Aussie as bro!

One of the great things about being a blogger is getting to try things I would not normally get the chance to. 

Such as these great wines from Wine Selectors 

Now just between you and me wine is generally not my first choice of drink. My pallet tends to go for a cider or a spirit first. Though that could just be because they are something that can be shared with Mr Awesome who most certainly is not much of wine drinker. However after giving these little babies a go I am currently reviewing my wine drinking policy.

Without a word of a lie they were some of the best wines I have ever had the pleasure to drink.

Upon arrival of my delivery I carefully examined each label, you know just in case this non wine drinker had ever heard of any of the wine makers. I hadn't.

What I did notice though was that all the wines were Australian. Which being a few days out from Australia Day I thought was quite fitting. What I thought what was even more fitting was to share them with friends at our Australia Day bash.

Which was exactly what I did.

For those interested our Australia Day bash involved riding our bikes to a local park, setting up a heap of shade and a BBQ and then waving madly to all the utes in the ute run that passed by.

Best. Time. Ever.

I don't know what the attraction is, but I find there something incredibly awesome about standing by the side of the road and waving and yahooing at utes decorated with flags driving past. Every year the ute run is pretty much the highlight of my Australia Day. This year though I must say the wine did come pretty close to topping it.

Once the excitement of the cars had passed we settled down to the rather enjoyable task of kicking back watching the kidlets run around and play while we sampled some rather delectable white wine and pretended to be wine connoisseurs.

We smelt and sniffed and swirled.

We did not however do any spitting because that is just a little bit wasteful when you are not really a real wine taster. Which was probably more than evident because we were drinking out of rather dodgy plastic cups rather than hand painted wine glasses.

There was a third bottle. My favourite in fact (which naturally I don't have a photo for)  it was a Tamburlaine Natural Selection Chardonnay. Turns out that not only are the wines all Australian they were organic as well. Which my buddies sampling with me, told me was why it tasted so darn good.

The red wines, are still patiently waiting to be trailed and tested. Which going by the whites I am pretty excited about. As much as I have said I am not a wine drinker if I have the choice between red and white I will generally opt for the red. Based on how much I enjoyed the white I can only begin to imagine how wonderful the reds will be.

Who wants to join me?

Joining in with Jess & the IBOT gang
and Ms Mystery for the One New Thing Challenge

Out and about at the Darwin Festival - Keyimba

With the end of the dry season just around the corner it is time to squeeze in as many cool activities as possible. This is not just a notion exclusive to my own little head. This is actually the way the whole city operates at this time of year. From July to August there are more events held than there are the entire year.

One such an event, which is actually an event jam packed with even more events is the Darwin Festival.

Eighteen days crammed with the widest variety of shows you will ever come across. Some are free community events, some require paid tickets to watch some of the countries finest comedians and some are held in the back yard of a local primary school giving the kids a chance to join on in.

This year I have not been to as many Darwin Festival events as previous years. Why that is I am not sure, just the way the cookie crumbles I guess. However when a friend asked me if I wanted to tag along to watch her daughter perform with West African drumming group Keyimba I was there in a heartbeat.

I can only imagine how much fun it was to sit up on stage with them. What a fantastic experiencce for young Emily

The energy created by the Keyimba was amazing and infectious. It wasn't long before everyone was up and dancing with them.

As I was sitting there looking for things to photograph with my dodgy camera that is on it's last legs and with it's wrong lens on, I couldn't help but notice these little beauties.

Now I am not generally one to get all excited about shoes, least of all boots but these white babies really took my fancy. A fancy that was taken a little further when I looked up to see who would wear such gems in a tropical paradise.

Meet Afro Moses. The dude of all dudes.

Afro Moses came complete with acid wash jeans as well. Sadly for your view pleasure I was unable to snap a shot of them though.

Turns out that Afro Moses was friends with the band. Very good friends actually because towards the end of the show he got up and sang a song with them.

Have you heard of Keyimba? They are currently touring around the place so please check out their website to see if they come near you

My inner 1950's Housewife reviews the Philips PerfectCare Aqua

So finally it is done and ready to go, my thoughts and experiences with the Philips PerfectCare Aqua

Hopefully it was worth the wait for those few that were waiting for my greatness to be unveiled.

Crazily enough I actually ended up with two possible clips. It was hard to decide which one to actually go with. but in the end this is the one that won.

In all seriousness though the Philips PerfectCare Aqua was quite nice to use. The iron did seem to just glide over the fabric and I loved that I didn't have to fuss around with settings or dials or the right temperature for the right fabric. If only it could actually glide over the fabric with out my arm powering it. Now there is an iron for me!

If you are interested in more details and nitty gritty of this amazing machine check out over here

Budgeting, planning and making money goals stick. A review of myprosperity for Nuffnang Product Talk

This a product talk for Nuffnang

Saving and planning are not exactly my strongest strengths. Combine the two together and expecting me to plan to save is much like asking the a chocolate lover to save the last square of their favourite block for you. Not exactly impossible but not exactly likely either.

Given that we are meant to be running off into the wilderness on the adventure of a lifetime next year I need to get over both my inabilities to plan and save and what not because otherwise it just ain't going to happen. There needs to be both some serious planning and saving going on in order to make it all happen.

Regular readers and those who know me well, will know that I like to think that fairies and various powers that be, look out for little old me. At random times they just seem to send me messages. Actually I think they send me messages on a fairly regular basis but I only happen to notice them at random times but that is all an entirely different post.

When I saw the callout from Nuffnang asking for bloggers interested in reviewing a new site  called myprosperity aimed at helping you take control of your money so you could do more of the things you loved, I just knew it was a message from the fairies.

So it was with great excitment and much expectation that I headed on over to sign up for a free myprosperity account. I was certain that within a few clicks my money problems would be whisked away and returned as a reasonable and practical solution that saw ends easily meeting and money being saved.

Needless to say that wasn't quite how things turned out.

After all myprosperity is merely a website to collate and organise your spending habits and financial standings. It is not actually the modern day answer to the provision of the proverbial money tree.

What myprosperity does do though is securely connect to your bank accounts and catergorise where your money is being spent. It then shows you this information in all manner of ways so as you can work out exactly how your money is being spent. Which gives insight into areas where you may actually be able to save a dollar or two.

There is also the ability to go and retag any of the allocations that the site automatically assigns to transactions

I must admit that I did have some hesitation about linking our accounts. You know internet security and all that. Turns out though that myprosperity uses ultra tight security in the same way that banks do so my fear were quickly eased. I am so glad that I did because it is one of my most favourite features.

Being able to see all the transactions from all of our accounts in the one place was all kinds of awesome and really helped to see where a lot of our funds go to. The supermarket if you are really interested.

There were are few down sides like remembering when and how much cash out you take out when paying for the groceries. And the fact it took longer than this impatient being liked for the accounts all to be linked. Which in the scheme of things is no biggie it just made me incredibly frustrated because I couldn't do some of the things I wanted it to till the accounts were linked. A wait that most certainly was worth it.

The other feature that I really liked on the the myprosperity site was the savings calculator. I quite possible spent far too long working out all the different amounts of money we *could* save over various lengths of time

I may then have even wasted more time taking screen shots because I was *certain* it would make for a great post

 Ahem.

myprosperity also helps you to set up goals and regularly asks what financial expectations and hopes you have. Which is a great way to stay focused and head towards what you hope to achieve. There is also the option to upload documents like wills, receipts and superannuation. You can even organize your tax return. 

On the whole the myprosperity site has bucket loads of potential. Initially I did struggle to navigate my way around the place. There is a chance though that was just me being a little slow of the mark. After having been in there a few more times I began to feel a bit more at home and familiar with it all. 

If you generally struggle to devise a workable and realistic budget then myprosperity is a wonderful starting place as all the information can be easily found and accessed. For a free service myprosperity is well worth looking into. 

As mentioned earlier this post is part of  Nuffnang Product Talk I received a small gift for my time which did not in anyway influence my words, but I am sure you already knew that didn't you?

Optari Backpack - Review & Giveaway

Now I know that the end of term one might sound like a strange time to do a backpack review and giveaway but when the opportunity arose to check out the Optari Backpack, I just couldn't say no.

Backpack shopping is one of my back to school pet hates. Finding a bag that both child and I agree on is rarely easy. While they are all concerned with what is pretty, hip or cool I am looking at finer details like sturdiness, durability, and size. 

The little misses get all concerned with whether they can find their current favourite colour, yet I am more bothered as to whether the chosen colours will show the dirt and how easily it will come clean. Such details are given no such premise in the mind of a child.

Some ten weeks ago when Miss Six and I were completing the incredibly exciting task of grocery shopping she discovered a bag that she wanted to call her own. It was only $10 and not as big and bulky as last year's selection so I agreed to the purchase. The thought of getting out of school bag shopping greatly outweighed all else.

As we discovered on the first day of school three other little girls from Miss Six's class and their mothers had a similar experience while at the local supermarket. Suddenly the appeal of the bag seemed to fade. Worsened only by the fact the home reader and library bag don't fit while the lunch box is in there. 

Dramas, dramas, dramas.

All of which I am pretty sure would have been avoided if I had of known the coolness that is an Optari backpack.

With six bright colours to choose from, including purple, black and red, as well as those shown above, there is bound to be a colour that every child and parent can agree on. Especially since the whole idea of these great backpacks is to personalise them with your own selection from the Optari mini fobbz collection.

Just some of the cute fobbz available to add to your backpack

There are currently fourteen different fobbz to choose from and twenty one places to display them on your backpack. Essentially making the possibilities endless. They also make pretty cool swapsies badges with your friends at school. Because trust me once you rock up at school with one of these, all your friends will be wanting one as well.

The lovely backpack and three fobbz
that were kindly sent for me to check out.

World War III almost ensued at our house when I unpacked this little beauty the other day. 

In my mind I had pretty much already decided that it was more suited to Miss Six than Miss Eleven. However Miss Eleven assured me that I was wrong. First year middle school students would indeed like such a cool backpack. 

She even went to the effort of proving to me all her required books and things would in fact adequately fit. (As does Miss Six's home reading folder by the way) 

With two large zipped compartments, internal pockets, pen holders and side net pockets there is actually a great deal of room in what to the eye looks like a small backpack. The straps are wide, well padded and according to Miss Six, super comfortable.

At only $29.99 the Optari backpack is to me very reasonably priced. Especially since for this picky bag selector it ticks all the right boxes. With the fobbz being $3.50 each they too fall into the I would actually consider purchasing you category. 

To me they would make a perfect reward chart prize.

The lovely Sue from Addicted2pixels did offer to send me a second bag in a bid to offer peace amongst the girls but I politely declined. Much to Miss Eleven's disappointment I might add. 

You see as much as  I would love another one of these little beauties I would much rather be able to offer one of my lovely readers a chance to experience the awesomeness of an Optari backpack and five fobbz to kick off the collection.

For your chance to enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Joining in with

and

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses Oh and just to be sure, I was given an Optari backpack and three fobbz to review for this post. No money exchanged and all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

Ten Minutes and an Ultimate Collection

 A few weeks ago I received and email.  True story.  It was one from a media company and made me feel rather special to say the least.  In terms of interaction with such companies I am still somewhat of a virgin.  I have never really sought them out but such offers are always welcome.

Now before I go too much further I want you to rest assured that I would never sell my opinion.  Or rather I doubt there are any companies out there that would be willing to pay the required price for my opinion.  Rest assured if I am being told what to say about something then I would have made a tidy little profit out of the venture.  And when I say tidy little profit I mean a massive fat wad of money, hence why it will never happen.  Which means any thoughts or opinions I give about a product will always be my own.

Glad that's out of the way.  As a wanna be professional writer I know the importance of ethics and all that.  Now where was I?

That's right, all excited about some email that was probably sent out to fifty other newbie bloggers under the misguided impression that blogging will in fact one day make them rich and famous.

Naturally I responded swiftly to the email and hoped that just maybe I might get something cool to share with my readers.  Or failing that something cool just for me and the girls.

What I got was an ultimate collection.  Actually what I got was

The ULTIMATE Kids Collection

A three disk collection of favourite nursery rhymes, activity songs and kids songs.  Apparently there are over 100 tracks for your listening pleasure.  Or rather my listening pleasure.  There was a bit of a crack in the front cover so it seems wrong to send it on to someone else.  Plus there really are some great songs on there that I have not seen on CD for ages.  

Brilliant songs like Hakuna Matata and Agadoo plus a whole heap of classic kid movie songs like Under the sea, I like to move it and You've got a friend in me.  Actually on disc three which is the Favourite Kids Songs CD I can't see a song that I don't want to listen to.  It is by far my favourite out of the them all.

The Favourite Nursery Rhyme CD does not actually do a great deal for me as I am not really a traditional kind of gal and it is chockers with traditional things like Baa Baa Black Sheep,  Pop Goes the Weasel and so forth.  It does make a wonderful change from some of the more commercialised things that are out for the little ones these days.

All in all it is not a bad CD.  I have no idea what it retails for or where you could even buy it from if you so wished. Possibly abcmusic.com.au as that is printed on back cover.  I am not even really sure if I was to write a review of it as in the email it said it was a thank you for wanting to be involved with the company.  Since there really were songs on there that I was excited to be in possession of I thought I would give it a bit of a mention though.  

The Blogging Olympic challenge for today is to write a post in ten minutes and hit publish.  This may have taken a little more than ten minutes to write, but I am putting that down to the need to get breakfast for the the starving masses that are apparently unable to fend for themselves.  So there you have it a double whammy, a ten minute post and review all in one.  Actually make that a triple whammy because it is Tuesday and I have blogged.

Joining in with the coolest meme ever at Diary of a SAHM

The Best iPad apps to Inspire Your Kids Creative Imagination

The following post was brought to you in collaboration with Flexicommercial.  Which just happens to be another one of my OMG is this what happens to cool bloggers? moments.  I guess in many ways this is like my first guest post

Photo thanks to Nadia Meslem

There’s no limit a child’s imagination. They invent worlds, find adventures and create stories every day – drawing their inspiration from everything and everywhere. Meanwhile, the digital age has ushered in a whole new set of tools for children to learn from. In 2010 Mike Elgan from Computerworld labelled the iPad as the ‘Children’s Toy of the Year’ and with the release of new, innovative apps every month the educational potential of the iPad continues to grow. Here are five of the best:

LinguPingu – Language Learning for Children ($4.49):

Children at a young age are incredibly receptive to new languages and this app provides a creative and fun starting point for a child’s bi-lingual or even multi-lingual vocabulary. LinguPingu uses a combination of visual animation and dialogue and is designed to amuse a child for hours. The languages to choose from are English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese and Japanese.

Fairytale Math: Tea Party ($1.99):

This app invites your child on a journey with Alice down the Rabbit Hole to join the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, March Hare and Dormouse for tea. In this creative environment maths becomes fun and the child is challenged to practice counting, make patterns with objects and practice addition and subtraction. This app will destine your children for a highly successful job in the commercial finance sector!

Deskplorers (Free):

The aim of this app is to combine history with fun and foster within children a passion for learning. The first season of Deskplorers called ‘Jump in Time’ takes children on a journey through history. Episodes in this season include Deskplorers Egyptians and Deskplorers Cavemen. Deskplorers educate children in history through simple but interesting stories filled with animation, images and sound effects. The storylines also include strong morals and are designed to encourage children to understand the importance of the values of trust, respect and empathy. This app is also an effective way for French-learners to practice their French as dialogues are available in French once a chapter is unlocked.

Children’s Classics ($4.99):

Designed by the highly respected artistic team from the innovative technology company ABCOM, Children’s Classics brings nine children stories to life with dazzling visuals your child will love. The stories include the morally driven ‘The Boy who cried Wolf’, ‘Tortoise and Hare’, and ‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’.

Author Bio: Samantha is a creatively inclined parent who writes on technology and commercial finance.

Also because it is Tuesday I have linked it up with the more than awesome Jess for IBOT

The Post I Should Have Written A Week Ago

A week or so into March I received an email from a lovely PR lady.  One who was asking if I was interested in sampling and possibly reviewing some beauty products.  While one part of me was going, wow this is awesome I am slowly making it in the world of blogging, there was another saying something a little different.

It was saying "Really?  Have you really made it anywhere?"

After all this lovely PR lady couldn't even take the time to personally address the email to me. What's more what part of A Parenting Life, suggests that I am interested in beauty products?

Not to mention the fact I am the least like person to ever use a cream, or even lotion, let alone an actual beauty product.

My ego however took charge and before I knew it I was sending off a reply email that basically said yes please send me some of your beauty products.  After all who doesn't love the idea of free stuff.

As it turned out the beauty products were detangling treatments designed with children in mind.

As well as some rather cool washes and soothing relief moisture cream.  

Not exactly what I initially think of when I hear the term beauty products but certainly things I would consider using.  Cracking the big time felt never felt closer.

Coming home to find parcels on my doorstep was pretty exciting.  Opening to find they are beautifully wrapped and tied with pretty ribbon only added to the effect.  Perfect for beautiful bloggy photos I thought to myself as I laid my naive little eyes upon the goodies before them.

There they sat in the box for two whole days.  I didn't want to ruin the photo opportunity, because I just knew it could be epic, yet for some reason I couldn't make the time to take the photos I knew a good blogger  would take.  Eventually though I was faced with morning bed head that I could no longer endure.  There were more knots than I cared to deal with at quarter past already late for school. 

So I tore off the ribbon and cracked open the no more tangles detangling spray.

Well. Let me tell you it worked a treat.  Miss Nearly Six sat there oh so patiently and let me work through the mess that was her hair.  All without complaining, wincing or screeching in pain as is the case some mornings.  I did notice a bit of a smell but the ease with which the brush went through the hair I did not care.  Even though her hair is already shorter than longer, hair time has been somewhat of a battle of late.  I was relishing the ease with which battling was not occurring.

Moving on to Miss Almost Eleven I was feeling quietly confident and looking forward to a similar pleasurable experience.  All was going well, till I sprayed.

Turns out the smell I thought I got hold of earlier, my darling eldest had well and truly caught hold of it and was determined not to let go of it either.  In her honest opinion the detangling spray smelt like dog poo and there was no way on god's green earth she was letting me put it anywhere near her head. 

Instead she opted for me ripping the brush through the bird's nest that was her well past her shoulder length hair.

Thankfully though the shampoo and conditioner are much less offensive to the nose. While they may have left my hair feeling remarkably like straw, Miss Two didn't scream when she inevitably got some in her eyes.  Which was nice and made a pleasant change.

Now to be totally honest with you (which I always am) I still haven't actually used all the products. In fact, in the incredibly dodgy photos above I even neglected to include one of the products (the baby bedtime bath if you are interested)  We don't have a bath (nor a baby for that matter) so a few of the products were out of our market so to speak.  I do know a few new born babies that I could have probably accosted for a photo shoot but it turns out I just couldn't be overly bothered.  

Terrible I know.  But I kinda have a valid excuse. 

When I saw a number of other posts around the blogosphere, all reviewing the same stuff I became disheartened and began feeling a little used.  I was in fact not so special and unique but merely just one of a number of mediums used to influence your average mum who spent too much time on the internet!

Despite not really being a 'products' person I have managed to use these products at one time or another with my children and feel comfortable saying, while they are alright and do the job I have never experienced anything that would leave me raving about them. If ever faced with a situation where I am in need of such a product it is more than likely this is what I would choose. Maybe. Unless there was something cheaper.

Having said all of that though I want to tell you about my dry cracked feet.  They are dry. And cracked. And often ache. What bought wonderful relief to these dry itchy feet though was the Soothing Relief Moisture Cream.  That stuff is the bomb.  Seriously awesome I tell you.  It brought an instant relief that lasted for hours.  Quite easily better than some of the ridiculously over priced specialised foot creams that I have been tricked into buying over the years.

Anyway there you have it.  My views on Johnson & Johnson No More Tangles, Bed Time Sleep Better, and Aveeno Baby products.  Since this blogging gig is all about honesty I just want to let you know I was not given any cash for this review, however I did receive some cool products. Some I tried and some which I will probably re-gift to the next new mum I come across.  

All thoughts and opinions are my own and can never be bought or paid for.

I wish that I had the sense to ask for some extra stuff to give away.  Every house should have some of that Soothing Relief Moisture Cream.  My feet have never felt so good.  Oh well live and learn.  

Should I ever be asked to review something again I know now how to respond.