As My Coeliac Friend Would Call It; The Cardboard Tasting Expo...

I just won 2 tickets to the Sydney Gluten Free Expo this weekend (again with the crazy luck! Come on Lotto Lotto Lotto Lotto!).

I only entered to give them to a friend who is coeliac, but she's getting hitched this weekend, so somehow I don't think she'll be taking the time out to stop in to the GF expo!
& of course I'll be getting all dolled up & causing shenanigans at that wedding, so I can't go either.

Anyone interested in going?
Just e me at canucks_jaysilentbob@hotmail.com & I'll post them off!

When Did Christmas Go Digital?!

Christmas highlights as a kid;
- Pulling bagfuls of grass out of our gardens to hang on the verandah for the reindeer.
- Discovering that Santa preferred beer to milk, & vintage cheese to cookies. Funny, just like my dad!

- The deeply thoughtful gifts that mum, whoops, I mean Santa would bring, always ensuring the 3 of us kids had equivalent gift value (oh yes, we did compare!).
- The camaraderie between my brothers & me in planning our ‘sneak out’ to the presents at 3am.

Christmas highlights as a tween;
- Discovering that said bagfuls of ‘reindeer grass’ were a cheap way of mum getting us to weed the garden!
- Reaching the age of ‘Christmas Cash’ as one of our gifts; introduced to us in the form of a money tree (a branch with notes & coins taped all over it stuck into a pot). Pure genius mum!
- Getting bonus pocket money to do our Christmas shopping ( I have always loved the giving, there’s nothing like knowing you have chosen that ‘perfect gift’ for loved ones).
- Hypercolour T-shirts; ‘nuff said!

Christmas highlights as a teen;
- Being able to do our own thing on Christmas, as long as at some point we made the obligatory appearance at the ‘family do’; compulsory event unquestioningly held at the grandparents’ house whom I don’t get on with at all, which routinely involved disgustingly drunken relatives giving their opinions on our fashion/personality/lifestyle/insert other here…
- The rare camaraderie between my teen brothers & I as we banded together to avoid sneak-attacks from said drunken relatives.

- Swapping 3am sneak attacks on the presents for 3am sneak-ins!
- Fewer Christmas presents & more Christmas Cash.

Christmas highlights as an adult;
- Being able to avoid said obligatory family Christmas do due to work, or at least using work as an excuse, then really going to some fabulous 20 something’s party instead.
- Swapping 3am sneak attacks on the presents for a Christmas morning sleep-in (either from work or just a fruitful Christmas Eve on the town!).
- Having the money to buy that ‘perfect gift’ for my loved ones.
- Having a place of my own to start new decorating/cooking/celebrating traditions.

Christmas 2009;
- Completely avoiding said compulsory family Christmas do by going on a trip to New Zealand so Marty’s family can meet the kids.
- Enjoying a holiday that I actually really love (when I'm able to avoid said horrible family do) with my beautiful little family, & cherishing having a child who is now old enough to understand the merriment, joy, & excitement of the day.
- Christmas Day lunch Maori-style! Taste-eeeeeee!

- Promised Marty that I will abstain from using the computer for the entire day!

*Blog This Challenge 24: The real meaning of Christmas. Prompt;

What does Xmas mean to you and your family?
Have you got some traditions??
What will you cook?!
Who will you spend it with?
Got a favourite Christmas memory?
How are you decorating??

A Dark Cloud On The Horizon...

I am what you would call an overprotective mother. (Sorry kids, but with me as a mum you've got no chance at ever being 'cool'.)

Perhaps it was because of Kaia's 'rough' start, or perhaps this is what I was always going to be like as mum regardless.

I have come to the realisation lately that I have this 'issue';

I think terrible, horrifying thoughts about the bad things that could happen to my kids all day long. As in constantly, literally millions of times a day.

If we're walking along a footpath I envision a car losing control & hitting the pram.
Holding the baby? Visions of tripping over with her or dropping her.
Kaia just holding a pen? He's going to trip & it's in his eye.

I can't block them out, they just pop into my head unwanted & unexpectedly, stifling & choking me.
Sometimes these thoughts are paralyzing & make me physically sick. Often they find me in tears.
Sometimes I am so consumed with fear for the safety of my kids in ridiculous scenarios that I have to work hard to be able to enjoy our happy moments.

Don't get me wrong, I am a very happy, sun-shiney person, & we are a very happy family full of laughter & fun, but it often feels like the dark clouds are always there hovering, just waiting for the storm.

I really need to know; Is this normal? Does anyone else experience this? Is that what every mum feels like? Is that just what it is like when you are a parent & love a child so much it hurts?

The Bizness Of The Blogroll...

I am about falling off my chair with excitement over my sudden influx of followers & commentors (Yes I know you Blog gurus out there will giggle at my meagre popularity, but to me it is just fine).

I am LOVING all the funny/deep/inspiring/schmick! new Blogs I am discovering & eagerly Blogrolling, so if I have somehow left you off my list, please don't take it personally, just let me know so I can add you!

Shaking The Ick Factor…

In a cpl of weeks I’m going to the wedding of a close friend.
I’m planning on wearing a swank dress that is probably waaaay too dressy & that I feel totally uncomfortable in because I am just so not a dress person, mainly because I am currently in ‘weight-loss limbo’ (i.e. now too thin for my ‘fat clothes’ but still too fat for my ‘thin clothes’) & it’s the only appropriate thing that fits.

If only the 'muffin top' look was in right now!

Regardless of the dress, I am really looking forward to this wedding.

Firstly because the wedding is in the mountains at her parent’s farm & is sure to be beautiful.

Secondly, because she’s a great friend & I’ll probably get all teary when I see her looking all gorgeous in her pretty dress & being all fabulous.

Third, because I get to catch up with her bridesmaid, who I recently met after years of stalking eachothers’ Blogs. Totally bizarre & cool when you meet a fellow Blog lurker, you know so much about eachother before you even meet.

But mostly I’m excited about having my first day in sooo long without the ‘ick’ factor;
I get to drop Kaia off at my folks for a sleepover (Bo is coming with us because she is going through a major clingy phase, but Marty has promised that she is all his on the day) then shower up & get pretty, & not spend the whole day in daggy trackies with that mank covered head-to-toe in spew/ drool/ Kaia’s spilt cereal/ grubby hands all over my face feeling, picking up toys & other crap all day long.
Not that I really mind any of that, it’s the life I’ve chosen & love & is all part & parcel of having kids, but I am sorely needing just that one beautiful day of being a person, not just a mum.

Let's Hear It For Hand-me-downs...

Kaia a year ago.

Bo yesterday.

& all it cost me was 2 hours scrubbing the mould off the damn thing!

(Note the effortlessly cool truck onsie style. ) Kaia must've been about 10 months or 7 months corrected. Bo is 5 months. The difference those 3 extra months of cooking time make is astounding!

When You Wish Upon A Blog...

Something odd is going on here. Awesome odd mind you!

You may have read my post a cpl of weeks ago about how a much needed second car fell into our lap (even if it is an old shitbox) right when I was posting about needing said car?!

Well.

After posting about my dream house, I won a giveaway. I about fell over, because well I just don't really win things.
The prize? No, it wasn't my dream house, but it was a brand spankin new rug to put in my dream house!
(You’ve gotta get to this Blog for more awesome giveaways (Oh, & it’s a really good Blog too!)).

Then.

Last week, after Blogging that we’d canned the wedding because we’d been knocked back for a loan, we sent in an application for a much smaller loan, & by some bizarre twist of luck/ fate we were instead given the thumbs up for the full amount we had first been knocked back for.
& so it seems the wedding, twice cancelled, is back on.
Again.

Then.

After a post in which I hurrahed for my weight loss but whined that I now have no clothes that fit, I won our gym Melbourne Cup sweepstakes.
The prize? ‘Curves’ dollars (money to spend on the gym’s line of workout wear).

Apparently my Blog is magic & wishes really do come true.

So.

There’s really only 1 thing I can post about tonight;

LOTTO LOTTO LOTTO LOTTO!

So wish away my friends, you just never know!