Thursday, March 29, 2012

A plate full of colour

Give me a plate full of colourful food and I'm yours.

Here's what I made myself for lunch today:


That's my interpretation of a healthy meal.

What's yours? And what's on your lunch plate lately?

Karen xx

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Today's whine

I'm being a touch melodramatic, I know. I really don't have much to complain about in my life.

I've had enough of my family being sick. One after the other.

Double whammy this week, Ray & Liam both home with some kind of flu virus.


Flu begone. Leave this house. You are not an invited guest. Bugger off!

Karen xx





Friday, March 23, 2012

A bit of time for ME!

Zac is away at army cadet camp for the weekend. Sleeping under a hootchie & having his first go at shooting real bullets (strictly supervised). Hoping to 2IC some activities like he did last camp. I hope they bring him back in one piece!



Hubby Ray is sick so is snoozing on the lounge - you really don't want to see a photo of that!

Liam is still sick even after missing 2 days of school, so he is lying down in the other lounge room watching TV, hopefully snoozing.

Megan's watching a Care Bears DVD.

Me? I'm making the most of what is now some "Me" time.

Baking - check!

Banana cake


Decided what to wear out to dinner tonight - check! (I think!)

Facebook - check!

Blog post - check!

Obligatory pre getting ready glass of wine - check!



Yes, I am off to dinner tonight, for the first time in I don't know how long.

It's 30 years since my high school opened. 30 years since I started Year 7. I was part of the original 120 students of a brand new school. Our buildings consisted of 4 demountable classrooms. The staff room was one of the parish / church meeting rooms (which is where Megan & I now go to playgroup) and we used a block of toilets at the primary school. And we had access to their canteen too. What is now the back car park at the primary school & church used to be our classrooms. There are photos of our final day of Year 7 - carrying our desks & chairs across the paddock to where the school was being constructed so they would be ready for us when we came back for Year 8 after the summer holidays. These days it would be child labour & we wouldn't be allowed to do it!

So there is a 30th Anniversary dinner happening tonight in the school hall.

You know, there's something special about having a history about where you live. I've been in this area for 32 years. Both hubby & I attended the primary school our kids are going through. Zac is in his 2nd last year at this same high school, with the others still to come up the ranks. We were married in that very church. All our kids were baptised in that church. Friends I went to school with have kids in the same class as our kids. I love the "small town" friendliness, even though our town isn't that small anymore! The very ground that our house sits on used to be horse paddock - one friend used to keep her horse here!

Well, I'm off to wash my hair & beautify myself in preparation for tonight! What are you up to?

Karen xx

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

On the way to a crap free home.....

This is the year I am organising the house. I know everyone thinks I am already organised, but you don't know what's below the surface. It's a bit like an iceberg - 10% is visible, the other 90% is below the water.

This is the kind of stuff I've been doing lately:

my newsletters drawers + bills to be paid
streamlining superannuation


window tracks "after" - think I need to do them again!
my filing drawer


why do I end up doing it when it's the kids' job?


gave it a SUPER clean & wanted to see how it photographed
energy boost
normal routine.....

What cheeses me off? I just rang the superannuation company & they are going to charge me $35 to transfer a measly $250 into another super fund. If I don't do it then it will be eaten away by fees. So I have no choice but to pay it.

What else cheeses me off? We recently changed doctors & I asked for our medical records to be transferred from the other practice. They want to charge $55 for mine, $27-50 for each of the younger kids & today they rang to speak to Zac (who is at school) & didn't want to tell me who they were or what it was about. I don't care if he is considered an adult in their eyes because he is 16 - I signed the form, I take him to the doctor, he is a full time student living at home, he's on my medicare card (not his own), if they have something to tell him, they can do it through me. I told them to forget about it because I'm not paying it. Anything the new doctor needs to know I will tell them myself. I was just doing because I thought it would help.

Hey Tina Gray ! Did you notice there is a Christmas decoration on my bathroom window sill?! Sneaky hey!

What's going on at your place lately?

Karen xx


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Follow Up Doctor's Visit

I spoke about my recent trip to the doctor here.

I am pleased and relieved to say that today I had my stitches removed and got my
biopsy results - ALL CLEAR! Yay!!!! Nothing abnormal detected. Yippee!

Thanks to those who have sent me positive messages both online and in real life in the interim. That would be you guys!

Karen xx

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Whinge, whinge, freaking whinge......

Am sick to death of it. Well, not literally, but fair dinkum how much whinging do I have to listen to?

Our two youngest kids seem to bicker, fight, argue and tease almost continually, which results in Megan whinging and whining.

I cop it every afternoon during school pickups. Starts the minute we get back in the car, sometimes before. Then we have about a 10 minute wait at the high school for Zac to finish the day & let me tell you, those 10 minutes are excruciatingly long. Stupid things. "He looked at me". "I don't want him to look out the window". Tears. "Don't touch my chair". "I got to see my friends today & you didn't, haha".

For Pete's sake, be NICE to each other! It's not that hard.

For the past 2 weekends, the whinging & whining feels like it has been non stop. It's really doing my head in. I don't know how to stop it. I don't know how to get a bit of peace & quiet so I can work out how to tackle this problem. I am constantly playing referee or telling them to stop. I have to yell so they can hear my voice over their own.

Tonight I hauled them out of the bath & sent them to their rooms. They were arguing over a face washer. 2 kids in the bath, 2 face washers in the bath. Why is that a problem? "She put water on me". Newsflash - you are already wet. "He's got my cloth". Get over it princess. That's not gonna be the last thing a guy takes from you in your life.



They were allowed out at dinner time. I threatened to smack their bums if there was ANY arguing at the table. It's now 1.5 hours later & they haven't argued. Yet. (Don't you just love my confidence in them lol).

I KNOW our kids don't fight ALL the time. Most of the time they don't. I see how they play together & help each other & they have a very special relationship. But WHY do we find it so easy to forget that when they fight?

What do you do when your kids seem to be continually fighting?

Please give me some ideas before I tear all my hair out.........

Karen xx.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Anti Bullying Video made by our High School Kids

Take a few minutes and watch this. Please.

Again, our kids have excelled & produced something amazing. A brilliant message. I absolutely sobbed whilst watching it. We all know I am a crier anyway, but oh my goodness.

The idea came from a group of Year 10 drama students. Yes, Year 10. They are 15 & 16 years old.

I recognise many of the kids in this video, some from the primary school we are at & some from the high school we are at.

Share it around. Please. Lets make this go viral.


Your thoughts?

Karen xx

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Pieces of My Day in Pics

poo patrol - she finds 'em, he picks 'em up

oh the embarrassment of it all!

army cadets bag

boo! note the attention span of the male species! both have their eyes on the tv.

ingredients.......

hommus, recess for Zac for the week.

Also spent the day washing, cleaning, pancake making, gardening, just another Sunday really!

What did you get up to today?

Karen xx

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Chopped & Stitched

Well, I've been to the Skin Cancer Clinic after blogging about my suspicions here and here.

Upper back just left of centre

Above right boob.

Knew the one on my back needed investigating but not the one on my chest. Removed just in case. The doctor warned me the scar could be wide due to stretching from the weight of my breast dragging on it. If I am concerned about how it looks he can inject a steroid into it (see that scar in the top right corner of the photo, that has been injected - I am so used to seeing it, I had actually forgotten that I'd had something cut out!). I told him that at 42 I have EARNED my scars! I actually have another scar just behind that top button, yep I had a mole removed from right between my boobs. Mum organised that so I wouldn't be self conscious about it as a teen. It was raised & big. (Thanks Mum!). I inherited it from Dad as he still has one there.

Anyway, I get my results in 2 weeks when I go back to get my stitches removed. Expecting that to be the end of it. Keeping fingers crossed!

Oh, and he told me I have a very moley back!

Have you hit the age when you are proud of your battle scars, or do you prefer to disguise or hide them?

Karen xx

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The HouseWorkOut

One of our local radio stations has a segment called "10 from then", which this morning had
songs from 1984. TOTALLY my era! I was 14 & in Year 9 at school.


Here's a snippet of what I was rockin' to this morning:


Great for doing lunges.......whilst folding washing & sorting socks



(I didn't put the original video clip in because of the fighting in it)

When this song was on, I made beds & put a load of washing on.


F*#k the house work, just DANCE!!!

Go on, I dare you to.


Apologies to my neighbours for my singing, thank goodness we have tinted windows so nobody could see me bopping around all over the place!

Do you house workout to music?

What gets your toes tapping?

Karen xx