An operation on my little girl...

My beautiful 3 year old girl, Princess Marley Cakes (just Marley), is having surgery on her umbilical hernia on Friday morning... For the past few weeks I have completely put it out of my head, but now it's close... I am trying to be practical, pack a bag, get her some new toys, talk to her a little about what's going to happen, but my emotions are super close to overtaking my sanity! She asked if it was going to hurt and I just wanted to cry, while I put on a brave face and explained what is going to happen...
Things like this, or UK X Factor, just bring me to tears... Since having children, my hard arse filter has completely disintegrated... I am left with a bit of a basket case emotional state - all the time! Mark is coming to Cabrini with us, so at least if I feel my resolve start to waiver, he can do the 'hold it together' part...
Marley requested 5 pink toys to play with after hospital, she got 6, but not all pink... Trying to kill this pink addiction a little! Can't wait to read her the fairy tale pop up books, but we will have to keep them away from Mace the Demolisher (just Mace)!


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Crayola Outdoor Coloured Bubbles

These are awesome... Was just strolling around the toy section with the kids at Target and as usual I cruised the crayola section and these were new... I bought them thinking it might kill a half hour some time... Only $3, usually $4 I think, and once we got in the fun began!
Purple bubbles adorned our grass, while the ink from Marley popping them covered her hands, speckled her hair and brought a massive smile to her face... I blew bubbles for over half hour and used about half a bottle... It all washed off in seconds once we were done... Highly recommend!











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Recycling glasses!

Just a quickie...


While going through a bunch of stuff in our kitchen drawer the other day, I stumbled across a rare few pairs of my old glasses that werent smashed up or washed away to sea (yes, this really happened), so I set about finding a way to recycle them...  The Lions do it, http://www.lionsclubs.org.au/recycle-for-sight/ just send them off to 
Lions Recycle for Sight
PO Box 3021 
CLONTARF MDC 4019


Mine are all packed up and ready to go...  Feels good knowing that rather then them wasting away in a drawer long forgotten, they might help 3 pretty blind people in Africa...  Do you wear glasses?  Where are your old ones?  Please find them and recycle them, every little bit helps!

Soup, soup, soup, soup...

It's getting chilly here in Melbourne, so it's time to crack out the soup recipes! Last night we had an amazing potato and courgette/zucchini soup, it was just divine! Sorry no pics, two sick kids and soup for dinner did not make a picturesque meal time! I did end up with green soup in my freshly washed hair...

It did however, make me want more soup! So I am making a roasted green pepper/capsicum soup for us tonight and for the kids a roasted sweet potato soup, as Marley is anti 'green things' at the moment so two nights in a row of green soup might just be too much... It's all roasting away as I type and was wondering if any of you have any delicious soup ideas? I mostly just freestyle, using whatever veg is there and add herbs/spices to suit...


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Mistys Diner... Yumyumyum...

Sorry I haven't been around so much lately... My cousin is here from Cairns with her family, so it has been all about the fam lately! We took time out from the kids last night to go out for dinner at Mistys Diner with a dear friend I don't see enough of...

Mistys has become our date night dining spot, on the rare nights we get to go out for dinner, we love it there! It is heart attack on a plate food, but is damn good too! I usually have the western burger, when I find a good thing I tend to stick with it... Lately I have found myself unable to finish it, so tried something new last night, the meatball gourmet roll... It was freaking amazing, they gut the roll and fill it with delicious meatballs, cheese and their wicked smokey BBQ sauce, with a shared side of curly fries, it was exactly what I wanted! I have never out BBQ sauce with meatballs, but they are onto something there!!!

Topped off with a diet A&W root beer, yum! If you haven't been to Mistys, you need to go there!



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Dave Grohl Nothing Left to Lose - Michael Heatley

Put simply: I am a fan of the Foo Fighters, Nirvana and of course Dave, if you are a fan of this man and his bands, you must read this...

The nice thing about this is it's pretty fact based, not much speculation, and when there is, it isn't conveyed as fact... A nice mostly professional history of Dave, nice to reminisce on all of the brilliant music he has made... I do love a bit of personal life gossip, but am glad this book didn't have that, made it feel more credible! Like I said in the beginning, if you are a fan, read it!



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Hart of Dixie Season One

This show was an immediate addition to my viewing rotation because of Josh Schwartz and Rachel Bilson... In the beginning I wasn't certain but soon became addicted... A lovely little show that doesn't require too much attention or thought, but brings pleasure when I watch... No spoilers for the finale as I know Australia is a bit behind!

All I can say is I don't get the George thing, Wade definitely has it!!!


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Raising Boys (book) - Steve Biddulph

As you may or may not know, I have a 3 year old daughter, when she turned 2, I gave birth to her baby brother... I always thought that boys and girls were the same, it's all about nurture... And after a year of having baby Mace, I see now that I did have a point, but you can't argue with biology...

This book has helped greatly with refining my ideas and feelings about having a boy... Boys can be soft and sweet, as I type this on my iPhone, Mace sits on my lap playing with my hair and face singing along with some nursery rhymes, but Mace also has this soldier mentality, he likes to do things, climb up everything, throw himself around, get a bit more physics then I am used to with Marley... Raising Boys helped explain the biology and chemistry of boys so I better understand Mace's needs, and I feel that it is the sort of book I will return to as he grows and I need some guidance in guiding him... Not to say he can't enjoy his bubba, or his ponies, but his needs are varied!

There is a lot of talk about teenage boys in this book and I can see why... As a girl, there was always talk of 'becoming' a woman, and what that means, and I think boys need more of this, more talk about what it means to be a man... But I am sure there is plenty if time for that later, for now I will just enjoy my sweet, soft, robust, soldier baby!


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The European Cafe Restaurant

The European
161 Spring Street, MELBOURNE

My BFF was in town so a few of us went to The European for brunch... It was recommended everywhere I went to have the Eggs Benedict, so I did! Great choice, the eggs were cooked to perfection and the hollandaise sauce was divine! All 3 of us agreed that it was a great breakfast! Only downside foodwise was my fresh squeezed apple juice, it was sour!!!

They don't take reservations for weekend breakfasts, but just as we walked in a table was available, on the proviso that we take less than an hour and a half, which was fine with us... The service did feel like they just wanted to get us in and out, but the food is what made it worthwhile... It also had lovely decor, very cosy place to eat...


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Equal Love Rally Melbourne State Library 12th May 2012

I have been meaning to show support at these last few rally's, but things always seem to be happening on the dates... I made this one a priority, went down after brunch with two of my best mates and we stood in the cold with a couple thousand other people and listened to the speakers... For the most part it was interesting, witty, touching and definitely made me feel even more amped up about a cause that is extremely important to me... We didn't stay as long as I would have liked because Tracey didn't wear sensible shoes, but I was still glad to have been there and shown some love...











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Las Vegas state of mind...

If you don't know, we are planning a child free trip to Vegas next May... It is a year away, but the minute the flights are booked I can start my official countdown... Whenever I am having a bad minute/hour/day with the kids, I fantasize about it... Remembering how much fun we had there on our last trip, and how lovely it is going to be spending time with my lover without our beautiful babies in our not to distant future!

I have started preparing, reading tripadvisor Vegas forums every night over my hot chocolate from Mark before bed... Looking at all of the things that have changed in the years since our last visit, researching clubs, pool parties, shooting ranges... To say I am excited is an understatement! I even bought a couple of items online that were delivered yesterday, to help me get in a Vegas state of mind... I know it's too early to think about packing, but my wardrobe is seriously lacking bling!




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Nails did...

Getting ready for the weekend... An Equal Love Equal Rights Rally and then the Mothers Day Classic... The weather is going to be miserable, thought we need to keep it bright! It's pink leopard... Have recently realised that I can get a mani AND a pedi out of half a packet of Sally Hansen Salon Effects... Even at the most you will pay ($15), you will get 2 matching mani pedis! Can't wait to flex this in summer!



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Bless my little girls heart...

When you have kids every day is kind of like a roller coaster... Every day brings highs and lows, some days are mostly highs, and others lots of lows (these days in my house are closely related to colds)... Overall I love being a mum, I make a point of spending 90% of my waking hours with my little darlings, it is important to me to be the one that teaches them about relationships, love, respect by example...

I am rewarded with beautiful moments... Last night while we played with Marley's My Little Pony train set, she comes out with 'I am good at love'... She was absolutely correct, and thats what I told her...

Love is definitely one of her strong points, cuddles, smiles, caring for the well being of those around her, trying to look after her baby brother, all of these things about her just melt my heart... This is the absolute core of why I love being a mother... I get to share this love with my darling girl...




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Nerd do well - Simon Pegg (biography)

This was one of the brilliant gifts I bought for Mark, knowing perfectly well I would get to enjoy too! We love Simon Pegg, we love his tv, writing, films... There was a time we watched 'Shaun of the Dead' almost daily, it was one of 'our' films, as you do when you are dating/honeymooning etc... So my expectations were high... Unfortunately they weren't met!

I know that reading a biography is to fall into the self indulgent world of the writer, and usually this is the appeal... In this case I just felt like I was taken there, but I didn't enjoy the place, it was too focused on what I view as pointless little stories with a couple of interesting snippets in there... I guess that's because I wanted to know more about his adult life, what his inspirations are, things that are more relative to now... So I missed the point, or there wasn't one... Not great either way...



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The Women of the Cousins War - Philippa Gregory and David Baldwin

I love Philippa Gregory, I love reading about England in the middle ages... I'm not sure I love reading historical essays...

This took me ages to read, like almost 2 months, I read other books while reading it... It was hard going, at times so dry I wanted to stop, but I persisted... I wanted to read about these women back to back and in the end I felt satisfied... Would I do it again? No...


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The fructose friendly, gluten free lifestyle...

Yesterday we found out that my husband is fructose intolerant... As it turns out, this sucks... He is allergic to most fruits, onions (BOO!), coconut cream/milk (BOO!) and wheat (NOOOOOOO!), needless to say from this day forth, our lives are going to change... The good news is that his 'problem' isn't cancer, and I would definitely take a whole diet change over the big C!!!

So I went to do our weekly grocery shop at 7.30 this morning, it's lovely really, kids stay with Mark, I get some time out as well as getting to walk at the super fast speed that I like, not 3 year old speed... So, I'm shopping, I start reading labels, lots of labels, and for the most part have to put things back on the shelf... This was really disheartening... I bought loads of chocolate to make myself, but not my waistline, feel better! I eventually found gluten free everything, at 2 to 3 times the usual cost... So sad... I did buy gluten free everything for Mark to try, but there is a definite feeling that we have to change the way we eat, change our staples, change our attitudes to food... Mark is also vegetarian, and it turns out that onion is in majority of the vegetarian foods we eat... It just keeps getting better...

Next month we find out whether he is also lactose intolerant... Fingers crossed that he isn't!

Looking forward to getting a handle on it, then the only big struggle will be eating out...




My eggs on toast vs Marks eggs on gluten free toast! You pay double the price for half as much!!!

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Sweet like chocolate...

After finding out yesterday that Mark has a fructose allergy, which I will at some point dedicate an entire post to, I did a depressed fructose friendly shop today which included buying loads of chocolate to make myself feel better! Thought I would give this Cadburys Marvellous Creations Jelly Popping Candy Beanies chocolate a go... Good choice! I LOVE popping candy, delicious... Mace had a taste and it didn't freak him out at all! Check it out, in the very least, for the 5 year old on the inside...




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The Ikea Tunnel for kids

We love Ikea, always good for a browse... While 'browsing' last week we stopped on the kids section, as expected and saw the tunnel set up, it looked pretty awesome... Which was the first of three selling points, the second was that it's so easy to store, it's basically a bit spring, so you push it down and do it up with the Velcro... It stores so small, which is exciting when you have a house FULL of toys! And the final selling point is that it was only $20!!!

This is just about the perfect toy for rainy winter days! All week it has rained and we have spent hours playing with it all week long... Best kid related $20 spent!






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Southern Plate - Christy Jordan

Whenever we are in the US I jones for Southern food... It is usually heart attack on a plate, but always sooooo damn good... Had been meaning to invest in a Southern Cookbook for years, but they aren't readily available so put it off and off until recently... I ordered off Amazon, unfortunately you can't browse, so most of the recipes really aren't suitable for my families dietary requirements, and far too many desserts! There are some that look good, and as usual I will have to jiggle them around, not sure it was worth buying, but the browsing was pleasurable, as I'm sure the few appropriate dishes will be...


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Tefal pans

I know I have posted about Tefal pans before... I bought one aaaaaages ago and it changed my cooking life! I also love those deals websites, so imagine my delight when Tefal pans went on sale just as I was looking to restock my cooking cupboard... I ordered, a bit... It took some time, but today they arrived... 3 pots and 3 pans... Needless to say I can't wait to cook dinner tomorrow night!!!







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