June 2017Life Love and Hiccups: June 2017
Life Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and HiccupsLife Love and Hiccups

Friday 30 June 2017

A Not So ADULTY Thing To Do

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Deadset you guys, I think I have been more adulty in the past few weeks than I have ever been in my entire adulty life to date and honestly... I've never felt like such a phoney.

I half expect to look in the mirror and see a little person staring back at me, a little person all dressed up in her mum's high heels with a face full of blue eyeshadow and red lippy, a dozen strings of pearls hanging around her neck and a glow mesh Oroton slung over her shoulder.

Except I don't see that... partly because you will never see me in heels 'cause I can't walk in them to save my life.

Instead I just see me.

All 40 something years of me.

OK, so I know that in theory, getting married, having kids and buying a home are all very adult things to do and have done, but the past few weeks have upped the stakes and have seen me and the hubby dealing with car accidents and insurance companies, finance brokers and commercial real estate agents, super fund experts and financial advisors, doctors and grown up tests and grown up waits for diagnosis of grown up medical conditions.

That's a whole lot of grown up stuff.

To top it all off there has been that family situation that has demanded of me; sensitivity, patience, common sense (all very adulty kind of traits) and not to mention a bottle of hair dye to cover up the rapidly appearing (adultish) greys.

Throughout it all, I've just been standing here waiting for a proper adult to walk into the room and say "It's all good Sonia, the adults will take it from here", but that adult has failed to turn up and so I am forced to be as adulty as my non adulty heart can fake.

***Sigh***

You see in my head I am still somewhere between 16 and 25 years old and not a day older.

I think my brain kind of stopped ageing some time about 20 odd years ago but my body and my life just went full steam ahead not even realising that my mind was standing back there waving it's hands going "hey.... HEY... did you forget something" and now suddenly, here I am pretending to be an adult in a big old adult world.

I might look the part, but inside I'm feeling like a scared shitless teenager taking the wheel for the first time... and quite frankly I miss the ease of just being a kid.

Yesterday I woke up with an overwhelming urge to rebel and do the most unadulty thing I could possibly do.

Well, not quite the most unadulty thing, but as unadulty as I could manage to pull off given I had 3 kids in tow.

And so I did this...


Yep that would be a diamond nose stud in my snozzle.

I KNOW RIGHT???!!!

Who am I?

What, why.... I have no idea!

The thing was, as I was sat there in the chair with a stick of Betadine shoved up my nose, the kids had their phones stuck in my face ready to film me and the nice lady was waiting to stab a hole in my nose, and the first thought that came into my mind was "Oh shit, what will my parents say?"

My parents!!!

Here I am a parent myself doing something very unparent like in front of my OWN kids and I am worried about what MY parents would think???

HILARIOUS!

It felt good.

Like RIDICULOUSLY deliciously good to metaphorically stick my finger up at adulthood and let my mind act it's age for once... well the age it thinks it is.

And so that's how I came to have a nose piercing. A completely random, out of character and so not adulty nose piercing... and I luuuuurve it.

P.S so um Mum and Dad... *cough cough* what do you think? Dare I ask?

How old are you in your head?
Ever done anything to purposely NOT act your age?

Header Image source: UnSplash




Friday 23 June 2017

Do you Believe in Signs?

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Artwork by Pete Cromer

Do you believe in Angels and in the signs they send you?

I do.

I don't talk a lot about my spirituality here on the blog, which is weird I guess considering it is such a big part of who I am or at least - who I have become.

Maybe it is because a lot of what I believe in, others would possibly see as a whole load of whickety whack, which when I think about it...  is really dumb that I should even care.

I am what you would call a spiritual person - but you can't really put a label on my belief system. I sort of subscribe to a universal kind of spirituality.

I believe in angels and energy, in karma and power of positive action. I believe that there is something far greater than us and I can't tell you how much relief that notion gives me.

I identify with what you would call "the good parts" of many different religions, the positive and the nurturing side of all religions be it Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, paganism... just to name a few. However,  as soon as a religion sparks fear or judgment or condones suffering in any form... you've totally lost me.

So someone I love has been going through a really tough time lately. Like REALLY tough.

That person is one of my children and I can't actually say that without a sob escaping my lips... it truly breaks my heart.

It is not my story to share with other people though and as much as I crave the release of writing about it, it is not mine to tell.

What I can tell you though, is that my heart has been feeling pain like no other pain I have ever felt before. My every thought and every breath is consumed by it and as any mother who has ever worried about a child (which is pretty much every mother EVER) will confirm... that worry is possibly one of the heaviest burdens a human could ever be expected to carry.

And so last night as I lay awake in bed thinking about everything, I asked the angels for help, which is something that anyone who knows me knows it is hard for me to ask for... but I did it anyway and I asked for healing and protection and for some extra help to carry us through.

Now the thing about Angels you see, is that they tend to give us signs. Have you ever thought of someone you have lost and then a butterfly randomly floats by or a feather just magically appears? Or maybe you have been wondering if you are on the right track, or have you made the right decision about something and then a number sequence appears like 11:11 on the clock?

I believe they are signs, just a bit of an "Oi, we're just doing this to let you know we are listening to you" kind of message from the angels, and sometime those angels can have quite the sense of humour in the way they deliver those signs... case in point below.

Last night, when I finally fell asleep, I had a dream that I was somewhere in a park with my family... maybe on a picnic or something? I can't be sure as those details are a bit hazy. What I do remember though is that a Rainbow Lorikeet flew down and landed on my shoulder, followed by a whole load of them landing on my head and all down my arms and I can clearly recall the sensation of them on me and the sound of my kids laughing.

I don't remember much else about that dream... except for the birds, but then this morning when I was sitting in the cafe outside my studio having a coffee, I spotted two Rainbow Lorikeets feasting on some bread scraps someone had left behind.

They reminded me of my dream and then suddenly they squawked and took flight. One flew to my left and the other... the other flew so close to my head I could feel the wind from its wings on my face.

It was sign... albeit a cheeky one, a sign that in my heart told me that things will be ok, a sign that the angels heard me last night and were telling me that they have our back.

Whether the lorikeets this morning and the dream I had the night before is purely a coincidence or a real life sign... doesn't matter really.

It is whatever I believe it to be and that in turn it gives me so much comfort and hope.

At the end of the day, isn't that all we can hope to gain from whatever form of spirituality we subscribe to... a little comfort and hope?

I believe so.

Happy Friday lovely people and to any of my fellow mamas whose heart feels heavier than usual today - I am sending you so much love and light.

Do you believe in Signs?
Have you ever received one so perfectly timed that it took your breath away?


Tuesday 20 June 2017

Winter Schminter; Love it or Leave it?

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When people tell me that they love winter, I kind of want to stab my eyeballs out with the sharp end of a severely charcoaled marshmallow roasting stick.

I should make a point of saying,  just in case you happen to be a devoted winter lover... it's not you... it's totally all me.

You see, in my world, winter sort of sucks bulls balls.

I have all these romantic ideas of winter and they are beautifully bound up into something like one of those special coffee table books people often have on display... only my pictures are in my head rather than laid out on the coffee table.

Think crackling fireplaces (fireplaces that don't actually make the house smell of smoke), big chunky cable knit jumpers (the type that won't make me look like a hippo wrapped in a ton of Cotton wool), and fluffy mittens clutching hot cups of cocoa under the twinkly lights (cocoa of course because I'm pretty sure that a king size tin of Nesquik wouldn't feature in a fancy coffee table book).

Come to think of it... I think I may have pinched all of my idealistic winter ingredients straight out of a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie or something.

Sounds pretty darn cosy though right?

I should probably mention that I usually start putting that romantic winter picture book together waaaaayyyy back in January, when the weather is like fifty zillion degrees, when the ice in my cup melts so damn quickly that it dilutes my G&T faster than I can drink it, and at night when I am doing to the muggy night toss to the beat of my hubby's mozzy slapping.

I can totally see why people fall in love with the idea of winter, it's just that it never quite lives up to my expectations.

Come winter, my bones are aching, the kids wobble somewhere between feral because they are bored with being cooped up and feral because they have miserable colds from running around in no clothes in minus 100 temps (modest exaggeration duly noted). The sun sets too early, the mornings are too cold, and the constant smell of dampness out near our clothesline reminds of me of musty old motel rooms and my car that once stunk to high heaven after the kids left the windows down during a storm a few years ago.

Things just don't ever seem to run smoothly for us in winter either.

June and July never fails to deliver us a dose of bad luck... but then on second thoughts...r maybe that's because I have come to expect it from those months and so the universe being so giving and all that doesn't want to disappoint me and even chucks in a set of free steak knives in the form of... no... I don't even dare to give it any ideas.

I'm a Spring kind of gal through and through. The new green growth, the smell of blooming Jasmine, the hint of a warm breeze and the promise of stinking hot zillion degrees days and mozzies to slap.

Did I mention that I turn into quite the moaner during Winter? You know, in case you didn't happen to notice and all that.

What about you?

Are you sold on the whole romantic notion of Winter Schminter or does it leave you feeling a little ripped off too? 




Wednesday 14 June 2017

Hemorrhoids, Zappos and Mummy Meltdowns

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Image Source


Grab a cup of coffee or join me in a glass of coping cordial and come and sit down for a bit of natter.

If it's alright with you, I'd like to whine chat about the kids for a moment because honestly... I think mine might be out to get me.

No like REALLY, I think they are doing their best to send me to the loopy lock up.

You think I am kidding right?

I know, you are probably sitting there thinking to yourself "Sonia has gone and drunk the Conspiracy Kool Aid and now she spends her days running around with tin foil on her head because she thinks that aliens can't read her thoughts"... wait... I am a bit of a sucker for a man in green... do you think they really can read our minds?

I digress.

But I am not kidding.

I wish I could say that I am kidding, but I am deadset convinced that they have some kind of devious plan to trick me into signing myself into a padded hotel so that they can skip the nightly routine of arguing over showers, homework, chores and bedtimes.

I feel like we are arguing a lot at the moment. Like ALL the time, and about stupid things too.

For example, it took me no less than 11 requests (and some begging followed by a meltdown) for my kids to do their dog poop duty this afternoon. In the end I resorted to bribing one of them to do it by stealing and trading 3 Zappos from one kid and giving them to another.

Their bedrooms are a pigsty, there is clean still folded T'Shirts in the dirty laundry basket and the dishwasher conveniently went through two cycles before it was unpacked. To top it all off I found my Scholl foot file thingymajiggy under a pile of scrap papers on my youngest offspring's desk where he had been using it to make pencil shavings.

PENCIL SHAVINGS????!!!!

Some days I might be all about the silent fist pumping and self congratulations on my awesome mothering skills. Then other days I'm not.

On those other days.... I find myself questioning whether I have somehow managed to break those perfect little children that I willingly broke my pelvic floor in childbirth for, or... have I in my quest to have children who actually like me, become some kind of lame ass pushover who unknowingly led them down the garden path and straight into Turdsville where they have morphed into... little turdy people???

Now don't get me wrong... I love those children.

I love them HARD.

In fact I love them so much I would punch a billion people in the face to protect them.

But after the argument I had just today with a pant missing teen (the 'missing pants' were hanging in his cupboard in case you were wondering) and the argument I had with the ridiculously tired and cranky tween (It only took until midnight for him to finally go the f*** to sleep last night) it would be fair to say that yes - I love them, but I just don't like them... right now.

Oh kill me now, I went and said those cliched old mum words - "I love you, but that doesn't mean I have to like you".

'Gah!

But it's ok right? Because we can not like our kids for a little while but we do still love them.

I know that hiding underneath the snarling teeth and stink eyes, they really are good kids, it's just that clearly, every now and then (cough cough) they like to dress up and masquerade as cranky little hemorrhoid inducing turdy people.

And then... just like how haemorrhoids one day just go away... so too does the turdiness and I am reunited with my nice children again and we will be all smiles and hugs and double shot hot chocolates. with Zappos on the side.

OMG, I just compared my children to haemorrhoids... forgive me... it's has been a particularly rough day.

Anyway, my point is... well I don't actually have a point really except to let you know that if you ever find yourself having a rough day, week, month or year on the old parenting front... you are not alone.

You are SO not alone.

And next time you find yourself wanting to shove your shopping trolley into a litter of nicely behaved siblings traipsing along behind a glowing happy looking mum... remind yourself that she is smiling because she is so darn relieved that her turds have departed and she has her nice kids back again... after all, that's the only reason she would be brave or insane enough to go to the shops with all of them in tow... right?

Either that or the kids have been bribed with Zappos and she has self medicated herself with a Valium Mocha Latte.

Whatever gets you by I say.

Have your kids been to Turdsville lately?
Any tips for getting a 12 year old to go to sleep that DOESN'T involve Phenergan?


Thursday 1 June 2017

Bloggers On The Loose

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I've only just realised that I have had this post half written and sitting in my drafts from a few weeks back and I totally forgot to hit publish on it. 

I'm tempted to blame my recent lobotomy performed by a pack of ferocious little aliens... but that's not a very nice way to talk about my children so I'll just have to shrug my shoulders and plead insanity instead.

A couple of weeks back I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel for the 'In Cahoots' event with Mum's Society with some of my fabulous fellow bloggy mates Beth (BabyMac) Kayte (Mrs Woogs) and my beautiful friend Kate (Uberkate).  

We spoke about all things business, blogging, life and parenting... well our take on those things anyway, and I had an absolute ball... I mean, how could I not given the most excellent company I was in and the laughs we had?! 

The highlight would HAVE to have been Beth's impromptu rendition of Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby. That woman gives the Ice man a hell of a run for his money. 

The event was also an opportunity for us to catch up with so many awesome women including the familiar faces we got to catch up with again and those who we had only ever spoken with online but were thrilled to finally meet in person.

In fact, so much fun was had by all of us that we got to thinking that maybe taking a road trip together would be a hoot and so we are going to look into an excuse to take our four (wo)man circus on the road to meet more awesome peoples... watch this space.

The Mum's Society brunches are organised by the fabulous founder Kylie Ostle and are such a great excuse opportunity for us women in Sydney to get together and be inspired by each other and the online community is a wonderful way to support each other through our work / life juggles. 

The next Mum's Society brunch is on the 28th June with guest speaker Talitha Cummins who be sharing a little insight into how she has managed her very own expectations of Maternity Leave and set about rebuilding her confidence after giving birth to her son. 

Believe me when I tell you that you will have a fabulous time - whether you go along on your own or with a friend.



I'll leave you with a couple of photos of the event taken by Blumenthal Photography, but please do leave some suggestions in the comments below as to where we should go if we do manage to get this circus on the road.

For the record - I only realised after seeing some of these photos that I have a very Italian way of waving my hands around whilst I talk... despite the fact I don't have a drop of Italian DNA in my very Irish bloodline.

Go figure!