April 2012Life Love and Hiccups: April 2012
Life Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and Hiccups

Monday 30 April 2012

The One Where My Ass ate 4 Kilos !

Pin It I am sitting here writing this post rugged up like a ball of wool and stuffing my face with hot apple pie, cause it's cold and hot pie is permitted on a cold night right? Right!

Actually I totally shouldn't be eating pie on a cold night or not because can I tell ya I put on 4 kilos on my holiday. 4 Frigging kilos! All the cocktails and restaurant food was bound to catch up with me and it most certainly did, right on my backside!

It doesn't help when you are traveling with friends who are the most amazing cooks. If you are ever on the Northern Beaches Sydney - you HAVE to check out Cantina at Mona Vale, not just cause the guys who own this restaurant are some of our bestest friends ever, but their food is to die for!

We rented a gorgeous Beach House in Byron together (the first of our now annual holiday) and after eating out every night on the Gold Coast we were more than happy to kick back at home and stuff our faces with their home cooked delights and caipirinhas (I hope I spelt that right Marlos!).

If you think I am kidding, look at the faces of the kids below, not a single one of them could take their eyes of the food as they waited for Simone to dish it up.


So apart from eat what else did we do on holidays?? We drank! (ummm der) and we had massages, ohhh yeah baby the massages. We found this gorgeous little Thai Massage salon on the main street and treated ourselves once the boys got back from surfing. That was kind of how a lot of the holiday went actually, the boys went surfing then came home to take over kid wrangling whilst us girls headed out to shop or get a massage or shop a bit more.

You see I have a confession, when I visit a place I like to totally absorb myself in the culture - In other words I am the biggest nerd and in this case the biggest wannabe hippy hipster. So what does one nerd do when one said nerd visits Byron you ask? Well one has to don a tye dye dress (Oh yes I did!) have a spiritually cleansing massage and walk barefoot through the farmers markets - except I wasn't totally barefoot, but sandals count right?


I could get very used to the laid back lifestyle in Byron, it has such an intoxicating atmosphere about it where everyone just seems so calm and zen.

I love people watching and this is a fabulous place to observe the widest variety of characters and waste hours wandering through the gorgeous shops and galleries. There is a place about 3 kms out of town called The Byron Arts and Industry area and it is here you will everything your wallet will hate, from home wares to clothes designers, surfboard manufacturers and artists.


On the road you travel along to get to the art and industry district, we passed a caravan park that had a big sign out the front saying SINGLE NIGHT Camping here! I seriously nearly busted a vertebrae straining my neck to have a good look at the love fest going on in there until my hubby could breathe enough after a laughing fit to tell me that the sign actually meant you didn't have to stay there for more than one night to get a campsite and it was NOT an invitation for all the singles in Byron to come and play tent swapsies. Ohhhhhhh...... well I thought ....... you know, we were in Byron and ........ moving on!
 
I'm not going to bore you with any more about this holiday cause I know what its like, its a bit like being forced to sit down and watch Uncle Barry's slide show of bird sightings from 1954 - it's super interesting for those who have been on the holiday, but not so much anyone else.

So the next lot of photos are more for my mum and dad's sake to see what we got up to. My gorgeous Mum and Dad read every post of mine bless them - Everyone say Hi to my Mum and Dad.

P.S Thank you to the creator of the Car Sickness Tablet - Travel Calm. We discovered this gem as we began our journey home. Not only were the kids not sick - it knocked em out cold! I feel travel calm slushies coming on next holidays..... That was a joke ..... ok that was a bad joke...... please don't call docs on me, I sing really good lullabies.

P.S.S Thanks for the advice on how to stop my son from taking his  Hash Pipe Genie Lamp to school for news, he is happily convinced that someone else might rub the lamp and steal his wishes from the Genie so it is safely stashed away at home. If you are from DOCS really I am not worth your petrol to check me out, I'm just a bit naive at times.


P.S.S and S I am now eating my second serving of Apple Pie - thank Heavens no one needs to see me in a cossie for a while now!

  I didn't share any of this either mum but I was all classy like and didn't do my usual trick of licking it all so no one touches it. I just growled at anyone that even looked sideways at it.

 We actually shared this *ahem* along with two other decadent deserts.
You can almost see all 4 kilos that now live on my bum on that plate alone.
 
  







 
  
 And a couple of pics from my phone.


 
 

Have you been to Byron? If so what did you think?
Do you immerse yourself in the local culture too?
Do you own anything Tye Dye?
What some Pie?

Thursday 26 April 2012

Cocktails, Mocktails and G Forced Breasts - All on a Family Holiday!

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So we decided to do a runner these school holidays and took a road trip from Sydney to the beautiful Gold Coast for 3 days of Theme Park hell torture fun (Said with totally gritted teeth).

Ok it wasn't that bad, lining up for an hour for a 2 minute ride certainly gives one plenty of time to think, contemplate the greater things in life, plan a 5 year, 10 year and 20 year life goal and oh OK the excited laughter from the kids was kind of worth it too. Heck I even rode the Scooby Doo ride 4 times! Yup 4 times and I didn't even need my arm twisted - it was all of my own choosing and yes I did my hysterical screaming laugh at every single corner even though I knew what was coming by the second ride.

Can I just tell you though, road tripping with 4 males is a very smelly ride and despite the numerous bags of Minties that were devoured it did nothing to make their farts smell minty fresh.

Despite the kids taking their iPods with them, the noise of the three of them singing different songs all at once was just too much for these loving parents to cope with so we gave in and allowed them to play their 100% Fresh Hits and Bruno Mars CDs over and over and over again. Who needs One Direction when we were driving Australia's next big boy band to QLD.


So they have a little way to go yet until they are signed up by a label but I think they show promise. ha ha.

Staying at Sea World meant that every night at 8pm our kids stripped down to their boardies and jumped around like hooligans to the Sponge Bob Light / Water Show. Now that odd little sponge dude is kinda funny anyway, but seeing dozens of kids singing along with all their hearts "Aye Aye Captain" almost made me want to strip off and join in....almost....ok not really, I was super content spectating with my cocktail in hand.



Lord knows how, but my ten year old even managed to convince me to go on the Jet Ski ride at Sea World with him. I seriously had no idea how fast that thing takes off, had I known I would have worn a super sports bra and not such a baggy top.

Apparently the G Force impact on my nearly forty year old breasts meant I was at risk of becoming a side show attraction myself and I was lucky my puppies didn't end up back in Sydney before me with all that super fast motion.


Yes that's me checking that my puppies are still there after we got off the ride.

We were lucky enough to be on holidays with some of our Besties and somehow (damn I wish I knew how we actually pulled that one off) we managed to convince the hubbies to take the boys to Wet and Wild whilst we hit up Versace.

Wowsers that place is special and I just know I could get very used to hanging out by that pool Kardashian style, but I am just not so sure my bank manager would agree with me on that one. Damn it - how can such a little thing like money come between me and a fabulous Versace lifestyle!


Even though it was 10 am we decided that in true holiday spirit we just had to sample the cocktail menu, cause it was Versace Cocktails after all and the name Versace was all the headlining they needed to convince us. (no it's not an oversight that I am obscenely overusing the word Versace in this paragraph, I just really like the way it rolls off my tongue so easily like we belong together)

Sadly, as we perused the cocktail menu we realised we had no idea what any of the alcoholic ingredients actually were. Seriously they were names we did not even remotely recognize. There was not a single Daquiri or Mojito to be seen on that menu, so we played it safe and went for the high tea instead. How very ladylike of us - bahahahaha!



Queensland certainly knows how to turn on a sunset and despite the rain that fell we were treated every night to this spectacular show to watch as we lazed around sipping our cocktails.



Ahh yes the cocktails, I'm afraid I have turned my little metros into cocktail fiends except they went with the mocktail variety. The fact that they have zero alcohol in them didn't stop them from telling anyone that would listen that "Mum let's us have a cocktail before bed every night". After explaining for the 50th time to the taxi driver on the way home from dinner one night that they were MOCKTAILS for heavens sake ..... I decided to give up and just go with it. We all know The Mother Of The Year Award passed me by many mistakes ago so what did I have to lose.


And so it was with a fond farewell we left the Gold Coast to head back down to Byron Bay. Man I love that place - but that's a whole different story to tell on my next post.

Want a hint of things to come? Well when one is in Rome (or Byron in this case) a wannabe hippy hipster just has to buy Tie Dye. I know right - Be warned!

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Oh Crap, I Accidentally Bought my Son a Hash Pipe!

Pin It Well helloooo there, I'm back all daquiried out and super relaxed (kinda sorta) after our family holiday.

I thought I was so clever and savvy by having a whole week of posts lined up for my blog whilst I was away on holidays, but somewhere somehow, something went very wrong in my programming and I ended up with one very lonely post aptly titled "Cause You're an Asshole" with no actual content. Maybe it was the universes way of telling me I'm the asshole cause in my rush to get away on holidays I completely stuffed up the scheduling thingy, or it could be a tribute to the story behind today's post.

Anyways thank you for your lovely messages and tweets with concern following that post, it was just a bit of a rant at all the assholes of the world and I promise to reschedule it for another time when I am in a crabby mood.

I'll be sharing some of the highlights and hiccups of our trip this week but today I wanted to tell you why I definitely WONT be winning that Mother of the Year Award any time soon.

Whilst we were in Byron, we decided to take a trip up into the hills to the little hippy haven known as Nimbin. The kids decided they wanted to meet some real life hippies and in the car on the way they each insisted on telling us what those hippies would look like.

Flynn (5) "They have big hair and round glasses"
Sam (7) "They wear rainbow clothes and say Yeah man alot"
Kai (10) "They play bongo drums and don't wear any shoes"

Hmmm stereotype much kids???


To be fair though, they weren't far off the mark. There were plenty of Big deadlocked haired colorfully clothed bare footed characters for them to ogle, but instead of saying "Yeah Man" we had them saying "Weed, Cookies"???

Sammy grabbed at my hand after we were approached by one guy offering us cookies and said "Mum I like cookies can I try a Hippy Cookie"?
Ummm no Sam, you won't like their cookies".
"Why not"?
Ok think on the spot mum...
"Cause um they have walnuts in them and you don't like walnuts".
"Ohhh yeah I don't like walnuts!"

Phew crisis diverted.


Whilst the kids were devouring ice creams I went in one of the big colourful shops called Hemp Embassey where I was approached by a woman called Delight who told me straight out off the Cuff I was a Witch! A Witch??? I have often entertained the idea of a career change, but a witch wasn't really high on the list of must dos.

Yup apparently I am an ancient Celtic Healing Witch who has been steered off course this lifetime by a non believing husband. Okiliy Dokey!

Sammy unbeknownst to me had come into the shop and was marveling at the treasures. He picked up a little Genie Lantern and begged me with his big pleading eyes to buy it for him. How could I refuse a little guy a magic lantern. So I purchased it and felt all full of Good Mummy Karma.

Delight, the lady who owned the shop could not stop oohing and ahhing over Sam and his precious purchase and so a Kodak moment occurred.



Later when we were in the beer garden of the pub having a drink I proudly showed my hubby and friends the Magic Genie Lantern I had purchased Sammy.

My husband totally cracked up and spluttered out the words "Congratulations hun, you have just bought your son his first Hash Pipe".

Shit! Shit Shit Shit! How did I not know this??


On the way back to the car, Sammy proudly told his brothers he was going to take his magic Genie Lantern to school for show and tell.

We have yet to come up with a reason why he absolutely CANNOT take his special treasure to his conservative little catholic school for news. But I figure I'm a witch, I'll come up with something to get us out of this one.



Have you ever naively bought a souvenir thinking it was one thing and found out it was something entirely different?


Are you a witch too or have we met in a past life?


Got any advice on how I'm gonna get us out of this show and tell pickle, just in case you know my magic spells don't work?

Monday 16 April 2012

A Cool New Hang Out for my Boys - Toyroom Makeover

Pin It As you read this, I am currently being dragged from one theme park to the next. That's right this little old family of ours has flown the coop and we have gone on a road trip to Queensland and Byron.

I didn't want to leave my blog to get all lonely and gather dust, so I have scheduled a couple of posts for the week. So I'm here but not here...if you know what I mean.

Anyways today I am finally revealing my playroom makeover. It has been in a semi finished state for some time now, but it was the small details I hadn't gotten around to, like labels for toy boxes and hanging pictures on the walls.

The boys are very lucky to have a playroom to themselves, but the older two tell me I am no longer allowed to call it a play room as that is for little kids. Hmpfhhh not sure when seven and ten became so grown up.

The 3 of them decided (the older 2 totally railroaded Mr 5 into agreeing) that they wanted a more mature room to hang out in and have begged me for ages to do a makeover in there. Previously it was all brightly coloured IKEA furniture and bright paintings that I agree was originally done when my boys were 6mth, 2 and 5 so I kinda get why that was so not cool anymore.

Lucky for them, I love me a good room makeover and as long as I had the final say in the design (which of course I did), I was happy to oblige.

The colour theme they picked? Black, Grey and white. Totally workable and wont show up their grubby little tracks. Can you say Happy Mummy???

So here it is, the finally finished "Hang Out Room" formally known as the play room.



The rug was from Deals Direct and the couch from Fantastic Furniture.

 IKEA Expedit Shelves and a Sierra Desk from Office Works. The little cube stool is also from Office Works. The pin board was an old corkboard I covered with some grey material I had left over from another project.

These little boxes were from Flower Power. They have some fabulous homewares that are really well priced.
 The labels I did up in excel and laminated and cut out.
The French piccies were from Bed Bath and Table and the strip canvases I bought from a $2.00 dollar shop and covered with fabric.


The curtains were from Spotlight and the lamp was from Target.
These wicker cubes were a bargain at $12 each from Kmart. I think I bought my local store out of stock.

I am happy to say the boys absolutely loved it and were so grateful for their cool new space. They have since spent hours hanging out in their new "Hangout Room" and surprisingly enough, they keep it pretty tidy too. Oh be still my little OCD heart, could I have finally house trained them?

I am giving Wonderful Weekends a little break for a while. Its not gone for good, but it may get a little face lift in the near future. A Huge Thanks to everyone who has been playing along, it has been awesome having you here each week.

But tell me - have you got any tips for keeping a play area neat and tidy?
Come one cough em up......pretty please........

Friday 13 April 2012

Holy Moley Is that the time???

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I have a weird habit when it comes to the end of Daylight savings - Yeah I know I have a lot of weird habits don't I (actually spare me the humiliation and don't answer that).

If your new to this site, feel free to check out some of my weirder traits here and why I say Weird is the new Black!

So I was saying...weird traits... yes that's what I was saying! I was going to tell you about my little Daylight Savings trick I have. It is totally bizarre and typical of the way my mind works but stay with me on this.

You know how you turn the clock back at the end of Daylight Savings and you score an extra hours sleep in (if you are lucky), well my trick is I don't turn the clock back. Bahahahaha -yes I am totally laughing at myself and my geniusness (is so a word!).

You see I leave the clock beside my bed set at the old Daylight Savings time so every morning I wake up in a complete panic for all of five minutes and then I realise I still have an extra hour to curl up and go back to sleep.

Isn't that just the best feeling when you realise you don't have to get up yet? Please agree with me so I don't look like a total dork.

It only lasts a couple of weeks and then the novelty kinda wears off or my hubby gets sick of my clock saying the wrong time and changes it himself. But for those few extra weeks of blissful sleep ins, it is so worth me being labelled a moron.

See aren't I full of bright ideas?

OK I know it makes no sense at all really and I am totally fooling myself and delaying the inevitable that I just have to suck it up and get up. Most likely I am just being a lazy ass - but hey it works for me until such a time that I win the lottery and I can sleep in every day.

Do you have any weird habits like this?

Did you used to go to sleep with your school uniform so you got a few minutes extra sleep in the morning?

Have I just totally lost the plot and need to visit the padded white room? 


Please share with me so I can show my hubby that he is not married to a complete weirdo.

Tonight I am linking up with the beautiful Maxabella Loves cause I am totally Grateful that I can trick myself into an extra hours sleep each day. I may be weird, but I am most definitely grateful!

Thursday 12 April 2012

Bright Button Toys Sponsor Loving and a Gorgeous Giveaway

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I am incredibly lucky to have some fabulous sponsors that support this blog and one of them is a totally Gorgeous Online Toy Store - Bright Button Toys.

These guys have the most awesome range of toys for kids of all ages and they cater for children with special needs too.

Their range includes everything from Educational toys to Musical toys, Train sets, Puzzles,  to good old fashioned Role play sets like little Kitchens and Puppet Show Stages. There is something for everyone and better yet, they are all so well priced and top quality.

Here is just some of my favourite picks from their range.

See I told you and I am only just scratching the surface.

Amanda Hawes is the Owner and Director of Bright Buttons and she is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist.  She works closely with children and parents in areas such as learning and school achievement, age-appropriate development, and emotional and social wellness.

All items stocked by Bright Buttons Toys were chosen based on quality, reputation, providing a high level of education and learning, and uniqueness.  They don't generally stock toys and gifts that are available in large chains or department stores. A large majority of the toys are wooden and are going back to the more traditional toys that encourage imagination, fun and play.  

They have a blog here and a Bright Buttons Facebook Page too. They are always having fun sales and specials so be sure to like them on Facebook to stay updated. They regularly post and share great ideas and it is just a really fun site to check out.

Bright Buttons also have a 15% off sale on their gorgeous Dyles range that lasts until midnight tonight 12/04/12 so make sure you grab yourself a bargain!

WIN WIN GIVEAWAY WIN WIN

And just for you guys cause they know how special you are, Amanda from Bright Buttons is giving away one of my lucky readers this adorable Pull Along Dog.


Terms and Conditions

Competition is open to Australian residents only
The winner will be selected by Random Org.com
Competition is open now and closes at 6pm 17/04/2012. 
The winner will be announced on this post right here on my blog and Facebook and will have 7 days to contact me to claim their prize.

Step 1.    Like Bright Buttons on Facebook - Click here to follow the link

Step 2.   Click here to visit the Bright Buttons Website and tell me the name of this Gorgeous Pull Along Dog.

A Huge thanks to Bright Buttons Toys for Their On Going Support 
and Good Luck to every one for the Giveaway.