I got accepted!

Recently I submitted A Parenting Life to Top Mommy Blogs. An American rated and ranked directory of Mommy Blogs. Much to my delight I received notification this morning that I have been accepted. Yay!!!!

So what does this all mean?

Well it is a great way of getting more people to stop by and have a read which will take me a few steps closer to my inevitable fame, which in turn takes me closer to reaching my ultimate goal of being considered an acclaimed writer. All sounds pretty exciting really.

So what do I need from you?

Naturally I need you to tell all your friends about this great blog you read and more importantly I need you to click the banner below. This tells the people at Top Mommy Blogs you think I am ace. The more clicks the banner gets the higher my ranking will go. I am currently at 699 or something like that so there is plenty of room for movement.

The best part is you can vote once every 24 hours! To make it easy for you I will start putting the banner at the end of every post. There is also a button at the top of the right side bar. Easy peasy.

Thanks again for all your support, I really can't begin to tell you how much it means and I promise when I am rich and famous I won't forget the ones who helped me along the way :)

So what are you waiting for....get clicking...

Another day in paradise

That is the best way to describe today.

Children didn't stir until nearly 7.30 and when they did Hubs swiftly swept them downstairs and away from my slumbering eyes. This allowed me and DD1 to remain dreaming for a further two hours. Absolute bliss I tell you. I could have gone a little longer but did not want to waste the day. After all we had nothing but fun planned.

After a quick coffee we got dressed and headed off to the Darwin Life Home Expo. Which I must say I was quite excited about. I couldn't help but look forward to all the pens and stuff I hoped to come home with. As a child I can clearly remember Expo show bags being a highlight for months after the event. Since it was pretty much a free event we got to go every year.

We had a great time looking at all the stands and the girls loved the showbags. Which I must say have certainly improved since I was a kid. We now have an abundance of environmentally friendly (apparently) reusable bags. The freebies were pretty awesome in general actually. The girls picked up stubby coolers, pens, drink bottles, jelly beans and a whole range of goodies.

Since I was fortunate enough to be given a free family pass we were able to have lunch while we were out which was a super big treat. Hubs and I found a lovely little alfresco dining area attached to a place called the Fiddler's Green. Almost felt like we were in a pub, of which we both only have a hazy memory of.

On the way home we stopped by Nan's for a visit and all 3 girls behaved beautifully which meant for happy times all round. Nan can be a bit touchy at times. Her views on child rearing differ to mine at times. Thankfully though today this subject was easily avoided.

The rest of the afternoon was essentially free time for all and passed with out any major upsets or incidents. Which is always nice. Even bed time seemed to run particularly smoothly. The joy of exhaustion :)

I have recently added a Top Mommy Blog button to the top right of screen. If you think that this is a Top Mommy Blog (and I really hope you do) Can you please press the button for me?

Photos from today I will put up later (tomorrow) The day out and about may have been very lovely but it did not get the housework done. Part of me had hoped the housework fairies might have stopped by while we were out but alas they much have the day off as well...

Ultimate Blog Party 2011

As I was doing my regular trip around blogoshpere I stumbled across a post that was part of the Ultimate Blog Party. Naturally I wanted to find out more and see if I too could join in the fun.

It turns out that I was only hours away from the party deadline but at least there is still time. All I had to do was write a party post (which you are currently reading)

The whole idea is about meeting new people and their blogs. Which is great as that fits perfectly to my 2011 theme of trying new things. So if this is the first time you have stopped by here are a few of my favourtie posts.

Introducing Me 2011 Year of Trying My Place and Yours

They will all give you a bit of an insight into the fun and laughter (mostly but not always) that is my life. Feel free to have a browse through some of the labels and past posts to the right if you are after even more. There are plenty of laughs to have if you look hard enough :)

In a nutshell though I am a happily married mother to three beautiful girls. I dream of being a famous writer though I don't really write enough at this stage for that to occur. I am slowly trying to change this though.

The photo today is off the banner that we made for DD3's recent first birthday celebrations. One of the easiest and cheapest things I have ever done. It is simply tissue paper stapled over kitchen twine.

Anyway thanks for stopping by, please have a look around and feel free to leave a comment, I love meeting my readers. If you want to stay up to date click one (or both if your super keen) of the follow buttons on your left and never miss a post again

Thanks

So as you might have noticed I have been rather pleased with life at the moment. Mind you with all the wonderful things that have been happening around me it would be hard not to.

Yesterday not only was it DD3's first birthday but I also got word that I had the opportunity for the very clever Nikki to make me one of her beautiful patchwork skirts. Which I super excited about. Her custom spots are currently on par with winning the lottery so it is warming to know that the powers that be are watching over me.

I love the fact that there are so many clever women out there who are willing to share the beautiful things they can make. I also love the fact that almost every day I am discovering more and more of them. It makes me wish that I could make something beautiful to share with the world. (though maybe I can and I just don't realise)

Today I won a free pass to the Darwin Life and Home Expo thanks to Humidity Gifts and Homewares through their FB fan page. Let me tell you I am just over the moon about it.

Many years ago in Darwin there used to be a wonderful Government funded expo that was held every year in July. In many ways it was the poor person's answer to the Royal Darwin Show that was held a few weeks later. You see the expo was free admission and always had lots of freebies. It was almost a guaranteed event and generally highly anticipated. While there were many things that my family did do, going to the Royal show every year was not one of them as it was just ridiculously over priced for my parents. The Expo however fitted in just fine.

I am not sure how long it has been now since the last NT Expo but I am guessing at least five years, possibly even more. This new version has been advertised for many months now and I could slowly feel the excitement in me building. That was however until I found out there would be an admission fee. Now I know that $25 for a family ticket is not all that much but to a single income family of five that kind of money can do get you a lot if spent well.

Anyway now it is all a bit irrelevant as I have free tickets!! Yay!!! In all the excitement I was going to try and squeeze it in to an already packed tomorrow but on second thoughts and discussion with hubs we will head in on Sunday morning. Thinking that it might well be a good photo opportunity. My blog research has indicated that photos are important. Todays photo is from my own personal collection. I am not really sure what I was doing in terms of changing colours and things but hey as long as I learn something along the way it is worth it I say. Since I discovered many a cool thing my new photo app can do then it is all good.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Today I celebrate the first 12 months of DD3's wonderful life. As I sit here typing I can honestly say that I have never been happier. I have a wonderful life which is blessed in so many ways. A quick glance at my sleeping now one year old swiftly confirms just how lucky I am.

This time last year DD3 and I were snuggly tucked up in bed 23B of the local hospital. It was not exactly the birth I had been thinking of but at the end of the day the end result is all that really matters. I love the notion of homebirth and I truly envy women that are fortunate to have them. It is my ideal birth but for some around me they prefer the comfort that is seen within medical walls. I guess deep deep down inside me there is a teeny tiny part of me t

hat agrees. But I digress...this post was not meant to spark a debate about homebirth (for the record I do believe that a woman's right to birth at home should not be taken away from her)... it is supposed to be about my beautiful baby girl who today turned one.

After such a fantastic day I am buzzing with enthusiasm for life. Which actually makes writing a somewhat difficult task as the ideas are just bouncing around my head at the moment. There are so many different ways this post could go and I just can't decide which would be best.

Do I just recount my day...

We had a relaxing morning at home while the Grandmothers and Nan came to visit. Around lunch time we headed out and collected the new remote from the post office (yay! we now have cool TV again) We also indulged in some golden arch delicacies which was actually more a treat for DD's 1 & 2. We ate as we drove out to visit our very bestest friends who also have a birthday to celebrate today.

As always all six children played beautifully and it was wonderful to see DD3 finally being able to join in a little. It is amazing the difference that being close to walking makes.

Do I post a photo?

If so which one do I choose, as there have been so many of late. Of course to post a photo of the day it is more than likely to have the children in it and as yet I have not decided whether I am really prepared to put their faces up here...Internet security and all that...

Of course if I just post a picture of the presents I avoid all of that.

As you can see though a picture of presents is not really all that exciting... though a lesson has been learnt.

I should leave photo retouching to small things like the flakes of stuff on the carpet that is in need of a good vacuum. Trying to retouch the toys in the top left was a bad idea and too hard to undo.

Mind you I have now spent so long trying to get this photo thing right that it is way past my bed time and my train of thought is completely gone. Given the time I expect that the birthday girl will probably wake shortly. One would think that after such a big day with such little time for sleep she should be right till morn, but then again...

It is party time!

In many different ways as well.

This is one of my favourite times of the year. So many great things seem to happen to me in March and April. I mean aside from my birthday, there is also St Patricks Day, Easter, a couple of kids birthdays, school holidays, the start of a change of season... It seems like the list could almost be endless.

Aside from all of that I also have reason to celebrate with the addition of a new follower. It really does make me rather chuffed to know that someone took the time to click that little button. I have been adding myself to quite a few blogs of late in the hope that it may somehow get a few more people to join me. Hence why it is so super exciting to see that it may have actually worked. If you want to bring about some more happiness for me you will find the follow button off to the right. I also have a fb page that you can go and like (I am yet to work out how to but a fb 'Like' button here but it is on my to-do list)

Tomorrow is DD3's first birthday party. She is sharing the event with two of her new little buddies. One of them shares the same birthday as her and the other is just a few days beforehand. Their mums are also members of the mum's group I joined late last year. Since we have some mutual friends we thought a joint party would be loads of fun.

I am just waiting for the cake to cook, then I will head to bed. It is amazing how relaxing a joint party is. Having the workload shared three ways is just the most awesome idea ever. I can't ever remember feeling so relaxed this close to a party. Normally I am a flurry of activity trying to get everything done. Certainly not in a position to idly sit around writing blog posts.

I had hoped to have some photos of my cake making skills. I was thinking that a step by step story board could have made for an interesting read. I am making a giant cupcake. Unfortunately though I was rushing a little and didn't take one of the batter in pan before it went in the oven.

Since photos do make a post look a little interesting I went and found one to include. Heading over to the ever faithful stock.xchng I searched for the words party time and received a mere 7 hits. Removing the 'time' part however gave me 17 pages to choose from. Thanks go to Jan Willem Geertsma for my final selection.

For now I return to the kitchen to check on cake, but I go with my camera in hand.

Will I or won't I?

I have been sitting here for a while now wondering on whether I should do a post or not. On the one hand I did manage to spit a few lines out earlier today so there is no 'real' pressure to post. On the other hand though I have seen some particularly appealing blogs tonight so I am feeling rather inspired. Actually I need to clarify that a bit.

One of the blogs that I read is by a beautiful crafty lady who lives in the same town as I. She makes the most gorgeous clothes and introduced me to the term 'upcycled' I suffer amazing jealous awe of her as she is one of the truly blessed that appears to be living the proverbial dream. What I also find astonishing is that I have actually met her in real life. A few years ago though before she was well you know all famous like she is now (ok maybe famous is a bit of a stretch but she has over 1000 facebook likers so she is at least well known)

The other blog I stopped by to read, is I believe also fairly local which got me thinking maybe I should try and organise a little local blogging thing. In the past week I have come across quite a few wonderful local women who have an online presence in one way or another. For the most part they all seem to have a rather crafty side to them and are able to make a range of beautiful things which they are able to sell. I wish I could say the same for me.

(deep sigh)

Unfortunately though one of the blogs I came across today did make me shudder. Now I feel terrible about this as I by no means wish to be associated with the the grammar and punctuation police BUT...

Not using capital letters at the start of sentences is just wrong! The first time I let it slide, after all no one is perfect but then when I kept appearing as i my body began to twitch as I realised this author had no respect what's so ever for the English language. I know that I am no expert and I know that I have made many an error when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuation but at least I try and do the right thing. Mind you I must say that apart from the terrible typing in this blog (which I am fairly sure most people wouldn't even notice) the blog in question was actually quite appealing to the eye and very well set out. As I was scrolling through it I couldn't help but wonder how my own blog creation compared. Of course my self criticism is somewhat harsh given that I generally strive for the elusive 'perfect' but that is a whole post in it's own

Increase Traffic

One of the ways in which I help drive traffic to my site is through LinkReferral and their new sister site LinkReviewer. Basically it means I go and spend time looking at other people's sites and then the same will happen to mine. There is also the option to write reviews which is supposed to increase the traffic to your site as well.

All in all it is not a bad system. Sure visiting other people's sites each day takes away from my own precious writing time but it really does drive some traffic in my direction. Plus the review side of thing makes you feel all warm and fuzzzy. To date I have only had really positive reviews, which is great as they encourage me to plod along. Which is not always easy. I am not a plodder. I am a sprinter. I want results NOW or better yet 5 minutes ago.

The other good thing about these programs are that at times I have come across some really great sites. These give me ideas about where I can take my own little web space to and areas I should work on improving. Naturally there are some that show what not to do as well.

Today however as I am dutifully clicking and reading away all I seem to come across are Christian sites. Now on the whole I guess I am somewhat of a christian. I mean I believe that there is a God out there (at least for the most part) however the Bible is not exactly part of my regular reading. I respect the fact that people align themselves to a belief system or religion and can dedicate their life to following that but it is just not for me. Personally for me I like to shop around, take all the best bits and just make up my own.

Anyway I guess I should get back to it, I am sure DD3 will probably not be sleeping for too much longer. I am thinking of going and joining her so that generally means she will interpret that as being time to wake up.

Meatless Monday

The wonderful Nicole over at From Highlights to Housework has started a link in with the theme of Meatless Monday's. Now to be quite truthful there would be a revolt in this house if I said we were going meatless once a week. My family is very happy in the carnivore category. However what they don't know won't hurt them.

You see if a meatless dish is just placed before them they will devour it in an instant. (Hunger is said to have that effect on people) Yet if they were to be told that they were venturing down the path to vegetarian there would be protests and false claims in the hope that I would cease to consider feeding them such food. So tonight we will be dining a very yummy cheese mac served with a side salad (and if I had of thought of it a bit earlier garlic bread)

Now I know that there are some wonderful (sic) boxes that you can get microwavable cheesy mac, but I don't have a microwave and making your own is really really simple.

Ingredients

pasta

4 eggs

cream/milk (about 250ml in total use one or both)

300 grams grated cheese

Instructions

Cook pasta as per normal, only drain and remove from heat 2 minutes earlier

Beat together eggs, cream and cheese.

Pour over pasta while still in saucepan, mix in

Gently heat saucepan while stirring. Continue to cook until egg mixture is no longer runny and is sticking to pasta.

Remove from heat and serve

Optional extras for the pasta include peas and corn (not very popular with some here) and if it weren't for being a Meatless Monday recipe some fried bacon and onion and garlic are a nice touch.

The salad tonight will probably be a bit boring, just lettuce, baby spinach leaves, cucumber, and tomato. The kidlets are such pasta fans that is all they will probably eat so the salad is really more for me. Which means I am thinking the corn and peas I didn't add to the pasta can go in the salad!

Things I would change - School

Another weekend over, another week about to begin. So incredibly glad that this week just happens to be the last week of the school term. I tellya it has been a long hard 10 weeks. I don't know how the teachers and kids get through it. It is a shame that the break will only be for a week but the coming term is a good one. Even though it will have eleven weeks instead of ten there are plenty of public holidays thrown in there so it sort of balances itself out.

Personally though if I was in charge of the education department I would be making some rather radical changes to the system. The first of these would be to scrap the 4 ten week terms and replace them with 5 eight week terms. To me the last two weeks and especially the last are just a nightmare and a waste of time so let's just get rid of them. Of course the whole two semester thing would not really work very well with my theory so perhaps semesters will just have to be thrown out the window.

Alternatively we could do some changing of the week stuff like have Wednesday's as a half day or better yet a free day. Of course this would only really work well for SAHM such as myself but hey you can't please everyone all of the time can you? Perhaps the half day would work better on Friday and that way everyone can have an early knock off and just enjoy being with family.

Wouldn't that be nice? Could you imagine if everywhere everything shut down at say 1pm Friday, leaving people no choice but to be with family and have a fun time. Hmmmmm...... A nice sounding dream to me.

I would also change the start time for schools. Ours is currently 8.15 and it is just not doable for us. A much more reasonable time to start is like 9 though even 8.30 would be a big help. It is surprising the difference that fifteen minutes can make. Mornings are really not my forte. It is not that I am not a morning person, I just need a bit of time to sort myself (and kids) out and quite frankly I would rather do that later rather than earlier. Of course the down side to starting earlier is that you need to finish later but maybe they could just lose a bit of lunch and recess?

What would you change about school if you got the chance?

The sooner you do it the sooner it's done

Makes sense really doesn't it?

Of course if you are a prized procrastinator such as myself then such words are really like water off a duck's back.

Sometimes it is just that I don't want to do it, sometimes it is just that I can't be bothered to do it and sometimes I just hope that someone else will get up and do it. Why I don't know as nine times out of ten I end up having to do it anyway. You would think that by now I would know that I should just be done with it and get it out the way but nooooooo that is all to easy.

Instead I put it off and wait a while. I'll distract myself or pretend to be busy. Sometimes I will even go and tackle other jobs in the hope that it won't still be there when I am done. Rarely is that ever the case though.

What am I talking about?

Well the picture gives it away but if you haven't caught on yet I am of course referring to the dishes. I hate washing dishes with a passion. While online the other day I mentioned to a chat friend that I had dirty dishes that I should be washing and she said "the sooner you do it the sooner it's done" (she is good for great lines like that times) Lucky that she was not with me in person though as I could possibly have given her a little love tap for her remark.

Anyway I did think that it would be a good blog post so while the dishes may not have gotten washed I did get a post out so not all bad I guess :)

Photo credits here

Come on Baby Just Ride With Me

That is the line from my new CD that is continually playing in my head. Well when I say my new CD I mean the Meatloaf CD Hang Cool Teddy Bear that my mum kindly purchased for my recent birthday. I say purchased because I suggested it would be a great present and then proceeded to drive her to the shops so she could get it. Once at the shops I then went and found it and gave it to DD3 to hand it to mum.

In case you are wondering it is an awesome CD, especially if you are a Meatloaf fan. In fact I can not begin to explain just how much I love, love, love it. But then that is how all his music makes me feel. Always has and by lord I hope it always will. His music just seems to take me away to another place. Somewhere a little rough and uncouth yet still safe and beautiful. I put this down to the songs and their lyrics.

Meatloaf has a history of his music telling a story and this addition to the collection is no exception. Each song as a tale to tell in it's own right and then they can be pieced together to form a bigger picture. When you listen closely to the lines some of them are actually quite touching

You know that I'll give you all the love that I have

If it wasn't for you there would be no me

When they knock you down, you gotta get back up again

I could go on almost forever but I am sure you get the drift. If you are interested in reading more about the lyrics have a look over here

As I may have already mentioned I have been a Meatloaf fan since a very early age. For the greater part of my life though I have kept my love locked away. While I struggle to understand it, but apparently not everyone is of the same opinion as me. In fact some have never even heard of this iconic superstar. (If this applies to you check this out) After getting tired of continually explaining who he was I decided it best if I just locked my love away and didn't mention it on a regular basis.

Of course since getting the new CD on Wednesday I have listened to nothing else. Already the girls and I have lines and nearly songs memorised and are constantly humming tunes when the CD is unable to be heard. Naturally I have not been able to hold off on sharing my appreciation of this great gift and to my surprise today I finally came across another fan. Actually this was the second fellow fan in nearly as many months, which honestly to me is nearly unheard of. Especially since the woman today has actually seen Meatloaf live in concert. I am only just a little jealous. That would be like a dream come true.

Not in an ad break

After many attempts I have realised that it is not exactly easy to write a coherent blog post in the space of an ad break. In fact even using a succession of breaks does not work to well either. I kept telling myself that as a mother I should be an expert at multi tasking but this time it just doesn't fit.

I have been suckered into the teenage feel good 10 Things I Hate About You The young Heath Ledger is quite easy on the eye in some ways, though I am sure my main attraction to him is that he is an Aussie (always a patriot). But back to the movie. I just love the way that the life of an American teenager is portrayed. Everything is just so well....perfect. Though it is like a surface perfect so I guess it it not really perfect.

Anyway now that the movie is over I have the perfect opportunity to write only of course it is nearly too late and it won't be long till the baby starts to stir. I think she may be growing a few more teeth as she is a little unsettled. Now that the super moon has been and gone I can't blame her restlessness on that.

As always I have been thinking a great deal about the blog and how it should take form. Today I toyed with the idea of starting reviews. I have done a few in the past over at Helium (ok one) and they are not too bad in terms of being easy to write but I am not sure if I could continually think of things to review....

(deep sigh)

Today felt like a hive of activity and I am rather glad it has passed. Well it seemed like a hive of activity but really there was not a lot to it. Just lots of driving really. Lots of to-ing and fro-ing, passing past the same places way to many times in the one day. It almost felt like I was just doing a perpetual circle of dropping people/things off and picking things/people up.

Drop kids off at school, visit mum, do a lunch delivery, try to go shopping pick sick child up, visit mum again, home to rest sick child, back to school pick up other child, home again, back to mum, then school meeting then hockey training that wasn't on....grrrr....finally home

Tomorrow will be a definite at home day I think

Happy Birthday

In around two minutes time my baby sister will turn 26. I am waiting for the precise moment so that I can tag her in a fb update to wish her well for our special day. Only mine will start 90 minutes after hers due to time differences.

My sister, who naturally I love dearly, was born on my seventh birthday and will for always and ever be the best present I could ever be given.

What I do not love however is when we celebrate in different parts of the world, though at least this time she is still in the same country. I can't really complain though as I think this is only the fourth time we have not been together.

Anyway to my dearest bestest friend and sister may you have a wonderful day full of fairy wishes and butterfly kisses.

Photo credits can be found here

To Pierce or Not ?

While I am no longer as pierced as what I once was I am still a somewhat silent support of body jewelry. I say somewhat as I must admit there are some piercings that I have looked at and questioned why but I guess each to their own.

I have had more than just my ears pierced, though now it is only earrings I wear. Two out of three DD have their ears pierced. I do plan on DD3 getting hers done I am just not sure when it will be. I have to wait and see how she feels about it. I don't think I could really get it done much before two but at this point it is totally a wait and see. DD1 got her's done at about two and a half and DD2 was a few days before her second birthday.

Both of them wanted to get them done and were happy to go through with it. On both occasions there were only a few tears and no infections. In fact both the girls took perfect care of their new decorations. I would simply spray the lovely cold solution on and they would happily turn the earrings themselves. We may have done it nearly 100 times in the first 24 hours but hey at least they were always clean.

Now I must say that neither of them exactly asked of their own accord if they could have earrings. But once the idea was put in their head they were more than keen. They both had a fascination with my earrings, continually playing with my pretty ears. I would ask them if they would like their own pretty ears. Naturally they said yes.

I explained that it would hurt, but not a lot, it would be more of a surprise and much like getting their injection needles. Since they were such brave girls then getting their ears pierced would be a walk in the park. Especially since the end result would be sparkling little stones at the bottom of their ear lobes. They still agreed that they wanted earrings.

I can honestly say that on both occasions I felt more pride in my daughters than words can explain. They just sat calmly on my lap and got on with what had to be done. They did say that they weren't sure if they really wanted their ears pierced after all. I told them that was fine but we would then have to take out the one that was already in. After a bit of thought they both decided they still wanted to go through with the second ear, which made me more than a little pleased as at the end of the day I wanted my daughters to have earrings. To me female ears just don't look right without earrings.

However just because I like earrings does not mean I would be able to be fully supportive if in the future they decide that ears are not enough. On particular people I think that other facial can be particularly appealing. My favourite place to see a hunk of metal pierce the skin is towards the outer end of the eyebrow. Time will only tell how I will feel about the DD's getting anything other than their ears pierced though. At this stage I think I am not going to be a fan.

DD1 has at times put a little diamonte type sticker on her nose and pretended that it was in fact a nose stud and it has driven me insane. I hate it with a passion and vengeance and I don't really know why. I try with all my might not to let her see my disdain for it as I worry in some rebellious teenage stage she will get it down for real and that is not a path I really want either of us to walk.

So what about you? Do your girls have pierced ears?