March 2014Life Love and Hiccups: March 2014
Life Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and Hiccups

Monday 31 March 2014

It was One Big Pile of Poo... My Morning That Is!

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Can we just talk about mornings for a few minutes... for no other reason than the fact that my morning today was one big puddle of poo... which is a pretty accurate description of most weekday mornings in this house despite all the best efforts I put into making them run smoothly and relatively stress free.

I make lunches the night before and we hunt down all the shoes, uniforms, hats and bags etc and lay them all out for the kids for the morning.

We send the squids to bed at a reasonable hour the night before - however when you factor in the dozen or so treks back downstairs to ask for water, cuddles, muscle rubs, magic sleep potion and to just tell us something completely random that they forgot to tell us earlier - the use of the words 'respectable hour' in that statement is slightly misleading.

Let's take this morning as an example. We dragged the kids out of bed almost on time and they managed to get at least half of their clothes on before the meltdowns began.

"I don't like cereal anymore. Yes I do. No I don't. Can I have laksa for breakfast."

"These undies squash my bits Mum... I can't wear them, squashy undies aren't good for bits you know!"

"Where is my shoe? He threw it at my head and now I cant find it. WHERE IS MY SHOE!!!"

"These socks suck... I hate socks.... all my socks ARE SO ANNOYING... I"M NOT GOING TO SCHOOL. I QUIT SCHOOOOOOOOL"

It didn't improve when we left the house either.

After we were finally in the car and on the way to school, we had to turn around and come back home to pick up forgotten homework.

When we eventually made it back to school with homework in tow, we found that not one but TWO big bumholes were parked in the kiss and drop zone which meant everyone was banked up and trying to maneuver their way around buses and morning traffic to drop the kids off. To top it all off a couple of rangers were there booking people amid the confusion.

I somehow managed to get myself into a heated argument with a bus driver, a ranger and one of the bum holes that in the parked car.

And all of this was before 9am.

Vodka and Valium may have crossed my mind more than once during this time, as did running away to Bali.

Did I mention my morning was one big pile of poo?

How do your mornings run?
 Are they like the TV ads where everyone is smiling an laughing over a jug of freshly squeezed juice or does your loving family act like everyone hates each other and you  just want to quit the day before it has even begun?

Any tips fr a smooth running morning you can give this Mum who thought she had it all together but clearly doesn't?


Friday 28 March 2014

Weekend Rewind Blog Hopping Party 8 - And Why I Want To Slap You!

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I should start by saying that it's not YOU I actually want to slap... well I hope not, unless you are the lady from the park the other day in which case my hand would be really starting to itch about now at just the memory of you.

Let me go back a step because I'm guessing that at this moment you are probably all "OMG what the F### Sonia, I pop in to say hello and join in with the party and you are threatening to slap me you psycho cow" ... or something like that.

Can we just for a minute talk about those people who give you 'The Look' cause they are the people I really want to slap. They are the ones who watch on as your child does something naughty, rude, cheeky or _____ insert whatever here, and when you turn to them red faced with embarrassment and looking for a little moral support, they do the pursed lip eyebrow raised eye roll at you.

YOU KNOW???

I mean seriously, how hard is it to give a little freaking support to a fellow mum when her kids are being little turds in public. Is the humiliation of looking like you have done a shitty job of raising a respectable member of society seriously not enough???

The other day I was at something for one of my boys at the park and I had dragged my other two tired cranky ones along for the ride. They were hungry and whingy and bored out of their brain, so to try and curb the whining for just a little while I reached for a trusty box of chicken shapes from my bag. One of them - the crabbier one of the two - snatched the box of biscuits out of my hand.

I know right!

I wasn't happy about it, in fact I was majorly pissed at him for being so rude and snatchy - but I was also embarrassed that he had just done that to me in front of other people. And so I turned to the women sitting on the bench next to me looking for geez... I don't know, maybe a little moral support or something?? And she freaking pursed lip eyebrow raised eye rolled me.

For Real!

I wanted to slap her.

No bull. I literally had to sit on my hands to stop them from doing their own thing and reaching over and whacking a little colour into HER self righteous cheeks.

Now I don't condone violence, unless of course a big hairy huntsmen has entered my car whilst I am driving and then I'm totally all "KILL the bastard", but this women made me so furious and when coupled with the child induced humiliation, I really REALLY badly wanted to slap her face.

But I didn't. 

Instead I sat there with my head hanging in shame and I sulked.

Why do women do this to other women? I mean really, how hard is it to show a little moral support to a sister in need?

Alright... enough of my moaning. You came here to party, not to listen to me talk about my compulsive need to slap an asshole or two.




There were so many great posts in last week's link up that I had SUCH a hard time picking just a few to mention. I love the diversity of the bloggers linking up and I love seeing you guys comment on each others posts - as that's the spirit of these linky things isn't it? Getting to know and support your fellow bloggers.

Renee at MummyWifeMe  could have written this post FOR me. It's all about how somewhere along the line she has forgotten how to sleep and spend her nights doing other stuff instead of sleeping and then wakes up feeling like crap etc etc... Sound familiar? Yep me too. Oh and if Renee gets 50 likes on her post she is going to write a Mum's version of Go The F### to Sleep! I so wanna see that!



Em from Have a Laugh On Me has started  #ProjectCalmDownMum  where she sticks post it notes everywhere in places she will see when she would be most inclined to lose her shit. The notes remind her to calm down and Em is encouraging us all to join her in the post it movement. I for one say HELL YES!

Here's mine...



Vicki from Shoppe Girls Styling  is encouraging us to accept that as we get older our bodies change and we to love ourselves for who we are and how our bodies have served us. We can do this by wearing what makes us feel good about ourselves and comfortable. I am so into that!

Emily from You Learn Something New Every Day revisits those age old Why? But WHY? head beating against a brick wall conversation with our kids, and why "Just Because" is a perfectly acceptable answer... thank heavens.

And Annaleis from Teapots and Tractors had my OCD heart doing flip flops over her colour coded Lego storage system. For REALS. Colour coded Lego storage! I know right! It's something I literally dream about.... that and having some Lego eating monster enter our house over night and eat every last single frigging piece of pain inducing Lego.... Ahem.

Thanks to everyone who linked up with Bron and I know I tell you this every week, but we really do get such a kick out of you linking up with us.

Rightio, me and my itchy palms are off to a girl's night tonight. Thankfully there will be no pursed lip eyebrow raised eye rolling for me to worry about .... I hope.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Have you wanted to slap an Asshole lately?



Link up your favourite post from the past week and then pop around and say hello to some of the other lovely linkers. The Weekend Rewind blog hopping party starts every Friday night at 8pm and links will close on Sunday night at midnight. Link up here or over on Bron's blog (Maxabella) your link will show up in both places.

Thursday 27 March 2014

It's Really Not That Hard After All!

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This Post is brought to you by The Australian Tax office

Alright, I am the first to admit that anything that involves money typically causes my eyes to glaze over and I get a little twitchy action going on.


Any talk of tax, banking, bills and super all evoke the same kind of response from me and I’m all Blah Blah Blah and start desperately searching for a bucket of sand to stick my head into.


Throughout all my years of corporate slavery I never gave much thought to my super. I mean I had a super fund and my employer put money in it for me – what else was there to know?

The only thing I worried about when it came to my super was whether I was supposed to actually read those big report thingies they sent me every 6 months or so or should I use them to line the bird cage?

Before I had kids, I vaguely recall putting in a little extra super every month on top of the standard payment my company made for me. I didn't really do it because I was super-efficient or anything even as remotely honorable as that. I mostly did it so I could steal a bit of extra time ogling the hot young super guy at my work whilst I filled out the salary sacrifice forms.

After I had kids, I went back to just the normal company contributions as I figured I needed any extra cash I had to feed those hungry beings that were demanding food from me at least 6 times a day. Besides retirement was still at least 150 years away and so I thought it was better for me to focus on putting money into the mortgage instead.



It’s only lately – now that I’m a grown up and sort of sensible and stuff that I have realised the importance of super.  I mean there isn't much point in being 80 with a gorgeous home and then having to sell our beloved home because we are money poor and need to eat occasionally.

Did you know that the average woman’s super payout is around 43% less then men’s? Mainly because even in this day and age, we still typically earn less than our male counterparts and then many of us take time out of the workforce to have babies. No work means no super being banked.

But rather than just feel ripped off by the financial difference between men and women, I think we women owe it to ourselves to sort out what super we do have… don’t you?

Last year after I quit my job, I was sorting out all the money stuff and I did one of those Super Seeker Searches. I discovered a forgotten super account from my early twenties and it had over $10k in it. 

OK so $10k isn't going to feed, clothe and pay podiatry bills until I turn to dust, but $10k is $10k and I’m pretty sure that’s a nice chunk of moolah for an old duck to have at her disposal.

Seriously though, as parents we focus on putting money into savings for our kids, but we also need to put a little thought into how we are going to support ourselves in the golden years. Unless we are totally loaded (which I’m not) or we give birth to a mini Packer who will support us when we are older (which I didn't) then we need stop putting our super in the too hard basket and sort it out.

As I am now self employed, I have no hunky super guy to tell me what to do with my money. I figure putting at least 10% of my earnings into a super fund and then doing a yearly health check on my super at the same time as I do my tax, will make sure I keep track of where I am at and whether I need to make any adjustments.

This super thing - It’s really not that that hard, I just made it more daunting in my head than it really is. But then I typically do that with anything financial.

You can follow this easy 5 step super check to make sure your super is sorted and to help you do whatever you can to grow your pot so you have enough to do the things you want to do when you finally get around to retiring.... in 150 years :)


Have you got your super sorted or is it sitting in the too hard basket?


Wednesday 26 March 2014

Would You Like An Eskimo With Your Ice?

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These little things you cannot hide from ... they are literally everywhere in our house! Caught in the rugs, on the driveway, in the toilet and between the cushions on the couches.

Judging by the amount of mum's arms I see adorned every day with these things, I don't believe they need much in the way of an introduction really. But for those who have been hiding under a rock or have kids who don't yet know about them - these money sucker things are designed by the devil and sold to innocent children as magical Unicorn poo... just kidding ... kinda...

They are rainbow looms and my kids like millions of others, are obsessed by them.

We have been through many an obsession over the years. Go-gos, bey blades, tech decks, trading cards, crazy bands, might beans. I could go on and on but I won't because it makes me weepy and emotional when I think about the amount of money I have been coerced into spending on this crap and how most of it now resides in the bottom of the playroom toy baskets or on a heap at the tip.

Thankfully though this fad seems to be funding itself courtesy of one small entrepreneurial child I have been blessed with.



Yep this is the child of mine, the one who takes uneaten food from the pantry and packages it up to sell to the neighbours and unsuspecting people walking down our street.

He is the one who takes my bottles of Soda & Lime that I buy to accompany my vodka, and sells it by the cup load to thirsty people who don't even know they are thirsty until they are convinced to hand over their dosh by a kid who knows his selling techniques better than he knows his alphabet.

This is the kid who sells a car wash for $20 bucks and you have to provide the water and the car soap and then cons the neighborhood kids into doing the work under the disguise of "fun".

You get the idea - this sweet child of mine could convince you that you need to buy an Eskimo to go with your ice.. or something as equally as confusing yet astoundingly convincing as that.

So his latest venture is flogging these bracelets he makes to the kids at his school.

He conned me into buying his first pack of bands for $3.99 and he worked out he can make 20 -30 bracelets out of each pack, depending on his design. He then on sells these bracelets to his school mates for $1.00 per bracelet or $1.50 for the sparkly or glow in the dark ones.

He doesn't care if the kids are only buying his designs to pull them apart for the bands... he's already moved on. He has made his money, has enough to reinvest in supplies and is now lining up at the canteen to feed his rice cup and icy pole addiction out of his own pocket.

I asked him if he felt guilty about the exorbitant mark up he puts on the bangles and his answer was "Nup". Simple as that - "Nup"

But upon further discussion about what exorbitant means, the risk of being undercut by a competitor and worst yet the potential of getting busted at school for using school time to run a business - he disappeared to work on a plan and I headed to the liquor cabinet for some special Mummy coping cordial.

The next day he came home from school and informed me he had a new business model. He now donates part of his daily profits to the Project Compassion jar at school. He proudly informed me that aside from being charitable and helping needy people, he also gets 2 reasons to smile (individual student rewards), 20 bonus points for his table in class to use on free time or to win snakes which makes him very popular with his class mates AND he still makes a healthy profit.

For The Win!

"It felt so good Mum" he said.

"What did?" I curiously asked.

"Giving back to the community" he replied before heading back to his room to stock-take and work on building his inventory.

Yep this kid will go far.

Are your kids into this rainbow loom craze?
What fads have you been conned into handing over money for recently?


Tuesday 25 March 2014

That All Consuming Rush of Love

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I apologise in advance for the sappiness of my post today.. actually that's a lie as I'm not really sorry at all.

Sometimes there is a moment where I am so completely overwhelmed with love for my children and my husband that it literally takes the breathe out of me. It's an all consuming desire to hug them and tell them how I love them with every bit of my being.

I know you know that feeling - you don't have to have kids or a husband to know that feeling. It could be an overwhelming love for your partner, your pet, a friend or a parent. Heck it could be for the taco you are about to devour. I'm not judging.

For all the times the males in my life reduce to me to frustrated tears, there are those precious moments where the insane love I have for them totally overcomes me and I could just eat them up.... in a good way of course... not some weird kind of Hansel and Gretel kind of thing.

All it takes is for them to say something kind to me when I need to hear it the most, or the offer of help when I least expect it.

It could be that they show their loyalty and protectiveness through the way they support me and reach for my hand when they can see that something or someone has upset me.

A simple drawing of us made with so much love will do it to me, as will a look of pure pride on their face when I tell them how happy they make me.

Watching a friend suffering heartache over a sick child or seeing the grief of a parent or one half of a couple who is dealing with an unthinkable loss never fails to ignite a rush of love for my own children and husband. At these times I often feel a desperate need to be in my husband's arms or to go into my kid's rooms whilst they are sleeping and just sit with them in grateful silence and soak up their beauty .

A quiet moment where the kids are playing together peacefully gets me every time and so does overhearing kind words spoken to each other in the back seat of the car when they think I am not listening.

The sound of my boys roaring with laughter with their Dad gets me every . single . time.

What ever the reason that evokes that moment of pure all consuming love for someone or something, I say embrace it. Grab it with both hands and feel every magical ripple of that love. Breathe it in and let it fill your soul with utter gratitude.

I'm so incredible grateful right now, for so many reasons.

Here's to beautiful all consuming overwhelming love.

Who are you grateful for right now at this moment you are reading this?



Monday 24 March 2014

The Dining Room Makeover Reveal

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This post is brought to you by Taubmans Endure

I have been dying to makeover our dining room for like 50 years.

Ok slight exaggeration, but the red wall had well and truly done it’s time and needed to be retired. We have had it for at least 7 years which was probably at least 3 years too long in my opinion.  Once upon a time I loved it, a time when I was infatuated with burnt rustic colours. However these days I have been having an affair with bright colours and I have been desperately itching to attack that red wall with a bucket of paint.

Problem was I couldn’t decide on a colour.

Every time we went to the hardware store I would come home with numerous paint swatches, most of which ended up being used as gift tags or made into confetti. I just couldn't find THE colour, the colour that would sweep me off my feet and make me fall madly in love.

Shaynna Blaze the Taubmans Brand Ambassador and Colour Creative Decorater came to the rescue with this advice for me;

"In my experience, I’ve found that the secret to using colour successfully in the home is to make it personal.  Take the time to re-engage with colour and find the hues that connect with you personally.  It’s important to find colours that excite and engage you as it’s you and your family that has to live with them.  Start off by seeking inspiration for the colour palette you want to create.  This inspiration could come from nature, your favourite colours, travel, animals, your artworks and furniture and even the characteristics of your home. "
And so doing as I was told, I headed straight over to Pinterest for some inspiration. When I stumbled upon this picture I saw stars. 

THIS was it!



I had found the colour, my dream colour, but now what?

How does one even begin to figure out what that colour is or how to match it from a picture on Pinterest?

It’s pretty easy when you know about  one of the most awesome tools a home decorator can ever have in their bag of tricks – the Taubmans Paint your own Room app on their website.

First of all you upload your inspiration picture and the app will match the various colours from your picture to a colour from the Taubmans range.

Then you can use the app to virtually paint your room in your colour choices, so effectively you get to try before you buy and be confident about your colour choice and how it is going to look right in your room.
Here’s my room experiment.


After I shared this on Facebook, the vote was a unanimous "yes" to the jade colour I had fallen for and so the decision was made – Jericho Jade it was.

Now anyone who knows me in person knows that I am not the most patient person in this world *cough cough understatement*. When I want to do something, like rearrange the furniture in the house, I usually want to do it like Right Now! The fact that it is frequently after midnight when I decide to do it is just a mere detail.

This project was no different in its urgency and so the paint was ordered and the next available weekend was locked away to carry out the transformation.

I should mention about now that I am a MASSIVE The Block fan, and the whole weekend I was painting I was also pretending I was on actually a contestant on The Block.

Hey whatever floats your boat right?

I was worried about the red paint showing through so I gave the wall two coats of Taubmans primer before taking to the wall with another two coats of the Jericho Jade.

Add in the accidental chairs and a couple of new DIY neon artworks to compliment the wall colour and Wham Bam thank you Dan – the makeover was il-finito.


Umm yes in case you are wondering – those dining chairs are the ones I accidentally clicked buy now on and then also just happened to accidentally enter my credit card details to confirm my purchase… oops, my bad!





Are you feeling all inspired now to tackle your own makeover?

I hope so, because now would be the perfect time to tell you about this…



As an added incentive to get you to pick up a paintbrush and treat your home to a makeover, Taubmans are offering over a $150,000 in prizes including $500 Bunnings vouchers for the first 100 entries. And if that’s still not enough to get you moving – how about $12,500 Major cash prizes and a grand prize of a photo shoot and magazine spread of the winning interior and exterior makeovers.

All you need to do to enter is;
  • ·         Register at www.taubmans.com.au
  • ·         Buy a can of Taubmans Endure from Bunnings and keep your receipt
  • ·         Paint either an interior or exterior wall of your home, at least two square meters in size, using Taubmans Endure
  • ·         Upload a before and after photo of your painting project to complete your entry, by 26 April 2014

 Child’s play right? Right!

So come on my fellow block heads, find your colour and start painting! As for me I’m off to admire my new wall for 759th time and figure out which is the next room to makeover.

Let’s have one more look at the before and after shall we? Yep we shall!





*Taubmans Endure is the only interior paint with a lifetime guarantee. On top of that it has the Nanoguard technology to provide maximum protection and superior washability. Now that’s clever paint!

Do you have a room needs a little makeover in your house?
Are you brave with colour?

Friday 21 March 2014

The Weekend Rewind Blog Hopping Party 7 - Yo Birthday Boy

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Hey Yo, there's a birthday boy in the house!

Yep 7 years ago (tomorrow) this little dude burst into our world and brought with him a whole lotta noise and a whole lotta sunshine.

From the first gummy smile he was dubbed the smiling assassin as he could win over even the hardest of hearts with that grin. He smiles with his whole face and it just radiates and affects anyone lucky enough to be close by. That smile as cheeky as it is, is a gift that will get him far in life.

Flynn is our little firecracker whose every emotion is amplified by about 50 times that of his brothers. He is energetic, fearless and as individual as they come.

I love that about him - his individuality. He wears it proud and doesn't give a damn as to whether he is deemed cool or not, because he is his own kind of cool and bugger the rest of the world if they don't like it.

I hope he never loses that quality about him as it is awesomely contagious. He is the type of kid that makes me want to dance when I know I can't, he makes me want to walk against the tide even though I know it's hard and he makes me want to throw my arms in the air and shout "HELLOOOO WORLD - ARE YOU READY FOR ME???"

7 years old and he has taught me so much about life already.

Happy Birthday Scoobs!

Alright so let's get this week's linky party started. Here's some of the fabulous posts from last week's link up that I wanted to share with you;


I loved Tahlia's (The Parenting Files) 5 Quick and Easy steps to staying healthy. She makes it sounds so easy and really it should. I now have no excuse not to take a little better care of my body.


My heart goes out to my beautiful friend Trish (My Little Drummer Boys) as she faces yet another battle. Her courage and the strength she shows is beyond inspiring. It is not fair though that one has to prove their strength over and over again. Our prayers are with you Trish.


I was reminded yet again just how much I long for space to spread my family out and to do awesome things like Brenda (13 Acres) has with making her own compost system on her beautiful property. One day... one day!


Jodi (JF Gibson) had me reminiscing with her post about what I thought I would do and be when I grew up. I used to spend hours dreaming about all the different things I could do with my life... and when you are young there are no such things as obstacles.


After reading the hilarious Mumabulous's post I went on to have a dream where I was being chased by a dragon along a pink beach. Normally I would wake up and go "Pffft dragons and pink beaches - as if!" but that shit is real. Oh and apparently so are husbands who can build amazing pieces with furniture with their own hands. You HAVE to check it out!


Thanks to everyone who linked up with Bron and I. We love having you every week.

Alright I have a birthday cake to get organised. Thankfully this birthday boy of mine invited his Nan and Pop for his birthday dinner and instructed them to bring the actual dinner with them. That kid has it sussed don't you think?

Have a fabulous weekend!


Link up your favourite post from the past week and then pop around and say hello to some of the other lovely linkers. 

The Weekend Rewind blog hopping party starts every Friday night at 8pm and links will close on Sunday night at midnight. Link up here or over on Bron's blog (Maxabella) your link will show up in both places.





Thursday 20 March 2014

You Are Bloggy Awesome! - Just Some of The Blogs I am Currently Crushing On.

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It has been a while since I shared some of the fabulous blogs in my blog reader and I thought it was about bloggy time I gave you an update on some of the blogs I have been crushing on lately.

I used to do this more often as it was my way of saying thanks to these gorgeous bloggers for allowing me into their lives and into their world. It was a way I could show gratitude for their inspiring words, stories and photos and it is also my small way of introducing these fabulous blogs to anyone who has not yet had the joy of discovering them for themselves.

So without further fuss and nonsense from me, here's a couple of bloggy awesome blogs I have been reading lately.

Zanni's words often leave me in a state of emotion. She writes so beautifully and in a way that inspires me to want to be there myself to experience whatever it is with her.
She has the most gorgeous gentle heart, is an incredible mother and role model to her two gorgeous girls and she is a published children's book writer to boot. If she wasn't such a beautiful soul I'd totally be intimidated by her awesomeness.
Read her for yourself here and you can thank me later.


Champagne Cartel is written by a a fabulous group of friends who also happen to be working women. They are led by a hilarious chick Carolyn. Their site is about you, ways to make your life better and to banish the guilt we Mum's often load ourselves down with. They are even running a competition to encourage you to have more 'me time'... like I needed any encouragement :)
When I first read Carolyn's About Us page where she says "Honestly, if I see one more discussion online where women are telling other women what terrible women they are, I think I might have to tender my womanly resignation" I knew right then we were going to hit it off.
Go and see for yourself what I am hyping up about here


Kirsten is a blogger I have only recently had the pleasure of finding for myself and she describes herself as someone who avoids exercise, eats chocolate and drinks coffee. Oh I like her!
OK she does other stuff too but she had already won me over with the first three.
Her blog is such a bright and happy place and one of those kinds of blogs you love to visit for a laugh and a bit of self deprecating humour. Oh and she's into The Real Housewives series - need I say more?
Check out Kirtsen's site over here

Oh Carla, you came into my world with your witty sense of humour, beautiful words and photos and beguiling blogging style and for that I thank you... and then you declared your love of Vodka and I simply fell in love.
Whilst Carla is only a relatively new blogger, she is doing incredible things. If ever there was a time to say "Watch this space" it is now. Look out blogoshpere, there's a new gal in town and she is going to blow your mind.
Check out what all the fuss is about over at Carla's blog here.


Now I don't think my name sake needs much in the way of an introduction because if you haven't yet discovered her fabulousness for yourself then you have been hiding somewhere you shouldn't have been.
Sonia is freaking hilarious which isn't really fair because as well as being funny she is also drop dead gorgeous and could make a sack cloth look desirable.
She loves fashion and home wares and shopping and she even offered to show me her boobs - I mean what's not to love about this girl! She and I share the same wicked sense of humour and I suspect she could possibly be my sister from another mister!
Find out for yourself why I am infatuated with this chick by visiting her blog here.




Brooke is a total sweetheart and also knows a thing or two herself about shopping up a storm. She also has a very handy talent for curing hangovers... that's not really what I like about her though.. well OK I do, but there is bucket loads more of awesomeness to love.
Brooke is yet another gal with a wicked sense of humour and she makes me laugh. I like people that make me laugh and she has impeccable taste in music too - although I am getting a little stressed about deleting all the iTunes bills from my email before my hubby sees them - thanks Brooke for exposing us to such desirable music NOT! :)
Go get sucked into Brooke's world for yourself at her blog here.



Oh man I could go on and on. I was writing down blog names that were coming to mind as I typed this out and my list just like my reader is HUGE.

I'm thinking I may have to do this a little more regularly than I have been because dammit - these bloggers are too bloggy good not to share.

Whilst we are sharing the love, why not tell us about a blog or two that you are loving at the moment so that we can get a little piece of the action too. Come on sharing is caring - cough it up!

I'm in the middle of updating my blog roll so if you have a blog now's the time to de lurk so I can be sure to include you!




Wednesday 19 March 2014

A Massive Mindful Moment... or 10

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When things get hectic around here I have a habit of flicking on the autopilot switch and just going through the motions without much thought. I react in the spur of the moment, too busy to over-think anything and then I allow myself to dwell on my decisions later when it is less noisy.

I've harped on about how I am on this path of self discovery at the moment, and in my ongoing pursuit of peace and the perfect ommmm I have been focusing on being more mindful lately.

Now contrary to what all the text books say about how true discovery happens during quiet meditation or reflection, I have learnt potentially some of life's biggest lessons in this past week, not when I was quiet and in a meditative state.... I mean quiet and meditative states don't really exist in this house... nope - these lessons came to me when I was smack bang in the middle of 'a moment'.

A case in point was my epiphany head smack moment that occured last week whilst I was in the middle of a mid strength huff and puff tanty. I was in a hurry with 2 kids in tow and I needed to get cash out of the atm. The guy in front of me decided to check the balance of every freaking account he had, which by the number of cards he kept pulling out was a lot and I was getting ready to crack him a real doozy for being selfish when people were clearly waiting.

The kids weren't fazed by the waiting but they were confused by my sudden turn of mood and right then I realised that how I respond or react when I am in these moments is important to my kids as they are learning from me how they should react themselves if they ever find that they are in a similar situation.

For example...

How do I cope when someone is being selfish and hogging an atm? Do I passive aggressively huff and puff and stomp my feet or do I remain calm and politely remind them that others are waiting?

How do I cope with the stress of a busy workload. Do I fall in an exhausted heap, admit defeat and pretend I am in a coma or do I take a breath, make a plan and soldier through?

How do I feel after I have screamed in anger at the kids when they go nuts and completely out of control. Do I wallow in guilt or failure and report myself to the parenting police, or do I apologise to them and ask for their help to find a way to get their attention that doesn't involve me screaming like a banshee in future?

How do I react to the awful things I see on the news? Do I live in fear, build a fort or a bunker and hide from the world and hope that we are never affected by these things? Or do I bravely accept the reality and then do what is necessary to protect myself and my tribe whilst I go on enjoying my life?

How do I show those I love how I feel about them? Do I sit in silence and hope that they know how I feel or do I seize the moment and use my voice and my actions to show them?

How do I respond when someone is rude to me? Do I mentally stick both rude finger up at them but stay quiet and just take it or do I stand up for myself and tell them how they made me feel and that it is not cool or acceptable?

When I don't agree with someone and my opinion is completely different to theirs, do I let them talk me into the believing that their way is right and mine is wrong, or do I have the courage and conviction to respectfully disagree and stand by my own beliefs?

When I am scared of judgement, do I act like a sheep and do whatever it takes to avoid it? Or do I do my thing and accept that how others see me is their issue and not mine to deal with?

These squids of mine are like little sponges who know no different than the examples I set and the realisation of just how ginormous that responsibility is has kind of taken me by surprise. It shouldn't be a surprise to me at all. But it sorta kinda was.

Rather than beat myself up abut this though, I am going to notch it up to another life lesson. I now realise how important it is to remain mindful during the crazier moments life throws at us, and my eyes are open to just how much I also owe it to my kids too.

Do you ever crack it in front of your kids?
If so - do you beat yourself up about it?
What techniques do you use to try and remain calm and in the moment?