Conversations In The Car: I Wanna Be a Farmer's Sister When I Grow Up!

Some of the best conversations and by the best I really mean the most entertaining, take place in the car driving to one place or another. You may or may not recall me telling you a few months back about the discussion my boys and I had in the car when my son was worried that he had a baby in his testicle - Nope No Joke - that delightful banter led to the joy of giving the kids 'The Talk'. There is no doubt that in the car the kids come up with the most random things to talk about, especially if it just one on one and they don't have to compete to be heard.

Our seven year old Sammy is the King when it comes to random and this is a perfect example of his randomness in action. This conversation took place on the way to karate this Saturday morning and it was one of those convos that I think will always make me smile whenever I remember it or retell it to his future career guidance counselor or wife.

To get the full effect of this conversation, you have to imagine you are talking to a kid that is missing two front teeth, and therefore a full blown lisp is an essential prop!

Sam: Mum, how much do white coats cost?

Me: Ahhh what sort of white coat would you be talking about Monkey?

Sam: You know like the ones that scientist people wear?

Me: Ummm I not really sure two dogs, why do you ask?

Sam: Why did you just call me two dogs?

Me: It's just a figure of speech Sammy.

Sam: Mummm I'm seven, when you're talking to seven year olds, you shouldn't use such big words.

Me: Sorry Sam, I'll keep that in mind in future.

Sam: So anyway Mum you know how I want to be an animal doctor in a zoo when I grow up?

Me: yep?

Sam: Ive decided I don't really want to do all the operations and stuff, but I'm ok with being the man that makes up all their medicines. What's that job called?

Me: I believe that would be a Pharmacist mate.

Sam: A farmer what?

Me: A Pharmacist!

Sam: A farmer's sister?

Me: Yeah that's sort of it. You're gonna need to study hard at school if you want to do that job hun.

Sam: Really? Why? What do I need to be good at? And can you please talk a bit slower because I'm going to take notes.

Me: Well then it's probably a good idea to concentrate really hard at maths and science.

Sam: Ohhhh I can already count to 1000 by tens.

Me: That's a pretty good start.

Sam: Do you think I need to count higher than that?

Me: Possibly!

Sam: Like to 10 thousand?

Me: Maybe!

Sam: Like to 100 thousand?

Me: Perhaps!

Silence from the back seat...........

Sam: I think I might be one of those people that feed the seals their fish instead. Can I still wear a white coat if I want to?

I cack myself silly at funny conversations with kids.

Have you had any entertaining conversations with your mighty midgets you care to share?

What do you reckon is the average pay for a Farmers Sister?

Do you know where to buy a cheap white coat? I don't want to spend to much as it's gonna get totally fishy by the sound of it!

Movie Night Chipmunk Style, A Giveaway AND a Totally Weird Video Message From Me!

One our fave things to do in our house is Movie Night! For at least one precious hour or more, arguments are called to truce, the noise stops and we all pile up on the lounges to watch a movie and scoff some super buttery popcorn.

Now I will be honest with you - often I struggle with kids movies, cause more often than not the less than thrillng story lines, cheesy themes and sappy music tend to send me into a coma. I like a kids movie that appeals to the adults as much as the kids. Let's face it - we're the ones generally paying for the viewing pleasure so we need to be entertained too! Besides you get busted for playing on your iPad in the movie theater - trust me I have been humiliated when a teenage usher was instructed to ask me to turn it off!

My little guys love the Chipmunks movies and bless em - they drive us bonkers for weeks copying their catch phrases in annoyingly squeaky little voices. That being said, there is something weirdly kind of endearing about those hairy little dudes and who doesn't love to suck back some helium and pretend we have been Chipmunkified!

When I was contacted to ask if I would be interested in receiving a copy of the latest movie Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, I knew my boys would absolutely kill me if I said no.

So that my friends is how I came to spend Friday night curled up on the couch watching Alvin and his buddies create havoc on a cruise ship and end up marooned on a Tropical island where they find the island is not as deserted as they first thought.

I have to tell you, I actually didn't have to just pretend to watch this movie, I was totally there man and in the moment! It was full of enough cheesy one liners to keep me and hubby amused and the kids eyes well and truly fixed to the screen. Heck I am just going to come right out and admit I kind of liked the Chipmunks version of some of the more recent popular songs and judging by the way my kids kept jumping up to bust some moves along to the music - they more than a little liked it too.

  

I got a little over excited with the whole Chipmunk theme and decided I would make you guys a special little video ...... Go on, watch it! I know you totally want to see me humiliate myself on the internet!

 

Now if you know of any little Chipmunk fans, you are going to LOVE this giveaway, or at the very least the kids will - but you will so get the brownie points for being an awesome parent, relative or friend.

To celebrate the release of Alvin and The Chipmunks Chipwrecked's release on DVD this week, the guys from Splendid Communication have put together a very special pack for one lucky winner.

This pack contains both a Blue Ray and a Regular DVD copy of the Alvin and The Chipmunks Chipwrecked movie, A CD of The Sound Track, A gorgeous Alvin Fleecy Hoodie, an Alvin and a Brittany Figurine (see I even know their names) and a Pencil Case.

Terms and Conditions

• The competition is open now and closes next Saturday 02/06/2012 at 8pm AEST.
• One lucky winner will be selected by Random Org
• This competition is only open to Australian Residents.
• The winner will be announced here on this post and by email if you have an email address linked to your commenting profile.

To enter you just need to leave a comment on this post telling me what song you would like to hear the Chipmunks sing - just cause I want to cack at your answers and amuse my kids by walking around singing them like a chipmunk.

So Go for it and Good Luck! 

* I received a Chipmunk pack for my boys in return for reviewing the movie and running this giveaway. The decision to humiliate myself by posting a video of me talking in a Chipmunk voice was totally my own doing!

Yup I Work From Home - Wanna Come in and Have a Peek at My Office and My Day?

I haven't always had the privilege of working from home. Before I had my accident I used to drive at least an hour each way in the crappy head stressing traffic to the office and spend hours sitting in airports and on planes traveling the country. The accident changed so many things in my life and the ability to keep up that travel to and from work was just one of them. I tried, oh man did I try and when I failed miserably and could no longer hold it together anymore, I fell in one big messy heap.

Thankfully I work for a fabulous company who has supported me to no end. And amongst the many ways that they showed me that they were behind me, they gave me the gift of working from home.

Now I am not going to tell you it is always easy. At home there can be so many distractions and you have to be at least semi disciplined. It would be tempting to work in my PJs, catch up on some TV, crash on the couch for a while or lay by the pool in summer. But alas I have this little thing called a conscience and that voice in my head pretty much keeps me on the straight and narrow.

In actual fact I have to pull myself back in a lot of cases as I feel like I need to prove to everyone they made the right choice by allowing me to work from home so I tend to overcompensate and work the extra hours. My hubby and kids soon pull me into line and are quick to let me know I am cutting into their time.

I often get asked how do you work your day? How do you not get distracted? And the big one - How do you actually get anything done? I am pretty proud of the way I manage it and even though there are some downsides, there are a hell of a lot of pros on that list too.



So today I thought I would invite you into my office at home, show you around and share a few ways I manage things so I actually get stuff done.

First of all let me start by saying that my kids are all at preschool or Kindy, so my work from home scenario is NOWHERE near as tough as it would be for a mum (or dad) trying to work with kids at home.


I am lucky enough to have a dedicated room to use as an office and since I spend so many hours a day in this room, I decided before Christmas to give it a bit of a makeover.

The makeover involved fresh paint and after a huge amount of debating (with myself) I settled on  soothing grey called Tin Cat. Some new furniture from Officeworks and IKEA, a bit of prettying up and walah - I have a space I love to work in. Is it sad to say that I love my office? It's just so calm and cosy which is a good thing, cause as I said it is where I spend many hours a day.

My work day starts as soon as the kids and my hubby leave for school and work, which is normally about 8.15am. Before the kids actually leave for school and I am officially on the clock, I try to get some of the domestic stuff out of the way so it doesnt niggle at me during the day.

The kitchen is cleaned up from breakfast, beds are made and I try to chuck a load of washing on.  As weird as it sounds, my OCD brain also needs to have the house in order - something to do with cluttered space equals cluttered brain. So the order part involves me walking around with a basket and picking up everything that is out of place. The basket is then left to deal with later.

Then armed with a cuppa its time to get stuck in.

I work full time as a Business Development Manager, but I cram my working hours into four days a week instead of five. Four hefty 10 hour days, but the pay off is I have one day a week (Fridays) to do Drs Appointments, errands and all the running around stuff life requires us to do, without having to take time out during work hours or cutting into our weekends.

The flip side of a busy four day work week, is I need to be super organised and have a plan of what I need to achieve on any given day. So the first thing I do every morning is write a list of what needs to be done. Things don't always run to plan though, and in my business you do have to be flexible, but I find that I am way less stressed if I have a clear vision of what I need to get done.

Once the day is mapped out it is down to business.

I like to break the day up into structured segments so I make appointments with myself. These appoinments ensure I lock away time to be spent specifically on a focused task be it phone calls, emails and working on projects.

Depending if I have phones conferences or not I like to make my phone calls in the morning. I find people are generally in better moods early in the day, before they are worn down by what their day chucks at them. Lengthy complicated emails and project work - I prefer to do in the afternoon, as for me I find it is when I am at my peak. My brain is well and truly warmed up and I am totally in the work zone.

It does get a little lonely sometimes and occaisionally I miss the buzz of an office environment and having people to coffee with. It can also hard when friends want to catch up for lunch or invite me to something and I have to turn them down, becasue I do find that people often think that if you work from home, you can kind of do what you want, when you want. I don't really know, but if you owned your own business, I could imagine you could maybe be a bit more flexible with your time. In my case, I have to treat each work day just as I would if I was back in the corporate office which means that on work days its all about getting the work done.

Mid morning I do like to duck outside for a mid morning coffee and sun gaze. That 10 minutes is precious and so peaceful. With no one around, I do nothing but sit there and think quiet thoughts to myself. If I have nothing particular to think about, I drink my coffee and take a peek at what is going on in the world of instagram and Facebook.

At the moment in Sydney it is cold and with weather like that, I really don't mind being indoors tucked away in my little ladycave. I have a blanket to wrap around my legs like an old duck and yes, I even have a hot water bottle too! Laugh away if you must but I tell ya I am Toaaaassty!

As I mentioned my office is my Ladycave and outside of work hours it is where I blog and paint and get my crafty on. So I tend to spend way more time in here than just work hours. Its my own special space and I like to deck it out with things that make me smile.

Normally I don't take a proper lunch break as I prefer to just power through my work so I can finish as close to 6pm as possible. If I gave myself too much time in the day, I would just need to make up the hours at night time so I find having a set knock off time keeps me focused and makes sure I am finished in time to get stuck into the homework duty and spend some time with the kids before dinner. That being said I do take 15 minutes though to throw some more washing on, deal with that basket of stuff from the morning that needs putting away and grab myself something to eat. If there is enough time I like to have another peek at Facebook or Instagram he he.

The rest of the afternoon is spent head down and bum up. This is where one of the advantages of working from home comes into play as I get so much more done than I ever did when I had the distractions of an office environment to lead me astray.

I know I have a clear run at work now until the kids and the hubby arrive home at 3pm. I am very fortunate that my husband works around school hours, so he car pools with friends and is always available to juggle after school playdates and activities. He is also one of those hands on guys that folds the washing, irons and gets dinner on. Yes I am a very lucky gal and I probably do not thank him nearly enough for what he does for me and the kids.

For a short time when the family arrives home, chaos erupts and the kids all pile into my office for hello cuddles and to tell me about their day before they get changed and head off to whatever activities they have on for the afternoon.

Dosed up with a mid afternoon cuppa I am now on the home run and I merrily work away until its quitting time which is usually between 6 and 6.30pm. The biggest perk is I don't have to battle the traffic again to get home. I pack up, switch off, shut the door and join the rest of the family for the night.

Alright if you have fallen asleep on me, its totally OK and I forgive you - some of you may think it's probably one of the most boring posts I have ever written. But this my friends is where I disappear to every Monday to Thursday and I hope it answers some of those questions I frequently get asked about working from home.

If you are thinking about working from home and you have any questions - go ahead and throw them at me. I am more than happy to answer them..... if I can!

This week I am linking this post up with 
The Organised Housewife's - Love it, Like it, Link it!
Check out all the other fabulous posts this week over there.

Another Fine Example of my Outstanding Parenting Skills!

I have done some pretty shonky things since I became mum - mostly for the good of my kids, sometimes more for the good of my sanity and sometime cause being a mum has got to have its perks. I still totally stand by my excuse that I thought the Hash pipe was a Genie Lamp, and I did not intentionally give all 3 of my children food poisoning. But in retrospect this time even with my own questionable standards, I think I may have sunk to a new low.

My seven year old has been late in losing his teeth and it is only just now that his chompers have started falling out.  Last week he lost his first front tooth and the gaping hole left behind meant that his other front tooth was suddenly very very loose as well. By Sunday night it was so loose the poor kid was struggling to eat and when he smiled it kind of hung with this awkward tilt - totally hillbilly style.

I tried to convince him to let me have a tug at it, but after my attempt last week to remove the first wobbly tooth didn't exactly go according to plan, he kindly declined my offer.

This wobbly tooth was really annoying him though and me too for that matter. Every time he spoke to us it kind of flapped with the breeze of his words like it had some life force of its own. WE and I stipulate WE as in he and I, were desperate for it to be gone.

The Hubstar and I tried to convince him again to let us have a go a it. He was not convinced.

We said he could stay up half an hour past his bed time.... Bumboh!

We offered him chocolate .... no go!

We tried telling him the tooth fairy pays double time for teeth collected on a Sunday night...  Still no give!


We said we'd pay him ten bucks on top of the double pay he would pick up from the tooth fairy if he let us pull it out...... BINGO!

Like two overexcited little kids my hubby and I raced around to find some string to perform our extraction before he changed his mind. WHAT?? They do this in movies and tv shows ALL the time!

Having seen this procedure performed by actors plenty of times, we felt we were very qualified to have a go ourselves, we have just never had the opportunity to actually do it. Oh the opportunities that kids bring us.

So in case you ever find yourself needing to perform a DIY tooth extraction, just follow these ten simple steps. Or call me and I'll totally come and do it for you!

Step 1. Double check that the child is really agreeing to this as a screaming child would really ruin the fun.

Step 2. Tie a length of string to the loose tooth.

Step 3. Show your child the $10 bucks and remind him of the tooth fairies generosity.

Step 4. Tie the other end of the string to the door.

Step 5. Untie the string from the door and calm down one slightly nervous child.

Step 6. Whilst telling the child he is not at all a wus for changing his mind, proceed to remove the string from the tooth and accidentally yank the tooth out in the process.

Step 7. Laugh at the shocked look on your child's face and then look on as he dissolves into fits of hysterical laughter and squeals of "Show me the MONEY!"

Step 8. Take photographic proof of the extraction for siblings to admire and reward with appropriate levels of admiration in the morning.

Step 9. Take photographic evidence of a happy toothless child to show to any authorities that may question your parenting ability in the morning.

Step 10. Pay up!!!

Have you ever had a game of 'Let's be dentists' at your house?

Ok then have you ever bribed your kids with cash?

What's the going rate for chompers in your house?

Old Fashioned Hot Choccies you would Totally Shove your Kids out of the Way For!

There is something just so comforting and toe curling awesome about snuggling up on the couch on a cold night with a blanket, hot water bottle, a good movie and a steaming hot cup of Hot Choccie.

My kids happen to agree and as long as it has marshmallows, they are happy little campers.

I have tried all the instant Hot Chocolates and they are ok but it is the good old fashioned Hot Choccies that get me every time.

This is our family favourite best served with a family sized block of Cadburys. It's addictive - so don't say you haven't been warned.

Old Fashioned Hot Chocolate

• Tip 1 Mug of milk for every lucky drinker into a saucepan.
• Add 1 heaped Tablespoon of Cocoa per cup
• Sugar to taste
• A handful of Milk Chocolate buds
• Whilst that is warming load a few little wooden skewers up with marshmallows.
• Add a sprinkling of chocolate buds in the bottom of each mug

Once the mixture in the saucepan is starting to warm through, whisk for your life to create fabulous froth.

Pour the mixture into the mugs, distribute to all the eager takers and settle on the couch ready to defend your block of chocolate.

Enjoy!

Have you got any family secret variations on this that I really should know about?

Am I the only one that licks my squares of chocolate so no one steals them?

Kidspot Ford Territory Top 50: Childhood

When I first saw the prompt for this next post in the Kidspot Ford Territory Top 50 challenge - to write about a childhood road trip, I had visions of how this post would ideally play out. In my vision I was sitting curled up on my couch with my laptop, smiling wistfully as my fingers translated my memories into words.

I would pause as I closed my eyes and in my mind I was shuffling through a dusty old attic looking for a pretty little box I had lovingly stored away many years ago.

After some searching, I find what I was looking for -  a little box dusty and yellowed with age, but I can still make out the childish scrawl of the label -  Childhood Road Trips.

I reach in and pull out a postcard, it is just one among many in there. And as I gaze at it my eyes begin to mist over with nostalgia. A gentle breeze blows through carrying the sweet sounds of laughing children and it reminds me of my own brother and I as we giggled our way through the hours of our journey, safely buckled into the back seat of my parents car.

Oh Crap who am I kidding!

The cyclonic wind is whipping that damn dust into a frenzy and as I cough and splutter and gasp for air, I can hear the sound of my own sweet children as they melodically scream at each other, arguing over tech decks, the last packet of Cheetos and who's turn it is to hold the remote control.

So this post is not going to be all pretty and fluffy after all. And whilst there isn't many Hallmark moments in my story, I have a feeling that there are at least a few of you out there who will find a familiarity in my words that remind you of your own early childhood road trips.

When I was a wee one my parents used to take my brother and I camping at a a little place on the South Coast of New South Wales called Lake Conjola. We would spend our holidays swimming, bike riding, fishing, playing cards and just generally having a good old time. It was almost the picture of perfect family bliss. The drive there? Yeahhhh Not so much!


We didn't have a beautiful Ford Territory with a built in DVD player and sound system for entertainment, so my brother and I had to amuse ourselves with tormenting each other, attempted murder and generally just making the whole trip a miserable exercise in family togetherness.

I would do the old fake cry "Oh he just hit me" and he would counteract with the all time favourite "MUMMM She's looking at me again". I would ferociously protect my stash of Minties and peppermint life savers and he would be all "She's breathing my air".

We had boundaries that weren't to be crossed. Pillows would clearly mark out his space and mine, and any arm, hand or finger that dared to cross that line were fair game for punishment. Eye contact was a dangerous game of chicken and for my own safety I dared not look out the window on his side of the car.

Mum and Dad resorted to leaving for the trip at 3am in the morning in the vain hope that we could be gently persuaded to leave our beds and settle into our seats in the car all warmly wrapped in blankets and with pillows to lull us back to sleep. They held onto the hope that this would give them at least a couple of hours head start on the trip before the silence would turn into the usual bickering.

When that plan didn't work they turned to the assistance of the 80s equivalent of Travel Calm to knock us out.

Hey don't judge them, it was for our own safety and for everyone else on the road too. It worked and with us kids peacefully sedated we would reach our campsite with barely a whisper. Unfortunately for my parents, it also meant we woke from our slumber tired and cranky and unwilling to get out of the car and help set up the tent.

 

OK we weren't exactly the squeaky clean Partridge family but the lazy days swimming and bike riding around the camp grounds were enough to wipe any memory of the dreaded road trip from our minds, at least until it was time to go home.

So I don't actually have a lot of memories of the road trips themselves from when I was a child, not anywhere near enough to fill a whole post. But I do have very fond memories of the actual holidays and one of the things I looked forward to when I became a mum was for my hubby and I to take our kids on our own road trip.

We wanted to create our own family memories that our children would remember from their childhood, and recently we had the chance to do just that.

After hours of meticulous planning, we loaded the car up with blankets and pillow pets, personal bags of Minties, Mentos and Pez (cause life savers are so last year) iPods, iPads and DVD players.

At 3am we gently woke our 3 little boys from their sleep and moved them to the car and embarked on our 10 hour drive to QLD.

A couple of hours into the trip I recall looking into the back seat where my little angels were peacefully snoozing and with a considerable degree of smugness I decided we must be so much better at this road tripping gig than my parents were.

As we arrived at the obligatory Maccas stop for brekkie (cause every genuine road trip has a Maccas stop right?) we woke the little guys expecting sleepy smiles. Instead we were met with tired cranky stares that were dark enough to quickly wipe any smidgen of smugness off my face. If not for full bladders and the promise of a thick shake for breakfast we would not have been able to coax them out of the car.

And so with bladders emptied, legs stretched and tummies filled with a totally nutritious breakfast, the smiles once again reappeared and we confidently returned to the car and set off again.

As our kids sat quietly in their seats listening to their iPods, my husband and I held hands and smiled serenely at each other. We needed no words, with just a look we were silently praising each other for our awesome parenting and holiday making skills.

And then it started, albeit very subtly at first.

9 year old: "Can you please stop tapping my chair - its annoying me".

5 year old: "Well you're leaning on my chair and I don't like it!"

7 year old: "Can you both be quiet, I can't concentrate on my music"

Dad: "QUIET..... please!"


A few moments of blissful silence..........................


5 year old: "Stop moving around so much you're disturbing my Puppy (Pillow Pet)"

9 year old: "Well you're breathing too loudly"

7 year old: "WELL I CAN'T BREATHE CAUSE YOU'RE BREATHING ALL THE AIR!"

OMG it was like someone walked over my grave. A shiver ran down my spine and memories of trips to Conjola flashed before my eyes.

Determined to save this trip before it got stuck in a downward spin we tried distracting them with games of the modern day Eye Spy - Spotto.

"Who can spot a yellow car?" - SPOTTO! "

"Who can spot some roadkill?" "Eeeeewwww SPOTTO!"

But as we ventured further into the country side, the game of Spotto was quickly forgotten with the appearance of the first paddock of cows.

Suddenly the windows were down and 3 over excited little city boys were hanging out the windows screaming out "Moooooooo" and "BEEF BEEF BEEF"! Yup we are a classy bunch!


Whilst it was noisy, we decide to ignore the bemused look of the truckies and other cars as they drove past, and we allowed the kids to revel in their game of calling out to the livestock things like:

"We'll give you twenty bucks for your back leg" and  

"Helllllooooo Dinner" followed by fits of uncontrollable giggles.

It bought us about 10 minutes of distraction.

As we drove through a small town about 7 hours into the trip, with a 1kg bag of Minties all but a memory, at least 3 full loops of a Bruno Mars CD played and clear boundaries laid out with the help of some pillow pets, I instructed my hubby to pull in to the next town.
I resisted the urge to find a chemist and medicate them and decided instead to find a Dan Murphys and medicate myself.

Not long after we had continued on our way, the back seat banter took a turn for the worse and the dreaded car sickness set in. The patience tank hit empty and triggered a droning chorus of "Are we there yet?", "Are we NEARLY there yet" and "EXACTLY HOW much longer?" that carried on for at least 20 kms as they hovered their mouths over their sick bags. The same sick bags I had recently and rather brilliantly pinched from the hospital waiting room.

I attempted to bribed them with a game of "Whoever can stay quietest for the longest gets $10 bucks". That kinda backfired and I somehow ended up $30 bucks lighter and in debt for a couple of packets of Ninjagos.

FINALLY we reached our destination.

5 Weary travellers checked in to our hotel and 2 headed straight for the mini bar. (That would be us adults in case you were looking for DOCs number).

When I rang my parents that night to tell them we had arrived safely, I vaguely remember throwing a couple of "Sorrys" into the conversation. From their end there was probably a lot of confusion over my left field apologies, from my point it was all about guilt and remorse and a desperate bargaining plea to the universe to remove the karmic punishment that was being inflicted upon me by my kids on this road trip. Punishment which I presume was the course of justice in play for all the misery my brother and I had inflicted upon my own parents, shattering their visions of wonderful family road trips.

It's a legacy I tell ya - passed from one generation to the next.

When it came time to begin our journey home, we made a quick pit stop to visit Terry White. After explaining to the nice pharmacist that my children suffered from chronic car sickness (I may have over exaggerated a little) I gratefully accepted a little packet of silence in a pill - Travel calm.

In my defense the kids didn't get sick the whole way and my husband and I arrived home with our nervous system undamaged and our sanity reasonably in tact.

Whoever wrote the quote "Its not about the destination, it's all about the journey", clearly has never been road tripping with little kids before.

Either that or they own a Ford Territory with a built in DVD player and Entertainment system and a Bulk packet of Travel Calm.

******************************************************************

Have you checked out last weeks awesome entries from the Top 5? The post challenge was "A Day in My Life". If you missed out, you can check them out here.

BabyMac

Dannimezza

Lovely Living

Katrina from The Block

And me, Life Love and Hiccups

With only a couple of weeks to go in the challenges, I know we would all love you to vote for your favorites and earn yourself a chance to win the $5000 buckeroos up for grabs!
 

 

So tell me - Do you have fond or feral memories of road tripping as a kid?

Any hints to keep kids entertained on long drives?

Have you ever tried Maccas hash browns dipped in chocolate thick shakes or am I the last to know about this delicacy?

It's Impossible to be Friends with a Brick Wall!

image source

At what point do you give up trying to befriend someone before you have to accept that maybe they just don't like you and you will never reach them? It's a question I ask for myself as much as anyone else in the same boat and my children who inevitably will come across this dilemma in their life's journey.

I don't know if you have been there or not but for me I have always found that the way the game works is; generally you be nice to someone and they reciprocate. Simple Simon! But when they don't return the gesture, the feeling of being ignored leaves you hurt and wondering what the hell's wrong with me? For crying out loud WHY DON'T YOU LIKE ME?

There is someone I have been trying to befriend for a while now and despite what seems to be ongoing rejection, I have just kept on trying. I get nothing back in return for my efforts, barely an acknowledgement if I'm lucky. An now I find myself questioning why I keep trying when quite obviously they are choosing to not reciprocate.

Why am I continuing to bang my head against this wall when I know its gonna keep hurting?

Could it be a case of the old treat them mean keep them keen scenario, like when I couldn't help but crush on the biggest bastard in town when I was a teenager? I'm not saying that this person is particularly mean at face level, she is just ..... well nothing really and there lies the problem. How you can be hurt by someone who is doing nothing more to you than just kind of ignoring you?

Is it because I admire her? Maybe!

Is it because I feel we have so much in common, I would love to chew the fat with her and exchange thoughts? Could be!

Is it because she seems to be so elusive that I am drawn to the challenge. That would be insane, but perhaps!

I now find myself at the point I know that I really need to just walk away and give up for my own dignity, but there is still are part of me that keeps hoping I am wrong about her and that she is not really as obnoxious as she is coming off.

In place of the admiration I had for her, I am now left with a huge disappointment that someone I once admired could be so rude and exclusive, and I am angry at myself for thinking that I could have anything really in common with someone that is so full of their own self importance.

At what point does one become so important that they feel they don't need to show common courtesy to others. I must have misjudged her, and that makes it impossible to continue to admire her. In fact it had finally led me to the conclusion that I no longer WANT to be her friend.

I know you cant be friends with everyone ..... actually truth be told I didn't really believe it until now as I have never struggled so hard to reach out to someone before. But the reality is that rejection hurts and you can't help but look at those who they do deign worthy enough of their attention and make comparisons to yourself - you then try to seek out what it is about yourself that you are lacking or that they don't like.

Sometimes there are people who I see others be drawn to, yet from a distance I can't really see what could be so appealing about that person. They are rude - check! They are sarcastic - check! And wow they seem pretty damn mean actually - double check! But I can't seem to help myself - for some insane reason I WANT to get to know that person. I NEED to find out what it is about them that others like. WHAT am I missing at surface level? There just has to be something special there because surely people aren't friends with them for all the ugly traits they put on show.

Most of the time when I do get to know them, I am not disappointed. I crack through the hard shell and find that something special beneath. But maybe, just maybe, sometimes there is nothing all that special to find.

For 38 years I have skipped through life believing that if you are kind to others, they will be kind to you. You will get back what you put out and that no one is ever really truly mean at heart, it is just a facade they wear to protect themselves for reasons only they understand.

Oh Shut up Pollyanna ... Maybe it's time to Grow Up!

The problem is the Pollyanna is so instilled in me that I don't know how to switch her off. I actually WANT to believe that the majority of people aren't Assholes!

I know this is a bit left field for me as I am not particularly such a ranty person when it comes to these sort of matters. But sometimes the disappointment can be overwhelming and it just bubbles over and comes spewing out in little outbursts like this. I am kind of hoping that by allowing it to spew away and giving it have a voice to explain itself I can stop dwelling on it and move on. Besides everyone is allowed to have a mood every now and then and quite frankly I am choosing to have mine now.

I have often wondered why kids are sometimes so curiously drawn to particular kids at school - you know the ones who wouldn't give you the time of day. I have seen one of my own son's eagerly call out and wave to a classmate in the shops only to have that kid basically ignore him and I saw the hurt on my little guys face. It took all my strength to not tip that bratty kids slushy on his head. Instead I told my boy not to worry about it, you cant possibly be friends with everyone and it's totally brat boy's loss not yours.

I'm thinking it is probably about time I perhaps followed my own advice and realise I need to adopt the same 'Your Loss' attitude. Cause no matter how many times I bash my head against that brick wall, its still just a freakin brick wall and will never be anything else.

Have you ever experienced the pain of rejection?

 Is this just the most emo post I have ever written?

Have you ever tried to be friends with a brick wall?

 Do I have spinach between my teeth?

Linking for FYBF over at the gorgeous With Some Grace

I Wanna Write a Blog But Where The Hell Do I Start? Win a Fabulous Beginners Guide!

If you told me 8 months ago that I would be writing a blog I would have snorted my vodka and lime through my nose and looked at you like you had three heads. For starters I'd have been peeved that you made me spill my Vodka, but even more so I would have been confused because I had NO idea what you were talking about. I didn't even know what a blog was apart from one hellava weird word. Seriosuly say the word Blog out loud. Is it just me or does it sound kind of strange. Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog. Its one of those words that the more you say it the stranger it sounds .... or maybe that's just me!

Anyway I was in the middle of a story here and I did have a point. Sure I had some favourite websites that I religiously visited like I Heart Organizing and Woogsworld, but I had no idea that those websites were what you called blogs (sorry now I cant stop laughing every time I say blog!). They were just really cool websites that I had saved in my bookmarks tab on my computer.

I'm not going to go into the story about why or how I discovered what blogging meant and how I randomly decided one day to give it a go for myself, if you really want to know about that you can read about it here. This post is more about encouraging others who have thought about giving it a go, to just do it, just go for it.

Even now when I talk to some of my friends or family about blogging, they have no idea how involved I have become in it. It is not until I tell them about the gorgeous new friends I have met, sites I have discovered and opportunities I have had, that they realise that there is more to blogging than just typing words onto a website and hitting publish.

Blogging has a community and it is like a parallel world that I never knew existed. This community is made up by the most colourful and amazing people. Bloggers don't come in a one size fits all - there is something for everyone. They come in all the different flavours you can imagine, sweet, shy, bold, hilarious, obnoxious, witty, stylish, sarcastic, crafty, dry and just downright delicious. All these bloggers, from the most successful to the ummmm unique, all had to start somewhere. They had to put themselves out there, write that first post, hit publish and wait to see what could or would unfold.

Now I am NOT going to give you any advice at all on blogging as I am a total novice myself and am learning new stuff everyday. What I can give you though is the heads up on a fabulous new ebook by Louisa Claire aptly named How to Start A Blog - A Beginners Guide.

Louisa has been blogging for over 5 years so she has a wealth of experience. Aside from her gorgeous blog Louisa Claire :The Mostly Truthful Tales of a Suburban Housewife, She also runs a fabulous boutique Social Media Agency called Brand Meets Blog that specialises in brand and bloggers relations. You can stalk find Louisa on Facebook here.

Can I tell you - I so wish I had this book when I started 8 months ago. I could have saved all those hours of googling how to do this and how to do that.

Louisa covers everything from the basic What is a blog? To advice on what platform is most suited to you, the nuts and bolts of blogging and how to make your blog PR friendly.

You can purchase a copy of Louisa's book for a small fee of $8.00 by clicking here.

Louisa is also giving away a copy of the book to one lucky reader. So if you have toyed with the idea of starting a blog, or you're just starting out on your blogging journey or even if you already have a blog but need a little direction or want to get back to basics, you've gotta enter to win this one.

Terms and Conditions

• The competition is open now and closes next Wednesday 23/05/2012 at 8pm AEST.
• One lucky winner will be selected by Random Org
• This competition is only open to anyone from anywhere that has access to the internet.
• The winner will be announced here on this post and by email if you have an email address linked to your commenting profile.

To enter you just need to leave a comment on this post ... simple as that. You can earn a bonus entry for telling me how fabulous my stripy bed socks are. Not not really... I mean they are fabulous but you don't really get a bonus entry.

 So good luck and if you are thinking about starting a blog, don't even think about it ....

Just go for it and have fun! 

******************************************************
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER AS CHOSEN BY RANDOM ORG!

Sunshine n Giggles

OMG! OMG! I so wanna blog.
I've been wanting to start for 6 months. Took the 1st step & created my page & then chickened out....yep, maybe I just don't have the balls for it. I think my biggest fear is that who would want to read my crap?? Maybe I'll overcome my fear one day, who knows. Thanks for sharing your story though it has inspired me to possibly pull my finger out ;)

Why I Got Fired from Offspring and Other Fishy Tales!

I had a friend visit the other day and it was the first time she had been into my house for ages.
As we walked through to the back room for our cuppa she made a passing comment "You really like fish don't you!"
Ummm yeah I guess I do" I said but secretly thinking to myself what a weird thing to say.  
"Actually I like the whole beachy coastal theme" I added and then we left it at that.

It wasn't until last night that I was sitting on the couch watching tele and my eyes had wandered over to a driftwood fish thingy hanging on the wall, that I thought about that fish comment again. As I replayed that conversation in my head my eyes quickly moved across to fix upon a fish statue harmlessly residing on the TV cabinet and from there they darted over to the kitchen bench where a fish plate was waiting to be put in to the dishwasher. Suddenly everywhere I looked there seemed to be some sort of fish paraphernalia staring back at me with mean menacing eyes.

Somewhere in the distance I heard The Psycho theme song start playing, the lights started to flicker and all around me the fishes eyes started glowing. Struggling to breathe and overcome by the suffocating realization that my husband was morphing into a Tuna before my very eyes, I fell to the floor ...... OK OK that's a little too dramatic for this early in the day but HOLY COW can I tell you it seems that I do indeed live in a frigging shrine that not even John West would DARE to reject.

I had a dream about fish last night. Well actually I dreamed that I was given quite a big role on Offspring - I was to be Nina's long lost sister and I had a fabulous wardrobe and everything, but in my first scene I dropped the fishbowl I was carrying and consequently I got fired. I know - harsh right! It was only a fishbowl and the fish wasn't even real.... I don't think.....actually I'm not sure if it was or not .... maybe I should have checked. Anyway I was refusing to leave and was shamelessly begging them to just at least let me try on the clothes .......  WHAT??? I'm rambling again aren't I? I'm so sorry, I seem to do that every now and then.

OK what I was actually getting to before I seriously went off on a tangent, was this morning when I awoke, the first thing I thought about was all the fish in my house and mentally I went from room to room and realised my obsession had spread much further than initially diagnosed. Laughing hysterically to myself like a true looney, I grabbed my camera and embarked on a tour of my house to capture as many fish as I could find.

I had no idea! It seems I do indeed have quite a fish fetish. I mean I like fish and all that, and I um like to eat them, but I have know idea how I have managed to amass such a collection of fishy decor.

I have come to the conclusion that I was really more affected by that Barracuda eating Nemo's mum than I originally thought at the time and subconsciously I am creating a fish haven for all the orphaned Nemos of the world. Either that or I was a fish in another life and I am now surrounding myself with icons that remind me of the loved ones I left behind in that lifetime.

My hubby would probably just say I need to stay away from the shops for a while.

He may well have a good case this time.

 

Do you have any strange collections that you would like to share?

Do you think the producers of Offspring were a little harsh in firing me over a broken fishbowl?

Wanna make guppy noises and play Nemo with me? I'll let you be Dory!