Mum Plus 4

Pageants

2011-11-10T14:51:00.000+10:30

Pageants have never been huge here in Australia but they are now taking off and my daughters are ecstatic! I know pageants are quite popular in the US so do any US mums have any advice for me?

Stop crashing around me!

2011-09-09T19:57:00.000+09:30

I don't know why but people always seem to crash their cars around me. There were the 3 at the same intersection while I was standing right there (one even flipped onto its roof). Or the time I was looking in my rearview mirror as a chick came around the corner and took out a pole. Or the one who clipped the other one while on the roundabout I was also on. Now there was a huge prang just outside my house. 5 ambulances were needed. I don't want to see any more car crashes! People, stay safe! Watch where you're going, obey the speed limit and take care out there.

Hurray for Handbags

2011-08-21T23:29:00.000+09:30

While being pushed around in my wheelchair the other day I suddenly I realised I was at the perfect height for checking out other people's handbags. I started to think about how different each bag was and got all giddy looking at all the different designs. But it made me think, and that's where you come in. I would like a pic of your handbag along with the reason why you bought it. Was it the size, convenience, material, or price? Did you buy it because it was designer or because your favourite celebrity had one? Or was it love at first sight? Come on ladies, help a poor invalid out and give me a squizz at your bag. I am so curious. And please, be honest!

Oops I did it again...

2011-08-21T23:21:00.000+09:30

You may remember I tried out for the roller derby team last year only to wreck my knee on the first night. Well this time I exceeded all expectations of my clumsiness. I went to the snow and broke my leg in 3 places. Not skiing or doing anything fun like that, just walking...now I'm wondering if I have osteoporosis or something equally as sinister. I probably could have handled it if it were a simple cast job. But I had to have surgery on it and screws were inserted. It has been quite painful and a challenge to get around.

This is a pic of what my foot looked like after the operation but before they put the full cast on. Please get rid of this page if you are squeamish.

It looks like that on the other side too. And because of this I have an important message. Be grateful for your feet ladies! You never know when you might not have them anymore.

Brain Overload

2011-07-29T11:25:00.000+09:30

I think my brain has overloaded. I am reading all these lovely posts from fellow bloggers about the great things they are doing and I can't think of a single thing to say. That is why I haven't blogged for a while. I didn't want to bore everyone to tears. But now I'm doing it anyway in the hope that the sheer act of writing something will unleash a torrent of unbelievably smart and witty content......looks like I've totally failed :(

First Plane Trip

2011-07-08T09:28:00.000+09:30

Three out of my four kids went on their first plane trip yesterday. We had such a great time. It is so much fun watching their expressions and seeing them so excited. Miss 13 was a little nervous (not at all helped my Miss 11 constantly pointing out plane crash stories for the last 2 weeks) but she put on a brave face and actually relaxed and enjoyed it after a while. I am so proud of her. Of course Mr 8 was the usual bundle of energy but at least he didn't cause too much trouble. I was half expecting to be escorted from the plane but he was well behaved and had a great time. He is looking forward to going again! Unfortunately he seems to have inherited my ears....oh my gosh they were so sore as the plane was descending. I was chewing gum so hard I thought my teeth might detach from my gums! If any of you lovely ladies have a tip on how to make your ears behave normally while in a plane, please let me know....and quickly because Mr 8 is bouncing off the walls in anticipation of another trip!

How to Get Your Child to Listen

2011-05-10T13:00:00.000+09:30

For all you overwhelmed parents out there (and I know there are a lot of you), check out this great e-book.

A step-by-step guide to end

defiance, outbursts, lying,

tantrums and bad behaviors!

http://6c4326jfw1lo2zdxw90chqf2rn.hop.clickbank.net/

The Action Machine

2011-04-19T18:33:00.000+09:30

I'm not one to try to sell things to my fellow bloggers...I rarely even recommend things. But this product has made such a difference to my life I just wanted to share it with everyone. It's called the Action Machine and it has totally changed the way I work and get things done. And I have tried everything! Day planners, PDA's, software, you name it, I've tried it. And I still wasn't getting anywhere. Especially since I am (was) the biggest procrastinator to walk the face of the Earth. I can't believe how many projects I've finished since I started using the Action Machine. It's such a valuable resource and I wanted to tell you all about it because some of you may even be bigger procrastinators than me and I would love it if it changed your life for the better too. So read the paragraph below then check it out.

Here's a question you may want to ask yourself regularly: What am I doing with my 24 hours? In other words, every day, what do you have to show for burning through another 24 hours of your life? If the answer is, 'next to nothing', or 'not nearly as much as I would like', then I'm happy to tell you that you can change that right now, and in moment, in this email, I'm going to give you a simple system for doing it. If you're ready to put more life and more action into your day, then get a pen and paper and write down this simple system. It consists of 3 basic steps. Here they are: 1. Write down all the tasks you want to get done today 2. Assign a specific block of time for completing each task (like 30 minutes) 3. Select a task, start a timer, and focus on nothing else until that task is complete! That's all there is to it. Simple, yes! Incredibly effective, YES! By itself, this system can put your productivity into high-gear - IF you use it. The challenge for most of us is that in a day and age of technology and automation, writing things down on paper and using something like an egg-timer feels a bit clunky and inefficient. But I've recently discovered an incredible piece of software that not only automates this system in a very unique way, but includes some tools such as simple reports (so you know WHERE you spend your time), as well as a very slick and intuitive interface. I highly recommend you watch the demo video, which shows the software in action, by clicking this link (you'll find it about half-way down the page): Action machine Click Here! Have a great, productive day!

What a Difference a Dream Makes

2011-04-10T11:37:00.000+09:30

I am back fellow bloggers and this time I am deliriously happy! A long time ago I wrote down everything I wanted in my dream home. It wasn't anything crazy like a bowling alley or tennis courts...it wasn't exactly a two bedroom cottage but I wasn't expecting a mansion. Here is the list:

Enough bedrooms that each of my 4 children could have a room of their own
A pool
Acreage so my kids could ride dirtbikes and horses
A dishwasher
More than one bathroom (anyone with 4 children and one toilet will understand why)
A study just for me.

And I got it last weekend! I also opened a photography studio in the city. I finally feel as though my life is where it is supposed to be and I can't believe that such good has come from such evil. I wish I had done it a long time ago and I hope that those animals who attacked us realise they did me a favour.

Now I'm going to catch up on all of your posts. Talk soon.

Nightmare on My Street

2010-12-04T20:19:00.000+10:30

Once again I've been gone for too long but this time I have a really good excuse. Less than a week after I wrote my last post, we were attacked by 4 men who smashed their way into our car and home. I won't go into detail but we were forced to leave our home of 10 years. The last month or so has been spent doing all the normal things that come with moving and sleeping with a knife under my pillow.

But as I'd rather think of myself as a survivor rather than a victim, I will be back posting inane stuff real soon.

Shattered Dreams....

2010-10-23T12:03:00.000+10:30

As you may remember this is what I was going for......But this is more the look that I got.

Can you believe it? I waited a whole year to go to training and I hurt my knee on the very first night. In the first half an hour mind you! And it wasn't even a huge fall. I landed on my butt and felt nothing because I sort of slided slowly down onto the floor. Unfortunately the top of my leg went one way and the bottom of my leg went the other causing quite some damage to my poor knee. I had to sit out last weeks practice but in 2 days I have to pass a skating skills test to be able to continue on to the derby part of the training and I'm not at all sure my knee is up to it.

But I am going to tape it up and give it my best shot. And if its not good enough then its not good enough....at least I can say I tried. Wish me luck!

Me & My Baby

2010-08-10T12:45:00.001+09:30

Kind of a blurred photo but it was taken on my phone by someone who is not very adept at picture taking. Nevertheless, this is what my kids and I have been spending a lot of time doing. Check out my sexy skates with pink toe protectors 8^)

I have shaved 4 seconds off my time already and Mr 7 is loving the extra bike riding time. You should see him go on that thing! He is a speed demon! Scares the hell out of me!

Healers or Money Grabbers?

2010-08-05T11:06:00.002+09:30

Mr 7 has had some difficulty in learning to read. The older 3 never had a problem with reading so this is new territory for me. I figured if I just read to him all the time and got him to read to me all the time, he would improve. So we bought the flashcards and the learn to read books and such. There was a slight improvement but not much. So I took him to the doctor who thought it might be an eyesight problem. He referred us to the optometrist who said that Mr 7 doesn't have a problem with his eyes but the reading could be causing eyestrain which would make him not want to read so I should buy $200 reading glasses so he can focus on the words without straining. So I bought them. He wore them for a few weeks then lost them. They didn't improve his reading anyway.

I thought maybe he had ADD because he seemed to lose focus while we were reading together and he always wanted to go off and do something else. But then I realised who wouldn't want to go off and do something else? He was already struggling with it and the fact that I can't quite explain how to read words that you can't spell out (ie. boy, love, one etc - I mean you spell out one oh un eh - how can you get one from that?) didn't help matters at all. I wanted to be somewhere else!

So I took him back to the doctor who referred him to a specialist who said he probably has dyslexia and that will cost $750 to assess him. Wow! I should have gone into psychology.

But last night, he read me a book from front to back and got all the words right, words he was having difficulty reading before. Maybe the solution isn't to throwing money at things....maybe its just taking our time.

Roller Derby Dreams

2010-08-02T22:25:00.000+09:30

With roller derby tryouts only two months away, I finally got my skates and pads. Yesterday I suited up and took off on my gorgeous black skates...then wondered what the hell I was doing! It was as though I had never skated before! I wobbled here, there and everywhere, all the while thanking the universe for my pads and wishing I had one for my butt.

But I perservered and it wasn't long before I was zooming all over the netball courts. It was freezing cold and getting dark and I have never felt more alive. The best thing was that Miss 12 & Miss 10 were skating along beside me and Mr 7 was lapping us on his bike. We had so much fun and I've never sweat so much in my life. I hope that I make the roller derby team in October but if I don't, its a great way to spend time with my kids...and if I don't lose weight doing this, I never will!

Happy 1st Birthday Blog!

2010-07-25T22:20:00.000+09:30

My blog turned 1 and I totally missed it! Apparently it was on the 4th of June. Oops! Luckily this thing isn't a kid or I'd never hear the end of it....

I'm Back!

2010-07-20T23:14:00.000+09:30

I can't believe its been so long since I've written anything. And so long since I've read anyone else's blogs (sorry!) My Google reader still says 1000+ posts but it has started at June 20 so I won't know what any of you have been up to between March and June. I hope I haven't missed anything major but I'm sure I have. The world still turns even while I'm being run off my feet.

I have heaps to tell you and I can't wait to catch up on everyone's comings and goings but I will start that all tomorrow. The whole fam has been sick for a week here. Vomiting, sneezing, coughing....the whole shebang...and I need one nights sleep before getting back in the swing of things.

Looking forward to catching up all you loyal followers!

Good night!

The Beach

2010-03-13T17:43:00.001+10:30

We didn't get to go to the beach last week because it was quite cool but we went the week before as usual. It was supposed to be 28 degrees but I'd be surprised if it got out of the teens. I wrapped myself in a towel on the sand but the kids still went in to splash around.

The tide was way out that week. Mr 7 went quite far out and the water was still only up to his knees. It was actually quite good because there is a sandbank about 50m out and the low tide caused there to be a shallow pool of water between the sand and the rest of the ocean and the kids loved hanging out in their very own 'pool'.

We saw heaps of planes go overhead. I love to sit and wonder where the people are off to while I'm sitting on a beach in Adelaide. I hope one day someone is sitting on the beach and watching my plane and wondering where I'm going.

It's amazing how well the kids get along once you get them out of the house. They can get on each other's nerves at home but when they're out they all play together as though they're best friends. I bought a book to read but I didn't even open it. I was content to watch my kids run up and down the beach, chase the bodyboards that were blowing away in the wind and squealing their heads off when a crab moved its leg. When a chip packet blew away and Mr 7 ran after it, I wanted 10 more kids. I realised that I didn't care if I had no man in my life....my kids are enough for me.

Message to 2Busy

2010-02-23T17:38:00.001+10:30

This post is a special message to 2busy. You evil woman!!!! Suggesting that I add ice cream to that delicious grape soda, potentially ruining my weight loss dreams. How could you?

Of course I jest. It's a great idea. Unfortunately I have neither vanilla ice cream nor grape soda on hand, I do have 4 kids after all. However, next shopping trip I will grab some and put them both together before the kids get home from school. I'm sure it will be delicous.

I put Pepsi in with vanilla ice cream all the time. We call them spiders here. Don't ask me why. They don't look nor taste like a spider (although I'm only guessing on the taste having never eaten a spider before but I think I can be pretty safe in saying that they do not taste anything like each other). I was under the impression that Americans called them floats but I could be talking about something totally different. Fill me in guys!

Where Have You Been All My Life???

2010-02-22T19:40:00.000+10:30

On my weekly trip to the speciality fridge at the end of the aisle to get my Cherry Coke, I made a new discovery. Grape Soda! I've only heard of Grape Soda about a million times in American tv shows and movies. Being kind of obsessed with all things American I've always wondered what it tasted like. And there it was sitting right in front of me. So of course I bought it. I took it home and poured it out for me and the kids. I don't like grapes so I wasn't sure what to expect. Can you say heaven? Geez that stuff is so nice! It was delicious. So now during my weekly bath and read, I am alternating between Cherry Coke and Grape Soda.

As you can see there is not much excitement happening in my life right now. I am, after all, getting excited over a sugary drink. I am slowly but surely, making changes in my life according to my style statement. For starters, the kids and I have made it a weekly tradition to go to the beach every Sunday morning. We have found a great spot. It has nice fluffy white sand, the water is warm and clear, not too deep but deep enough, it doesn't have much seaweed and there aren't a lot of people. Perfect! Yesterday while we were down there, we saw a sea lion about 5 metres out. It was just lying on its back and splashing around. A local man told us that a house on the hill flies the Australian flag when the sealion is there. Apparently its a regular sight. The locals call him Henry. Typical that I didn't take my camera and the one on my phone sucks.

We also saw the shark patrol helicopter fly over. The kids go wild waving and the guys always wave back. It's been great. It's nice to relax and now I look forward to Sunday all week.

As for the other stuff, that is taking a little longer. I haven't had the time to do anything on the house but fingers crossed I'll do at least one thing this week. I'm also still at 1000+ blogs to read but I'm working on it.

At least I'm still going to the gym every day even though I'm not noticing any difference on the scales. Probably too many Cherry Cokes and Grape Sodas :)

Last but not least, I'd like to say hello to my new follower Modern Mom. It's amazing how getting a new follower and somebody you've never met calling you 'utterly charming' can boost your confidence and make you smile. All my followers make me smile and I'd like to thank you all for that. Love ya's!

My Style Statement

2010-02-14T21:59:00.000+10:30

I'd like to say all is well in the Mum Plus 4 household. It's not quite there yet but now I have confidence that it will be.

I found my Style Statement book a couple of days ago. I had purchased the book a couple of months ago after reading about it on a blog (sorry, I can't remember whose). It sounded interesting. I thought it was mainly about discovering your personal style when it comes to clothes and decorating and I felt I needed help in both areas. My decorating style is very eclectic. Not on purpose, I just buy things because I like them then I realise it doesn't go

Photo Source: Amazon

with anything then I get rid of it or it clutters up the house looking stupid. And the less said about my clothing style the better!

So I ordered the book from Amazon. It takes about 3 weeks to get here and when it finally did arrive I was busy doing other things so I put it away without even opening it. So a couple of days ago I found it. Luckily I was cleaning at the time and was looking for an excuse not to be. I sat down and starting answering all the questions.

It's not just about your home and clothes. It's about your whole life and living the way your true self should be living. Let me tell you it was an eye opener and a half! Some of the questions I really got stuck on. I never did answer the question about what I love about myself. But I sat there for hours just writing and writing until I had answered every question from start to finish. I don't think I've ever sat down and thought about what I really wanted. Not what I thought I should want but what I really wanted. And when I was done I realised why I've been so unhappy. The life I really want to live and the life I've been living are exact opposites of each other.

I've spent so long (years and years) trying to be a good mum and trying to do what everyone else thought I should do, I've just let my whole life pass by in a blur. Here are some things I discovered about myself that I didn't even know:

I really really love spending time at the beach. Being overweight, the beach has been the last place I would want to go but I discovered its very important to me.
I belong back in my hometown. I don't belong here. There is nothing I like here, I don't like the people around me, I don't like the weather and I just don't feel like I belong.
I need to be surrounded by books and photos of my kids. At the moment I am preparing the walls for painting so I haven't hung any photos up because I knew that I'd be taking them back down. But they are really important to me.
I don't have a personal sanctuary and its obviously something I really need to have. There is nowhere I can go to be alone and being alone is something that I need to re-energise myself.
I have to fix up the house. I've been putting it off for so long due to time and money constraints but I have to make it a number one priority.
One word that kept coming up was 'comfort'. I need more comfortable things. I need to be surrounded by luxurious textures, nice fragrances, art that makes me feel and music that makes me smile.
I love and need wide open spaces but most of all I just need some peace!

You would think I would already know these things about myself but I didn't. I never thought about it. It was so relieving to finally work out what I want. It was just a big sigh of relief.

Now I'm working to incorporate these things into my life. This morning I woke up early, made some ham and cheese croissants and took the kids to the beach. We ate breakfast on the sand, swam in the surf and played frisbee on the beach. I can't remember the last time anything felt so natural.

kAh

And So It Continues....

2010-02-09T19:37:00.000+10:30

Well the hell on Earth that is 2010 is continuing on. I don't want to bitch and moan but seriously, I would have nothing else to say. Today I lost $130, was beaten in the head until my neck sprained, had a panic attack and finally came to the realisation that there isn't a person alive on whom I can depend. Yay me!

I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. I try everyday to do the right thing, be a good person, live a clean life. Either I was an absolute monster in a previous life and I am being punished for it now or my whole life's philosophy is completely wrong. I am tempted to just give up and act like a total butthead to everyone I come across. I see total bastards succeed everyday and here I am being nice and pushing crap uphill.

What is the worse that could happen if I do a total 180 on my personality and become the biggest a-hole in all the land? Could I get beaten in the head? Be totally unloved? Lose money? Too late! So logic states that things couldn't possibly get worse if I'm a butthead.

What does everyone else think? Stay the way I am and wait the rest of my life to be rewarded for my good deeds with the possibility that it may never happen or become a big a-hole and possibly become the most successful person you've ever met?

Photo source: searchviews.com

Overwhelmed!

2010-02-06T16:39:00.000+10:30

I can't believe I haven't written anything for over a month! And even then it was a pathetic little post much like this one is going to be.

I have been totally run off my feet and I have so much to tell but not a lot of time which I'm sure you will all understand. Wow that sentence kind of rambled didn't it? I am still reading about what people did for Christmas, that is how far I am behind. I am glad google reader only says 1000+ and doesn't actually tell me the real number because I think I'd die of shock.

I know all you Americans are going through winter at the moment and are suffering from the usual winter hassles (depending on where you live) but over here in Australia we are sweltering through heat wave after heat wave....2 in 2 months to be exact! And if it's not a heatwave, its still hot! The kids are back at school after 7 weeks at home, Christmas and New Year's are well and truly over (more details later) and they already have Easter Eggs in the stores. And as usual I have way too much on my to do list.

I'm off now but I promise I'll be back (soon) and tell you about my New Year's Eve adventure. Take care!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T18:23:00.001+10:30

Happy New Year To Everyone! I'm still in disbelief that it is 2010 already. I still remember getting excited about 1999 turning into 2000. Was it really 10 years ago???

Every year I try to do something different in the crazy hope that the year will turn out great just by doing New Years Eve in a different way. I figured if one way created a shitty year maybe another way would create a great year. So far I have tried

Going to a big party
Going to a really small party
Staying home by myself
Staying home with others
Going to fireworks on the beach
Going to dinner then to the drive-in
Going on holiday with the family (to several different places)
Watching fireworks from a lookout
Going to a fancy dress party
Going to a party on a farm
Babysitting my nieces
Travelling on a bus
And many variations of these themes

I have made no secret about disliking the place where I live. I wish I were in the financial position to move back where I used to live 15 years ago. So this year I drove there. It was a 9 hour drive but I thought that maybe it would be a good omen for 2010 if I were not in this state as I counted in the New Year.

I had a lot of fun but it didn't work, and neither did any of the others. It's only the second day and I've had some troubles already. I need new tyres and a new muffler and some other stuff happened but I don't want to complain about it. I'm just going to hope that 2010 got all the crap out of the way in the first two days so that the rest of the year is free and easy.....well I can dream can't I?

I hope you all had a great New Year's and I hope that 2010 is already everything you ever dreamed of. And if anyone knows of something I haven't done already, please let me know by the end of the year :) Happy New Year!

P.S I've been reading blogs in Google Reader and have just realised that some people's blogs that I follow don't show up in Google Reader for some reason. If anyone can shed some light on this I would really appreciate it.

Happy List

14. Melbourne

15. Driving long distances on open roads

16. Beautiful clear beaches with limited seaweed

17. Highpoint shopping centre

18. Swimming

19. Heated pools

20. Big M

21. Hot chips with chicken salt

22. Beautiful views

23. Countrysides

24. 4 lane Freeways

25. Kittens

26. Watching my kids open their Christmas presents

27. A fresh new year to start over

Hate List

16. Adelaide

17. Being scratched on the nose by cats

My happy list has now overtaken my hate list. Maybe it will be a good year after all :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T12:36:00.000+10:30

Well I am still at 1000+ blog posts to read. I'm starting to think I will never catch up. But I wanted to wish every a Merry Christmas and if I don't blog again before then, a Happy New Year! My Christmas wish is that 2010 is just as eventful as 2009 but in a good way!

I hope you all have a great holiday period and that you and your families keep safe and have fun!

Happy Birthday Miss 12 going on 30!

2009-12-12T13:31:00.000+10:30

This is a bit late but Happy Birthday to Miss 11 who is now Miss 12! It may as well be 30 with the way she is acting. She is scaring me to death. Only a year until I have a teenage girl in the house and she is pretty much showing me the way it's going to be! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. I still remember when she was learning to sit up and she would only do it if she was sitting in the grass and holding onto a ball. Just a ball, no. Just sitting in the grass, no. It had to be both or she would topple over. It seems like yesterday I would listen to her babble on through the baby monitor at 4 in the morning. Now she's taller than me. At least her kindness and generosity hasn't changed and I hope it never does. Happy Birthday Miss 12! I'll love you forever.

A New Nightmare

2009-12-07T22:22:00.000+10:30

After reading the title of this blog post and knowing me from past blog posts, you are probably now wondering what fresh hell I have gotton myself into this time. But I am actually talking about actual nightmares. I've had 2 in the last 2 nights which is a little strange since I haven't had a nightmare in years. I used to have them all the time, waking up crying and sweating and what not. But not for ages...until 2 nights ago.

The first one I dreamt about a flood. Surprise surprise it was the night I watched Titanic. Last night I dreamt that my ex (who was extremely abusive but who I haven't seen in 15 years) was chasing me. I was running and running but I couldn't move very fast and he had a whole gang with him. I was running uphill but the worse thing was that I had Mr 7 with me and he was going very slow. I had to keep dragging him. Then all of a sudden I also had an xbox under my arm (?) and I knew I couldn't drop it coz Mr 7 would be very upset but they were gaining on us and I was so scared of what they would do to Mr 7. What do you think? Is that because of Titanic too??? Stupid movie! I was so exhausted when I woke up as though I had been running in mud all night.

I'm off to bed now. Hopefully my brain is done with the Titanic...

A Titanic Imagination

2009-12-05T23:16:00.000+10:30

Right now I am watching Titanic which is something I should never do while I'm PMS-ing. I am an incredibly over-emotional person. I consider it to be one of my worst traits. I wish I were more of a hardass but everytime I try to be I end up guilting myself to death. I also am unfortunate enough to have the other trait that you wish you didn't have when you are overly emotional....an overactive imagination! Everytime I watch a disaster movie I imagine what it would be like to be in that situation with my children...and then I cry and cry. I wonder how on Earth I would be able to hang onto the railing while the Titanic snaps in half and make sure my kids are hanging on too. What if one of them fell? Miss 12 has incredibly skinny arms. How would I be able to go on and save the others while suffering from the worst kind of grief known to man?

I get upset when they lock the lower class down below. Back then ladies were ladies. I would not only kick down that gate but I would then proceed to kick the arses of everyone who was on the other side! I like to think I am a lady most of the time but I can turn Buffy if someone is threatening my kids.

The sight of the Irish woman laying down to die with her kids and the baby floating in the water is more than I can bear. James Cameron knew what he was doing when he added those scenes.

Every disaster movie seems to have a part where people must swim under water for quite a while. I'm not a strong swimmer and I hate opening my eyes under water. I'm pretty sure I would get lost along the way and drown me and the kids.

And now I'm starting to realise why I don't sleep well at night..........

For The Love of Seinfeld

2009-12-05T21:45:00.000+10:30

I know I know. Its been so long since I've written anything. I've been trying to catch up on all my blog reading but no matter how hard I try the google reader still says 1000+ blog posts to read. It has been a mad house here as I'm sure it has been everywhere else with Christmas only 3 weeks away and all. School has finally finished for the year but there are concerts to go to, presents to buy and the rest of the year-round general crap to deal with.

The TV has been playing a lot of Seinfeld episodes lately so I've been watching them while I'm doing all the boring stuff. I love Seinfeld. I wish it never ended but I'm glad it did before it got stale. I hate when TV shows do that. You can tell they're running out of ideas but they just keep going and going. I think Simpsons is one of these. I used to love the Simpsons but I haven't laughed at any of the new ones. I'd say they should quit while they're ahead but I think its too late. At least Seinfeld went out on a high note.

Tonights episode was the one where Jerry gets audited for donating to the Krakatoan Volcano Relief Fund (see how I capitalise each word as if it were a real thing). During the episode Elaine asks if the woman George is dating put Jerry's tax papers in a pocketbook or a handbag. It must have been a good 10 - 15 years since this show first aired but I have always wondered what is the difference? So to all you American bloggers out there could you please put me out of my misery and tell me what the difference is between a pocket book and a hangbag...

Happy Birthday Turtle!

2009-11-10T13:34:00.000+10:30

My little turtle Mr 6 is now Mr 7! I can't believe how grown up he is now. He is my baby and I am finding it hard to tell people my youngest is 7. I feel so old! It was bad enough when I was telling people my oldest is 7. Of course I did start having babies at 10 :)

I can't believe its been 7 years since I bought the little pumpkin head home. It seems like a lifetime ago. He's still as cute now as he was then. Such a beautiful little boy who always makes me laugh. The things he says are priceless. His energy knows no bounds. He bounces from one wall to another, always getting into mischief which was why I think he was made so beautiful...because it makes it harder to be mad at him. I bought him a new bike, a bigger one with stunt pegs and such. Not that I want him to use them. He got on it and just flew away. I was going crazy with how fast he was going. He takes to anything like a fish to water. I am so proud of him...even if I do miss his littler version everyday.

Happy List

13. Feeling so proud of my kids

Hate List

15. My kids growing up

More drama

2009-11-10T12:42:00.000+10:30

Today was actually a really good day. Nothing exciting happened. I didn't win any money, I didn't lose any weight, I didn't have a great hair day...but it was peaceful. It was productive and calm and everything went the way it should. It wasn't too hot or too cold. It was the kind of day I dream about but don't often experience. Then I went to pick the kids up from school.....

About 2 months ago Mr 6 gets in the car and tells me A called him a tiny, little bitch (I think that's what he said anyway, it was a while ago now). A is in Miss 11's year level. I could see her sitting in the grass and I was in my car which was a little distance away so I yelled out to her (yelled out to her, not AT her). I yelled out 'A'. She goes 'what?' I said 'did you call Mr 6 a tiny little bitch?' She said 'no' so I said 'look don't call him names and just stay away from each other ok?' Then I drove off. No big deal. Forgot all about it.

The next day C (an absolute instigator who is always trying to start fights. I know why she is the way she is. Her mother is an absolute piece of trash who just had another baby with another different man so C doesn't get a lot of attention. She's only 11 and I feel sorry for her but I find it hard not to be annoyed by the things she does) told Miss 11 that Mr K was going to ring her mum (me) and that I was going to be in a lot of trouble because I yelled at A. Miss 11 told me about it when she got home and I said Mr K can ring me all he wants because I didn't yell at A, I only asked her if she was calling my son names. I never got a call from the teacher and once again forgot about the whole thing. It seemed ludicrous to me anyway and I told Miss 11 that C was just trying to cause arguments between all the girls again.

So today I pull up at the school behind a white car. The woman in it is screaming and yelling at Mr 16, all I can hear is F this and F that. Mr 16 told her to F off and flipped her off which I would not normally approve of but am so proud that he was sticking up for himself against this deranged woman. Then she yelled out 'And tell your mother she's a slut.' I was taken aback. I had no idea who this woman was. If you knew me you'd know I'm far from a slut. I'm always wearing jeans and baggy sweaters and in the last 16 years I've been with 2 men so if I'm a slut then I'm the lamest one I know. And why this woman felt the need to say this to my 16 year old son shocked the hell out of me. I beeped the horn at her. She yelled out F off and flipped me off out her car window. I walked over to her and said 'whats your problem?' The ranting and raving that ensued told me that she was A's mother and that my kids were picking on her kids and blah blah blah. I told her that I would tell her what happened if she just calmed down and stopped talking over top of me. She shut up so I told her exactly what happened. I told her that her kids had been picking on mine and that I didn't yell at A, I only asked her if she said what Mr 6 said she said. Then she told me that Mr K had told her that I was swearing at and abusing A! I was livid. I couldn't believe that a teacher would straight out lie about me. I had no reason to believe this woman wasn't telling the truth because she would have had no reason to be so upset otherwise. Also I think she works at the school and she had to have known I would confront the teacher so I didn't even contemplate the thought she may be lying. I told her it was a total lie, I don't swear at and abuse 11 year old girls. Then a teacher came over and asked her if she was ok! Like I was attacking her! She was the one swearing, she was the one abusing my child and she gets asked if she's ok! I couldn't believe it. I told the teacher we were just having a conversation. He told us to move on. I told him that we were on public property that had nothing to do with the school and we would move on when we were finished. He starts ranting and raving that we can't be swearing in front of children. He was speaking to me by the way because I apparently used the word 'ass', not speaking to her who up until 2 seconds before was using the F word like a sailor. Also there were not a lot of children out there, most of them were mine and hers, and the kids at this school know more swear words than I do. I said to him that we could've finished our conversation in the time it took him to rant that and continued on. I told her the problem could be solved if she told her kids to stay away from mine and I would tell my kids to stay away from hers. She agreed, I got back in my car.

So I'm sitting there waiting for the kids to put their bags in the boot and the teacher comes up level with my window and starts staring at my kids in the back seat! I said 'Do you need something?' He said no. So I said well what are you looking at? He goes nothing so I said well move along then. He walks off just staring at me then goes have a nice day. I fought the urge to flip him off.

This is a couple of days later now, I didn't get to finish. Anyway the teacher was on camp until the next day so the next day I went up to him and asked him why he was saying stuff about me when he didn't even know me and he wasn't even there when the incident happened. He said he hadn't said a word to A's mum! She just outright lied! She was standing up the road and when she saw me talking to Mr K she couldn't get in her car fast enough. I'm not exactly sure what is wrong with people. Are all people like this or am I living in Crazy Town?

Happy List

12. Days that just go right

Hate List

12. Lunatic women who think they can swear at and abuse my children

13. Liars

14. Certain smug teachers at my kids school

Tears of Joy

2009-11-04T21:20:00.000+10:30

Miss 11 left for camp this morning. Her first camp! I didn't know whether to be excited for her or be worried about her. She was so excited I didn't think the camp was going to live up to her expectations but she rang after dinner and she said its even better than she thought it would be so I am so glad she is having a good time even though I already miss her like crazy! It is so weird to not have her in the room next to me. Just another sign of how quickly they are growing up :(

Happy List

7. Horses

8. Alone time

9. My kids growing up

10. Crinkle cut hot chips

11. Kiefer Sutherland

Hate List

8. Headaches

9. Roadworks

10. Leaving your cash and cards at home when you've just travelled a great distance and need them

11. Broken fingernails

Now we're even!

What a Wonderful World

2009-11-01T23:40:00.000+10:30

I spent today coughing continuously for the 7th day in a row, cursing my second course of antibiotics and wondering what on earth is wrong with me. I got into a bit of a disagreement with the girl in the McDonalds drive through, we had a huge blackout, the weather went from winter to hot as hell mid-summer overnight, I ate too much crap and I felt bloated and lonely. Then I heard a big crash in the backyard. I went outside to investigate and it ended up being the tin on the shed roof rattling around because it had gotton incredibly windy all of a sudden. I was only wearing a t-shirt but the wind was so warm and enveloping. There was a full moon so even though it was dark it wasn't really dark. It was so surreal. I seriously could have stayed out there forever except my kids would have woken up to find their mother standing half naked in their backyard and called the loonie bin. It made me realise that despite the crappy things that can happen in a day that leave you feeling stressed out and frustrated, there are still parts that make you feel glad you're alive. Money problems, traffic, stupid people, long queques, automated telephone services....they don't exist when you're standing in your back yard wrapped up in a moment. The new houses that are going up around my area are all stacked on top of one another. They don't even have a big enough backyard to put a clothesline in. How will they ever experience that feeling? It makes me sad for them.

Anyway, you know how I sometimes put in highs and lows of the day? Well I am going to number them and put them on the Things I Love/Things that Make me Happy list or the Things I Hate/Things That Piss Me Off list. But it has to be stuff that has happened to me that day, no past memories of things gone good or bad, only current stuff. On New Years Eve I am hoping that my happy list will outweigh my hate list. Fingers crossed.

Happy List

1. My kids

2. Warm breezes

3. The full moon

4. The warm fuzzy feeling you get when you remember something great that happened in your past

5. Zyrtecs - because despite their non-drowsy claim, they put me to sleep faster than a brick to the face

6. A new digital tv channel

Hate List

1. The stupid girl in McDonalds

2. Waiting in line for half an hour for ice creams to be told the ice cream machine had overheated

3. Idiots neglecting to tell me at either the speaker box or the money window that the ice cream machine had overheated

4. Blackouts - and the fact that when 2 traffic lights were out on a main road they had 4 police yakking it up at one set and absolutely nobody at the other set. Dangerous!

5. Doctors who don't speak English. How am I supposed to know what they are giving me if I can't understand them. Yes I could learn an Asian language but the last time I checked this was Australia and I didn't think I needed to

6. Antibiotics that don't work

7. Coughing

Oops, looks like the bads are outweighing the goods at the moment. Tomorrow I will deliberately look out for great things to balance it out.

Destiny or Drive?

2009-11-01T23:12:00.000+10:30

Yesterday I watched the movie Knowing and started to ponder what I believed....do I believe in random events or do I believe everything happens for a reason? Well this post isn't about that. But it is about something else I've been pondering for a very long time. Do I believe in Destiny or Drive? This applies to life in general but to make a long story short I'll just stick with the relationship aspect right now. Some people believe if it is meant to be, it will be. Destiny right? When my husband and I first started dating we found there were a lot of weird events that could have made us meet a lot earlier. For example, we discovered his friends house was right across the road from my aunts house. He would have been hanging out with his friend while I was visiting my aunt but we didn't meet. Despite going to different high schools we were both very good friends with a guy who went to both schools. We both knew other people and his cousin was engaged to a friend of my sisters. There were many other coincidences but I moved interstate then moved back before I met him at my sisters house. I thought this meant we were destined to be together. We divorced after only 2 years (we were together 7 in total but only married for 2). This shook up my destiny theory. Other people have said destiny is what you make it. You have to go after what you want. You can't wait for it to fall in your lap. But I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be going for...especially in the love department. How do you know which one is the one if destiny isn't providing? I think rom coms have a lot to answer for. Everyone falls head over heels in love with 'the one' but it cuts off while still in the romantic phase. What happens when they move in together and find out they didn't have that much in common after all? What if Rhett Butler had come back? Would Scarlett have gone back to her old ways? Would they have had another child? Would it have bought them closer together or further apart? What did Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks do after they left the Empire State Building? Maybe they got to the bottom and one of them said a really racist comment that totally turned the other one off. Could Richard Gere really get over the fact that Julia Roberts was a hooker or would it have been a recurring theme in future fights? Were Andrew McCarthy and Molly Ringwald able to get over their socio-economic differences or did he just use her as a booty call until he went away to college? These are things I think about people....yes it is weird inside my head.

So what do you think? Do you think love happens or do you think you have to go out and grab it? I'm interested to hear your opinions.

UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE!!!

2009-10-31T17:20:00.000+10:30

I have been falling asleep really early lately thanks to a nice chest infection and this has caused me to be way behind in all my blog reading and commenting. Everytime I get on here I have over 1000 posts to read and I think I am up to about October 6 at the moment. I also haven't done any posts of my own which is horrible so here is an update of what I've been doing.

Catching perverts (see last post)
I've totally gone off Pepsi altogether and have been drinking heaps of water. I also have been going to the gym and have been rollerblading and running. Still have not seen any improvement on the scales though so I'm a little disheartened.
The exception to the above rule is I still have a Cherry Coke once a week during my weekly bubble bath. It's a nice little treat and the other day I discovered Cherry Pepsi so I'll be trying that next bubble bath.
My star sign for the other day said that if it was getting to be too much I should move on. The next day it said it was a great day for my relationship. If I had followed the first day's advice I wouldn't have had a relationship to have a great day the next day!!!
I discovered that Cherry Pepsi tastes exactly like Cherry Coke. Or maybe its because of my coughing and what not.
Australians do say Oi. When I was asked this question I actually thought that I didn't say it but when I thought about it I realised that I do sometimes but its not in a 'Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi' chanty way. Its more in an angry way like 'Oi, what do you think you're doing?' or 'Oi, get the hell off of there!'
The other day when I went in for my Cherry Coke and Cherry Pepsi (I didn't want to play favourites) I saw Cherry 7-Up! I didn't even know they had it but apparently there is a new one to try.
Rollerblading isn't harder than regular skating. You just have to get used to it. But I used to ice skate as well so it probably helped a little
Amo, I had the Xanadu record too. Now I have it on i-tunes. It will always be a favourite.
Waiting for love sucks big time. I'm no spring chicken and you start to wonder if it even exists at all. Are other people just settling? If they're not and they're all with the loves of their lives then where is mine? Its a conundrum. My mum used to say there is a lid for every pot. I'm still not sure if I'm the lid or the pot but lately I'm starting to think I'm a frying pan!
Have just found out that I don't have a chest infection at all. Apparently it is my sinuses leaking into my chest. How utterly gross! I just keep coughing and coughing uncontrollably. It is horrible. I have gone through one set of antibiotics and am starting another lot tonight with some antihistimines thrown in for good measure. It keeps waking me up during the night so I have had no sleep for a week! I am one cranky girly!

To Catch A Pervert

2009-10-27T19:00:00.016+10:30

I had a bit of excitement last Thursday. Miss 10 left her sports uniform at home so I told her I'd drop it off later so later, me and a friend went around to the school. As we approached the school we saw this guy standing inside the school gates. He seemed so suss, he was standing behind a mound of dirt facing towards the kids who were doing sport on the oval. I said to my friend 'what is that guy doing?' He slowed down and then he said 'he's jerking off!' He slammed on the brakes and started reversing up the road. I could see the guy grabbing at his pants to do them up then he started walking off...straight towards the school. We pulled up right opposite him and my friend was yelling 'Oi, Oi' at him. He wouldn't turn around, he just kept walking. My friend told me to call the police and went running after him. I called the police and told them there was a man exposing himself inside the school grounds. I sat there and waited and noticed that my friend had finally caught up with him right outside the school which was a fair distance away. As I was sitting there, I looked across the road and noticed the bus was sitting there running with the door open but there was no bus driver. Then it clicked....the pervert was the bus driver! The police showed up and questionned him. He said he was urinating and he was human and sometimes it happens. I said if you didn't think you were doing anything wrong why did you try to run away? He said that he had some time before the bus was supposed to take off so he thought he'd go for a walk. I said 'what a load of s**t!' I pointed out at least 5 places he could have peed without being seen. I said most people who pee in public make sure they're somewhere private and they face away from people, they don't face directly towards children. And even if he was just urinating as he claims, he still had his penis out in school grounds in full view of a whole group of kids. Creep! They actually let him drive off in his bus but luckily he'll have to go to court and the bus company is doing an investigation. That's what they reckon anyway. Surely they would have to speak to the witnesses if they were actually doing an investigation and I haven't heard from anyone. What a perve!

What is Love?

2009-10-18T20:01:00.000+10:30

Love freaks me out. You see such a broad range of it while reading other people's blogs. They are so happy when they're in love and when it all blows up in their faces, you can actually hear the pain in their words. I've never seen such an extreme change in emotion. From love to hurt to anger and resentment. I'm not even sure what love is and after reading about everyone else, I'm not sure I want to.

Whip It

2009-10-17T18:22:00.000+10:30

I took the kids to see Whip It last week. It was so awesome. It was a great movie (made me cry in parts) and it reignited a passion in me that had been long gone. I loved to skate when I was a kid. Don't laugh but I used to put on the Xanadu soundtrack and skate around my backyard singing at the top of my voice. I was 7 so its cute rather than embarrassing right? Well thats what I tell myself anyway. I was so proud of my skates. They were exactly like Kira's and I had the best ones out of all my friends. And I was really good at it too. I could do all sorts of stuff on them.

My next goal was to add exercise into my life since cutting back on the Pepsi hasn't done much for my waistline. I was going to do the Couch to 5k program but I haven't been motivated to do it mainly because I hate to run! Then I thought 'why don't I skate instead?'

So I went straight out to get some skates. I was surprised to find that nowhere sold skates. I had to settle for a pair of rollerblades. I drove down to the park, sat in the car while I put them on, then fell out of the car. I was not prepared for the wheels to move out from under me so fast. I grazed my knee and my hand and broke my nail so far down that it bled. But I still went off skating and had such a fun time!

I went out again today. I hit a twig and a rock and slid through a puddle but still managed to stay upright. But the best thing was I was sweating like a pig! If this doesn't make me lose weight nothing will...

Finally!

2009-10-16T21:24:00.000+10:30

I got the nicest surprise in the supermarket today. I have heard about Dr Pepper and Cherry Coke from all you Americans for years and years (on tv before there were blogs). We got Dr Pepper here about 15 years ago (or around about that) but it didn't last long. I don't think many people liked it that much. So today I was in the supermarket and I looked over at a fridge that I never look at and I saw Dr Pepper! I was really surprised that you could still actually buy it here. Then I looked next to it and there was Cherry Coke! I've never seen one in real life before! So of course I bought it. At $2.70 per 350ml can it was a bit pricier than what I usually would pay. (I usually pay about $2 for a 2 litre bottle of Pepsi). I took it home and poured out some for me and the kids. And it was quite nice! Of course the kids loved it. But I don't give them soft drink very often so they would love anything with bubbles. It was unusual tasting but I could definitely get used to it. Of course I am supposed to be weaning myself off of Pepsi and onto water....not onto Cherry Coke. But it will be nice for special occasions.....

My Addiction

2009-10-16T16:27:00.001+10:30

I just had the weirdest feeling. I don't drink, smoke, do drugs or gamble and I'm not a shopaholic (yes I am that boring!) I don't think I have an addictive personality since I am not addicted to any of the major ones. I am addicted to Pepsi but as you may know, I have been cutting back to one glass per day (and doing a good job I might add). However, I was just in the bathroom when I got a mad craving. It was really intense like the feeling that you have to have chocolate when you're PMS-ing or the feeling of having to have some weird food RIGHT NOW! when you're pregnant. But it wasn't for Pepsi, it wasn't for weird food (no I'm not pregnant) and it wasn't for any illegal substances....it was to watch something with Kiefer Sutherland in it! Now that has to be the strangest craving in the world right? From one addiction to another... :)

Happy Birthday B!

2009-10-16T14:47:00.000+10:30

Miss 9 is now Miss 10! Double digits! She is growing up so fast. I was watching some home video of her last night when she was 7 and she looks and sounds so much younger. She is so very bright and has such an incredible future ahead of her. I think she'll be a lawyer because she argues incessantly and won't give up until she wins. She wants to be a vet though. She never lets anyone tell her what to do. She's as stubborn as a mule and I admire her so very much for not letting people run all over her. She's so beautiful, smart and talented and the things that come out of her mouth sometimes are hilarious! You're an awesome little girl B and I am so lucky to have been given the job as your mother. Happy Birthday Beautiful! And I hope you enjoy your shopping trip!

My Modem Hates Me

2009-10-12T01:04:00.000+10:30

Hi everyone! Just letting you know that I wasn't sucked up by a huge black hole. I was nearly caught up on all my blog reading (I was only 4 days behind) then my Internet decided it hated me. I've been having trouble with it for days so now I have no idea how behind I am. I promise I will catch up and comment to you all but its 1am and I have to get up at 5am so I will have to do it tomorrow as long as my internet is still working (fingers crossed). I have lots to tell...rollerblading accidents, arrogant cops, great movies, tote bags, delicious cakes...its all good and interesting stuff so please come back tomorrow!!!

Horror-scopes

2009-10-01T00:03:00.000+09:30

This was my horoscope for today.

Your lovescope for September 30, 2009 If you have been entertaining fantasies about meeting a certain dark, mysterious person, then your dreams may well come true today. You could find them in the most unlikely place - but once your eyes meet, you will know that this is it. This is the one you have been waiting for, and here they are, at last, right in front of you!

Can you say excited??? I actually let myself get carried away with this. Imagine a dark mysterious stranger who would turn out to be the one! It set off a whole myriad of fantasies. I imagined having someone in my life who I could talk to, depend on, have fun with. Someone who I could share secrets knowing they wouldn't laugh at me, someone who would think about me during the day, someone who would love me as much as I loved them. I looked out the whole day and the only men I saw were a teenager loading an unbelievable amount of alcohol into his boot and the guy who makes me feel worthless on a daily basis. I'm pretty sure someone who makes me cry all the time or a burgeoning alcoholic are not my 'the one'.

Alas it was not meant to be today. It was a crushing disappointment but I'm hoping he's out there somewhere and he won't wait until I'm too old to care.

In the meantime I'm thinking about bringing a lawsuit against the horoscope writers. How dare they get my hopes up like that!!!!!

The P-ed off 6 Year Old

2009-09-29T22:31:00.001+09:30

Guess what I was woken up by this morning? Yep, the water company. They decided to start down my end of the street (very early). It is typical it just happens to be school holidays, the only time I get to sleep in just a little bit. I didn't have any trouble getting my car out the driveway but had to move a whole truck to be able to get back in. Now they've gone home leaving their heavy machinery parked up the curb and a gaping hole in the road. But it is totally safe because they put a witches hat next to it *rolls eyes* In my experience children are more likely to be attracted to bright orange plastic than repelled by it. I'm hoping I don't find any little bodies in there tomorrow. I'm keeping mine inside just to be safe.

But I must laugh at their naivete. In my neighbourhood that heavy machinery will either be gone or graffittied within an inch of its life by morning. And there's absolutely no way that witches hat will still be there. Some bogan will be proudly displaying it in their window. Might get up early to watch the reactions :)

On a lighter note, I thought I would share something funny that Mr 6 said. He still has a babyish voice so you have to imagine it said in that tone.

I had just woken up (via machinery) when Mr 6 knocked on my bedroom door. I knew he'd want me to do something so I just stayed quiet and pretended I was still asleep. There was a slight pause then I heard 'Stuff it. No-one's answering anyway'. Where does he get this stuff from? It made me laugh and laugh...

Highs of the Day

Not being dizzy when I woke up

Mr 6's comment

Spending time at the stables

Lows of the Day

Waking up to machinery

Nearly having my car crashed into by an old man cutting the corner

Goal Update
Have only been drinking one glass of Pepsi a day
Only had one glass of water today but that's still an improvement
Have been using a smaller plate and have cut down on my portions
So far so good! Will try to add some exercise tomorrow :)

To The Creep Who Was Standing Behind me in the Supermarket - I know that you were possibly so mesmerised by my beauty in my jeans and baggy sweater that it was hard for you to stay away but if I can feel your disgusting hot breath on the back of my neck, you are standing way too close! Trying to merge us into one being (thereby making me a person who has to wear a Jim Beam t-shirt and skin tight jeans) will not get you through the check out any faster. Standing a couple of metres behind will produce the exact same result except I won't have your nasty spit bubbles in my hair. And you don't have to give me a filthy look because my package of hamburger meat got caught on the conveyor belt preventing you from loading your own groceries onto it. You could have been a good samaritan and pushed it back on instead of looking at me as though I am wasting your time. I'm sure you have lots of places to go and lots of important things to do. People who look like they haven't had a shower in 3 years and are shopping in Jim Beam t-shirts in the middle of a work day usually have tonnes of stuff on their schedule. On second thought, kind of glad you didn't touch my food....

Off to a Bad Start

2009-09-28T23:42:00.004+09:30

The first day of the new and improved me didn't go exactly to plan. For some reason I woke up this morning, took 2 steps towards the door and fell into the wall! Luckily I had the presence of mind to stick my body out thus avoiding the tv (with my dizzy spells and big hips, that tv is going DOWN!) So of course I go into total hypochondriac mode and start mentally ticking of what could be causing it -- brain tumour, brain infection, brain something????

I've been to the doctors about this before and was told to use nasal spray but my sinuses were actually fine for once. It was suggested that I may be dehydrated. Since I hate drinking water, am addicted to Pepsi and spent the whole night with the heater on high waking up in a puddle of sweat, I thought this may be a probability. So I drank some water, nearly electricuted myself plugging my heater into a burnt out point and passed out on my bed. I slept for hours and woke up feeling slightly better.

Until I found the note from the water company telling me (one day in advance) that they're going to be digging up my street for the next week to relay some pipes. Yay! I'll only be trapped inside my house for half the school holidays. I can feel the fun coming on already. But don't worry, the note says they'll be sure to tell me when they'll be blocking off my driveway so I can move my car. Move my car where exactly? Out into the street right next to their equipment and spraying asphalt?

Noisy kids, noisy equipment, noisy road workers and unexplained dizzy spells? I'm trying to be less negative but my life is sure making it hard :)

PS Thank you all so much for your supportive words. It means so much to me.

The (Soon to Be) New and Improved Me!

2009-09-27T21:08:00.000+09:30

Firstly I must apologise if this pink text is annoying you. I just felt like being a little girly today :)

Secondly I would like to apologise for all my whining and bitching over the last couple of weeks and for basically being a misery guts. I have had a chance to really re-evaluate my life over the last week and I have spent many hours berating myself. But I've also come up with some solutions so its not all bad.

My first decision was to stop. Stop what you say? Stop everything! Stop doing what I'm doing, stop feeling sorry for myself, stop being so lazy.....just stop. None of those things are working for me.

My second decision was to spend today writing a list of everything I want to do and have in the future...which I did. My next decision was to write it here, in front of you guys, to hold myself accountable for the actions I have to take for the changes I want to make. (Next action....stop pretending to be a poet)

I'm not going to list every goal I made right here right now. For one, it would take too long and for two, it would bore you to death and I need you all to be alive and well so I can be humiliated if I do something that is not congruent with achieving my goals. But each Sunday, I will write here a new goal for the week that I will have to have done by the next Sunday or else face all of you with my head hanging in shame.

First I am going to concentrate on my weight. It has been a problem for me for about 4 years now. I can't blame the kids. My youngest is 6 (do the math). It is all on me. The last few years have been particularly stressful for me and when I'm stressed I eat. My whole life I have been very skinny. I used to be teased in high school for how skinny I was. I didn't even put on a lot of weight when I was pregnant and snapped back into shape right after the births without dieting or exercising. I was blessed! I thought it would last forever. I didn't think it was possible to put on weight. But then it happened...I turned 30. Everything went downhill from there. So today I am finally taking charge! Especially because I keep hitting things with my hips....I'm obviously still a thin girl in a fat girls body because I still think I can fit through small spaces and today I almost knocked the new tv right off the table.

I wasn't going to admit to how much weight I had stacked on but one of my goals is to be braver so here goes.....I need to lose 20kg (44 pounds). OK now that I have confessed you can close your gaping mouths!

So here's how I'm starting:

1. Stop drinking Pepsi and start drinking water - I am a total Pepsi addict and I actually get a ripper headache if I stop drinking it for one day so I am going to be realistic and try to wean myself off it instead of going cold turkey and ending up in a bell tower popping off Coke drinkers. I am setting myself the goal of only one glass per day for this week. And I will drink 8 glasses of water a day.
2. Cut down my portion sizes - This week I will start eating from a smaller plate so I can cut down the amount I eat

OK so that's it. Hopefully I can keep that up for the week and I'll let you know how it went next Sunday (good or bad!)

My Shameful Weakness

2009-09-22T23:41:00.004+09:30

I promised myself I wouldn't post anything until I caught up on all my blog reading but since I am still reading blogs from a week ago, I decided to unpromise.

Its been a crazy time and no, the changes have not been good and no, I am not going through menopause :)

Apart from Mr 6 bleeding from the head, buying and installing a new fridge and rear-ending a car out front of the school, I have been spending a lot of time contemplating a certain relationship and wondering why I am so weak.

I like to think I am a strong person. I once packed up all my stuff and a 2 year old and moved interstate by myself so I could start over. I escaped from an abusive relationship which almost killed me (literally). When Mr 6 was 3 months old, I broke my wrist (the one I write with) and still managed to keep it all together. I got through a divorce without despising my ex. To be cliche, when I get knocked down, I get back up again.

But my relationship with a certain person makes me feel ashamed of myself. It goes like this: get together, get treated like a worthless piece of crap, get dumped, sit at home while he screws every teenager in sight, get back together again. I don't know why I do it to myself. I always think it will be better the next time around and I'm always proved wrong. I feel disgusting just writing this.

I found the cartoon while looking for a picture of a broken heart and it couldn't describe the situation better. It's exactly how I feel. Why am I such a tool?

Edited: I just realised you can't really see the cartoon. She hands him her heart and says 'be careful with it..its fragile'. He drops it on the floor and says 'eh, it was worthless anyways'.

Photo source

I'm Not Dead

2009-09-21T08:01:00.002+09:30

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am still alive and to say thankyou to all those who asked if I am ok (which was really sweet btw). I can't believe its been so long since I posted anything. I'm going through some major life changes at the moment and will be back asap. I've also got a LOT of blogs to catch up on. See you soon :)

Photo source

The Package or What Customer Service Part 2

2009-09-08T23:37:00.004+09:30

I didn't want to do another post about frustrating things but I need to get this off my chest. This was actually happening at the same time as the tv thing so it was doubly maddening. I was expecting a package that I needed by Thursday night. On Monday night I got an email saying there was a problem with it so I rang the package delivery service on Tuesday (I won't name names out of the kindness of my heart but it is a major delivery service in Australia, but not Australia Post). They said they don't deliver to post office boxes so I had to give them my home address. Not a problem. I gave it to them and asked when I could expect it. They said it will be delivered Thursday, which I thought was a little strange since their depot is only 20 minutes from my house, but no big deal, I was getting it Thursday and I was happy with that. So on Thursday I planned to stay home until the package came then take the tv back to the store. Best laid plans hey?

We have a big fence out the front with 2 gates, one the car goes through and one visitors can go through. You can't see through the fence so just to be sure I couldn't possibly miss the delivery guy, I opened one of the car gates and sat in the front room with the window open so if I didn't see him, I would hear him. I waited and waited. At 12:30pm I thought I would ring the depot and ask if they possibly knew the approximate arrival time. The guy tells me he's already been. I told him he hadn't. He tells me to go look in my letterbox to see if there is a card in there. I go outside and sure enough, there is the 'Sorry we missed you' card. I told the guy that I had been sitting at home waiting all day and he didn't even step onto my property. He has obviously parked the car where I couldn't see it, gotton out of his car and just stuck the card in my letterbox without even bothering to knock on the door! He told me he would get in touch with the driver and ask if he'll come back. He puts me on hold and when he finally comes back on he tells me the driver has agreed to come back and drop off my package. He'll be here by 3pm. I love the way the driver 'agreed' to come back. If he'd just knocked on the door in the first place and done his job he wouldn't have to come back.

So I sit and wait again. It gets to 3pm and he's still not here. At 3.30pm when he's still a no show and I am late picking up the kids, I ring the depot again. The chick tells me there is nothing written on the computer about my last call and the driver couldn't possibly come back as he has a set route. My package will be delivered tomorrow.

I was livid! Not only did this dingus take off with my package, the guy on the phone outright lied to me! I bet he didn't even speak to the driver at all. And his lie made me wait around all day for nothing!

I was so mad I rang the depot and asked for the complaints department. She says 'do you have a complaint with a driver or a delivery?' I said both. She says she'll put me through. Some guy answers and I said 'Is this the complaints department?' He goes 'it can be.' I said 'wow. A smartass. That explains a lot.' He asks me what the problem is. I start to tell him but I'm not more than 3 words into it when he cuts me off and says he'll take care of it. I asked him what he was going to take care of. He says he'll take care of my problem. I said how can you take care of my problem when you haven't even heard the story? He says 'ok tell me the story'. So I tell him what happened and he says 'I don't know what you expect me to do. I just work on the dock. I don't even have anything to do with international deliveries.' Aaargh! Why did the women ask me if I had a complaint with the driver or the delivery if she was just going to put me through to some random depot worker anyway???? I mean, would it have made any difference either way???

Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) he gives me a number to call to speak to the guy in charge of international deliveries. I ring him and repeat my story once again. He tells me I can drive down to the airport after 6pm and pick it up myself. Since I had a prior appointment after 6pm and due to the fact that I didn't relish an airport run to pick up a package I had already paid delivery on, I asked him why I should have to. He tells me its the only way I'm going to get my package today. I told him, fine, I will come and pick it up but he can refund me the money I paid for postage. He says to me 'you haven't been charged for delivery'. I said of course I've been charged for delivery, you don't work for free do you? He's silent for a few seconds as though he's trying to contemplate how he manages to earn a wage when nobody pays for the service. Then he says my supplier has paid the postage. I tell him that the supplier paid the postage because I paid it to them, that its included in the purchase price. I said to him 'when you buy a book from Amazon, you pay for postage. Amazon don't just send you the book out of the kindness of their hearts. They don't pay the postage for you'. Again he is dumbfounded for a while then tells me my package will be delivered tomorrow.

The next day I am overly excited because I so desperately want to have a chat with the driver. When he arrives (actually entering the property and knocking on the door this time - who would have thought a delivery driver could do that?) I asked him 'what happened yesterday?' (BTW I was very nice, not as narky on the outside as I felt on the inside) He acts like he doesn't know what I'm talking about. I said 'why didn't you come onto the property yesterday to deliver the parcel?' He tells me he wasn't the driver yesterday, that the driver called in sick this morning and he was called in at the last minute to take his place. I didn't know whether to believe him or not (after all they'd already outright lied to me). I'm not sure if the driver really was sick or if he just didn't have the guts to face me or if the driver from the day before was indeed standing in front of me right now and was just pretending he was a replacement because he was afraid I would cause a confrontation. I didn't know but I just took the package and went inside. I was too tired to argue anyway (I was going through the tv thing at the same time remember). Once again I get stuffed around and big business goes on as usual. Thanks big business...

I e-mailed the people who sent me the package to thank them. I thanked them for their helpfulness, the quality of the product and how fast they got it to me (apart from the delivery once it got to Australia of course). Then it hit me. I was just profusely thanking someone for doing the job I paid them to do! Not that they don't deserve a thankyou but when did this world become a place where doing your job became a reason to have your butt kissed? Its only noticeable because of how many people DON'T do their job.

People I am begging you. Please remember that you are not doing something for me because you think I'm fabulous. You actually get paid to do stuff for me. It is your job to do what I ask. And I am not being unreasonable with my demands. Just deliver my package when I pay you to. Don't lie to me and tell me someone is coming back when you know they're not. Why would you want to waste my time like that? When I ask for a Big Mac and a coke I would like a Big Mac and a coke, not a sprite and a chicken nugget. And is it too much to ask that the food be edible? Or that you don't sneeze on my burger? Or that its mildly warm? And once in a while, even though you may not feel like it, why not toss me a smile? I promise it won't hurt a bit. I wouldn't even think about treating you any other way.

I know this has been long and tiresome and it might not even seem like a big deal to you. But I was already stressed with the tv and Mr 16 causing me grief about school and Mr 6 being sick and everything else that has been going on and it just felt like one more thing that was sent to drive me crazy. But I feel so much better now that I have let it all out. Thanks bloggy friends. :)

My Digital Nightmare

2009-09-06T20:43:00.008+09:30

Well I have certainly had a frustrating couple of days! First I finally gave in and bought a digital tv with a built in HD tuner. Up until now I have refused. When the Government tells me they are going to be changing the system and I have to either replace all of my tvs or stick a set top box on all of them just so I can continue to watch mindless garbage, boring crap, mountains of infomercials and countless loud blaring ads, I get a little rebellious. While everyone has been out replacing their equipment, I have been continuing to watch my trusty old analog. But then the day came when the remote broke. I like to mute the ads because I don't need creepy people screaming at me to buy their stuff so I was heartbroken (and annoyed) at the loss. I bought one of those universal remotes. After tuning it in, I discovered it only worked on 2 channels and the mute and the volume buttons wouldn't work. It would have been funny if it wasn't so frustrating.

So I took it back to the store where the woman acted as though I was lying. 'Never had any trouble with these before' she said. 'Well you have now' I said. The remote I had bought was the top of the line one. I figured if that wasn't going to work one of the cheaper ones probably wouldn't either and did I want to waste that amount of my life trying to find out? So it was with a heavy heart I headed for the electronics store.

Now before I am accused of selling out and going against my convictions, I will state that I only bought a small one. It was for the bedroom anyway and I don't want a huge one in there. Thus far, I have not had any experience with digital television so I wasn't sure what to expect. I bought it home, took it out of the box, plugged it in, tuned it in. Except it wouldn't tune in. I kept trying and kept trying. For 2 hours I tried to tune the thing in, plugging in aerials, unplugging aerials, hooking it through the VCR (yes I still have one of those too)....they don't tell you about this on the ads. Finally, right before I had to go to pick the kids up from school, the channels appeared on the screen. They kept flashing on and off in a pixelating frenzy but they were there all the same. Sweet relief! I turned it off and went and picked up the kids.

We got home and all raced into my bedroom, having told the kids about it on the way and them getting way overexcited. I turned the tv on. No channels! After messing about with it for the whole night and half the next day, I realised that the channels would only tune in if the tv was on for about 2 hours and they would stay there as long as you never turned the tv off! I rang the store and asked if this was normal. They said it sounded like it was faulty so off to the store I go again. When I got it there the guy said (and I promise I'm not even making this up) 'Never had trouble with these tv's before'. 'That's what they all say' I said.

So I bought the new tv home. This time the channels tuned in straight away. Sweet! Then I notice that there is no channel 10. Since my favourite shows like Law & Order and Supernatural are on channel 10, there is going to be one moody cow in this house if there is no channel 10! I'm told I should use an aerial with an amplifier. Excellent because I already own an aerial with an amplifier. Plug it in, no good. I'm told I should go get a digital aerial. Back to the store I go. There I'm told that the best picture would come from an outdoor antenna. I have an outdoor antenna. Its not connected but its there. I'm told I need about 30m of coax cable and an assortment of connectors. I buy these items, get on the roof, connect the coax to the antenna, run the cable through the roof, try to get it down my wall to come out the bottom but it gets stuck on insulation and framing inside the wall so I just drill a hole through the ceiling and lower the cable through. Still no channel 10. Hours and hours pass of rearranging wires, repositioning cables, attaching and reattaching plugs and thing-a-majigs. Still no channel 10. I'm told I need a digital antenna which will cost me another $200+. They didn't mention this when they were advertising the exciting world of digital.

So now I have no channel 10, an overly pixelating channel 9 and horrible reception on the non-digital channels. But at least I have a remote....

RIP old analog tv. I will miss you....

Photo source

I'm Not Ignoring You :)

2009-09-06T17:14:00.006+09:30

Just so you know that I actually do read and appreciate your comments I'm going to quickly reply to the ones that need replying to.

To Thankyou - considering my sister will go out and buy the exact same item that I do (no matter what it is) there is probably a little bit of jealousy involved there. I sometimes get the urge to buy crazy stupid ugly things just so she will put it in her house but I am yet to waste my money being so childish (although I'm not ruling it out for the future =) Its weird because I was always jealous of her because she had a much better relationship with our mum but who knows why people think the way they do?

4evernite - I am always apologising about something too! Even when its not my fault! Someone will barge into me and I apologise. Its nuts! I blame my mother for teaching me good manners but also giving me a guilt complex. It blends together to make sure I'm constantly saying sorry to people who don't deserve it. Even when I promise myself I'll never do it again! And you put me to shame by what you were reading.

Joey - Isla Fisher doesn't even live here anymore but I agree she is a cutie :) And you also put me to shame with what you were reading. Vonnegut? Please....

Amo - It wasn't a holiday weekend here in Australia. It was Fathers Day though. Hope you had a good one. You might be able to answer a question that has been plaguing me for years. Why can't you wear white after labour day?

Xazmin - I was going to tell you what the 5th line on page 161 of Gone With The Wind was but after searching the place upside down I am unable to find it. I'm sure one of the kids has done something to it so now I am in a stroppy mood.

Cashmere Librarian - good to know the bag will be well made. Its always a bit of a risk when you buy something from somewhere you've never purchased from before. I just hope the inept people who deliver parcels in Australia don't do any damage to it before I get it! Was it Newcastle where your neighbours were staying? I'm in South Australia which is about 16 hours away from Sydney.

Metropolitan Mum - My son is 16 but he is so not ready to be a daddy! Its amazing how he can actually physically have children and if he did, no-one would take it away from him. He can barely look after himself! There are lots of 16 year old mums around here where I live. I find it quite sad that they've just given up their own childhoods like that. It is so hard. I hope my kids wait as long as possible. We have so little childhood and so many many adult years. Shame to waste it.

Summer - you better be feeling better girly :)

Twenty something Momma - It made me so happy that you presumed I had to 'flip back' to page 161. I'd have been devastated if you'd have thought I wasn't that far along yet :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your comments. I look forward to getting to know you all better =)

2009-09-06T15:42:00.003+09:30

I know I've been off the radar for a few days. I desperately want to tell you about what happened in the last couple of days but promised myself I wouldn't post anything until I finished playing catch up with everyone else's blogs. However I have just received my first ever award! It was presented to me by the lovely Twenty-something Momma and since I am so excited that somebody has actually gone out of their way to bestow such a wonderful award onto me and since I have a Securities Analysis and Portfolio Management assignment due in this afternoon and it is making me pull my hair out, I thought this should be my number one priority.

Here are the rules for the Over the Top Award:

USE ONLY ONE WORD! It’s not as easy as you might think. Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It’s really hard to use only one-word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? Jeans

2. Your hair? Yuck!

3. Your mother? Needy

4. Your father? Absent

5. Your favorite food? Fatty

6. Your dream last night? Weird

7. Your favorite drink? Gassy

8. Your dream/goal? Travel

9. What room are you in? Bedroom

10. Your hobby? Blogging

11. Your fear? Rejection

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? USA

13. Where were you last night? Here

14. Something that you aren’t? Snobby

15. Muffins? Chocolate.

16. Wish list item? BMW

17. Where did you grow up? Australia

18. Last thing you did? Studied

19. What are you wearing? Jeans

20. Your TV? Loud

21. Your pets? Exciteable

22. Friends? Away

23. Your life? Stagnant

24. Your mood? Stressed

25. Missing someone? Always

26. Vehicle? Dirty

27. Something you’re not wearing? Hat

28. Your favorite store? Myer

29. Your favorite color? Purple

30. When was the last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? Yesterday

32. Your best friend? Funny

33. One place that I go to over and over? Foodland

34. One person who emails me regularly? Tab

35. Favorite place to eat? Home

That was quite hard to only use one word!

And now I am passing this onto these 5 wonderful bloggers:

Have fun guys and thanks again Twenty-something Momma!

Tag I'm It!

2009-09-01T20:47:00.002+09:30

I've been tagged by the lovely TwentySomethingMomma (who by the way has the most gorgeous kids in the world - apart from my own of course)
The rules are:

1. Collect the book that you have most handy.

2. Turn to page 161.

3. Find the 5th complete sentence.

4. Cite the sentence on your blog.

5. Pass it on to 5 other bloggers.

Now I will confess that when I got this I did, for a moment, contemplate running out to the loungeroom and grabbing a copy of Gone With The Wind or some other epic classic (kind of like a 'What, this old thing? I just had it lying around' but in a book version rather than an outfit). But in the spirit of truthfulness, I did grab the book that was most handy and that was Stephen King's 'The Dark Half'.

The 5th complete sentence on page 161 is:

'Perhaps they would begin after Alan called back.'

That was kind of disappointing. I was hoping for a bit more excitement than that. But it was sort of interesting.

These are the bloggers I am tagging with this. (I put everyone in a random number generator because I hate choosing between people.)

Have fun!

I Need Another Baby

2009-08-31T00:04:00.003+09:30

Just found these pics of nurserys.

Are they too gorgeous for words or what? I snagged these pics from pewter + sage . So makes me want to have another baby. I guess I'll be waiting for grandkiddies but since my oldest is only 16 I'm kind of hoping I'll have a long wait. But when that day finally comes that kid is going to be spoilt rotten!! I just don't know which look to choose....

Monogram Madness

2009-08-30T18:55:00.005+09:30

Living in Australia is great. It is a really nice place to live and I've always felt fortunate to be born here. We have a pretty good health system and welfare system and a pretty decent standard of living. It has its low points but on the whole I'd rather live here than Iraq.

But I have (not so) secretly been harbouring an obsession with all things American my whole life. The introduction of this thing called the Internet has only served to deepen my addiction. Now I don't just have TV to get information from. But reading other peoples blogs has led me into a whole new territory.

Before I started reading blogs I didn't even know what a preppy was. Gossip Girl is sending my head into a spin. Do people really live like that? I'm coveting head bands, park avenue apartments, anything J Crew. FAO Schwarz, Central Park, dorm rooms, pep rallys are making me salivate. How did I ever get by without having anything monogrammed?

These kind of things just don't really exist here in Australia. I'm sure somewhere in Aus someone has a headband. But its just not the same. I was sitting here wondering if the sale of a kidney would get me a plane ticket over there then it struck me like a brick in the head. We live in the Internet age. We live in an age where we can order anything from anywhere! Yes I know I'm a little slow but better late than never right?

Then I saw it. Jen from A Girl in Pearls and a Boy with Toys has posted a pic of a tote bag from L.L. Bean that her soon-to-be-husband had bought her.

This is it. So I ordered it! I got it with the black trim and I had it monogrammed!!! My first monogrammed item. I feel like I'm going to cry....

I'm so excited even though it will take 2-4 weeks to get here but when it does I will post a pic of it with my very own initials on it.

In the meantime I am going to monogram everything I own.

Jen also got these as a gift from her bridesmaids.

Aren't they too too adorable? I guess I'll be needing a cute passport cover soon too because I'm going to get to America or die trying. You can live on one kidney right?

Photoshop will be the Death of Me

2009-08-30T18:13:00.002+09:30

Am I the only one in the world who finds it hard to use Photoshop? I thought I would put some pics of our trip to Granite Island on here but I wanted to blur the kids faces first. I think I'm going to have a stroke just trying to figure it out. Any tips would be great!

Sincere apologies

2009-08-30T15:45:00.003+09:30

I'd like to apologise for any bad behaviour I may have exhibited in the last few days. I didn't get any more than 3 hours of sleep a night for the last week and I think I went a little crazy. If I offended anyone by my rantings and ravings I sincerely apologise.

I like nice. It's why I read blogs. If everyone turned mean and nasty I wouldn't come here anymore. I just don't want anyone to have to pretend their own opinions don't exist just to make everyone else happy. It stems from my insecurities of constantly letting people treat me like a doormat.

15 years ago I was in a check out line in a grocery store. This woman came up, stood right in front of me and started putting groceries on the conveyor belt. In these situations I never say anything but it always makes me mad and I stew about it for days so at this particular time I decided to be assertive and not let her get away with it. So I very politely said 'Excuse me, I think I was here first'. She turned around and very snappily said 'Well actually I was here first. This is my stuff'. She pointed at some items that were on the end of the belt that I hadn't even noticed. I was absolutely mortified. I embarrassingly apologised and stood there red faced hoping the world would open up and swallow me whole. I have not said a single word to anyone who I think has pushed in front of me since, even those who I know for absolute sure weren't there before me. In 15 years! I know, I'm a total coward.

My sister is worse though. She has way more friends than me. I know this because she is constantly rubbing it in my face as though this little fact somehow makes her better than me. But the reason she has more friends is that she has 'Please walk all over me' tattooed on her forehead (figuratively not literally although sometimes I wonder).

I am a good friend. I will listen to you cry about your latest break up. I will help you move even if its from the middle of nowhere to a 5th floor apartment. I will babysit your kids. I will invite you to all my parties and not ever expect a gift. I will lend you money. I will pick you up when your car has broken down or run out of petrol. I will do all these things for you but if you are never there for me when I need you, I will cut you from my life. I have better things to do than constantly be running around after selfish ungrateful prats who don't appreciate me.

My sister is the exact opposite. Her 'friends' are a bunch of users but she will never stop being friends with these people because she wants (needs!) the friend count on her Face Book page to be a higher number than mine. She has one friend who invites her shopping all the time....but only when she needs to purchase a large item (my sister owns a van and she does not). She has another friend who has moved houses 5 times in the last 2 years. Of course my sister has done all the heavy lifting each time but her friend was unavailable to help her out when she moved last year. She looks after the children of another friend on a regular basis but has never had the favour returned. Another of her friends invites her to all her parties...the ones where you have to buy something that is. Tupperware parties, lingerie parties, kids birthday parties, yes. New Years Eve parties and dinner parties, no.

And how do I know all this? Because everytime I see her she bitches and moans about the latest hurtful thing they've done. I'm not sure if she enjoys being a doormat or if she just likes to whinge. Maybe her need to be surrounded by people is greater than her need for a nice stress free life. Who knows? But these people have been invited over to dinner numerous times. I've never been invited once. She makes time to go out and do things with these people. I've never received an invitation although I've been rejected many times. She'll buy things for their kids, never mine. I think I might have some more cutting to do :)

It's Done!

2009-08-29T23:18:00.003+09:30

Well I did it! I spent 5 hours last night and 4 hours tonight going through the backlog of blogs that I had not read yet and I am finally caught up. You people have to stop writing such amazing stuff. I can't keep up!

But it did get me thinking about replying to comments on my posts. My followers, being the absolutely brilliant and thought provoking writers that they are, often leave comments that I would like to reply to purely because they made me think. But I wasn't sure how I should go about it. I noticed that some people reply to their comments in their own comments section but I thought I have so much trouble keeping up with the original posts, I never go back and check to see if the blog owner actually wrote a reply to my comment so I'm guessing most of you don't either so then you wouldn't see it. Then I thought about posting a reply on your actual blog pages but it seems silly to reply to a comment you made on my blog by putting a comment on your blog about my post. Nobody would understand what I was talking about. So I am just going to write any comments I feel I need to share at the end of my actual posts. I figure you must be receiving my posts to be able to comment in the first place so then you'll actually see my replies.

Did any of that make sense to you at all? I'm sorry, I haven't been sleeping much lately and I'm not even making sense to myself.

Erin - I love you too! Don't get me started on the religious stuff. People act like I'm some sort of freak because I'm not religious. It matters not that I don't look down on them for being religious but they seem to think its ok to condemn me for my beliefs. Must be that good old Christian attitude I hear so much about. Be religious, don't be religious, its all good to me. I don't condemn although apparently I'm going to this thing they call hell. I just don't feel very religious when everyday I see children dying, suffering, being physically and sexually abused, being kept for 18 years in a backyard within a backyard (what the??) Thats just me.

4evernite - I was actually quite flattered when you said I was above you in higher education and self dependence because that is everything I crave to be. I let things hold me back too though. I hold on to certain horrible things from my past which causes me to live in fear in certain situations. Its not good and I'm trying to overcome it. I recently bought a book called The Essential Laws of Fearless Living but I'm too afraid to read it. Ha ha. That last part was actually a joke, I just haven't got around to reading it because I've been reading all these fabulous blogs!

There's No-One Like Me....Or Is There?

2009-08-28T20:38:00.003+09:30

I feel very out of place where I live. I bought a house here because my husband and I were just starting out and it was very cheap. The plan was to buy this house, fix it up then move on. Eighteen months later we were divorced and I was stuck with a house that I am unable to renovate because when I agreed to fix up the house I really expected that he would do the work and I would stand around holding things. With the way house prices have gone up in the last 7 years and with the way things around here have deteriorated (pool collapsed, rumpus room burnt down etc) I am now stuck here with a dodgy hammer and some You Tube vids trying not to kill myself while dangling from a ladder with a chainsaw (that actually happened...I'm not even kidding).

But I digress...

While those are all stories in themselves (quite a few actually), I actually wanted to talk about why I feel out of place here.

I haved lived here (or in areas surrounding here) for 14 years now and I am still yet to meet anyone who is even vaguely like me. For starters there are an awful lot of elderly people. There seems to be a new old age home being built every day. All the women want to do is talk about their medical ailments and put their pensions into the pokie (slot) machines. All the elderly men spend their day in the pub, drinking beer and putting their pensions into the pokies. I don't drink or gamble and I like to keep my medical problems to myself so score 0 for having anything in common with them.

Then we have the bogans whose uniform is tight black jeans, flannelette shirt and of course, your standard goatee. While flannelette shirts are comfy in bed at night, I can't grow enough facial hair for a small moustache let alone a full blown goatee. I also don't like car parts on my lawn or sitting on a ratty old sofa on my front porch making lewd comments to everyone who walks past wearing a skirt. I also have all of my own teeth. So score 0 on the compatibility scale.

Then we have the young mums. Now of course not all young mums are the same. I'm sure plenty work or go to school and they look after their children just fine. I just haven't seen any around here. Now we do have kids in common. Unfortunately I'm not too fond of dropping my kids off to anyone who will take them while I dress like a whore and go clubbing and cracking onto other people's boyfriends. Its just not me. Compatibility score : 0

We also have a lot of single mums around here. I am a single mum. You would think this would be the perfect category for me. And believe me I have tried to get along with this crowd. But all they want to do is talk about their kids and smoke. 'So read any good books lately?' 'No but little Johnny read his first book the other day. The Little Engine That Could. Isn't that just precious?' ** Puff puff ** How about movies? 'No but we were approached by a talent scout the other day that said Little Johnny was just born to be in the movies. He gets his looks from me. Isn't he adorable?' ** Puff puff ** Any prospect of anything exciting happening to you at all in the foreseeable future? 'No, its all about Little Johnny and what Little Johnny wants. I have absolutely no bloody identity of my own!!!!' ** Puff puff ** Grrrr.... I love my kids like crazy but I also like when they are at school and I have hobbies and other interests to fill up my life. And I don't want to bore other people with the little things that my kids do that are too adorable to me but aren't really of any interest to other people. And I don't smoke so there's another zero.

Lastly, we have the mothers of my kids friends. My kids go to private school in the next suburb over and most of the mothers live there. For some reason they think their suburb is Beverly Hills and my suburb is Beirut. The houses there are only around $50,000 more than mine but they don't have any back yards. They are all squished in there on top of each other. I like my big backyard even though I am often too busy to mow the lawn. My kids like the big backyard too. They earn about the same as me but I don't spend my money on big flashy things. I don't have a credit card, I don't hire purchase anything. I like to go to sleep at night feeling good that I am not in debt. They are in it up to their eyeballs with the house and the school and the new cars and their kids walking around with the latest mobile phones. It's all a big charade...I know it, they know it. One of them loses their job and they lose the lot. But they look down their nose at me because my car isn't as new as theirs or I didn't go as far away on my last holiday. One of these woman (that I know of, there are probably more) has her 9 and 10 year old daughters walk home by themselves everyday to an empty house. How do I know this? Because they make it known to everyone within earshot. One actually rang me yesterday and asked if she could come to my house after school because she was going to be alone in the house and was scared. She did this on a mobile phone in front of the school with untold amounts of people walking past her. I only hope that a paedophile doesn't walk within earshot and follow her home one day. I might not have a fancy car or a house in their suburb but I pick my kids up from school everyday and I'm able to answer the phone without screening for debt collectors. So obviously I have nothing in common with them either.

I used to think that there was no-one like me. Until I started reading blogs. I no longer feel alone. There are several blogs that I read that make me think 'why are you writing about my life/the way I feel/what happened to me/what I think and believe?' I hope that I can meet some of them in person one day so I'll finally get to know what it feels like to understand someone and have them understand me. I just hope that if I do meet them, I don't end up disliking them because they're too much like me. What would that say about me????

How Rude!

2009-08-27T22:43:00.004+09:30

I received a rather interesting e-mail today which took me aback somewhat. I wanted to talk about it here so I could get someone else's opinion about which one of us was being rude. Feel free to let me know even if you think it was me.

Here's the story:

I e-mailed a few football teams to see if they had a cheerleading squad. All I wrote was 'Hi. I'm wondering if your team has a cheerleading squad'. I don't know if that's rude or not but I believe in keeping it short and simple. Nobody seemed to mind. They just gave me a simple answer to my simple question, either saying yes or no. Some said no and asked if I was interested in starting one up. Everyone was polite and friendly as I would expect them to be. After all, they have published their e-mail addresses on the internet for the sole purpose of being contacted.

Then I received a reply this afternoon that was a little different. This is it:

While I applaud the concise structure of your email, it does not lend itself to being particularly informative. I have no doubts there will be countless other recipients that you have approached who may be able to assist you in your endevours, but will ultimately baulk at the idea of volunteering relevant information to an unknown party who is unwilling to share their own.At very least, can I suggest the addition of information to your email that addresses the obvious question of:-Are you a cheerleader looking to join a squad, or part of a cheerleading squad looking for a team? What exactly are you offering/asking of us? In any case, whilst we have a number of teams in our club, I do not believe we are currently looking for a cheerleading squad. Our supporters are a very entertaining and vocal crowd, and are sufficient for our present needs as far as I am aware. While a simple "yes" or "no" response would have been an easier method of fielding your query, I hope my taking the time to reply to this email and providing you with some constructive criticism has been helpful, and not in vain.

What??? For starters I'm not offering him anything nor asking anything of him other than the simple question of whether or not his team has a cheerleading squad. But instead of just answering the question (like everyone else did) he felt the need to take time out of his busy schedule to give me some 'constructive criticism'. I am so glad that he felt the need to analyse my e-mail writing skills and pass on his sage wisdom to me.

And exactly what information was he expecting me to give him? I pretty much summed up what I wanted to know in the one sentence. I wasn't asking him for his tax returns or his medical records. I didn't realise that the information regarding the existence or non-existence of a cheerleading squad was so confidential that I would have to provide all my details so he would know exactly who he was divulging this secret information to.

Maybe he was trying to be helpful. Maybe I'm just reading it wrong and I'm totally out of line for my rant. Maybe I'm just PMS-ing and overreacting. What do you think? Am I over reacting or is this guy a pompous jackass?

Skank update

2009-08-24T21:04:00.002+09:30

I really enjoyed reading your comments about the definition of a skank and it made me think about how many times I say it without meaning to be malicious. Skank is my word to use when I am not quite being nasty. Think about it as opposed to the word slut. 'She's such a skank'. 'She's such a slut'. Slut sounds way worse to me than skank. And sometimes I say skank in a playful way like 'Oh you're such a skank' or when I start to get too many split ends and am way over due for a haircut I'll say 'Oh my hair is getting so skanky'. I guess it's all in the tone....

So why am I bringing this all up again? Because there was another article about it today. Apparently the blogger called the model a "psychotic, lying, whoring ... skank" which is much worse than what I had been lead to believe. But now the blogger is suing Google for releasing her name! Google was forced to by the courts but, as 4evernite says, why have the anonymous option if the anonymity part of it doesn't work?

I thought the Blogger put forward some very good points but my favourite part was when the model's lawyers said 'If we had thought for a minute that the Google case would have brought more attention to the anonymous blogger's site, we never would have started it.' Yeah right.....

A Skank By Any Other Name

2009-08-21T22:08:00.002+09:30

Most of you have probably already heard about the model who sued Google for the right to know the identity of an anonymous blogger who called her a skank...and won!

Read the article here

She wants to know the bloggers name so she can sue them. This got me thinking....

First I tried to remember how many people I have called a skank either in my posts or in comments on other people's posts. Did I name names? Was it an individual or did I refer to a group of people as skanks? If it was a group of people, could they possibly start a class action against me????

Then I started to think about what this means for bloggers in general. Obviously you're anonymity cannot be guaranteed for a start. What exactly can we and can we not say? If calling someone a skank is crossing the line, what isn't? Isn't skankiness in the eye of the beholder? Or is there an actual definition for it?

Then I started to think about what the court case would actually be like. The blogger would have to prove that the model is a skank. I would love to be in that courtroom for that argument. Dictionary.com defines skank as:

1. A rhythmic dance performed to reggae or ska music, characterized by bending forward, raising the knees, and extending the hands.
2. Disgusting or vulgar matter; filth.
3. One who is disgustingly foul or filthy and often considered sexually promiscuous. Used especially of a woman or girl.//-->

So according to this definition, they have to prove she is either a filthy slut or a dance!

I think we all have our own definition as to what a skank really is. I, for one, think it's pretty skanky when someone flirts outrageously with someone else's boyfriend/husband right in front of them. Other people would not reconcile this with skankiness.

What is your definition of skankiness? And do you ever worry that you're crossing the line with your posts?

What Customer Service?

2009-08-17T20:40:00.002+09:30

Whatever happened to customer service? I've noticed the steady decline of professionalism for a while now but today really confirmed what I already knew.

First we went to the fabric store. They have set this thing up where the line for the checkout kind of wraps around the two checkouts and nobody is ever sure where to go. The check out furthest away had a girl serving someone else and the check out closest to me had a sales assistant yakking on the phone (surprise!). I didn't want to go around and stand by the one furthest away in case the one closest stopped talking on the phone and served the person behind me so I stood by the sign and waited to see which one would want to take my money first. Not surprisingly, the one who wasn't on the phone opened up first. She yelled across the room at me to go around to the end of her counter in a crabby tone that suggested maybe I was the one with the lower IQ. She scanned my items while constantly scanning the room for more interesting people. So busy was she looking for people who were not me, she didn't even notice when I handed her my money. I just stood there wondering how long it would take for her to notice. I got the feeling that I would have warranted more attention if I'd had a penis. Don't you just love women like that?

Then it was off to the bank. First I went to the teller who told me I'd have to go to the desk to do my transaction. So off to the desk I go to be told I would have to put money into my debit card account in order to complete the transaction. So back to the teller I go, put my money in and return to the desk. Oops, the debit card isn't working; can I go back to the teller, get my money out of the debit card account and into my chequing account? Sure, why not? I only have a life to live, what is that worth these days anyway? So off to the teller again and back to the desk again. Ah relief, it is finally done.

Then to the hardware store where once again it seems as though nobody wants to take my money. Of course only one check out is open and the person in front needs a price check. Can't these people check that there are tags on the product before schlepping it down to the front??? But wait, what is that over there? Is it a check out complete with sales assistant who doesn't seem to be doing anything? No, it's not because this sales assistant is actually doing something....she is gossiping very loudly with another sales assistant who is also not doing anything besides gossiping about her weekend. Given the choice between being served and going home or hearing about some teenagers drunken slutty weekend, I think I'll pick the former. Especially since I've been towing all 4 kids around with me this entire time and they are starting to grate on my nerves. And they also don't want to hear how the sales assistant spent the weekend with her legs wrapped around her head, puking into her own hair...nor do I want them to hear it.

But wait, there's more. I had to pick up a parcel from the post office. I walked in and it was totally empty. I can't tell you what a rare occurence this is. I am beaming from ear to ear at the thought of being served straight away. But then I spot them. The gaggle of hens laughing it up out the back. One looks at me and all of a sudden her face turns into a haggard scowl. I have obviously ruined her whole life by my very existence in that room at that moment. She drags her feet (and her knuckles) over to me, chomping hard on her chewing gum as though they have just sent her down the Green Mile. I politely ask for my parcel and she gives it to me as though she has just done the biggest favour in the world for me and I might have to give her a kidney one day in order to repay her.

I then do the best thing I could have done and go home. Whatever happened to a smile? Whatever happened to helpfulness? Whatever happened to taking pride in your work? I don't know but I miss it and I wish it would come back. Or else I might have to start running errands with hand grenades....

Gross!

2009-08-16T21:44:00.003+09:30

Mr 6 is constantly trying to get out of eating his dinner. He has room for lollies, chips and cake but develops allergies when it comes to vegetables. Every night it's a different excuse - from 'the potato is too lumpy/smooth' to 'I don't like green'. But tonight's excuse take's the cake.

Mr 6 : I'm really sorry I couldn't eat all my dinner tonight but Miss 9 farted.

Charming....

Highs Of The Day

relaxing

looking at property in New York City that I'll never be able to afford

Lows of the Day

my shift button not working properly

looking at property in New York City that I'll never be able to afford

Photo source

Highs & Lows

2009-08-16T01:41:00.003+09:30

Highs of the Day

beautiful weather

beef and black bean stir fry for dinner

clothes shopping with my girls

singing until I lost my voice

Lows of the Day

Miss 11 thinking I am too inept to take a bath without supervision

the cost of the shopping trip

Idiot of the Day

today's award goes to *drumroll* ME! Our state banned plastic bags at the start of May and I still forget to take bags with me to the store. I refuse to keep buying them so I have to pile all my groceries back into the trolley then put them loose into the boot then take it all out again when i get home....stupid!

Wild Weather

2009-08-16T01:33:00.002+09:30

Today has been such a crazy day. It was the first warm day in quite a while. It was 26 degrees after a lot of 16's and 17's. I was loving it. The car windows were down, warm breezes were blowing my hair in my face...the smell of spring was in the air. And now, just a few hours later, I am lying in bed listening to the wind and the rain rage on outside. Such extremes. Oh well, spring will come sooner or later so I think I'll enjoy the rain while its here. I just hope the roof doesn't blow off the shed :)

On a different note, I discovered what my daughter really thinks of me today when she became hysterical after I wouldn't answer her through the bathroom door. She thought I was still in the bath but I had snuck into my bedroom for some peace and quiet. When she called out to me and I didn't answer she became convinced I had fallen asleep in the tub and drowned. Yes, my daughter thinks I am so old and tired that I am unable to keep myself from accidently drowning. How nice...

Pig of a Day

2009-08-13T19:21:00.003+09:30

Deep down I knew this was going to happen. I have kept myself in total denial and convinced myself that this was something that wasn't going to come anywhere near my family. But today it happened. My kids came home with a note from school informing us that a 5 year old child had come down with swine flu! Being the total hypochondriac that I am, I have already convinced myself that my throat feels scratchy and my son's head feels clammy. I am kicking myself that I haven't started treating my body better like I keep saying I'm going to. The way I am right now, if I were to get swine flu I will surely die. My body is just not healthy enough to take on such an illness. And what about my poor babies??? I am a nervous wreck.

There's been quite a few deaths from swine flu in this state. Everytime someone dies they say they had underlying health issues. Who doesn't have an underlying health issue? You can say that about anyone really. What if I had an infection from an ingrown toenail? The news could say that was an underlying health issue. Mild asthma? Scoliosis? They don't ever say what the actual underlying health issue was. It could be something mild for all I know.

I don't know who the child is but I'll keep my fingers crossed that they only get a mild case...and that they don't have an underlying health issue!

Lost In Translation

2009-08-13T00:54:00.005+09:30

I try so hard to like cooking. I really want to be a good cook. But I'm lousy at it, I can't make anything decent and the other day I actually felt rage brewing inside me when I realised I'd have to make dinner (I know, I know, I need help...any information on self help groups for people with kitchen rage would be greatly appreciated).

Photo source

The thing I hate most about it is when I can't figure out what the ingredients are. This is usually because its an American recipe and we Australians have different words for different things.

Summer from Sublime Happiness (a very cute and funny blog that you should definitely check out) wrote about buying a bacon and egg biscuit from Macca's. In Australia, a biscuit is a cookie like thing, like an Oreo (an Oreo is the only cookie I can think of that American's would know). I can't imagine sticking bacon, egg and cheese in between 2 cookies so I'm thinking that a biscuit means something else over there. I've also heard in an American TV show before about sopping up gravy with biscuits and at the time I thought it sounded really disgusting.

So I asked Summer to explain what it was. She told me and it sounded yummy so I looked on the internet for recipes thinking I could try to make my own. I was going to brave the kitchen, make these biscuit things that nobody I know has ever eaten before and I was going to take lots of pictures to put on this blog so everybody would be really proud that I managed to bake such good looking and delicious biscuits. Of course by now you have probably realised that it didn't quite work out that way since I am obviously being sarcastic.

The first step in the recipe says to sift all the dry ingredients together. That doesn't sound at all hard except they don't tell you what the dry ingredients are!

Next it says to add the shortening. WTH? If we have shortening here, I have never heard of it. I don't know if we call it something else or if it is called shortening here and I've just been walking past it in the supermarket every week for my entire life, totally oblivious to its existence.

The next step is to add the buttermilk. Yes I have heard of buttermilk I'm just not sure where to get it from. Is it with the normal milk? Is this another item that has not crossed my radar?

This is just all too hard. The kitchen will not be getting a visit from me today...

COAO???

2009-08-12T23:01:00.004+09:30

I still can't think of what COAO could possibly mean. Usually when I forget something it would have popped back into my head by now but this one hasn't. I can't for the life of me figure out what it stands for and its driving me nuts. Does anyone have any guesses?

P.S The pic has nothing to do with this post. It just pleases me to look at it ;P

Photo source

Conversations With A 6 Year Old

2009-08-12T12:20:00.002+09:30

Last night Mr 6 came and jumped on my bed.

Mr 6: I think I have eczema

Me : You don't have eczema

Mr 6: But B has eczema

Me : That's because B's dad has eczema. Your parents don't have eczema.

Mr 6 : Well what do you have then?

Me : I don't have anything. I'm perfectly fine.

Mr 6 : Then what caused your brain damage?

I sincerely hope he was talking about my recent spate of headaches :)

Early Onset Alzheimers

2009-08-11T23:41:00.003+09:30

I thought I would never ever run out of things to blog about. My mind is constantly running, I am always hearing about new and wonderful things on the tv and in other blogs, I get flashbacks of things that have happened to me....lots of stuff to talk about right? I think of so many things that I started to write ideas in my PDA so that when it came time to actually sit in front of the computer I would remember them and be able to regale you all with my witty anecdotes.

Here is a sample of my list of ideas:

books - classic
editing comments
people mumbling
naughty kids (COAO)

What the??? I don't know what any of this means. Why do I write these things down and assume I'll remember what they were about? I know I have no memory left. Just another reason to pine for the good old days when I still had half a brain....aahhh good times. I guess I'll have to be more specific in the future :)

Highs of the Day

being able to listen to music again without my head hurting

pizza from Bonanza...yum

vienetta ice cream for dessert

a warm heater on a cold day

Miss 9 losing her football game but having fun anyway

Lows of the Day

there are none, I had a very nice day, boring but nice

Idiot of the Day

Today's award goes to another 4wd (SUV) driver. Yes you, man with the shaggy beard who went to turn left onto a huge divided road only to turn right at the last minute, cutting off several frightened and bewildered motorists.

I can only imagine that seeing the cops pulled over on the side of the road on your left is what caused you to quickly take off to the right. I don't know if you have outstanding warrants or if you just had something naughty in your car but what you did was extremely dangerous and freaked people out therefore you are my Idiot of the Day!

Need Your Help

2009-08-11T14:23:00.002+09:30

I was having a conversation today and I had one of those moments when you know what you're thinking but can't really think of the proper words (duh!) so I was hoping you could help.

What would you call a woman who was smart, funny, beautiful, giving, had a great personality, job, basically someone who has it all. I can't think of the word.

Stress is a 4 letter word

2009-08-10T09:30:00.004+09:30

I am feeling so much better today and I think I have all of your kind words to thank for it. So thank you all for curing me :)

I think it did probably have a lot to do with stress. Most people think that stress is caused by having too many things to do but it can even be caused by not having enough to do or by the gap between how your life is and how you want it to be. I'm constantly walking around with my jaw clenched so its not surprising that my body said 'enough!' So this morning I tried to meditate...

I've never been into meditation because it is of my understanding that you are supposed to be able to clear your mind of everything. This seems an impossible task as my mind is constantly racing even when I'm asleep. However, for the good of my mental health, I decided to give it a shot.

I decided to do it outside because I wanted to be at one with nature and there were no kids there. Unfortunately the first thing I had to do was go back inside and get a blanket because there wasn't one dry spot to sit. So then I sat on my blanket, crossed my legs, closed my eyes and began thinking peaceful thoughts. Or tried to. 'Where did I put the keys when I got home? I have to remember to ring those rip off merchants at the bank. Mr 16 better be at school. What is that smell? I don't think I have anything for dinner tonight. Did that bastard next door just hit my fence with his whipper snipper?????' Then I thought that maybe this was what all that ohmming was supposed to be about. Maybe it helped to drown out the racing thoughts. So I started ohmming my little heart out. Ohmmm ohmmm ohmmm, its raining! And the wet grass has seeped through the blanket and my butt is wet. So much for peaceful meditation.

So I came inside, lay on my bed and decided to try a relaxation technique that I read about in a time management book a few years ago. You're supposed to take deep breaths and imagine blue air going into your mouth and down into your belly. I imagine pink because its my favourite colour. I think blue is supposed to calm you but my mind does what it wants. Anyway, then when you're feeling calm you're supposed to imagine getting into an elevator and pushing the button to go down. You count backwards from 10 and when you get to 1 the door opens to your happy place. You're supposed to take care of your problems while you're there, get back into the elevator, count back up and open your eyes when the door opens. However I tend to linger in my happy place. When my elevator doors open, I am in my dream house (that I will build one day!). The floor to ceiling windows are open (don't ask me how, they just are) and a beautiful breeze is blowing the white sheer curtains in a sexy music video clip kind of way. Its 21 degrees (celcius for you American readers, I am not freezing in my happy place :) The room is empty except for a black recliner in the middle of the room and Kiefer Sutherland is sitting in it. Hmmmmm! Now that beats meditating in soggy grass anyday...

Where is your imaginary happy place?

Reasons I Love Bloggers

They cheer you up when you're feeling down

You know you're never alone because no matter what crazy thing is happening to you, its happened to at least one other blogger

I get to find out about products, movies, websites etc that I may never have known about had I not clicked on a link from their blog

They make me laugh (and cry!)

I get to see how other people live

I get to see other parts of the world

Reasons I Hate Bloggers

They are always showing yummy food and recipes that are just too tempting for someone who is supposed to be shedding a few kilo's

They make me feel guilty by jamming so much into their days when I can hardly muster the motivation to get out of bed some days

Idiot Of The Day

The idiot of the day award goes to the woman in the grey Pajero with the dyed blonde hair who not only thought that it was a great idea to double park out the front of the school but also thought it would be just super to let her kids get out of the car on the road side. Its not a good idea to let your kids get out on the road side as it is but to do it while you're already covering half the road is just downright dangerous so congratulations....you're a bloody idiot!

Hit with a Brick!

2009-08-08T20:39:00.003+09:30

I truly believe that the universe is constantly pointing us in the right direction with gentle taps on the shoulder. I also believe if you don't listen to the gentle taps, it will hit you in the head with a brick!

I have been incredibly lazy! No beating around the bush here. No excuses. I have been just plain lazy. I have a to do list a mile long but lately I have not had the motivation to even look at it. The universe gently tapped me on the shoulder; scales were creeping up, to do list was getting longer, kids were yelling at me because I didn't fill out a form for after school activities, skin was getting spotty from too many take aways and not enough home cooking. But did I listen to these subtle signs? Of course not! I waited for the brick...

The brick hit me on Monday. I had the worst headache I've ever had in my life. Tuesday was the same, stayed in bed with the light and the tv off. Wednesday didn't get any better. Thursday I went to the doctor who told me to stay in bed with the lights off...duh! When it wasn't gone on Friday, I did the same thing...surely it had to go away soon right?

By Saturday morning I had had enough! I still had the headache but I wasn't staying in bed anymore. I read everyone else's blogs and they were all out having a good time, living life, making memories and I couldn't stand it anymore. That is what I should've been doing before I got hit with the brick. So that's what I'm going to do now, headache or no headache.

I am going to pay attention to the universe and listen to what it is telling me because I don't want to know what it will hit me with next!

So what about you? Are you ignoring the gentle taps or have you already been hit with the brick? And has anyone ever had a headache with stabbing pains for this long? Any advice on how to get rid of it would be greatly appreciated...

Everything Turns Out OK In The End

2009-08-07T20:17:00.004+09:30

As you may remember Mr 16 and I were butting heads about his grades and his educational future. After reading a post from Kim (who has a fantastic blog that I would encourage you all to read) I realised that maybe he just wasn't a university person. Not everybody is of course so last night I sat down with him and we talked about what he really wanted. We came up with several options including staying where he was and improving his grades, going to TAFE, changing to a different school altogether or leaving school and getting a job. He chose leaving school and getting a job. This was upsetting to me but I had told him I would support him in any decision and I meant it.

One of the rules of that option was that he couldn't leave school until he got a job first. So today he went to school. His class went to a Science & Engineering Careers Expo (which I believe is the only reason he even went to school). Something must have happened there because he came home and told me he wanted to stay at school and he wanted to improve his grades! I am extremely pleased. I guess everything works out in the end.

I'm Back

2009-08-07T20:07:00.003+09:30

Sorry for my absence. I have spent the last week in bed with the weirdest, most horrible migraine I have ever had. Deep throbbing pain with sharp stabbing pains as well. Ouch! It was extremely painful. I managed to comment on a few people's blogs before the computer screen caused me too much pain but I couldn't bring myself to write my own. I took a painkiller this morning and slept all day and now I feel much better. I am so glad my kids all go to school!

They are real sweethearts when I am unwell. They give me lots of hugs and kisses and my daughters send me 'I love you so much' text messages.

There's not much to blog about when you've just been asleep all day so I'll leave you with this:

Highs of the Day

Sweet text messages from Miss 11 and Miss 9

Cuddles from Mr 6

Mr 16 deciding he wants to stay in school

Lows of the Day

Pain (of course)

Not being able to read or watch TV

Nausea

2009-08-02T23:56:00.002+09:30

Miss 9 and Miss 11 are sitting outside the pizza place waiting for our order to be ready. I am sitting in the car watching them so they are safe. They are so adorable in their cute jeans and cuter t-shirts. They are laughing. I can't hear them laughing but I can see that they are and I have heard their laughter so many times that it rings in my ears anyway. They are comfortable and happy, the way I always wanted them to be. To others they are beautiful young future-woman. To me they are 2 and 4. They have chubby cheeks, mischievious grins and they waddle when they walk. They need me to hold their hand while they cross the road and wipe off their milk moustaches before they run off to play. I love who these girls are now and I look forward to knowing the women they will become...but I miss my babies.

Highs of the Day

Bonanza Pizza for dinner...yum!

Harper's Island (even though it doesn't start until 12:15am and Channel 10 thought they should take a break from the show so close to the finale...shame on you channel 10!)

The Office (you're forgiven channel 10)

Gorgeous weather

Realising that my girls are growing up

Lows of the Day

Tripping over everything I come across

My Samsung printer

Shrink wrap (I will rid the world of this horrible product, mark my words!)

The absence of 24 for the second week in a row (Get with the program channel 7)

Realising that my girls are growing up

Fun in the Park

2009-08-01T22:49:00.002+09:30

Today I spent 2 hours in the park with a bunch of cheerleaders playing team building and bonding games. They are all aged between 8 and 12 and it was more fun than I thought it was going to be. What lovely children! I took a heap of lovely photos of them all which I would love to put on here but won't for privacy reasons.

They were so well behaved and got along like a house on fire. I am so proud of them..

Highs of the Day

the park

milky way's

a much needed afternoon nap

watching Gilmore Girls

taking photos

Lows of the Day

not being able to find milky way's anywhere

tripping over the computer cord

getting the football stuck in the tree

Broken Heart x 2

2009-07-31T20:21:00.003+09:30

While I was out and about on my daily travels (K-Mart and Foodland actually but I have to make it sound a little exciting) I had a near death experience. I was looking through the makeup trying to decide if my skin was light or lighter when I got a sharp stabbing pain in my chest. I got a little nervous and tried to walk it off. Didn't work, still hurt. I started to panic. What would happen to my children? Why did I keep putting off writing my will? Was I too young to have a heart attack or was I going to be one of those anomolies that they would write about in the newspaper? If they did write about me in the newspaper, which photo would they use? Not the one by the Xmas tree; I wasn't wearing my face. I look like a whale in the camping one. OMG would they use my drivers license??? I quickly went home, collapsed on the bed and took my bra off to take some of the pressure off my chest. Instant relief! Why? Because while shopping the underwire had burst out of my bra and stuck itself into my chest. I had a huge deep indent where it had poked into me the whole time. I don't know what embarrasses me more, that I actually thought I was having heart troubles or that it took me so long to realise why it was hurting...

And for broken heart number 2, Mr 6 told me this afternoon that nobody would play with him at lunch. That makes me so sad. He is incredibly loud and bossy so I'm not totally surprised (that sort of behaviour frightens some children) but it still made me really sad. Especially when he said it in his cute adorable voice from his cute freckled face.

Who is protecting our children?

2009-07-31T11:28:00.003+09:30

I was reading Angela's blog this morning and she commented on an e-mail that she had received. Read it here

I am quite disgusted by it. I can't believe someone would write that to a child. Talk about a waste of webspace. Angela is doing what she loves and what makes her happy which is what everyone should be doing.

In the last week I have heard about a teenager whose body was dumped in a park about 1km from my house, a man who bashed his toddler son's head into a bunk bed, a woman who quizzed her 14 year old daughter about her sex life live on a radio show despite knowing the girl had been raped and children being held captive in a motel bathroom. Not to mention the alarming amount of suicides that have been going on. And of course, I will never forget the recent case where the mother decapitated her baby, ate his toes and some of his brain and ripped his face off.

And this is just in the last week! I'm sure there are plenty more that I haven't heard about. It makes me sick to my stomach. We are failing these children in the worst way. As a parent, I was always of the understanding we are supposed to love and support our children. I'm not sure how these parents (or other people) are getting it so so wrong.

I know that the e-mail to Angela is not anywhere near as disgusting as the atrocities I have mentioned. But we should be supporting our children, all our children, in big and small ways. Angela could be getting drunk and stoned and causing a ruckus like many other teenages. Instead she is working towards her dreams and she should be commended, not ran down by someone with way too much time on their hands. Keep it up Angela!

'Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist' - Michael Levine

So true...

My Craft-less Realisation

2009-07-30T00:40:00.002+09:30

Once again I am unable to sleep so I'm watching some home makeover show and I've just discovered something I never really knew about myself....I really envy crafty people. I am useless at all things craft-like. Give me a knitting needle and a staple gun and I will have 3 or more people in emergency 10 minutes later. They get a drill, snap, snap, snap... look! its a to scale replica of the Eiffel tower that the kids can have sleepovers in. Two dowels and a piece of shade sail and they have an awning that can be opened with one hand. They are the McGyvers of the DIY world.

I always like to think that I am crafty. I have a box with over 50 balls of different coloured wool because I just know I'm going to knit all the kids their own personalised sweaters one day soon. I also have a box full of scrapbooking supplies because those photos can't stay on the camera forever and I want to show them off in the most decorative way possible. I have a sewing machine I don't know how to use and an overlocker I'm not even sure how to thread. I have cake decorating equipment that has never seen the light of day. I even went and bought 5 poles, 90 x 90 x 300 because I actually think that building that dream cubby house for the kids won't be hard at all. I even went so far as to mark the measurements on the poles. Now I just have to cut a 45mm housing. What is a 45mm housing? I am stumped and even You Tube and Google couldn't help me.

Oh well, they are in the driveway right now making great blocks for the tyres so my car doesn't roll out into the street. My driveway isn't sloped in the slightest bit but what else am I going to use them for? To build a cubby house????

The Real Housewives of Mosman

2009-07-29T21:29:00.002+09:30

Last night Today Tonight showed a bunch of rich housewives from Mosman and Toorak who did nothing but be pampered all day. As if that wasn't bad enough to watch, tonight they had their less-than-well-off counterparts from Penrith who claimed that the Mosman lot weren't really 'housewives' because they weren't hands on. They even got really cliche and asked 'are they really happy?'

What sort of question is that? Yes they're happy! I'm not sure what the Penrith lot were objecting to; the personal chefs? the gardeners? the massages? Maybe it was the nannies, the expensive lunches or the champagne. Whatever it was, apparently they wouldn't swap places with them for all the $10 lunches in the world. They are content to change dirty bums, wipe snotty noses and work the night shift. They are perfectly happy to forgo the primping and the pampering. And God love them for it. If that makes them happy then I couldn't be happier for them. But I would like to take this opportunity to state my intentions to swap places with the Mosman lot if the occasion should ever arise.

Before I go though, as much as I love the finer things in life, I would never marry someone for their money. A string of near-destitute exes will atest to that. Not saying that the Mosman housewives did that, just saying I wouldn't. Also, if I had a nanny I would still spend heaps of time with my kids. They are really fun to hang out with. But it would be nice to not have to worry about bills....

Welcome to my blog!

2009-07-29T21:16:00.003+09:30

I am so excited...I have my first follower! I never thought I would get such a warm fuzzy feeling over it but here it is. Thanks for that Kim and I hope I can keep you interested.

I also got 2 comments so I'm going to reply to them how. Firstly to Kim, I am not kissing your butt because you are my first follower, but you are absolutely right. Some people are university people and some people are not. Mr 16 is not. And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not sure what it's like over there but here in Australia the competition seems to be getting fiercer everyday. People are losing their jobs all over the place and I guess I want my kids to have as much education as possible so they have a leg up in the employment arena. But if Mr 16 did go to university he would probably drop out anyway because he would hate it so much and that would be a bigger waste of money than what I've already spent on his private schooling (I can hear my wallet groaning from here). I wrote the blog about him during exam time when we were both stressed out but I'm calmed down now and I'm sure he'll work it out. At least he'll never be homeless because he'll always have me :)

And in answer to Sobrina's question - schnitzel is like this hard pressed chicken (or beef) that has been crumbed. It doesn't sound appetising does it? I don't eat it but the kids love it. I kind of like when they have different tastes to mine. That's the best thing about having kids...watching their different personalities develop. I call my kids north, south, east and west because they're all totally different and they're all going in opposite directions. Never a dull moment.

Fasta Pasta

2009-07-28T21:35:00.002+09:30

Last night I took the kids out to eat at Fasta Pasta. I always get the main lasagne because I never think the entree size will be enough but then I never finish the main. Another good reason to have kids! Especially 16 year old boys.

Mr 6 barely touched the pizza he ordered but of course scoffed down the peppermint choc chip ice cream he had for dessert.

Both the girls ordered schnitzel and chips (at a pasta place???). It reminded me of the time we went to Sydney for the weekend and went for dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. My step dad and I ordered spaghetti bolognaise and my mum and sisters ate chicken! It's a spaghetti factory!

We had a great time and the kids were very well behaved even if Miss 9 could improve her schnitzel cutting skills.

2009-07-04T22:28:00.003+09:30

I decided to spend the first night of the school holidays playing Monopoly with the kids which is something I haven't done in a really long time. I didn't realise how long it was until I realised we don't have Monopoly anymore because it burnt in a fire a few years ago. So we played Trivial Pursuit, Simpsons Operation and Yahtzee instead.

Trivial Pursuit is a little hard for Mr 6, Miss 9 and Miss 11 so I multiple choiced each question for them. It was funny making up the other choices and even funnier when they still got it wrong! I haven't laughed that much for ages.

Simpsons Operation was a little easier for the kids, not so much for me it seems. Where did my dexterity go? Here's a parenting tip though...don't yell boo when one of your kids is having their turn. Miss 9 didn't appreciate it at all.

We had so much fun we all went out today and bought a new Monopoly. Instead of the orginal Monopoly that we had before we opted for Monopoly City. Normally $65 but we got it for $44 at the K-Mart toy sale. Sweet! It's a bit different from the original but it has industrial buildings and skyscrapers and even the coveted Monopoly tower! We played for 4 hours without even realising it. Good wholesome fun and perfect for a rainy day. It also kept everyone away from the tv and computer. We'll definitely be playing a lot more board games in our house.

Unmotivated

2009-06-12T21:08:00.000+09:30

I wanted to start my blog out on a happier note but I decided to discuss this first as it is constantly on my mind.

My eldest son is 16 years old (yes I was 10 when I had him :) ) He is in Year 11 and is going through his first exams this week. I have drilled in the importance of education his whole life but have been going overboard in the last 2 years yet he still just refuses to study. I have grounded him, taken things away from him, stopped his tv and computer privelages; all to no avail!

He wants to design video games for a living which I am thinking is probably a hard area to get in to. He thinks he doesn't need university and that he can just sell his ideas to Nintendo. How do you tell your own child he is delusional? I'm not sure where I went wrong.

It's such a fine line between encouraging your child to reach for the stars and not allowing him to jump off the cliff without a parachute. If he wants to design video games I am behind him 100% but I think he should have his education as a safety back up. If it wasn't for me taking him to school everyday he would quite happily quit and work in K-Mart until Nintendo comes knocking on his door.

Is this a problem for most mums or is it just me? I would really love to hear any comments on how to make my son see that he has to work for what he wants.