It's just like riding a bike

What's that old saying? "It's just like riding a bike. You never forget."
But what if you never learnt? What if you where seven and you never learnt? What if every year you where asked if you wanted Santa to bring you a bike and you always said no? What if you where scooter obsessed and refused to even entertain the idea of a bike? No more what if's. Last Christmas "Santa" decided that it's every boys rite of passage to have a bike and damn it, you and your brother where getting one whether you like it or not.

So after much convincing we finally got you on the bike.
Day 1: Training wheels on

Day 2: Going for broke (no training wheels)


Ok I will admit I got a little teary to see him pick it up so well. I'm so proud of him. Jack on the other hand won't have a bar of it. The bike, I think, is just a tiny bit too big for him. Hopefully he'll come around soon.

Arachnophobics look no further

So this morning Jack decided to climb into bed with us at I-can't-be-bothered-looking-at-the-clock o'clock and was restless for ages, so consequently I had a crappy sleep. Then I get woken up at 6.30am by Jack shaking me telling me there is a spider. I still had my eyes shut and asked him where (thinking knowing him it's just a Daddy Long Legs) and what type only to be told that it's big, black and look it's up here. I pried my eyes open only to see directly above our head this:

Now my reaction was that of any good Arachnophobe - I let out a ginormous squeal and flew out of the bed faster than the speed of light. Of course that squeal woke the rest of the house, so everyone is in our bedroom while Brian is working out how to kill the bastard without it falling on to our pillows. Ewww, ewwww, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I still squirming just writing this. Brian's common sense prevailed (thankfully considering mine had made a hasty retreat once the spider appeared) and the bed was pulled away from the wall, said spider was sprayed and when it fell to the floor, smashed to smitherines by my trusty moccasin (for the moccasin naysayers - see they're good for something).

So after all this drama, surprisingly I fell back into a somewhat peaceful slumber for about another hour.

Sea Urchin 1, Liam 0

See this gorgeous little thing? Looks cute eh? Yeah not so cute when three of it's spines are embeded in your seven year old's foot. After a trip to the hospital and the doctor getting more than one kick to the face/head/hand we had all spines out and that little bastard wasn't looking so cute any longer...although still victorious.

Anyone for a game of Sperm Racer?

Oh yes, you did read correctly, I did write and the picture does say "Sperm Racer". So do ya wanna play? Do ya? Do ya? I'll race you to the cervix. Yep that's right, to win you use a joystick and race the other sperm to the cervix. As per below:

But wait for it...this is a kids game. Part of the Humanoid Discovery exhibition at Scienceworks. How bloody funny.

And just to show the extent of how juvenile I am - here's a few other amusing pics from the day:

Pictures of you, pictures of me hung up on your wall for the world to see

It's almost like it takes a shock to the system to make you look around and see the bigger picture. Today a husband and father buried his wife and son. Today I was there to witness a friend deliver a beautiful but heart wrenching eulogy as his mother was laid to rest. Today I opened up my eyes to the life I'm living and what I'm leaving behind for my kids.

I watched a moving photo tribute of a mother and her family and realised that if I was to be gone today all my kids would have is memories. I'm always the one behind the camera and I tell everyone that it's because I can't trust Brian to take great photos. But in reality I hate how I look and take every opportunity I can to be behind the camera rather than in front. So I made a promise to myself to make an effort to leave behind more than just a memory - starting from this afternoon.

So here I am in all my princess and Wot Wot glory after being dressed up by Imogen:

I just wanted you to know...

...that even though I don't visit much anymore, I think of you often.
I just wanted you to know that I wonder what my life would have been like had you have been in it for more than those fleeting moments.
I wanted you to know that as a child I never spoke about you, it was as if you never existed, but now as an adult I wish I had of met you - if only just for a few moments.
I wanted you know that it is possible to love someone you've never met.
I wanted you to know that I did remember that today 31 years ago was the day you visited us for only such a short time, but left a footprint on my heart forever.
Happy Heavenly Birthday baby sister.

Nothing like a little boost to the ego

I got a phone call that I wasn't quite expecting today when my regional manager called and offered me a promotion. Unfortunately I had to decline for quite a few reasons, but I have to say that it felt good to be offered it in the first place.

Putting it into perspective

I have sat glued to the tv for days now watching the same broadcasts over and over and hoping for more miracles, hoping that families are reunited, hoping all the missing people are found...alive.

You would think that in the middle of a fairly busy intersection of a town you would be safe, but no. As the list of fatalities grows, my heart goes out to all the families left behind. I cannot even begin to imagine how they must be feeling.




Please, if you can, donate to the flood appeal - here's a link with all the ways to donate.

We did it, we did it, we did it yeah

Put a deposit on a house design that is.
I can't believe we actually did it. Here's what a new abode will look like:

We're making a few changes - for example the back of the bottom floor will be flipped, the alfresco will become a media room and an alfresco will be added to the back of the dining room. Now just to sell our house and the ball can start rolling.

This post is brought to you by the letter B and the number 37

A big Happy Birthday to my gorgeous husband.

















Love you forever xx

Bribery will get you everywhere

How do you convince three kids to behave through a billion display homes????

Food. Food and a playground. So La Porchetta Altona Meadows it was.
Funnily enough it's the small things that amuse the kids the most....like bread

Filling in the blanks

What to do on a lazy saturday?? Nothing. Nothing but relax, eat, rest and play.

Ways in which to scare the shit out of yourself

Say you where sitting at the kitchen bench typing away on your laptop when out of the corner of your eye you see movement right next to the door you are sitting at. It's moving quickly, low to the ground, it's beady eyes stare at you through the wire. What do you do?

OMG, OMG it's a mother f-ing snake you yell and in your mad scramble you forget that you are separated by not only a big glass door but also a security screen as you practically fall backwards off the stool you where seated on in your panic to get away from this thing.

Then as your children come running to see what all the noise is about, you come to your senses and realise it's not snake, but a lizard. A blue tongue one at that. He's cute too, but damn fast. Before I could get any really good pics (thank god my camera was actually on the bench) he dashed off into our bushes and we couldn't find him again.

This is what I saw through my window. Now tell me you wouldn't shit your pants.

Finally! All the hard work pays off

Well not really hard work, I did Jack shit to be honest but meh, I digress.

Remember how excited the kids where by the tiny carrots, so you can imagine the jumping around to be had when they discovered that we now have cucumbers. Liam consumed this one himself in record time.

At least one thing from the garden was a big hit.

Take me to the river

Drop me in the water...and a shit load of water it is.
Who would have thought that less than a year ago this Lake was dry. Last time I drove out there I could not see a single drop of water. But here is Lake Eppalock today.

Kyabram Faux Pas...

or should I say Fauna Park.

Where do I even start. To say the place is a tad run down would be an understatement. To say I was a little shocked would be an understatement too.

It wasn't all bad - the kids had a great time and I guess in the big scheme of things that's all that matters



I don't know...maybe my judgement was clouded by the fact that Gigi pissed on me only half way into the day and I had to walk around in 30 degree heat for the rest of the time smelling like piss.

At least the company I had was great and I managed to get a great pic of Jack.

There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza, dear Liza

I'm sure by now most people have heard of the movie The Bucket List, but have you ever really thought about it? I mean really. Have you taken the time to write down what it is you want from life? What do you want to achieve? What would you like to see? What would you like to change?

With a little prompting from a friend, I joined a health challenge. Not just a weight loss site, but a site about your overall health - mental, physical, emotional, workwise. This site gives you a challenge daily. Today was to think about my bucket list and list five items from it. I'd never even thought of a bucket list. So after thinking long and hard I've made a list that seems to never end. So here's five items from it in no apparent order.

1. Visit the Machu picchu ruins
2. Learn to say "no" without feeling guilty
3. Go on an overseas family holiday
4. Blog at least once a week
5. Make more time for me

And finally one dream on my bucket list and this one is for me and me alone...to have a tummy tuck. So how am I going to achieve this dream? Well I'm a realist. I know this one is a long time in the making. So the steps I'm taking are small ones. Joining this me you health site is just one step in the right direction.

So now the hole in my bucket is plugged.

Ah yes, it's a new year

res·o·lu·tion (rz-lshnn.)
1. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.
2. A resolving to do something.
3. A course of action determined or decided on.
4. A formal statement of a decision or expression of opinion put before or adopted by an assembly such as the U.S. Congress.
5. Physics & Chemistry The act or process of separating or reducing something into its constituent parts: the prismatic resolution of sunlight into its spectral colors.
6. The fineness of detail that can be distinguished in an image, as on a video display terminal.
7. Medicine The subsiding or termination of an abnormal condition, such as a fever or an inflammation.
8. Law A court decision.
9.
a. An explanation, as of a problem or puzzle; a solution.
b. The part of a literary work in which the complications of the plot are resolved or simplified.
10. Music
a. The progression of a dissonant tone or chord to a consonant tone or chord.
b. The tone or chord to which such a progression is made.
11. The substitution of one metrical unit for another, especially the substitution of two short syllables for one long syllable in quantitative verse.

See those bolded answers, kind of sound final don't they? When I think of resolutions at this time of the year I think the definition should read:
1. All the shit you where meant to do last year but decided "Screw it" I like to take the easy way out, and
2. All the shit you're going to try to do this year, but will undoubtedly fail miserably at.

So no, I won't be making a New Year's resolution. But what I am making instead is a little promise to myself. This year is the year of being a little selfish. This year I'm going to focus on me. This year I'm going to focus on my family. I've let myself go for too long. I've let my family take a back burner for too long. Enough is enough.

And on that note, I shall be off. Instead of sitting on the laptop all night I need to get a decent nights sleep...another of my last years resolutions.