Nerdycomputergirl in the New Decade

3 month anniversary

2011-05-28T09:14:00.001+10:00

Hey I just noticed today is three months since my last post.... happy non-posting anniversary to me!

So what have I been up to?

Not a great deal.... life has just been going on and on and on and mindlessly on. Nothing much happening in casa del nerdy lately and I have been struggling to get some inspiration to post.

SO I figured today I would just post something, anything and maybe it would get me started again.

So let's see... March was my birthday and I got a new digital camera yaaaaaaaaaaay. Here's the first pic I took. My little angel is soooo cute (me biased?? never)

We had an Easter Egg Hunt

We went to the Anzac Day parade

Hubby got a job and then after three weeks the guy stopped paying him ... so he stopped working for free for him. On the plus side we have a really nice front garden with a beautiful weeping maple thanks to hubby's unemployment stretch.

We bought some face paints and my little angel made a great lion out of me

And I had a hair cut, and cuddle with her

So there you go you're all caught up. What have you been up to lately?

Altered States

2011-02-28T22:09:00.000+11:00

Greetings followers,

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, it wasn't intentional, believe me.

I feel kinda weird at the moment like I am living in an altered world, in an altered state.

You see my husband has been without le job for the last 2 months and he has taken over the running of the nerdy household. And the complete obliteration of our straggly front garden which we have been going to get round to re-doing one of these days.

And I'm not sure I like it!

Last Wednesday I came home to a front garden with only a rose bush and a camelia left standing. After a conversation about what we should replace the rest of the garden with, where I could have sworn I said let's plant some more roses and camelia's, I came home Thursday night to find them gone too and Ben the Bobcat man coming to dig up and relevel the rest of the ~~weeds~~ grass and garden beds.

I have only had to take my daughter to school twice this year, on her first day (when Hubby and I both went) and last week when we took one of her friends, thus requiring use of family truckster (with 5 seats) rather than the tradie truckster (with only 2 seats).

The one big advantage so far though has been the benefit to my flexible working hours. Not having to take my little angel to school means I can start work earlier and hey presto I can finish earlier too. YAAAAAY. There's nothing better than being home from work early when it's daylight savings. Now if only Mother Nature had played along and considered passing on some BBQ weather as well. Oh well maybe next year.

Anyway, I am sure you would understand long standing habits are hard to break.

Previously Hubby was up and out of the house nice and early leaving me plenty of time to pffaff around and do whatever I pleased as well as getting our little angel ready for school.

I would make lunches, empty the dishwasher, feed the cat, consider putting on a load of washing, add to the weekly grocery shopping list, roughly figure out weekly meal planner with a couple of takeaways thrown in for the can't be stuffed nights, read a couple of blogs, make the beds and open the curtains.* (ok so not all of them everyday... in fact generally pick 3 each day).

Now my Hubby is responsible for most of this (apart from the blog reading thank goodness for the iPhone) and let's just say he does things differently to me. I mean after all he is a male and I think it's fairly well documented that Men and Women are different!

And I miss some of it. I liked taking little miss to school and chatting to the other Mums (so the rest of it he can keep).

I miss coming home to a house where the beds have been made and the curtains opened.

I liked doing the grocery shopping on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Now I just have to relax each weekend. *Sigh* it's a tough job but someone's got to do it.

What tough jobs do you have this week?

I Gotta Feeling ....

2011-01-20T17:43:00.000+11:00

Wow I have 4 new followers in one week yaaay me and welcome aboard everyone!

Now as I was saying ... in the words of that great Black Eyed Peas song... I Gotta Feeling.... that this magic of being home alone in an empty house is not going to last.

It's been back to ~~the salt mine~~ work for me this week while hubby and my little angel continue to enjoy the Melbourne summer. A nice surprise today though I have arrived home from work and the house is empty.

AND QUIET!

I get time to read the blogs I'm following in peace and laugh or cry without having to explain what I'm laughing or crying about.

I get time to write a quick post.

I get time to wonder if I want to respond to an email asking if I want to do a review on my blog.

I contemplate ringing my hubby to see where they are and stop myself, thinking - are you mad woman???

Enjoy it while you can!!

Oh no I jinxed it .... here they come.... bye bye peace and quiet.

Photo totally stolen from photobucket

What do you enjoy most about being Home Alone?

Paying It Forward.... For Everyone That Needs A Bit of Niceness Now...

2011-01-14T17:25:00.000+11:00

I was just checking out one of my newest blog finds Maxabella loves (I know, I know, whatever took me so long right?) and excitedly discovered I could join her in Paying It Forward.

I promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must repost this message, offering something handmade to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your 5 giftees sometime in 2011. Ready, set, GO!

I look forward to sending a little something to brighten someones day!
Join me?

It has been such a week of sadness. I have been thinking about Lori and Lulu who suffered great loss this week. I've also been thinking about my sister-in-law who lost her father and at whose funeral we celebrated his life today, another sad loss at only 66. And of course all those affected by the floods in Queensland.

All of this so unexpected, a timely reminder to tell those important to me how much I love them all, because you never know what might happen tomorrow.

Here's hoping next week will be sooooooo much better for everyone.

Things I Have Discovered Whilst on Holiday

2011-01-12T15:15:00.001+11:00

I have a new follower yaaaay welcome to Pink Patent Mary Janes whose blog I have been meaning to check out for ages and am glad I finally did cos it's ace
The outpouring of love and support for Lori and the Queensland flood victims showed me the bloggers I follow are the most amazing, compassionate bunch of people I have ever had the pleasure to not meet (yet anyway)
My husband drinks a hell of a lot of coffee and uses a new cup and spoon everytime
My Little Angel sleeps past 6am if I keep her up past normal 8.30pm bedtime (her teacher probably won't recommend this when she is back at school)
How much I enjoy sleeping in past 6am
Summer TV is crap
New blog finds are ace
My cat would sleep on our bed for 24 hours a day if she could (never gonna happen)
I don't want to go back to work on Monday (shocking to hear after a month off I know)
My 18 year old niece reckons David Bowie is "not that good" ( this from a Ke$ha and Katy Perry fan so very credible opinion *roll eyes*)
I was too slack to post about both my blogoversary and my 50th post

What things have you discovered whilst on holiday?

A Sunday Session for Lori

2011-01-09T09:29:00.000+11:00

Thanks to the lovely Thea over at Do I Really Wanna Blog I'm linking up for my first Sunday session of 2011. Normally I would be rediscovering some of my oldie but goldies and finding some newbies but this week I can't stop thinking about the lovely Lori over at Random Ramblings of a SAHM who is really in need of some positive vibes and prayers, see her post here.

Even though I don't know her personally I love her blog and her sense of humour.

So here's a couple just for her and her family, hope Tony can recover quickly.

Bon Jovi - Keep the Faith

The Prayer - Anthony Callea

Why not link up too?

Luv Ya Lori

2011-01-07T17:29:00.000+11:00

I did have plans to write a post today celebrating my blogiversary and my 50th post, but when I opened my Google reader this afternoon, what I read quickly put paid to that.

Lori over at Random Ramblings of a SAHM has asked for and will receive my prayers for a speedy recovery for her husband Tony. I see she also has yours too.

Thinking of you Lori and hoping everything is better ASAP. We are here for you and of course our love and support goes without saying.

Karen

Oi ... Mother Nature

2010-12-20T16:59:00.000+11:00

OI!!!

Mother Nature are you there or are you having a little lie in???

Don't you realise it's freakin summer???

What's with this 18 degrees and rain all day???

Don't you know it's the first proper day of school holidays and I have a 6 year old kid??? And that her mate from across the road is affectionately known in this household as red cordial kid??? And that having them here inside all day

IS DRIVING ME INSANE???

Oh you do ... oh OK then ...just please make Christmas day the promised 28 degrees so we don't have 12 people inside our tiny house for lunch. Pretty please with sugar on top???

Sunday Session - Santa Claus is Coming

2010-12-19T15:02:00.000+11:00

It's Sunday Session time over at Thea's Do I Really Wanna Blog and Christmas is today's theme yaaaaaaaaaaay.

Ahhhh gotta love Christmas... and gotta love The Boss. One of my favorite Christmas tunes ever :-)

And a new one hmmmmmmmmm nah let's stick with The Boss

And maybe a couple of bonus Bon Jovi thrown in just cos when I saw them last week it reminded me how hot Jon is.... and how's the tux in the last one mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Merry Christmas everyone, go on over and link up .... you know you want to!

Sunday Session 2

2010-12-12T20:56:00.000+11:00

Sunday ~~Bloody~~ Lovely Sunday ... next one I'm on holidays yaaaaaaaaaaaay.

The lovely Thea over at Do I Really Wanna Blog came up with a great idea to chill out on Sunday and listen to an oldie and a newie, so here's this week's picks from me.

Blondie's Parallell Lines was the first album I ever bought with my own money and I still love Heart of Glass!

and the newbie on my radar this week is Club Can't Handle Me by Flo Rida featuring David Guetta.

Enjoy and link up a couple of songs yourself! Follow Thea's link at Do I really Wanna Blog?: Sunday Session

Until next time :-)

My very first Sunday Session

2010-12-05T17:35:00.001+11:00

Something caught my eye the other day when I was catching up on my blog reading (long overdue let me tell you) .... the lovely Thea over at Do I Really Wanna Blog has a Sunday Session. You link to 2 songs, an oldie and a newie.

So I thought I would play along today and show off my ~~impeccable~~ ~~dubious~~ taste in music.

First a song I loved back in high school. Yes I am old enough to have gone to a "high school" rather than a "secondary college". Goanna- Solid Rock. Great Aussie band pity they never really made it big following the success of their first album.

And my new favourite is Bruno Mars, Just The Way You Are. Great video but every time I hear this song on the radio it reminds me of Maree and makes me both a bit teary but happy she was in my life as long as she was.

Enjoy and link up a couple of songs yourself! Follow Thea's link at
Do I really Wanna Blog?: Sunday Session

PS. Doh just looked at Dylmah's link and she picked Bruno Mars too. What can I say my taste must be ok ;-)

Mindless Christmas Fun Down Under

2010-12-03T20:18:00.000+11:00

Greetings Dear followers,

had a bit of time on my hands today after the work christmas party and was feeling in the festive mood.

So to show you what we will be doing on Christmas Day in the Land Down Under, check this out

And happy FlogYoBlog Friday one and all!

I discovered a couple of new blogs to follow last week and hopefully will do the same this week. So join in the fun and follow the rules at Lori's blog (she's the first one on the blog hopper list).

Until next time :-)

No More Politics Please!

2010-11-26T18:25:00.000+11:00

I am so over bloody politics and political advertising. As if having a Federal election that ended in a hung parliament earlier this year wasn't enough to bore the crap out of us, we poor Victorians now have a state election tomorrow.

And I don't know if I will be able to bear it if it's a hung parliament like the federal election.

The advertising has been truly uninspiring. And unrelentless.

Both major parties slagging off at each other. As if either of em is any better than the other!

Noooooooooooo Mooooooooooooooooooore.

Anyway that's my whinge for the day.

Now off to check out new blogs to read from FlogYoBlog Friday.

Check out Lori's blog at number one on the list and follow the rules she's posted.

Things that pissed me off today

2010-11-24T19:48:00.000+11:00

Oh the list is long dear follower believe me...... but in the interests of not boring you to death I'll cut it down to the top 10.

1. Getting an "EasyVote guide" in the mail that is on heavy glossy colour printed paper with the suggestion I cut out the section with my name and address to take when I vote on Saturday...... Yeah cos I'm a moron and can't get those things right after reaching voting age 26 years ago.

2. Knowing that my taxes are paying for one of these to get mailed to every voter on the electoral role in Victoria.

3. Mozzie bites.

4. Railway lines that cross major arterial roads instead of going under or over them.

5. Husbands that think Two and a Half Men is the MOST hilarious show on Earth.

6. Telling the kid from across the road not to say FUCK in our house yet again.

7. Bought coffee that is lukewarm when you get it.

8. Having longer than a 5 minute commute to work.

9. The Hamster song played by little Angel for the 1098769368 time today (OK maybe a slight exaggeration there).

10. The Groundhog Dayness that my life has been lately... roll on Christmas holidays

Soooooooooo anything anyone else wants to get off their chest?

It Would Have Been ....

2010-11-22T21:54:00.001+11:00

Hello dear followers out there in blog land,
sorry it's been so long since I last posted and thanks for remembering me Katie, and giving me a gentle nudge. Welcome also to my new follower, Primita Paola.

It's been a month I'd like to forget and I'm sure you will agree when you read my post. And a warning it's about a very distressing subject.

Last Friday it would have been my best friend Maree's birthday.

Me, Angela and Maree

A month ago she committed suicide.

It still feels so unreal. Like she's just away on holidays or something. And that she'll be ringing any day to catch up for a girls night out at our favourite chinese restaurant.

We met when I was around 6 or 7, I can't remember exactly it was that long ago. It was Christmas and my parents had hired an on-site caravan for a 2 week family holiday. Her parents had hired a site for their caravan in the same caravan park for the same time.

Maybe we met in the playground or building sancastles or maybe paddling at the beach, again I don't remember. I do remember that she was friends with my youngest sister that year, even though she was 2 years older than Natalie.

The next year we went back again and so did her family. That year my middle sister Angela and I were the ones that hung out with her (as much as 8 year olds hang out lol) and my little sister moved on to other friends her own age. That was the start of a friendship lasting over 30 ~~tears~~ (Oops typo but I'm crying as I type weird huh?) years. Our families kept going back every year and our friendship blossomed. We became penpals, although we only lived around 15kms apart. Our parents bought the caravan we stayed in each year and her parents put theirs on site permanently. We spent school holidays together as well as Christmases.

Sneaking over to the beach to smoke cigarettes when we were teenagers, and you and Angela squeezing into the backseat of my Celica, off to the pub to see the latest bands and flashing the fake IDs cos you were both underage.

When you were finally finished with school staying at our place after some fight with your parents and driving your little red car to work in the city near me.

Boyfriends, bridesmaids, weddings, kids, losing weight, gaining weight, good jobs, crappy jobs, in-laws, out-laws. There's a million more memories, and there could have been a trillion more.

So many questions .... mostly why????

Why couldn't she shake the black dog of depression after all these years?

Why did she feel that she couldn't talk about it or get help from any one of us that were close to her?

What could have made her so desperate that she thought that suicide would solve it all?

Why didn't she just call and vent instead?

Was it a spur of the moment thing or not?

So many lives devastated ... husband, son, step-children, parents, brothers, sister, friends, work colleagues, the list is endless.

So many of us trying to understand.

Don't think I ever will.

Love you Ree xxxxxxxx

Just a quickie...

2010-10-17T15:14:00.000+11:00

....to let you all know I haven't forgotten you.......come on you lot; get your minds out of the gutter!

Hi Nat, my new follower, hope you don't feel too disappointed I haven't posted a thing for 8 weeks. I'll try to make up for it soon.

Thanks for the nudge from Badger enquiring as to my whereabouts.... I just haven't found time in my life lately to relax here and spend some time filling you all in on my ~~enthralling~~ hum drum life. And even with the nudge it's still taken me a few weeks.

So I will try a more substantial post soon, promise.

Until then :-)

iHappy Happy Happy Monday

2010-08-30T08:32:00.001+10:00

It's iHappy Monday and I am feeling happy happy happy - well apart from having to go to work of course!

So some quick happies before I do.

Yay no more big boot

Spring is on the way

My puddy cat

The start of our new front garden

Bathing Beauty?

This little angel (my niece) can't possibly be turning 18 this week!

see you next time :-)

To Twitter (or is it tweet or twit or tweep or ...) or Not???

2010-08-28T16:52:00.002+10:00

Greetings fab followers,

and a huge welcome to my new fab ones Melissa, Becky, mrsneurotic, Alex, Nicki, Jacki, Ashleigh, Toni, Vegemite Wife and Badger. Whew that's a lot of fabulousness!!! Hope I didn't miss anyone, welcome to you too if I did.

Anyway it's been awhile since I last posted. Let's see what excuses do I have .... ummm .....nope..... nuh ah...... no way ...... um no.... OK the usual excuse then ... I'm a slackass.

Oh and I have been making a new button which I would love you all to grab for your smashing blogs.

------------------------------------------------------------->see sidebar

And my fav blogger Katie over at No Missed Opportunities gave me this fantastic award........ she's sooooooooooo ace get over there and laugh your head off real soon.

So another thing I have been doing during my absence is pondering about joining Twitter.

Now you would think with a blog called nerdycomputergirl I would be on to all things computerish, such as Twitter. I mean I started my nerdishness computerishness as an internet chatter, then graduated to web design, then myspace and facebook and blogging along with signing up for about a trillion email subscriptions about anything and everything along the way.

So why am I not a twit (well apart from the obvious that I am often a twit IRL)? Is that even what you are called? I dunno .... I'm contemplating it but I have a pretty full plate already. I run a house, a husband, a kid, a cat, and a full time job. I mean even now I follow so many blogs I barely have time to read them all let alone comment. So another thing I need to follow.... I'm just not sure.

And how does it work? Do you follow on the internet or is it an sms type thingy or an email type thingy (all very technical terms there)? Oh so many unanswered questions.

I think I will have to investigate over the weekend.........

So what do you think fab followers....should I join or not? Do you tweet and should I follow you if I join?

By the way.... I did start this post yesterday intending to FlogYoBlog Friday but I just didn't get it finished. Not to worry I'm sure no one will mind if I linked it yesterday and posted it today.... how else will I find more great blogs?

I haven't yet flogged with the lovely Lori at Random Ramblings of a SAHM so here's her rules:

The New Rules (which are kinda almost pretty much the same as Brenda's Old Rules)

1.Follow her blog. (*ahem* *cough* Her Blog. Lori, Lori, Lori. You get the picture.)

2.Grab B's bubbly button and post it on your sidebar. (Just like me)

3.Link your First Name and/or Blog Name and URL of your linked post (not your homepage) below.

4.Add a short description (max of 125 chars). It could be a description of yourself, your blog or a teaser to your latest post.

5.Follow at least 1 linkyer/blogger (Be nice and spread the love).

6.The list will be open for linkyers on Fridays (and for the foreigners Friday as well).

7.A new and fresh link list will open every Friday. And you will have to link up AGAIN. The previous link list does not carry over to the following week.

8.And lastly, have lotsa fun. She means it. If she detects anyone not totally loving the awesomeness, she will bump you off the linky list. (Joking) (Kinda).

So anyway that's about it for me today. Thanks for all your lovely comments and I'll see ya'll real soon :-)

Confessions of an Un-Supermum

2010-08-05T13:19:00.000+10:00

Hey guess what funky followers?

I have a confession to make.

I am an un-Supermum.

And proud of it!

I have left the house several times in the last fortnight WITHOUT MAKING THE BEDS.

And without loading the dishwasher!

Yep you heard it here MUM, despite your years of drumming into me how the house should be left each day, I chose to ignore your advice. And nothing bad happened to me.

And you know what, I'm willing to bet on the off chance that a burglar did break in .... he would still be able to find the TV, DVD, Stereo and Laptop amongst the unmade beds and overflowing sink!

And guess what else ... while I was out the housework fairy did not come. DAMN IT. It was all still there waiting for me when I got back. So when I got home I just did it .... my little angel was none the wiser, hubby was none the wiser and I felt less stressed getting where I had to be on time and doing the housework when I DID have time.

And as hubby always says ... HAPPY WIFE, HAPPY LIFE!

So my loyal followers, what makes you an un-supermum (or Dad)?

Warning Mrs Cranky Pants Is Here

2010-07-16T15:05:00.000+10:00

Ok but before I launch into any crankiness I just have to share... I have just been to the hydro pool to exercise my foot & knee without any weight bearing and there was a physio taking a class when I arrived .... he was HAWT!!! I might have to change physio's immediately!

Oh and fab Mrs Woog from Woogsworld picked me as her prize winner and became a new follower. How ace is she!

And I have 2 other new followers, welcome Bern and Lori.

Gee now it's a bit hard to be cranky but I'll do my best.

Here's a guaranteed way to make me cranky...

It's 4.45pm Thursday afternoon. My little angel has been home from school for an hour and playing with her friends in our street. They have been in and out 25 bazillion times, ringing the doorbell to get in each time instead of going around to the back gate like they have been told a gazillion times. They leave the door open each and every time they have come in and gone out. There's a freezing cold draught each time too. HELLOOOO were you born in a tent as my Mum always used to say. Food, drinks, toilets, scooters will it never stop??

Phone rings brring brring it's my hubby.

Hubby: Hi sweetie I'm at Bunnings.
Me: Oh what are you doing there?
Hubby: I really really need a nail gun for work (he's a cabinetmaker)
Me: Oh
Hubby: Can we justify spending $700 this week?
Me: (in my head) are you freaking kidding me?????
Me: (in real life) Well you can put it on your credit card and pay it off with the overtime you're doing this month
Me: (in my head) you couldn't have thought of this 2 weeks ago before the end of the financial year?? Now we have to wait 12 months before we can get a tax break sheeesh.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Thank goodness it's only a few hours to the weekend and so much closer to wine o'clock.

Now as always I'm sure you all know it's FLOGYOBLOGFRIDAY once again hosted by super spunky blogger Brenda over at Mummytime.

To join in:

1. Follow her blog. (if you haven't already done so).

2. Grab her bubbly button and post it on your sidebar (just like moi).

3. Link your First Name and/or Blog Name and URL (not your homepage) below.

4. Add a short description (max of 125 chars). It could be a description of yourself, your blog or a teaser to your latest post.

5. Follow at least 1 linkyer/blogger (Pay it forward is the name of the game).

6. The list will be open for linkyers on Fridays (She's extended the closing time by the way, to accommodate her non-aussie peeps).

7. A new and fresh link list will open every Friday. And you will have to link up AGAIN. The previous link list does not carry over to the following week.

8. And lastly, have lotsa fun.

The FYBF Bloggie Goodness Starts Here:

Until next time :-)

Happy Happy Happys

2010-07-12T13:24:00.001+10:00

Yay it's iHappy Monday over at Mummytime and it's happy Monday here too as I sit with my feet up on the couch snuggled in my pink blankie catching up with all the blog goodness in my reader. The not so happy 45 minute wait at the Doc's this morning now sees a happy me with 2 weeks off work to rest and recuperate my bung ~~heel~~ ~~foot~~ ~~knee~~ let's just say leg. Even happier stay off my feet and let hubby do everything was his advice (can you believe a man actually thought that another man would do this???).

I haven't had the chance to take any snaps today so here's some iPhone iHappys from the weekend.

Potatohead Heaven - on Saturday we stayed in and played games all day. My little angel thought it was hysterical to have eyes where ears were meant to be and arms coming out of their heads but boring old me insisted on making the Potatoheads up correctly for the family portrait you see above.

Lucky the spaghetti sauce was all on my little angel's face not her pink T-shirt!

mmmmmmmmmmmm Banana Split with extra choccie sauce thanks to hubby.

Oh and thanks to enforced rest have been checking out lots of ~~daggy~~ 80s film clips on youtube.

and

and

The list could go on all day!

Untl next time :-)

Should I Just Chop It Off?

2010-07-09T11:01:00.000+10:00

I often say to my little angel when she is complaining about a sore hand/arm/foot/leg/head "Should I get a knife and just chop it off"?

And she always says Nooooooooooooooooo Muuuuuuuuuuuum you're being silly.

But this week I really wish I could just chop my bung leg off. I am so over it all it's not funny.

After I went to the physio on Wednesday I was thinking about the whole sorry saga and how long it's been bung.

It all started back in late October 2008 (yes 08!!!) when I bought a cheap pair of shoes for work from K-mart. Just plain old black low heel slip-on loafery things. A couple of weeks after wearing them I started to have a lot of pain in my left heel. So ~~after a few more weeks~~ I stopped wearing them.

But my heel didn't get better. So I just kept limping round for a few more weeks cos ~~it was nearly Christmas holidays~~ ~~I'm an idiot~~ who has time to look after themselves when you work full time and have a kid, husband and house to run.

So over my summer break I tried various heel support things that go in your shoes and persevered with that for a few months even though it was not making much difference. Finally six months later got sick of it all and went to see Doc who sent me off for an x-ray.

The x-ray showed I had a small bone spur in my heel and it was therefore probably plantar fasciitis where something in your foot around the heel gets inflamed (that's the technical explanation). So I took myself off to the old lady shoe shop and got a pair of shoes suitable to support my heel and foot with nice cushiony heel pad. And then ~~cos $200 wasn't enough for a pair of shoes~~ I bought a second pair in a different colour. So, you know, I could have something comfy to wear to work but didn't have to wear the same ones everyday.

Well guess what - that still wasn't enough. So finally bit the bullet and booked in to see physio.

Why the hell did I wait so long she was FANFRIGGGINTABULOUS. Within a couple of weeks the massage and ultrasound was doing the trick and my heel started to repair itself. I even managed to do the daily exercises she gave me to help fix it. OK OK so not everyday but enought to help ~~a tiny teensy weensy bit~~.

So just after Christmas 2009 (YES 12 months!) I was finally starting to think about getting pretty shoes again and I started to get a pain in the side of said left foot.

And of course I ~~went straight back to the Doc~~ did nothing again. For a few weeks thinking I had just sprained it or something and it would come good. Guess what - it didn't. Oh you knew that? Hmmmmph coulda' told me!

Eentually I went to see doc who got me x-rayed again and it showed nothing. So went to physio who massaged and ultrasounded her little heart out.

And a week later nothin. Still sore as hell still annoying as hell but now my boss was off on extended leave so I felt I couldn't take time off. I'm such a ~~dickhead~~ matyr.

So back to the doc and this time a bone scan which finally showed a stress fracture in my foot. And I got my gorgeous boot that's the height of fashion.

Oh you don't think so???

And an added bonus of a week and a half off work to put my feet up and read blogs all day everyday while my little angel was at school.

Six weeks later I'm starting to think yay it's getting better. Then Saturday night I was lying in bed reading and moved my leg and HOLY SHIT my knee hurt.

You guessed it now it's my knee, blown up like a big pink balloon. Back to the doc, back to the physio, start again on another bit of me left leg. Physio thinks big boot + six weeks = too much stress on knee + need to lose some weight too.

I tend to agree (when I'm not screaming in pain).

I'm sure if I ask, my little angel will say "shall I get a knife and chop it off"?

And if she asked today I might say YES PLEASE :-(

ANYWAYS

Enough of my whining, I'm sure you all know it's FLOGYOBLOGFRIDAY once again hosted by super pyjama wearing blogger Brenda over at Mummytime.

Now for the small print that's not really small:

1. Follow her blog. (if you haven't already done so).

2. Grab her bubbly button and post it on your sidebar (just like moi).

3. Link your First Name and/or Blog Name and URL (not your homepage) below.

4. Add a short description (max of 125 chars). It could be a description of yourself, your blog or a teaser to your latest post.

5. Follow at least 1 linkyer/blogger (Pay it forward is the name of the game).

6. The list will be open for linkyers on Fridays (She's extended the closing time by the way, to accommodate her non-aussie peeps).

7. A new and fresh link list will open every Friday. And you will have to link up AGAIN. The previous link list does not carry over to the following week.

8. And lastly, have lotsa fun.

The FYBF Bloggie Goodness Starts Here:

Happy reading til next time :-)

iHappy Monday

2010-07-05T14:50:00.000+10:00

Oh yay, oh joy, I have the day off. It's the second week of the school holidays here in Melbourne and I am having the day off with my little angel.

After a busy weekend we are just chillin a bit today. Her friend has come over for a play day and her Mum, my girlfriend, will return the favour on Friday when I will be at work again.

So lots of things are making me happy today.

Unfortunataley my iPhone is not one of them. Allow me to explain.....

My little angel likes to play with my phone and leave me little messages using the voice memo. They are cute little things like her telling me she loves me or not so cute things like 50 renditions of the chorus of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance which she doesn't really know the words to (ohhhh I am sooooooooo over that song).

Anywaysssssss for some reason now everytime I sync my iPhone it seems to hang itself grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So it's taken me an hour to finally sync my photos for iHappy Monday hosted by one of my favourite bloggers, blissfully funny Brenda over at Mummytime.

Now without further ado

YES! A school holiday sleep-in (well not counting the first small wake up at 5.30am when my little angel snuggled into bed with me after Daddy went to work)

New sparkly shoes from eBay for my little angel that actually arrived on a day I was at home for the postman.

School holiday craft fun

Pretty new watercolour pencils

MMMMMM Afternoon Tea

Until next time :-)

Friday Funnies

2010-07-02T20:13:00.001+10:00

Greetings all :-)

OK sorry I sucked you in with the title of my post, cos I don't actually have anything that funny to tell you.

What I will do though is say hi and give a big wave to my new followers. Thanks & great to meet ya Joan, Glen, Naomi, Heather, Tara and Marthese. Oh and Draft Queen, Tenille, Wanderlust , Brenda, Danielle and Lori. Love all your blogs & thanks for liking mine.

How exciting!!!

So what's on for the weekend?

I'm taking my little angel to see Disney on Ice tomorrow. Which is kinda funny cos I'm also going to the physio and taking her to see Toy Story 3. Eeekkkk.......I have a crap memory and don't use a diary often enough. Luckily for us I ~~fluked~~ managed to book movie tickets well after Disney was done. And the physio ....well I'll just have to take some time off work to go there next week instead.

After Disney we are picking up her friend for the movie and a sleep over. The girls are gonna be so ratty on Sunday I can just see it now. Then Sunday we are having dinner with my nephew who is here for the school holidays from Port Douglas.

Now who in their right mind would come to Melbourne in winter when you live in Port Douglas????

Then I have the day off work on Monday YAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY. Mind you I'm going to need it after that weekend!

Anyway FlogYoBlog Friday it is and thanks to the hilarious Brenda over at Mummytime we have this weeks blog hop.

Here's the rules

1.Follow her blog. (if you haven't already done so).

2.Grab her bubbly button and post it on your sidebar.

3.Link your First Name and/or Blog Name and URL (not your homepage) below.

4.Add a short description (max of 125 chars). It could be a description of yourself, your blog or a teaser to your latest post.

5.Follow at least 1 linkyer/blogger (Pay it forward is the name of the game).

6.The list will be open for linkyers on Fridays (She's extended the closing time by the way, to accommodate her non-aussie peeps).

7.A new and fresh link list will open every Friday. And you will have to link up AGAIN. The previous link list does not carry over to the following week.

8.And lastly, have lotsa fun.

Until next time :-)

iHappy Monday

2010-06-28T21:59:00.003+10:00

OK let's see if I can manage this.

OK so maybe not. It didn't work quite as I expected, but I've got it figured out now so look out next week!

What the hell am I on about??? Brenda's iHappy Monday over at Mummytime of course!

Anyway this is what made me happy today:

I still had money in my wallet this morning after the weekend... YAY

Getting sent home at 2.50pm cos there was toxic fumes in the office the source of which could not be found. (Don't look at my horrible dry crocodile skin please)

So sunny but yet so freakin cold .... 11 degrees at 3pm

What was waiting for me at home :-)

Our 1 month old ducted heating which was working wonderfully to combat the 11 degrees.

Afternoon cup of coffeee in a mug that always makes me think of summer.

New app on my iPhone that makes funny pics.

Brenda's iHappy Monday!

Amanda Bynes I Am Dead Jealous

2010-06-25T19:34:00.000+10:00

Greetings all,

I read with an increasing green tinge of envy, that Amanda Bynes* GETS TO RETIRE AT 24. She doesn't like her job anymore so she's decided to retire.

That is soooooooo NOT FAIR.

I want to retire at 24 .... well OK I'm 20 years past that........... but still I wanna retire.

My loyal readers will recall I am currently suffering from a busted foot. Unfortunately I've only managed to ~~scam~~ convince my doctor of the need for a week and a half off work. Consequently I am schlepping myself into work everyday after dropping my little angel at school, with a big brace on my foot that seems to weigh 20kgs by the end of the day.

I had this 'occupational therapist' assessment last week to make sure that I could 'return to work' in a timely and safe manner and stay there until I'm fully recovered. I am quite happy to recover at home, but that's not how it works with a government job unfortunately.

Anyway she recommended a leg rest to elevate my leg under my workstation, and OMG you would not believe how difficult it has been to get this $60 item. Today the guy that is finally getting on to it (finally after a week already) tells me he can do something for me next Thursday. I tell him sheeeeeeeeeesh my foot will be better by then Mate! Talk about red tape.

I tell ya the minute I win lotto I am OUTTA THERE.

Now it's not that I don't like my job, I do, actually. But I just really need more time to catch up on blogs, post comments and generally ~~slack off~~ educate myself on the ways of life.

Anyways enough of my whining...............

IT"S FLOGYOBLOGFRIDAY.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

The awesomest, funniest blogger I know** (well you know ....not personally) Brenda over at Mummytime is once more hosting FLOGYOBLOGFRIDAY.

Head on over to her site and soak up the funnies.

Here's the rules

1.Follow her blog. (if you haven't already done so).

2.Grab her bubbly button and post it on your sidebar.

3.Link your First Name and/or Blog Name and URL (not your homepage) below.

4.Add a short description (max of 125 chars). It could be a description of yourself, your blog or a teaser to your latest post.

5.Follow at least 1 linkyer/blogger (Pay it forward is the name of the game).

6.The list will be open for linkyers on Fridays (She's extended the closing time by the way, to accommodate her non-aussie peeps).

7.A new and fresh link list will open every Friday. And you will have to link up AGAIN. The previous link list does not carry over to the following week.

8.And lastly, have lotsa fun.

Until next time :-)

* For those that don't know she's an actress of some sort
** And apart from Katie over at No Missed Opportunities

How's The Serenity?

2010-06-20T14:09:00.002+10:00

So my background finally reappeared but not in time to do my Friday post. So sorry I'm a bit late for FlogYoBlog Friday. I'm sure you'll forgive me though huh? Especially my new followers this week - I'm not usually so slack... well OK I am but I try not to be.

It's been raining here for most of the day. Just that annoying drizzle that means the kids are stuck inside. My little angel has a friend who is 12 months older than her that she often plays with.

My hubby calls him the red cordial kid. Today I am persuaded he is correct, as they have been in here all day and he is DRIVING ME NUTS.

I have lost count of how many times I have told him to talk quietly. It seems yelling is his normal volume. We only have a small 2 bedroom house and it is normally nice and quiet and peaceful except for when he's here. I reckon he needs his hearing checked or maybe its just 6 year old boys are boisterous?

Anyway there's been a break in the weather and I have sent them outside to play. Maybe if I'm lucky they will go over to his house for a few hours and share the pain with his family.

Hubby is trying to have a nanna nap and so I am just enjoying the serenity for a few minutes.

And hoping it will last for a while.

Am I deluded or what??

Until next time :-)

OK Who Stole My Background

2010-06-12T17:54:00.000+10:00

Huh? Huh? Huh?

Where has it gone, my beautiful specially chosen template grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I noticed Katie's background over at No Missed Opportunities seemed to be missing today too.

Bet it's something to do with the new Blogger templates but just what who knows!

In the immortal words of that ad that I can't remember what it was for:

NOT HAPPY JAN!

Anyway no time to check now off to Aunty's 60th birthday party yippeeeeee.

But I will get to the bottom of it :-)

So Many Blogs, So Little Time

2010-06-11T11:08:00.000+10:00

Greetings one and all and welcome to Friday. Firstly a big welcome to my new follower Lori who has a great blog over at Tiny Little Reveries.

Now the question on everyone's lips - where on earth did the last week go???

I have been home resting my stress fractured foot this week on orders from the doc. And guess what? I've enjoyed being a SAHM. No surprise there for anyone that daily drags themselves off to the coalmine otherwise known as full time work.

I managed to sleep in after 6.30am every day this week.

I got to take my little angel to school and pick her up.

I got to have a nanna nap everyday.

I got to snuggle in bed and read a book without interruption.

Dinner was on the table at 6 every night instead of 7-7.30.

I wasn't tired or known as Mrs Crankypants at all.

Mount Washmore, Mount Foldmore and Mount Putawaymore are no more.

And I have found, read and followed some fab blogs thanks to Brenda's blog hop, FlogYoBlog Friday over at MummyTime.

I have however discovered a big problem with being at home. Being snuggled up in bed with my laptop is dangerous. Well deeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr I hear you all say.

I reckon if I did it all the time I would never get anything done. I would be too busy reading all the fabulous blogs I have found this week. And then reading all the fabulous blogs they have links to. And the fantastic blogs they link to. And so on and so on and so on.

How do you all do it? Do you have to set yourself a time limit or are you self disciplined enough you don't need to?

And now I have a big problem. Next week when I go back to work how will I find the time to keep up with all these great new blogs I'm following and a kid and a husband and a house *sigh*

I'll let you know how I go next time :-)

So Let's See If I Get It Right This Time

2010-06-04T12:36:00.001+10:00

The fantastically hysterical Brenda over at Mummytime has a terrific meme called FlogYoBlog Friday. I finally remembered to actually blog on a Friday a few weeks ago but as it was my first time, didn't quite get it right, but decided to give it another go today.

So here's today's item to ponder.

Why, when you're are home all day bored out of your skull, does the phone never ring? And why, when you are home sick and trying to catch up on some zzzzds, does it never stop?

I dunno either but that's what happened to me today.

We had central heating installed a couple of weeks ago and it is FAN-BLOODY-TASTIC. So today I thought I would come home after dropping my little angel at school and turn it up, hop back into bed and try to get some of that restorative sleep the doc was telling me would be good for my busted foot.

So there I was toasty warm and nearly out to it and my Dad rings. And then my sister-in-law. And then my hubby. Sheeeeeeeeeesh wide awake now thanks everyone.

I guess the one good thing is I can catch up on some blog reading. And try this flogyoblog thingy again and maybe find some new blogs to add to my list of best blogs bar none.

So I think I have to copy the blog hop code here too, so here goes

Until next time :-)

PS. Welcome to my new follower Kristin!

5ive Things You Don't Know About Me

2010-06-03T17:41:00.000+10:00

Yay someone read my blog yesterday. Double yay it was the delightful Katie at No Missed Opportunities. I soooooooooo love her blog she's so - what would the word be - ummm SASSY.

Not to mention she follows the best blogs that have led me to some other great reads.

And she tagged me to do the 5ive Things Meme.

So I have to answer 5 questions and tag 5 fab bloggers. Answer questions no probs ummm picking 5 blogs that haven't already done this - not so easy but I'll give it a try....

Here goes:

1. Where were you 5 years ago?
On my honeymoon on the fabulous Hamilton Island in The Whitsundays, blissful, even with a 6 month old baby along.

2. Where would you like to be 5 years from now?
In a bigger house but one paid for with our winnings from lotto so I'm fortunate that I won't be working either. Oh and by not working I could do stuff after school like walking home and play dates for my little angel.

3. What are 5 things on your to do list today?

nap
finish The Girl Who Played With Fire
pick up my glasses that I left at my Dad's last week
pick up my angel from school and come home to a house that's had a visit from the cleaning fairy (pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease)
have a fab Greek dinner organised for the new school mums

4. What are 5 snacks you enjoy?

savoury shapes
mint slices
thin sliced plain chips
cheese and biscuits
popcorn

5. What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?

pay off our debts
move to a bigger house with a whole wing that's just mine to put anything I want in it and not have to justify it or see something leave the house to make room for it
employ my own personal trainer, chef and hairdresser
help find the cure for breast cancer by donating a shitload of money to some brilliant scientists
trust fund for my little angel

So there you have it folks.

Now the hard part who to tag ..... Let's see........

the lovely Caz over at The truth About Mummy
Kristen over at Working Moms Can Blog Too
Bride-to-be Kelly over at Kellyansapansa
Dee the Declutterer over at Dee-cluttering My Life
Terrific Thea over at Do I Really Wanna Blog

Now I hope I find out some great stuff about you all too.

Until next time:-)

* some photos stolen from the web.. thanks :-)

Things that could drive you crazy.........

2010-06-02T13:48:00.000+10:00

It started off a great day ... well sorta... if you don't count the bad stuff that happened to make it great.

The bad stuff - I have a stress fracture in my foot and it hurts to walk.

A LOT.

The good stuff - it hurts so much I am taking time off work and not walking anywhere.

Mmmm snuggled up in bed at the start of winter with our nice new central heating on, taking a nap after dropping my little angel at school and catching up on reading after my nap. Sounds great huh? I thought so too.

Until I got back from the doctor's gathered together everything I would need for a day in bed and then heard this electronic "chirp".

Then heard it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Every freakin' 10 seconds.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The battery in the smoke alarm is flat. Yes I know, I know, you're supposed to change the battery when daylight savings ends.

Normally this would not be a problem. Normally I would get the ladder out, pull the damn battery out, put the ladder away and snuggle into bed for my normally unheard of weekday snooze.

I'm not that keen to go up a ladder with a busted foot and a big walking cast though.

So I got the broom out and tried giving it a gentle nudge. That didn't work so I tried a bit harder nudge and that seemed to work.

FOR ALL OF 60 SECONDS.

So now my nap will have to wait until tomorrow and maybe I will try to drown it out with my iPod while I finish reading The Girl Who Played With Fire.

.....And eating the nachos I made to console myself that I wasn't gonna get a nap!

Until next time :-)

Other Reasons I am a Crap Blogger

2010-05-21T20:36:00.000+10:00

I don't know what a meme is - can anyone help explain?
Also I don't know what a blog hop is - again am I a crap blogger or what???!!
I keep forgetting Brenda's Flog Ya Blog Friday over at http://www.mummy-time.com/ (although yay I finally did it today but failed with the adding a short description bit)
I read lots of other people's blogs but I don't comment much
I am baffled when there is no button to click on to follow a blog just an RSS thingy
I care that there is no spell checker

Until next time :-)

Why I am a Crap Blogger

2010-05-19T17:39:00.000+10:00

Well for starters .. this is my first post in 6 weeks. WHAT!!!??? I hear you say how can you not blog for 6 weeks.

And this is where I have to admit - I forgot about my blog.

Yep I said it. F-O-R-G-O-T.

In my defence real life has intruded in all manner of ways.....

My hubby got retrenched and was looking for a new job. He found a new job and hated every minute of it. So he found another new job. One that he likes. Now he's happy and I'm happy I don't have to listen to the "this job is crap" conversation every night.

My cat died. He was 18 and a half. I am a grown up and had been preparing for his demise for some time, given his age. While I do miss his snuggles, I was not really prepared for all the questions about death that a 5 year old has. He loved having hugs and cuddles with a 5 year old and our other cat does not. That means lots of questions too.

I have a full time job and my boss has been on leave as her father died, so I was trying to cover her job as well as my own.

I somehow sustained a stress fracture to my foot and after limping around for the last couple of weeks I finally got around to going to the doctors to find out what was wrong. So now I have a week off work and have to keep my feet up. And I have a lovely walking boot with a thousand velcro straps that is NOT the height of fashion (but at least my foot feels better). Not to mention the panadeine forte mmmmmmmmmmm.

So there I was on the couch with laptop, surfing around, goofing off, doing not much and I suddenly remembered OMG I have a blog and I haven't posted anything for yonks.

So maybe some more tomorrow - after I catch up on all the lovely blogs I haven't had time to read in the last 6 weeks.

Until then :-)

Rambo the Wonder Cat

2010-04-06T21:05:00.000+10:00

Here's my little angel and Rambo the Wonder Cat taken about 6 months ago.

I'm very sad today as Rambo died yesterday aged 18 and a half.

He was a great cat, snuggly and purry and all the good things cats are. Yesterday morning he joined my little angel, hubby and me on our big king size bed for a snuggle while watching ABC kids. Then he went out for a laze in the back garden before meowing for me to open the back door and then the front door so he could laze in the afternoon sun in our front yard. He had arthritis in his back legs and had discovered it was much easier to get his humans to help him than jump the fence himself.

My little angel went to give him a cuddle around 3 and said Mummy he isn't moving he's not giving me a cuddle, he doesn't move when I call him. Of course being Easter our normal vet was closed and we ended up taking him to a 24 hour clinic nearby where they didn't know us or him.

They offered to give him CPR, but as I had been preparing myself for a while that he wasn't going to last forever, I declined. We said our last goodbyes and came home for a good cry.

It's hard explaining to kids about the death of a loved one. I don't want to do it again anytime soon.

Bye Rambo love you mate xxxx

D.I.Y. Husbands and why they should not

2010-03-08T16:07:00.004+11:00

So this weekend is a long weekend here in not so sunny Melbourne. I say not so sunny as we had a freak hailstorm on Saturday and storms again yesterday and today. Check out the results here http://media.theage.com.au/national/national-news/freak-storm-floods-melbourne-1199702.html and here http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/victoria/wild-weather-hits-melbourne/20100306-pph5.html . Luckily our home and cars did not sustain any damage apart from leaves all over the place and washing being blown off the line into the dirt.

Our little angel was going to a birthday party on Saturday and we arrived there just before the rain and hail hit. So we were inside watching the chaos and I even told her to move away from the window at one stage because I was worried it might smash from the hail.

My dad had 2 skylights smashed from the hail and 2 laserlite windows around his porch smashed too.

But anyway I digress.

As it was a long weekend hubby and I had decided to do some extensive garden renovations and had booked a rubbish skip and a little dingo digger before we heard the forecast. He decided to go ahead with the digging and went a little overboard with how much "levelling off" he did.

We now have a front garden that is like a quagmire. And that foul smell of wet mud ick ick ick. Personally I would have used the digger shovel thingy (that's its technical name) to push most of the mud ,I mean dirt, back into the hole BEFORE it rained again. Hubby reckons it would have got the digger bogged. Hmmmm not sure on that. Anyway he hurt his back digging some out with a shovel so who knows how long until it is properly levelled off and I can park in the driveway again. And we couldn't dig the tree stump out either. Sheeeesh.

Another exciting thing this week, my little angel lost her first tooth.

Grandma asked her how much the tooth fairy left and she said $50 (It was really $2)! Grandma almost fell off her chair until I quickly set her straight.

Until next time :-)

Games We Used To Play

2010-02-28T15:24:00.002+11:00

I have been having fun today teaching my 5 year old angel and the kid from across the road how to play hopscotch. Well sort of.

We got out the big chalks and drew up the course but that was about as close as it got to actually playing. I want a pink stone says my angel. Who has pink stones?? Best I could do was colour a piece of gray concrete remnant with chalk that rubbed off as soon as it was thrown.

I want to draw some more with the chalk says kid from across the road. Go fo it I say and he proceeds to draw a very elaborate 5 game pattern.

I'm hungry says my little angel, so it was all abandoned for lunch.

So it got me thinking about the games I used to play with my sisters and friends. When I was a kid my mum and dad built their first house in a reasonably new estate. It was in a court so not a lot of through traffic and lots of other newly-weds who also ended up having kids all around the same time. So we had plenty of friends to play outside with.

Hopscotch, clapping games, marbles, jacks, making cubbies in the trees out of old sheets, taking our dolls for a walk in their pram, chasey, riding our bikes around the court, What's the Time Mr Wolf, British Bulldogs, playing under the sprinklers in summer and of course the obligatory ABBA concert for the parents.

Under the bamboo

Under the tree Cha, Cha, Cha

True love for me my darling

True love for you Cha, Cha, Cha

When we get married

We’ll have a family

A boy for you cha cha cha

and a girl for me cha cha cha

ummmm can't remember the rest

Ahhh the good old days huh. What did you used to play?

Bring Back Holidays

2010-02-25T16:37:00.000+11:00

Greetings all, long time no post!

I have been so busy getting into the routine of my little angel starting school and me going back to work that I haven't blogged in AGES!!!

Yes my 8 weeks leave finally came to an end and it was back to being a wage slave last week. I must admit I am also finding inspriation on what to blog about difficult as my de-cluttering has come to a stop and not a lot of interesting things have happened of late.

I am excited to see I have a new follower though, welcome Loco Yaya.

So just a quick post to say I'm still alive and will try to come up with something more exciting next post.

See you then :-)

A New Day ... A New Look

2010-02-05T12:08:00.007+11:00

Welcome to my all new look blog. It such a happy sunshiney background it makes me feel great just looking at it. I have been searching around for a few weeks to try and find something a bit more exciting than boring black and voila! I found it a couple of weeks ago but have been trying to customise the pics to put my own there. I have managed to do it but then when I put it into the header it looks like this http://ncgtestblog.blogspot.com/

Waaaaaaaaaay too small for you all to see how cute I used to be hehehe.

Anyway I got sick of trying to figure it out and have decided to just go with the template version ones for now. If anyone has any suggestions how to fix it I would love some help.

So a week ago I promised pics of my latest de-cluttering of the linen closet and freezer. I know the anticpation must have been torture so here goes. I started with the linen closet. Before it looked like this. It was kinda hard to take a picture of the full length as it's in the small hall and I couldn't get back far enough to fit it all in.

So while I was cleaning it all out I discovered all of these toilet bags. Now we are a family of 3 that doesn't go away that often. How many did we really need? It turns out only 4 - 3 for us and a spare I decided. Of course I had to empty all the various contents from each and throw out all the mankie soap, disposable razors and old panadol wrappers, but I feel so much better now with this little bit of clutter gone.

So here's the end result. I know, I know it barely looks any different but I got rid of 2 sets of old towels, half a dozen hand towels that we never use and a couple of table cloths I had forgotten we had, that's how often we actually use a tablecloth. I also sorted out the baskets at the bottom and threw out the old cosmetics and hairdo stuff that will never see the light of day again anyway.

So that was a week ago, and I also did the freezer but have no pics. I do however now have plenty of room for ice cream and frozen yogurt yaaaay.

Now the other thing that has been occupying my time this week is my little angel started school on Tuesday. A good sign, on Monday night I said we all need an early night tonight and her reply was "yeah because I am going to school tomorrow YAAAAAY". I hope she still feels that way next month when it dawns on her that this is going to be her life now.

So here's a couple of cute pics from our first day. She was quite happy to get to school, and barely gave me a second glance as she kissed me and said goodbye at the classroom door.

I on the other hand made use of the tissues in the hall as I am a great big sook.

So a busy week. Next week is my last week of leave before going back to work so I am going to get the rest of the house sorted out and as de-cluttered as possible. Today, after I finish doing the paperwork for after school care, I am going to sort out no longer needed baby books and toys until I have to pick my angel up at 2. Hopefully finishing the rest of the house will be an easy task as I only have the living areas to do now. Fingers crossed anyway.

See you next time :-)

Post-it Note Tuesday

2010-02-02T07:03:00.000+11:00

Hey Remember Me?

2010-01-31T21:53:00.002+11:00

Well I'm Back. Yeah I know I said I would post on Friday but I was just too busy doing something ... if only I could remember what. Gee not even mid-40s and I have crap short term memory.

Anyway exciting things have been happening while I was livin' life! I have a new follower, welcome kellyansapansa, and an award, thank you so much Caz.

So without further ado here is the beautiful golden bloggie from Caz - cute huh??!

This award comes with a request to list 5 things I love. So here goes:
1. My hubby and my little angel - they make my life so wonderful, I can't imagine what it was like before they were around. Of course with cuddles and kisses at any time mummy likes, it's especially good.
2. The smell of freshly ground coffee mmmmmmmmmmmm yummo. Then there's the making of the coffee and drinking it with good friends - even better.
3. Spending time with friends just hanging out and having a laugh about dumb things we have done.
4. Reading - I have been telling my little angel how my mum was forever telling me to turn off the light, put my book away and go to sleep when I was a kid. Of course I turned off the light but snuck my torch under the blankets to keep reading. I love to read a story to my little angel, at least 3 per night is our usual. I love watching her little face imagining all that is going on with the story.
5. Scrapbooking my life and that of my family - to me this is also about spending time with great girlfriends and chatting, as much as it is about making a great family history keepsake.

Now Kelly has tagged me to share 25 random things about myself. So tonight is the night of lists.

1. I have lived in Melbourne all my life.
2. My father is Danish.
3. I am a Collingwood supporter (some might say tragic but I'm getting better).
4. I work full time but dream about being a stay at home mum.
5. I am not into Brad Pitt (my girlfriends' think I'm a freak).
6. I am into George Clooney.
7. I have two cats, Rambo who is 18 (and getting his licence any day now) and Minnie who is 10.
8. I had braces when I was a teenager.
9. We have his and hers laptops.
10. I sponsor 2 children through World Vision and have been a supporter for 20 years.
11. Next week I will have worked for the same employer for 26 years (straight from high school).
12. My house is full of clutter (except my bedroom, see my previous posts).
13. My house will not be full of clutter in 2 weeks time (I'm setting high goals).
14. I have been bungy jumping.
15. I have an extensive collection of 80s vinyl singles and LPs (that I haven't played recently ... OK OK since we moved here 7 years ago).
16. I have 69 friends on facebook but I reckon half of them are rellies.
17. Both my grandmothers are still alive at 93 and 92.
18. Eighteen is my favourite number.
19. My favourite TV show was West Wing, now I quite like Big Love.
20. I love to scuba dive although I haven't done it since I fell pregnant with my little angel.
21. I'm a sucker for an English accent.
22. I had my first car accident the day I got my licence.
23. I have been a bridesmaid 5 times.
24. My little angel starts school in 2 days.
25. My favourite colour is blue.

Wow that's a lot of sharing, hope I haven't bored you lovely ladies senseless, and thanks for your support too.

Fun stuff tomorrow - my little angel and I are going for a meet and greet with her teacher before she starts school on Tuesday. How can she be starting school - it feels like she was only born a few months ago!

See you next time :-)

Sorry I'm Slack

2010-01-28T21:43:00.000+11:00

Forgive me all, I've been a bit slack. It's been seven days since I blogged. Bloody hell how did that happen - I don't recall being so busy I couldn't spare 5 minutes. Maybe I have been reading too many blogs and following too many links.

I have been back on the de-cluttering in the last few days and will post an update tomorrow.

Just to get you tempted to come back, think linen closet and freezer. And pictures!

An odd combination I know. But both smallish and not taking too much time.

see you next time :-)

Great blogs

2010-01-21T22:34:00.000+11:00

Having found some great blogs to follow, I have been checking out their blog lists and have come across quite a few more that will make my list.

It has really made me think what a lucky life I have and just wanted to say thanks to them for helping me realise.

see you soon :-)

Ewwww Gross Out

2010-01-20T08:40:00.001+11:00

Ok so my post-it note yesterday was about my dishwasher. We have one of those Fisher & Paykel double dish drawers. LOVE IT!

Normally that is.

Last week I did not love it.

I could not open the top drawer on Friday. Most of our dishes were in there :-(

So I rang the service number and the earliest they could come was today.

5 DAYS LATER.

Thankfully the service guy came first thing this morning so I don't have to wait around for the whole 5 hour block they give you. Anyway he opened the drawer seemingly easily. He did well not to blanch at the stench. I did not do so well.

EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW my dishes were growing. Interestingly though one plate had a small piece of chicken stuck to it that was not growing. What on earth do they put in chickens these days?

They don't have the part we need. And they won't have it til mid Feb. So he couldn't fix it today.

Luckily the bottom drawer still works and as I type is hopefully giving those foul dishes what for on super wash. I did throw one small plastic bowl out as it was grossssssssssssssssss. It must have had yogurt in it cos it is very cultured now.

Anyway it's going to cost a bit to repair. And we have had it repaired a couple of times already. Maybe it's more economical in the long run to get a new one, I might have to let my fingers do the walking today and see if that is the case.

See you soon :-)

P.S. I hate there's no spell check here.

P.P.S. Welcome new follower Katie :-)

Post-it Note Tuesday

2010-01-19T23:36:00.000+11:00

Where Did The Weekend Go?

2010-01-17T21:28:00.000+11:00

Gosh it's 9.30pm Sunday night already. What have I done all weekend and why did it go so quickly? I got barely any de-cluttering done, just a few things from the pantry and freezer that seem like they had been there forever.

I did however finish reading Clear Out Your Clutter with Feng Shui. I would normally scoff at that new age stuff but I happened to come across it right when I decided I needed to do something about all the clutter and it was as if fate stepped in. Anyway one of the main things written about was how we keep so many things because we are going to do something with them "one day".

My Mum gave me a 6 pack of BBQ flavourings that has sat at the bottom of the pantry ever since, mainly because I liked the bottles and thought I would use them "one day". I'm not really into spicy BBQ meat flavourings. And I have not managed to do anything with them in the 3 years since she gave em to me so I decided they were taking up more than enough room in the pantry so it was time to go...

One of the first things I did de-clutter was the freezer in our "beer fridge". Well it wasn't so much a de-clutter as a defrost actually. So after I cleaned it all out I just put all the frozen stuff back. Again there was stuff in there a few years old and after finishing my book I thought do I really want to eat that freezer burnt meat, when I have not managed to do so up til this point. So out it all went, all that's left is yummy stuff like cookie mix, icy poles and ice cream yuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm. They will definitely get eaten in this house.

Hopefully sometime this week, although it's pouring rain here at the moment. Hmm come to think of it when did the weather influence ice-cream eating?

See you next time :-)

Cleaning Up is Fun Mummy

2010-01-15T21:21:00.001+11:00

Well who would have thunk it?! My 5 year old angel helped with the de-cluttering today (mostly because I made her). It was time to tackle the clutter behind the front door otherwise known as the hat stand. So I decided to make a game of it, we could try on all the hats, coats, scarves and handbags, and Mummy would make it super funny waaaaaay better than watching TV. I could see she didn't believe me though so we got out the camera and took the before shot and then out came the 3 baskets to sort everything into.

Before

Hats

Scarves

Handbags

Then it was time to try some funny hats on ..... Bride to Be, Viking, Jester, and Balloon Girl all followed.

and of course the after shot (although I don't think it looks that different). My Hubby reckons it's heaps better and even helped clean out the coat cupboard when he got home. So off to the op-shop tomorrow are 5 coats and about 20 caps. My little angel's child care centre will be getting a donation of hats, scarves and handbags for the dress-up box.

Ahhhh less clutter and entertainment for a 5 year old all in one - priceless!

See you tomorrow :-)

Blissful Bedroom

2010-01-14T21:59:00.000+11:00

Yay I've done it ... finished de-cluttering our bedroom today. It's been quite hot here this week so the de-cluttering took a recess for a couple of days to allow for a blissfully cold cinema visit, a blissfully cold swimming pool visit and a blissfully cold sitting round under my air conditioning day. BLISS!

Anyway now the weather is a much more reasonable mid 20s I decided to finish off the bedroom de-cluttering. I took the bagged up stuff to the local op-shop. I emptied my undie drawer and threw out all the undies I don't wear because they a) gave me a wedgie when I wore them, or b) had lace that itches like hell where it shouldn't, or c) they were tatty undies or d) they were granny undies .... you get the picture. Along with that I got rid of some maternity bras that were 5 years old and no longer needed and a couple of other bras that I will never fit into again.

Then it was on to the pj drawer. I had a pleasant surprise here cos I must have cleaned that out not long ago and only found one nightie and pair of pjs I no longer wear instead of the 3 or 4 I thought might be there.

So all the clothes that I don't wear are gone, all the shoes I don't wear are gone and all the handbags I don't use are gone. All the clean washing is put away instead of washing baskets stacked everywhere. Gosh it feels good. My little vac went into overtime for 30 minutes busting dust and grime and voila a blissful bedroom appeared.

My little angel said it's so tidy in here Mummy and Hubby was very happy when he got home. I told him I had plans for the rest of the house too if he lives up to his end of the bargain and builds the built in robes in my little angel's bedroom like he's been promising to for the last 6 months.

So now to plotting what other clutter can go. My little angel is 5 now, so we really don't need a high chair, a port-a-cot, a rocker, a pram or a bag of 1 year olds clothes. I think I will be busy on e-bay this weekend! Then there's her wardrobe and all the clothes that don't fit her. And all the toys that she's too old for. And the coat cupboard, and the hat stand and ... I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Lucky I have another month off work!

See you tomorrow :-)

Call Me Imelda No More...

2010-01-11T08:33:00.000+11:00

For I now have 13 less pairs of shoes that I don't wear than I did last week.

Yesterday I finally got to my wardrobe floor in my attempt to de-clutter my home. I have started on our bedroom first and sadly most of the clutter there is mine :-(

Here's a before

and after shot

I managed to get rid of another 7 pairs of shoes I no longer wear, together with a handbag I have only used once, and various bags containing assorted stuff like pyjamas, photo albums, candle sets, makeup bag, cookbooks etc that I bought and then never got around to using.

At the same time I also de-cluttered the drawers on the other side of the wardrobe and my tallboy and managed to find a huge basketful of clothes that no longer fit or I just don't wear anymore. Funnily enough I now have room for all the clothes that I do wear now and won't have to store them in the clean washing basket.

Now to dispose of it all and give the bedroom a really thorough clean to get rid of dust bunnies and grime that had accumulated around all the clutter.

It's going to be 44 degrees here today though so that might have to wait until tomorrow when it's a little cooler. My little angel and I are going to the movies to escape the heat today instead.

See you tomorrow :-)

Don't You Just Hate It When....

2010-01-09T21:29:00.001+11:00

You're getting into the swing of de-cluttering. My little angel is quietly listening to stories on her iPod, my Hubby is surfing the web so I sneak off to do 15 mins of de-cluttering in our bedroom. I'm getting into it and eagerly anticipating getting to the wardrobe floor. Next thing I know my Hubby decides he's going to take a nap (it's only 11.30am for goodness sake) and my little angel wants lunch.

Damn I was doing so well....

I was almost at the wardrobe door but first I had to clear the clutter of shopping bags, laundry baskets and shoes before I could get there.

Six, yes six, pairs of high heels I have not worn in years have been bundled up for the op shop. The shoes I do wear have now replaced them on the shoe rack. Two photo albums I will never use because they're too cutesy will be joining the op-shop stuff. One worn out pair of Mary Jane shoes and a holey pair of pink moccies made their way to the bin. Some paperwork gathered up to sort through another day. My little angel's books returned to the bookcase in her room.

All was not lost when I was banished from the bedroom. I decided to start on the book I found at my sister's, "Clear Out Your Clutter with Feng Shui". Alas I did not get very far as, having devoured her lunch, my little angel wanted to play with Mummy. So we played teddy babies and pop up pirate for a while til Daddy got up and said let's go for a swim.

So that was the end of today's de-cluttering *sigh*

So with only a basket of folded washing between me and the wardrobe floor, it could be all over by tomorrow night and I could be sleeping in a clutter-free bedroom. Of course that is as long as my hubby decides to do without his nanna nap tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me folks!

See you tomorrow :-)

An Interesting Find ... Maybe

2010-01-08T21:40:00.001+11:00

So I went to visit my sister today who is here for a couple of weeks from Far North Queensland. If you think I have some clutter, you should see hers and she doesn't even live where most of hers is! It's all stored at my Grandma's flat but that's a whole different story. Anyway we had some professional photos done a couple of years ago now and they had a 2 for the price of 1 offer. We got 4 photos, and she got a bazillion and the plan was to swap some so we each had more. Well she went and up and moved before we got around to doing that so they have been languishing in the cupboard at Grandma's waiting to get around to working out what she wanted to swap.

Anyway she opened the cupboard to get them out and staring me in the face from her stack of stored books is one called "Clear Out Your Clutter with Feng Shui". So of course being on a clutter clearing frenzy (ok ok it's more like little flurries) I snapped it up. Should make for some interesting reading... not that I'm into all that new agey stuff.

Consequently I have not actually cleared much clutter today at all ... a tiny bit of paperwork that was no longer needed as I had duplicate copies was all that managed to escape from my home today. Also my sister had some cute cushions that my little angel fell in love with and as my sister didn't want them anymore she managed to bring them home for her room.

So to summarise more clutter in than out today :-(

After dinner I checked my blog reading list for some motivation and was so excited to see I now have 1 follower. Yay me and welcome Caz.

Still haven't got to that wardrobe floor but it's been on my mind - maybe tomorrow.

See you then :-)

15 Minutes of Clean

2010-01-07T20:04:00.000+11:00

I had a busy day today, lunch with friends and ice cream outing for afternoon tea.

In between times I helped my Hubby hang a few photos and got some more frames from Ted's (still 25% off). So not much de-cluttering happened today although I did manage a quick 15 minutes after dinner.

Today's tally was:
Baby clothes kept for sentimental reasons put away in the little angel's wardrobe instead of a pile in our room
Several cake boards needing recovering offered to crafty friends before moving to the op-shop
Two empty shoe boxes turfed in the bin
One new cat bowl put in the garage with cats
New 50% off Christmas ornaments put away in hall cupboard for next Christmas

Maybe tomorrow I will get to my wardrobe floor. See you then :-)

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas My True Love Said To Me...

2010-01-06T10:46:00.001+11:00

"Time to get rid of the Christmas clutter". And he was right. So down it all came.

3 Santa's Helper Elves
26 Cards
2 Santa Stop Here signs
4 Hanging Ornaments
2 Stockings
1 Wreath
1 Candle Set
1 Christmas Tree

Apart from the cards it all got packed up ready for next Christmas. Ahh the lounge room seems much bigger now!

One of the benefits was, as I was putting the Christmas stuff away, I decided to clean out the drawer in the hall bureau where some of it was kept. So clutter gone from there is

1 Contractor's pass that Hubby forgot to return at the ABS
Another pair of dorky petrol station sunnies
1 Minnie Mouse zip tab for my little angel's dress that never got fixed and now doesn't fit
1 broken sunglasses case

Ahhh that's better.
See you tomorrow :-)

De-clutter Free day

2010-01-05T20:50:00.000+11:00

Well I didn't do any de-cluttering today, but I did work on my other new year's resolution, to walk somewhere everyday.

Does walking briskly around Chaddy count though? I had a few shops to go to and only an hour to do it in so I hit Target, Ted's (for more cheap frames), checked out school shoes for my little angel in a couple of shops (they're how much??!!) and then home again.

This afternoon we went to the local pool and I walked around in the water there with 3 kids hanging off me ... I think that counts too.

Tomorrow is my mum's birthday so not sure what I will get done in the de-clutteriong but I will TRY to make an effort even if it is small.

See you tomorrow :-)

Believe It Or Not This Is A Laundry Hamper

2010-01-04T23:12:00.000+11:00

Yeah I know it's shaped like a laundry hamper and it matches the second laundry hamper we do use, but it hasn't been used that way for some time (I hate to admit maybe 3 years, perhaps even 4). It has been a receptacle for clutter all that time. I remember I cleaned all the clutter up out of the dining room when we were having friends for dinner once and there it has stayed pretty much ever since. Very occasionally I have retrieved something from it.

Today I decided this would be my de-cluttering project of choice. It's time to go .... unused wedding presents (sssshhhhh those rellies never visit anyway), more parenting magazines, a gardening book to return to my M-I-L, a couple of unused photos albums, some old cigar tins with tax paperwork from 2003, a pair of dorky petrol station sunnies, and some stuff that smells like a girly undies drawer as my Hubby would say.

Anyway a few things made their way to the op-shop bag, but mostly it was paperwork chuck out time. This afternoon my Hubby decided it was time to get rid of all the cheap prints around the house and replace them with the professional family photos we have had done over the last couple of years. A quick trip to Chaddy for some new frames (25% off at Ted's gotta love that!) and then load up some more stuff for the op-shop. I think it may be time to spread the love as St Vinnies has had quite a bit from us lately. Maybe the Salvos will benefit tomorrow.

So far most of my de-cluttering has been focused on our bedroom, I wish I could say it was all done but... tomorrow I might empty a couple of the washing baskets full of clean folded stuff so maybe our wardrobes will get a makeover.

Thinking about it I can't wait until I sleep in an uncluttered room. And to think that might be within the week!

See you tomorrow :-)

De-cluttering day 2

2010-01-03T18:30:00.001+11:00

Day 2 of the great de-cluttering went well. I have now de-cluttered our bedside tables, and my jewellery boxes. And while I was in the mood I did the tea-towel drawer too.

Leaving my life today were assorted shopping dockets (average age 3 years old), several books I have read, 2 parenting magazines from 2005, a Woman’s Day from 2003 (and from the cover stories yes Miranda Otto and Peter O’Brien are still together, sadly Sonia Kruger and her hubby are not), 1 very overdue library book, 5 pairs of broken or lonely-for-their-missing-mate earrings, a stack of tea-towels, 2 pot mitts and a PVC apron still in its packet.

I also managed to remove lots of accumulated dust behind the bedside tables and tallboy (eeeewwwwwww it was disgusting).

So here’s today’s before and after shots:

My bedside table before

and after

Hubby’s side before

and after

And the stack of tea-towels, apron and pot-mitts that are off to the op-shop tomorrow.

All in all a couple of hours well spent and not too difficult at all. I think the key is to take it slowly so it’s not too overwhelming.

See you tomorrow :-)

De-cluttering day 1

2010-01-02T13:00:00.003+11:00

Ok so after procrastinating for a few hours this morning, I have started the de-cluttering and am feeling good. The bathroom was my first target - I figured it was small enough that it would ony take an hour or so and I would be able to see quick results.

I started with the bathroom cupboard behind the mirror, finding lots of old prescriptions and repeats that had never been filled including one dating back to 2005, foot scrubs that have been in there since we moved in in 2002 and lots of expired pharmacy medicines. The window ledges were next, mostly just stuff that needed putting away, so away it went. The real meaty bit was the basket weave drawers. Covered in dust they contained a treasure trove of crap. Lots more expired medicines, bath and shower gels and bubbles that were never going to get used, and attachments for stuff we no longer have! All cleaned out now and even vacuumed the dust away too.

Here's some before and after shots:

So that was pretty easy - now to get rid of all the junk.... I'm thinking a big garbage bag and straight into the bin.

Hmmm there doesn't seem to be a spell checker here. That's gonna drive me crazy :-(

Anyway I have decided tomorrow it's my bedside table that is gonna get a de-clutter. I might even get on to hubby's bedside table too!

See you tomorrow :-)

A New Decade Dawns

2010-01-01T20:43:00.003+11:00

So I was thinking last night ... what should my New Year's resolution for 2010 be? Things I have been stressing over for the last few months would be an ideal place to start. My health, my family finances and the clutter around my home.

Today it's 10 years since I gave up smoking and now I need to make another life changing decision to get my weight under control so I can be around in another decade. I also need to de-clutter my home before I go mad. Every horizontal surface seems to have a pile on it and it's doing my head in, not to mention driving my husband crazy. So the perfect answer ... make 2 resolutions!

First one ... my health. My plan is to start by walking somewhere everyday (and not just home to car to office). I walked to the park and back with my little angel today. We were going to play but she needed a toilet stop when we got there and of course there were none.

Second .... de-clutter my home by my birthday in March. Ambitious but I think I can do it. I'll start small to get me going. I will tackle the bathroom tomorrow.

Right now it's time to join my hubby in watching a movie.

See you tomorrow :-)