Cousin love :)

It only happens about once a year, but Miss M 3.0 & her cousin Peanut spend some girly time together. :)


Peanut & Miss M

Computer illiterate?

You know, with some basic HTML programming background and a IT guru husband to boot, I honestly thought blogging wouldn't be much of a challenge (well past finding the motivation to actually post, and the intelligence to come up with something half interesting to write about).

*cue fail buzzers* I really do suck at this...even when there is a basic template to use. *LMAO*

FAILBLOG.

Back home... :)

Well, we're here. Mostly. J is still back in Sydney (flew back Boxing Day) but Miss M 3.0 *L* and I are safely back in Brisbane. Given that we were keeping our residency a secret from family members I wasn't able to announce it prior to now, but we're happy to be home.

It was a very long 5 months in Sydney and it wasn't for us - but Miss M 3.0 is very happy to be back home with HER Papa & Grandma. I've barely seen her in the past few days - she's so absorbed in following her Papa around the garden, chattering to the birds at the feeder, watering the plants, watching him trim the hedges. If she's not there, she's lounging in the flat watching Diego or Dora the Explorer on the TV. Mummy only has one use - kisses when Miss M 3.0 is sick or has hurt herself.

I'm very late in this but we truly hope everybody has been having a wonderful holiday season so far. Tomorrow we welcome our 'country' rellies who are travelling down on Crazy Sisters' birthday (muahahahaa, dobbed you in!) with their children and dog in tow. Should be fun :)

Happy Birthday for tomorrow Crazy Sister:

Who's got Spirit?!

Does anyone else feel like it's not even December yet, let alone less than 2 weeks out from Christmas? Perhaps I'm a lifetime member of the denial train, or perhaps it's the mountain of paperwork to finish at work and the packing I know we've got to get through before we get on that plane next Saturday?

Our absolutely amazing Sydney friends J & S have just bought a house two streets from the parents-in-law's house where we'll be residing and I'm so completely overjoyed at the thought. It's hard to put into words how fabulous they've been, but hand on my heart I can honestly say that had it not been for their friendship I would have completely fallen apart down here.

I turned the big 3-0 last weekend (although if you ask me, I'm really 29 and 373 days old *LOL*) and had gastronomically brilliant meal with 2 friends at Hurricane's at Darling Harbour. We've decided the food was THAT good it warrants a yearly pilgrammige. When I find my upload cord again, I'll post some photos of the courses we enjoyed. :) Thank you to all of the lovely people who passed on their Happy Birthday messages.

Congrats to my dear friend from school, Mel who welcomed with her husband their first child, Kyra, on the day before my birthday. She is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to meet my 'niece'.

J has finished up work for the year and will spend this week doing the packing in around his 'tournament' for his little men (aka 40K figurines). We both go back to work on January 5th, but I still have this week at work to go.

So that's how our boring life is going. *LOL* Hopefully I'll find something more interesting to blog about soon.

Why toddlers and windows don't go together...

Never in my life did I think for a second Miss M 2.5 would climb onto the windowsill - she's just never been much of a climber. Her bed IS under the window (her head is at the opposite end of the bed), but as with most 2nd bedrooms in small units, there really isn't anywhere else to have the bed!

A higher power was watching over us on Wednesday night. As usual, Maddy went to bed at her usual time - we turned off the light, left the door open and I went about neatening up the house. About five minutes later, I needed to put a load of wash on for work, but decided I'd grab some of Maddy's dirty clothes from the hamper in her room.

Her bedroom was dark and still. She wasn't in her bed, I could make that much out. She was however, hanging from the window. I'd left the window open, there is a flyscreen there too - but not one of the proper security ones. She'd popped through the flyscreen and everything from her belly upwards was hanging OUTSIDE of our unit, her knees on the windowsill. 2 STOREYS up. There is concrete below.

I've never felt so sick in my life. In two seconds I'd crossed the room, yanked her back inside and yelled for the husband. Said window is now jammed closed and will not be opened again until we leave.

I feel like a bad mother, like I should have known she'd try something like that. It was just so out of character for her and we think it's because she was hot now that it's getting warmer. The talking to she got, I don't think she's EVER going to try anything like that again but we had to scare her to make her realise how dangerous what she did was.

We're literally a 2 minute drive from a major childrens' hospital. All I can do is thank god that on Wednesday night we did not have to go there. I honestly believe that had I not gone into her room, two minutes later she would have already fallen out.

Christmas....

OMG... Christmas is in 7 weeks and 4 days. Where the heck has the year gone? It's funny how 2 months ago we noticed all of the Christmas decorations going into the shopping centres; but I think we've been so absorbed in settling in, that we somehow ignored separated ourselves from it.

It feels like only yesterday that we moved down here, but it's actually been FOUR months. Another 8 weeks from now and we'll have been back to Brisbane for a visit, I'll have turned the big 3-0, Miss M would have turned 3 and we'll be recovering from Christmas.

The good news is that we're staring to feel more settled. I think part of it is taking responsibility for the things that are in our hands, and letting go of the things and events we have no control over. Our table & bench chairs have arrived, our lounge will be here in about 2 weeks and we've (ok, John more specifically) de-cluttered the living areas. There's something so much nicer about coming home from a long day at work and feeling like you want to be there - that the walls aren't closing in on you.

We splurged on my birthday/Christmas present early - a Wii, including Wii Fit. :) We're loving it - well, except for it telling us we're out of shape and old. *L* It was not cheap, but considering neither of us have time in the day with all the travelling & Maddy to get to a gym, it certainly cost less than 2 gym memberships.

Thanks for all of the input on the colour scheme. I'll unveil what I decided on in a few weeks once the lounge has arrived.


Miss M relaxing in 'her' chair at Jodi & Steph's house

Colour swatches....

Well today we went out and spent some of our savings to replace our very sad looking couch (which we've had since 2002) and to buy a dining room table & chairs (or benches in our case).

So, our couch is a latte colour, whilst the dining table & benches are a medium brown wood (with red highlights). What I need help with, is what colours to work the accessories around. My idea is to blend it across both rooms - colours that work with both.

Right now I'm leaning towards either a maroon or light green with white gold. On the way home we dropped into Bunnings and grabbed a few paint swatches to decide on colours so here's where I need your help.

With browns in mind, what main contrast colour would you pick. Green or maroon?


Keep in mind that the green I'm thinking of is really more of a mint green, ,this is much darker



I have to say, I'm leaning more towards the mint green idea, but perhaps because it's different to what I've seen in most people's houses. :)

Oxymoron much?

Something only the Aussies will likely get, but via email from a head honcho today...

{said party will be held at the} 'classy Kings Cross' {insert establishment name} venue.

Perhaps it was the kind of day that I was having (which increasingly descended into futher chaos later in the afternoon), but this email had me laughing.

What country was Daddy from again?

Yesterday whilst I went and participated in a 'working bee' at my place of employemnt, Daddy took Miss M 2.5 to Taronga Zoo. Miss M LOVES animals and would happily spend hours squeezing the stuffing out of all of the puppies in our local pet store if we let her.

So in amongst all of the fabulous options of animals to tell Mummy about after she returned home (pygmy hippos, snow leopards...you get the idea!), Miss M regaled me with stories of the kangaroos, giraffes and her favourites...the sheep.

Must be all her Daddy's fault...he is a Kiwi-Aussie transplant after all. :)


A Daddy's girl after-all


Miss M makes friends with her giraffes


Petting the goat


I had fun Daddy!

Fun at the park :)

More of a photo blog today. Here are some shots of Maddy enjoying the Sydney sunshine at a Normanhurst park....


Practising for my fun run at daycare next month


Living the slide


What do you mean I can't just hang here?


A little girl in the wind


Trying out her new trike...


Uh Mum? My bottom is wet!

A clean house....

Nothing really to write home about today (I've been getting the 'hint hint' to update my blog from a certain family member! *L*) but am feeling very relaxed this evening looking around our unit and seeing it all clean and tidy. The husband is off visiting my friends from work, Miss M 2.5 is in bed. I COULD have just slipped on a girlie DVD (the 2 TV channels we have available to us are pretty pathetic options tonight) and sat back inhaling a packet of Oreo cookies, but instead I went all cyclonic on the unit. :)

I know I won't be smiling tomorrow morning when it looks like a tornado has hit (and Miss M can manage that in about 5 minutes)but for now I'm just going to sit back and enjoy.

Isn't it amazing how you can change? A nice movie or a nice dinner out used to be how we felt relaxed and happy. Now all it takes is a good cleaning frenzy and a sparkling clean house afterwards at the end of a long week of work and being a Mummy!

What floats your boat? :)

Little girls and dresses....

Any of you that have a toddler daughter could be next... *L* Beware, it's the case of the DRESS ADDICTION!

I swear, being a complete tomboy as a child, I never expected I was going to have a total princess as a daughter. Yes, I danced later in life and as a result wore wigs, dresses and make-up, but I honestly never thought Miss M 2.5 would suffer from the 'want my pwetty dancing dwess'. *L*

BTW - Thanks alot Tiff, Maddy saw the beautiful Ivy in her sunflower yellow Pumpkin Patch dress and HAD to have it. No other dress was going to do and thankfully they had ONE left and it was in her size.

Before, she didn't care what she wore, but now it HAS to be a dress she can dance in, preferably to Dora's dancing adventure or Dorothy the Dinosaur's DVD. I have to admit it though, watching her attempt to Irish dance like the two girls on the Dorothy DVD is one of the cutest things ever! :)

So here she is in all of her princessey glory...

And while I'm at it...

I HATE the NSW road rules. First, I who got my license in August 2006 was on my open license in Qld. If you're over 25, you only hold your P plate for a year before you go onto your opens.

So imagine my frustration when in July 2008, I walk into the RTA down here in Sydney to be a good girl and change over my license, only to find myself being handed a P1 license! No, not even a P2 license, a friggin' P1!

Note - This means I am limited to 0.00 blood alcohol level (not that I'm bothered because I hesitate driving the next day after having ONE drink traditionally anyway), limited to one passenger after 11pm or something equally ridiculous (no DOCS, I'm not neglecting my 2 year old daughter by leaving her at home for 15 minutes whilst I pick up my husband from the train station after he worked late - you see I have a P1 license and can't carry my 2 year old in the car in ADDITION to my husband!), and worse yet, limited to 90kms/hr. Yes, REALLY safe when the speed limit is 110km/hr on the freeway and you're being tail gated by a truck going down a hill!

There is no 'oh you're on an open in Qld so that makes you an open down here'. Because I was 6 FRICKIN weeks short of holding my license for 2 years, the cow behind the RTA counter very smugly laughed at me and told me I had to take a P1 and then sit some computer exam to get my P2 which I'm then stuck on for ANOTHER 2 years? WTF!?!?!

Even better, my license expires in February so I'm going to have to pay AGAIN to renew it even though I got no refund for my Qld OPEN license that was valid until August 2010!

So, my mood over the state of licenses in NSW was not sweetened when I opened the mail on Thursday to discover a 'reminder to pay notice' for supposedly driving in a T-way in June when we hired a car in June to look for rental properties. It got sent to Hertz first who kindly passed on my name and then I got the lovely 'reminder' notice and demand to pay in 2 weeks. It's $250++ bucks AND 3 points!!!!

May I point out that there is no real excuse for breaking road rules, but honestly, we got so lost at times when looking for rental properties (the Hertz we hired from had no TomToms/Navmans available) so it's entirely possible we accidently drove in a T-way. Yes, ACCIDENTLY. In the area it supposedly happened in, it's marked by a simple rectangular sign and we got nailed by the fixed camera. I love that you can make an honest mistake whilst being lost and there is no policeman to explain it to, whom might show a little leniency to the out-of-stater. Nup, just a stupid camera.

Another note - I honestly thought a t-way was a TRANSIT lane. If you have 2 or more people in the car in Qld, you can drive in the transit lane. It actually took a half-an-hour scouring of the RTA website to even realise what a T-way was!

Oh and thanks to my P1 license (even though I was driving on a full Qld license at the time of the offence - thus 12 points), I now have ONE point to last me. There is no way in heck I'm driving in the near future. I'd rather walk.

I'm so glad the revenue raisers managed to catch and penalise the big bad lost tourists. Why on earth would they want to catch the scores of people I see near my house EVERY day, ignoring stop signs, doing 70 in a 40km/hr zone and ignoring red lights.

Vent over!

When you're gone

If anyone is reading this blog you'll have noticed I haven't posted much lately. To be honest, I'm in a completely unsocial mood and not really enjoying the Sydney experience all that much.

It's been a pretty tough month with illness and the death of my 95 years young Nanna. It wasn't a great surprise to lose her, and she was ready to go. The chapel service was lovely and I was feeling very sombre & reflective about the whole thing. I figured I'd manage to get through the day without crying...that was until I went looking for my Pop and found him sitting alone in the chapel before the service. I touched him gently on the shoulder, to let him know we were there for him, to pay our condolences. His back stooped over, his shoulders hunched, he looked up at me with tears running down his face.
'Oh Becky...I was just lost in my thoughts'
My battle against tears was in vain at this point.

How could you be anything but lost? Pop and Nanna were both 95 and they'd been together since they were teenagers. 76 years. It would have been their 70th wedding anniversary this coming December.

I can't imagine it. Being with someone for that long and then losing them. We all know that one day we're going to be gone; but how do you go on when you're the one left on your own? I hope I never need to answer this question.

RIP Annie...I hope you're dancing with the angels. Or, as your three children suggested at the funeral, you're likely looking down and wishing you could boss them around! :)

Edited to add: Crazy Sister's sweet reply reminded me of the fresh air and delight that Miss M was at Nanna's funeral. In all of their innocence, sometimes it's the children that act in a way you never expected. She's 2.5. I haven't broached the subject of Nanna being in heaven with her, but somehow in the sombre atmosphere she understood the gravity of the moment.

As we all filed past to leave, we all placed a flower or two on her coffin. Dressed in her little white dress, Miss M gently placed the flower at the head of the casket and after I had done the same; she gave a little smile and waved at the coffin with a 'bye Nanna'. Somehow, she just knew.

Outside, she was full of smiles and giggles, the silence and reverence of the ceremony forgotten. She played, danced around and in all of the tears of the family & friends, she was a bright little spark of joy. I lost track of the wavering smiles and laughs she enticed out of people on Thursday. :)

When we win Lotto....

This beautiful county (Meath) in Ireland is where we're going to live.

:) Well, I can dream...there are days when I feel like I left a bit of myself in Ireland when I was there back in March.

So, until our finances suddenly change, I'm going to dream about the 3 bedroom semi-detached home in Ballivor, Co. Meath that I saw the other day when pricing how much more real estate is over there.

Yes, a purely selfish post but there's nothing exciting going on here otherwise! *L*

Power to the people! :)

A quick note to say 'YEESSS!!!!' More than 1000 people signed the petition to ask the powers-that-be to reconsider their decision to deny little Ivy her treatment.

Apparently the paed called Tiff earlier and the decision has been reversed. Ivy will enter hospital tomorrow for treatment that could possibly change her life.

I just can't say enough thanks to anybody who read our link to the lovely petition and chose to go sign up and appeal Ivy's plight. It's made the world of difference to a little girl who now has a chance of a normal childhood like her twin brother Noah.

So, so, SO thrilled for Tiff, Dave & their family :)

HAPPY FATHERS DAY! :)

First of all, HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all of the fantastic Daddys out there. From a personal point, it was J's 3rd Fathers Day and Miss M 2.5 was thrilled to be depositing her personalised card on him very early this morning. Also thrilled to be handing him his gift which he'd been eyeing off at the 'Socrates' store for a few weeks. That was, until he unwrapped it and the batteries were put in place. The present were two remote controlled 'sumo wrestlers' which combat. Miss M didn't like them before the batteries were in them, so you can imagine what she was like when they were switched on.

Quite simply, she was PETRIFIED. And furthermore, we now have her 'currency' as my wonderful workmate calls it. Warnings quite often don't work with Miss Stubborn. Today, J tried out a new tactic:

J: 'Go and pick up your crayons'.

When there was a mute failure to comply to said order, out came the new line,

J: 'Hurry up or Daddy will get out the sumos'.

Miss M: 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO' Mission accomplished!

When the camera is up and running again (flat batteries!) I will upload a picture of the sumos for you all. But for now, here are a few of the photos Maddy posed for her 'Papa Ian':

A moment of your time...

http://somedaywewillsleep.com/

If you have even a few moments, please take a moment to visit a site another blogger has created to highlight my friend Tiff's situation with her youngest daughter, Ivy. We went through our pregnancies together and whilst Maddy is healthy, life is a struggle everyday for her precious little daughter Ivy.

A medical treatment could spell the end to endless hospital visits & pain but she's been denied by a medical board. Please sign the petition to ask them to reconsider their decision.

If you want to read more about Dave, Tiff and their beautiful family, please go and check out her website - http://www.mythreeringcircus.com/

One of THOSE days...

I knew it was going to be one of THOSE days when Gloria Jeans overfilled my very expensive (and extremely NEEDED) large skinny mocha and after adding my sugar, I promptly knocked over the coffee and split half of it on the floor and over J's work folder. *sigh*

Sadly, after a week of high level stress at work, it was the ultimate way to cap off a long five days. I can't believe I'm going to say this but bring on Christmas...I can't wait to have my two weeks holiday and just relax.

P.S - Lesson of the Day: In an overcrowded peak hour train, never stand with your back facing the direction the train is traveling in against the glass partitioning. It gives you no room to combat the inevitable invasion of personal space by some random suit who decides to keep inching backwards with his butt basically pressed against your stomach. If he hadn't been so completely oblivious whilst playing with his mobile and had a friend who noticed his stance halfway through, and promptly began to almost howl with laughter, I'd have thought him to be some random loony looking for a bit of action.

Shop-lifting, cafe re-decorating toddler fun

Ok, I will admit it. I am one of those people that long before she was a Mummy herself, was convinced that no child of hers would ever be one of those feral beastly minors. You know, one of those children you see out at the shopping centres, throwing tantrums on the ground and generally running amok. Yes, those same devil spawn that have adults trailing after them that you stare at with contrasting thoughts running through your head, like 'oh, the poor thing, what a horrible little brat that child is' and 'jeez, you'd think they could keep that little thing under control; the kid only looks like she's 3'. *sigh* On Thursday night, karma came and bit me in the bum BIGTIME.

Miss M 2.5 is one of those children that's bright, bubbly, outgoing, smart, polite, but at the same time she can be stubborn, naughty and downright obstinate. Yes, a little too spoiled for her own good, but as one of only 2 grandchildren on one side, and one of 3 on the other; it would be hard for her not to be. That's not to say she doesn't have boundries, nor punishments befitting the 'crime' when she fails to take heed to Daddy's & Mummy's requests/warnings.

The old adage of 'terrible 2s' started much earlier for us. In fact, I recall my shock when she was about 20 months old and telling her to behave, only to have her stick out her hand towards me with great force and say 'STOP MUMMY', all police-woman at broken traffic lights like.

So fast-forward to Thursday night. She hasn't been well so Daddy worked from home and Mummy went to work. We meet up at our local shopping centre to grab a few items and have something to eat. I tell Daddy to go off and relax after Miss M duty all day, so he promptly disappears off to a coffee haunt & Miss M and I remain in a shop to pick out the Father's day gift for him. So we pick a gift off the shelf that he's been eyeing off for a few weeks and I take it to the counter to pay. Miss M disappears in between shelves and promptly gets told not to touch. She re-appears with one of those animal shaped body gel treats in her hand. A purple whale. The scenario descends as per this:

Bec: 'Miss M, please put that down now'
Miss M: 'No' *runs away giggling, thinking it's hilarious*
B: *looks at man serving her at counter* I'm sorry, she's just a bit disobedient tonight. M come back here now'
Man: 'Not to worry, she's not doing any harm'
B: 'Well it could be worse, at least she hasn't stolen anything'

FAMOUS LAST WORDS....

B: 'M come back here now' *Miss M appears in front of me with offending item*
M: 'No Mummy, it's MINE. STOP!'
B: *make grab for child who does the bolt straight out the front of store. Promptly drop bags on counter and run for Miss M who is halfway down the coridoor and headed for pet shop*
M: 'NO MUMMY MINE' *struggles ensue with Miss M attempting to wriggle free*
B: 'We PAY before we take things. We do not steal, it's naughty. You're going back in the store, giving it back and saying sorry' *we return to store. Mum bright red with humiliation. Child looking defiant and teary*
B: 'What do you say to the man M?'
M: *says nothing, just meekly hands over item and refuses to make eye-contact with salesman*
Man: 'that's ok' *note - he is struggling not to burst out laughing. He thinks the entire situation is hilarious. I however, do not*

*end scene as I grab my bags, apologise again and take Miss M straight to coffee shop where Daddy is. She gets put straight into high chair which frankly she is just a bit too big for*

J: 'What did she do?' *pauses long enough to look up from laptop computer*
B: 'Oh nothing much, just stole a bath gel and did a bolt'
M: *still crying, suspect it's over 'her' bath gel*
J: 'That's very naughty M, we don't steal' *looks at Miss M with a stern expression*
*** Note, disapproving glare from Daddy is 100 xs worse than anything Mummy can dish out!
M: *looks at Mummy. Reaches out and grabs Daddy's coffee cup and as I yell and reach for it, she swings it high in the air and redecorates the corner of the coffee shop.

I could literally melt into a puddle of embarassment due to my obvious parental failure. Daddy has since marched off with Maddy and is lecturing her substancially. Possibly with threats that she's going to sit in the car now.

B: *wipes up the coffee spills she can reach and sits back down at table in cafe with a bright red face. I look up and notice a Mum & Dad at the next table with 2 boys - one about 18 months, the other about 4. They're being perfect angels of course. TYPICAL. Mum and Dad are exchanging glances and attempt to 'discreetly' stare back to get the latest episode of 'Public Meldown and Parental Failure 1.0.1'. The Dad wanders off with two boys to play area.

Miss M & Daddy still have not returned. I assume he's not trying to trade her in for a puppy of some sort. The thought is somewhat tempting in my current state however. The little pugs I saw there were cute.

B: *notices Mum across the way staring again. I clear throat, 'At least your two are very well behaved*

Other Mum: *just smiles somewhat sympathetically with a hint of smugness. Guess she doesn't know what to say to failure Mum*

B: 'Don't suppose you want to swap children?'

OM: *looks horrified at my suggestion* 'Uh, no thanks. I think I'll keep mine thanks' *hurries off to find her husband/partner & sons. Maybe she thinks I'll just help myself to one of hers*


So yes, the humiliation has begun. I wonder what else my beautiful but frustrating 2 year old has in store for us?

BBB

BBB = Banana Bread Bandit.

That's me. I'm COMPLETELY addicted to banana bread at the moment, and ironically so are half of my teammates at work. At any given time of the day you'll probably find one of us at least, munching on the scrumptious flavour.

The good news is that banana bread is now quite popular, so it's pretty readily available (including the cafe on the ground floor of our work building). The bad news is that it's now quite popular and if you don't buy a piece first thing in the morning there is every chance you'll have to go cold turkey.

The turkey was me today. I wandered downstairs at about 11am, knowing I wasn't going to make it through to lunch without my stomach beginning to snack on itself. Stood in line and stared out through the front doors at the rain outside. Reached the counter and smiled at the lady at the same time I noticed the usual banana bread basket was missing.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Looked hopefully at the lady behind the counter, thinking just maybe they were filling up said basket out the back. No such luck. All run out. Walked away with vegemite toast (sans the vegemite which the girl forgot to put on the toast), kicking myself that I underestimated the banana bread addiction sweeping North Sydney.

Note: My kitchen counter currently displays all of the ingredients I need to bake my OWN banana bread tomorrow. :) Oh and I need not share because it doesn't seem to tempt either John or Miss M 2.5.

Completely random photo...


Maddy shows her love to the Aussie Olympic Gymnastics Team

Who needs a bed?

Wow...2nd post for the night! :)

About to go to bed and thought it would be very apt to share the following photo of Miss M last week when I came in after her afternoon nap. She'd been asleep for four hours; it's likely much of that was in this position...

A visit back home to Brissie :)

Due to the escalating cost of flights and the fact that all airlines now deem it necessary to charge full fare for a 2.5 year old girl who'd rather sit on my lap anyway; I ventured home to Brisbane this past weekend whilst the dear husband & Miss M stayed in Sydney.

After informing my dear friend of close to 18 years, Zoe; that it was incredibly inconsiderate of her to organise her dream wedding less than 4 weeks after we relocated *LOL*, I was honoured to be invited to the beautiful day. Brisbane really put on the weather, with a beautiful bright sunny day supplied for us as I arrived about 20 minutes late after 9am on Saturday morning.

For the most part, it was a very smooth journey although I'd be lying if I didn't admit how nervous I was to actually be flying Qantas after the past 14 days. My fears were not helped by the fact the tower kept us in a circling pattern for 15 minutes over the Gold Coast as traffic was too busy at Brisbane Airport. At the same time, I did get over my nail biting for long enough to take these photos out the window of the plane whilst we circled.




The wedding itself was absolutely beautiful. I've known Zoe a long time as mentioned above, we first met in Year 8 in high school way back in 1991. The wedding and subsequent reception were elegant, classy and emotional without a hint of gaude or overkill.




I know, the photo is pretty blurry and sadly you can't see her gorgeous wedding gown clearly - which is a pity because she was every bit classic hollywood elegance. I'm not ashamed to admit I was crying openly at several points through the ceremony and again in the reception during the speeches. The love Zoe and Dave share for each other was so evident and there is something about an emotional groom trying to put into words his love for his bride that turns me into a human waterfall.

Anyway, we had a ball - what woman doesn't love an opportunity to go to a 'formal' wedding...hence the below:



Still suffering from this stupid cough and after a late night (ok, so it was 1am when we got back to my friend's place. That IS late for those of us with children and no longer spring-chickens), we didn't crawl out of bed on Sunday until 9:30am. Good old vegemite toast and a hot milo prepared us for the rest of the day - the perfect pick-me-up meal after a big night. I crawled back on my flight in the afternoon and came back home into the loving arms of the husband & the daughter. NOTHING is better than that feeling.

I'm saddened I couldn't visit more people while I was back home - I miss everyone and it's only been a month. If everything goes smoothly, hopefully we'll be able to make it back (all of us) later in the year.

Work is the easier route...

I wish I was at work today. It's less tiring.

First of the bat, I want to firmly say I love our daughter. I couldn't imagine a life without her in it; a future that doesn't involve her. Even in her most feral moments (and boy have there been alot of those lately), I wouldn't swap our life for that three or four years ago when Maddy wasn't in our world.

But today, we're home sick together. Daycare mentioned she was running a bit of a fever late in the afternoon and had slept through lunch. Anybody that knows Miss M would be aware that NO lunch for her is like Satan skating on ice. It NEVER happens...you see, Miss M loves food and only on a very sick little Miss M would ever fathom sleeping instead of having lunch. Worse yet, lunch yesterday at daycare was spaghetti. Close to being her most absolute favourite type of meal.

Anyway, we both have been fighting off flus. The weather down here takes a bit of adjusting to, and right now Miss M and I have coughs that sound like seals dying. A nasty headache caused by the most evil of all motor policies which I have been attempting to handle in the past three days; descended upon me late yesterday afternoon. Cramps I can handle with a few Nurofen, flus I can sniffle through, but headaches are my major downfall. Quite simply I felt like crawling into a hole and sleepng for a week.

After a fairly sleepless night we woke up at our usual dark hour (5:30am) and I knew neither Miss M nor I should be going to work/daycare today. So at 5:55am I realised I didn't have any contact numbers and sent an email to one of my workmates to let her know I wouldn't be able to make it in. Computer genius husband left for work and Miss M and I snuggled in for some rest.

Yeah right...

The past 5 hours since hubby left for the quiet and sanity of work, Miss M has trashed the house, her Dora DVDs and is presently reading in bed when she's supposed to be having a nap.

I'm jealous of said husband. I WISH I was at work right now...my tired and sick body would be more suited to sitting in front of a computer screen and solving the insurance problems of the world. And now I can hear 'Mummy... Mummmmmy... MUMMMMYYYY' coming through the door of Miss M's room.

Sick day...what sick day?

The technologically savvy

Ok, so as a child of the 70's and school student of the 80's and 90's (not to mention from a family on a tight income with 5 kids!), my exposure to items such as desktop computers, walkmans and Nintendos was pretty close to zero. In fact, short of a few stints on the primary school communal Apple Mac to play 'Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?', I only truly touched a computer when I reached high school and it was an actual subject.

That said, I was the 'go to' girl in the family whenever it came to the programming of any form of electrical based item. VCR recorder, TV, clock radio, microwave...you name it, someone had to ask me how to work it.

Now it came to my attention the other day that I have regressed when it comes to being techophile. I now struggle with programming the stupid microwave to defrost rather than scorch and pre-cook whatever I've forgotten to take out of the freezer earlier in the day for dinner. Whereas I used to be able to program in multiple shows to be recorded at a later date on the VCR, I now just give the husband a trembling bottom lip and hand over the laptop whenever it goes on the bunk for me.

Is it because I really am losing the ability to follow instructions & puzzle something out; or are items these days becoming much less user friendly? (Please remind me at a later date to fill you in on one of our life-long aims.... to track down the freak who designed the 'allen-key') Is it possible to unintentionally morph from being a technophile to a technophobe?

But I fear not...my 2 1/2 year old daughter appears to have inherited her Daddy's aptitude towards all things with an 'off' and 'on' button. Whilst I struggled to work out how to the heck to recharge the silly portable DVD player, Miss M has it sussed...



Fear not Mummy, I'll torture you with some 'Dora the Explorer' in no time...



See Mum? Piece of cake!

Nothing original

Wow, I'm sitting here struggling to come up with something to write about. Anyone would think I lead a completely boring life.... *L* Anyway, the pressure is on...I happen to be writing in the dust of two family members who manage to update their blogs on a daily basis with entertaining and amusing anecdotes from their lives.

Someone on a message board got me thinking yesterday. They'd started a thread on what our favourite memories from school were. When I sat down and started to think, two thoughts came immediately to mind. The first was pure horror. I actually sat down and calculated how long it's been since I finished wearing my tartan high school uniform. WAY too long. My second thought was to begin to laugh as some of my favourite memories came flooding back.

I know people always tell you never to look back, but I can't help but think that sometimes it's ok to do that. It makes you appreciate what you had and how much the choices you made back then have led you to where you are now. Little did I know back then, that the plain-jane rule abiding school girl who had dreams of becoming a primary school teacher would learn that she'd rather just let other people keep their own children and would be working in INSURANCE.

Actually, if you'd informed me back then that I'd be working in insurance I would have had you in a straight-jacket and ambulanced off to 'Crazy Sister's' "rehab" before you could blink. And I ask you, who actually comes out of high school saying 'yep, that's for me - I'm going to work in Insurance!'????

The reasoning behind the title...

I can't handle 'snot'...(otherwise known as "boogers").


Yes, that's right; I'm a freak! I have a 2.5 year old munchkin and I can handle pretty much anything she produces for me but I just can't handle snot. Especially when it involves those little aspirator type objects designed to extract it all - google 'fess little noses' and you'll understand the type of product I'm refering to.

Even the word makes my stomach turn.

Blood, vomit, poo...no problems. Not the highlight of anyone's day but if it has to be taken care of, I'll do it. I do however, draw the invisible line in the sand at the wonderful products of the nose. It doesn't matter the colour, but if I see it I just want to run screaming away. This includes the welcome you receive from the kids at daycare when you're picking up your daughter. It takes all my strength not to keep several metres (and preferably a few tables) between myself and any snot-monster in the room.

For the past 2 and a bit years I truly did just think I was some freak of nature. The laughs of my ever loving and understanding husband certainly didn't do anything to dispell that thought. It wasn't until today when I was having a chat with my team leader at work that I discovered I am not alone. Some not-so-considerated work colleague was talking about the nasty 's' word and she was fair gagging on the spot in response. Mercy, I wanted to cry tears of joy.

Now that I've explained, please excuse me whilst I go empty my stomach. *L*

Founding member of 'SAA' (Snot-Aversion-Anonymous)