A Quickie

For my satisfaction!!

We are away at the moment, our little man had an operation on Thursday and so rather than muckabout we came to Sydney and made sure he was operated on by the best.

I won't go into details other than to tell you he has pulled through alot better than we expected and rather than the rest we thought we would get because he was lethargic, he went back to his full of energy self the very next day. So much for those thoughts!

We are enjoying a little time in Sydney anyway, managed a trip to Ikea which was madly chaotic and confusing, and we are enjoying the down time with each other.

On another note - Its Ollies birthday tomorrow - he is 2 and I am in shock, where have those 2 years gone?

I remember this time two years ago, I was hot, bothered and wanted that baby out sooner rather than later, I did everything within my means to assist the labour process to get started even though I still had a week to my due date. It looks like something worked!

How our lives have changed in the last 2 years, how our world has been turned upside down, but how we have loved every minute and how we love you our beautiful little boy - to the moon and back and around again. Mwah.

The Pact

Ladies of blogland I challenge you to a pact - a pact to keep with each other, a pact so very important you will not want to break it.

What is this pact you ask?

Too often we talk about things we should do for ourselves, want to do for ourselves, or try to do for ourselves, and too often life in any way shape or form gets in the way. We find ourselves doing things for everyone else and therefore, forgoing those little thoughts because they are just that little bit too hard.

Well here it is ladies - no more. The pact is that we will now find a way to make at least one of those little things happen.

You choose what it is, you choose how often it should occur, BUT - it simply must happen. It is after all The Pact.

There are some rules:
1. Your pact with yourself cannot involve anything of the domestic kind ie - must clean more often - uh uh - it will not be stood for. However - if your great joy is to cook, or sew etc then this is acceptable.

2. The pact cannot be broken - once you make your pact, you must, I repeat MUST, stick too it

3. It is perfectly acceptable to make more than one pact with yourself.

4. If you have read this far, you should consider yourself tagged, and therefore it is hoped that you will make your pact with yourself and share The Pact with more wonderful Blogworld ladies, any age, any nationality, anywhere.

5. Go to it ladies, make your pact - and please let me know if you do, Id love to hear the wonderful things that ladies have decided they will do for themselves. (It will be inspiration for lots more pacts for myself!!)

Before I sign off I ought to make my pact (the first of many I hope!!) It may sound silly but my pact is to buy lots more matching underwear, lovely underwear, not the onsale, that will do type underwear, meaning I have all different bras and undies but not many that match. (but if its lovely and onsale - then that is a bonus). There is something so joyous and womanly about wearing lovely matching underwear, so from now on, my pact is to make sure I own plenty!

A little improvement = a happy mum!

The improvement is of the home kind too!

Ever since we moved into this house just over four years ago I have really wanted a new fence, The old one was boring - there was not a single thing about it that was aesthetically pleasing and it did not - I repeat did not make me smile.

Now I know that a fence is not really worthy of a smile - really, but I do love my home very much. Its old, it has a wonderful vibe and it is the place DH and I began our married (and engaged!!) life together, and the place our wonderful son was conceived (OK OK I know bordering on to much info there) and brought home too. This place is special and so I want to get home each day and smile.

So we have talked about a new fence often, however just when we thought we had the money together, something else would crop up, or we would change our minds and make some other improvement. We generally use our tax return towards our home improvements and this year i put my foot down and decided for once and all, that we were getting a new fence. And here it is:

Ill add a disclaimer first though - my poor little camera I think is on it's last legs so the pictures aren't wonderful - but should be enough to give you an idea.

Here is what we had before - half pulled down - Don't you love my little man with hammer in hand - he was a great help - even though he was supposed to be in bed!

And here is the newer improved version:

Whatever happened to...?

Cereal.....

The other day as I was unpacking Ollies Weetbix I had a sudden memory of a race between my brother and sisters to find the collector card in the bottom of the weetbix packet. It didn't matter to me that it was generally a cricketer - and I don't even like cricket. It was simply the joy of finding something fun in the packet. Similarly in the bottom of the rice bubbles there was always a toy to be found, and it was about as much enticement as I needed to get on and eat my cereal like a good little girl.

I cannot remember the last time I found a toy in the bottom of the cereal packet, perhaps it was still when I was a child, but it was certainly something to look forward to that seems to have vanished into thin air.

So who are these fun spoilers and what is their reasoning? Too many trivialties seem to disapear these days, those little things that are there simply to make people happy (and maybe some clever marketing too, but we won't go there today). I feel sad that Ollie may never know the fun of finding a toy in his cereal box.

Update

Dearest Darlingest got home safe and sound and the bushfires in our state have not amounted to much compared to the tragedy unfolding in Victoria.

The official deathtoll now stands at 181 - although it is expected to be in excess of 200.

Keep praying people, there are some amazing stories starting to surface - a true testament to the human spirit.

Any Aussies out there who may read my blog - please do what you can. Donate blood, clothes, money - whatever you can to help.

Bushfires

There are bushfires burning in Australia at the moment of epic, proportions. A whole town has been wiped out and at this point the deathtoll is at 36.

We knew it was going to happen. It is so hot and dry here at the moment, it was only a matter of time.

The worst of it is in Victoria. I lots of family and friends down there and I keep my fingers crossed for them all. My dear friend Rach was in the thick of it yesterday rescuing her horses, and they are still not out of the woods.

Picture Source: Sydney Morning Herald

My Dearest darlingest is away and is driving home today. There are reported fires near where he will have to drive. Im feeling very fearful, I know he will be ok - but already there has been such devastation - and people that I know have been involved.

Please pray all, for the families that have lost their loved ones and/or their homes and for those that are still at risk.

Out of the nursery and into fast cars

The latest discussion in our house is if Ollie is ready for a big bed. We are thinking yes -it seems that he is far more comfortable sprawled out in our bed (with mum and dad balancing vicariously on either edge) and I'm beginning to hear far more than one bump in the night.

The excitement for me is that this gives me a new project of the decorating kind. We have decided to move Ollie into the spare bedroom and we will leave his room set up as it is, in anticipation for an addition that we hope won't be too far away.

Ollie as it turns out, is transport mad, anything with wheels and that makes a loud sound is winner with my very boyish boy. So for this reason we have decided that we are going to set him up in a room that would send shivers down a lollipop man's spine.

It's no rush, it should be known that the spare room - is the "typical" spare room, meaning theres all matter of "I have no idea where that should go" type paraphernalia in there, shoved in the cupboards and sitting in neat piles on the floor. So it will take a little bit of time to sort, clean and chuck. But just because It will take time, doesn't mean that the purchases can't start!

look at these cool little cushions I was able to pick up on sale on the weekend:

Ollie is already a fan. He likes to sit on the blue one and Vrroom Vrroom around his room. Looks like we picked a winner.

Mmmm Snickerdoodles

On Sundays, when all is quiet I often like to bake, so terribly mother like and domesticated, but In all honestly its probably that good old "Mother Guilt" rearing its ugly head.

You see I know Monday is looming and Ollie will be sent off to his Grandparents, so I like to send him with a treat - so Im not at home with him, but damn, Ill make it worth his while.

This weeks offering is Snickerdoodles. I have heard a friend talk of these, and have seen plenty of recipes, so today after a quick look in the cupboard and a flick through a recipe book, the decision was made and oh how glad I am!

Mmmmm Cookie Dough - is it wrong to consider stopping the process here and just eating it all like this????








All rolled out and ready for the oven.

Ready at last....looks like someone got in quick!! (Well I couldn't blog about them if I didn't know how good they were, could I!!)

And so the week begins again. Have a good one won't you all.

May your children go to bed on time, may the traffic all be going the other way, and may your significant others have dinner on the table as you walk in the door......(Its worth a shot and hey we can all dream!)