Friday 29 March 2013

FFS Friday - Packing or Not

Hello Friday! I would say that you are my old friend, but now that I'm a FIFO widow we are no longer friends. Friday and weekends mean that everything is closed and there are no activities on so I have long days with a very energetic child. FFS.

Tiger went away on Wednesday so I'm feeling sorry for myself again. FFS.

He's decided that he loves this job because it gives him two weeks at home with us. FFS.

I've decided that I hate this job because it means two weeks of solo parenting for me. FFS.

When Tiger is home he brings me a drink in the mornings. Not FFS.

Friday morning my drink was sitting on the bedside table. I hadn't had any of it when Chai spilled it all over the floor. FFS. 

Naturally it went down behind the bed making it very difficult to clean up. FFS.

Poor Chai came down with a cold on Friday. FFS.

This meant that I got no packing done. FFS.

Friday night we were putting a fan in his room (after he went to sleep) and we woke him up. FFS.

I went over to his cot to pick him up, couldn't see in the dark and whacked him in the face. FFS.

Poor baby. As if he wasn't feeling bad enough then I whack him in the face. FFS.

Friday night I woke in the night feeling very amorous. Not FFS.

Of course it had to happen the night Chai was sleeping in our bed. FFS.

I contemplated waking Tiger up and taking him into another room to have my wicked way with him, however every time I tried to move Chai off me he woke up. FFS.

Saturday I came down with a cold. FFS.

After not giving a damn about the condition of our house for the last six years, now that it's sold Tiger is suddenly super finicky about everything. FFS.

It's driving me crazy! He's constantly on at me about Chai damaging things, even though he hasn't damaged anything. FFS.

We have a small courtyard out the back and Chai has dug a little hole in the grass. It was like this when we sold the house. Tiger is now carrying on about the hole and trying to stop Chai playing in it (he likes to fill it up with water and then stomp in the muddy water) because "we can't sell the house with a hole in the lawn". FFS.

Despite me having told him at least five times that the lawn was like that all three times the buyer came over, Tiger will not let up. FFS.

The way he carries on you'd think the hole was 10 meters across. FFS.

According to Tiger I "just don't get it". FFS.

He's the one who doesn't get it. FFS.

I have tried to explain to Tiger that as long as we don't trash the house, it's not supposed to be perfect as it's not a brand new house. He doesn't seem to comprehend this. FFS.

Sunday we planned to take Chai to the zoo in the morning. We weren't very organised and as we were trying to get ready Chai decided to make things interesting. FFS.

He whinged and carried on so much that it took us over an hour to get ready. FFS.

By the time we were ready it was 10.20am. Considering that it would take us about 15 minutes to get here and that Chai has his sleep at 12pm, it wasn't worth going. FFS.

Instead we went to the Coventry Markets. On the way there Tiger asked me which way I thought we should go. I told him the only way I know. Off he goes and then he's sitting at the traffic lights saying "quick, which way should we go". FFS.

He never asks which way to go, he always goes whatever way he wants to. FFS.

When we're halfway there he starts complaining that his way would have been quicker. FFS.

I would have strangled him but it was too much effort. FFS.

When we got there Tiger decided to use the pram, which I haven't used for months because Chai hates it. FFS.

Chai carried on the whole time he was in the pram. FFS.

It was a f@#$ing nightmare of a morning made worse by Chai and I being unwell. FFS.

Tiger is convinced the solution to every problem we have with Chai is day care. FFS.

He doesn't sleep through the night because he doesn't go to day care. He was whingeing all Sunday morning because he doesn't go to day care. He's been clingy ever since Tiger started doing FIFO work because he doesn't go to day care. FFS.

I am so sick of hearing about f@#$ing day care. FFS.

Monday we had our 19 week pregnancy scan. I was so nervous due to one of the horror stories I've heard about things that can be wrong with the baby (which I won't share here so that I don't pass my irrational fear on to any of you who are or may become pregnant in the future). FFS.


The scan took ages (about half and hour). I don't remember it taking so long with Chai so was convinced that something was wrong with the bub. FFS.

Everything is fine with the baby, thank goodness. Not FFS. 
 
Maybe I just got an extra thorough sonographer, or are they radiographers? FFS.

It's got me beat how single parents manage to move. I've been trying to pack the last few days and it's a nightmare. FFS.

Chai's idea of helping is to pull everything out of the box that I've just packed. FFS. 

When he's not doing that he's screaming because I won't let him play with the tape dispenser or texta. Fun. FFS.

When you are all having fun this extra long weekend, think of me trying to pack with the assistance of my screaming, tantrum throwing, climbing two year old. 

Now that you've read all my whinges, head over to Dear Baby G and see what everyone else is whinging about. 


Dear Baby G

Thursday 28 March 2013

Project 100 Pan Update 7

I'm so pleased with my progress this month, I can finally see the end in sight! It'd be great if I could finish next month, but with moving, packing and unpacking I don't think that's going to be possible. I had a Priceline voucher this month, so purchased a few things but didn't go over the voucher amount which I'm very happy about. 

This month I've concentrated on using up what's left of my samples. I used to have two tubs full of samples and now I've got half a tub so I'm doing well. My aim is to finish all of my samples, they just take up space and I don't travel often enough for it to be worth me keeping them.

I was really, really tempted to buy a new serum that I had a sample of and loved, but I managed to resist temptation. I'll buy it once I've used up the serums that I currently have.   

After taking a break I'm back to trying to finish up lipsticks. I found a MUFE lipstick that must be at least 10 years old. I know! Amazingly it hasn't gone off, and it's a gorgeous everyday colour, so I'm trying to use it up. It's such a beautiful colour that I'm going to try to find a dupe of it once my project pan is over. I've also pulled out one of my old favourites, MAC Syrup lipstick. I've gone through at least three tubes of it, it'll always be in my collection.

The Mecca catalogue recently arrived at my house so now I have a whole pile of products to add to my wish list, I knew I shouldn't have opened that envelope. 




78. Dermalogica Thermafoliant
79. WotNot Face Wipes
80. Nutrimetics Apricot Body Dew
81. BalmBalm Rose Balm
82. Yes to Blueberries Age Refresh Brightening Facial Towelettes
83. Simple Kind To Skin Cleansing Facial Wipes
84. A'kin Lavender Body Wash
85. Kit Sensory Lab Coffee Body Scrub
86. Revlon PhotoReady Compact Makeup
87. Ardell Brow Sculpting Gel
88. Dr Organic Pomegranate Deodorant
89. Lily Loves Pearl Polish Me Gentle Facial Exfoliant
90. Ten samples

Only 10 products to go!

Once again I've been thinking about what I'll do when P100P is over. Reese is going to only buy what she needs for the remainder of 2013 and I'm thinking of joining her as it'd be a great way to get my stash down to a manageable, usable amount. Due to the move I won't have access to as many brands as I do now, which will make not shopping a lot easier. Plus, in a few months I'll have two children and I can only imagine what shopping with two children will be like. Don't think I'll be doing it very often!

I'm hoping that my next post will be the end of Project 100 Pan!

Friday 22 March 2013

FFS Friday - The Whirlwind Edition

Once again I don't have a whole lot to complain about this week. Actually I do, but this week has been such a whirlwind that I'm struggling to remember it all. 

Saturday we went down south to look at two rentals. We saw the first one, didn't like it and then the second one (which looked really nice) cancelled on us. FFS.

What a waste of a trip. FFS.

We decided to stay down south until we found somewhere to live. Saturday night a friend called us in crisis so we packed up the car and came home to look after him. FFS/Not FFS.

We got home at 10pm and he was supposed to meet us at our house. He didn't turn up. FFS.

We couldn't get hold of him so had no idea where he was or if he was okay. FFS.

We finally heard from him at 10am Sunday. FFS.

Poor guy had had some major dramas which is why we hadn't been able to contact him. FFS.

We didn't see him all weekend, so our trip home was a waste, we could have spent Sunday driving past all the houses we wanted to look at, instead we were at home. FFS.

On the plus side, I got all the washing done. Yes, this was the highlight of my weekend. FFS.

We headed back down south Monday morning. Arranging to look at houses was a lot more difficult than we thought it'd be. A lot of the places advertised were already taken (WTF were they still being advertised?) FFS.

The ones that weren't taken wanted to book us in for Wednesday or even Monday next week, and we didn't have that much time. FFS.

They also said it'd take 4 to 5 days to get back to us once we put in an application. FFS! 

Looking for a rental was certainly an experience. For some reason people wanting rentals are treated like second class citizens, which I don't understand at all. As a landlord myself I think a good tenant is like gold and they are treated accordingly! 

I realised that there are different standards for different people, we were treated very well as soon as they saw that we were a family and we told them that Tiger is a FIFO worker. FFS.

Some of the questions we were asked were surprising. The Professionals wanted to know what nationality we are (we didn't tell them). FFS.

Ray White wanted to know if we owned a lawnmower and whipper snippper and if we didn't how we were going to maintain the gardens. Seriously. What difference does it make? As long as the lawn and gardens are maintained who cares how it is done? FFS.

With a lot of sweet talking from Tiger we managed to look at about five houses. We liked the first one and thankfully they liked us, so we got it! Not FFS.

Now I have a whole house to pack up in three weeks, with my little darling helping me. FFS.

Thursday we nearly killed our child again. FFS.

He ran straight in front of a car. FFS.

Unusually for me I just stood there and watched it happen. Go me. FFS.

We were at the beach and Chai had been playing in the puddles. We were walking through the car park when I saw a car coming so tried to grab Chai's hand but missed. FFS.

He's usually very careful on the road however he was focusing on running to Daddy, so ran straight in front of the car. FFS.

I screamed at him to stop, which he did, and thankfully the car (which was going really slowly) saw him and stopped. FFS.

So did my heart. FFS.

 
Dear Baby G

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Buyer Beware

I've thought about writing this post for ages and have finally decided to write it. I don't want to badmouth any companies which is why I won't be mentioning any names, but in the interest of making people more aware of what they are buying, I thought this post was worth writing.

You may or may not be aware that there are manufacturers who make generic products that companies buy, stick their labels on and then sell. These products often have the same or similar packaging, they almost always have the same product name and shade name and they always have the same ingredients. Unsurprisingly they have very different price points. 

I discovered this a while ago when I bought a plumping lip gloss for $65. Huge price I know, but people raved about it and it was back when I didn't buy many beauty products so thought it was worth the splurge. You can imagine how annoyed I was when I googled it and found that I could have bought exactly the same lip plumper for $18!

If you want to research this search Micro Bubble Lipstick, Lip Tox and Liquid Powder Mineral Foundation. See what I mean? Lots of different price ranges for exactly the same product. So if you find a product that you love, google it to make sure you can't get the same thing cheaper elsewhere.

Sarah from The Science of Beauty has done this post about two identical primers with very different price points. It's well worth a read.  

Friday 15 March 2013

FFS Friday - Hot in the City

Chai is at the age where I can't leave him alone for a second without him destroying something.

This is a problem considering half the time I am solo parenting.

Friday I sent him into the back yard whilst I got dressed, 2 seconds later I found him tearing the bonsai apart. FFS.

I moved the bonsai out of his reach and left him to it, then a few seconds later heard a crash. FFS.

He'd got the broom and used it to knock one of the wall hangings off the fence. FFS.

Thankfully it didn't break or land on Chai. FFS.

Thursday Chai was a bit off colour and Friday he came out in a rash. FFS.

It looked suspiciously like rubella which I have a low immunity to, so I was very worried. FFS.

I took him to the Dr who told me it was a virus and nothing to worry about. Not FFS.

Later that day I realised that as Chai has been fully immunised it's highly unlikely that he would get rubella. Not FFS.

We'd had someone look at our house on Wednesday and Thursday last week and he said that he'd get back to us with an offer on Friday. Not FFS.

I waited all day, but no offer. FFS.

I was hoping that we'd sell the house so that I didn't have to do the home open on Saturday but no such luck. FFS.

I did the home open on Saturday and by the end of the day had not one but two offers! Not FFS.

And guess what? We sold our house! Not FFS.

It's such a relief knowing that the house is sold. Even better, than man who bought it is lovely and is going to make it his home (lots of other people wanted it as an investment property). Not FFS.

Now we have the fun task of finding a rental down south, packing up the house and moving. FFS/Not FFS.

Naturally hubby will be away so I'll get to pack the whole house up myself. FFS.

I've reached the stage in my pregnancy where I am hot all the time. FFS.

Considering the weather we've been having this is not a good thing. FFS.

Even now that it's cooled down (it was about 17 yesterday), I'm still boiling hot. FFS.





Dear Baby G

Saturday 9 March 2013

Dear Chai

My beautiful son. At this exact time two years ago I became your mother. It was the best moment of my life and since then every day has been amazing. You are my treasure, my sunlight and the joy in my day.

The first milestone for this month was you learned how to jump! You first jumped on the 13th of February and were so delighted with yourself. You are talking more and more. You weren't trying to talk much but with a bit of encouragement you talk a lot now.
Thursday you learned to say love so that when we are talking to Daddy on the phone you can tell him you love him. 


At the moment your favourite tv show is In The Night Garden. You call it GaGa and watch it all the time. You haven't been very interested in books lately, you are more interested in running around, vacuuming and mowing the lawn. You absolutely love vacuuming. The first thing you ask for every morning is the vacuum, which has to be plugged in and turned on. You'll vacuum yourself or get me to vacuum and you'll vacuum next to me with your vacuum. Our house has never been so clean!

You are a very social boy and love the company of older people. You aren't particularly interested in children your own age but anyone a few years older and adults you love.

Your Dad regularly asks me if I think you have ADD as you are so active. You don't, you are just a typical, happy little boy with lots of energy to burn. You have a wonderful curiosity about the world and are so interested in what's going on around you. 

Now that I'm pregnant you are fascinated with my stomach. You pat it, kiss it and cuddle it all the time. You love babies and always go up and say hello to any babies we see. A few times you have tried to wheel them away with us!

I'm happy to say that you are a very generous child. You will happily share your toys and food with others. Every day you feed the vacuum, your toys, you books, me, the baby and anything else that you think needs food or a drink. It's so cute.

Chai, I am so glad that I have you in my life. For years I thought that I wouldn't get the opportunity to be a mother but I was so blessed to have you. I remember that every day. You are a strong willed, intelligent and kind child, I am honoured to be your mother.

Friday 8 March 2013

FFS Friday - One of those days

After last weeks wall gouging effort you'd think I would have learned not to give Chai my electric toothbrush, but no, I foolishly gave it to him again, so he promptly used it to gouge three holes in the seat of our leather lounge suite. FFS.

Tiger is going to have a fit when he sees it. FFS.

I'm considering pretending I don't know it happened. FFS.

Later that day, still not having learned from my mistakes I let him play with the baby scissors, so he cut a hole in my favourite cushion. FFS.

I now keep him away from anything that he could potentially use to destroy our home. FFS.

Saturday the PILs rang to see how I was going with Tiger being away. They kept on hinting that they wanted to come down, so I said they could visit on Sunday. I asked them to get here at 11am so they could see Chai before he goes to sleep. They arrived at 12.30 when he was asleep. FFS.

After they'd been here a few hours they announced that they were going to stay the night. FFS.

I was not impressed. FFS.

MIL then proceeded to be bloody amazing. She helped out with Chai so that I could get a few things done, took him for a walk when I needed a rest, cooked tea and made enough leftovers so that I didn't have to cook the next day and was so helpful. Not FFS.

This proves that she is perfectly capable of behaving herself she just doesn't bother. FFS.

Both MIL and FIL seem to think that everything Chai does when he's with them he's doing for the first time and it's absolutely amazing. FFS.

They dutifully video every action so that they can describe it in detail and show me later on. FFS.

No matter how many times I tell them that he "does that all the time", they don't listen and insist on giving me a blow by blow description of what he's done. FFS.

Chai has been having shorter and shorter sleeps during the day. FFS.

I love his nap time because it gives me a little down time so I am desperately hoping that he isn't going to drop his daytime nap. FFS.

Wednesday I was desperately trying to get him back to sleep when I got a text message from my estate agent asking if someone could come through the house in an hour. FFS.

The house looked like it'd been hit by a bomb. FFS.

I gave up trying to get Chai back to sleep and started cleaning the house. This was made more challenging by Chai decided that he needed to be carried and refusing to be put down. FFS.

I am so not cut out for solo parenting. FFS.

Yesterday was 'one of those days'. FFS.

To ensure I knew what sort of day I was in for, it started first thing in the morning when I was awoken by Chai spewing all over me. FFS.

That's one I can cross of my bucket list. FFS.

After starting the day like that I figured things could only get better. I was wrong. FFS.

It had been a long night, Chai hadn't slept well and was very restless so I was really tired. FFS.  

Whilst I got breakfast ready I gave Chai his water bottle. He tipped the entire contents over the lounge room carpet. FFS.

He then decided he wanted the salt shaker and when I would give it to him (it's glass), he whinged for 25 minutes. I kid you not. FFS.

A little while later I was getting ready to go out when I realised that he can now open the new child locks that we put on after he figured out the old ones. FFS.

I had to watch him like a hawk all day to make sure he didn't get into the glass cupboard. FFS.

A trip to Bunnings for more safety locks is first thing on the agenda tomorrow! FFS.

That afternoon I was getting the house tidy for someone to come through. Every time I put something away he pulled it out again and within ten minutes the house looked worse than when I started. FFS.

I somehow managed to get the house tidy and took Chai to the shopping centre so that he could play in the indoor playground. Not FFS.

When we got there he decided to start pushing other children! FFS.

It's the first time he's done something like that and of course he had to do it right in front of their mother. FFS.

I told him if he did it again we'd go home and that put and end to it. Not FFS.


I have been getting so many spam comments on my blog that I've had to disable anonomous commenting. FFS.

And when I say I've been getting a lot, I mean around 50 a day! FFS.

Now that you've read my weekly whinge, head over to Sarah's Blog and see what everyone else is complaining about :)


Dear Baby G

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Random Facts About Me

In the interest of getting to know me better I thought I'd post some random facts about myself.

I have an intense hatred of getting my bag checked when I leave a shop. I hate it so much that I'll buy something at any stores who do bag checks, just to avoid having my bag checked. In my opinion it's a huge invasion of privacy and I doubt that it'd stop anyone stealing, cause let's face it, all you'd have to do is put the item in your pocket or at the bottom of your bag and they wouldn't know. 

I hate the sound of people chewing. I hate it so much that I can't listen to it, I have to either leave the room or block my ears. It drives me crazy!

I have three tattoos. If they made semi permanent tattoos that lasted for a few years, I'd have a lot more tattoos!

Even before I had a child I always planned to be a stay at home mum. I don't feel any guilt about Tiger being the breadwinner or that I should contribute financially, my job is looking after Chai and that's what I'm doing.  
I also don't care about my career. I loved my job but I feel no remorse at leaving it behind.

Years ago I did a speed reading course and found out that I read really fast. I was reading faster at the start of the course than everyone else was reading at the end of the course. The trainers told me there was no point me doing the course because I could already read so fast. 

Whenever I go food shopping I take the shopping list with me but never look at it. I have no idea why I do this, but I always do. Silly.

I enjoy cooking but hate cooking sausages.

When I was 11 years old my music teacher told me I would be a very famous singer if I had voice lessons. I refused to sing after that because I didn't want to be famous. I still don't want to be famous. 

That's enough random facts about me. If anyone else does a post like this, please post the link below so I can read all your random things. 

Monday 4 March 2013

Nivea Caramel Cream Lip Butter

It's no secret that I can't resist a new lip balm, so you can imagine how excited I was when I saw on twitter that Nivea are releasing three new lip butters. Does anyone else think that new lip balms are not released often enough? Or is it just me and my lip balm addiction? 

The new Nivea Lip Butters come in the flavours Caramel Cream, Unscented and Vanilla Macadamia. I was sent Caramel Cream to try.

It's quite difficult to find foody scented lip balms in shops (there are plenty on etsy and the www though) so I'm very pleased at the scents Nivea has released. Overseas there is also a Raspberry flavour which I'm hoping we will get here soon.

As you can see from the photos, I couldn't wait to try my new balm and used it before taking photos. That's also why it looks so battered in the top picture, it's been living in my back pocket and handbag. 

Despite me having a huge array of lip balms (they have their own train case, I kid you not), this has quickly become a favourite. In a sure sign that a balm is a winner, it has taken pride of place in my handbag.

Aside from the scent, what do I love about this balm? It is very hydrating, leaves a beautiful glossy shine on my lips and lasts for a good few hours before I need to reapply. Unfortunately it's not flavoured, but that's easily fixed. I melted it in the microwave (5 seconds at a time) and then added stevia. Voila, a lovely smelling and tasting lip butter! 

Nivea Lip Butters will be available on March 15 for the bargain price of $5.19.

Ingredients:



Friday 1 March 2013

FFS Friday - Everyone's Best Friend

Last friday we had someone coming through our house. We had the house all ready and were doing the final few things when Chai power spewed all over the carpet, wall, bathroom door and bathroom floor. FFS.

It smelled so bad! I had to quickly clean it up and spray vanilla fridge wipe everywhere to try and mask the smell during the home open. FFS.

Friday night we got fish and chips for tea. We went to our regular place and as usual got minimum chips. We usually have more chips than we can eat. This is what we got this time:
Tiger counted, we got 37 chips. FFS.

Saturday afternoon we had an estate agent from another agency scheduled to bring someone through the house. She was due at 3pm. Why they couldn't have come through at 1pm during the home open is beyond me. FFS.

We agreed that they could come through and waited around for them. At 5pm our estate agenct comes over and says that the people are running late and is it okay if they still come through. We said it was okay and continued to wait for them. FFS.

They didn't bother turning up or calling. Very poor form. FFS.

Saturday night I was sound asleep when I was awoken by a huge bang. FFS.

Tiger was in with Chai so I jumped out of bed to see where the noise had come from. It was so loud that I thought Tiger might have walked into a door and knocked himself out. FFS.

Tiger was fine so I went searching around and discovered that the noise had been Tigers drill (in it's case) falling off the shelf and hitting the cupboard door. FFS.

Have you ever wondered what happens when you leave a two year old alone with an electric toothbrush? Let me tell you. You end up with a hole gouged in the wall. FFS.

Chai decided to remove the toothbrush head and use the pointy part of the electric toothbrush as a vibrating drill. As you do. FFS.

I would have photographic evidence of this however Tiger forgot that I like to put these incidents on Instagram so repaired the hole before I could take a photo. FFS.

Thanks to cyclone Rusty we have had Tiger home for two extra days. Not FFS.

Unfortunately that means he isn't getting paid for these two days. FFS.

He left this morning. FFS.

I've decided that even though he's got equal swings, I hate him doing FIFO. FFS.

After only ten days of solo parenting I have no idea how single parents manage it full time. I don't think I could. Especially single parents with no family around to support them. Bloody amazing people. I take my hat off to you all. 

Now that Tiger has got an equal time job he is suddenly everyone's long lost best friend. FFS.

He's had at least five people call him this week asking if he can get them a job. FFS.

Now that you've finished reading my weekly whinge, head over to Dear Baby G and read what everyone else is whining about.
Dear Baby G