mummy hearts money

FFS Friday: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

My brother and his partner gave birth to a beautiful, healthy, baby boy. NO FFS.

4 days later my brother tells me he is leaving her and the babies to go fruit picking in Griffith. FFS

When I offer my support to his partner, it turns out I am breaking the news. FFS

I've haven't broken up with someone on behalf of someone else since high school. I could slap him. FFS

In other news, turns out Madeleine was exposed to a man who has been arrested for child pornography last week (among other things) at a workshop at her dance studio last term. FFS

I paid a small fortune for her to attend that workshop run by this man FFS

Upon questioning, she (and her dance teacher) assure me that there was never any reason for our children to change clothes or costumes during this workshop and neither she nor any of her friends were ever left along with him. NO FFS

Upon scooping out his Facebook account like the nosy gossip I am, I was electrified to see that my daughter is one of his friends FFFFFFFFS

After logging into her account and frantically reviewing her messages I was further horrified to find messages between them FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFS

Fortunately the emails are harmless, although they are very recent so who knows where else they may have gone if it had continued. Unfriend, block, educate and breathe again.

Had a social media scare with your tween/teen? Broken up with someone for someone else? I'd love to hear about it

Didn't get enough of my whinging? Want to read more FFS posts? Head over to Dear Baby G for more FFS goodness

Buying Bulk and Reselling to Save Money

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:30:00 +0000

When I got pregnant with Sebastian far sooner than expected (only crazy people deliberately have babies 15 months apart) it mucked up my big baby game plan.

The original plan was to have the kids 2 to 2.5 years apart. Prams, high chairs, cots etc would all be passed down to the new baby with no need for new purchases. All that went out the window since Hubby and I have clearly neither learnt to count, restrain ourselves, or use protection.

Seb's gorgeous cot

When I realised that both Lorelei and Sebastian would need cots at the same time (although actually, since we kept Seb in his crib far longer than we should have, this might have been avoided anyway), I set out looking at used cots on eBay. Eventually I found a gorgeous cot, along with a portacot, girls bedding set, matching bumper & valance, big bag full of various sheets and other linen, and a bouncer for $120. We snapped it up and had it all home before the women selling it could blink.

We didn't need or want any of the other items, with the exception of the portacot. We already had one, but knew a second one would be handy on holidays until Lorelei was old enough to sleep in a bed.

So I broke it all down into separate componants. The bedding was washed, ironed, and photographed in a far more attractive light and listed on eBay. It was a popular and expensive set, and it sold for $60. Since it would cost around $120 brand new, I was pretty pleased. The matching bumper and valance sold separately for another $30. The bag of random, cheaper quality linen was listed on a facebook garage sale page, and sold for $10. The bouncer also sold for $5, and the mattress that went with the cot for another $6. Total sale price: $111.

Kidsline set sold for $60

We used the money from selling off all the bits and pieces to purchase a new mattress, on sale for $80. So the total end price for a quality used cot and new mattress ended up being $89. Bargain when you consider people pay $500-$1000++ for the same items. It could have ended up costing only $15 if I were willing to use a second hand mattress but I prefer to buy a mattress that is geared towards people with allergies, since Husband is pretty bad.

Random bits and pieces

$89 is a huge savings on buying the cot brand new or even buying it second hand on its own. Many of the used cots I looked at would have cost close to how much we paid for this one with all its extra's.

Both babies now have cots that convert into toddler beds, so both will be able to use their own cots and linen til they are 4 or 5. This is fabulous, because it means when the time comes to set them up in big beds, I can gear the bedding and bed type towards an older child, and it should all last them through to high school. We found with Madeleine that we replaced all her toddler bedding when she got a little older in primary school, and again now that she is in high school and funnily enough no longer interested in pink fairies.

When the time comes, I will keep one cot for the future grandkids to use when they sleep over, and sell the other. We are almost at the point that I can sell the spare portacot, since Lorelei just went into the toddler bed recently. So the total of Sebastians cot costs will reduce again when the portacot is sold.

How do you make/save money? Ever tried buying in bulk and selling of the excess?

Breaking a Tween Up With Her Treasures

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:38:00 +0000

We made the decision to move from our own home into a granny flat during the Christmas school holidays. And at the time, I went into a frenzy of a spring clean, selling things, donating things, and throwing things out. It was a great opportunity to cleanse our home and belongings and get rid of unneeded clutter.

Although I hate to get rid of anything, I was able to part with many of my treasures. 3 kids later, I am realising that if I keep storing their belongings and mine I will soon become a candidate for that show, Hoarders.

We aren't this bad. Yet.

Madeleine, however, was a bigger problem. She was 12, going into high school, and still didn't want to get rid of any stuffed toys, littlest pet shops, pretty pink little room decoration, saddle club posters, etc etc. This on top of her growing liking for One Direction, nail polish, and other more teenagerish activities. So her room was overflowing with crap, and pretty much impossible for her to keep tidy.

I couldn't convince her to pass things down to her sister though, or to chuck them out. She was attached to everything. So instead of forcing the issue, I got her to go through an activity with me that I was doing throughout the rest of the house. Everything had to be separated into 3 piles:

1. Things that she could not do without during our short stay in the granny flat (which turned out to be 3 months, not quite as short as I expected). School things, dance things, and the most used entertainment items (iPod, nailpolish, DS). She was given an underbed storage box and if she couldn't fit it into that, it couldn't come.

2. Things that she definitely wanted to get back as quickly as possible once we moved into our new home

3. Things that she didn't want to get rid of, but that she could do without for a while, so it could go into longer term storage if necessary.

I wasn't entirely sure how big our new house would be, and there was always the potential that I would leave lots of things in storage for a while. It turns out our new home is plenty big, actually bigger than our old home, so everything is gradually getting unpacked.

After 1 term in high school, without many of these belongings, Maddy is suddenly realising she doesn't WANT alot of it. Many things won't be making their way back into her room, and she is happy to pass them down to Lorelei or get rid of them altogether. She doesn't want the toys of her childhood, because she realises she won't play with them. She doesn't want all her baby stuff toys, because they don't fit with the new, older, room she has been creating for herself in this new home.

I'm glad I didn't make her get rid of things, because I think she would have felt the loss more sharply and been upset at their absence. By doing it this way, we have still culled her belongings, but it has come about naturally. It's definitely a lesson I will take on board as the 2 babies grow up, that maybe I can just put away things that they have outgrown, and give them the chance to get some separation gently.

Are you a hoarder, or are you able to make the cut ruthlessly when needed?

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There Were 10 in the Bed and the Little One Said...

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:30:00 +0000

Lolly "helping" Dad put
Sebs cot together

New house, new beds.

Both my babies have upgraded their beds this month. Along with the move to a new house and into bedrooms of their own, both have graduated beds. Lorelei has gone from cot to toddler bed, and Seb has made the long overdue move from crib to cot.

Seb pretty much had his head and feet touching both ends of the crib, and had a habit of hooking both his legs on each side to lift himself up into the air to unwrap himself. He should have gone into a cot a few months ago, but it was in storage and it took us longer to move from the granny flat to a place of our own than I expected.

I take alot of pleasure in making up their beds for the first time, even though they never look this cute again!

Lolly just turned 2 last week, so I wasn't 100% sure that she was ready to make the move to a toddler bed yet, but while we were on holidays she kept climbing out of her portacot so I figured I may as well give it a whirl at home. The last thing I want is her working out how to climb out of the cot and falling down to hurt herself!

The first 3 nights were brilliant and I was patting myself on the back for having such a well behaved toddler! She'd jump into bed, I'd give her a kiss, and that was the last I would see of her for the night. Clearly, I am a fabulous parent.

Wrong.

Night 4 came, and as I was settling down with Husband on the couch to watch some Game of Thrones (loving this show, can't believe it has taken me this long to find it!), I heard the pitter patter of little feet running down the hallway. Seconds later she burst into the lounge room with a cheery "hello baby!' (unfortunately she has picked this up from her father!) and bounded onto the couch in between us.

So much for my fabulous parenting. It took another 2 weeks of consistent settling and bedtime routine before she has started to get in bed and stay in bed at night.We are reading her a book in bed each night, and at one point I was sitting quietly in the corner for an hour till she fell asleep. Yay, that's no longer necessary, because there is so much I can be doing with that precious, all kids asleep, time each night. Unpacking some of the never ending boxes for starters.

Fortunately she is now staying in bed each night with no drama's but it took persistence! She has fallen out of bed twice though, despite the safety rail. I have found her each time crouching on the floor, bewildered and upset, but still half asleep. Poor bubba gets a kiss and cuddle and I settle her back into bed.

Seb on the other hand is a whole other problem. Now that he has so much room, he is rocking and rolling all over the bed and I can't keep him wrapped long enough to fall asleep! I'm going to have to invest in another swaddleme soon I think, because the little monkey thinks its hysterical when we come and scold him and try to rewrap him.

The ideal nighttime situation

What actually keeps happening

Oh well, will keep trying and in the meantime it gives us lots of giggles.

Did your kids make the transition to new beds easily? Or did they put you through lots of night time fun as well?

Cake 2 The Rescue: Review and Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Tue, 14 May 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Massive parent fail this month. Life has been so busy, moving into the new house, starting a new part time job, unpacking constantly, that before I knew it Lolly's birthday was only 2 days away.

2 days.

And I hadn't planned the cake. Presents can be wrapped at the last minute, but the cake needs some serious planning, and in my case, practice. I usually give myself a trial run before making anything special so that I minimise the chances for failure, because frankly, Martha Stewart I am not.

Enter Cake 2 The Rescue. I have seen these ladies about the blogosphere before, but I wasn't entirely sure how their product worked. Their name pretty much had me convinced that they were what I was looking for though! I sent off a frantic email and had a prompt response promising express post shipping that day. Hows that for killer service.

Sure enough, my parcel arrived Thursday morning, PLENTY of time to cook and decorate before Lolly's birthday on Friday. When I ordered it, I wasn't 100% convinced that I wasn't going to need some special bakeware, ingredients, baking implements, skill, etc. You know. Things I don't have, and don't really have time to source right now.

So I was pleasantly surprised when the only things I had to bring to the baking party were eggs, milk, and butter. Oh, and my mixer. That's it. The kit came complete with cake mix, fondue, template, food colouring, and best of all, idiot proof instructions and tips.

Would you believe you even cook the cake in the box it all comes in? No need for a special tin to make this happen. Just mix all the cake mix, milk, eggs and butter together, pour into the box, and into the oven.

Cake mix goes in

Delicious fluffy cake comes out

I honestly always thought that a detailed character or novelty cake would be difficult to make. Not so much the actual baking part, but the shaping and decorating. I could not believe how simple and idiot proof this was. My kit gave me simple, step by step instructions for every part of the decorating journey. Using their included template I cut out the pig shape cake, and copied their icing and piping process.

As you can see, I'm messy and erratic in the kitchen! I try not to be, but somehow I end up getting icing everywhere. And no, a rolling pin was not needed for this cake. I've never used it before and had hopes it might be needed but alas. No.

The end result of following the fabulous Baker Girls detailed instructions? A foolproof, Peppa Pig cake. I just can't get over how easy this was to produce a cake that I would cheerfully have paid $60-$70 for from a bakery. If not more.

And best still, I made it. I didn't buy it premade. I got to see my daughters face light up and know that it was from our home made efforts.

The Cake Rescue kits retail from $29.95-$49.95 and come in so many varieties. There's something there for every occasion, from a babies 1st birthday, Mums 60th birthday, even Australia Day! Some of my favourites that I am eyeballing for future use are below:

I have a soon to be teenager that I know would LOVE these. Because I loved their service and product so much, I contacted the Baker Girls to ask if I could pretty PLEASE give away one of their fabulous products to my readers.

One lucky reader will win a Cake Rescue Kit of their choice. All you have to do is visit the Cake 2 The Rescue website and tell me, which Cake Rescue kit would you choose if you win? Additional entries available for overachievers!

And as an extra bonus, the Baker Girls are also kindly offering a 5% discount to Mummy Hearts Money readers, so you can head over and buy your emergency cake today using the code VALENTINES.

Entry Via the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sponsors love to receive feedback on their products, and I love to hear from you about my content. Please feel free to leave some loving in the blog comments xx.

Good Golly Miss Lolly! She's TWO!

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Mon, 13 May 2013 02:10:00 +0000

Where did the time go? Not so long ago, I was toddling off on Maternity leave with my tummy WAAAAY out in front of me, ready to have this gorgeous girl by planned c-section.

I woke up to find a pink cheeked Daddy introducing me to a round, chubby faced, little dumpling that perfected fitted the pre-picked name of Lorelei.

Time flew, and she was turning one before I knew it.

And now, after a jam packed year with so much in it, mummy going back to work, a new baby brother, mummy back home again, mummy in and out of hospital, moving to a new house, she's turned TWO!

We had a massive birthday party with all the family last year. I don't give my kids parties every year, but of course we always celebrate with presents, a nice dinner, and a cake. As my big girl has gotten older it also often includes a day out doing something special if there isn't a party.

Miss Lolly is lucky enough to have been born on the same day as her cousin. And since their birthdays fell on a Friday this year, which is the day we always have dinner with the in-laws, I figured I better pull out something pretty good as a cake. With the help of Salz, (and Husband may have done the baking the night before since I was pretty frazzled) we pulled together some gorgeous piggy cupcakes (thank you Pinterest!) and a Peppa Pig birthday cake (cake design and kit purchased from Cake 2 the Rescue).

Piggy cupcakes sourced from Pinterest

"Pig Babe" cake from cake2therescue.com.au

Lolly and I enjoyed a morning at a playcentre with Salz and Aneesa before returning home for naptime. It was a nice, playful morning that was all about the girls (and not at all about the latte's). But the best moment was when the girls saw their cakes. Both faces lit up, and Lolly shouted "Hoo-Ray" cheerfully when we sang for them.

It was a fabulous day, and Lolly was tickled to have everyone singing for her. She loved ripping into her presents, but was a little confused two days later when it was my turn to get presents for Mothers Day.

Love you lots my littlest girlie. Hope your day was magical and you look back at these photo's one day with pleasure. xx

Like my cake? Watch out tomorrow for a full review and giveaway of the cake2therescue product

The Mash Up

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Fri, 10 May 2013 05:03:00 +0000

Those of you following on Facebook or Twitter may have noticed the numerous attempts at mashed potato in the last week.

Despite trying repeatedly over the years I have never been able to produce edible mash. That doesn't mean I haven't made the family eat my productions. They've eaten lumpy mash, crunchy mash, runny mash, slimy mash, but never smooth and creamy mash.

Husband can produce a perfect mash every time. Smug bastard. So it tends to fall to him to make the mash for a meal, I just prepare before he gets home from work by peeling and chopping the potato's.

Hehe. While mashing, my Breville AIO turned it
into squiggly worms. I had to take a photo

When I was gifted the new Breville All In One, I was determined to master the mash. End of story. No more terrible mash.

Effort number one was a fail. I followed the recipe in the booklet that came with the machine and turned out perfectly liquid mash.

Effort number two was also a fail. I read all the tips I was given on twitter (thanks Lisa!) and Facebook and in person by people who had read my efforts and found them hysterical. I was prepared. I peeled the potato's. I chopped the potato's. I placed potato's in a pot. I scolded Husband when I discovered him stirring my potato's. I chucked a tantrum when I realised he had moved them to a different pot because he felt my pot was too small and he didn't want a repeat of the previous nights failure. Husband ended up taking over the whole process and turned out perfect mash. I repeat. Smug. Bastard.

Effort number three however, was a perfect, delicious, creamy, smooth mash. No one has ever made mash this good. I swear.

My tips for turning out the perfect mash?

1. Plan to cook them when ~~bastard~~ Husband isn't home

2. Influence the babies feed times so he will be asleep during feral hour for once

3. Start cooking them BEFORE feral hour starts

4. Have a bowl of snacks ready to toss into the ~~ferals~~ ~~seagulls~~ toddler's mouth every time she comes near you while preparing your perfect mash

5. Restrict TV time all day then produce 30 minutes of Peppa Pig during cooking time

6. Ignore the recipe. You will never get the ratio's right. 6 potato's? Big? Little? Medium? Who knows.

6. Shake drained potato's over the hot plate again to dry out the excess moisture

7. Put the milk in AFTER you have mashed the potato's and combined the butter. Add a little at a time till you are happy with the consistency. Don't add the whole recipe recommended amount all at once since you may not need it all.

Creamy, smooth, yummy mash. Would you like some roast
beef with that mash?

Voila. Perfect mash. So ner ~~Bastard~~ ~~Unbeliever~~ Husband.

So now I have mastered the perfect mash, I will be turning my attentions to making a perfect cake. And not from a packet mix. That's how confident I'm feeling.

Do you have something you just can't produce in the kitchen? Unbelievers in your household?

Using Freebies to Stretch the Budget

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:20:00 +0000

I love freebies. I don't care how I come by them, samples, prizes, friends, I love them. If a brand is offering a sample, I'm the first one to sign up. A person on the side of the road wearing promotional clothing handing something out? You better be careful not to get in my way because I will stampede anyone to get at the promo person. Goodie bags at expo's? I'm in heaven. And I spend a few hours every week trolling for competitions and giveaways that I can enter. The smaller the prize the better - sounds dumb right? But I've never won an iPad or a holiday, whereas I am CONSTANTLY winning smaller household products and toys for the kids. At least 1 prize a week.

But it's only worthwhile if you actually USE the samples and freebies. I've noticed that alot of my friends or family end up throwing samples into draws, probably with good intentions of using them, but go on using their normal day to day product. And the sample just sits there gathering dust until a cupboard or draw gets a spring clean and it gets thrown out.

I make a habit of using samples first before other products. That way they definately get used. And although it might be hard to see the impact on the budget, by using the all the samples up it means my normal products go just that much further.

For example, at the moment I am not purchasing any baby nappy rash products, body wash, or dishwashing detergent because we are still using up the samples/prizes of these products. I also have a bunch of packet mixes that I cook with - maybe I wouldn't have purchased some of these meal types but I am definitely willing to give them a go since they were given to me by a friend who had too many and they would have expired. Not paying for these items is saving me a small amount on my grocery bill, and since there is always something every pay that I don't have to buy thanks to samples it all adds up.

Where do you get your hands on samples and freebies?

1. Brand facebook pages are becoming more and more popular for samples. Like your favourite brands and keep an eye on their streams.
2. Websites often have a sample offer that you can sign up for. Especially baby goods, there is so much available in baby goods. I will confess I have yet to purchase any nappy rash products at all since Lorelei was born almost 2 years ago. And I have 7 month old Seb now too.
3. Email companies that you are interested in to ask for freebies. I've had many companies send me a sample to try out even though they didn't have a sample program on their website.
4. Expo's are sample heaven! All the brands are desperate for a slice of your business, and will giveaway samples in the hope that you will try and end up buying
5. One of the market research panels I am with (Red Galah) often offers a sample bag in conjunction with (or instead of) payment for a focus group. There's often products that aren't released yet on the market
6. Check your favourite products website for competitions to enter. And check the terms and conditions to see how often you can enter - sometimes you can enter daily and I find those ones are generally a sure thing if I have the patience to keep entering.

I freely admit that I am a freebie whore. But every now and then a company gets lucky (possibly the worst pun I have ever made) and I like their product enough as a result of trying the sample to make the change. So the freebies work, although they have to work damn hard. As you can see often there are 2 brands competing at the same time. The photo's to the right are just a quick sample of the freebies in my home in use at the moment. There are probably more, I just ran around grabbing what was easily visible for the photo's.

Are you a freebie whore too? Does the sight of a promo person get you to change your route to make sure you cross their path? Tell me the best freebie you ever got your hand on!

Linking for love with Essentially Jess.
***Diclaimer: This is not a paid or perked product flog. With the exception of the kleenex products that I think I got in a blogging swag bag, none of these products were given to me without the brand knowing that I had a blog that they may be mentioned on***

A Beginners Guide for Brands Working With SAHM Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Fri, 03 May 2013 03:38:00 +0000

When I say beginners guide I'm referring to me not the brand!

"I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You've got mail." ~You've Got Mail ~

That's how I feel when I get any kind of PR or Brand email. And I may or may not do a happy dance not unlike Jim's American pie dance.

Often I can't accept an invitation due to logistics. And I figure there must be lots of bloggers in the same boat as me. So here are my tips for getting fresh, funny and unfrazzled bloggers to your event. I'm a wee baby blogger though, so it's always possible my two cents is worth just that.

1. Don't forget the kids. Many of us are SAHM. So any invitation that doesn't include my kids is going to involve a babysitter which already reduces my chances of attending. I will be very selective about which events I sacrifice my time with my kids for (and beg babysitting services out of the relo's). Events that either include my kids or have some kind of nanny/angel service have a much higher chance for me to attend

2. Remember the mummy responsibilities. 9am starts really (REALLY) don't work. With a school run to cater to it just increases the logistic problem to be on time for a 9am start which is often in the city. While the corporate office day probably kicked off 1-2 hours earlier my ability to do anything for me kicks off once I have waved my cherub through the school gates. 10:30-11 starts are much more compatible with the school day

3. Wifi and Social Media. Want me plugging your message across my social media networks? There's nothing like free wifi, good hash tags, and some brilliant photo ops to get me tweeting and instagramming.

4. Don't forget the home players! Speaking of social media networks, if you really want to go viral give me an incentive to play along at home even if I can't attend. Offer the chance of a giveaway and i'll hang on every tweet and Instagram trending with your tag. This will give your blogger attendees more engagement with their social media messages, and also give you the opportunity to connect with bloggers in other states.

5. Make it a win/win/win. Offer me something for my readers. I feel a bit like a hooker when I plug your brand without there being something in it for my readers.

Any other bloggers have any tips to add? Or maybe you don't agree with my points - add your two cents!

On Food Processors and Mashed Potatos

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:38:00 +0000

Brace yourself. Its a long one. And I guess you might consider it sponsored, although I didn't get any money or get asked to do a write up or anything.

There are times when this blogging gig rocks.I get invitations and offers for the most incredible things, and while I don't take up about 75% of what gets sent my way, from time to time something tickles my fancy.

This time, it was an invitation to the Appliances Online Mothers Day morning tea. We would be given a demonstration by the Monday Morning Cooking Club, then hang about for some good food and company.
12 months ago I probably would have knocked this one back. I hate cooking. I'm a terrible cook. Most of my culinary efforts include premade sauces and packet mixes. So I have no idea how I scored an invite to this event.

But since going on maternity leave with Sebastian, I've been determined to make a wider variety of meals, and to make more of them from scratch. It's slow going, and I'm still a very experimental cook (as my kids and Husband will agree!), but I produce more and more meals from scratch these days. It's a fabulous savings in money, and I'm also finding that on the odd occassion I get it right, it also tastes better.

With that in mind, I'm finding I ~~want~~need a bigger variety of gadgets in the kitchen. I'm kind of working with a small plastic cake mixer, a cheapie slow cooker, and a wok.

These days what I want is a slow cooker with a timer, a food processor, a killer cake mixer, maybe some kind of multi cooker to deal with vegetables, rice, etc. But I want it to take up as little space in the cupboards as possible so if one or two machines can fill multiple slots that would be awesome.

Husband and I have been trolling the various appliance stores over the last few weeks, reading the backs of boxes, and watching the occasional demonstration. Not knowing precisely what our long term cooking needs are, and how various appliances can help, we're not quite sure what we need. And I'm reluctant to spend any money unless I know it will hit the mark.

For now we are still looking. There are plenty of blogs reviewing appliances at the moment so I've been going over all of them. You can see why I was pretty stoked when I got the invitation from Appliances Online. I had never heard of the Monday Morning Cooking Club though, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Their website just didn't bring them to life for me.

After a stressful drive in which I was sure we were going to be late (and I am annoyingly anal about lateness, my own and other peoples), and tried to convince my ~~chauffeur~~ SIL Salwa to take a few creative detours we made it on time for a tour of the Appliances Online operations and our demonstration. Side note - the Appliances Online operation is pretty cool. In my professional life I was running a national bank call centre before going on mat leave, so I was interested in all the wrong things on the tour. I kept having to remind myself to focus on appliances, and not on call centre stats. I was dying to talk to the staff there though, it looked like they had a great workplace culture.

See how the mission statement is the backdrop for each work
station? I thought that was neat. The CEO was sitting out there
at a hotdesk in the call centre too, not locked away in an office.

Anyhoo, back to the Monday Morning Cooking Club.These women are incredible. They are a group of 6 ladies who have been doing their cooking thing together on Mondays for years. Kind of a masterchef playgroup. A few years back they stepped up to the challenge of gathering Jewish recipes and immortalising them in a cookbook for charity. This cookbook not only shares the special family recipes looked away in little old Jewish lady minds, it also captures the spirit and stories behind the recipe.

3 of the 6 Monday Morning Cooking Club

I watched 3 out of the 6 banter and bicker their way through 3 demonstrations. Given my newfound interest in appliances and my complete ignorance in how to use them I was fascinated to watch them whip together the 3 recipes in the Breville All In One, which I believe is a fancy schmancy food processor. It really only took a minute or two for each recipe to be well combined, and these women made it look so easy.
I admit to getting a little distracted when I found out that the filling of the Kindlech was Nutella and raspberry jam mixed together. I can see alot of possibilities for that mixture. icecream topping, strawberry dip, sandwiches, cupcake icing....see? Distracted again.

Kindech with the delicious Nutella and raspberry jam filling

The three recipes that were demonstrated for us were Honey Macadamia Nut Wafers (thin, crispy, and so ridiculously yummy), Almond Kifli, (mmm, a little shortbready for me, but still good), and Kindlech (surprisingly not as overwhelmingly sweet as I expected).

And afterwards, we got to sample all of them as well as lots more while getting time to chat. I LOVE blogging events, because bloggers are some of my favourite people. Even if I don't read their blog, I still love talking to bloggers, although in this case there were a few I had met before and have been following for a while. Its always nice to catch up and even better when it includes good food!

The icing on the cake though, was the Monday Morning Cooking Club recipe book and Breville All In One I was given to take home. Yay!

Salwa and I with our new goodies

I would like to say that I miraculously turned out something fabulous first try with my new AIO. But no. I gave mashed potato's a whirl, since its something I have NEVER been able to get the hang of. I followed the recipe, and still turned out a runny mush. But I can say that the AIO turned it into runny mush VERY quickly and easily. I will give it a whirl again tomorrow night and see if I can do better. And no, there is no photo of the outcome. I may or may not have had a tantrum when it didn't work out as hope for. Instead here is a picture of the machine sitting nice and compact on my counter top. The only annoying thing about it so far is the one random attachment (whisk?) that doesn't sit on the unit. I'm not sure what to do with it.

Another side note - Jewish recipes don't include any pork products, so as a partially muslim household this is a great addition for us. For all my inlaws that may or may not read this occassionally, this is definately a cookbook you would get value out of.

Being a complete food processor newbie, I am curious as to what else I can do with it. Soup, presumably. And I know that my mother uses one to make her cheesecake base.

Anything else? Also, if you have a miracle multi gadget at home that you swear by, feel free to plug them so I can check them out.

Port Stephens and the Big Move

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:26:00 +0000

Would you go for a free shark scuba experience at
the Shark and Ray Feeding place? I wonder what
they feed the sharks.....

Its been a massive school holidays for us in our household with a weeks stay in Port Stephens and then the big move the day after we returned.

The holiday was fabulous, with beautiful weather the whole time. I'd definitely take the kids back to Port Stephens again sometime. Here's a quick summary in photo's.

Got to make special mention of Red Neds Gourmet pie shop in Nelsons Bay who have made a business out of slopping leftovers into pastry - 50+ pie varieties. I tried out the Spag Bol pie and hubby gave the green thai curry pie a whirl. Neither of us was game to try the crocodile pie.

The move however, was disastrous. I meant to write a FFS Friday post about it, but just couldn't get the energy together on time. If it could go wrong, it did.

It coincided with my first day in a new part time job so I couldn't justify a sickie already.

We meant to load up a small truck together the night before, and have husband unload the contents of our granny flat in time for me to finish work and help out with the unpacking at 3pm. The plan was to have everything ready to go for the kids to sleep in their own beds that night. We would worry about the 3/4 of our belongings in storage later.

Husbands father decided to rally my 10 million brother in laws to help with the move. And of course he thought it was a better idea to move EVERYTHING in one hit. And since I wasn't around to insist I didn't get any say in the matter. Coordinating that many relatives was always guaranteed to fail.

It was 6pm before the truck turned up along with all the BIL's and my kids. By 8pm all my belongings were stacked up in the double garage or strewn semi randomly about the house. Everyone waved cheerio and left me wondering how to feed and bed my children that night. Husband was in a foul temper and not inclined to take my whining about the change of plans.

4 days later I am still searching for the things I need most and keep turning up random crap that I was happy to have stored for a year or two.

Aaaargh.

On the plus side, I was invited to a cooking demonstration that I attended yesterday with my sister in law Salwa. Anyone that knows me will be splitting their sides laughing at the idea of me attending a cooking demonstration, but there is a fabulous post in it so you will have to wait to hear more. Watch this space.

Linking for love

Everything is Negotiable

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:19:00 +0000

We found a rental property this week that we fell in love with. Its almost everything I wanted, and I'm realistic enough to realise that I'm not going to get 100% of my list.

It has:

5 bedrooms (I only wanted 4!)

Floorboards - perfect when you have a pukey baby and don't want to wreck someones carpet

An extra living space that I can shuffle all the babies toys into as an informal lounge

Reasonable walking distance to Madeleine's high school

Ensuite (YAY!)

Dishwasher (Triple YAY!)

Air Con

Directly opposite a nice big park

What is also has though is:

Dated and daggy bathrooms

Minimal backyard space

In your face feature walls in every room that are very much personal taste (not mine though)

The property had been on the market for 4 weeks before I noticed it. I originally wasn't looking for something around $450 per week so hadn't noticed it, but realised after a few weeks of looking that I wasn't going to find anything big enough at that price. So I raised my limits and found this one (among others). But it was originally listed for $500, which I definitely didn't want to pay, and actually didn't think the property was worth.

After doing the initial property inspection and having a chat with the agent about the state of the backyard (debre EVERYWHERE), I left it a few days to see if the property would come off the market. Since it had been there for weeks, I had a feeling it wouldn't.

I sent an email to the agent with an application and all supporting documents, but let them know I was only willing to consider the property at $470 per week. I pointed out that the owner would be better off financially taking us at $470, than having it sit vacant for another couple of weeks, particularly as I was interested in a 12 month lease with a view to staying in the property 24-36 months.

The agent sounded so wary and surprised when she rang me to discuss the application, I really don't think many people try to haggle on rent. I discussed the comparable properties I had looked at, and the condition of the bathrooms and backyards with the agent, and she eventually agreed to discuss my offer with the owner.

Time to get packing again!

He came back with a counter offer of $480 (!) which I happily accepted, $480 being the maximum I had decided I would be willing to pay for rent anywhere, and this house really did have much more living space than anywhere else.

Total savings: $1040 per year in rent for being willing to negotiate and doing my research first. I have no doubt the owner will put the rent up first chance he gets, but at least I have 12 months guaranteed at a price I am happy with.

Have you ever haggled on rent? Or something else surprising?

It's Time To Go

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:26:00 +0000

Granny flat living can be a little squishy

We've been living in this granny flat for 3 months, and the time is just about on us to move out. I've shared the flip side of living in the granny flat, so the question is, 3 months on, would I still reccomend it to others?

Absolutely.

Although there have been plenty of times when it feels a little like Alice after she eats the grow me cake there are some major perks to living like this.

1. Saving costs on rent/mortgage. Even though we pay a token amount to my in-laws, it doesn't come close to being the amount we would pay for a proper house/unit.
2. Saving money on utilities. Powering up and watering such a small zone is much cheaper than a house.
3. Saving again on internet/phone costs. By sharing these costs with the in-laws instead of getting our own the expense is halved.
4. Built in baby-sitters. Enough said.
5. Less maintenance. There's a lot less lawn to be mowed, repairs to be completed, etc and more people living on the property to share it round
6. My kids are a lot closer and have had to learn to share zones, belongings, and themselves. By not having anywhere to go we are always together. We watch TV together since there is only room for one TV, we talk while I do chores like dinner or laundry putting away, and play together for lack of escape. I never realised how easy it is to not have any togetherness time in a generously sized house.
7. Less housework. Oh hallelujah there is so much less housework when you only have 4 rooms in total
8. Community living. There is always someone around to talk to, and we see so much more of the extended family living here. This experiance has drawn us closer than ever to the people we love.
9. Milk. There is always someone to borrow a cup of milk off. Or an egg. Or sugar.

Have I convinced you to sell up shop and go move in with family yet? For all that I am looking forward to having a big house again, I am sad about moving. I think I would have been happy to do this a while longer if it weren't for the need to get my family settled and comfortable closer to Maddy's school.

Putting her big girl knickers on

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 23:16:00 +0000

"Mum, did you use my toothbrush"?

I wondered if she was going to make a fuss out of that. Yup, I most definitely used her toothbrush. During a surprise stay in hospital last month Husband packed the wrong brush for me. Rather than grow moss on my teeth waiting for a replacement, I used her toothbrush. She'll be right.

With all kinds of indignant disgust, the kind only a 12 year old girl in the right of an argument can dish out, she insisted on a new toothbrush.

So it was with an absolutely fiendish pleasure that I noted a very familiar pair of pink underwear discarded in a pile of laundry.

They looked suspiciously like 1 of a set of 3 I bought upon getting out of hospital last year when I realised my size 18 knickers could no longer hang off the butt that seemed to have disappeared. I had to invest in some new clothes in size 10's and 12's (oh woe is me!) which created it's own problems. Madeleine is a size 10-12 girls, and I am now a size 10-12 ladies.

He he.

It might not have been a problem if MIL were not doing my laundry for me at the moment (again, woe is me, I have it so damn hard). And although I put Husbands, mine, and the babies laundry away (the sacrifices!) I make Maddy put her own away. And since Teta is a great big softie, she will often put Maddy's away when I'm not looking, but frequently mixes up our clothes.

Which brings us back to the pink knickers. Which I most definitely didn't wear.

The look of horror on her face when ~~I rubbed her face in~~ she realised her mistake was priceless.

Priceless.

Ever mixed up clothes with your kidlets? Shared something completely inappropriate with someone like knickers or toothbrushes?

Hooking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT

Hey Mama Welcome To The Sixties!

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:35:00 +0000

Oneof my Aunties celebrated her 50th birthday last night with a 60's themed costume party. From the minute I got the invitation I was consumed with the idea of channelling my inner Samantha and getting my Bewitched on. I always loved her style (except when dressed in pregnancy mumu's).

Husband on the other hand wanted more of a Jackson 5 look. I think he may have overshot Jackson 5 and ended up with Jackson Pimp, but to each his own.

Not wanting to spend a fortune on an outfit that would only be worn for one night, I jumped straight on facebook to petition friends and family for any items that could be used to put towards costumes. I wasn't so lucky with clothing, but we were able to borrow jewellry that completed the outfit.

Next step was to scour the op shops where I found platform shoes for me - brand new with their original shoe shop sticker - for only $6, and the most hideous shirt for Husband for $4. Darn it, if I had only shopped on blue ticket tuesday they would have been half price! Once we added my chunky, heeled Clarks ~~school~~work shoes to Husbands outfit he was set. And as tall as me for once with the wig and heels.

Right when I was starting to despair of finding a dress for me in the op shops, Husbands sweet little grandmother offered to make me a dress. After looking briefly (once!) at a picture I showed her, she proceeded to run up a little item using fabric from her stash, that she jokingly tells me is probably from the sixties anyway. At least I think she was joking.

Adding a little costume shop bling and a wig for Husband and the total cost of our outfits for the night was $26. Not bad considering the costume shops wanted $60 EACH for hire. Going all out for a costume party doesn't HAVE to be expensive if you use your connections and what you already have before spending any money.

However in my enthusiasm, I overshot the mark and we ended up being the most overdressed at the backyard BBQ style party. Not the first time that has happened. I really really love me a costume party.

Know someone in Townsville or QLD who would LOVE to go to the V8's? Send them here for their chance to win passes.

Pimp or Jackson 5? What do you think? Do you have any tips for pulling together a costume on a budget?

It takes a village to raise a child......

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:35:00 +0000

I've heard that phrase more times than I can count. But now I live in my own ~~little village~~ granny flat out the back of the in-laws it makes more sense.

Even on the days when I have best intentions of not taking advantage of the Grandparents living only 5 meters away, Lorelei overrides them by calling out from the door to one or the other. Of course they can't resist her. I can't count the amount of times one of them will come to collect her. Daily. Possibly hourly. Who's keeping track.

I should care more. Instead I am enjoying a little down time from active parenting and loving that my toddler gets so much pleasure out of her her time with them.

And let's face it, my swing pushing time has an expiry. I will usually bring her back in to feed Sebastian, make dinner, or just because I plain old got bored. After all, she is happy to go for hours, me, not so much.

Teta on the other hand seems to have infinite time for swing pushing. Sucker.

Or maybe I shouldn't say pushing. I mean pulling. Teta has tied a rope to the swing and kicks back with a cuppa while Lolly happily rocks back and forth. Genius I tell you.

What genius idea's do the oldies pull out in your kids lives?

Linking up to With Some Grace for FYBF! Check out some awesome reading material

Giveaway: Disney-Pixar Fun Zone at the V8's!

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:12:00 +0000

High school and bullying

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:27:00 +0000

Madeleine started year 7 this year. Although she was originally at a school that went from Kindergarten to Year 12, we made the decision a few years ago that we would change her to a new school in Year 7. Purely for financial reasons unfortunately. The fee's had been extremely challenging for us to meet all along, and we realised that if we wanted to build our family we had to consider sending Maddy to a different school.

Instead of being at an ultra expensive grammar school, she is now at what we consider to be the best Catholic school in the area, one whose results were very pleasing and have a strong focus on performing arts.

Maddy went into the change of school with a bit of a mental block - she was convinced she wouldn't make any friends, and even now has days when she wails about how her day went socially. But for the most part I can read between the lines and what I hear are the very normal social interactions that a whole bunch of 12 years old girls go through when presented with a lot of new people and circumstances. I have confidence that she will settle down soon enough with a group of close friends and in the meantime is developing a nice group of girls that she is friendly with.

But something really ugly happened last week. Maddy came home from camp with a tale of a girl spreading a rumour. That she had seen Maddy and her new friends kissing, and that the girls were lesbians. This girl was making loud nasty comments whenever she walked by Maddy, and had made threatening comments as well.

We never had to deal with anything but the mildest bullying in primary school. We were always able to coach her through it and the school was quick to react. We even had one instance once of Maddy bullying the daughter of a good friend which WE were quick to deal with through talk and expectation setting.

This is just ugly. And knowing what high school girls are like, a rumour like this could also be crippling
socially. What is a 12 year old girl doing throwing around concepts like that anyway? These girls should be barely out of playing with their littlest pet shops and not have any real thoughts yet about sexual orientation or activity. Hearing the label used now in such a nasty way is just going to make it that much harder later in life for the girls who do find themselves leaning towards same sex relationships.

I honestly didn't know what to do. Coach Maddy to handle it? Tell the school? Try to confront the girl or her parents?

In the end I called the school. This is ugly and vulgar stuff and I expect them to nip it in the bud. And I don't think that Maddy is equipped to handle this kind of nastiness alone.

Well triumph for the dobber Mumma. Our young bully was singing a different story at school yesterday begging Maddy to tell the Vice Principal that it was another girl so that she wouldn't get in trouble with her parents. Her attitude and aggression seem to have died down, and although I'm sure she and Maddy will never be friends, the hostility won't be there now as our bully seems to have been shaken up by getting in trouble for her actions.

I talked Maddy through handling this girl at school. I want her to avoid sinking into name calling, and to avoid a physical fight, but I don't want her to be a doormat. Bullies like weaker prey, and my gorgeous girl does not need to be that mouse.

I'm proud of Maddy who was indignant and angry about how she was being treated, rather than upset. She's a friendly puppy who would be mates with just about everyone if they welcomed her. And I'm proud of me for not letting it go. Because bullying is ugly in all its forms and I won't let my child be a casualty.

Have you experienced bullying in your household? Did you dob or was your kidlet up to the challenge?

Coming To An Understanding: Crohns Disease

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 03:04:00 +0000

My name is Elise, and I have been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. It has been 7 days and 4 hours since my specialist told me. And I still don't know how I feel. I'm not even sure that I feel anything. I have known there was a possibility of Crohn's since last November. And I have been taking medication to control/manage Crohn's all this time.

My surgeon was giving me mixed signals. On the one hand she was telling me that she would hate to diagnose me with Crohn's, and that there were other possibilities that she was hoping for. On the other hand she was telling me how so many people have Crohn's that manage it easily with little to no impact on their lives and not to worry to much. Lifestyle wise, it's like being diagnosed with diabetes she said.

My specialist seems to be spoon feeding me my fate in bite sized portions. Each appointment seems to bring some new, awful information that seems like something I can't handle. But handle it I do. There was a time when the prospect of a week in hospital had me sobbing and depressed, begging the doctors to release me. But I made it through a 6 week stretch. The concept of a ileostomy bag had me in hysterics (you may have heard of a colostomy bag? same, same), but I am living with it day by day, and no longer cry when I have to deal with it. The latest is that there is a possibility that I will need to inject myself daily with medication. Me, who am a needle phobe, who has learnt all kinds of restraint to allow cannula's and blood tests but still cannot accept a vaccination or medication needle from a trained nurse may need to inject myself daily. I have not had a needle putting something into my body (unless under a general anaesthetic) other than a cannula since the Rubella needle in high school. And I was held down for that.

Photo taken 2 days before admission to
hospital in October. I should note that 18
months prior I weighed 110 kilo's. All those
bones have some flesh on them now & my
face has filled back out after losing even
more weight while in hospital.

He tells me something incredible with the straightest face. He tells me that Crohn's can be terminal when not managed. That I was slipping down that corridor of an unbelievable outcome when I was admitted to hospital last October. From the vantage point of April, 15 kilo's heavier, the stamina to pick up my children again, and the ability to do so without pain, this seems incredible. Completely unbelievable, melodramatic, you name it.
He doesn't tell me much beyond the current treatment. We don't really talk beyond what will happen between now and my next appointment. So I'm starting to be scared of my appointments and what new information he will introduce. I know now that my operation in March and the upcoming ileostomy reversal procedure in June is not to be my final hospital stay. I can expect another Colonoscopy in September. Is it possible I can expect regular Colonoscopies for the rest of my life?

My mother speaks to me about my diagnosis with a hushed voice, as though to a dying person. Friends who know someone with Crohns are incredibly positive, almost dismissive in their reassurance that this is nothing, I am strong, there is nothing I can't handle. A friend who has Crohn's looks at me with sympathy in her eyes, and doesn't say much. She just offers to help if I have any questions. This scares me a little, because if she's not rushing to reassure me that it's no big deal like everyone else, then maybe it is a big deal.

The treatment and lifestyle changes sometimes upset me till I come to acceptance. But the diagnosis doesn't. I feel like it should but Crohns Disease is still just words to me. I've read the pamphlet and it still doesn't give me any emotional reaction. It talks about "flare ups", avoiding them, managing them, but it doesn't tell me what a flare up actually is. Is it indigestion pain? Is it a recurrence of damage and deterioration to my organs? Vomiting? Why do I care about flare ups?

It's time to start understanding my condition better I think. People who care for me have done their own research in an effort to be a part of what I am going through and to be there for me, but I have been living with my head in the sand. I think I will start by looking for blogs of people who share this disease with me. I have read the clinical information and it's not enough. I want to understand the lives of people who have this disease.

If you know of a blogger with Crohn's disease who sometimes writes about it, please feel free to share the link. If you live with Crohn's disease yourself, I'd love a comment to tell me how you find life.

Braving Bogan City for Last Minute Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:04:00 +0000

Happy Easter from the MummyHearts household!

I bought the majority of my Easter Eggs a week ago, at the usual token 25% off. But on the exact day I was nipping up the shops to buy all my eggs I saw in the catalogues that in just a few days time Cadbury hunting eggs would be even cheaper at Woolworths. Instead of paying $10 for 20 at Big W, I could buy x2 packs of 10 for $6 at Woolies.
Well. Tightarse that I am how could I pass that up. $4 savings right? So I bought all my eggs intended as gifts for my family, and left the hunting eggs for another day.
Do you think a single one of the NINE Woolies I have been to this week had any hunting eggs? Of course not. And although I was willing to pay any price this week to get my hands on hunting eggs, my quest was broken by my specialist doctor throwing me into hospital suddenly on Wednesday morning for observation. Overnight. And not letting me out till after Thursday.
So we come to today. The day before the big hunt. And I had no hunting eggs for what would be Lorelei's first hunt to participate in.
I had intentions of heading up to our local Westfield to scour the place for eggs at 9am. But then my eyes flew open at sparrows fart and I remembered that we have a 24 hour Kmart. No fighting the hoards for me, I leapt out of bed and hurried up to the Kmart. Only to find that they didn't reopen from being closed for Good Friday till 8am. So with 45 minutes to wait, I settled into my car to read some good bloggage on my iPhone.
At 7:55am I wandered over to the doors and strategically placed myself right next to the doors. To the distinct lack of amusement to the 50+ women that had gathered.
Women hunched over their trolleys. They peered through the doors, marking mentally which was the fastest route to the eggs they intended to snatch. At 8:01am the crowd was muttering and grumbling, and by 8:02 a women was banging on the door and shouting to encouragement from her audience.
A worried looking manager inside talked on a store phone, glancing nervously at the doors every few seconds, then scurried away without opening doors.
By 8:04 the crowd of waiting women was 75+, and there was plenty of heckling going on. Finally the doors opened and the crowd surged inside, spilling into the Easter aisles. I quickly grabbed some Cadbury Crunchie eggs, being the only hunting egg sized option left. No plain ones for us this year (insert sad face here).
I ran with my treasures to the self service aisle and got out of there as quick as possible. But from my safe vantage point of the doors, I watched as a women in pyjama pants argued with a women with a mullet over the last giftbox of some random egg/toy combination. I listened while a manager pleaded patrons to take care over the loudspeaker.

Only in Mt Druitt. Good old Mounty County. Lesson learned. Never wait till the day before Easter to buy eggs. And I paid $12 for my hunting eggs this year in case you were interested. And only got 18.

Where have I been this month?

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:20:00 +0000

I've been to hospital and am out again. They took out a number of body parts I apparently don't need, that weren't doing me any favours, and gifted me a lovely Ileostomy bag for my troubles. If you don't know what it is, lets leave it at that since ignorance is bliss. If you do know what it is, feel free to feel sorry for me, since I know I do. I've only got to put up with the sucker for 3 months (ish) and with 2 weeks down I am counting the days.

I don't write about my health on here, because frankly unhealthy people are boring, but here's hoping that losing all those body parts is going to mean a better quality of life for me now. I'm sick of feeling sick.

Lorelei and Sebastian have found new, adorable ways to be naughty. Seb won't sleep unless he's wrapped up tight, but the cheeky little monkey has started to splay his legs wide on either side of his crib and lifts his bum in the air so that he can wriggle out of his wrap. He then calls out to me triumphantly to come and play with him. I'm going to have to invest in another Love to Swaddle for this little guy, since he's just grown out of the last one.

Lorelei on the other hand has suddenly discovered her words this month. I don't know what I was worried about, because it's like a tap turned on. She can let us know what she wants really well now, and we have no trouble understanding what she is asking for. You would think that now we can understand her that her frustrations and tantrums would be less right? Nope. She is asking for ICE-cream. ICE-CREAM! ICECREAM!!!!! And since we can understand what she is asking for and can say no, not right now sweetie, the tantrums are actually worse.

But I said PLEEEEEASE!

I'm not even sure where she learnt the word icecream. My idea of a desert for a baby is a bowl of chopped fruit. But she has that one down pat. Along with biscuit, Sebastian, sultana, no, and down.

It's nice to be home with everyone. Once again I missed some seriously awesome blogging opportunities while I was in hospital, just like last year. It's so frustrating because I am itching to run a series of consistently awesome giveaways this year, and I missed the opportunity to build relationships with some great brands.

This month, my Facebook page has GROWN. In excess of 100 people found their way to me this month, and if you are one of them, a special HELLO from me to you. It's lovely to have you around. Hopefully I can deliver plenty of good reading.

Have you lost any body parts you don't need? One of my newest readers? Say hello and make my day.

Size doesn't always matter....how much is your grocery budget?

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 05:59:00 +0000

With everyone struggling with their budget these days, one of the things I get asked about sometimes is my grocery budget. Most people aren't sure whether they are spending big on small in this area in comparison to others, they only know how they are spending according to their own habits.

So I thought I'd share in order to provide a bit of a benchmark. I KNOW I have lots of room to reduce how much I spend still, despite my best efforts there is still an element of laziness or unplanned luxury items that affects the outcomes.

My budget (and I do stick to it but feel it could be less) is $300 per fortnight. I have a family of 5, including a 12 year who never stops eating anymore, a 7 month old going through a tin of formula weekly, and a 23 month old who is still in nappies (like the 7 month old obviously). So my $300 budget includes 2 jumbo boxes of nappies, a jumbo wipes, and x2 tins of formula, which would be anywhere between $80-90 depending on sale prices that fortnight.

I know of a lot of people spending much much more than $210 per fortnight on similar sized families, or proportionately much more on different sized families. So I know my budget is pretty tight, but I also know by the expensive Jarlsberg cheese I manage to sneak into the trolley still, and the HUGE amount that gets spent on prepackaged snacks for school, work and outings that I could reduce more. Definitely an opportunity for me this year!

One of the things I do to keep my budget low is meal plan each fortnight AFTER I get the catalogues the mail. I keep an eye out for particularly cheap ingredients - meats especially - and I make sure that meat plays a huge part in that fortnight's plan. I also make sure that those are the meals being made in bulk to freeze for another night, whereas a more expensive meat, or one that isn't on sale I would only cook 1 nights serving of it.

It might not seem so obvious in Australia where so many of our fruits and veggies are available year round, but there is a big price difference when your produce is in season vs when it isn't. So I try to shift our produce needs according to the time of year too so I never pay the top prices. Particularly for fruit - apples and bananas - since just buying a different variety can make a difference.

I am lucky enough to save 5% on my Coles ad Woolies vouchers if I buy them through a work scheme so that also shaves about another $15 off that end cost each fortnight. My $300 budget includes x1 BIG shop each fortnight, a smaller fresh food topup midway through the fortnight, and periodical topups of milk and bread throughout the whole fortnight. It does not include petrol though - no way!

Help me benchmark whether I am on track for getting my budget down. Share your budget and best tips with me!

Green Eggs and SPAM

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 08:28:00 +0000

One of the irritants of having a blog is the spam comments. I love comments so much, and I get so excited whenever I get an email alerting me to a new one, but lately the only comments I get are anonymous ones which are so ridiculous it's obvious it's some kind of automated system designed to try and get return traffic.

But because alot of these comments give me a laugh, I thought I'd share them with you. Since I've gotten most of these comments several times over, I'm sure theres nothing new here for the bloggers out here that occasionally stumble my way for a read. I'm guessing we all get them. But for everyone else, have a laugh at what the trollbots come up with.

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FFS Friday: What's driving me nuts this week?

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:05:00 +0000

Lorelei has discovered how to get her shoulders out of the harness in her car seat. FFS

She starts working on this the minute we get in the car. Every trip out of the house now needs to allow an additional 20% in travel time for me to pull over every 2 minutes to restrap her. FFS

I've made her harness so tight I can barely do it up. The kid practically dislocates her shoulder getting it out, but she still manages. FFS

While she is fighting with her harness, she screams in frustration. Nothing distracts her from her mission. Her screaming inevitably distresses 6 month old Sebastian who joins in out of sympathy. FFS

It's an hours minimum round trip to drop off and pickup 12 year old Maddy from school each day. That's alot of screaming. FFS

Add to this that Maddy suffers from some kind of personality disorder at the moment which turns her in a surly, snarling beast 2 mornings out of 3. Our car trips to school are all kinds of pleasant. FFS

Turns out the iPad we bought for Maddy for Christmas to use for school is just a fabulous, great big toy. Surprise surprise. Instead of using it for schoolwork, Maddy goes to the school Library each day and borrows one of their Macbooks which she does all her schoolwork on. She then tells me she can't finish the work on our PC at home. FFS

As a result we have invested in a Macbook. $1500 of unexpected costs without Christmas or a Birthday to attach it to. The schools position is still that they are transitioning to iPads. TEACH THE YEAR 7 KIDS WHAT TO DO WITH THEM THEN! FFS.

I'm going into hospital again next week for a scheduled operation. No FFS. I'll be glad to have this over with.

As part of my preadmission appointment the Dracula's took a million vials of blood. Then realised after they withdrew the sucker needle thingy that they needed more. Back in to attack another vein. FFS.

I may have over prepared for this hospital visit. I have run out of Tupperware containers for the leftovers from the massive meals I have been cooking so that Husband can just microwave dinner on school nights. FFS

I'm not usually such a negative Nellie, but I just LOVE reading the FFS Fridays over at Dear Baby G, so thought this was my week to overshare. Head on over to absorb yourself in someone else's problems for a bit!

Debt free...When did we get here?

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Ellabban) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:27:00 +0000

It just crept up on me and I didn't see it coming. As of May this year, I am 100% personal debt free. All we have left is our investment property mortgage which is positively geared.

We have been crying 'poor' for so many years now, and plucking away at the debt in our lives that this is actually a bit of a shock. No credit card balance. No personal loan. No car loan.

And it comes at the most perfect time. As of June I am no longer on any form of paid maternity leave and we are officially on one income. Being debt free is a huge part of being on one income for as log as possible so that I can continue to focus on my health and give the babies as much time at home with me as possible.

13 years ago we had $30,000 in personal debt with nothing to show for it. This amount has gone up and down over the years as we made headway but then reborrowed money to deal with expenses such as cars, holidays, broken down appliances etc. I am so proud to think that our personal spending habits have changed so much that we find ourselves in a place with no debt, no immediate need to enter into debt (both cars run beautifully knock wood) and a reasonable safety net in savings for any unexpected expenses.

It taken a huge mindset change from both husband and I. We had to learn to stop spending everything that was left each pay and start saving. We had to learn to stop buying big ticket items as soon as the urge struck us and think about whether we actually needed things or not, and whether we could make do without them until they could be saved for. And mostly we had to learn to reduce our wastage of everything in our lives. Over consumption of food (we used to throw out so much), clothing (especially for the kids) and toys were big ones for us. I know we spend thousands less per year across these areas now than we did 10 years ago even though now we earn more and have x3 kids instead of 1!

So I will spend the next 6-9 months enjoying the fruits of our hard lessons, which is the ability to stay off work for a bit with my bubbas. And then when I go back to work and our disposable income increases again I think we will see a financial planner first so that we can make the most of our new position and not fall back into old bad habits. It would be nice to see us starting to make some serious headway into a comfortable retirement.

Clink clink.

I am feeling pretty chuffed at the moment. Lets see if I can resist the urge to go out and spend the contents of our bank account in celebration of our new financial position.