Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Even When He's Crying He's The Cutest Boy In The World

See?
More images to come in the next few days....

Sunday, March 28, 2010

How I Became A Yoga Nazi

Welcome to another Blog This! challenge. This time around the challenge goes something like this:


Tell your readers a tale. About something you learned. Be it driving, scuba-diving or maybe another language... riding a bike, learning to read, learning to cook a special meal - make it interesting or funny or shocking!

When I moved to the USA to take up a year long job as a nanny ( to three gorgeous boys – M, T and H ) I’d really thrown myself in at the deep end – my first time travelling overseas, going to the opposite side of the world from all my family and friends, to live with people I’d never met before. I figured if I was completely overhauling my entire life, why not my body aswell? And so, after 7 or 8 weeks of living in the US, I became brave enough to go to my first ever yoga class.

I’d always wanted to try yoga, but I’d never been brave enough before. I’d always thought I was too fat ( I wasn’t ), too unco-ordinated ( I wasn’t ) and too embarrassed ( I wasn’t ) to give it a go. But living in a town where you know hardly anybody has its advantages – it means hardly anyone knows YOU, and that gives you a certain amount of anonymity. So I thought “ Hell, if I mess up too badly or do something too embarrassing, I just wont go back!! “ But I got there, and I stole a spot at the back of the class, and I followed along as best as I could…. And I didn’t stuff up, I didn’t do anything embarrassing, and I loved it! And I’ve loved it ever since.

My first yoga teacher, Cindy, was a tiny, blonde, whirlwind of energy but when it came to yoga she was patient and calm and encouraging. She’d come through class and if you weren’t aligned properly she’d ask if she could help you with your pose. Through this way of teaching I became pretty good at yoga ( if I do say so myself ) – and very obsessed with proper alignment. Cindy would push or prod you in the right direction and eventually I learned when my body wasn’t doing something right and corrected myself. When I came back to Australia the obsession continued and I asked my new yoga teachers to tell me when I wasn’t lined up correctly in a pose.

Now I notice when others in class aren’t aligned right in their poses. I want to walk over and push them and pull them or whisper in their ear “ Pelvis forward, shoulders up, back and down “ – but that would be rude. ( I also want to walk up and bitch-slap the women who talk and giggle to each other through the class but that would be very un-Yogi of me… ). I’ve even considered taking Yoga teacher training but that got thrown on the backburner when I fell pregnant. Its still something I’d love to do down the line though. So, if you're ever in Dub-Vegas taking a yoga class and a small brunette with glasses glares at you from the back right hand corner of the room – that’s me, the Yoga Nazi. I may want to push, pull, prod or punch you, but its only for your own good…..

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Saving The Earth, One Romantic Dinner At A Time

So – I believe Earth Hour has been completed all over the world for another year. What is Earth Hour you ask? Well, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, Earth Hour is one designated hour, every year, where people across the globes are urged to go without electricity ( I mean, those of us who are lucky enough to have it in the first place ). That means, at the most basic level, turning off your lights but also the tv, computer, radio….anything that uses excess electricity and power, thus creating carbon ( or something. I’m not exactly a diligent greenie ). Turning off your lights, at the very least, is pretty damn easy, so its not like you need to go completely out of your way to do something right by the environment.


So how did I spend Earth Hour 2010 ? I decided, late Friday afternoon, that seeing as the idea was to spend an hour in the no-electricity-dark that I would make Mick and I a three course meal – to be eaten by candlelight of course! That’s right, I spent the time enjoying a cute, romantic dinner – that I cooked! – with my beautiful fiancé and my gorgeous chubby bubby. Actually, not true – the chubby bubby slept right the way through dinner and had the good manners to wait until we were finished before he woke up crying. Mick told me he loved the meal and I have to say, I didn’t do to badly. What did we feast on ?

Entrée: Prawn cocktail with fresh cucumber salad and lime aoli;
Main: Pasta Delicious – penne, chicken and broccoli in a cheese sauce;
Dessert: Raspberry, Peach and White Chocolate Mousse.

It all sounds terribly gourmet, but I promise you they were all very simple meals. Simple – and delicious! So we spent a good 40 minutes eating our meal and chatting over candlelight, laughing at our snoring son and hoping he didn’t think it was bed time for the night already. When he woke up, we spent the last 20ish minutes of the hour in our candlelit bedroom, still chatting whilst I breastfeed the now hungry chubby bubby. Once the lights were allowed to come back on it really was Flynns bedtime so we put him down for the night, watched “ Crocodile Dundee “ on telly and then took our goodselves off to bed. Overall, I cant think of a nicer way to spend an hour with no lights. Raunchier ways, perhaps, but nicer way, no….

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Dear Flynn, Aged 3 Months

Dear Flynny,


Hello my darling – my little bubba boy. Its Mummy! You’re 3 months old now and I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by ( it’s a cliché I know, but its true ). It feels like just yesterday they were popping you up onto my chest, your skin all soft and wet and me in tears. And now here we are, 3 months later, and you still sometimes have me near tears with how beautiful and clever you are ( very occasionally its because you wont go to sleep… ). In just this past week you have learned to:

a) Pull yourself up to sitting if someone holds your hands to steady you ( you could already go from sitting to standing on someones lap )
b) Reach out and grab things ( your right-handed by the way )
c) And roll from tummy to back ( and almost from back to tummy – you keep getting stuck on your elbow )

All that in just one week! I’m sure one day soon I’ll blink my eyes and you’ll be sitting on your own unaided, or will have got yourself wedged under the coffee table somehow because you crawled off when I wasn’t looking.

You’ve grown into a bit of a cheeky boy – you poke your tongue out when your happy ( that’s my fault for teaching you how ), flirt with all the checkout chicks and old ladies who stop us in the supermarket and smirk at me when your supposed to be falling asleep. I pretend to be grumpy and tell you “ Shut them eyes, Smiley! “ but really you could just stare up at me all day long and I wouldn’t be too mad. I probably wouldn’t mind at all except you really do need to sleep at some point ( and so does Mummy – nanny naps are important ). You think your Poppy S is hilariously funny and your not really scared of B anymore ( even though she made you pee yourself like a scared puppy… ). Both your Grandma and your Nanny show you off at every opportunity and H tells everyone she knows about every single thing you do ( you’re a very cool cousin to have apparently ).

Your daddy and I love you very much. We were kind of nervous when we found out you were coming into being, and we were kind of a little, tiny bit scared when you were born, just because we loved you so much and we were a little unsure how good we’d be at being your parents. But, after 3 months, I know that we’re doing awesome. How do I know? Because you’re awesome – and happy, and healthy, and learning and growing everyday. That means we’re doing something right, even when sometimes Mummy feels like she might have done something wrong. Daddy never feels like that, and he tells Mummy she’s doing great. He’s a good Daddy. Always remember that. Oh, and always remember we love you, love you, love you! ( and that if I ever catch you smoking, I’ll kick you right up the bum ).

Big, big snuggles and kisses,

Your Mumma

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Don't Talkback To Me!

I have a confession to make : I listen to talkback radio. At night. And I’m only 26 yrs old.


And its not even “ shock jock “ stuff. Its just ordinary people ringing in to discuss whatever they want with the radio host and a couple of thousand other people. Don’t judge me ok ? Once upon a time I thought late night talk back radio was extremely daggy – there was no way you’d have me listening to random old women ringing in to flirt with the cheesy host when I could be listening to some Top 40 countdown instead. I’ve always listened to the radio at night on an FM station ( music helps me sleep ) but then when Mick and I started sharing a bed I discovered that he was a talkback fan. Gasp! And here I was thinking he was cool….

But you know what ? I’ve secretly grown to like it. Its like reality tv without the pictures. All kinds of people ring in and they talk about all kinds of things and I get to lie there, like some kind of voyeur, and listen in to their conversations. Sure, mostly its political stuff, or opinions on a social issue or current news story, but its interesting to here other peoples take on things. Its even more interesting when the caller and the host don’t agree and then they get into a petty argument ( don’t we all love a good fight? ) I have to say, though, that its really hard not to lie in my bed and curse out loud when I don’t agree with the caller – you know, like “ You’re freaking kidding! What, aren’t you listening ? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! “. Mick has had to roll over once or twice and remind me that a) they cant hear me and b) I’m supposed to be going to sleep….

So – to all the talkback radio callers who entertain me of a nighttime, I salute you! The truckies and shift-workers; the old men and flirty old ladies who prefer the “wireless “ to the tv; and yes, even to those crazy weirdo people who ring in at 3 or 4am when they should be asleep ( I’m awake because I’m breastfeeding – I have an excuse… ), thanks for taking advantage of our freedom of speech and helping me get to sleep at night. P.S That is no way indicative of how boring some of you are sometimes, its just how I roll…..

Sunday, March 21, 2010

A View, Askew.....

Time for another Blog This! challenge, this time with a twist - this one is a photo challenge instead of a written task. What kind of photo you ask? The challenge reads:
Take a photo and/or share a photo of your favourite view. Is it from your bed, a holiday a local lookout? Why do you love it?

In the spirit of this challenge i thought of places i've been and photos i've taken previously. Dont get me wrong, i live in a lovely little duplex in a nice little neighbourhood, but the view is nothing to boast of. This, however, is something to write home about:


Pretty huh? Wouldnt you love to wake up to that everyday? Sadly, probably not. Despite what it may look like that is not some castle somewhere in Europe - that, my friends, is the church at Port Arthur, Tasmania, as seen from the window of the Governors office. I chose to use this photo because I really love it and it reminds me of a great trip, despite being taken at a place that has witnessed such horror and tragedy. Port Arthur has such a hard, sad, melancholy aura to it yet it managed to be a place of physical beauty - a contradiction i hope i captured in this photo, and this of the church:

Tough rock used to make a place of prayer and serenity; a gorgeous blue sky prisoners would have only been able to see from the windows of a desolate prison cell.....

Back.... To The Future?

So, cast your minds back to this post, dated October 12, 2009. For those of you who werent around then, or just could not be arsed clicking on the link, the post concerned was about a reading i had with a pyschic. I had seen this particular woman in the past and she had been pretty damn accurate the first time around ( again, go to the link for details... ) so i thought i would visit with her a second time to see if she could get things right twice in a row. I also promised i'd do a post a few months on to see if her predictions came true or not. So, how'd she do?She predicted ( as quoted directly from the previous post ):


* That at some point in the next 6 to 9 months, i will have to make a choice between two ways to travel. Not physical travel, but more like two different paths my life can take. I'll be stressing, but i shouldnt worry: there is no wrong decision, and everything will work out no matter which road i take - could this be whether or not to return to work after maternity leave ?
Ok, so this one isnt exactly resolved yet. I still think that returning to work after maternity leave is what she's talking about, and i still do have that decision to make down the road. At the moment my heart says i really, really, REALLY wanna be a stay-at-home-mum ( SAHM ) with my bubba, but my head and my hip pocket say i probably cant afford to do that. I still need to explore whether returning part-time is an option for me. But hey, like she said, I couldnt make a wrong decision if i tried so its nice to know ( or have a really strong inkling ) that i'll be fine - that i will survive - no matter what road i take.


* This baby is coming early.... in around 9 to 10 weeks ( or 3 or 4 weeks early ) in fact.She also says she feels it will be around Xmas ( great ). In wont be because of complications or an emergency, simply because its just my bubbas time - ok, so this one is very specific, so i guess time will tell.
Like i said, this one was pretty specific - she didnt give me an actual date the baby would arrive on, but she did give me a very specific time frame. And ? Flynn was due on January 11th, 2010. He arrived..... on December 27th, 2009. Fifteen days ( or 2 weeks ) early, and two days after Christmas. I knw what you're thinking - holy guacamole! - and your right: that is spookily accurate.

This lady had previously predicted that i would be married, have had a baby and bought a house before i turned 26 and at the time of my last post, on October 12th 2009, i was pregnant and had bought a house. For those who have since been paying attention, Mick and I got engaged only two weeks after i made that post. So, does this particular woman have crazy pyschic powers or what ? I suppose it depends on what you believe but in my case i can only go on the evidence, and all signs point to YES. With that in mind, the pyschic expo is back in town next weekend - should i go and see, firstly, if she's there and, secondly, whether she lightning can strike thrice ?

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I " Honestly " Love You....

I gotta say – I love you guys, my faithful blog readers. You sent me so much bloggy love in the comments of my last post, when I was feeling all down about the state of my housewifery skills. I really appreciated it that so thanking you all very muchly – you people rock! What also rocks, and is very much appreciated, is being given an award : the “ Honest Scrap “ award ( which I know some of you out there already have ) by the very talented E over at Whining At The World. So a special thanks to you E.


Now apparently there is also a meme that goes along with the award, and it goes a little something like this:
1. You must brag about the award.

2. You must include the name of the blogger who gave you the award and link back to that blogger.
3. You must choose a selection of blogs that you find brilliant in honest content.
4. Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with this award.
5. List at least ten honest things about yourself.
........then pass it on with the instructions!

So......
1. I have hair on my feet. I’m not exactly on par with a Hobbit but I have light skin and dark hair so it’s a little noticeable on places it shouldn’t be. You know, like my toes. Eww.

2. My FIL annoys me. I don’t hate him or anything its just that his idea of a conversation is talking AT you ( not to you ) and he doesn’t really believe in punctuality. Or letting my baby sleep. Those things get on my goat.

3. I secretly worry, at the back of my mind, that Mick will figure out that I am not totally sane and will up and leave me one day. That thought scares me.

4. I don’t have many friends. I never have really – I was always the girl at school who kind of got along with everyone, but really only counted a handful of people as good friends. In the 9 years since leaving high school, even those “ good “ friends have dwindled down to only 3 – and I’m not really even sure about one of those either.

5. I leant some of Micks boots to a photographer friend, even though I was 95% sure he wouldn’t lend them to her if he were here. Then I lied about lending them. This is the only lie I’ve ever told him – and I feel really bad. I’d make a “ maybe he should spank me “ joke right about now, but if he busts me lying about his boots he wont find anything funny in it at all.

6.I haven’t done yoga for a while – there was only one antenatal yoga class offered in my town and it was too expensive, and my normal yoga teachers couldn’t cater to me once my bump was too big – but, when I did go to classes, I felt superior to other women in the class because I was better at it then them. I know, shame on me, but I’m good at yoga ( I’m also kind of a yoga Nazi… ) so call it pride, call it ego, but it felt good to know I was better at something than someone else for once.

7. Mick and I are having our engagement party on Easter Saturday, April 3rd. So far we have had quite a few people RSVP “ not attending “, including every single person that I work with. Even though most people who aren’t coming cant come because theyre going away for Easter, I feel really rejected – truth is, besides birthday parties when I was little, I’ve never actually had a real party before. And now heaps of people aren’t coming to this one and I feel like a big old Nigel No-friends. Poo to that.

8. I think I can sing well. I don’t know what anyone else thinks because I’m too embarrassed to sing in front of anyone but my baby ( Flynn loves my rendition of “ Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes “ ).

9. I don’t get along with my maternal grandparents, especially my maternal grandmother. Without delving into details, she’s not a nice person and I just don’t like her. People tell me I should because she’s my grandma but that doesn’t mean jack – you earn respect, its not just handed to you on a platter people.

10. I’m not normally into shameless self promotion, but today I am – head over to Blog This! , vote for me in this weeks Challenge poll ( for this post here ) and help me see if I can win!

And now for my recepients:
Daughter @ Daughter of the Stars
Madisons Mum @ Raising Madison
Paula @ Insert My Blog Name Here

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Just Call Me Slummy Mummy

I’m suffering from mummy guilt. Or maybe I should make that housewife guilt, because its not exactly the mothering side that I’m feeling guilty about, but rather the taking-care-of-housework side. That is, I kind of feel like some things are getting away from me and that makes me feel like I’m not doing the best job I can.


See there is cleaning washing piling up all around me – some that needs folding, some that I’ve already folded and just haven’t put away yet; dirty washing to be done sitting in the laundry; I haven’t vacuumed the floors in well over a fortnight and I think my wonderful post-baby hair fall is causing my bathroom tiles to resemble a shag carpet. Even as I take 10 minutes or so to sit here and blog, I know I could be using this time to put away the clean dishes ( that Mick washed last night ) or fold some of that piled up washing ( most of which Mick washed on the weekend ). I also know that all those parenting and mummy magazines say that the dishes can wait – whats most important is me and my baby – but I cant help but feel that bad that my house does not look like my mothers house, or at least the way I remember my mums housing looking when I was a kid.

Granted, my mum also let the clean washing pile up ( so maybe that’s hereditary ) but as far as I can remember Mum always had the carpets vacuumed, the furniture dusted, the dishes washed,dried and put away and had everything ready so that when Dad got home he could cook the dinner ( yep, my Dad did most of the cooking. He’s just better at it then my mum ). I know my mum had the whole “ it’s a womans work “ thing ingrained in her brain by my grandma and believe me, I don’t want to be some kind of weird Stepford wife, living only to please her husband. But I feel like Mick deserves a nicer, neater house than what I keep it, and I feel like I’m letting him down in someway. He says I’m not and, besides, I make him awesome muffins… but still, I just feel like I could do better.

So tell me other mums – and not-mums who manage to keep everything in order: how do you do it ? And, if like me, your in slummy-mummy territory, how do you feel about it?

Sunday, March 14, 2010

An ( Almost ) Day In The Life....

Time again for another Blog This! challenge:
Do you have a day of the week that is your favourite or you dread? Take us through the day or your week- what happens, what makes it pleasant/challenging - Do a mini-diary of your day - let your readers know what your life is REALLY like. Take photos if you wish...:

I want to preface the bulk of this post by saying that I’m a new mum to an 11 week old baby boy – I haven’t had a “ typical “ day in almost 3 months, ok? That being said, routines are starting to develop and patterns are slowly starting to emerge so in the spirit of the challenge I have come up with what I hope will soon be a “ normal “ day….


7:30am – woken up by baby sounds. Not crying, not grizzling – then what is it ? Its giggling. Find my son awake in his cot laughing his guts out at the mobile above his bed. Alternate between thinking he is insanely cute and just plain insane.
7:40am – Time for a feed: booby juice for the baby and peanut butter on toast for me. Remember to take the pill ( no more babies just yet thanks! ) and multivitamins.
8 – 8:30am – playtime. Pop Flynn down on his playmate and watch him kick the crap out of the musical frog and the rattle. He doesn’t really open his hands to reach for things yet but boy can my child kick! Follow kicking with tummy time ( which is getting better ) and general goo-goo-gaa-gaa-ing ( as opposed to Lady Gaga-ing, which is not suitable for babies ). Send Mick off to work with a kiss and a quick bum-squeeze.
8:45 – 9:15am – steal time for a quick shower and a check of email and Facebook. Of course, nothing important or special , just the usual chain emails or spam from my Grandma. Seriously, she sends me the worst emails…
9:20am – more booby juice for Flynn. He’s a hungry boy in the mornings.
9:40am – get Flynn dressed for the day. This sounds simple but sometimes its hard trying to pick the cutest outfit for the days events. If we’re staying home he needs a cute snoozing outfit; if we’re going out shopping, he needs an outfit that will make old women stop me and say “ Aww, what a cute baby! “; and if we’re going to mothers group he needs an outfit that will impress all the girl babies.
10am – 11:30am – head out of the house on some kind of excursion ( usually ). On this particular made up day we’re going out to the shops to get ingredients for dinner ( which I’ve very inconveniently left off the shopping list when we did our groceries ) and then stopping in at Grandma and Poppy’s for a visit.
11:45am – 2pm – Feeding time again. Watch “ The Ellen Degeneres Show “ followed by “ The View “. Flynn may fit in a little half hour nap somewhere here, which allows me time to eat some lunch and go to the toilet.
2pm – 3pm – change the channel so we can watch “ Ready.Steady.Cook! “ Ponder what ingredients I’d have in my gourmet bag and which chef I would most like to cook with. Give Flynn another round of milk and put him down for a good nap this time – none of this 30 min napping, I’m talking at least an hour this time.
3pm – 5pm – get a bit of alone time, which I use to catch up on at least one of the following: blog reading; blog posting; folding of washing; bathroom cleaning; baking; or stealing a nap for myself. Watch “ Martha “ and delight in how easy she makes everything look… but then remember I have neither the skill nor the time to make Twice Baked Red Wine Veal Blahedy Blah. Listen intently for baby cries.
5pm – hear those cries. Scoop my son up out of his cot and settle in for another feed. Get excited because Mick will be home soon which means both someone to share the load with and to have some adult time with. Not that kind of adult time ( too early for that! ) – more like adult conversation instead of gurgling.
5:30 – 7pm – kiss Mick hello when he comes in. Chat about our day while we both make faces to entertain Flynn. Flynn doesn’t take his eyes off Daddy, which means I can sneak out into the kitchen to cook some dinner. Try and watch “ Neighbours “ inbetween chopping, stirring or turning. End up missing the most important part.
7 – 9pm – Dinnertime: some type of fabulous gourmet meal ( read: attempted gourmet meal ) for Mick and I, yet another round of milk for Flynn. He’ll have two feeds in this time and be fed, changed, wrapped, cuddled and put to sleep by 9pm.
9 – 10pm – “ alone “ time for Mick and I. We’ll watch the end of a tv show and then get ready for bed, where we will either snuggle down and have a bit of a chat, enjoy some “ sexy “ time ( without having a huge baby bump in the way! ) or curl up together and go straight to sleep. Sometimes, on energetic days, we do all three.
Around 4:40am – wake up to little grizzles coming from Flynn’s room. Night feed which, thankfully, doesn’t take too long because my boobs are fit to burst and the milk flows pretty fast. Burp and change the bubba boy and wrap him back up. Straight back into his bed, and straight back into mine. Start pushing out the zzz’s as quickly as possible, otherwise its going to get to 7:30am when it starts all over again…

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Thinking Happy, Week 7 ( ? )

Ok, at leats i think i'm up to Week 7. Either way, its time for another weekly round of Operation Think Happy, brought to you by Holly at Good Golly Miss Holly!

1. Time with family and friends - yesterday was such a great day. Mick, Flynn and I visited with a dear old friend of mine, a lovely older lady that i've known for years, and it was a pleasure to catch up and be able to introduce her to my little family. Plus, after that, we got ourselves some Subway for lunch and headed to one of our local parks and met up with my parents, my sister, my 2 neices, my  uncle and his 2 daughters.... for a huge playdate!

2. Lovely weather - the sun makes me smile. It amkes me smile even more when the temperature is not so hot that you feel like you're going to drown in sweat, but not so cold that you need to bundle yourself up. Its been a week of absolutely lovely weather and i've been fortunate enough to be able to get out and enjoy it.

3. New recipes - So remember how i wanted to be Martha Stewart ? Well i've really been giving it my all this past week. I went through some recipe books, wrote myself out a shopping list, and cooked some really yummy meals this week. Mick has appreciated the effort and always tells me how good the meal was and thanks me for cooking it ( even when its crap! ) so its made me smile that i can cook nice meals for my family, without becoming too boring.

4. Fitting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans - hallelujah! Again, i dont really feel the need to mention the specific size but fitting back into my pre-pregnancy jeans made me happy because a) there are 2 or 3 pairs i  just really love and b) i dont have to waste money on hew jeans to fit my post-pregnancy body!

5. My son - he just gets cuter and chubbier and more clever by the day. He's learnt to poke his little tongue out ( cheeky boy! ) and now if he's sitting on my lap and i take hold of his little hands and gently lift them up, he plants his little feet and pushes up with his legs til he's standing. He think its the neatest trick ever and i think its too cute when he looks all chuffed with himself.

6. Getting to have a long shower - most days i get enough time to jump under the water, have a quick scrub of my bones and jump out. So it makes me happy when i can leave Flynn with his daddy and take a long, hot shower, shave my legs and wash my hair properly. Mmm, bliss....

7. ' Special ' time with Mick - if i have to explain this one to you, your too young and naive to be reading my blog...

Friday, March 12, 2010

What A Pain In The Proverbial

Oh Telstra, how i hate thee....

I'm sure everyone has hated their internet service providers at one time or another, but i seem to get crap service from Telstra every single time i need them. See, if you've been wondering where i got to this past week the answer is - nowhere. I didnt go anywhere or do anything special, i just didnt have any access to the inter-web. First of all, my stupid laptop started playing up again ( for the 4th time in 2 years of owning it ) and then, when i tried to use my wireless USB modem in my old desktop, the USB modem died aswell. I had previously been told that i should be able to use the modem in more than one computer but no - when i try doing that, it just carks it. Of course, this means i need to ring Telstra and get them to fix the problem. Which, after 45 minutes of being on hold and/or being transferred between departments, i am told they cant do for at least 2 or 3 days. Argh!

So of course, i've suffered major withdrawals for the past few days. Just when i was getting back into the swing of regular blogging, and had found some great blogs to read - pfft, no internet. What the hell was i supposed to do all week without it? Turns out i had plenty of housework to keep me occupied, and i managed to put some photos in my sons album and baby book…. But that wasn’t the same as keeping up with all my bloggy friends! Now I feel like I might have missed something!


So – if something super awesome happened to you in the past week, let me know in the comments so I can pop on over to your page and catch up. Or, on the flip side, tell me how ridiculous I’m being and that the interweb is not the be and end all. Sure, because that will make me feel better….

Monday, March 8, 2010

I've Been To The Summit - And Things Have Only Gone Up From There...

Another Blog This! challenge - Take us on a journey. Your journey. Something you've achieved, somewhere you've travelled, someone you've become. How has it challenged or changed you?

I've been to the summit, and things have only gone up from there.
Ok, not exactly " the " summit. Not even " a " summit. Just Summit - Summit, NJ. What i mean is that i once lived in a place called Summit, NJ, and since that time my life has only been on the up and up.

I lived in this house:
I looked after these children:
And i had friends like these:

And what did i find during my amazing one year stay ? I found me. Thats right - i had to journey to the otherside of the world, 14 hrs on a non-stop flight, and experience things outside my normal experiences to find who i really was. Really am, i suppose. I'm not going to go into details ( lets face it, there is  hell of a lot of detail invlved over the course of a year ) but suffice to say that by physically travelling - taking a physical journey and having the physical experiences - i really changed and developed on an emotional level.

I lived with a wonderful family with 3 beautiful boys, working as their nanny. I was on a foreign volunteer program, so i made fruends from all over the world - just in that photo up there we have people from the Dominican Republic, France, Colombia and the Czech Republic. I had to live and learn in a new culture, deal with things i hadnt dealt before ( you know, like living on the opposite side of the planet to EVERYONE i knew ... ) and it truely was a " sink or swim " situation.

But you know what ? I gotta say, i think i did ok. I lost the depression and found some confidence; gained a second family and lost some weight; made new friends and destroyed old bad habits. Everything changed for the better because i was brave enough to take a step outside my box and try something new.....

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Oh My God - I've Just Done A Runner!

I'm a thief. Accidentally, of course. Let me set the scene :

My mothers group had its final, official meeting today ( i say official because we can still keep meeting up after today, but it wont be run by our local community health nurses anymore.. ) and, as is tradition with the final meeting, we went out to lunch. It just so happens that one of the other new mums in my group owns a local cafe/resturant and said it would be a problem to have 16 mothers, babys and prams in her establishment - so, naturally, we decided hers would be the best place to go. She had a hug table set up down the back of the resturant so that all us mothers could fit and the wait staff could still serve other customers up front.

Lunch was great - i had a lovely chicken and avocado penne, Flynn was kind enough to stay asleep so i could eat uninterrupted ( good boy! ) and it was nice to have a bit of conversation and general chit chat without being guided to a particular weekly topic. We werent rushed for time so it was a nice, lazy lunch. Eventually it got to a point where some mums started packing there things up and saying their goodbyes and we started leaving in dribs and drabs....

At which point, after having fed my son, i packed up his stuff, put him in his pram.....and promptly walked out the door without paying for my meal. Oh.My.God! I'd done a runner and i didnt even realise until i got home - i called the resturant straight away and apologised and said that i would drop my money in to them tomorrow morning. Its going to be soooo embarrassing going in there - i mean, if it were just some random place and i didnt know the owner i could just take my money in and never, EVER, go back. But seeing as we've decided to make this cafe our regular meeting place i cant exactly take that option.

So i guess i'll just have to live with my shameful moment tomorrow - suck it up, blame the mistake on baby brain, and try to remember to pay my tab before leaving next time....

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Follow the Yellow Brick Blog!

So - i'm up to 14 followers! Go team Amy go! I know that sounds like an absolute pitiful amount to some of you out there, those of you have literally hundreds of people reading you, but 14 is huge to me. I like that there are now 14 people out there there who like what i'm doing, who like my writing enough to officially press the ' Follow ' button. I feel like the last month has seen a major return to blogging for me - I'd never really stopped but the quality of my posting had. But I have a passion for it again. I'm writing more often and i'd like to think i'm writing better stuff. And not only am i writing more, i'm inspired to read more, and am spending a bit of time each day searching out new and exciting blogs to add to my reader.

However, and this is sad - i've been dumped. Bumped. Rejected, as it were. And i'm kind of upset about it. Here's the scenario - one of the blogs that i have been reading FOREVER has been made an invite-only blog.... AND I WASNT INVITED. Why am i kind of upset about this ? Well, this was the first blog i ever read, the blog that got me interested in blogging. I'd been reading it from its inception and reading it religiously, hardly ever missing a post. I felt like this blogger was my friend - in fact, we even met up once and hung out for four or five days, despite the fact that we lived over 10 hours drive apart. So i think it would be fair to say that if you were going to make your blog invite-only, i would be on the list. Right ? Yet, i'm not.

Where did i go wrong? Did i comment too much ? Not enough ? Did i start writing too much about pregnancy and babies and boring mumma stuff, and that somehow excludes me from reading what you write ? I just dont get it. I mean i'm loyal, man - if you write consistently good stuff, i'm there with you for the long haul.

You know, unless you decide to go and make your blog invite-only and then dont invite me....