Sunday 31 January 2016

Thoughts of the week

1. Tuesday was Australia day. It's become quite controversial the past few years, lots of name calling and accusations. Frankly I find it quite ridiculous. If you have an Aussie flag you're called a bogan. I don't get it. Firstly, what wrong with being a bogan and secondly, what's wrong with being proud to be Aussie? I'm proud to be Aussie, that doesn't make me a bogan. If I proudly display our flag why should I be labelled a bogan? Makes no sense to me. How about we all get along and stop calling each other names.

2. This is the Aussiest thing I've seen in a long time, love it. 

3. Tomorrow my baby starts full time school. I am all sorts of worried about it. Deep breaths.

4. This week I bought a long, almost floor length skirt. I'd forgotten how wonderful it feels to wear a long, flowy skirt.

5. I also chopped my hair to shoulder length and am loving myself sick right now. It's been about ten years since I had short hair, it feels so good. I keep admiring myself in the mirror, hahahaha.

Friday 29 January 2016

FFS Friday - Will the Sephora Saga ever end?

Last Friday Toll came out and picked up the Sephora eye shadow. Finally. FFS.

I didn't have all the required paperwork but they took the package and said they'd sort it out. Not FFS.

Stupidly I assumed that was finally the end of the Sephora saga. It wasn't. FFS.

Monday I got an email from Toll saying that they had another item to pick up and they'd be here to collect it on Wednesday. WTF? FFS.

I replied asking what they were collecting and they said that it was an eye shadow for Sephora. FFS.

I told Toll that they'd already picked up the eye shadow and I didn't have anything else for them to collect, so they said they'd get back to Sephora. FFS.

Tuesday I got an email from Sephora saying that I'd returned the wrong item. FFS!

I emailed them back and asked WTF they were talking about. Unsurprisingly they haven't bothered replying to me. FFS.

Seriously Sephora, WTF? How can such a large company be so incompetent? It can't be that difficult can it? FFS.

Interestingly, it takes orders they send over a week to arrive and yet when I returned the eyeshadow it took a few days. Hmmm. 


I am so over Sephora, it's been the worst shopping experience of my life. FFS.

This week Tiger returned home. The last few days before his return are always the most difficult, we're all tired and sick of him being away. Monday I wanted to sit down and eat a meal without losing most of it to the kids, so I made what I thought was a child proof meal. I mixed broccoli, feta cheese and balsamic vinegar and happily sat down to eat my meal. Immediately the boys wanted to know what I was eating (they'd already finished their tea). FFS.

I happily told them I was eating broccoli. They both announced that they like broccoli. FFS.

Not fazed I gave them a taste, confidently waiting for them to spit it out. They loved it. FFS.

Between them they ate the whole lot and came back for second helpings. FFS.

It was the last of the broccoli and feta. FFS.    

I had toast for dinner that night. FFS.

Yesterday I had some precious child free time. I needed to go to the farmers market and decided to have a browse in Kmart on the way. I walked into the shopping centre and my sandal broke. FFS.

It was beyond repair, I couldn't even make temporary repairs until I could get a new pair, so I had to walk bare footed into Kmart. FFS.

As I rarely buy Kmart shoes I couldn't find the shoe section, so wandered around for a few minutes before asking a staff member for help. FFS.

I got my thongs (leopard print with a black bow, very classy), paid for them and then had to ask the checkout lady for scissors to break the tag so that I could put them on. FFS.

She regaled me with tales of people who come into the shop bare footed and walk out wearing shoes. Seriously? The shoes cost $10, why would you want to get a criminal record for that? The bag check lady at the door also had many tales of shoe stealers. She said I was probably followed around the store by a store detective to make sure I didn't steal shoes. Fun times. FFS.     

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Parenting

Yesterday someone I follow on twitter wrote the following: "Mum's are like "my kids make me smile ALL day" and I'm thinking 'wtf is wrong with me then". I responded with "You're honest and they aren't. Parenting isn't fun a lot of the time"

It got me thinking. Parenting is tough. The toughest thing I've ever done. It's loving them one second and hating them the next. It's wondering what the hell you did wrong and then being proud at their lovely manners. 

There are times I feel like I'm going crazy. Those days where it takes all of my self control not to scream at them. It's being on a constant emotional rollercoaster, going through seven different emotions in ten minutes.

It's being so angry that you feel like you're going to explode. It's having to exercise more self control than you thought possible. It's feeling like you're going crazy from the effort it takes to control yourself and not explode. 

It's knowing that to a large extent your actions will determine the type of person they grow to be. It's knowing what a huge responsibility that is. It's being scared that you aren't up to the task and they'll turn out badly and that will be all your fault. 

It's being sure that you've totally stuffed up and trying your best to fix it. It's constantly worrying that you are scaring them for life. It's wishing that you never had kids and at the same time knowing they're the best thing you ever did.

It's longing for the day you can have a shower and go to the toilet alone and yet not wanting them to grow up.

It's hating them and loving them at the same time. 

It's discovering weaknesses and strengths that you didn't know existed. It's long days and even longer nights. It's realising how little sleep you can survive on.  

It's wearing your heart outside your body every single day.  

It's something you'll never get right, you'll never have the parenting thing down pat, there will always be something you're doing wrong. It's learning to be okay with that. 

It's constant judgement and criticism from society, you become a parent and suddenly everyone is telling you what to do and judging how you do it.

It's learning things about yourself that you never wanted to know. 

It's boring, repetitive, monotony. Every day feels like groundhog day. You do the same crap over and over and over again. Wake up, make coffee, give them breakfast and a drink, clean up their mess, referee fights, make food, watch them throw it on the ground, tidy up toys, play ninja turtles for the millionth time, read books, play chasey, wipe up tears, kiss hurts away, count down until bed time, put them in the bath and then finally they're in bed.

It's longing for your childfree days and not wanting to go back to them for anything. It's fondly remembering the days when you had a job and wishing you could go back to that life for a little while.

It's turning on the tv so you can have a break and then worrying that they are getting too much screen time.

It's counting down the time until Daddy gets home. 

It's wanting desperately to be alone and then missing them when you are alone. It's wondering how the hell you are going to make it through the day because it's only 8am and you're already over it. 

It's counting down the hours and minutes until bedtime. 

It's swearing under your breath. It's screaming on the inside whilst smiling on the outside. It's saying angry things in your head and speaking kind words.

It's being relieved when you meet other parents who are honest like you because it means you can let your guard down and be normal.

It's feeling a sense of kinship with the poor parent out in public with the tantruming toddler. It's not judging that parent because yesterday that parent was you.

It's loving them a little bit more when they are asleep. It's looking at their beautiful, peaceful sleeping faces and feeling your heart overflow with love. 

It's knowing that you'd willingly give your life to save theirs. 

It's raw, brutal, exhausting.

It's love like you've never felt before. It's primal, instinctive, painful love. 

It's beautiful, perfect imperfection. 

Sunday 24 January 2016

Thoughts of the week

1. I'm loathe to admit that I'm starting to become a Belieber. I've never liked him in the past so was horrified when I learned that Sorry and Love Yourself were his songs. I've been happily singing along to them for weeks and despite my best efforts, I just can't hate them. Oh the shame.

2. Things have been really difficult since Tiger went back to work. It just seems to get harder and harder. I'm hoping that once Chai is back at school it'll ease up a bit and life will be less challenging.

3. I've reached that stage in parenthood where I'm arranging play dates and associating with people that I barely know so that our children can play. There's people I only know as Sams Mum etc. It's really bizarre going to a strangers house and sitting there for a few hours making small talk whilst your children play. It's kind of like being on a first date, you make small talk and get to know the person. Thankfully so far all Chai's friends parents have been lovely.

4. As a make-up addict I can relate to all but two of the points in this article.

5. I made chocolate banana bread this week. This needs to be a thing, it's awesome. 

Saturday 23 January 2016

Saturday Skincare: First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads

It was thanks to Caroline Hirons that I first learned about chemical exfoliants. Actually that's not quite correct, I'd heard of them before but assumed they would be too harsh for my sensitive skin. Reading Caroline's blog she said that the First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads are suitable for sensitive skin. I was still sceptical but decided to give them a go. 

The first few times I used them I got a slight tingle. I used them daily and was waiting for them to irritate my skin or make it red but they didn't. Nothing at all. No stinging, no irritation, no redness, nothing. Awesome! I used them every day for a few weeks, didn't notice any changes and started to wonder if they were doing anything at all. It wasn't until I forgot to use them one night that I realised they were working. My skin felt rough and bumpy. I realised that it hadn't felt that way since I'd been using the Facial Radiance Pads. They work!



They have a textured side and a smooth side, I use the textured side first and then go back over with the smooth side. As you can see in the photo below the textured side is still quite smooth, it's not enough to provide any extra exfoliation

I now use them as part of my nightly skin care routine. I'm amazed and delighted that I haven't had any irritation or sensitivity from them. There's only one problem and that is they no longer seem to be available in Australia, how annoying.

Ingredients: water, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, glycerin, cucumber fruit water, lactic acid, glycolic acid, sodium hydroxide, leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate, white tea leaf extract, feverfew extract, licorice root extract, lemon peel extract, mandarin orange fruit extract, hyaluronic acid, indian gooseberry fruit extract, polysorbate 20.

Friday 22 January 2016

FFS Friday is here to stay!

We're back! Thanks to overwhelming demand, FFS Friday is here to stay. Yay!

I'm so glad that you all enjoy laughing at my misfortune. I'm not joking. 

Last Friday was one of those days. FFS.

I dream of being a calm, peaceful, tolerant Mummy but it just doesn't happen. FFS.

I took the boys to the skate park early so that they could have a skate before it got too hot. Getting there was a major issue. FFS.

There was screaming, tantrums, yelling, sit in's, threats etc. And that was just me. FFS.

Not really, it was them. FFS.

Okay, it was mostly them and a little bit me. FFS.

Anyhow, I managed to get them in the car and to the skate park. The first tantrum came when they realised the boy (we don't know him) who'd been there last time, wasn't there. This was my fault because I didn't know where he lived. FFS.

Eljay refused to scoot around unless I followed him. FFS.

Chai wanted to know what was behind the skate park and when I told him it was a BMX track he wanted to go home and get his bike. I refused. FFS.

He decided he'd scoot on the BMX track but only if I followed along behind him. FFS.

Then he had a huge whine because it was too boggy for him to scoot on. FFS.

The skate park was right there but he wouldn't use it. FFS.

Next up Eljay had a screaming tantrum and I have no idea why. I think he just wanted to sing me the song of his people cause I hadn't heard it for at least five minutes. He's good like that. FFS.

By that time I'd had enough and was very close to throwing a tantrum of my own so I loaded them in the car whilst they yelled and screamed. It was fun. FFS.

I finally realised that the boys are like me, they can't cope with the heat. FFS.

If only I'd realised that years ago our life would have been a lot easier. FFS. 

I took them to Dad's house for a picnic lunch in an effort to keep us all occupied and happy. It was too hot to be outside so we stayed in the air conditioning. They usually have toys there to keep the boys amused, but my step mum had put them away and Dad couldn't find them. FFS.

This meant that the whole time I was on edge trying to make sure they didn't smash any of step mum's ornaments. FFS.

All day I kept on seeing social media posts saying Thank Goodness it's Friday! Get your sparkle on for Friday night etc. Every time I saw a post like that I though "Fecking idiots, it's not Friday. It's not even close to Friday. Wonder where they are that they think it's Friday, can't be the USA cause they're behind us. Fecking idiots." It wasn't until 4pm that I realised it was actually Friday. Seems I was the fecking idiot. Hahaha. FFS.


Eljay has recently decided that getting into his car seat isn't something he's interested in doing. FFS.

Every time we go out getting him in to his seat is a major drama. FFS.

I have no idea why. FFS.

So it goes something like this:
Chai heads for his side of the car, Eljay sees him and races screaming to his door on the other side of the car. He's screaming because he doesn't want Chai to sit in his seat. Chai never sits in his seat and is getting in his side of the car so there's no reason for Eljay to suspect that Chai might sit in his seat. So Eljay races screaming to the car, gets in (very slowly), examines all the toys/shoes/food/rubbish on the car floor for a while then sits in the passenger seat next to his car seat. I ask him to get into his car seat and he says no. I tell him that we can't go anywhere if he's not in his seat and he says no. I ask him if he wants to go to the park and he says yes. I again ask him to get into his seat so that we can go to the park. No. I strap Chai into his seat and tell Eljay that he either gets into his seat or we stay home. No. I tell him that he has thirty seconds to get into his seat before we stay home. No. He finally climbs screaming into his seat and screams and wriggles the whole time I'm strapping him up. As soon as I close the car door he stops. FFS.

We do this every day as we're leaving the house to go to the park. Every single day. It's fun. FFS.  

Chai's reached the stage of the holidays where he's had enough and wants to go back to school. Because of that I arranged a play date for him every day this week. You'd think that'd be great and keep him happy, but he's still found a lot to be unhappy about. FFS.

Wednesday we had to go out in the morning. He whined the whole time we were out and when we got home decided it was time for a tantrum. FFS.

He opened the boot and I reached over to lift it up for him because he's not tall enough to lift it right up. Instead of waiting for me to lift the boot Chai spat the dummy and slammed the boot down in a fit of rage. FFS.

He slammed it right on my index finger. FFS.

It f@#%ing hurt. FFS.

I did not swear! I did tell him to "SHUT UP CHAI!" FFS.

We've been taking Chai to a psych due to his separation anxiety. At the last session she said that he doesn't know how to regulate his emotions so we need to help him and that if we want him to be calm we need to be calm. It's not working. FFS.

I am trying so, so hard to be calm but it's not working. Even when I'm calm (which is most of the time) he's still not calm. FFS.

Ah well.

The boys must have decided that this week was See How Much We Can Hurt Mum week. FFS.

Yesterday Eljay wanted something to eat. I was holding him in the pantry so he could show me what he wanted. When there was nothing he wanted he had a tantrum and pulled my jar of cacao nibs on to the floor. FFS.

Why is it always the expensive stuff they smash? FFS.

It smashed all over the floor and cut my foot. FFS.

I didn't swear that time either. Mother of the year. Or not. FFS.

I got my revenge that afternoon, I made banana bread and didn't let them lick the bowl. Hahahaha.

If you don't hear from me again the kids have managed to inflict a mortal wound. FFS.

Catcha next week!           

Thursday 21 January 2016

Rimmel Super Gel Nail Polish

I love the look of painted fingernails but rarely paint mine because no matter how careful I am my polish chips really quickly, sometimes within a few hours. I don't understand how polish on my toe nails lasts for two weeks and yet doesn't even last a few days on my nails. Oh well. I was recently sent the new Rimmel Super Gel Nail Polish which claims to wear for up to fourteen days, so I gave it a go, optimistically hoping for the best. 


I applied two coats of polish and one coat of the gel top coat. As you can probably see in the nail photos below, I am not very good with my application! Also, how do bloggers take such good finger photos? I couldn't get a decent one for the life of me.

The colour I received is Grape Sorbet which is a shimmery lilac pink. I didn't love it as I'm not partial to shimmery colours, but Tiger loves it. There are fifteen shades available so there's sure to be something to suit everyone. I'm planning on picking up Blue Babe next time Priceline has them on sale. 



I have no idea how people get such great photos of their nails, I took so many photos and they all turned out terribly! Both these photos are when the polish was freshly applied (obviously). Whilst I didn't get fourteen days wear, I am still pretty happy with it. I had very, very minor wear on the end of two nails on day three. Day four it got worse and I had noticeable chips on three nails. There was also wear on the end of four nails. Day five I couldn't stand the chips so got out the nail polish remover. Removal was easy, exactly the same as with regular nail polish. I noticed after I'd removed the polish that my nails felt really strong, like I'd been using a nail hardener. I'm not sure if that's from the Super Gel polish or just a co-incidence, so I'll test it more and report back.
Overall I'm really happy with my Super Gel nail polish. I didn't get close to fourteen days wear, but five days wear is fine by me, I'm happy to do my nails once a week. 

You can purchase Super Gel nail polish individually for $9.95 or in a duo pack for $14.95.

*This product was provided for review. 

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Top Three Tuesday: Face Masks

I'm so lazy with face masks, pre kids I used a face mask every week, now I don't even use them once a month! I've decided that's going to change this year, it's not difficult to whack on a face mask in the morning when I'm getting ready to have a shower. To make sure this happens I've pulled out my three favourite face masks and put them on my bathroom counter. It's worth noting that even though I rarely use face masks, these three I've used and repurchased. Funnily enough they were all originally sent to me for review, if I hadn't needed to test them out they would probably have sat unloved with all my other face masks. 

Arbonne RE9 Advanced Intense Hydration Overnight Mask - This is perfect for lazy people like me because it doesn't need to be washed off. I put it on after my night time skin care routine and wake up in the morning with soft, hydrated skin. Easy peasy. 

Clinique Turnaround Revitalizing Instant Facial -  I've long been a lover of the Clinique Turnaround range and their new mask is no exception. It only needs to be left on for five minutes (perfect when I'm in a rush) and when I wash it off my skin looks radiant. I love to use it when my skin is dull and sallow from too many sleepless nights. 

Maskd The Green Mask - Maskd gives me beautiful soft skin. It's like a deep exfoliation without having to put in any effort. I find that it takes a few uses to see the results with this mask, but it's well worth the effort. The first few uses were a little scary due to the intense tingling/burning, but I don't get any redness at all and now that I've been using Maskd for a while I barely get any tingling. 
What are your favourite face masks?

Sunday 17 January 2016

Thoughts of the week

1. There have been bush fires in our area the past few weeks, a lot of people have lost everything. We've donated money to help them out, I wish that there was more we could do. I can't imagine how awful it'd be having to start again from scratch. There's one lady I heard about who is a single mother with four children and no insurance. How will she rebuild? She's got nothing and probably doesn't have the means to rebuild, it'd be devastating.

2. The fires got me thinking about the things in our house that I'd hate to lose and what I'd try to save in an emergency. There's not much. Aside from the family, photos and our identification, nearly everything else can be replaced. My cousin and Dad were both talking about all the things that they'd hate to lose, they both have a whole pile of things. I don't. Maybe because my kids are only young and I'm not that sentimental. As long as I have my family and my photos I'm not overly worried about material things. 

3. That leads me further down a path that I've been heading down for a while now. We have a house full of things that I don't value, so why do we have them? Clearly some things we need for practical reasons, but what about everything else? You know what I'm going to say don't you? Out it goes. 2016 is going to be the year of the declutter. 

4. Last week we took the boys to the cinema for the first time. They loved it and sat through the whole movie (The Good Dinosaur). The best part for me was watching their faces and reactions, it was so cute. 

5. There are only three more weeks until school goes back. 

6. The last few weeks there has been all sorts of fuss and criticism about Gisele Bundchen's diet. I don't get it. Other than the meat and no caffeine, if I wasn't so lazy I'd eat that way. 

Friday 15 January 2016

FFS Friday - The end?

FFS Friday has been going for a while now and I'm starting to wonder if it's time to put it to bed. What do you all think? 
I'd been planning on stopping it last year but then I got a hater comment that spurred me to continue, haha. FFS Friday is supposed to be a humorous look at the challenging parts of my week but lately it's been feeling rather unfunny and just whingey, which is not how it's supposed to be. So people, I need to know, does FFS Friday stay or go? 

For this week it's staying because I have things to whine about.

I'm still scrubbing the floor. FFS.


Not only am I scrubbing the bits I haven't done yet, I'm also going back over the bits I've already done cause they're dirty again. FFS.


Surely it's reasonable to expect my family not to walk on my clean floor ever again? Strangely enough they think I'm being unreasonable. FFS.


After getting stuck in Bali at the start of November, we've been waiting for our insurance claim to be processed. FFS.


It was finally processed this week but they only paid half of our food bill. FFS.


When Tiger called to question that they told us that they don't normally pay any food however they'd decided to pay 50% of the food costs as a favour to people. When Tiger told them that our policy clearly states that they do pay for food they were very surprised and said they'd have to check with the trustee. They got back to us and said that their lawyers needed to look at it "to check the wording". FFS.


I don't know why they needed to check the wording, the policy clearly says "We will pay for accommodation, food and other expenses up to $300 per day". Seems pretty clear to me. I was all ready to go to the Ombudsman however they got back to us the next day and said they'd pay all of our food expenses. Not FFS.


Cheeky buggers, I reckon they were hoping we wouldn't read the policy documents. I wonder how many people they ripped off. FFS.


This week was fly out day for Tiger. FFS.


No matter what I do it's always an emotional day for the boys so I try to keep them as busy as I can after Tiger leaves. My nephews came over not long after Tiger left which I thought would be perfect as it'd keep the boys happy. It didn't turn out like that. FFS.


Usually they'll stay for a few hours, they'll all play together and it's great. Not this week. This week both my nephews were in surly moods. All they wanted to do was play on their tablets. Poor Chai got all upset because his cousins were here and wouldn't play with him, he ended up more upset than he was before they came over. FFS.


Thankfully Dad came over a bit later and that cheered him up. Not FFS.


It isn't long until the school holidays are over so once again I'm lamenting the loss of my little boy and dreaming about selling everything, buying a fun bus and running away so that I can keep my boys with me forever. Seems reasonable to me. Tiger is still unconvinced. FFS.


Now it's time for a vote. Does FFS Friday live to see another week or is this its last hurrah?

Wednesday 13 January 2016

Sugar Baby Vita+Skin Slim-Ulate body scrub

OMG everyone, this is the best scrub ever, you all need it. Forget all the other scrubs, this one is it.

It was love from the second I opened the packet thanks to the gorgeous coconut coffee scent, it reminds me of my favourite coconut mocha drink.  

Coffee scrubs are all the rage at the moment and I can see why. The coffee gives a great, non abrasive scrub, doesn't dissolve mid scrub and easily washes down the drain. Sugar Baby says that their scrub will stimulate blood flow,  reduce the appearance of cellulite and stretch marks, hydrate skin and improve moisture retention. They also say it's great to use in cases of eczema and psoriasis. 

I'm yet to notice any difference in my cellulite, I'll report back on that in a few months. I do find that it helps to hydrate my skin, it leaves my skin feeling moisturised but not greasy, I don't like scrubs that make my skin feel oily. 

There's only one thing I don't like about my Slim-Ulate body scrub and that's the packaging. It comes in a snap lock pouch that I find really difficult to use in the shower. It's not a huge deal though, I just decant it into an old scrub pot and off we go.  

At $14.99 for 200 grams it's very reasonably priced. Unfortunately a lot of people seem to agree with me because I can rarely find it in stock at Priceline. If you find it at your local store, buy at least two!

Ingredients: sucrose, coffee seed powder, coconut powder, glycerin, olive fruit oil, coconut oil, fragrance.