Busy weekend….

Posted on December 15, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, They never should have let me be a mother | 2 Comments

I’m exhausted.

On Monday.

How is this fair?

The run up to this week has been chock full of busy Mum goodness. It started Thursday with our departments Christmas party. We went on a river cruise for 4 hours and had lots of yummy food and copious amounts of champagne (well, at least I did. I wasn’t counting other peoples drinks…lol)

Getting home that night was somewhat difficult as I was legless. Thank goodness Brian came to get me! I would have wound up in Mandurah had I taken the train home!

Friday, Connor was sick, sick, sick. He’s still recovering from this nasty bug that has had almost all of us in it’s grip. I stayed home and nursed my boy (and my head…lol)

Friday night, Chelsea had her work party AND a sleepover party in Two Rocks.. with boys..Eeek! I drove her up there after her work party (40 mins) then back to Maggy’s for a cuppa (45 mins) before going home to bed.

Saturday was just as busy. I drove BACK up to Two Rocks to get the girls (I was Mum taxi for 3 of them) and spent a little time up there wandering around the beach and taking photos before heading back to drop all the kids off. (3 hour round trip) Just in time to go shopping for supplies to make afternoon tea for Brian’s cricket team and opponents. Then of course, I had to get them to the club. Off again, more pictures and happy, sated, well-fed, men.

By that time I was pooped. Connor and I watched Resident Evil: Extinction before I headed out yet again to Mum taxi the girls home from the movies. They saw Twilight and I plugged my ears an hummed as they discussed the film (I’m not finished the book yet.)

Sunday I cleaned, and did laundry and generally tidied in the morning, then headed to the beach with Maggy for some well deserved relaxation. The water was gorgeous and in 38 degree heat, well needed! We baked a tiny bit under our million layers of sunscreen and called it a day to head back to hers for a drink in the shade

I met Brian back at home and we headed back to the beach with the kids and the dog (I felt guilty for going without the puppy in the afternoon) armed with an esky and fish and chips for dinner. We sat and enjoyed the sun until it dipped below the horizon and then we went home for some desperately needed sleep. Somehow, I got absorbed in Twilight (again) and wound up reading til well past midnight.

No wonder I’m still tired!

Pictures can be found in 365

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Mind control is an art form…

Posted on November 19, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, They never should have let me be a mother | 2 Comments

Yesterday while doing the grocery shopping, I suckered succeeded in convincing my daughter into cooking dinner for the next week. It went like this…

Me: So… you cooking dinner tonight?

Chelsea: Awww… (Typical teenage moan of “do I have to?”)

Me: Oh.. so I’M expected to put dinner on the table for 6 every night even though I work full time and chaufeur kids around and clean and…. (Fill in typical Mum moan here.)

Chelsea: It’s not THAT hard to cook dinner!

Me: *Evil glint in my eye as a plan blooms into fruition* You couldn’t handle cooking for 6 for ONE WEEK!

Chelsea: Yes I could! I will! I’ll make out a dinner plan for a week and if you buy the ingredients, I’ll cook every night!

Me: *internal self high-five* Fine! You do that and I’ll buy the groceries.

Chelsea: Fine!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~

Dance puppet, dance! Mwahahahahaha!

Last night we had meat pie, vegetables and pasta side dish….tonight, swedish meatballs and mash!

Mmm Mmmmmmmm….:D

 

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SEE??? A little effort goes a long way (In a country that occasionally sucks)

Posted on November 3, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Breaking news, Things that give me inspiration, Photography - All about the photos Baby!, They never should have let me be a mother | 2 Comments

Blowing ribbons, originally uploaded by She’ll Be Apples.

This is the result of our hard work this Friday. Chelsea’s geisha turned out pretty cool and she was the hit of the party.
Good thing I learned how to tie an obi properly in Japan.
Goes to show… no knowledge is useless knowledge!

All of the kids had a great time and my bandwith at home is virtually non-existant because of the massive MySpace uploads…LOL

Here are some more perspectives on her costume…

How demure

Halloween Geisha

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Sometimes, Australia just sucks!

Posted on October 29, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, They never should have let me be a mother | 4 Comments

I am a child at heart, (read: Immature) and my kids know it. My husband knows it too but he has denial down to fine art and can pretend that I am a perfectly normal, mature adult… most of the time.

Yesterday, Chelsea and I went shopping for her Halloween party this Friday. We needed Halloween decorations and costume necessities. She’s decided to be a geisha for the party which suits me just fine because I bought yukatas and obis in Japan earlier this year. Hooray for no big spending costs!! Now it’s just a question of getting the hair and makeup required. She totally took advantage of me!! Chelsea has developed a keen sense of ‘How to push Mum’s buttons and maker her do whatever you want by appealing to her immaturity.’ I got all super excited and got heaps of great decorations, ghouls, door hangers, table cloths, prizes and black hair dye for her costume.

I am totally living vicariously through my child. It’s kinda sad really, but there is no other option I tell you! Being Canadian, we love Halloween in all its creepiness and morbid pleasures. Trick or treating, haunted houses, parties and pubs that give przes to the best costume. Australians however, view it as predominantly an “American” holiday and view it with disdain at best. Trick or treating is considered the work of the devil rude and the whole thing is rather unexciting. This leaves us with the Halloween party as the only option to live out our bloody fantasies.

Last year was a crowning moment in my life as a mother. My child came to me and said, “I think I’ll go as ‘Little Dead Riding Hood’ this year.” Makes a mother proud, don’t it?

In any case, I am much lighter in the pocket and it’s not even my party. I want a party! Convincing Australians to come to an adult Halloween party is a painful and fruitless exercise. I’ve tried. It’s times like these that a quick 36-hour flight to Montreal looks really appealing. Worse than trying to convince them that it would be fun to cover yourself in blood and gore and rock the night away to the Monster Mash is trying to explain that it is NOT AMERICAN. They won’t believe you no matter what you say. I’ve never fully understood the intense dislike of anything deemed American but I’ve learned to qualify my accent with a quick “Canada.” whenever I feel the “What part of America are you from?” coming on. (Said with the utmost politeness but wrinkled nose like they have shit smeared on their upper lip which is replaced by relaxed relief once they realize you aren’t a yank. As if being separated by an invisible line somehow makes Canadians more acceptable.

In any case, I will spend this Halloween sitting at home, NOT listening to the doorbell ring every few minutes or children laughing and running from door to door chanting “TRICK OR TREAT!” NOT handing out lollies sure to rot the teeth from their skulls. NOT jumping out of a strategically placed pile of autumn leaves to scare the crap out of the teenagers too old to be trick or treating in the first place and NOT dancing the night away to the Monster Mash.

For those of you that can…..HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

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Holiday in Japan - help needed!

Posted on November 23, 2007
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Holidays, Breaking news, They never should have let me be a mother | 5 Comments

For the past couple of months, my sister and I have been tentatively planning to meet in Japan for a two week holiday together. It seems a bit more interesting that either one of us visiting the others home. If I got to Montreal, I’d …

a) feel like I had to bring the kids too ( tripling the cost)
b) Would spend most of the time hanging around doing nothing - watching DVD’s or the like
c) March - April in Canada is still COLD!

If Sandy came here we’d…

a) double the cost of her ticket and double the flying time
b) spend most of the time hanging around doing nothing - watching DVD’s or the like
c) watch Sandy slowly melt away in the March heat

So it seemed a good idea to meet somewhere in the middle, in a place we’d both like to visit and have a holiday together. This way, we get to spend time together but we also get to see new things and do interesting activities. Japan is one of those places that is about halfway, and Sandy has ALWAYS wanted to go there. I would love to go too, so, destination settled. The end of March is cherry blossom season, something I have always wanted to see for myself so the timing is a bonus as well.

Though I’ve passed through Narita airport a few times, I’ve never had enough time to leave and see anything so I have very limited knowledge of Tokyo or the surrounds. All of my information is gleaned online and there is SO MUCH INFO that I find myself a little overwhelmed by the process of creating an itinerary that we can organize accomodation around.

Sandy and I would like to experience as much as we can in the 2 weeks we’ll be there but obviously have to be realistic about dragging our luggage from one ryokan (hotel) to another.  Here’s my dilemna… I don’t know what a central location might be!! We’re not sure about each place we’d like to see, though there are a few we have had picked out for a while. We’ll split the trip into three - 4 or 5 night stays in different areas to allow access to more places and not limit ourselves to the Tokyo area.

So, calling all world-travellers out there!! I would LOVE to hear from people who’ve been to visit or live in Japan to get some suggestions on things not to miss and places to stay that are central to a lot of places of interest.  As you can imagine, we’ll be doing a LOT of sightseeing so anything of interest within walking, bussing or training distance from a central point would be ideal.

Anyone?

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