression of my current state. Even the unevenness of my breasts has been captured.

Baby D is exactly 8 and a half months now and his sleeping has not improved much since his newborn days. He is still a shocking day sleeper. Shocking.

However, even though he refuses to sleep during the day (for long periods of time anyway) he still needs the sleep. As a result, I deal with a cranky baby from about noon onwards. He perks up if I am carrying him, so that is what I do most days.

I attend to the other kids with him on my hip. I make dinner with him in the ergo. I pretty much never get to put him down. He is a koala and I am the tree.

This week his night sleeps are going haywire. I am slowly morphing into the lady above.

I know it won't be like this forever. I know this. I have two older kids who remind me of this every day.

On days like today, I look at him, clinging to me and remind myself that one day I will be looking at him running around and will wish he would slow down so I can have a cuddle. These bad days will seem foggy and I will think to myself 'was it really all that bad?' Future self, it was. It is.

Am looking forward to that hazy baby related amnesia kicking in any day now peeps, any day.

Underated kid milestones

2011-09-24T07:45:00.001+10:00

Yeah, we're not here yet. I don't like sharing my alcohol.

As I am getting on in this parenting experience and my kids are growing up I am finding that it is the small milestones that are making the biggest difference to my life.

There is a lot of attention given to things like talking, walking or toilet training which are of course wonderful. The day you say goodbye to dirty nappies is as wonderful as you imagine.

Lately though I have been realising that while those big things are great, there are smaller things which they now do for themselves that have made a big difference to my quality of life.

The first? Miss M being able to do up her own seatbelt. I love that if I am heading out with the kids Miss M can just jump in the back and sort her own seatbelt out. Considering I act as the family taxi 99% of the time this is a biggie.

The next best thing is Miss V is now tall enough to reach the tap in the kitchen and can get herself her own glass of water. What is even better about this milestone is that she can now get me glasses of water. Score!

Honourable mentions go to Miss M being able to shower herself & read a story to her little sister. These are especially appreciated since the arrival of baby D has meant I am stretched thin between the kids.

Other things I am looking forward to? The girls being able to do their own hair (might be a while given the hair they have), Miss M make her own school lunch (working on this one) and for baby D to ditch daytime naps.

Am with that I am off to make breakfast for the kids. Baby steps.

Wiggle Free Zone

2011-09-21T09:27:00.001+10:00

Sell your wares elsewhere boys as we're not buying

When Miss M, my first born, was a toddler we had a dalliance with The Wiggles. At the time I was commuting a long way to day care and work. Putting on their CD in the car helped kill some time during the drive.

However, once Miss V hit toddlerhood I decided that our kiddy music days were over. There are only so many times you can sing along to Big Red Car without wanting to smash your own car into something just to make it stop.

The last couple of years has been spent educating my kids in my own music tastes. The last five albums we have had on high rotation in the car are by Sia, Adele, Jebediah, Gotye & Basement Birds.

This change has made for much less stressful times behind the wheel. There is also something hilarious about watching your kid belting out a soulful Adele song which can't be beat.

There are downsides though. They are still kids and want the same songs and repeated over and over and over again. Their enthusiasm can almost kill my own love of a song.

Still, I'll take getting sick of my music over listening to The Wiggles any day.

Midnight Rage

2011-09-17T07:44:00.000+10:00


I wish there were some donuts to help with the rage.

Baby D is a crap sleeper.

He is a super crap sleeper during the day. Catnapping is ordinarily as good as it gets, though mostly apart from a small window in the morning when he'll nap, he pretty much goes on a sleep strike.

He also happens to be on the crap sleeping spectrum at night. I know aren't I lucky? A good night would be one wake up. Most nights it is 2 or 3 wake ups during which I am thankfully usually able to breastfeed him back to sleep. Thank god for my boobs.

A common feature of these wake ups is me looking over resentfully at my husband who is sleeping peacefully.

Is there anything worse than looking at your fast asleep spouse when you have to drag your butt out of bed? I think not. I tend to feel rage at these moments & the desire to smother the husband with a pillow was strong last night.

In the cold light of day I no longer feel like that. At 2am though? The feeling is strong my friends, it is strong.

Biology is a bitch man.

Please think of the floors!

2011-09-14T07:59:00.003+10:00

Image from here

Households fall into two different camps. Those who wear their shoes in the house and those who don't.

Growing up we were definitely in the latter camp. It is definitely a European thing. The rest of my extended family are the same.

Now I have my own home I also adhere to the shoe free party line. The thought of all of those germs on my clean floors is enough to make me break out into hives.

While I may not go to the extreme of having the above doormat, I also prefer that my visitors remove their shoes. Look, I'm not going to harass anyone who comes in with shoes. However, if they ask (and most people do) I will tell them that we take shoes off. Most people do not seem to mind (or at least I don't think they do).

Similarly, when I visit someone I always take off my own shoes.

Which group do you belong to & why?

Beauty backfire

2011-09-12T22:41:00.000+10:00

Image from here

This year I am home full time with the kids. I am taking care of the baby, getting the eldest to school, spending time with middle child before she heads off to school, the list is endless.

The frantic pace of this life does not leave much time for me. Even something as basic as a shower, especially one which isn't interrupted by another member of the family, is often a luxury.

I have been making an effort to wear something other than trackies most days. While my ensembles are often covered in vomit, I have found that making an effort in my appearance does make me feel better about myself.

To that end I decided to give myself a bit of a home manicure. It was great for about 8 hours. Before long it looked even worse than the above visual representation. Of course I am so flat out with life that I sported this look for more days than I care to admit.

Bottom line? I am crap at this whole beauty business.

Nutrition fail

2011-09-08T19:04:00.001+10:00

Image from here

While I strive to feed my kids a variety of healthy foods I am a failure when it comes to feeding myself.

When dinner arrives I have a grizzly baby on my chest and no opportunity to eat dinner with Miss M & Miss V. After they finish their dinner I rush about bathing baby D and getting him to sleep.

By the time he is finally down for the night I am so wiped out that I am too tired to even heat up what the kids have eaten an hour or so before. Sometimes it has been such a battle to get my picky eaters to eat that I am sick to death of whatever it may be on their plate. I don't even want to look at it anymore, let alone eat it.

So I tend to eat for dinner one of two things: their leftovers which usually consists of vegetables and bread crusts OR cereal. How lame is that? Tonight's dinner was pizza crusts and garlic bread crusts. Yesterday it was Special K. I even have Special K reserved as my dinner cereal and don't eat it for breakfast anymore.

Perhaps I should get on to the breakfast cereal marketing teams and let them know there is a gap in the market they can exploit? Dinner cereal has a nice ring to it don't you think?

Baking Bad

2011-09-07T11:50:00.000+10:00

Image from here

I cannot bake for shit yo.

This has always been one of my failings as a cook. I don't have the gene that is able to perfectly measure out ingredients and have the patience to wait for the butter to be room temperature, sift the flour, well you get my drift.

So most of my baking forays look like the above.

However, the eldest child, Miss M, is always having functions on at school which require baked goods. I have been trying, really trying, to work on my baking ability so I can send things in to her school functions. I have even been baking her things to take to school for lunch. It hasn't been going too badly if I do say so myself.

I currently have two slices chilling in the fridge and am hopeful they may even be edible so I can bring them in to the special school afternoon tea today.

Fingers crossed- otherwise Woolies is on the way to school and they make a mean cupcake.

Bad habits

2011-09-06T18:52:00.000+10:00

I have passed on many wonderful traits to my kids, an appreciation of the dairy and carb food groups, a love of sleep (well the eldest two, am still working on the baby) & of course their MENSA level of smarts (they get that from me).

However, Miss M seems to have inherited my clumsiness gene. Ask my sister P23 , she can attest to my inability to walk from A to B without tripping over. Miss M is nothing like me in appearance but all you have to do is have a look at the impressive array of bruises we are sporting to know we are related.

Miss V seems to have inherited one of my worst habits: nail biting. I go through phases where I try and stop but inevitably I find myself doing it unconsciously. Miss V has a bad bad nail biting habit that I am really trying to break. Watching her bite her nails has made me realise how disgusting a habit it really is.

It will be interesting to see what baby D inherits from me. At this stage the dairy love seems to have taken so I know there is a little of me in there somewhere.

They don't cover this stuff in What to Expect When You're Expecting

2011-09-03T07:16:00.000+10:00

Image from here

A little known fact about having a baby is that after you have given birth your hair falls out more than it did pre baby. I believe it is due to a woman's estrogen levels dropping once the pregnancy is over.

Let me rephrase by 'falls out' I mean chunks and handfuls of the stuff comes out. You will spend all day picking up the hair covering the floor, your shoulders, the baby (a personal high point was finding hair in his nappy) and let us not speak of getting rid of the clumps clogging your drains. At one stage a few months ago I was certain I would need to invest in a wig or start investigating wearing a turban as my go to fashion accessory in my life.

Thankfully, the hair loss has slowed somewhat in the last month or so and I have been rejoicing. What I am not rejoicing about however is the baby hair which is now growing back and making every day a bad hair day. I give it at least another 6 months before these baby hairs start playing nice with the remaining hairs on my head.

In the meantime I am trying to stay zen and be thankful that the suckers are even growing back in the first place.

Is this thing on?

2011-09-02T18:24:00.001+10:00


Image from here

So since I was last here I have done a few things. Finished my course, become a qualified teacher, birthed a child, birthed a child of the male variety, become a stay at home mum (at least temporarily), learned how to live on even less sleep than I ever thought possible & had my heart grow even bigger than I thought possible.

I have a good excuse for my absence right?

Well, now the SAH aspect of my life is in full swing I am finding my brain is needing some kind of outlet for all of the thoughts that go through it most of the day (those that don't consist of the 'Please sleep, sleep dammit!'). I will try and give this whole blogging thing a whirl and see how I go in this version 2.0.

Bad pun central

2010-07-11T23:10:00.004+10:00

I am alive people out there in blogland.

However, after the frantic pace of my full time student and prac life over the past 6 plus months I feel kind of like this image here.

I am currently on school holidays (thank GOD) but am finding getting on top of all the tasks I have neglected for so long to be very time consuming and leaving little time for anything else.

Last week was spent trying to have some fun with Miss M and Miss V, catching up with friends we hadn't seen for a while and actually going out as a family without having some godawful assignment or essay hanging over my head.

This weekend has been consumed with looking for the perfect outfit to wear to the lovely Baby A's christening next weekend (Baby A being my sister P23's offspring) as the hubs and I are lucky enough to be the chosen godparents. Yay!

However finding flattering attire, in winter, for myself is proving a tad difficult due to the fact that I am currently the size of a whale, being pregnant with kidlet no 3. I'll be 13 weeks this week and let's just say that I am at the looking fat rather than pregnant stage. Ugh.

If it wasn't for the fact that I love the end result (baby!) I would rethink this whole pregnancy thing- am not a fan of the whole 9 month wait/weight (geddit!).

I have scheduled a 'fashion show' with the fashion consultants this week (they being my mother and P23) and hopefully we can cobble together something that makes me look less elephant like.

Wish me luck people!

How far can I go on an empty tank?

2010-04-16T18:05:00.003+10:00

This is my mental state at the moment people.

I am on my third day of being housebound due to Miss M's tummy bug. It has thrown a spanner in the works as far as getting out and having fun this week and unfortunately kids are needy when they're sick so uni work is out of the question.

I have four assignments due in the next couple of weeks. I am so jealous of those people doing my course who have no kids. I feel like I should get special consideration or something because most of my work is done last minute with very limited time. Yes, yes I know the world doesn't work that way but sometimes I want to stamp my feet while whining 'it's not fair!' If I had the time I think I could do much better. Sigh.

Have an on campus day for one of my subjects tomorrow and am actually happy to be able to have the day to myself. I do not know if I will come home afterwards.

I have had a stellar op shopping week this week (pre Miss M's sickness). I picked up a new Leona dress, gorgeous vintage dress (think a full pleated skirt) that I have nowhere to wear (I think somebody needs to get married as it is a tad black tie), two gorgeous Country Road t shirts (just what I was after!) and other sundries all for $3 each. I love when our local op shop has it's summer clearance.

I am ignoring the kitchen full of dishes and am self medicating with a diet coke. Perhaps caffeine can act as a fuel? One can hope.

Myer completes me

2010-03-18T22:31:00.006+11:00

I love my new life guys, seriously I do.

However, I must admit there are things I miss about my life in the corporate jungle.

reading on the train. I've never been one to read before bed or in my downtime at home, it's always been during my commute. I need to figure out how to incorporate reading back into my life.
I miss getting dressed up. I am lazy by nature so if I'm heading into uni I just throw on some jeans and a t shirt. However, work was the perfect excuse to wear all of my pretty, pretty dresses (I actually counted them the other week and I have over 60) and I would feel smoking. Now I feel like a frazzled mum rushing to do school pick up (OK, so I am one of those people, but I don't love feeling that way!);
I miss my husband having to do nights with the kids. I used to do mornings and he would pick them up and do dinner and the rest in the evenings. Most nights I'd be lucky to get home after they had already had a bath and were all lovely smelling and happy to see me. Now I am doing mornings and nights as the husband is working insane hours. I am being run ragged and am not sure I can keep up this pace.
I miss the city. I worked in the city for almost 10 years and I LOVED it. I ended up taking the train in with the girls last weekend as I needed a city hit. It was just as good as I remembered.
Shopping. Myer, I miss you baby! Way less money means way less shopping. This is probably a good thing but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

I should probably write a companion post about things I don't miss about the old life. Having the door slammed in my face by my old boss (repeatedly) comes to mind.

Oh, I know! How about giving instructions to my secretary about one of my cases between contractions while I was in labor with Miss M? Sitting in on numerous conference calls with counsel while breastfeeding a freshly born Miss V (and having to take notes).

Fun times indeed.

Let me give thanks

2010-03-17T12:04:00.001+11:00

Dear brain,

Thank you so much for working on no sleep or real nutrition (sorry about all that diet coke!) and helping me come up with a killer concept for my assignment which I’m presenting to my tutorial this afternoon.

Am pretty pleased with how we worked together over the last few days.

Keep it up brain and we’ll have a lot of fun together- you might want to work on making me less of a klutz though- surely tripping over so much isn’t fun for you either?

Love Aneets

Some things never change

2010-03-03T23:09:00.003+11:00

So I am now well into my new life as a student, version 2.0, which is largely responsible for the lack of posting of late.

Having an opportunity to do the student thing all over again, with more 'mature' eyes is fascinating. As much as things have changed, they have also remained pretty much the same.

There are still those students at uni who come to class barefoot.

There are still those annoying students who like to hear the sound of their own voice during tutorials and waste everyones time pontificating about something that is not related to what we're meant to be discussing at all.

I still roll my eyes and sigh audibly at those annoying people. Actually, I may do it louder now, as my time is precious- shut up annoying fellow student!

Lecturers are as unorganised as they were a decade ago. This time around they are unorganised when it comes to the new technology they're dealing with.

Getting a good mark still gives me a nerdy high. Yay! I got a Distinction in my exam (surprising, as I thought it was seriously hard and I had bombed out).

Motivation to study doesn't seem to hit until the last minute. I should really call this year the year of cramming as that still seems to be my modus operandi.

Am off to medicate myself with some 30 Rock (love me some Liz Lemon) after a tough (but rewarding) week.

They love each other, they really love each other!

2010-02-10T21:19:00.003+11:00

So far 2010 has been a year of many changes.

I am no longer working in the corporate world and am back being a student, Miss M has started school, Miss V now only goes to day care a couple of days per week (half her usual 4 days of the past couple of years) and we are of course getting in touch with our frugal feelings as we have much less money to go around now.

Today I had the day off with Miss V while M was at school. It is so rare I get to spend time with Miss V without Miss M being around, I was excited.

After we dropped off Miss M at school Miss V and I headed to our local library for story/craft time, grabbed a bite to eat at a little cafe, watched one of her favourite movies when we got home and even indulged in some craft (which I never do, I hate craft with a passion).

At about 2 o'clock, while I was scrambling to get dinner organised before heading out to pick up Miss M I realised that Miss V had disappeared. I discovered her sobbing her little heart out in the living room, serious sobbing people.

Me: Miss V, what's wrong sweetheart. Did you hurt yourself?

Miss V: I miss my sister mama. I want my sister back.

Sobbing continues.

Of course, I know my girls love each other.

I can see it in the way they want to sleep together in Miss M's single bed every night rather than be comfortable on their own, the way that Miss M will start crying herself if Miss V hurts herself or is in trouble for something, 'Stop making my sister sad mama, stop it! I feel sad when she's sad!'

However, the sight of Miss V crying as if her little heart was breaking truly brought home to me what a privilege it is to have a sister. It seriously brought a tear to my eye.

I am so glad they have each other and when they inevitably hate each other in about 10 years time I will be reminding them of days like today.

So that New Year's resolution was completely unnecessary

2010-02-08T16:55:00.003+11:00

You know way back in January how I made a resolution to start keeping track of all the books I'd read this year.

Yeah, so having started uni a couple of weeks ago, I think I've already completed that resolution.

How you ask? Well, I blogged about the first three books I read this year and it appears with the workload for my course, that those books are likely to be the only ones I read until next Christmas holidays.

How could I forget how much work uni involves? There are readings, presentations, evaluations, reports, not to mention lessons plans for prac.

I was up until 2am last night completing my first assignment. This is the workload for only 1 subject- how on earth will I juggle it all once I start the rest of the course in a few weeks and am doing 5 subjects?

Oh well, the New Year resolution was good while it lasted!

This site almost made me crash my car

2010-01-30T16:01:00.003+11:00

Driving home from a scintillating morning grocery shopping I happened upon the above.

This was, of course, a bride's chosen method of transportation on her wedding day.

I had no idea that this kind of thing even existed and such was my shock driving by, I almost had an accident.

Of course, the next thing I did was go straight home, grab the girls and show them this Cinderella carriage brought to life. They LOVED it (as 3 and 5 year old little girls do!) but I suspect they were more excited by being in close proximity to a real, live horse.

Now I'm kind of bummed that I didn't get a chance to check out the bride's dress, imagine how fairy tale-tastic that was!

Forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned...

2010-01-29T23:55:00.003+11:00

I thought it may be time to share some of my deepest, darkest secrets with you all.

In no particular order, I must confess to the following:

nobody in my real life (bar my folks, siblings and hubs) know that I am an avid op shopper. I may love to brag about my latest find on my little space on the internet (latest being a DVF shirt dress!), but in real life it is my deep & dark secret. My extended family are really into Stuff and would be horrified at the mere thought of entering a St Vinnies;
I sometimes turn a blind eye to my kids being naughty because I am just too tired to deal with the hard work involved in disciplining them;
On the rare occasion I make fish fingers for the kids, it is not really for them (they don't even like them that much) but so that I get to eat their leftovers. I assure myself that I'm only eating them in order to not waste food, but that's not entirely true;
I have a 5 year old daughter that does not yet own a Nitendo DS (unlike all her cousins with all the Stuff). I say that this is because I want her to enjoy the simpler things in life for a little bit longer, but a big part of it is that I am too lazy to get familiar with the technology. I'll just wait until she can read the instructions and I don't have to figure it all out.
I sometimes turn the music up really loud in the car so as to not have to hear the kids questions. Do you know how many questions my kids ask in a day? I can't wait until Miss M can be internet savvy enough to access wikapedia and google!

Come on people, unburden yourself! You'll feel better, I promise.

Any other deep and dark secrets out there?

School's In

2010-01-28T23:03:00.002+11:00

I started uni this week- I have one subject that I am doing full time for the next 4 weeks before uni starts up officially. In semester 1 I will be doing 4 subjects on top of 1-2 days of prac teaching per week- eek!

It is obviously early days, but I am really enjoying it all. I had forgotten how great it is to learn about something that you're really interested in. How could I forget that? Oh, that's right I was stuck in my own personal corporate hell!

Yes, so I am finding it all fascinating and as a bonus the people doing the course all seem to be really into it as well. I guess there is something to be said for doing a course later in life when you've experienced some of the world. All of us already have undergraduate degrees, some with masters degrees and one person doing my course even has her doctorate!

Of course I now have a tonne of reading to do and assignments to prepare. Figuring how to do all of that on top of dealing with the kids will be a new challenge in my student life version 2.0.

I know, I know, sprinkles are so passe!

2010-01-22T16:19:00.009+11:00

Bananas are the bane of my existence. I loathe the smell of them and the taste of them and even the look of them turns my stomach.

This is a lasting effect of the shocking morning sickness I had with each of my pregnancies. The smell of bananas would make me dry retch and I have never recovered.

However, my kids have no such aversions and eat them happily. I seem to be hopeless at gaging how many they will eat any given week however, and am constantly trying to find recipes to get rid of bananas which are past their prime.

Yesterday I made choc chip banana bread and today it was this here chocolate banana cake.

People, I am shocked, shocked, that these recipes worked. This here chocolate banana cake doesn't even taste like banana (bonus!). The banana just makes the cake sweeter and more delicious.

Obviously I need to go to some cake decorating class however as I don't think that chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles really count as decoration once you hit adulthood.

Still, my life list is going OK I think- sponge cake watch out!

A feat of endurance

2010-01-21T22:06:00.004+11:00

OK, being out of practice at this whole SAHM gig (until I become a uni student next week- can we say yay to student concessions!), I delved back into the SAHM life and hosted a play date with one of Miss M's best daycare friends, Miss T, today.

When you're working these don't get to happen very often as your weekends are precious and you don't want to share the kids with anyone apart from your family- at least I didn't!

I think things may have changed a tad since I was last on maternity leave with Miss V.

I spoke to Miss T's mum and we arranged for Miss T (and said mum and little 9 month old brother) to come by at 9:30 this morning. I figured the kids would play up a storm, I'd serve some morning tea (Retromummy's banana bread- too easy and delicious!) and by lunchtime our visitors would be on their merry way.

People, our visitors did not leave until after 3pm. Yes, you read correctly, 3pm.

I served morning tea, I served lunch, I served many ice blocks (it was a scorcher in Sydney) and I was close to serving afternoon tea when our guests finally left. By the time that happened I was well and truly exhausted.

When did play dates become such marathons of endurance?

Do not misunderstand, Miss T's mother is easy to talk to, the kids were well behaved, but after over 5 hours I think the timer has gone off and it is well and truly time to go home.

I think had Miss T been on her own, I wouldn't have found it such an imposition, but with her mum here too, it felt like hard work.

For all the mums out there, am I out of the loop or do play dates with your kids friends usually last this long? Do the parents always stay? For everyone, parents and non parents out there- how do you get guests to leave who have overstayed their welcome? Is there a nice way of saying, could you please go home now?

Morbid Miss M

2010-01-19T14:05:00.002+11:00

The scene: I am driving the car with Miss V and Miss M in the back.

Miss V: 'Mama, it is too sunny, I hate the sun! Make it go away!'

Miss M: 'V, without the sun everything on the earth will die. You don't want to be dead do you?'

Of all the things Miss M could have taken away from the movie 'Where the Wild Things Are', this lovely fact is permanently lodged in her brain.

I almost feel sorry for her teacher when she starts school in a couple of weeks!

Dagger to the self esteem

2010-01-17T09:34:00.002+11:00

Words you do not want to hear from your beautician as she's waxing your eyebrows:

Beautician: 'Do you want me to do your moustache as well?'

Enter stunned silence.

People, I do not have a moustache, I promise!

However, felt decidedly unpretty for the rest of the day. To make matters worse she did a horrible job on my eyebrows.

Time to find myself a regular beautician rather than being the salon slut that I am.

Channeling my inner Masterchef

2010-01-12T19:59:00.006+11:00

So, see this here pavlova on the left? That people, is a pavlova, baked by none other than myself.

Seriously, it was baked by me!

I know, I'm as shocked as you are.

Who knew that if I put my mind to it I could actually use my lovely kitchen (it truly is lovely, and a baker's dream) to make desserts which are actually edible?

Yes, I am aware that my presentation leaves much to be desired. I will work on that with my next pavlova. It tasted delicious (even if I have to say so myself).

However, I feel like I have conquered my own personal Everest with the baking of this here pavlova.

Who knows maybe one day I'll even master a sponge, filled with jam and cream.

For some people walking the Kokoda trail is on their 'things to do before I die' list.

For me it is making a variety of baked goods.

Happy to turn my new year's resolution into blog fodder

2010-01-10T21:13:00.002+11:00

As mentioned, probably ad nauseum by now, I have turned my back on the corporate world this year.

However, far be it for me to say that there won't be things I will miss about my old life. Top of the list is the trip into work on the train. It took 30 minutes and that was a solid hour of reading time I had at my disposal every day.

I can't even think of how many books I read last year, suffice to say it was a lot.

One of my few new year's resolutions was to record the books I read in 2010. Sadly, I am sure there will be less of them, however hopefully not too many less.

So far this year I have read the following:

Disgrace by J M Coetzee

This is a book that I read solidly all of new year's eve and on more than one occasion was asked to put down as apparently reading while others are trying to be festive is rude. Hey, I didn't bring it to a party or anything, I was among family watching the fireworks on TV. I put it down long enough to kiss everyone on the stroke of midnight and went straight back to the book.

Loved. It.

Just so beautifully written and engrossing. It is about a South African university professor who has an affair with a student and the 'disgrace' is about what happens when the shit hits the fan. It was a fascinating look at a part of the world I don't know much about and won the author a second Booker Prize. I can see why.

Sophie's Bakery for the Broken Hearted by Lolly Winston.

I love me some chick lit people and I am not ashamed to be open about that. You have your Booker Prize winners and you have your single gal in the city books that help you switch off. This one is lots of fun though it is about a single gal who is single as the result of being unexpectedly widowed in her 30s and having to pick up the pieces. I have actually read it before, but even after I realised that went on to read it again. Good stuff.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Where to start. This book was heartbreaking. I actually read the last 50 or so pages again as soon as I finished it, it was that good. It is about a Harvard University professor, Alice, who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease in her 50s. The book is written from the perspective of Alice and I love loved loved it. I thought about this book for days after finishing it and I think it will be one that will stay with me for a while.

Currently starting In Cold Blood by Capote in addition to another chick lit book called The Manny. Reviews to follow once I finish them. I do have eclectic taste don't I?

Meme marathon

2010-01-04T18:18:00.004+11:00

2010 is here, I thought it might be fun to do this meme which I have been reading (for years now) at Linda's blog.

1. What did you do in 2009 which you had never done before?

I stepped off the corporate ladder and decided to follow what made me happy not what made me richer.

2. Did you keep your new years resolutions and will you make more for next year?

I am crap at resolutions and definitely don't make them. Though this year I definitely want to keep a record of the books I read (since I go through so many) and want to watch more movies.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No, but 2010 promises to be the year of P23's bub (yay!).

4. What countries did you visit?

Sadly, none.

5. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

A better work / life balance. 2009 was the year of me becoming completely and utterly burnt out at work and making drastic decisions (see answer to 1 above) where my happiness was the top of the list.

6. What dates will remain etched in your memory from 2009 and why?

Miss M's birthday as she turned 5 at 9:00pm on 09/09/09.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

See answer to question 1 and also (on a more shallow note) I started making actual strides in my baking prowess. Sadly this means before I had no prowess and now some of my creations are actually edible.

8. What was your biggest failure?

Letting the kids push my buttons and resorting to yelling a little too much for my liking.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Sadly yes, resulting in surgery and a radioactive treatment which resulted in me being a kid and people free zone for almost 2 weeks. I used the break as a chance to read the entire Twilight series (please don't judge me).

10. What was the best thing you bought?

Hands down my sandwich press- made cheese even more delicious!

11. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

My husband, mum and NJ for totally having my back during my health dramas and making sure the kids didn't miss me at all.

12. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

My mil for doing exactly the opposite of the husband, mum and NJ during the health dramas.

13. Where did most of your money go?

House related expenses (we were finishing up the internal fit out after spending all of 2008 building the house) mortgage, daycare, bills, Myer and Country Road.

14. What did you get really excited about?

My cousin Ang's wedding (I had a reason to buy a new dress! for me! for Miss M! for Miss V!), seeing the kids after being in radiation isolation, getting the health all clear and pretty much all the Myer & Country Road cardholder sales.

15. What song will always remind you of 2009?

Middle of the Hill by Josh Pyke (the kids actually know all the words- seriously!), Neapolitan Dreams by Lisa Mitchell and Talk Like That by The Presets.

16. Compared to this time last year are you:

- happier or sadder? Happier, most def.
- fatter or thinner? Fatter sadly (let us blame the health related dramas and not the cheese)
- richer or poorer? Richer but about to get really poor living on one income (it was great while it lasted Myer and Country Road!)

17. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Thinking before I purchased something.

18. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Yelling at the kids and purchasing something before I had actually thought about whether or not I needed it (see 17 above).

19. How did you spend Christmas?

Breakfast at NJ's and lunch with the folks.

20. Did you fall in love in 2009?

With Mad Men, Dexter and The Wire (true The Wire devotees will get the shout out at 16 above) and too much in Myer and Country Road (god I sound like a broken record!)

21. What was your favourite tv program?

Mad Men, Dexter, The Wire, The Office, 30 Rock, Gossip Girl. I cannot choose just one.

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Thankfully no.

23. What was the best book you read?

Oooh, I read so many books. Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland comes to mind and Digging to America by Anne Tyler.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Probably Lisa Mitchell as I have never been a big Australian Idol follower. She was fantastic live.

25. What did you want and get?

Many many dresses.

26. What did you want and not get?

Many many dresses.

27. What was your favourite film of this year?

Sadly I didn't see too many movies and cannot think of a single one.

28. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

I had the day off work with the husband and girls and we fed ducks at Lake Parramatta after lunch at the cafe. Perfection.

29. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?

If I had not had the health drama, but in a way that helped me make some big decisions- so nothing.

30. How do you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Dressy dress dress. I seem to have some kind of obsession with them and have bought so many that I had to get new hangers more times than I like to recall.

31. What kept you sane?

My family.

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Hamish Blake. Love. Him.

33.Which political issue stirred you the most?

Probably the environment and treatment of asylum seekers.

34.Who do you miss?

My fabulous cousin M- she would have made most of the fun times of 2009 even more fun (she was that kind of person). RIP cousin M, love you.

35. Who was the best new person you met?

I cannot think of anyone, though one of the new teachers at the girls day care deserves a massive pay rise for saving Miss M from complete and utter boredom.

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009?

Life is too short, what's the worst that could happen?

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

So when you gonna get a real job son
And buy a little real estate?
If that means living someone elses life
I guess we're going to have to wait
Another day

Bob Evans, Hand Me Downs.

Doing this meme was so much fun- would love to read everyone elses!

Boxing Day sales 101

2009-12-26T09:12:00.006+11:00

At 5.30am this morning NJ and I were already hitting Myer Sydney city at the insanity that is the Boxing Day sales.

The sales hold a special place in my heart and I have been going for at least the past 10 years.

I thought that it may be useful to pass on some of my very important sales tips for those who may be thinking of partaking in some retail therapy this sale season:

1. Sales day outfits should consist of skirt, fitted singlet and your most comfortable shoes.

Skirt means that you can try on bottoms without having to snag that elusive change room.

Singlet mean you can try on that shirt or t shirt and again avoid the change room.

Comfortable shoes are a no brainer, though I would advise against anything with buckles as they are majorly painful to keep on doing up.

2. As sad as it sounds, going early is the way to go. We got there at 5.20 and were already done by about 7.30. By the time we left there were lines to even go up the escalators and most of the popular sizes were already gone (grabbed by the like of us!).

3. Do your research beforehand. Make sure you know what you're looking for and where it is located in the store. Checking things out before the sales start (trying them on when there is no drama getting a change room) means things will go much quicker on actual sale day.

4. You don't always have to pay for your item at the cashier in the section you got it from. Be on the lookout for cashiers in sections of the store which are not as crazy as others. Same goes for change rooms. I tried on a dress in the plus sized older ladies section today (I am decidedly not plus sized or that mature (ha!)) because there was nobody there. Same with the cashier. Didn't matter that my dress was from another area of the store.

5. Wear nude coloured underwear. There is nothing worse than trying on white or light clothing and having no idea if it is actually see through or just looks that way because of the black bra you're wearing. This saves unnecessary returns.

6. Have a partner with you during the shop- you can split up and check out different sections for each other (saves time) and always make sure if you are both in the shoe section at the same time one of you lines up for the other shoe pretty much as soon as you get there. The waiting you have to do in the shoe section is insane. You can take turns waiting (forever!) while the other goes through the shoes.

7. Please be nice to the retail staff working in the stores. This means having manners (please and thank you are compulsory) and wherever possible keeping shelves and racks as tidy as possible. Ditto to being nice to your fellow shoppers. I have no idea why sale time means that people leave common courtesy at home- some of the rudeness has to be seen to be believed.

My haul today was a Country Road mini, gorgeous skinny grey leather belt, a gorgeous silk David Laurence dress (with pockets !!) and some stuff for the hubs.

Happy shopping!!

Chocolate is always the answer

2009-12-22T08:05:00.003+11:00

So my love of all things retail is well documented on this blog (imagine I am linking to say a dozen or so entries covering my favourite past time!) but is there anything worse than trying to buy a gift for your boss?

I spent way too long last night umming and ahing over the perfect gift to get my current (and soon to be former- yay!) boss.

It happens every year. Alcohol is out as he is on many a wine committee and my own wine knowledge is woeful. He doesn't give out much information about his personal life so anything like a book or dvd is hard, as I have no idea about his interests.

I ended up getting him an assortment of sweet treats. When all else fails chocolate is the answer.

I went with chocolate for the carers at Miss M and Miss V's day care as well.

Speaking of day care, today is Miss M's last day of day care ever as she is moving on to school come February.

It a momentous occasion as she's been going to the same centre since she was 9 months old. Most of the carers have been there for that long and remember her when she was a bald and toothless baby.

Next year is definitely going to be a big year for out little family!

Good day

2009-12-16T23:20:00.004+11:00

Tonight I availed myself of the insanity of the Christmas shopping late night, every night, trading hours and grabbed a few odds and ends to round out my Christmas shopping.

I bought all of my gifts a while back (as I am the shopping nerd) and tonight I went out and purchased gifts that will be given by my husband, sister and mother to others. I have become a personal shopper to my whole family.

It's been a good day all round really. Made pancakes for the kids for breakfast (today is my day off as I work a 4 day week- though not for much longer!) headed out to the local Westfields with the kidlets for lunch, followed by a spot of op shopping where I scored a perfectly lovely silk dress (perfect for an outing this weekend) and then cooked a lovely dinner which fed both my family and NJ's family.

I will be very sad and lonely if NJ ever decides to move as these kind of afternoons are so idyllic (when not marred by the fighting that only 2 and 3 year olds can do!) and lovely and I know the kids will look back on them fondly, much like I do my own childhood spent with my cousins.

She wants to dance hard for the money

2009-12-12T22:25:00.002+11:00

Earlier this evening the hubs and I accompanied Miss M and Miss V to the State Theatre to go and see an Angelina Ballerina inspired ballet.

During the intermission lots of the girls attending decided to bust a ballet move and Miss M joined the throng, dancing hard, twirling her little heart out.

After a couple of minutes she comes over:

'Mama, can I please have my hat?'

'Miss M, we're inside, you don't need it.'

'Not to wear, mama! I want to dance for money- not for free.'

I seriously could not make this stuff up.

Buckleys and none

2009-12-09T13:46:00.003+11:00

Earlier today Miss M and I are looking through the recipe books trying to find some Christmas cookie recipes we can try today.

After a fruitless search, nothing really spoke to us, she pipes up:

'I've got it mama, we can make a croquembouche cake!'

Oh sweetie you seriously overestimate your mother's baking prowess. I have more chance of making a rocket and flying it to the moon than making a croquembouche cake.

Less Masterchef next season, for sure.

Dead Set Brilliant

2009-12-07T22:51:00.002+11:00

I just watched the last episode of a 5 part British series called Dead Set.

I may have nightmares for a while.

The synopsis for the series is below:

'Britain has a problem. The dead are returning to life and attacking the living. The people they kill get up and kill- and it's spreading like wildfire. Curiously there are a few people left in Britain who aren't worried about any of this- that's because they're the remaining contestants in Big Brother. Cocooned in the safety of the Big Brother house, they're blissfully unaware of the horrific events unfolding outside. Until an eviction night where all hell breaks loose.'

OK, admittedly I have a soft spot for end of the world, apocalyptic genre. However, i don't think you need to love the genre to love this series. Incredibly clever, at times funny and truly horrifying. At one stage during episode 2 my husband tapped me on the shoulder and I screamed so loudly I almost woke up Miss M and Miss V.

Do yourself a favour and check it out.

Finding more 'fun' in the run

2009-12-03T23:24:00.002+11:00

This must be a record- went for another run tonight. Third day of exercise this week.

It was a tad difficult as the kids were with me and the husband at the park and every time I went to run another lap they would get very upset and want me to slow down and run at their pace. I ended up taking them to the playground so the husband could watch them while I ran a circuit and they were distracted. Not ideal and less intensive than usual, but better than nothing.

Have also been very productive this evening making a gorgeously delicious pesto (using basil and parsley from our garden!) in addition to making a choc chip banana bread for the day care Christmas party tomorrow night. Mother of the year award committee please take note!

However now I am up at 11.30pm waiting for the banana bread to be done- time management fail.

Thank goodness there is the internet around to help while away the time!

Christmas shopping nerd

2009-12-01T22:25:00.003+11:00

I keep reading about how stressed everyone is with Christmas almost being upon us.

I myself, cannot wait for it to arrive.

Yes, I am one of those people you may think a a tad strange- the kind who finished the bulk of her Christmas shopping a while back and does not need to get caught in the crush of people rushing around trying to find that perfect gift.

Now the bulk of my shopping is for the various kids in my immediate and extended family- for that I plan months ahead. However, for the adults, over the past few years my family have made things pretty easy for us all by having a Kris Kringle. We draw a name and have a $100 budget for that persons gift.

This year I have the lovely P23 and have loved every minute of shopping for her gift. I love buying people presents, LOVE IT, and don't care at all about receiving anything myself. For me it is all about watching the person you have shopped for open your gift.

I fully expect her to blog about how great my gift is on December 26.

Although now I have hyped it I expect she'll blog about how things never live up to your expectations... we shall see in a mere 25 days!

'Fun' run

2009-11-29T21:47:00.004+11:00

I went for a run last night.

I know what you're thinking, 'and...?'

Trust me, this is blogworthy stuff as my hatred of exercise is epic.

I signed up for 10 weeks of pilates last year and ended up missing over half the classes. Though, in my defence, the instructor of the class was awful. I mean she was fantastic at pilates and showing us the moves. However, in between that she just talked and talked and talked. About the stupid and inane things in her life, like how she was going to get so drunk on the weekend. It was all I could do to not scream at her to shut up in the middle of the class.

So back to my run. It always starts out well, I get going and think 'Why don't I do this more often, how hard is running really? Man, perhaps I should think about doing a marathon?'

The niggling beginnings of a stitch kick in about now. 'Breathe through it, breathe through it. This only happens because you don't know how to breathe properly. Breathe like a runner!'

Yes because breathing is so complex!

Needless to say, by the end I am an absolute wreck cursing whoever invented running and finding it hard to walk on legs made of jelly.

I am planning on going at least another 2 or 3 times this week in order to shift a couple of kilos before Christmas.

Anything to ensure I can enjoy the Christmas/New Year food treats without worrying about my pants doing up. Damn you food, why must you be so delicious?

Like mother, like daughters

2009-11-23T21:32:00.004+11:00

For as long as I can remember I have been a night owl.

It takes me a while to wake up in the morning and I am never a fan of breakfast (though of course I make myself have it) and any intelligent conversation is scarce before 9am.

I love the hours after everyone has gone to bed and the house is quiet. This is my time to wander through the rooms, channel surf, play on the internet, read a book-enjoy the silence. You name it, it is way more fun late at night.

I always thought once I had kids that I would somehow change and magically morph into a morning person.

Guess what? Hasn't happened. I still hate mornings and the chaos of most of my days means that I treasure the quiet at night even more.

Believe it or not my kids are also not morning people. While other mothers complain about their kids waking up at the crack of dawn, I am the one who has to rip the covers off the bed, tickle them awake, threaten, cajole, at one stage flick water on them - anything to get them up in the morning.

Yes, yes, I know you're jealous of my kids who love to sleep in. However, it makes for a very stressful morning.

You know the bit I hate the most- the fact that I have to pretend to be a morning person so they'll get out of bed. I feel like such a fraud- the whole time I'm this chipper fake version of myself crapping on about what a beautiful morning it is (ugh!) I really want to crawl in bed with them and have a big sleep in together.

Sometimes this whole being a responsible adult thing is no fun.

Does Santa really spend that much?

2009-11-19T07:49:00.005+11:00

Recently I was chatting to the mum of Miss M's best friend about Christmas and the stress that goes along with it. Small talk for the season if you will.

So she makes mention that the previous year her daughter had received a $800 toy kitchen from Santa. Me, thinking I must have misheard, said '$800! You're kidding right?'

People, she was not kidding.

Me, being the nosy parker that I am, asked her what her budget was for the kids presents this year. (Bear in mind she has a 4 year old and a not quite 1 year old). Apparently Miss 4 will be getting $750 of Christmas joy and Mr Not 1 will be getting $500.

!!!!

The reasoning she gave was that she didn't buy the kids toys through the year (birthdays not withstanding) and so she spoiled them at Christmas time.

OK my budget for Miss M and Miss V is $100 each & most likely a little bit less. Trust me, I never buy them toys during the year (OK, unless we find something fantastic at our local op shop) yet due to my lovely family and friends they are spoiled for choice with toys (well no $800 kitchen but you get my drift).

For me the real meaning of Christmas is spending lots of time with my family, eating much delicious food with the people I love.

However, perhaps I'm in the minority- do people really spend that much on presents for their kids?

Enlighten me people, I'm interested to find out.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-anges

2009-11-17T21:39:00.002+11:00

I can't get that song out of my head.

You know the one right?

I have some huge changes going on in my life at the moment and it has been hard to blog when everything is topsy turvy.

The facts are: I have been accepted into uni, resigned from my job (after surviving almost 10 years in a very competitive industry) and will as of 2011 (all things going well) be a qualified secondary school teacher.

I think everybody in my office is looking at my decision as kind of crazy.

However, I have been unhappy for a long time. When the only think you like about your job is the money, and the actual job itself is slowly killing your will to live- after a while the money just doesn't cut it any more.

I am happy to purchase dresses from op shops for a long time to come if it means spending more time with my girls and doing something I actually enjoy and am happy about.

I am so excited about what I have coming ahead!

A life without the flashing red light of the blackberry ruining my day is one that I will be more than happy to live in!!

Girl's Night In - Update

2009-11-09T21:56:00.002+11:00

A while back I blogged about the impending Girl's Night In NJ and I were hosting in honour of my cousin who died from breast cancer 2 years ago.

I was a tad stressed about the whole thing, as I tend to be, however I shouldn't have been. The night was a lot of fun- we had some last minute cancellations, so there ended up being 12 of us together on the night.

That is a good number of women- large enough to feel festive, but not too large so it feels like you need to circulate and mingle.

We ended up raising $1115 for breast cancer research. A fanatastic result if I do say so myself. We had a $25 cover charge (voluntary of course!) and then NJ and I had purchased some items which we auctioned at the end of the night. Lots of fun.

Despite the good done and the fun had I don't think I want to host again next year.

Why I hear you ask?

The part which I have hated having to deal with is knowing who has not come through with their promised donations. In some cases people asked to donate despite being unable to attend- after being specifically asked to send these invitees the necessary link quite a few have simply not come through with the funds.

I hate knowing this about these people. I would never promise to donate and not follow through.

In light of the stress that this has caused me I am more than happy to pass the baton on to another member of my family next year and be ignorant about this side of the money bit.

Parenting fail

2009-11-07T22:49:00.004+11:00

I have had a less than stellar day as the mum of Miss M. I would go far as to say it has been an awful day. Big parenting fail on my part people, FAIL.

Last night the girls stayed over my mum's house so the hubs and I could enjoy a belated anniversary night out. Unfortunately for us, Saturday mornings start with 8.30am swimming lessons, so no sleep in happening this morning.

Once we arrive at my mothers, Miss M is inconsolable and very upset at the thought of having to go swimming. Miss M is a big fan of the drama (wonder where she gets that from??) and I brush aside any concerns and proceed to take the girls to their lesson.

After 15 minutes spent convincing Miss M to enter the water- a good 5 of which was spent threatening her with all nature of punishments (the lessons, while essential, are costing me $16 a pop. At that price she is not sitting on the sidelines watching the instructor- I want my monies worth!) she finally gets in. She spends most of the lesson (what's left of it) in a grump but struggles through.

We head on home and during a quick pit stop at the shops she does a mammoth vomit in the car.

I really hope that she has not given the virus to the other people in her class.

How do you think I feel about making her do the lessons?

Wierd or wonderful?

2009-11-05T22:11:00.004+11:00

Is anyone out there a fan of graveyards?

Chirping crickets.... OK, just me then.

Ever since I can remember I have loved visiting graveyards and wandering through all the tombstones, reading about who is buried there and who they left behind. I also cannot finish reading a newspaper without going through the obituaries.

I am lucky enough to live pretty much right next to one of Australia's oldest graveyards and I have taken to visiting it fairly frequently with Miss M and Miss V.

Nobody has been buried there for many, many years and it is filled with these beautiful sandstone headstones, huge trees and wild flowers. The girls and I wander through reading out the names of the people (most who died over 100 years ago), their ages and usually pick some wild flowers in order to leave them on the graves of the little kids.

There are so, so many little kids buried there. It's so very sad to think of all these mothers who had to go through something so awful, often times more than once in their lives.

Surely I can't be the only person out there who likes a nice graveyard?

True confessions

2009-10-31T10:18:00.002+11:00

I have a confession to make- I cannot swim.

OK, OK, that may be stretching the truth just a tad, were I too suddenly find myself in water which went over my head I wouldn't drown. I would cobble together some kind of dog paddle-freestyle hybrid which would save me from death- but that's about it.

I know, I know. We live in on an island, surrounded by water. I can't help it though, it's genetic- ask NJ, she'll confirm it for you.

Growing up my parents didn't send us to lessons and we never spent too much time by the water. By the time I was old enough to do something about it I had made an important discovery.

I don't like getting my face wet when I swim. In addition, I really hate getting my hair wet. Swimming, proper swimming, involves both of those things- especially the face bit. No thanks. Life is too short to do something I actively dislike.

However, when it comes to Miss V and Miss M- I am all about them learning to swim the right way. I spent this morning watching them have their swimming lessons (Miss V just started at 3 years old- I could have started her sooner but those classes involved me getting in the water and that was not going to happen).

Watching Miss M during her class I realised something- she can swim better than I can. Seriously. Her freestyle actually looks fancy, like a freestyle should. She puts her face under the water and wears goggles and everything.

I am so glad that my dislike of the water is not being inherited by my kids and they'll grow up loving the water and actually being in it.

Myself? I'm happy to watch from the sidelines cheering them on- I just blow dried my hair and there is no way I'm wrecking it by getting in the water with them- that's what husbands are for!

We've come a long way baby...

2009-10-27T21:38:00.003+11:00

There is a Balkan tradition that when you attend a wedding a sprig of rosemary is pinned to your lapel at the start of the reception.

Following the festivities, the guest is supposed to plant that sprig. If the cutting becomes a plant, then the newlyweds have a long and happy future ahead of them.

Tomorrow marks 9 years since the husband and I walked down the aisle.

I am informed by the husband's aunt (who is very old school and traditional) that the rosemary sprig she received on our wedding day is now a thriving rosemary tree which will be around for a very long time.

I like to think of that tree growing and getting bigger with each year- much like the life the husband and I have created together.

Sick stress

2009-10-21T11:26:00.006+11:00

Being a mother is hard work, be it a stay at home mum or the working out of the home kind.

I have had a chance to be both at different times and I know they have their own ups and down, positives and negatives.

At the moment I am working 4 days a week in a very demanding job- one where the blinking red light of the blackberry needs to be monitored constantly and one which means that 9 times out of 10, my working days are ones that I end up getting home after the kids have gone to bed.

I am finding it so very hard at the moment. The kids have a great daycare that they attend, but when they are sick things go a little hay wire around here.

Over the past week we've had, coughs, croup, conjunctivitis and ear infections.

Sunday was the worst. We had a big family day in the city planned. A kids show at The Opera House, followed by a trip to the mummy exhibit at The Australian Museum, some lunch and following it up with a special pink ribbon mass at St James Church.

Around mid morning Miss V started getting the tell tale goopy eyes of conjunctivitis, she was non plussed by it all, but the hubby and I hit the panic stations as if she didn't get treated asap she was not allowed to attend day care the next day.

So a frantic drive around the Sydney CBD and inner west ensued with us finally finding an open medical centre in Marrickville. After waiting an hour we had our prescription and were free to treat away.

Great! We continue with our day and arrive home completely exhausted. The kids settle in on the couch while I start tackling the mountain of washing.

Out of the blue Miss M starts moaning about her ear hurting. Off to the crappy medical centre (which is the only one open so late on a Sunday) we go, after almost an hour and half later we have one severe ear infection and yet another prescription.

I hate the fact that along with the typical mother panic I get when the kids are sick, I also automatically start panicking about day care.

The one thing I miss about being at home with the kids is not having to worry that I have to send them to care when they're feeling less than their best. I don't have to worry about who is taking the day off to care for them, I don't have to worry about the fact I have no sick days left and staying home is going to piss everyone off at work.

Hopefully the kids have taken enough drugs over the past few week so that I can have at least a couple of sick free weeks.

Dress fever

2009-10-15T20:06:00.003+11:00

So I have posted in the past about having daggy outfit days and how that has a flow on effect of making me feel bad about myself as well. Who knew clothes had so much power over me? My credit card actually but that is a story for another time.

How was the outfit of today working for me I hear you ask? Fantastic people, fantastic.

I wore a new silk shift dress purchased during my dress frenzy of late (seriously it is a frenzy, I have purchased 4 more new dresses since my post a while back about my prior dress mania) and it is so flattering and lovely it made me feel like a million dollars.

To show you how the dress mania continues through the generations, recently I've been having some troubles with Miss M in the behaviour department. After a particular incident at her day care (which I care not to recall though it would make for an excellent blog post) I was at the end of my tether and failing to come up with good punishment.

Any ideas as to what I came up with people?

I confiscated all of her dresses. She has been without them for a week now and on top of the no dress action, she has to have a week's worth of good behaviour before they're allowed back in her wardrobe. There has never been a better punishment for Miss M as she is her mother's daughter and LOVES her dresses. That little number at the beginning of this post is one of her recent dress acquisitions (and if it came in my size we'd have matching outfits. LOVE)

Do I even need to tell you that Miss V is infected by the bug as well? Even Miss E (NJ's adorable little girl and my lovely niece) is in on the action.

I came to realise perhaps she has a bit too many of them when I was actually removing them from her wardrobe as it took three trips. Three trips people. I am too scared to count them as I am pretty sure there may be over 30 (OK, OK closer to 40) of them in there.

Still, while it no doubt qualifies as over the top consumerism, it certainly serves as a very handy punishment.

I vow to pursue happiness

2009-10-08T00:21:00.004+11:00

So I must admit I broke my vow to complete the writing task before I went to bed last night. I know, I know, not really good enough as I did have the time.

However, as of 12.22am (now) the thing has FINALLY been submitted and is now thankfully out of my hands. I feel as if a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Now I just play the waiting game.

The writing task is all part of my grand plan to shake up my life in 2010 and no longer waste my time doing what I 'should' do but instead invest my energy into doing what actually makes me happy.

To happiness!

Procrastination Nation

2009-10-05T21:32:00.002+11:00

I am the queen of procrastination.

I have a 750 word essay (of sorts) I need to write, sooner rather than later, and I keep putting it off.

I have written about 250 words longhand, but just cannot seem to get into the frame of mind to type up and finish the piece.

I am barring myself from posting any entries on this here blog until I can banish my procrastination (this doesn't count!).

OK, maybe making blog vows will work- I vow to have it written and submitted before I go to bed tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

Girl's Night In

2009-09-30T09:09:00.002+10:00

Did you know that 1 in 11 women will die of breast cancer? Isn't that a frightening statistic?

Sadly, my cousin M, one of my very favourite people in the world, died of breast cancer two years ago this week. She left behind a little girl (my god-daughter) who was only 3 years old.

Last year was the first anniversary of her death and to commemorate a bunch of those who knew and loved her got together and organised a Girl's Night In. It will soon become apparent (as all products in the supermarket become pink!) that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. The idea is to invite a bunch of girlfriends over and donate the money you would have spent on a night out to breast cancer research instead.

Last year's event was a big success. We raised over $1000 for charity and had a blast remembering somebody we loved.

This year NJ and I are hosting the night at my place- this Saturday night. I am a tad stressed about how it will all go- we have a lot of work ahead of us and I am never laid back about any kind of 'party' that I am hosting. I think the success of last year was such that there are really high expectations of our night.

Of course it helps that I have NJ holding my hand and talking me off any ledges, and of course raising money is the most important thing.

Wish us luck!

The name game

2009-09-23T22:06:00.002+10:00

Being the shopaholic that I am, especially when it comes to my daughter's wardrobes, it will come as no surprise that I never fail to buy a copy of the magazine Shop 4 Kids.

Now I could devote a whole post to how, in my opinion, the mag has being going steadily downhill (I have every issue that has ever been released, so feel qualified to comment) but this post is not about that.

Rather, this post is devoted to the names that the kids which are featured in the mag are given by their parents.

Now I must confess, I am a traditionalist when it comes to names. Miss M and Miss V have names that your nanna could have had, that's the attraction for me. Classic and classy!

(As a side note, one of my fave name 'moments' when it comes to one of my kids was when the little old lady at our local op shop found out what Miss V's name was. She was shocked that she and Miss V shared a name and had never met a young person with the same name- to say I was excited to meet a little old lady Miss V is an understatement!)

The names of the kids in the mag though! OK, here are a few: Chilli, Indhi, Bodhi, Bo, Domino, Fionn.

Actually, I may have to google Fionn as that may well be a Welsh name or something like that and in that case it gets a pass.

But I really struggle to see why someone would want to saddle their child with such names. I may get some backlash from people out there in internet land who are guilty of naming their kids names which would fit in with those above. If so I would love to hear why!

In the meantime I continue with my old lady name obsession and were we to magically have another child in the near future they would be Miss Jane and Mr Albert.

(Though for full disclosure the husband would never let Albert get through - I tried with the previous pregnancies and was shot down. Thankfully we had girls and I get to dream of a possible Albert in my future, would probably have to get a new husband though!)

Friday fooderama

2009-09-18T21:02:00.002+10:00

So today I had a work related lunch which involved much schmoozing over a seven course menu, with different wines for each course (but of course!) at one of Sydney's best restaurants. Think Justine from Masterchef's new boss.

You would think after such an exciting day (there was no going back to the office when the lunch finished- well after 4pm- as wine and work do not mix!) I would be feeling pretty good, right?

In fact I feel quite the opposite. I am exhausted. I find those kind of events so very tiring.

The husband can't seem to get his head around the fact that such an events would be hard work. Afterwards, my cheeks literally hurt from smiling and I could not stand to have one more moment of small talk. Small talk is the devil.

I have said it before, conversation is an art.

This artist has used up all her paint and is on hiatus until further notice!

Daggy day

2009-09-15T21:33:00.003+10:00

So I think it's no surprise that I like fashion, clothes, shopping and all that stereotypical girly stuff.

My biggest opportunity to put on my glad rags is work. I like to have fun with my work outfits and most days I think I look pretty good. At a minimum, I definitely have a 'style' of my own going on. I find that if I am having the shittiest day ever, a glance at my cute outfit can help lift my spirits.

Today? Today was a crappy work day and this was compounded by a crappy outfit to go along with it.

Don't you hate that?

The minute I walked out of the door this morning I knew I had made fashion error, but short of being even later for work than usual and re-wrangling the kids out of the house and back into the car, I was stuck with my fashion disaster.

It really cast a shadow over my day. Shallow I know. I hate, hate, hate feeling like such a dag though. I am a pretty big dag most of the time anyway and need all the help an outfit can give me.

Here's to a better ensemble tomorrow!

Mojo, where did you go?

2009-09-15T07:53:00.004+10:00

I have been totally lax on the blogging front lately and I do have the usual excuse of life and work keeping me very busy.

The biggest obstacle, though, is neither of those things. It's that I have simply lost my blogging mojo.

I am still up to date of all my fave blog reads and often think of things to write about. The next step, of actually getting my butt to the computer and typing on this here keyboard thing? Not doing too well with that bit.

If anyone see s my mojo anywhere be sure to send it back this way!

Don Bourke eat your heart out!

2009-09-01T23:02:00.003+10:00

The best feeling in the world is picking your own produce fresh from your garden.

Even better? Getting Miss M and Miss V to help. They love getting out their own special baskets and loading them up with vegies.

Not pictured are the tonnes of snow peas that we picked. I suspect there would have been even more had the girls not eaten so many of them straight from the vine.

I am certainly not worried about them eating their vegies at the moment- they are making up for lost time!

Why is it that Miss M will eat the parsley raw but have a heart attack if she happens to see a tiny bit of it in her pasta?

We are now planning for our spring planting- on the agenda? Tomatoes (cherry and normal sized), zucchini, cucumber and capsicum. If the spring harvest is even close to the success of the winter harvest I will be very happy indeed!

So much for my 'no stuff' policy

2009-08-28T21:13:00.003+10:00

The lovely NJ gifted me with season 2 of Mad Men for my recent birthday and I now long for much more free time. This show is so fantastic I could happily spend all day and night watching all the episodes back to back.

So far the husband and I are 4 episodes in (we are sacrificing sleep) and I am LOVING it even more than season 1.

I think what I love most of all is ogling the awesome fashion on the show. The gorgeous dresses, amazing hairstyles and the detail of the sets makes this a must watch for anybody who likes pretty things.

No time to blog, off to find out what happens next!

Oh, I also scored season 3 of Dexter from my brother (also a must watch) and Season 1 of True Blood (also from NJ, which I am very excited about).

Pity nobody could gift me with a few more hours in the day so I could watch everything!

It's the thought that counts

2009-08-25T23:17:00.002+10:00

The latest Blog This challenge is quite apt considering it is my birthday tomorrow, actually in about 40 minutes time to be exact.

The older I get and the longer that the husband and I have been together, the less we seem to care about gifts. Don't misunderstand, I like pretty things as much as the next person, but I am not a big fan of stuff.

Sure I love clothes, but the thrill of the chase when shopping is what really does it for me. I am not into gadgets or anything that could be described as clutter (or as I like to call them, dust collectors) and if I want a CD or DVD I'll just buy it for myself. That's the wonderful thing about getting older I think, I don't even think twice about grabbing something if I really love it (budget permitting of course).

So, for the past few years, definitely since having had kids (gosh that's almost 5 years now!) we don't do presents on the Hallmark holidays and not even on birthdays and Christmas. There will be something for the other person to unwrap (on account of the kids) but it is usually something that would get change from a $20.

No, the older I get the more I want things like time to myself, or time alone with the husband, or even a nice day out as a family. I don't want stuff anymore, I want experiences, times that I can look back on and think of happily.

So tomorrow I asked the husband to take the day off (I thankfully have Wednesday off already, that worked out well!) and we will all do something fun together. My mother is babysitting on Saturday night (overnight, yay!) so the husband and I will head out somewhere nice for dinner and maybe catch a movie.

As far as I'm concerned it doesn't get much better than that!

10 things I hate about myself

2009-08-22T08:07:00.005+10:00

The lovely Brenda of Mummytime recently blogged a great list of things she liked and disliked about herself. It was a lot of fun to read and I thought it would be fun to do.

Today, things I hate... hmm this could take a while!

1. That I am not a morning person. Even after kids the kids have turned my mornings upside down, I am still the night owl and sacrifice sleep rather than my precious nights. It makes for some lovely luggage under my eyes.

2. That I always leave everything to the last minute. Yes I would say that I'm good under pressure, however often this pressure is my own fault.

3. That I cannot bake to save my life. For many years I simply blamed my crappy oven. However, now I have a lovely gourmet kitchen and I know without a doubt that there is nobody but myself to blame. I am BAD at baking people, bad.

4. That I love diet coke as much as I do. I know how bad it is for me but I just cannot quit it. I am seriously addicted to the stuff.

5. That I don't watch movies anymore. I worked at a video store for many years and was one of those movie buffs who saw everything that came out and knew about everything coming out. Now? I know about Ice Age 2's release date, but that's about it.

6. That I hate doing craft with the kids so much. The mess people the mess! I have a thing about glitter. Ugh. It doesn't help that I have no craft ability whatsoever. None.

7. That I worried so much about being the good girl growing up and often did what I should do, instead of what I actually wanted to do.

8. That I have a huge animal phobia, with the biggest being a dog phobia. Does not matter if it is a poodle or a German shepherd, they both freak me out equally. It can often make my life difficult.

9. That I have a tendency to shout. I come from a very loud family (seriously, ask NJ) and I seem to take this to the extreme sometimes with the kids. I need to work on this.

10. That I am such a big procrastinator (related to no 2 above). It means that I am drafting this list instead of doing actual work. Sigh, I should be the founding member of Procrastinators Anonymous. Any other takers?

10 and counting...

2009-08-19T20:57:00.007+10:00

OK I found two more dresses yesterday which brings the tally up to 10. 10!

The two latest were op shop purchases- one cream Cue dress (with pockets!) from last season which is perfect for work and another dress for summer which will be perfect for trips to the beach. So the grand total of these two items was $8.

I love my local op shop!

There are only 9 dresses pictured (can you tell I suck at taking pictures? Still points for effort right?) as one of the dresses I purchased from Myer for work is in the wash.

I really seem to have found my op shopping mojo and be on a winning streak at the moment.

Who know how long it will last?

Dressed

2009-08-17T21:49:00.003+10:00

I have been on a bit of a spending binge lately. I am making positive efforts to cut back on the consumption as, ahem, I have a tendency to go a tad overboard on the whole shopping thing. I know, I know, shocking isn't it?

The problem of late is that I subscribe to a particular school of shopping that believes that if it is flattering and a bargain, you buy it- no questions asked.

You know how it goes right? If you need something for a particular occasion you are never going to find it. That perfect little black dress will reveal itself when you are looking for the perfect pair of jeans or winter coat. Looking for anything but a little black dress.

In the last month I have purchased no less than seven dresses. I am a big dress girl. While I love the cardigan unconditionally, I think my heart truly belongs to the only garment which in one fell swoop counts as an entire outfit. The fact that it is also feminine and flattering? Bonus!

So back to my seven dresses. The good news is that four of the seven are op shop discoveries, with two of these four actually being gorgeous vintage numbers. All of the op shopped ones are for lazy spring/summer days lazing around in the sunshine.

Of the other three, one was for work, one was for a wedding and one was for a night out on the town.

I feel like, while I have had a bit of a binge, I've covered pretty much all of the occasions in my life that I need to dress for.

All I need now is for the perfect black trench coat to fall into my lap- because hey, I'm not looking for you perfect black trench. Come and find me!

3 Years

2009-08-13T07:58:00.002+10:00

Three years ago today I was about to give birth to my baby, my Miss V.

I think I was just about ready to start pushing and at the very tail end of a labour, that looking back was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. It has become one of my personal triumphs, Miss V's labour, and the euphoria that kicked in once she was born (at 8.29am) could never be topped.

My time with Miss V has been once of the most glorious highs and the very lowest of lows. After such a wonderful birthing experience, the first 8 months of her life found me struggling to cope. She was a text book 'hard' baby. She cried pretty much her entire first 4 months of life and sleep was just a theoretical concept to her. Looking back I am pretty sure I suffered from post natal depression, such was the bleakness of my existence at that time.

However, now? Now she is the light of my life. I mean, of course I love my kids equally, that goes without saying. But Miss V? Miss V is my sunshine in the bleak times. She is my happy go lucky baby (though not so much with the baby part anymore, sob!) who lights up the world with her smile, her laugh, her love of the silly and hilarious. She is the most generous little girl I know and will often be sharing her ice cream or special treat with Miss M before Miss M has even had a chance to finish hers.

Sadly, the grind of work and day care must go on today, but tomorrow night we'll be having a family shindig where she will be thoroughly spoiled and I can celebrate the fact that I am lucky enough to call her my daughter.

Happy birthday baby, I love you more than I could ever say.

Picky Eater

2009-08-12T18:12:00.003+10:00

I spend much time moaning about Miss M and how her dislike of food is slowly driving me crazy.

Lately, I have been realising how she may get some of her pickiness from yours truly.

For example, I love pasta, LOVE it and could happily eat it for every meal. However, I won't eat anything other than spaghetti. Don't misunderstand, it's not like I can't have some penne or other type if we're out and about or at someone elses place for dinner. But if I'm making dinner for all of us and we're having pasta, even if the kids are having some kind of macaroni (which they love) I will make myself a batch of spaghetti to have with the sauce instead.

Related to the pasta thing, I don't do creamy sauces. I have to have a tomato based sauce and I actually cannot eat the pasta in question if I don't have parmesan cheese on hand.

I dislike most red meat. I loathe lamb, tolerate beef and can just about handle pork. Chicken and I are on good terms, but it has to be breast, not thigh. I make things like goulash and stews for the family (my husband is loving this as we generally ate vegetarian before I got the slow cooker) but would never eat it myself. I am saved from the kids witnessing my dislike by the fact that I don't eat dinner with them on the days I work and just grab anything on those nights.

I loathe any kind of cooked fruit, don't get me started on the wrongness of things like apple crumble or an apricot danish. I hate 'bits' in chocolate (the fruit and nut kind is especially yuck!) or ice cream, I hate sultanas and wouldn't eat raisin toast or Christmas pudding unless I was paid big bucks.

I'm OK with my own pickiness and have come to terms with my likes and dislikes. I guess I have to learn to accept that Miss M may have her own quirks too and that's OK.

Milestone

2009-08-11T07:47:00.005+10:00

Well, I've just had my very first blog post lost into the blogger ether.

I know, I know, it happens to people all the time, but still, how annoying!

It kind of went like this: very, very tired, no time, work, work, work, weddings to go to, birthday parties to throw, am getting old, need to eat better and tired, tired, tired.

Sigh, it's times like this I wish I could get diet coke hooked up directly into my veins via IV as I have no time to sit down and drink it.

Lies lies lies

2009-08-04T22:01:00.003+10:00

Trainee hair dresser:

'I wouldn't worry about all the grey hair, it just looks like streaks.'

Husband

'I have no idea who ate all the ice cream in the freezer.'

Miss M

'But mama, I can't eat my dinner it tastes disgusting.'

Daycare teacher

'I wouldn't label her as naughty, she just thinks outside the box.'

Objectionable cousin

'Oh my goodness I didn't see you there.'

Me

'Oh this dress? I've had it for ages, don't you remember?'

Credit where credit is due

2009-08-02T21:28:00.003+10:00

The older I get the more I realise that conversational skills are just that, skills.

There are two type of people in the world, those who know how to listen and those who are just waiting for their turn to say something.

I had a big family extravaganza today and, sadly, most of my extended family are the waiting for their turn to talk people. I had a very long day listening to lots of boring information about people who were not remotely interested in what is going on in my life and not even bothered asking the polite questions because hey, that would be wasting precious time they could spend listening to the sound of their own voice!

I also came to the conclusion that, though I often think I am barely making the grade at this whole motherhood caper, I must be doing something right as my two girls were so polite and well behaved today I was actually blown away.

We like to reproduce in my family, there were kids everywhere, but I can safely say that no other kids there today were as skilled in manners as were mine.

Somebody gives you a compliment, you say thank you. Somebody says hello, you say hello back. You want something? You say please. You get given something, you say thank you. So simple, but I noticed that so many parents don't seem to expect that from their kids.

If I can ensure they learn how to listen as well? Well, I think I just may raise two people who will do good in their little part of the world.

I often lament the hard times and crap bits of motherhood.

Today? Today was one of those days I want to write down so I don't forget that sometimes I get it right and I am privileged to be the mother of Miss M and Miss V.

Fabric only a mother could love

2009-07-31T21:23:00.005+10:00

Don't you just love the print on the left? I'm a tad blind to any criticism of the fabric actually, such was the instant attraction I felt as soon as I spotted it at my local op shop.

I have continued my shopping mania this week, so much so that I suspect I am due for an intervention by concerned family members any minute now, but I never feel much guilt or remorse for the stuff I score op shopping.

I found this vintage dress in my favourite local op shop this week, a classic 70s maxi dress in mint condition. I didn't even bother trying it on, such was my love of the print.

It may well be a bit too 'maxi' for my liking, but in the words of one of my idols, Tim Gunn, I am going to 'make it work'. I am actually planning on getting this little gem professionally altered to maximise its potential.

Looking over my finds so far these past couple of months, I think I am well on the way to declaring this coming spring to be the spring of the dress.

Sigh. Would you get here already warm weather? I have such pretty things I want to wear!

Unwritten Rules

2009-07-27T21:50:00.003+10:00

I want to go on the record regarding some bathroom etiquette which I think is sadly lacking in some workplaces across the land.

If, when you walk into the bathroom, there is another person already in there, you do not, I repeat DO NOT, go into the stall next to the person already using the facilities. Our bathroom at work has 7 stalls and today I was the only person in there and the new arrival chose the stall immediately next to me. Who does that? Did you not read the public toilet handbook? There needs to be a buffer of at least one stall people!

I was so annoyed by this that it got me thinking about the other unwritten rules that, too often, I find people breaking:

do not bring your work documents into the bathroom with you and leave them on the sink while you go. Fellow coworker, this will seriously gross me out and result in me never being able to look at you the same way again;
if we are chatting before we enter our individual stalls can we please stop while we do our business. I am sorry, I may be a prude, but I hate talking to you while I can hear you pee. I am uncomfortable listening to the talking and peeing at the same time and do not want to do it myself. Just, no.
fellow commuters of Sydney, I am not sure if you are aware of this but the rules of the road apply to the escalators you are travelling on. Keep left unless overtaking. I should not have to tap you on the shoulder and ask you to move. Hey, and if I need to, please do not give me a death stare like I'm doing something wrong. It's just commonsense!
never ever say to somebody 'oh, you got your haircut!' and not follow it up with something complimentary. This is the equivalent of telling somebody their haircut looks like crap. Do what your mother taught you, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
finally, stand up for pregnant women on public transport Sydneysiders. Just think, once upon a time your own mother would have been that pregnant person who is not having a very fun time standing on most likely swollen feet with a very different and sometimes unstable centre of gravity.

Surely I am not alone! Anybody else have any other unwritten rules they want to share?

Revisiting the past

2009-07-27T07:20:00.005+10:00

So during my regular purge of all my possessions (part of my nesting without the pregnancy) I recently found a bunch of old journals and notebooks that spanned pretty much ages 16 to 24.

To say they were hard to read is an understatement.

During the time I was actually writing the journals I used to think that not only the older me, but my adult children, would love to get an insight into what I was really like, on the inside you know?

How could I ever think that? Argh, the thought of Miss M and Miss V reading some of the entries made me break out in hives! So into the recycling bin the journals went.

However, being the frugal gal that I am (ha!), for some almost empty journals I simply ripped out the offending pages and put the rest of the books into the pile of paper the girls use for drawing.

So yesterday the kids are drawing up a storm when I realise that Miss V is scribbling all over what appears to be a letter of some sort. Closer examination reveals it to be a letter of apology written by my sister www.permenentlytwentythree.blogspot.com. Wow, must have been a HUGE fight (which I now cannot even recall) because there is reference to each of us actually causing physical injury to each other.

It got me thinking, are there any other bloggers out there who actually physically fought with their siblings? Maybe it's because NJ and I are so close in age (2 years) and the teenage years were just particularly intense, but our big fights (and there were many) often, if not always, got physical.

I mean, my girls fight physically sometimes, but I think that's a product of 3 year olds being kind of quick to go the hair pulling route when things don't go their way. Teenagers? Not so much.

How times have changed! I wish I could travel back in time and have a good talking to the each of us, letting us know that things wouldn't always be that way and we would eventually rely on one another so much that we'd be neighbours!

Myer and me

2009-07-26T08:54:00.006+10:00

I know that lots of fellow bloggers are doing the whole 'No Buy July' thing with varying degrees of success. I have also been trying to reduce the amount I've been spending myself the past few months.

Having said that, I have had a great shopping week, largely thanks to the '50% off the lowest marked price' sale Myer had going for the most of the week.

In the last fortnight alone I have purchased:

a sequined 60s shift dress for a family wedding coming up, for which I seriously had nothing to wear. It was over 60% off and I love it;
a great 50s inspired Leona Edmison dress that I have been eying for the past 6 months and always putting it back on the rack as I couldn't justify spending that much on a dress that I can't wear to work (work clothes are very cheap on a cost per wear basis). However at 50% off the reduced price it was fate that I should have it hanging in my wardrobe. It has pockets people, pockets! I am a total sucker for dresses with pockets and don't get why designers are adverse to putting them in dresses. But I digress, thanks Myer!
a vintage 70s dress which fits perfectly, looks great belted and is so flattering even my husband (who is not a fan of the op shopping sometimes) was impressed that it only cost $4.
two new leather belts, a gorgeous new silk blouse, and a bunch of Bonds sweats, including new trackies which I have needed but keep putting off buying as I can't believe how expensive they have gotten recently. I mean $45 for trackies won't see the light of day outside home? Are Bonds serious? The most boring purchase ever! However, at $15 I am more than happy to bring them home.

I spent part of last night going through my wardrobe and getting rid of stuff for the local op shop. While I love shopping, I am not a fan of having too much in my wardrobe. I am constantly editing and once I bring new things in, I get the urge to take old things out.

To add to my fabulous shopping mojo, am having a big op shopping week as am headed back to the warehouse this week (where you pay per kilo) and looking forward to what I can find. The search is almost more fun than the find!

Happy shopping everyone!

Beware of the Cabbage Patch doll

2009-07-21T20:34:00.001+10:00

There is a lot of pain associated with being a mother.

The pain of pregnancy, childbirth, establishing breastfeeding, the list could go on indefinitely.

However, last weekend the pain of motherhood took on a whole new meaning.

Let me set the scene- it is 1am, Miss V is at the tail end of a tantrum that had been going on for over an hour. I, after realising that there was no reasoning with her, decided to lie down and show her what normal people were doing at that time of the night.

After trying unsuccessfully to pull the doona off the bed she decided to wield her 'baby' (a very fugly newborn Cabbage Patch doll) as a weapon and proceeded to slam it (with all the force of an angry toddler) into my nose. The doll has a soft body but a very hard plastic head.

There was so much blood. For the first 10 minutes or so I really thought she had broken my nose.

Of course eventually the tantrum wound down and Miss V went back to sleep.

How am I?

Miss V I have forgiven, but the Cabbage Patch 'baby'?

I will never be able to look at that thing the same way ever again.

Has anyone else been injured at the hands of their children, intentionally or not?

Back online at last! 15 things...

2009-07-20T20:50:00.003+10:00

Oh sweet internet I'll never leave you again!

Have been without the computer for a few weeks and am very behind on blogging. Wanted to do the 15 things idea though as I so loved reading everyone elses.

1. I don't have a middle name and don't believe in middle names. What purpose do they serve? Maybe it's an ethnic thing but I just don't get them and didn't give them to my girls. Well, in the traditional sense as they got my last name as a middle name, but that's just because I wouldn't be cruel enough to hyphenate both my and my husband's last names, hideous combination, seriously!

2. I love thinking of baby names. I am not currently pregnant, yet will on a regular basis go over which name to give a potential third child. I even go to the point of writing them all down and figuring out how they look together and how well they match. It is a sickness but I cannot quit the baby name obsession. I am that person who can tell you where a name ranks on the top 100 list and if it is getting more or less popular.

3. My legal name is actually the result of the nurse mishearing my dad when she filled out the birth certificate for him (he not speaking or writing any English). I had no idea of the mistake and was called something else until my first day of school when I was too shy and non English speaking myself to correct the teacher. I just assumed I had been given someone elses name tag. I've never changed it and as a result my whole life have been known by two completely different first names. I have one 'official' first name, ie at school and work and and another first name for family and friends. It can be confusing when people in a professional context become friends. If I'm close to someone they use the non official name and I've had people change from using one to another.

4. I actually changed Miss V's name when she was a week old. I made a rash decision soon after she was born based on what the midwife liked from our two choices and regretted it within hours. I wanted to go with the other option straight away but my husband kept on insisting it was the hormones talking. Finally on day 7 I had a breakdown and put my foot down and Miss V she became. All my thank you cards had the wording 'P.S After getting to know Miss C for the past week we have actually decided she is more a Miss V'. The hardest part was getting my older daughter used to saying the new name. I still stand by my decision, Miss V could never be anything but Miss V. I am sure my family thought I was insane.

5. I loved milk so much as a child that my mum had to cap how much of it I was drinking. I can clearly remember telling her that it was such a great beverage that I would be toasting with it at my wedding one day. Yeah, not so much.

6. I married the first guy that I had a crush on in high school. You know the guy who you used to day dream about and write his initials all over your books? AB + AF 4EVA. That guy is now my husband and we've been together for 16 years this year. I still think he is a hottie and want to be together 4EVA.

7. My mum married her first love too. She eloped to marry my dad when she was 16 and he 23. They are happily married and one of the greatest couples I know. My family is proof that first love can be real and lasting.

8. I have never dated as a result of item 6 above. I think I would be crap at it and am pretty happy with the way things worked out.

9. I am a shopaholic. I seriously can think of nothing better than spending the day shopping and do not understand people who hate doing it.

10. I refuse to buy anything at full price. So while I am a shopaholic (see 9 above) I cannot remember the last time I paid full price for anything. Op shopping is the best, but even better? Take 50% off the lowest marked price at Myer. I have scored so many great buys this way. Myer, I couldn't never quit you baby!

11. My sister of NJ (of Permanently 23 fame) and I are those losers you see lining up for the Boxing day sales every year. I would not miss it for the world. We have been interviewed on the news lots of times and even though we buy less and less every year (as I have an affinity for the further reductions, see item 10 above) it has become a tradition that I couldn't give up. The best time, was when NJ heckled the rowdy people at the front of the line with 'The tinsel is not free people! Settle down!' This makes me laugh every time I think about it.

12. Speaking of NJ, her current house is about 50 metres away from my house. The houses we each lived in before the current ones? 3 houses from away from each other, on the same street. In my defence, both times my husband and I purchased the houses before NJ and her husband decided to move into the neighbourhood.

13. I am extremely close to my family. I speak my my mum every day. I speak to NJ at least a couple of times a day. We have taken to identifying ourselves on the phone with 'Hey babe, it's your stalker here...' I live a 20 minute drive away from my folks and my mum constantly laments how far away we live. In my family unless you can walk there it's very far.

14. NJ and I sound so alike on the phone that we can fool even our immediate family. I spent 10 minutes talking to my dad the other day and only at the end did he realise it was me and not NJ.

15. Growing up I lived on the same street as two of my uncles and their families. Within 5 houses you had three brothers and their 8 kids. It rocked. Seriously ROCKED growing up like that. So you could say that item 12 above is history repeating itself.

Have lots of stuff to post about this week, oh it is so good to be back!

Letters lighten the load

2009-06-30T22:42:00.004+10:00

Dear Diet Coke,

I love you.

I love the smell of you, the taste of you and the sound of your fizz as I pour you into my glass.

I don't care at all what you may be doing to my insides and I am not listening to Dr Oz.

Don't ever change baby, you're perfect just as you are!

..........................................

Dear Channel 7,

Why oh why have you spent money on a show as awful as '10 Years younger in 10 days'?

I do not think I have seen a worse show in my life, and trust me I'm an expert on bad TV- I remember The Bob Morrison Show and was one of the 5 people who watched Echo Point until the bitter end.

........................................

Dear Miss M,

Congratulations on perfecting your manipulation moves at bedtime!

You know nothing makes mama feel worse than snapping at you (for the 100th time) 'You've given me enough kisses and cuddles tonight, just GO. TO. SLEEP!'

I guess I'll keep waiting for my mother of the year award.

.....................................

Dear Daycare,

Why must you guilt parents into taking home those boxes of chocolates to raise money?

Some parents may not be organised enough to actually sell the chocolates and have an entire box just sitting in their pantry after having bought them all so as to not look lazy.

I'm sending you the bill for Jenny Craig come Christmas time.

........................................

Dear Sales,

Why must you be so good this year?

I am trying so hard to be good but the rock bottom prices are making my resolve weaken more and more each day.

How can I not buy when I keep hearing the wise words of a dear and missed loved one saying, 'You have to buy it, you can't even make it for that much!'

Too true Maj-i, too true.

.............................................

Love Aneets

Boo hoo

2009-06-29T22:16:00.005+10:00

The vast majority of the people that I work with do not have children.

Being a mum, I am not the person to complain to about the huge night you had and how you are still hung over and can't believe you spent all of Sunday in bed.

Firstly, for the most part, the luxury of a 'big night' is no more. Secondly, I don't think I need to say anything about the all day in bed part.

Boo. Hoo.

However, our receptionist takes the cake. Having a casual chat, I mentioned that she hadn't been in the office for a couple of days:

Receptionist: 'Oh no, I was off sick as I had a headache.'

Me: 'You poor thing, I can't imagine how awful it must be to have a migraine.'

Receptionist: 'I don't get migraines, it was nothing as bad as that! It was just one of those headaches that you have as soon as you wake up. I couldn't think of anything worse than having to come into work with a headache!'

Me: '!!'

Often I feel like I have put in a full days work by the time I get to the office.

Wrangling the kids every morning is a stressful part of my day- they take after me by not being morning people.

Not exactly the most sympathetic audience for your tale of woe lovely receptionist.

Think of your audience co-workers, please think of your audience!

Scatterbrained Sunday...

2009-06-28T22:08:00.003+10:00

I've had one of those weeks where I've been running around like a headless chicken trying to get a million things done. Sigh.

In light of the frantic feeling of this week I think bullet points are about all I can muster up the energy for...

so I was watching Masterchef tonight (along with the rest of Australia) and was wondering if the contestants are allowed to bring their notebooks with them when doing the challenges? Surely they must be allowed, right? I may just be really dumb when it comes to desserts but I do not know how I could remember the exact quantities that go into a souffle or tart or any other kind of baked good. What does everyone else think?
I am sad as Miss M hates the grey Country Road cardigan I bought for her last week. I often find that the outfits that I put together for her are given a big thumbs down- drives me crazy! Sadly the new cardigan fails to to make the grade and I must return it tomorrow.
I bought a new laptop today! Very excited at having my own - I currently steal time on the husband's work laptop. I predict that my house will become extremely neglected as I will be favouring computer time over cleaning time.
Our plantation shutters were installed yesterday and they look AMAZING. Of course the fact that we have been living with sheets on over the windows for over 12 months could have something to do with it... No, they really look great.
My meal planning is going strong and this week we're having stuffed capsicums, lasagna and spinach/ricotta cannelloni. I think a diet plan should be coming up soon based on the amount of cheese I have consumed lately.
Mmmmm cheese- I might go and see if we have any of that double brie left over from the other night.
Ironic that The Biggest Loser is on in the background while I go and raid the fridge for fattening dairy products!

Wishing everyone a happy week filled with lots of cheese and cheap cardies!

This post is sponsored by Country Road

2009-06-22T21:58:00.006+10:00

So I've been tagged by the lovely Amanda of Domestic Goddess on L Plates & Pink Patent Mary Janes to add my spin to the the latest meme doing the rounds.

Here goes:

What is your current obsession?

I'm a big list maker and at the moment I'm having a bit of a spring clean and wanting to get things organised around the house.

I'm like the nine month pregnant woman madly nesting, without the belly! Hence, the meal planning and regular purging of wardrobes and cupboards.

The op shop employees now know me by name (the donation guys, not just the ladies at the register!)

What are you wearing today?

Today to work I wore a black Country Road cami, black Country Road pencil skirt, long line cream cardigan from Portmans, with my knee high black Country Road riding boots.

What’s for dinner?

I had spaghetti with home made pesto and fresh tomatoes stirred through. Topped with more Parmesan cheese than my hips really need, but very delicious!

What’s the last thing you bought?

I caved and bought Miss M a new cardigan from Country Road at lunch time today. I know, I know, I went against my spending ban but it's so cute! Miss V can wear it when Miss M grows out of it! E (Permanently 23's little girl and my niece) will inherit it after Miss V has finished with it. On a cost per wear basis it will be just about free!

I felt I'd done pretty well considering all the items I put back on the rack- hey it was an extra 25% of sale items, I was positively restrained!

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

A cafe in the main square of Zadar (on the Croatian coast), sipping a diet coke watching the mass of people going by. Sigh.

Which language do you want to learn?

I would like to get better at Croatian, but I think Spanish would come in handy.

What do you love most about where you currently live?

I love the proximity to family and the space I have both house wise and yard wise.

I know Western Sydney gets bad press, but I'm less than 20 kms from the Sydney CBD and part of a melting pot that gets along (in my experience). The diversity makes for some delicious food!

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

It would have to be a black Country Road dress I bought last summer. It always gets me so many compliments and can be dressed up or down.

Describe your personal style?

I think of myself as a person who likes the classic, tailored look jazzed up with some accessories. Definitely a dresses and skirts kind of girl.

I can't go by a nice cardigan- they seem to breed in my wardrobe and I don't think you can have too many.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?

Probably have a bit of a splurge in the current sales. I'm in the market for a new trench coat, preferably in black, but am having trouble finding one, new or op shopped.

What are you going to do after this?

Put up a load of washing.

What are your favorite films?

All I can think of is Boogie Nights at the moment. Oooh and Hal Hartley's Trust. The Ice Storm warrants a mention.

I sadly do not see too many movies any more and much prefer watching TV shows on dvd- everybody should watch The Wire, Mad Men and Damages. You'll thank me, really.

Whose work/designs are you inspired by?

Miss M is constantly surprising me with the stuff she comes up with. I'll just say her and save myself having to think of anything else.

Your favourite books?

I LOVE Anne Tyler and Margaret Atwood, anything they have written. David Sedaris for a good laugh.

Do you collect anything?

Lists that have tasks crossed off- I like looking back at tasks that I have accomplished. I don't seem to throw old lists away for that reason.

What makes you follow a blog?

Good writing and an interesting point of view.

Do you like to comment on blogs or just lurk?

I'm a big lurker but have started to comment more as I get more confident in blogland.

Whats one thing you dream of doing?

Quitting my current corporate, high stress job and going back to uni and do my post graduate diploma to become a qualified history teacher.

What is your biggest regret?

Doing the course that got me into my current high stress, corporate job in the first place and not becoming a teacher a long, long time ago.

What's the one place you'd like to visit before you die?

I desperately want to do LA with my sister of Permanently 23 fame. We have a plan to do it together for my 40th in 8 years time.

What is your most loved/loathed household task?

Loved? Laundry. For a full explanation see previous post.

Loathed? Vacuuming. The lugging of the vacuum cleaner everywhere, the emptying of the stuff you suck up. A Dyson has made it tolerable but can't rescue it from the bottom of my list.

A tale of laundry love

2009-06-20T15:26:00.004+10:00

Most days I wish I had a cleaner.

Scratch that, I think I would like a housekeeper more than a cleaner.

Someone who would live with us (think Alice from The Brady Bunch) and tidy things up every day and ensure that things don't get to crisis stage before they were dealt with. Kind of like the state of my floors today (yes and that's why I have stopped vacuuming to write this witty and interesting post on housework of all things!).

However, I would never let my cleaner near my laundry.

I have a confession to make- I love doing laundry. No seriously, I LOVE it. From sorting things into piles, putting it on the line (we are anti dryer), taking it down, folding everything, and putting it away most of all. I don't even mind ironing.

I think I must have a defective gene or something because it seems that out there in blogland (or at least Mama Mia's latest post and the comments that follow) there is a distinct hatred of all things laundry related.

The current house we're living in was designed by the hubs and myself. When we were sketching out our ideas for the house, the state of my laundry room was top of my wish list.

Hence I have a laundry larger than most people's kitchens, with a double sink, stone benchtops and more cupboard space than most households have in total.

I will only ever leave this house if I get to take the laundry with me.

Does anybody else out there have a similar obsession with a household task?

If it's vacuuming I'll happily let you come over and finish my job for me!

Frugal times

2009-06-17T20:48:00.003+10:00

I have been trying really hard of late to reduce the amount of money we've been spending.

I have loved to shop as long as I can remember. For me shopping is truly therapeutic. If I have a bad day or am stressed about something, my first port of call is usually Myer.

Having daughters has only made my shopping hobby worse.

Miss M and Miss V have extremely extensive wardrobes. Most items bought on sale or 'vintaged' from op shops (to digress I scored the cutest Country Road dresses- from the last winter season- for both Miss M and Miss V, in mint condition for $2 each this week! How freaky is it to find two identical dresses in their exact size? Not that I dress them identically of course, that's a whole other post...), but I think most who know me would agree that their wardrobes border on the excessive.

I started this whole 'buy less' thing during Lent.

I am a bit of a pick and choose Catholic at the best of times, but one of my favourite things about being Catholic (apart from confession- who doesn't love coming out of the confessional feeling all 'pure'? My sister (of Permanently 23) and I used to have competitions to see who could be sin free for the longest length of time, another post topic I should cover!)

So I gave up shopping for Lent and did great for the whole 40 days. Now it's become a permanent thing. I mean I still shop, I am only human, but nothing like I used to before I consciously decided to curb the habit.

My next money saving project is meal planning. I'm almost at the end of the first week and just finished writing up the plan for next week.

It's amazing the stress that trying to figure out what to cook can cause. This feeling isn't helped by the fact that I live with Miss M who drives me crazy with her food pickiness.

This meal planning idea has made me feel much more in control about that and we've had a good week with her eating so far.

I really have no idea why I haven't thought of this before!

Hair help!

2009-06-15T22:12:00.002+10:00

Growing up I was the kid with the short boy hair that her dad cut himself at home. Add to this the daggiest clothes that ever dagged and you have for some very tragic photos of me as a kid.

Long before I became a mother I would daydream about one day having daughters. Daughters who I could dress in cute clothes. Daughters with long, lovely hair I could plait, braid and put into ponytails. I was intent on living this part of my childhood vicariously through my kids.

Lo and behold, my dream came true! I now have two little girls, Miss M and Miss V, and I love nothing more than buying them cute outfits and looking back at photos of them knowing that they will not be embarrassed in years to come at the ensembles they wear in the pictures.

However, while I think I do OK at this whole motherhood gig, I am failing atrociously in the hair department.

I spent longer than I care to mention this evening trying to braid Miss M's hair. I think I have only ever successfully braided it 2 or 3 times so far in her life. To date the most elaborate hair style I've been able to do are the Pippi Longstocking type plaits.

I always imagined my future daughter having straight hair like myself. However, the hubby's curly hair won the genetic battle and both my girls have curls, and Miss M in particular, has LOTS of curls.

Simply getting all of the knots out of Miss M's hair takes forever. Of course this can only happen if it's completely wet, after it's doused with leave in conditioner, using one of those combs people used to use for perms (do people even get perms anymore?). If we don't plait it before bed she will wake up with a full head of dreadlocks, some of which have to be cut out.

Simply put, I have no idea how to deal with her hair and my visions of spending hours creating wonderful hair styles are not happening any time soon. Actually, hours are spent, but not so much on the wonderful hair style part.

Living with Picasso

2009-06-14T07:47:00.008+10:00

Miss M has come to the stage of her development where she is really into drawing and painting.

Far be it for me to complain about an activity that is not only creative but is something she can do happily on her OWN. I love checking out what she is drawing on a given day, yesterday was all about flower people, the day before was all about the rainbow. Cute stuff.

However, she is producing more drawings and paintings than I have fridge space for. With such a prolific artist I am rapidly running out of places to put these great works of art. This doesn't even include the stuff she brings home from daycare.

I got all 'Tonia Toddman' (do people even know who she is anymore? I'm probably dating myself, but think an Australian version of Martha Stewart) recently and cut up some of my favourite 'works'. I put them in some small Ikea frames and hung a group of them on the wall. Looks great if I have to say so myself.

What about the rest though? At the rate she is pumping out these artworks I am going to run out of wall space and I think one section of the house devoted to Miss M's art is enough.

I've resorted to throwing the rest in the recycling bin (not without much guilt of course)- but have been busted by Miss M on numerous occasions. 'Mama, how could you throw away my beautiful picture? I did it just for you!'

Short of getting better at hiding my recycling pile, does anybody have any other suggestions?