Is it really time for 5minutesformom’s WW again? It comes around so quickly. I was hoping to do my post yesterday which was Wednesday here in Australia, but I couldn’t decide on photo’s or themes. I had a few ideas, so decided to sleep on it and now it’s Wednesday in some parts of  the world, but Thursday here. Anyway, it was worth sleeping on. This afternoon we had a wonderful storm that swept through our area, so it gave me another theme to work on.

I always put my car in the rain for a clean. With water being so precious I like to make the most of it when there is a downpour and this was really heavy and my car was super dusty. I decided to also give it a brush over whilst it was pouring  rather than letting the rain do the job on its own . It was so refreshing after a muggy 30C plus day. Now my car is sparkly clean and I feel cooler. It’s been awhile since the last deluge, so my car hasn’t been clean for awhile. If  it’s just too thick with dust I will give it a lick with a couple of  buckets of water and some elbow grease otherwise it has to wait.

And my little helper, well She swept under the carport, but everything had pretty well dried up and the overflowing drains subsided by then. Still, every bit helps.

She was certainly putting in a good effort for all of two minutes. lol.

I’m curious about how you manage the junk food situation when you are with other parents and their kids on holidays?

We just had a very pleasant couple of days away, but the junk food came thick and fast at times from the other family. My belief  is it’s probably more damaging at least psychologically, to prevent your child from having things that are not healthy when all the other children are munching away on them BUT if  it was toys, for instance and the others were being given lots of toys, I would be saying no more readily.

There  comes a point, though when I just need to say no anyway to the sweet things because they are damaging my childs body which is so precious. Bedtime is one instance where I knocked back the sweet food for Charlotte. Really, sweet junk food at bedtime? Not for my little girl.

The other Mum is pretty concious and did make comment when Charlotte was offered, nay, given a small icecream by the Dad after she’d already eaten quite a bit of  junk throughout the day. The Mum hoped it was okay that he had done that because She doesn’t like people handing out food to her kids without being consulted either. That made it okay in one sense. At least She was aware of what was taking place and hey, we’re all doing our best. (more…)

Well, this is the year that Charlotte starts Kindergarten. I’ve written a series of  posts about my journey to finding the most suitable place for my little girl, so it seems fitting to write about where I am at with it all.

In a nutshell, I’m not looking forward to the whole experience one bit. I’m making sure that I speak in an uplifting manner with Charlotte, though and She tells me She’s excited about going, so that’s good. I don’t seem to be transferring my feelings.

Routine Is Not My Forte

Reasons for not looking forward to it. Well, I really KNOW and it has become very apparent to me recently that I am not a routine kind of  gal. Having to be up and at ‘em and getting Charlotte to kinder on time is going to be a tough call. (more…)

I’ve just been notified of a couple of  recalls taking place, so thought it best to blog about them to help get the word out.

I received my alert from TwitterMoms

“Two widely used childrens products have been recalled. If you have them, stop using them and get repair kits.

First are 635,000 cribs made by Dorel Asia SLR. The drop-side hardware on the cribs can fail, causing the drop side to detach from the crib. When the side detaches, it creates a space in which an infant or toddler can become entrapped and suffocate or strangle. CPSC and Dorel Asia received a report of the death of a 6-month-old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who became entrapped and strangled in a crib after the drop-side hardware broke. The recalled cribs also pose a serious entrapment and strangulation hazard when a slat is damaged.

Second, Graco Children’s Products is recalling 1.5 million Passage, Alano and Spree strollers. Some styles of the products have hinges on the canopy that could cut and/or amputate a child’s fingertip when the canopy is opened or closed”.

Good luck and I hope this doesn’t affect you

It was my partner’s birthday yesterday, 21st of  January, so we took a leisurely drive to a fishing village called Port  Albert where Peter and Charlotte did a bit of  fishing off the jetty. We stopped at a lovely little town on the way for lunch and whilst in Yarram we bought Charlotte a dinosaur (not for lunch!)

What a patient critter it was keeping Charlotte and Peter company, eating the fodder that Charlotte found whilst  we were waiting for the fish to bite and in turn, being bitten by March flies.

Dinosaur waiting patiently at Charlotte's feet

Now waiting at Peter's feet

Time for some dinosaur lunch. Not sure that T-Rex is into seaweed.

But, he had a nibble. Not much else for a dinosaur to do whilst patiently waiting for the fish to bite.

And by the way, the fish didn’t bite. It doesn’t matter because the day was beautiful, we made a lovely cuppa on the jetty then enjoyed our fairly regular pizza night at Peter’s brothers home with other family members after an hours drive to get there.

Time to share this with 5minutesformom

I’ve been putting off  this ‘Tackle It Tuesday’ project for….. months!  The time has come  to take the bull by the horns and just do it. I KNOW I’ll feel relieved once it is over with.  I have had a nice new file sitting behind my bedroom door for…..months! I have just now emptied the old file and turfed the ugly, ancient thing into the bin. It must be at least 20 years old. Not a bit of remorse felt.

This project became bigger than Ben Hur as I also cleared some other paperwork and there is still some left in the basket whilst I ponder where to file it. I’m focussed on its completion now, so it will be done

I can’t wait to pop my post amongst the other ‘Tackle It Tuesday’s at 5minutesformom.

Months of paperwork in the basket

One of many piles to be burnt

Just the tiniest bit of paperwork left to complete

You may, before venturing into this post, want to read the first part written about Tessa. ‘OCD In My Cat’.

After procrastinating for some time and mulling over the idea put forth in one of  the  comments, I decided that I couldn’t spend the money on a drinking fountain for my cat afterall. The outlay, if  it didn’t work would have been too much even if I could resell on Ebay.

Tessa's 'new' drinking fountain

Crude, but effective

(more…)

We recently had a beach holiday a couple of hours from home and these Kangaroos were having a lovely feed on spent Banksia flowers. So we don’t necessarily have Kangaroo’s jumping about in our streets here in Victoria as some people still believe. They do, however, enjoy hangin’ at the beach in some places.

But wait! What is this other strange critter I managed to capture on film. Is it a lion or perhaps a tiger? Not used to those on our Australian shores. Maybe the gals at 5minutesformom can help me out.

Oh! I’ve worked it out. Looks like it’s just my 4 y/o daughter pretending to be a wild animal. One of  her favourite games. And yes, we are expected to play it 24/7 with her. Okay, I exaggerate somewhat, but a LOT of  the time.

I’ve decided to leave my Christmas tree up without decorations because the smell is so very heady and evocative of my childhood, so whilst I write this post I might just take a few long, deep breaths to inhale the aroma if you
don’t mind. I’ve also,  for my sensual pleasure got my feet in a bucket of cold water because it’s blooming hot tonight.

This is about my third or is it fourth attempt at writing a post? Maybe the aroma is mucking with my concentration skills. Well, I have to blame something, don’t I? I think I’m trying to be too perfect and everything I write just doesn’t seem to gel. (more…)

I’ve been finding it tricky to blog lately. With all the celebrations taking place I’ve found the exhaustion taking over and even as I write this, I’m struggling to stay awake. Part of  the difficulty I have is with depression at this
time of year.

Christmas is ’supposed’ to be in the snow with the nights getting dark early and a feast of lights. But, this end of the world is the total opposite, so even though there are lights and prettiness, it doesn’t get dark enough to enjoy them until 9.30pm.

Anyway, the hype is over and now I’m just packing to go away to the beach with family. My brother is visiting from interstate with his partner and we don’t see them much. I’ll be absent awhile longer from blogging until about the 7th January, but I hope to return with renewed vim and vigour.

I’m taking plenty of  reading material to keep myself in the loop with business. It’s best to leave my computer behind for safety purposes which I’m conflicted about. Still, I found all the learning to be overwhelming in the past 6 months of 2009, so I think the break will do me good.

Please take care during this holiday season and I look forward to being with you again earning and learning.
Happy, Happy New Year to you and may it be full of  love, laughter & prosperity.

photo credit: Centophobia