The Truth About Mummy — Blessed are the cracked

The Story of My Life {Part 2}

by Caz on May 24, 2013 · 1 comment

Then, as it does, the honeymoon ended and we were faced with having to deal with our unmet relationship expectations and some of the other distractions from living the married dream. Six months in he started to suffer from a chronic pain in the neck. No I’m not referring to myself, thought I’m sure at times I fit the bill, this was a recurring work related injury that became debilitating. This was the start of us learning just how much work goes into a relationship. People are not perfect. We’re all suffering from our past and the hurts we’ve held onto. The simple fact is that two lives don’t mesh together without a whole lot of effort. Effort in the form of patience, forgiveness, long-suffering and a stack of other uncomfortable words that come together to become ‘married bliss’.

Luckily for us our relationship was strongly based on friendship and it pulled us through the rough while we worked out exactly what our marriage as going to look like. We renovated our home, adopted a puppy and played at being grown ups. I loved being a home owner and making the most of our little cottage. I learned to cook meals, paint walls, and grow flowers. Meanwhile we both worked hard at our jobs, looking to get ahead financially. Life had its ups and downs but looking back now I don’t think we truly understand just how good we had it. After three years we sold our little cottage and bought a property on the outskirts of town on five acres – much more suited to my Nature Boy.

We’d been married for seven years when baby number one decided her time had come. I was all pure excitement. He was more reserved and took it a lot more seriously. Being the youngest in my own family I had no idea what was about to happen to our lives. Needless to say the baby years hit me with their sleep deprived whacking stick. When our big girl arrived in June 2004 I was so desperately in love, but so unprepared for how she would impact on our lives. It felt like I was zooming down a roller coaster without a seat belt on. I didn’t want it to stop but I didn’t have any idea how to survive it either. It took me a good three months to adjust and redefine my sense of normal. Those three months were tortuous. But once they’d passed I settled into motherhood and learned to enjoy the ups and downs of life with a baby. I loved the connection you develop with other mums and spent hour doing ridiculous things like teaching my baby girl sign-language and preparing organic home-made baby food. (Please don’t tell the other two – because they sure didn’t get indulged in such a way!)

Then, in 2006 baby number two arrived. But this time I knew what to expect and it seemed easier. For the first three months she was the model baby. She just slept, ate and cuddled. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have such an easy baby. Then without warning things changed. Little miss perfect totally forgot how to sleep on her own. Enter some major sleep deprivation. To be honest I don’t remember all that much of the year following. I was far to tired, grumpy and unreasonable to allow any energy to escape for the purpose of laying down memories. I do know she was the most adorable and affectionate baby girl …. and that she wanted to be cuddled to sleep – pretty much every hour of every night!

Somewhere in that sleep deprived fog we made the decision to move away from our home town to start a business in Bendigo. Nature Boy had his own struggles and knew he needed to be working on his own thing to be happy. In my heart I knew he was right. So, despite the terrible timing, we packed it all up and headed off on an adventure. Looking back the adventure worked – but living it was often times agonisingly hard. Our business was a good and ran well. But I was sleep deprived and having just fallen pregnant for the third time I was sinking fast into either post-natal or pre-natal depression.

Those were the hardest of days for me. My Nature Boy didn’t understand it and I felt a million miles away from him. I only had a couple of friends in my new home town and didn’t want to burden our fledgling relationships with my problems. I cried – a lot. I ranted at my Nature Boy – a lot. In fact on one or two occasions I threw things at him. **hangs head in shame** While he has many wonderful strengths, being empathetic and seeing life from another persons perspective is simply not one of them. Our fighting returned and grew worse. I was to tired and depressed to control my words and needed someone to ignore my rants and recognise that I was helplessly floating in a sea of desperation. But I was asking too much and our marriage was stretched again – this time near to breaking point.

Eventually my little pink was born in 2008. Such a content little baby and as hard as it was to go back to regular night feeds she captured my heart immediately ……..

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Daisies and a Dog {Or what I do when I should be studying…..}

by Caz on May 22, 2013 · 18 comments

Joining up with Trish from My Little Drummers Boys and Wordless Wednesday.

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Tantrums alive, now we are five.

by Caz on May 20, 2013 · 21 comments

We have been very lucky went it comes to our little people’s temperaments. Our big girl is independent and born to teach – but with the biggest family centred heart you can imagine. Our middle girl is lovingly soft and squishy. When she was a toddler her Daddy used to say she ‘dripped with cuteness’ and he wasn’t far off the mark. Our little girl is our comedian. Funny and crazy she’s hard not to love. We truly lucked out with all three of them. We’ve never had more than the average amount of trouble with discipline or bad behaviour, because they genuinely seem to want to do the right thing.

But if I am to tell the truth, and you know I will, my littlest pink has been testing me of late. Along with that adorably funny little personality has come a hefty dose of tantrum inducing temper. I know it’s all part and parcel of the package of her personality. Her spunk factor is high and at five she says and does things that wouldn’t have even entered into her big sisters heads. Sometimes its delightful and sometimes its frankly not.

The past few days we’ve seen a lot of tantrums. Foot stomping frustration has been steaming out of her ears while our house has been ringing to the sounds of her temper. She doesn’t do being the youngest well. It became apparent very early that she didn’t like being the baby. She saw no reason why she shouldn’t be treated as her sisters equal and quickly rejected all things babyish. Still today you can see how much it frustrates her that her big sisters can do more than her. At five she has an excellent grasp of the English language and can voice her opinion with some very big words, which she delivers with her own five-year old sense of reasoning. It’s hilarious and never fails to make me smile. But the hitting, yelling and screaming that usually precede it – not so much!

Despite this being my third trip around the preschool merry-go-round I am having to learn how to deal with her behaviour. It’s all new to me. I’ve had to return to my parenting roots and ensure I’m being consistent and that she can predict my reaction to her outbursts. I’ve been taking her aside as much as possible and making sure she knows that she is a good girl who is acting badly – not a naughty girl. Above that frankly I have no idea. I’m scratching my head and hoping it will pass ……. soon. I desperately don’t want her to think her personality is at fault and risk squashing her character, but neither do I want her to think that type of behaviour is okay.

Have some advice for me? Hit me up – I’m all ears!

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My Winter Washing Blues {+ a Dynamo Maximum Review & Giveaway $132}

by Caz on May 17, 2013 · 65 comments

This is a sponsored post for Dynamo and Digital Parents Collective.

Drying washing in winter …. ARRGGGH! It is just one of the many things I dislike about winter in southern Australia. With three kids and two adults to wash for my home closely resembles a Chinese laundry pretty much every day from May right through to September.

It’s a common household theme in these parts. If you’re unwilling to put up with the price and environmental impact of using your dryer daily then you have to dry your washing indoors. In order to keep the piles at bay that means a least one load a day. (Oh dear, I think I have the wording for a really bad country and western lament about the washing day blues!)

I do own a dryer. Mum bought me one at the start of my first pregnancy. I told her I was determined to use cloth nappies and she took me at my word. (Let’s not talk about the fact that once I brought my baby girl home and learned the joys of sleep deprivation, cloth nappies just seemed way to hard and they never saw the light of day.) But with the price of electricity these days I only use the dryer out of desperation – like making sure sheets are truly dry before they go back on the bed.

The bare fact in the business of being a stay-at-home-mum is that, regardless of whether it’s winter or summer, we all spend way to much time being intimate with our washing machine - and dealing with the drying, folding and ‘putting away’ of what it spits out. Washing is big business when you are the stay-at-home parent. And what we really want is for our washing to come out of the machine clean first time …… and to dry as fast as possible. When Dynamo’s press release for their Maximum washing liquid floated across my email the other day, asking me to do a load test, it grabbed my attention and made me think that maybe they had caught on. This is what they said …… (followed by my load test results and a giveaway).

The Dynamo we all know and love has been maximised with even more cleaning power, with the introduction of Dynamo Maximum. Dynamo Maximum features an advanced formula, which is tough on grease and stains – perfect for busy households who want to get the laundry done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Whether you’re putting on a load of whites, darks or delicates, cleaning the school uniforms, or removing red wine stains, make sure you try Dynamo Maximum for maximum satisfaction.

MY TEST LOAD RESULTS:

GOOD: I genuinely think the clothes came out looking a little brighter than they usually do from my front loader.
BAD: Dynamo Maximum left the clothes with an intense fragrance. I’m still undecided on how much I liked the smell – but you are certainly left knowing these clothes have been cleaned and are fresh and ready to go! (Great for smelly worker-man socks!!)
GOOD: All fresh marks and dirt were removed and there were no nasty surprise ‘fails’ in the test load. Unfortunately the old paint and texter marks on the girls school uniforms shirts were still there - but I’m thinking you’d need a touch of magic in your washing liquid to fully removed those.
GOOD: I do like the fact that Dynamo Maximum is available for Front Loader and Top Loaders. Front loader soaps are lower in suds.
GOOD: It’s easily available. It can be purchased in all leading supermarkets across Australia RRP: $9.99 (1L) and $16.49 (2L).

If you would like to try out Dynamo Maximum in your own laundry you’re in luck. I have four 2 litre bottles (top loader) and four 2 litre bottles (front loader) to giveaway. Simply follow the steps below to enter:

In the comments below tell me your best tip for drying washing in the cooler months and whether you have a top or front loader.
If you are nice enough to share this giveaway on facebook or twitter please feel free to leave a second entry comment.
Follow The Truth About Mummy in any way you like (facebook, twitter, feed, email or Pinterest.)
Please leave an email address that you check regularly – as giveaways are redrawn if you don’t respond within 5 days.

Giveaway is open until Midnight on May the 31st 2013 and has a total value of approx $131.92.
No entries will be accepted after this time.
All decision are final.
(Check the T&C tab for full T&C).
Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I received trial products to complete review for this giveaway as well as being sponsored to complete the post.

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Stir-fry Noodles with Chicken and Macadamias {Quick and Easy}

by Caz on May 9, 2013 · 19 comments

INGREDIENTS

400g of Hokkien Noodles
2 tablespoons of Macadamia Nut Oil
250g Skinless chicken breast
4 Shallots
2 cup of chopped vegetables (carrots, pumpkin, capsicum, snowpeas etc)
75gs of dry roasted macadamias
Juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce.

METHOD

Soak noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heat wok, add the oil and swirl it around.
Add chicken stir-fry for 2-5 minutes until slightly golden
Add vegetables and stir-fry for a further 2-5 minutes
Add the drained noodles and toss well to combine.
Add lime juice and sweet chili sauce and toss again.

Serve and enjoy. For added extra excitement and giggle value give the kids chop-sticks! Watching them eat is hilarious - and they seemed to have fun too. I really enjoyed using the Suncoast Gold Australian Macadamia nuts and oil. I love to support an Australian product – especially when it’s natural and healthy. You can read more about just how great macadamia nuts are visiting the Suncoast Gold website.

Thanks to Suncoast Gold for providing the ingredients for this yummy meal – your macadamia nuts are totally delicious!

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The Story of My Life

by Caz on May 6, 2013 · 21 comments

I’m going to try (TRY I SAY) to follow along with The Story Of My Life and Blog Every Day In May. Yes, I’ve already messed it up so have decided to write my own rule book and select a few posts over May that really speak to me. Today I’m starting with this one – but just to let you know I’m also making up my own word limit ……. and posting over a couple of days.

“The story of your life in ~~250~~ 2500 words or less”

I was born in the early seventies. The last child of my parents I grew up with an elder brother and sister on a farming property 20 odd kms outside of Ballarat in country Victoria. My parents were very stoic practical farmer type people. We lived a simple country life without any of the bells or whistles my city friends enjoyed. Money was tight and spending was always limited to what we needed as opposed to what we wanted. You know what I mean, hand-me-down clothes and toys and home-made everything else.

My childhood was all about the animals. I grew up playing with cats, pet lambs and horses more so than other kids. My mum had lost a baby boy at two weeks old, eighteen months before I was born. This meant there was a four-year gap between my sister, the next youngest, and myself. The age difference was big back then and I made up for the lack of sibling companionship by spending most of my time in my own imaginary world of play with my pets.

After going to the local country primary school I caught a bus into Ballarat for high school. In contrast to the lack of money that was so evident in my early childhood my parents sent me to a private school and I struggled to adjust to the dramatic difference this brought to my world. I was unprepared and I didn’t make friends easily. My self-image suffered and in the early years I became one of those kids who was always tempted to hide out in the library at lunch time to avoid the hassle of finding friends and feeling like I fit in.

I was also struggling with undiagnosed dyslexia. This took a huge toll on the early years of my academic performance. I would be lying if I told you I enjoyed high school – I more endured it. There were high points, with sleepovers and parties, but I seemed unable to let people really be-friend me. Academically I did well. I learned to battle the dyslexia and won, passing year twelve with good results. I still clearly remember the day I took my uniform off for the very last time. I wasn’t sad. I verged much more on the side of relief and hope that brighter things lay ahead.

After school school a church friend and I moved to Brisbane together for a year of Bible School. Yes, really we did! I should explain that another defining moment in my family was the untimely death of my elder sister at 19 (when I was 15). Her car ran off a gravel road and hit a tree while I was out horse riding with a friend. That was the day my world got shunted onto a new uncomfortable axis. The pain and grief were unbearable but had to be endured – because there was no alternative. This spurred my mum to search for God and we ended up attending a pentecostal church and becoming ‘ Happy Clappy Christians‘. Having a faith and believing there is more to this world than just what you can see is an amazingly powerful thing – and even though I no longer consider myself a ‘Happy Clappy’ type of Christian I still to this day draw my strength from knowing God. I spent the rest of my teenage years wrapped up in youth groups and playing music at church based events – culminating my a year at Bible College. And what a year it was. Hilarious, quirky and full of great memories – but more about that some other time.

After finishing Bible College life produced another whacking great whammy. Within weeks of me returning home to Victoria both my father and his father (my grandfather) passed away. Losing Dad, on top of my fresh scars from my sister’s death, was just soul destroying. He was my rock in life and not having him any more was to horrible to contemplate. I can still hear the noise that escaped out of me when I realised he was gone. To this day I can’t think about that without tears. I was 19 and felt like there was no longer anything solid or dependable about life.

Being a good Christian girl I didn’t have the escapes most young people use to deal with intense emotional pain - so I chose to use food. I ate. And then I ate some more. I would eat to the point of being sick – because it felt good and in the moment made me happy and peaceful. To be honest to this day I still use food for comfort – although in a much less damaged way. Food is dependable and doesn’t leave you with a broken heart – so it suited my needs perfectly. But my bingeing also brought with it shame. Horrible gut wrenching shame that I could be such a glutton – something I had to hide away and not allow into the light of day. This little messy emotional stalemate took me years to unwind and still lingers in me when I allow stress takeover my sanity!

Over my twenties I studied. First a certificate in administration and then a Diploma of Social Science in Welfare Studies. (Hello is there a rescuer in the house!) And then I worked. I literally fell into a job at the Department Of Human Services working as a case manager with families in Disability Services ……. and so began a career.

My twenties is also when met my soon to be husband (my Nature Boy). Well actually I met him just weeks after my Dad passed away but we didn’t get together until I was twenty-four. A friend from Church brought him out to our farm and he become part of our youth/young adults group. We were each others first super-serious relationship. We ‘went out’ for two years. But we fought a lot and ending up thinking loving each other simply wasn’t enough - so we broke up. I was devastated and cried uncontrollably for days. I had to call in sick to work because I couldn’t stop the stream of tears. Another person I loved had left me – and this time it was by choice.

Then two months later he returned and in his own unconventional way asked me to marry him. After a six month engagement we married the day after my twenty-seventh birthday and moved into an old weather board house we’d bought together three months earlier. I was in heaven. My own home to renovate and a man I loved to the moon and back. The two things I had always wanted most out of life. It was blissful and then a bit more. Then, as it does, the honeymoon ended ……………..

READ PART TWO

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Shhhhhhh …… I’m trying to study here.

by Caz on May 1, 2013 · 30 comments

Guess what? (“What is it Caz?” …. I hear you say in my slightly over-active imagination.) Well seeing as you sound so interested then ….. I’m going back to study for the rest of the year!! Yes I know, it’s all a little bit exciting and scary. You see it has been a long time since I last studied. Let’s see, I finished a Diploma in Social Science (Welfare) at the end of 1995, so that makes it ….. ummm about 18 years! (Crikey – why did you make me work that out … 18 years is a LONG time.) I’m really looking forward to stretching my brain again – but I sure hope it doesn’t snap!

I’ve been thinking and toying with this idea for a few months now. Because in about nine month time my last little person will be heading off to school and that means I have no valid excuse to stay home playing house. I know I could easily return to work in social services but, if I am totally honest with you (which of course I am) my care factor has slipped and is dangling precariously somewhere between minimal to non-existent. This is not a good thing for a welfare worker – or more importantly for the people she is being paid to support. So I decided maybe I needed to re-evaluate my options and think about what the next chapter of my life should look like.

So tomorrow I’ll be starting a Diploma of Project Management at the University of Ballarat. If all goes well it will be done and dusted by the end of November (Fast Tracked) and I’ll be ready to start looking for work in the new year – once my last little is settled at school. Oh and that should read ‘part-time work’. I never plan to work full-time again. Life is way to short for that! Besides – it wouldn’t leave me any time to write a blog and what fun would that be.

I’m reasonably sure this new challenge is going to be good for me. Study makes you disciplined and that has to be good – right? Well I sure hope so. I’ll check back in and let you know soon.

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Bringing the WOW factor to Mother’s Day {+ $30 Redballoon discount voucher}

by Caz on April 29, 2013 · 14 comments

Mother’s Day. The rules around here are pretty simple. It’s the one day of the year that mum doesn’t have to do anything …. unless of course she wants to. I get to relax, watch TV, read my book or simply snooze on the couch all day – if I want to. For that one day a year there is no such thing as housework or cooking and definitely no cleaning up after little people. Oh my lordybe it’s blissful and I look forward to and savour every minute of it.

To be honest there have never been any big fancy presents involved. I get the normal array of home-made cards and hand-picked flowers …….. and they make me happy. Last year my Nature Boy took the girls out and they all bought me a plant for the front garden. That made me happy too. Nothing like a living reminder of something your kids chose because they love you.

But this year Mother’s Day came a little early around here ….thanks to RedBalloon Gift Baskets. And it involved the arrival of two of the most amazingly awesome boxes to my front door. Just the look of the boxes alone was enough to make my day – without even looking to see what was inside.

But, as you do, after taking enough time to admire them and dreaming just a little about what might be inside, I gently pulled on the ribbon and took a peek. (Funny how the guessing and wondering can almost be as much fun as the opening.)

My early Mother’s Day present turned out to be an awesome Cheese Making set from Red Balloon called ‘For the Love of Cheese‘. Everything I need to make my own Camembert and Blue cheese. Camembert Cheese I love – yummo. (The Blue not so much.) But still how much fun being able to make my own cheese - I cannot wait to have time to try it out.

RedBalloon have a great selection of Gift Boxes available if you’d like to say ‘thank-you‘, ‘congratulations or ‘I love you‘ to someone extra special - especially mum this Mother’s Day. Honestly receiving a great package in the mail has to be up there on the list of great life experiences!

You can check out RedBalloon’s special Mothers’ Day Gift Basket collection yourself – there are heaps to choose from. And speaking from personal experience the wow-factor is pretty high. Red Balloon are even offering a special reader discount which is valid until the end of 2013 . Just use the code REDMUM when you check out and any orders over $129 will receive $30 off.

Thanks to the team at Digital Parents Collective for inviting me to be a part of the RedBalloon Experience program. As always, all opinions are my own however the experiences are complimentary.

To redeem: Visit www.redballoon.com.au and enter the promotional code REDMUM at the checkout to receive your discount.

Terms and Conditions: Offer valid until 31/12/13. Promotional Code can only be used once per person. All purchases are subject to RedBalloon T&Cs, for full details see: www.redballoon.com.au/help/terms-conditions

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The Big Pink turns Green {A bedroom makeover story}

by Caz on April 24, 2013 · 33 comments

Sorry about the silence over the past few weeks. Life has taken over the driving seat and blogging has had to sit in the back playing with its ipod for a while! A lot has happened in my life over the last few days, all of which I’ll be sharing with you soon, but for today I really wanted to tell you the story about my little pink who has turned green ……

If you’ve been reading along here for a while you’ll know that when I started writing The Truth About Mummy I was ‘Mummy’ to three little girls. Way back then, in about 2009, they were five, three and one and I called them my ‘three little pinks’. My life was literally a sea of sleep deprived pinkness. (Oh okay, for the purist among us it wasn’t literally a sea of pink, or I’d probably have drowned, but stay with me.) Visitors would laugh at my clothes line full of tiny pink clothes and ask if we ever bought other colours. And inside the house was no better. Toys, bedspreads, lamps, posters, floor mats – even most of the books were pink! Life with three little ladies, and no boys to balance out the girly-ness, was simply one big pink pre-school paradise.

In 2009 we’d just moved back to our home town and bought ourselves a lovely ‘do-you-upper ‘ styled 1980′s home. For some insane reason we began renovating on our first winter back. We literally gutted much of our house and, with a little help from the builder, moved walls, windows and doors – making one almighty mess in the process. **Note: taking on major renovations with such small children in the middle of your first Ballarat winter is not highly recommended

Needless to say the girls were pretty excited once their end of the house was complete. A playroom surrounded by three bedrooms. We made the effort to allow them, despite their age, to pick colours for the feature walls in their rooms. (Okay, I selected three colours I was happy with and let them choose the one they liked the best!) Again needless to say pink and purple were high on the agenda. Big pink, who was five at the time, picked a lovely shade of full-on princess pink, which she told me she adored.

But that my friends was three and a half years ago. A lot can happen in a girl’s life in that time. Not so long ago my almost nine-year old biggest pink princess came to me with words something like this …. “Mum I hate pink can we plleeaasse repaint the wall in my room.” I must confess I’d seen it coming. My washing line looks far less pinks these days and her passion for Barbie has almost totally been replaced by friends, books, singing and dancing.

Following along in the steps of serendipity that have walked with this blog since it began, within weeks of this conversation I had an email from Dulux asking if I’d like to trial their paint for a room in our home. Well yes I would thank-you very much Mr Dulux – your timing is impeccable. Colour charts arrived and we all started having some fun thinking and planning with colours. In the end my biggest pink went green - Appetite to be precise! We used Dulux Wash and Wear 101 with Barrier Technology, which is a very durable interior paint and supposedly very easy to clean. When we painted three years ago we’d used Haymes and I’ve been so disappointed with the wash/wear factor that I was determined to make sure we got it right this time. Dulux were also kind enough to send us some rollers, drop sheets and undercoat too. Pretty much everything we needed to do away with princess pink.

So over the school holidays I locked Nature Boy in Big Pink’s room with all of the painting supplies and told him not to come out until he was finished. Big Pink was rapped with how it turned out. Nature Boy was happy with the quality of the paint and gear that came with it and I am impressed thus far with how it’s wearing. Of course, in the due process of all renovations when one thing leads to another, we may now have to make some new purchases as the pale pink bed clashes a little with the lovely light green – but for now I have one happy tweeny bopper.

Looks pretty good hey? (Don’t be Fooled by the neatness though – I just pushed all the mess to the other side of the room for the sake of the picture.) Thank-you Dulux for helping us get this organised. You know what we’ll be buying next time we need paint!

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Aire River

by Caz on April 14, 2013 · 4 comments

Here in the Victoria the school holidays are almost over. I shouldn’t complain (even thou you know I will) because we’ve been lucky enough to have a great family focused two weeks and have loads of good memories and stories to tell. And one of the best was the four days we spent at Aire River down in the Otway Ranges in our camper trailer.

Every time we venture out with Kermit (the camper trailer) we get just a little bit more organised and the experience becomes more comfortable and fun. Even though we only had long-drop loos and didn’t shower for three days this was amazing ‘together time’ that I know will stay with the girls for years to come.

We walked up a mountain, told seriously ridiculous camp fire stories and toasted marsh-mallows together. Getting away from your normal environment and spending uninterrupted time with you children is such an adventure. Sadly, it surprised me just how much I enjoyed it!

And then there was the scenery. Seriously beautiful territory in the Otways. The way the ocean meets the mountains makes for some amazing views – just driving down the road to get somewhere new is breathtaking.

This fabulous old bridge leads over the river into the camping ground. It dominated the views as we climbed up the sandy mountains to the local lookout.

The climb up was a little gruelling but the view back down over the camp site and the river soothed my tired muscles just a little. And then when we turned to face the other way we were greeted by this amazing view out over the ocean. So beautiful! Needless to say the following day (once my muscles had recovered) we headed off to Apollo Bay for a play in the sand and sun at the beach.

The camp site at Aire River is beautiful and well organised for camping (despite the long-drop loos). But one thing about it really did annoy me. The amount of plastic rubbish and beer cans left strewn around the place. Seriously if you’re in a national park show a little respect litter bugs.

The day we were packing up to leave the girls spent fifteen minutes having a clean up and collected a huge bag of rubbish. It struck Nature Boy and I as a little pathetic that some so-called adults had come out and obviously had a really good time only to leave behind a collection to garbage for three little girls to collect and dispose of. Is it really so hard to take your rubbish with you?

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Life {as it happens here}

by Caz on April 4, 2013 · 4 comments

It’s early morning here (very early) and I’m sitting in my lounge with my feet up thinking. The one good thing about going through stages when sleep seems to evade you like the plague of the Black Death is that you get lots of uninterrupted time alone to think and read. I’ve never been the worlds best sleeper, and I’m pretty sure I’ve bored you with posts about insomnia before, but these days it’s reached and entire new level. It’s most likely tied up with having Hashimotos Disease (thyroid, hypothyroidsim) but much of this and it’s reasoning, is yet to be unravelled in my life.

So here I sit. Actually enjoying the peace and stillness. Funnily my lack of sleep doesn’t bother me much these days. I’ve learned to relax into it and I cope pretty well on my current 4-6 hours. I know it’s probably not that great for my body, and I am getting some tests done to check my cortisol levels, but all in all I’m just choosing to enjoy the peace and stillness.

In other more exciting news we’re heading off down the coast in the camper trailer again this weekend. I’m really starting to enjoy our camping trips away – which is kind of surprising seeing as it took so long for my Nature Boy to convince me camping was a happening idea. The camper trailer (or Kermit as he’s know in these parts) gets more ‘homeified’ with every trip we take. We are getting more organised with the right gear and understanding better what it takes for our family to be happy away from home. It’s all about making memories and enjoying moments. With the obscuring power of housework, TV and the internet left behind I can see how important that is. I am so much more likely to stop and enjoy a few hours laying on the kids bed talking, giggling and playing silly games with the girls when we’re camping.

When we get back it will be a quick gear change into party preparation mode again as my littlest pink poppet will be turning five. Even just writing that makes me shake my head in wonder. My baby is nearly five!! She’s having a ‘play-date party’. This is a new term I’ve come up with to convey to all involved it’s going to be a pretty relaxed party where kids just get to scream around the house amusing themselves as I pump sugar and cake into them. Once I’ve actually made the cake and bought the sugar filled lollies of course! And just because I haven’t shown you yet here is a picture of ‘miss just turned seven’s’ bow birthday cake. It still has paper towel holding the drying bow in place and hasn’t been cleaned up yet but all in all I was pretty happy with how it turned out. And thankfully so was middle pink.

What have you been doing over the Easter break? Love to hear what’s been keeping you busy.

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I hate winter and I do not lie

by Caz on April 1, 2013 · 20 comments

This is a sponsored post for Target.

Yep, it’s the truth. I HATE winter. It’s my least favourite of all the seasons and to be totally honest the thought it looming only weeks away has me dragging out my sad face. Short gloomy grey days, freezing cold air and endless clothes horses of washing cluttering up my house. Arraaaggh! I just don’t want to go there. Give me bright sun and a warm breezes any day – but don’t make me endure winter! (Yes I too question why I live in a place known for its freezing winter weather – but unfortunately the heart doesn’t always let you choose what it considers home.)

So this year I’ve decided to get my head around winter a little early and embrace whatever little sparks of happiness and comfort I can find before it descends on me. You know, focus on the good and all that jazz. We do have an awesome big wood firebox that, despite all the work involved in feeding it, produces that deep penetrating cozy warmth that makes life bearable. And I am seriously considering reverting to an electric blanket. I haven’t had one for years – but the thought of a toasty bed on a freezing Ballarat night does bring a smile to my face. As you can see keeping warm in very high on my list of priorities!

Another way I’ve decided to beef up my winter happy is with my wardrobe. If I have to live through the grey months I might as well get myself something warm and bright to do it in. So last week I headed off to Target to check out what they have in-store (literally) to make my winter a happier place.

Yes, as you can see, the experience did send me a little crazy. With no make up and not a thought for my wind-blown hair I got my supermodel on and had some fun with my phone camera. I do love this chunky hot pink loopy scarf. It’s one of those tube type deals that lends itself to being worn a million ways and obviously inspires a little happy deep down in my soul! Unfortunately I can’t find it online to give you the link – but trust me I’m loving it and it is in-store.

Being that the warm factor is VERY high on my list of winter priorities I also came home with this grey striped duffle jacket. I can already see that it’s going to be my closest friend when it comes to our daily walk to the bus stop to pick up the big girls after school. A warm, comfortable and easy to wear jacket is a must have for enduring winter around here. And this ones kinda cute too! The bright blue skirt and the black and white rib layering top from Target Moda range also came home with me. All in all I think I’m on my way to using my wardrobe to brighten up the winter blues!

Do you like winter? What tips and tricks do you have to share that make winter a happier place for you?