Thank God its friday!

This ones for my buddy Maria!!!! ;) Thanks for being there!

whats on my mind lately.. well..
Isn't it odd when you get advice from strangers? im sure they mean well.. I think their main mistakes are having to assume.. assume you dont know your babies different cries, assume youve never watched dr phil ('well is it working for yah?' sorry could help myself), assume you weren't bought up in a house full of kids.. anyways you get my point. As hubby says 'assumptions are the mother of all f**** ups!' That advice has been a Godsend, even with the profanity.. eeerrr. yeah.. 0.o

Im no angel ive said 'aww shes hungry' once to a friend of mine when her bub cried.. and then regretted it.. the kind reply i got from her was 'really? i just fed her!' oh! Oh no! i've just done it haven't i? Im grateful she was sweet about it.. had it been me.. i suppose i would have been dumbstruck or just quietly seethed until i could no longer hold it and have to vent! (her 3rd bub mind you!) oh, yes i say alot of dumb things..

I picked up cosmopolitan pregnancy magazine this week and i've loved it! They had advice on how to handle the situation with those other dumb things people say like 'my gawd your boobs are huge', 'my mother/wife/sister wasnt as big as you'.. and my favorite the beauty therapist doing a bikini line mentions 'youre a bit loose' LOL!!! Ah the odd things the pregnant woman goes thru.. there was tons of pretty expensive maternity clothes, underwear all modeled by pregnant women.. i've been disappointed with other pregnancy magazines, mum n bub mags, parenting mags but this one is a winner.. and yeah its not a cheapie! x.x So many good articles! ;)
Tia had time out today at childcare for a punching! After that she was more behaved than usual.. im glad its coming down.. im still not happy that she punched some poor kid! im wondering who she is hitting, is it over sharing? is it provoked? I'm still having to ask the workers how she went, when i'd rather (and ive done my share of working with kids) they would come to me and tell me how she went without asking..

Ive just informed hubby that im not cooking any meat!!!.. if i smell cooking meat i will head for the toilet.. for sure.. and im still winning! Tonights dinner was 2 minute noodles!! I have been getting my meat fixes from takeaway.. not good i know x.x

Enjoy your friday night & the weekend all!!!

World truths how i see it

Awww how cute is that!!! And thats where the cuteness ends in this post.. 0.o

I'm always reading the news online.. saves me watching tv channels that choose what stories they will share and saves me watching SBS which is more unbiased BUT they recycle OLD stories!!! (there was a story they did on china putting spyware in computers and hacking into PENTAGON!.. i looked up online to find the same story and it turned out to be OLD news!! By a few months!) We might live in a good country, Australia might be ranked by the UN at #3 of the most livable countries behind norway and iceland.. but we are still fed what big news/channel bosses want us to be fed.

So it turns out there was no proof that Diana was pregnant.. and that Dodi was 2 weeks off marrying/engaging her.. its not going to be enough for the conspiracy people who think Princess Diana was killed by the Queen.. it seems the paparazzi haven't learnt a thing about dangerous driving if you talk to George Clooney (who gets about by motorcycle.. interesting eh!)

Whales.. about time some hollywood/home & away stars actually did something for a cause other than use their pretty faces.. they get served arrest warrants for interrupting international economy or something like that? sorry japan.. dont you mean your research? or is that japan comming out with the truth and not hiding behind the research banner? *rawr, LOL!!!*Note to japan, You aren't fooling us! you never have! We have the Irwins here, we know how research is done! In fact australians have been researching and tracking the rare whale shark.. freaking weird looking things.. with tracking devices.. thats how we do research.. probably weigh it, measure it, fit it with a device and let it go.. NOT harpoon it, drag it aboard and slice it up.. Japan's whale research is more like.. does carrots go with whale?, does whale go with white wine or red wine?, how many school kids and japanese people can we brainwash that whaling has always been part of the japanese culture? (when whaling only started during a ww.. or after) Can you tell im peeved at the japanese? I love japan.. not their whaling tho.

Gillian Gibbons is the name of the british teacher who in sudan was caught insulting mohammed by letting her class name a teddy bear. Islamic people dont like any representation of mohammed.. i think they need to think twice about all the drop kicks who are actually called mohammed (people), Its funny how its always the foreigners fault! I can imagine the kids in the class may have had friends or family called mohammed.. or if the kids are into islam how they might be representing their love for the mohammed is as much as they love teddy bears.. its just another recent example this week how medieval islam & islamic law really is.. caught in the stone age.. i mean its the only religion that still allows death by stoning!! hello???!!!!

yes i am a walking bundle of inner rage today... the hormones are going crazy.. i float from this happy, cuddly, glowing woman to this paranoid, teary, worrywart to a woman who cannot stop ranting in my head.. to someone who is just to tired or sleepy to care..

say Cheese

What a night! well, no it wasn't that interesting. other than getting up ever 3 hrs to pee thru the night! very annoying, new bub seriously can't be affecting my bladder already.. but it seems it can.
All-day-sickness is going ok.. the toilet is not my friend.. every time i feel nausea coming on its into the crystallized ginger *grimaces*.. or some sort of carbohydrate food..

Now onto cheese. ;) How much do you like to pay for cheese? gosh, it can get expensive!
At woolworths they had 2 bega 250g cheese for $7. So i thought i'd get the natural slices.. i must be so lazy but i love that the cheese has already been sliced into perfect squares! hahaha! i usually just settle for the light tasty woolworths brand. Im not a big cheese fan i really only like: dutch smoked, smoked cheddar, cheddar, vintage.

Hubby (who doesnt like to be abbreviated) has asked if i can lug his laptop over to his work. It looks like its going to rain any second (altho its looked like that since i woke up) The thing weighs a ton! hmm.. he said i could have $50 this morning and i thought that was coz i was so nice and made him raisin toast and a coffee... hahaha! Im so very worried/tempted to go out and get maternity clothes! Its great that normal clothing places have decent maternity clothes than the awful stuff they had 4 years ago! But yeah i dont have many big things to wear.. not that i expect to balloon out so quickly.. i guess it comes from not having much to wear last time!

So ive talked about tiger airways before, i read a email they sent. $2.99 +tax etc to phuket, bangkok! $12.99+ tax to other places in china! *faints* and coz im a chicken i dont think i'll be going.. well i'd never go to bali whatever the price! But vietnam or china yeah... im just thinking what would happen if that deal was advertised on some show like getaway, great outdoors.. lol!

It's almost friday!! woohoo!!

now 7 weeks

Summer is here.. its hot thru the night and i keep waking up. I hate sleeping badly. Today its meant to rain and have a storm.. i wonder if it will.. *yawn*
Not much happening, same old.. forgetting to do stuff, looking for a new place, cleaning and avoiding cooking meat... and i seem to have a cold or somesort of hayfever, my nose runs (ew) and im always sneezing... i dont feel stuffy or anything.. its odd.

sorry got distracted for a moment by playschool! lol!

I missed it but Bridie carter won dancing with the stars? i saw the freestyle dance on the morning show and it was great! however i havent found it on youtube yet.. so this weird wacky one will have to do.. i still think she pulls weird faces when she dances..as usual im glad she won without me having to vote! hahaha! the weird jungle theme samba.

feeling green

The all day nausea continues and no visit to chuck-up-ville as yet. thank goodness!
feeling good after food.. but now the nausea doesnt wait till im hungry (altho it makes it worse if i am).. ginger snap biscuits and crystalized ginger is helping tho! altho you can only eat so much ginger till your mouth burns! My smelling ability has gone off the scale!!! my gawd.. ive been re-heating food and the smell from that cooking is enough to make me turn green! i can smell the fish shop from 2 extra shop distances away than normal.. it ain't fresh. Even my perfume effects my nausea.. bleh! this cannot be happening!!!! (the perfume thing, lol)

The girls at the childcare centre have booked tia in for 2 days a week without me asking, i guess they were being nice.. but truly annoying as it is having to assume they have booked her in like this for the rest of the year! so i rang up today and canceled the one for tomorrow.

the offical announcement post

(apologies for the blurry pic)
i'm pregnant. woohoo.. lol. we are all very happy here!
family was told last week.. (i really find it annoying keeping secrets and i cant stand lying.. its all that extra remembering required i think! lol)
the short: weve been trying since about feb/march started off trying to do the chose your gender bub thing.. to get a boy one of the suggestions was that eating chocolate was a nono!!! sooo you can imagine how that didnt last very long... that and the couple months of no result i think we agreed that any baby would do.. so out went all the restraints, monitoring etc..
i was a few days late and dh is like i bet your pregnant! and he turned out to be right. there's no surprising him!
i wonder if they will ever make some sort of easier home test than pee-ing on a stick or in a cup..
im due on the 16th of july 2008. im 6 weeks 4 days preggie.
:D so there it is.

winner

and the winner is... younger nerd!

old nerd vs younger nerd

Its election day. We had previously talked about going in 1st thing at 8am and getting it over and done with.. but we didnt end up leaving til 10am-ish!

So we walked a different way and surprised ourselves with what we found in our suburb.. more doctors, dentists, pathology, takeaways and eventually found the place we could vote at.

Its a funny thing isn't it? You see the crowd and think how many of those flier people can i get past before im caught? today it was alot like i was some famous person with my bodyguard getting from the club/restaurant to the car.. lol. 1st it was the liberal party 'no thank you!', 'Vote Labour dude!' *blinks.. he said whaaat??* then the greens 'no thank you'.. ah DH being polite and still getting thru a crowd. ;)

Got my 2 papers, and the one for the senate is a easy 1 in a box at the top or a 1 to 68 down the bottom. Well, i dont like anyone spending my preferences how they like.. (if thats how it goes)
and i always love filling out forms! BRING IT ON!

Its all done.. i think every channel on tv is doing a election thing tonight (other than ch10 who is doing one of the old star wars movies) If DH is playing assassins creed then i will have to find some online thing to occasionally look at..

Its so great that this is over.. personally i find it very hard to not be negative bout politicians that say dumb things about others.

I hate smear campaigns, fight policy! i wish they would keep it clean! don't you?

more yawns

so very tired. What a day!
First off, i got sucked into a interesting video game..
then we were off to get Tia and her hearing check done... that went well, until the end and Tia was more interested in playing with toys than listening for sounds. Turns out they are pretty sure she is very normal with her hearing.. but we can re-book if we want to attempt to finish the test again. No charge, so that was cool. Then we did some shopping out that weird way.. i was getting cold so i bought myself a jumper for $7.50 good thing one clothing shop was still selling winter-ish stuff!

Since i was walking past the doctors, thought i'd go in and make an appointment. When i got there, it was empty and the doctor was catching up on paper work.. hahahaha i thought wow! i bet i will get straight in! And yes i did! woohoo!

Did some more shopping afterwards, got some pre-school learn to write books.. i have looked at Tia's recent drawings (on the kitchen bench!!! grr!) and she has drawn/written the letters: p,b,y,m ??!!

Waited around for 90mins for hubby to leave & lock up work. had a coffee to wake myself up.. then tried out the new chicken range at macdonalds.

The new chicken deluxe burger, has a mix of iceberg & spinach leaves?, like a cesaer sauce and a interesting more breasty chicken patty that is crumbed, 1 slice of tomato and a slice of natural looking cheese. The chicken dippers are pretty tasteless, breasty.. the end result. If you want a chicken burger or chicken pieces go to kfc! 1 small chicken deluxe burger meal, a chicken deluxe burger with bacon & 3 chicken dippers will put you back $17!!!!!!!!!! Its expensive and if ur cravin kfc it is not even comparable!

We then got a new xbox 360 game, Assassin's creed. went and bought sake, checked the arcade but for some reason it had shut 1 hour early, so no ddr. Maybe thats a good thing, since im so tired lately.

sad but true

this youtube video is a spoof of the song rockstar by nickelback (which i havent heard i dont think. but a very clever song) It was a interesting watch, doesnt necessarily need sound.

i got tagged

I got tagged by Tina for this meme.

Here are the rules:

When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to eight other people. It’s fun. Give it a shot. It’s also a great way to get to know other bloggers.

OK, so 8 random things about me:

• I cant read music!
  
• I'd love to have a drum set
  
• I really wanted a microscope in my teens for christmas, i got it the next christmas after..
  
• I dont listen to radio at all..
  
• I like quiet
  
• I wake up thru the night to hear DH sleeptalk and then fall back asleep
  
• Never had stitches or any operations or broken any bones
  
• i like cosplay (japanese adult dress-ups!!!)
  

Tag: Christine, Maria, shar

If I didn’t tag you and want to play along, please feel free

Aussies are mean, says Geldof

Heres the full story link.

"Australia dedicates 0.3 per cent of its gross national income to foreign aid each year."
"It's embarrassingly pathetic," Geldof, who was yesterday made an honorary ambassador for Brisbane, said of Australia's foreign aid."

"In fact, it's one of the meanest in the world. For a country which keeps boasting about its huge growth - which is absolutely correct, you should boast and be proud of it - is 99.5 per cent not enough for you?"~Bob Geldof

Truthfully, i had no idea our giving was so little. In all seriousness the only time our federal government spends money is tax time or elections! Oh and dont forget the fear that if they even spend a extra cent extra it adds to 'inflation' and rises the interest rate.. we dont let our heads or our hearts rule here in australia.. we let the fear of a recession, the big pop, the higher interest rates rule us.
But government and spending aside. (lets hope governments pull their fingers out) its not like we dont give to local charities, buy christmas presents or tinned food and donate it, shop at op-shops run buy charity organizations. On a personal level i think some of us do really well, and we can do even better! Lets all go bug britney spears! on her 737k month income she only spends $500 on charity, while 4k on takeaway and $16k on clothes etc.. insane!!
i know our lil family here could give more, i know we will be getting another sponsor child soon (Angelina jolie eat your heart out! lol!)

Dishes

What a picture!! glad its not my kitchen, and im quite glad i've never had the job as a dish hand either! Do you hate doing the dishes? I know maria does! lol ;) I hate em too. Im the only one who does them too!
I slept so good last night. I apparently dreamt that i had done half the dishes that were waiting for me (due to a lazy weekend!) as i could have sworn i did them! But no, all the dishes were still all waiting there! drat!!!
I'd heard previous raves about morning fresh, a concentrated dish washing detergent. Im used to the cheap stuff obviously where you have to use a fair squirt! But if i do that with the concentrate, theres bubbles everywhere and if i dont rinse the cups you can taste it when you drink from a newly washed/dried cup! yuk! (i remember ages ago hearing about the barbie doll twins who squirted dishwashing liquid over half their meal, so they wouldnt eat it?! crazy!)

So do you use a expensive brand that does well? or a cheapie that even tho u go thru a bucket of it, you cant taste any residue? Or i suppose your a lucky duck with a dishwasher ;)

nachos

this is my usual nachos effort. 4 bean mix, chilli powder, tomato paste, beef mince, light cheese and chopped fresh tomato.

i have a surprise up my sleeve

I'm awful for not being able to keep my mouth shut about happy, good news.. i've dropped a few hints already.. ;) i'd like to think i've hidden them all to well.. hahaha!
Im a shocker aren't i?! LOL!
anyways...
as requested a new photo of me and my haircut?
yup. the same, just all fixed up!

yawn

Theyv'e figured out how to clone things, but yet the theories are still out on why we yawn, what happens when we yawn and why is it contagious.
Wikipedia:

"Hypothesized causes of yawning

1. A means of cooling the brain.^[5]
2. An action used as an unconscious communication of psychological decompression after a state of high alert.
3. A means of expressing powerful emotions like anger, apathy, apprehension, remorse or boredom. ^{[citation needed]}
4. An excess of carbon dioxide and lack of oxygen in the blood. [1]
5. A way of displaying (or indicative of) apathy.
6. Tiredness

A recent hypothesis raised in 2007 by Andrew C. Gallup and Gordon Gallup of the University of Albany states that yawning may be a means to keep the brain cool. Mammalian brains operate best when they are cool. In an experiment, he showed several groups of people videos of other people yawning. When the subjects held heat packs up to their foreheads while viewing the videos, they yawned often. But when they held cold packs up to their foreheads or breathed through their noses (another means of brain cooling), they did not yawn at all. ^{[5] [6]}

Another recent hypothesis is that yawning is used for regulation of body temperature."

"The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn.^[3][10] Observing another person's yawning face (especially his/her eyes), or even reading about or thinking about yawning, can cause a person to yawn.
You could possibly be yawning from reading this section or looking at these pictures.^[3][11] However, only about 55% of people in a given audience will respond to such a stimulus; fewer if only the mouth is shown in a visual stimulus.^[12]
The proximate cause for contagious yawning may lie with mirror neurons, i.e. neurons in the frontal cortex of certain vertebrates, which upon being exposed to a stimulus from conspecific (same species) and occasionally interspecific organisms, activates the same regions in the brain.^[13] Mirror neurons have been proposed as a driving force for imitation which lies at the root of much human learning, e.g. language acquisition. Yawning may be an offshoot of the same imitative impulse. A 2007 study found that children with autism spectrum disorders, unlike typical children, did not yawn after seeing videos of other people yawning; this supports the claim that contagious yawning is based on the capacity for empathy."

I've been having trouble sleeping lately, i think its due to the all-of-a-sudden summer-like weather. A few hot nights and a few sunny hot days. Today was a yawning day, couldn't stop! perhaps i should have gone for a short walk to get some fresh air, but ive been busy surfing the web, reading blogs and stuck into my book! ;)

I think the santa parade was today in Melbourne? i havent seen any pictures of it in the news or on the web, so perhaps its a bit of a non-event? Even the Melbourne cup parade hardly got any time on the news, no apparently politics, and all the yukky awful stuff that goes on is more important.. bummer

DH is enjoying his work, especially making his databases for his work.. *yawn*
I tried out the nandos hot peri peri sauce and didnt expect it to be quite so hot! but it was! im impressed, now i know not to use so much next time! ;)

So has the summer heat hit your place? how many times have you yawned while reading this post (more than usual hahahaa!)

done..

Dropped Tia off a bit late, but i wasnt the only one. Then decided i'd go to the dentist a hour early. I filled out all their forms. And then i went in to my appointment 45minutes early! I might have to get to my other appointments earlier and see if i can do the same thing! hahaha!!
I was told the bony lump in my mouth is fine, normal some sort of evolutionary thing. (pah!) but i will take the normal bit... that i must have alot of good bacteria in my mouth as everything is good, wisdom teeth are fine and dont need to be pulled. And that a molar needs a filling/sealant and thats to blame on the fine fissures of the molar and the toothbrush not being able to clean it properly or something. hey thats cool, blame thing thats meant to be cleaning my teeth. Had a scale and clean, which hurt at times.. 'vibrating' buildup off.. then the usual super fluride gel and being told not to eat or drink for 30mins.
And i got out of there only paying $196 and leaving about the time my appointment would have started! im wondering how i got out of the $250 dental x-rays considering ive been avoiding the dentist for some 14years+? all good! (that and being reminded to floss more often! and to floss before brushing! lol! who would have thought?! lol!)

Friday

Today tia goes to childcare. i guess i will put nicely how the doctor said tia is not autistic. Then im off to the dentist! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Their bills are so scary!
Then i will perhaps go shopping, altho i might just walk home and chill, until picking Tia up again in the afternoon.
im glad its friday!

thursday

this could easily turn into a very big post but here it is in short form!

1) Tia is booked in for a $85 full hearing assessment next week.

2) I went out shopping, i was going to do a big shop, get a home delivery BUT i forgot my re-usable green canvas shopping bags. doh! and also realised there wasnt any urgency for food anyways.

3) I found a nice new pair of black pants! they are quite odd in that the waist band
can roll done/up. no fly or buttons (or belt loops) they could easily be mistaken for maternity pants! (as they cover the belly if unrolled!) Theyre called 'bengal pants'

4) i decided i'd go to the hairdressers!!!! *dont die of shock there!!* (i dont like salons!) i sat down and waited, i knew which person i didnt want to get and of course i ended up getting that hairdresser.

5) i got shampoo, cut and blowdry for $32.. i did not think that was possible! ah the wonders of 'just cuts'!

6) the woman was brutal, it must be coz my scalp should be getting sensitive?, the way she dried my thick long hair ended up giving my hair knots which she would brush out.. OWW!!!!

7) its been years since ive been to a hairdresser. in that time i had a church friend who is a hairdresser, she did my hair for the wedding and when i won a makeover at a church raffle.

8) I visited DH work. He didn't notice my hair cut!!!!!! LOL!

9) We went out with Dh boss & his wife (who also works there as a boss) do you know any employer that is truly that generous?! it was to celebrate DH 30th birthday! We got picked up in their nice mercedes 4WD 6:15pm(i didnt know mercedes made 4WD) with lovely leather inside! Went to a italian resturant called Michelangelo's.

10) we had a garlic focaccia bread (that was round), they had marinated olives, salt n pepper squid and i tried some dukkah and turkish bread. tia had a kids lasagna and salad. Tia and i had pineapple juice and the others had some nice wine.

11)i had chicken parma, james had a steak..

12) they organized a sparkler in a scoop of icecream for the birthday boy.

13) we got dropped off around 10pm! it was a really good night, altho the men could have talked for hours and hours if we had let them! ;)

14) i had the worst night sleep ever!

hairspray

Rang up the doctors and was told to come straight in.
i talked to the doctor and he said she is clearly not autistic from what he observed, he said a autistic child would go stand in the back corner of the room and not make eye contact or engage socially. He agreed that its probably just tia behaving badly, he said he could refer me to get her tested but said he didn't see any need to. I asked about her speech problems and he checked her ears (all fine) asked about any ear infections (nope) and gave me a referral to get her hearing checked, results will take a week and then to come back and talk further about speech therapy.
I have had a fair idea what i need to do with Tia, e.g spend more time with her and have more routine BUT i get lazy, distracted or busy (and sometimes all 3) i still need to learn how to prioritize! i know! I know all about consistency, she doesnt have much fear of me(discipline wise) (dont know why. other than most things e.g barking dogs, she thinks shes invincible!!)altho fear isn't a great motivator for anything.. i just need to spend more focused time with her.

ah, relief! Went to the cinema's to find out we missed a movie time, went and did more shopping and checked out other deli's, fruit shops, butchers etc down that side of town (outside the shopping centre) and returned back to see hairspray! I thought the movie was great, certainly a movie that leaves you on a high! i found it hard to stop looking at john travolta in the fat suit playing a woman, times i forgot that was a man, times i thought wow that fake chicky singing sounds bad! There were some funny moments, some 'enough with the evil bitch' moments.. 99% singing & dancing! ^^ good thing DH wasnt keen on going, im certain he would need some sort of therapy afterwards.. if he had

On my mind

I was having a good day, until i picked Tia up from childcare this afternoon. Because i had a little chat with the head supervisor/teacher about Miss Tia. *sigh* She slapped the other supervisor/childcare assistant in the face!!!!!! OMG!!!!!! She also got in other kids faces and screamed at them and was pretty aggressive oh and she often plays by herself in her own world. i was then told they had noticed she has hit kids a few times and one of their tutors sat in on their day/morning and asked if tia had autism! So then it was suggested i get her tested for autism, that she could be heaps autistic or a tiny bit autistic.. (it was nicely put)

i said id take her to the doctor and check up on the web to see more about autism.
Before this they only told me once that Tia 'had troubles keeping her hands to herself', i wish i had been informed of the other weeks, i do usually ask 'how tia went'.
i dont think it is autism. DH thinks she hears differently to what people say and gets upset.... or cant communicate in words enough and gets upset.

Her speech development is lacking, its hard for others to understand and she cant really say more than 2 sentences at a time unless it is a story, which it usually is. Tia talks alot about invisible monsters, princess sarah & goblin king (from the labyrinth, her fave movie) sarah (her invisible friend or when she decides that her name is sarah) she picks alot of things up from tv and even a few lines copied from her favourite dvds. Once she had a huge conversation with the lady down the road (who speaks not much english) and it was "sentence, gibberish, word, gibberish,word, gibberish" altho she knew very well whatever it was she was saying..

Tia does play in her own world, usually after she has scared the other kids by being so overwhelmed she has a kid to play with! Alot of the kids have been there awhile, aren't very sociable past their own siblings so, what is she to do? she plays at home by herself is that wrong?

and aggressive? yes, she has a real attitude, even hit me a few times. Tia never really had the tantrums, or the toddler biting thing, she didnt have much attitude when she was younger in her pram.. she argues a fair bit and will sometimes just for the sake of arguing! But now theres tantrums as soon as she doesnt get her way. (just not in the throw body down and cry toddler way! she stomps her feet, huffs, refuses to hold my hand, slams her door, cries, shouts at me... its like she is a teenager already! Not a 4 year old!!) a few people have told me that tia seems like a older child/women who occasionally has a toddler moment by saying something funny. e.g she was looking for her hat in her bag and she said 'Oh GOD, where is MY hat?' (as if praying)

she drew me a picture of me when i was talking to her of a sad face (pic to come) and even got me a few tissues, i was pretty upset. She is so very smart in some areas, her new latest thing to draw alot of is heart shapes!

Portugese tarts

I sent some Portuguese tarts with DH to share at work yesterday.
I had used a different recipe before but i tried this new one which require cooking the custard, where the other one you only had to microwave for 30secs (and it apparently did something, not sure what exactly!) Don't have the microwave at the moment so it good to find a new recipe. This new recipe also called for lemon zest to be cooked with the custard and then removed which i think makes them even more awesome! Recipe from here and they have pictures

Portuguese custard tarts

Ingredients: 3 egg yolks, ½ cup caster sugar, 2 tbsp cornflour, ¾ cup cream, ½ cup water, strip of lemon rind, 2 tsp vanilla essence, 1 sheet of ready-made puff pastry

Steps: Preheat the oven to hot, 220 degrees Celsius. Grease a 12 hole (1/3 cup/80mL) muffin pan.

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a small saucepan until combined. Gradually whisk in the cream and water until smooth.
Add the lemon rind, stir over medium heat until the mixture boil and thickens. Remove pan from the heat, remove and discard the rind, stir in the vanilla essence and then transfer the custard to a medium-sized bowl.
Cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap (to prevent a skin from forming as the custard cools).

Cut the puff pastry in half, stack the two halves on top of each other and then roll the pastry up tightly, and cut the log into twelve 1cm rounds. Lay pastry cut side up and roll each round to about 10cm width using a rolling pin. Press the rounds into the prepared muffin pans with your fingers.

Transfer spoonfuls of the cooled custard into the pastry cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until browned well. Stand tarts for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool. Tastes best when served fresh!

Also a genius way of getting good pastry rounds! not as simple as using a circle cookie cutter tho (or a glass, cup, mug etc). i also prefer using filo pastry.



on another note, photobucket seems to be down. (like non-existant down) I also watched the toaster short its self out before it finished doing my toast on the weekend, so i have no toaster! (and keep forgetting to get another one)

Today is Remembrance Day!

We were all out clothes shopping at target for the new business development manager (DH) its all been announced in a fancy memo which he (and everyone else) got on his birthday, its all official! YAY! Anyways in target they had the 1 minute silence & the trumpet thingy..
i thought this was interesting (even tho i guessed why they used it)

The poppy's significance to Remembrance Day is a result of Canadian military physician John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red colour an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare. A Frenchwoman, E. Guérin, introduced the widely used artificial poppies given out today. Some people choose to wear white poppies, which emphasises a desire for peaceful alternatives to military action.

I also didnt know of the poem, i've probably heard it.. but reading stuff stays in my head longer than verbal stuff. (plus i did ancient history at school not modern)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae

on another late melbourne cup note: (its over isn't it?)
DH boss, has been the first saab in the melbourne cup parade for a few years now (the one with the major, his kids, the cup and usually a emirates chicky, this year it was singer/actor delta goodrem in the back holding the cup!) :D

Tia and her great grandparents

(Tia saw her great grandparents earlier this week)

Small improvements..

We have a pretty crummy outdated and unloved kitchen (like the rest of the unit) but anyways i like doing minor improvements.. and perhaps the next person who lives here will appreciate it.. I have to live with it, so if its not up to a standard i like to fix it. (seeing as the best kitchen artists live in canada ;) )
And so i show you the cupboard under the kitchen sink. (which is always the worst cupboard i think in any kitchen!) I was a complete fuss pot and didnt use my cupboards til i cleaned them and some not till i put the new contact on the top! It was easier to begin with hardly any kitchen stuff, 7months later my kitchen is crying for space!

Before:After:


another shelf/cupboard:

so yes, my kitchen has 4 different contacts patterns, lol! I know, pretty daggy! but its clean, its new and its ok as long as only 1 kitchen cupboard door is open at any time. lol! I did pay only 50cents for a roll (bargain) and i think i bought 6?(so thats why i ended up with a few different types) I also did the bathroom cupboards which are chipboard and how often does chipboard get all water damaged and chipped?! so on went the contact!
Its not easy, its a fine art to get the contact on straight, around corners etc.. and i wish i'd done better, but oh well! ;)

DH 30th Birthday

it went well yesterday. I got a call early in the morning from DH telling me how his office was decorated with metallic big paper cut-outs of 30's everywhere, a cluster of balloons with the number 30.

Tia and i? well we were off to the beach, but we had to go to go-lo or reject shop to find a cheap bucket n spade for the beach!

Tia was sooo very happy and excited she was going to the beach! So i used a few times to remind her to behave.. or maybe i used it as a threat! hahaha!

We had to get home to order pizza online to arrive for DH lunch. DH asked me later how the pizza person knew it was his birthday and i said i had the name for the order as 'birthday boy' hahaha!

He had cake at his work that the boss's wife had made! (he bought home 2 pieces for Tia and i) I havent tried it yet, but its a orange and poppyseed with a strawberry and chocolate on top of the icing.


When we got home, i played some video games, cleaned the house, put tia in the bath. Then told her to get ready for DH birthday party and helped her into a cute dress. ;)

I put the bought yum-cha in the oven, started on a beef stirfry. I made sure we had some nice sauces for the yum cha, sweet chilli and plum sauce! I love my plum sauce. Unfortunately only the spring rolls did not contain fish or shrimp! Tia loved it, DH loved it. All good! ;)

I decided i'd do something light for DH birthday dessert/cake, i knew he was having cake thru the day, i knew i didnt want to be stressed or in the kitchen all day and i knew i didnt want anything 'heavy'. So i decided on a pav/meringue thing, i did have egg whites in the fridge BUT i dont have a electric beater, so i decided to be lazy and buy some nests all done! After dinner i decided to keep with the birthday cake tradition and so i put this interesting thing together with toothpicks, however they did crack it did hold altogether for as long as it needed to! I decided on caramel top n fill, since hubby isnt into berries that much.. he is a BIG caramel fan tho.
So i was surprised with Nestle top n fill caramel!(hadn't tried it before) i could pipe it! woohoo! And it tasted exactly 100% like the caramel filling from a bakers for caramel tarts or caramel eclairs etc. It was gorgeous! Its so deadly! I could so live on it! lol! only its not very kind calorie/fat wise! He blew out his candles, dished it out and put some double cream on top! yum!
DH got for his birthday: slippers with mario (a Nintendo character) on them(which he then told me he doesnt like slippers), A bottle of Galliano Amaretto & The godfather blackhand edition game for the wii. (he bought himself the game tenchu z for the xbox 360) and thats about it.

Nori Nori Nori

Thats the title of my favourite DDR music/dance track. It just so happens that i got my brother to film hubby and i ddr-ing! so i hope you enjoy my new youtube movie! ;)

Dont kill me with kindness!

I walk everywhere! (not that it shows) ive racked up alot of experience as a pedestrian!

So often people think they are doing the nice thing by waving me across the road (giving way to me) HOWEVER they rarely focus on the rest of the road, all they see is me and them, not the other incoming traffic or the traffic behind them and so forth. Ive been waved across the road in peak hour traffic! I have refused and shook my head. Don't be cranky, its just i like my ribs, legs, arms where they are and dont like the idea of walking into that car turning in! Not all pedestrians are running late, just like not all car drivers are running late.. usually im not in a hurry.

Another bad time was when i was at a small concrete round-a-bout where there is traffic coming from 3 ways, one old lady stopped on the round-a-bout and gave way to me and waved me across, blocking access and putting herself at risk!

Do drivers forget exactly how soft the human body is? I don't have a safety core, i don't have air bags, im not made of steel, aluminimum (sp?) or plastic... while a car has no feelings and doesn't mind driving around a bit mingled or left alone at the car mechanics/panel beaters. i on the other hand do mind waiting at the doctors, the hospital and hobbling along with injuries for the next couple of weeks.

So please if your driving next time, just take care of yourself. drive safely, at the speed limit or less if its rainy/icy/low visibility. I can cross the road without your help!

Oh and please make sure you drive a car that i can see the blinkers even with the sun shining directly on your blinkers (usually the blinkers with colored plastic cover not the clear ones).. and another kind note; please dont get grumpy at me if i cross the road your turning into without indicating! Im not a mind reader!

Did you know Sophie Delezio has a wiki-page! amazing! This little girl has been injured twice in her short life!!! She was born on the 3rd of april in 2001. The first accident was a car that drove into her childcare centre, caught fire and trapped her. December 2003.

"Sophie suffered burns to most of her body and lost both feet, some fingers, and her right ear."

the 2nd accident, may 2006

"While being pushed by her caregiver in a wheelchair with her service dog Tara by her side, across a pedestrian crossing near her home in Sydney's northern suburbs she was hit by a car, and thrown 18 metres. Sophie suffered a broken jaw and shoulder bone, bruising to her head, numerous rib fractures and a tear to her left lung."

She turned 6 this year and i pray no more happens to her and she can enjoy a great big life!

"As a result of Sophie Delezio's accident over $2 million has been raised, along with heightened public awareness for the need for adequate support and services for pediatric burns patients."

Birthday blues..

DH has a birthday tomorrow! He was born at the unearthly hour of 3am (so he tells me) If he was born on the 6th of novemeber they were going to name him 'bart' after bart cummings a successful old horse trainer of the melbourne cup. Glad he wasn't! ^^

lol! and i've been naughty rubbing in what age he turns this year! I'm 26 and he is 4 years older than me so do the maths ;).
I've got a few things put away for him that i will have to wrap today.
I'm wondering if i should make a cake? packet mix or from scratch? hmm yes! i can't believe im pondering about a packet mix or not?!! His work is planning on doing the cake etc since they found out what age he is turning... so i'm not sure if he will even have room in his belly for more cake! Perhaps i can make cupcakes instead? we really do need to start eating healthy again! (he actually mentioned that point too about not having a cake) bleh! so much junk & crap, i have not been feeling well lately because of it. :(

what is it with men and birthdays? every man i know seems not to be interested in them!

the smoko thing

I agree with what Tina said. i know its old news, but you know me i can't let it go till i get my 5cents out there! Here's the link for Tina's post
here's the link for the news story

A YEAR 10 student has been given permission to take cigarette breaks while at school because her doctor says she is clinically addicted to nicotine. Tara Lewis, 16, who smokes as much as a packet a day, is allowed to smoke between classes to relieve the "stress'' of her Year 10 studies.

1) All smokers are actually drug addicts!
2) The news article said she was cranky if she missed her cigarettes! yes because her body is craving nicotine!
3) She is under age, whoever is supplying her habit should be fined!
4) She is only 16 and still considered a 'minor', her parents and school should get a talking to for not acting in her best interest!
5) Allowing her to be above the law and smoking just coz she is addicted may lead her to think she can do other unlawful things and get away with it
6) Truly smoking should be banned fullstop! Smoking is not safer than ecstasy, GHB, speed, heroin! Its just as bad!!!! (the only reason it isn't is because they make alot of money in which they donate to government bodies, governments may or may not receive a $$ from taxes on cigarettes)
7) surely the 16 year old should quit so she can think! I remember my 1st 1/2 of a cigarettes (a menthol) i came back to class and my head was spinning. (i would have been 18) i couldn't focus at all. so if the focus is to keep her in school, then shouldn't it be for good grades and not poor ones? i can look back at it now and see the trouble makers and usual smokers at my school were not the ones gettin awards and high grades!
8) she should accept that its ok to be stressed and cranky (smoking for stress relief) and that she shouldn't try to fix her problems with cigarettes.

Tara's mother said she had started rewarding Tara with just six cigarettes a day if she did chores and behaved at school.

"It's not like I want my kid to smoke. I've done everything to get her to stop it, so if I can control it and say 'when you can have a cigarette, you do chores', that might help.

I'm sorry but all i can think of is the bad side of this, so often you hear about desperate drug addicts that prostitute themselves for the drug. I know the mother is trying to get her to stop by using the 'oh u can have one, AFTER YOU CLEAN YOUR ROOM' tactic that alot of parents use (however not for cigarettes) but seriously!!
sure quitting is a absolute bitch-of-a-time for anyone! but IT can be done... its an awful addiction for anyone... let alone a 16year old or any child still developing! or for anyone still living! HA!

Bindeez toy recalled over drug fears

19-month-old boy was in a Queensland hospital after ingesting a toy that was today banned interstate.

Bindeez have been found to contain a chemical that converts into the toxic illegal drug GHB, also known as fantasy, when ingested.

The toy has been banned across the country today.

A Queensland ambulance spokesman said the boy was taken to St Vincent's Hospital at Toowoomba this morning after falling ill, and would be transported to the Mater hospital this afternoon.

The boy's grandfather told ABC Radio in Sydney his grandson fell unconscious after swallowing some of the beads.

"We've just heard from my daughter in Toowoomba that her two-year-old son has just swallowed some of those beads - just recently, I don't know whether it was today or yesterday,'' said the man, identified only as Nick.

He said his grandson was being taken to Brisbane for treatment.

"Apparently he's unconscious,'' he said.

Banned interstate

Chinese-made Bindeez, which won the 2007 Australian Toy of the Year award at the Melbourne Toy and Hobby fair, contains hundreds of beads which can induce seizures, drowsiness or a coma if eaten.

Two children in New South Wales, a two-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl, have been admitted to hospital in the past ten days after eating the beads leading the toy's banning in that state.

Today the toy was also banned in South Australia.

story from here

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Can you believe it? I certainly can't and that toy looked somewhat interesting to me when i saw the ads on tv, but i didnt get it for tia (BECAUSE THEY LOOK LIKE LITTLE PIECES OF CANDY!)

another blow to china! (what were they thinking?!!!)

Jelly blubbers

While showing my brother the beach (which he thought when i mentioned it was a bus or train trip away, not the actual 5 mins walk from the shops & 2 mins walk behind maccas)
We found 2-4 big jellyfish washed on shore and a jelly blubber.
A jelly fish looks like a jellyfish and the jelly blubbers look like horeshoe shaped pieces of clear jelly. I wish i could find some wikipedia page on them, surely theres a name for them other than 'jelly blubbers'.

Sonic manipulator

So i actually got around to putting my first video together.
We bought combustion from a friend and its a awesome video editing software only i dont know how to use it, DH knows a bit.
So i just used windows movie maker. ^^
I have a few more to do! and re-do the ones i already have on youtube (mostly with tia being hard to understand or just being weird.)
This was taken on my last overnight trip to the city with DH & DD.
He has his own website also

getting behind in my photos!

So i said i hadn't cooked in like 3 days? or more..
these were taken last month. =D so they are old, but still yummy.
1) roast beef, potatoes & carrots.

2) Chocolate self sauce pudding (i always mix with the recipe so i get more cake and less sauce and i also put more cocoa so it doesnt just taste like brown sugar & water glue!

3) Tiramisu= coffee, chocolate, biscuit, macarpone & cream YUM!
We have My grandparents visiting from canberra tomorrow, so Tia will get to spend some time with her great grandparents! So thats what we will be doing on melbourne cup day!
Im not into gambling, and not interested in melbourne cup day other than its a public holiday down here! YAY!!! (my mum joked that since my brother had visited for a few days, then my grandparents that they would come down and visit for the rest of the week! LOL!)

so you think you can dance?

Thanks Maria for sharing the dancing jib jab vids with me! haha!
I made a few and then signed up and then realized that they hadn't actually somehow saved them for later use after i accidentally closed the tab. ah well!

I watched so u think you can dance this week, and all the ads leading up to the episode it was 'ooh what makes the audience walk out! tune in to see' So it was right at the end and then right when it was about to happen our digital tv (on all stations) went all crappy, jerky and stuff... and then when it came to the elimination and my faves pasha and lauren? got booted.. so anyways im guessing the audience boo-ed and left coz they were told to leave?

I think i can safely say that i can start eating healthy again, with my brother down our meals were: pizza, macdonalds, kfc, hungry jacks, churros (the 5 food groups) He said the stay was 'interesting'. We shouted him a stay at the batmans hill on collins hotel, (which is very nice inside) due to melbourne cup the cheap hotels (formule 1) had increased from $79 & $89 to $129 & $139! so a twin room at batmans hill was $145.. not bad. ;) at least he has a fridge unlike formule 1 rooms where its just shower, beds & toilets.
We went into the city and dropped him off at the hotel, showed him around a very empty city (saturday at 5pm not much open) then went back on the train and got home.

I like storms, (when im not alone) last night a big one hit around 2am. It was 6 seconds between lighting and thunder. the thunder that woke me up shook our windows!! yikes. (however Tia, slept thru it)

much to do

Been busy playing host, cleaning and playing video games, even volunteered some time to help out at DH work putting keyrings together (well in the assembly line i was putting them in bags) they didnt need any help i suppose but 2,000 keyrings to put together i thought i'd help out and talk to the new guys, DH and my brother.. one of the new guys is healthy looking and said he was doing body for life.. how interesting! ;) i think he was suprised at what i knew about the program. he said he had one of my brownies and wrote it down in his food diary! LOL! i proceeded to tell him exactly how evil it was 200g butter, 2 cups brown sugar.. etc
anyways i need to get some time and make some videos..


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