Mummy Hearts Money

The Year of the Screwdriver

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 13:36:00 +0000

The Husband and I have been married for 15 years this year. When we first started our family, we filled the house as quickly as we could with inexpensive furniture, home wares, and appliances. Some things have changed over the years, usually replaced second hand or cheaply again, but not much of what we have is of long lasting quality.

This year we are finding that everything we own is breaking down, falling apart, reaching the end of its life. But with a very recent house purchase behind us, and lots of home improvements ahead of us, now is not the time for me to be trying to find money to replace so many things.

I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. When we moved into this house last October, the Husband and I agreed that we would take our time with our improvements and changes, choosing top quality that would either add value to the house or be intended to last a long time. Unfortunately it's not really working out that way with our disposable income not able to keep up with our wants and needs for the house.

Instead of buying new on credit we can't afford, or making do with second hand, we are repairing, patching, stretching, or stitching!

The dryer broke down in April, but the Husband is reasonably handy with a soldering iron and screwdriver, so he organised a replacement part and fixed it for $16. It won't last forever, but it buys us more time. We don't use it often, but we often can't get everything dry in winter so it's been hard work making do without it!

When everything started falling through the seams of my handbag and shuffling around in the lining, instead of throwing it out, I've stitched the lining back up to reinforce it. It's looking tired, and worn out, but it will do for a few more months.

My old work shoes had all the black scraped off the toes but also the sides, but instead of buying new, cheap shoes that will again get damaged too quickly, I've dug out a pair or old, good quality leather shoes that had a damaged heel from years ago and had them repaired for $28. They look like new again, and are better quality and more comfortable than anything I could buy right now.

We've repaired work clothing, small appliances, and I'm dragging out the life on an iPhone with a cracked screen. Anything to avoid spending money right now. I don't know how long we can keep up this cycle of repair instead of replace but it's doing the trick for now.

Whatever it takes.

Our Germany Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 02 May 2015 11:21:00 +0000

It might be a distant memory already, but before it becomes yesterdays news I wanted to share some pictures of our trip to Germany. Those of you following along on Facebook will have seen some of the photo's that I shared from my 24 hour visit to Paris, but here I'm going to tell you a secret that has most people flabbergasted.

I liked Munich better than Paris.

That seems to be blasphemy though. Anyone who has ever aspired to visiting Paris looks at me gobsmacked at my total underwhelmedness in describing Paris, whereas I rave on endlessly about Munich. Don't get me wrong, Paris was beautiful, and still absolutely worth a visit, and I definitely want to go back to do it more justice. But Germany was more than some pretty iconic photo's. Germany was history. In Germany I wandered in and out of palaces, castles and churches, down cobbled lanes and into museums. There was so much substance to Germany, and in Munich at least, English speaking tourists are well catered to.

One of my Germany highlights is Schloss Nyphenburg. This beautiful palace is easily accessible in Munich by catching a train to Laim, then a bus to the stop called Schloss Nyphenburg. We had no trouble with public transport in Munich, the buses, trains and trams all well display the upcoming stop so it wasn't difficult to know when to exit.

We paid 11.50 each for our entry tickets, but this included entry to the main Palace, Amalienburg (a smaller pleasure palace and hunting lodge), Badenburg (a bathing pavilion), and a couple of other buildings of interest in the Palace grounds.

The architecture is truly something special, like nothing we have experienced in Australia. Luxurious, opulent, grand, I don't know how many words I can use to describe it, but it's everything the movies lead to believe is the norm for royalty. The Palace also offers complimentary wifi, and an app that provides a limited amount of information about each room.

I won't drown you in too many more pictures, but another favourite stop for me was Harburg Castle. We jumped on a bus tour one day to Harburg and Rothenburg and Harburg Castle is like being on the set of Game of Thrones. It's a medieval castle, mentioned in documents dating back to the 1100's, but possibly older. We were able to see many rooms (but not take photo's), walk along the passageways, peek through the battlements, and even take a look at a medieval toilet and prison pit. It was a fascinating glimpse into history.

I have a million more photo's I could share, but I'll stop with my favourites and just say that Germany has so much to offer travelers, especially those that are history buffs.

Lest We Forget....My Pop

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 19:27:00 +0000

Nan and Pop

I have photo's and posts half written to share about our Germany trip and homecoming, but while I don't normally get too into seasonal blog writing, this morning nags at me that I have something to share.

Today marks 100 years since Australia landed at Gallipoli. Like all Australian school children, I learnt about Australia's contribution to the wars, and I was taught to show respect on Anzac day. Celebrating in school ceremonies, coming together with family to watch the parade on TV, even watching it in person once or twice and getting caught up in the excitement of waving to the marching veterans, or waving my little Australian flag.

I'm an Aussie. Oi Oi Oi.

I remember having a fascination with my Pops contribution to WWII. He was one of those romantic people the songs were sung about, just like those stately gentleman that marched past each year with their heads held high, occasionally with a little grandchild capering at their feet. I couldn't imagine anything more exciting, a moment to be so proud of, to watch my Pop march past on Anzac Day.

My Pop never marched. Not once that I know of anyway, although who knows what happened before I was born.

With my mind inflamed with stories of heroism and sacrifice, the next time we visited Nan and Pop in school holidays I promptey asked to see his medals and hear stories from him. With a suddenness that came as a shock, I was hustled away quickly to a different room, and told I couldn't ask Pop about the war. There were to be no questions. It was explained that Pop didn't like to talk about the war, it wasn't something exciting for him as it was for me. It was a life changing experience that never left him, and was a big part of who he was.

Donkey Races in leisure time

Pop never marched in the parades. We didn't watch the march with him on TV either. I was told he watched the march by himself each year, and locked himself away in privacy to relive his memories with no one but himself. But every year at Anzac day I would think of my Pop, the stories of heroism and sacrifice no longer seemed exciting. Instead they seemed dark and intimidating. I'm sure the older generation of my family that grew up with Pop have their own memories. Maybe there was a time when he could talk about it. Maybe he was OK to talk about it with his wife and children. But certainly for me it became the elephant in the room, a period of Australian history I was fascinated in but could never ask about.

"Someday no-one will march there at all".

My pop died back in 2002. He made it long enough to come to my wedding, and cuddle my little baby. It means so much to me that he was at my wedding, the only one of my Grandparents that was.

I didn't expect anything from my Pops (and Nan's residual) will. They had 5 kids, so many grand kids, and modest assets. It would never occur to me that there would be something for me. But my Pop left me a set of his miniatures. I've gotten them out and told my stories of Pop many times over the years. I've let Miss 14 take them to school (under strict security instructions) at this time of year for show and tell when she was younger.

Somehow it's so very special to me that my Pop remembered my fascination, and while he couldn't indulge it in his lifetime, he wanted to indulge it in his death.

Lest We Forget Pop.

Our Whirlwind Stopover in Dubai

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 04:51:00 +0000


Bhurj Kalifa - Tallest Building in the world

Last night was our first night on our whirlwind adventure. It's 4am here in Dubai as I write, but I woke up at 2am after falling into bed almost delirious at 8pm and couldn't get back to sleep again. (Edit finished putting pictures on this post a day and a half later, so there's a bit of a time lag!)

We flew with Emirates, and although my experience for comparison is slim, I thought they were fantastic. The food was good, the in flight entertainment free with plenty of movies,games and TV shows, and my seat width and leg room not too bad for Economy! We did have a bit of a problem with my lunch when the flight hostess promised to return with a beef main then promptly deleted me from her memory. Eventually when they returned with drinks I was able to query my meal and she more than made up for it by offering a business class salmon (which I don't eat but the husband was devastated he didn't have the foresight to trade meals with me).

Dubai has been long on my wish list of places to visit, I've heard so many wonderful things and as an Australian/Lebonese household Dubai seems like a good place to be given there are so many Aussie expats here. Curiously, I found myself being ignored by the airport workers in favour of other men. Other than the hosts, the workers were all men, and even though Husband thinks I am being paranoid I found myself being ignored completely until the steady trickle of male travelers with enquiries ran out, although there was initially only one person ahead of me five others turned up and were assisted ahead of me.

Here in Dubai women wearing Burqas and Niqabs are far more common than in Australia, as was a more traditional style of male Arab dress. I asked the Husband why it was that most traditionally dressed women wore black and the traditionally dressed men wore white but he couldn't answer that - definitely a question for my mother in law when I get back.

We would have loved to have taken some tours and seen the desert here in Dubai but with only one jet lagged night to enjoy here we just weren't able to do justice to what Dubai has to offer. Instead we stayed at the Sofitel Dubai Downtown, as it is so close to the Dubai Mall we were able to walk there in a loooooong covered glass walkway with moving travellators. Thursday-Sunday the Dubai Mall shuts at Midnight, and I was shocked to see how PACKED it was. Think the weekend before Christmas in Australia. That kind of packed.

The Dubai Mall is all kinds of amazing. There was an ice skating rink, an aquarium, movie theatre, and hundreds of high end stores. From that perspective the Dubai Mall was definitely out of our league. I wouldn't spend that kind of money on shoes, handbags or clothes for myself at home so I won't spend it on holidays. But we didn't find the food particularly expensive. We loved a kids toystore we came across, there were staff and kids everywhere, playing with ball games, remote control toys, flying hovercraft through the air, it was incredible.It would take forever to drag the kids out of there, I think mine would be happy to spend a few hours just playing and exploring.

The Aquarium IN the Dubai Mall

There was also a great Kidzania area, filled with children's boutiques, a theme park (Sega World), and an area where kids could dress up in the uniform of the career of their choice and role play. We didn't spend heaps of money in Dubai (breakdown below) mostly because for us there wasn't much to spend it on. We would have loved to see the desert and do a few tours but there just wasn't time.

Terminal 3 Metro Station in Dubai

Instead of catching a taxi or organising transfers between the airport and the hotel (which we were quoted 70 AED for a taxi, or $28au), we ended up catching the Metro (train system). Our tickets cost 8AED each way per person. (or $3.20au) The signage was very similar to Sydney,and we had no problem reading anything. We had our first awkward moment fairly quickly, as we moved through the busy carriages looking for seats. At the end of the train we lots of seats available and we st to relax for the 30 minute train journey. As I looked around, wondering why none of the men standing only a metre away wanted to sit down, I noticed there were only women sitting. This was curious as in previous carriages (and the train is actually just made up of several long open carriages, you don't have to open doors like in Australia) the seats were packed and the rare women I noticed was standing. I realised then from all the pink signage that in all our fluster of using a strange train system that we'd sat in the women's carriage, and that the Husband would be fined 100AED if he was seen! He quickly moved half a metre away to stand next to me just over the line in the unisex section, but it was a surprise to both of us. I couldn't decide if I thought it was sexist/discriminatory or respectful that women had their own carriage, but since they had plenty of seats and the unisex section was packed I'm going to run with respectful.

The only thing that took us a while to figure out with the Metro system in Dubai was how to work out which platform we needed to be on. As it turns out, instead of numbering their platforms as we do in Australia, they actually name them according to the last station on the train line for that line. So you just need to look at the map, work out which direction you are travelling, and go to the platform with the name of the last station.

Our so tall Hotel - Sofitel Downtown Dubai

Our next awkward moment was at the hotel, when we tried to tip the young man that took our bag to our room. We aren't seasoned tippers, but our 2010 holiday in America taught us to tip the bag boy,so it was a little embarrassing to be offering the note and having him ignoring it.

In general we found Dubai to be super clean, and ultra modern, all white and silver. It was beautiful, and some of the buildings, the airport,the mall, the Metro stations, we thought were a little space stationy.

Bhurj Kalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station

All up in Dubai, we spent just under $100au which converted to 250AED. I didn't find it as expensive as I'd thought, but admittedly we didn't buy much by way of souvenirs.

In Dubai money, here is our breakdown:

32 Metro Tickets to and from the airport

20 for the worlds most expensive lip gloss,but I was desperate. I was super annoyed to see one for 8 at the airport later

5 for a postcard and stamp to send to the kidlets

15 for a spoon to add to my mothers collection

161 for dinner for 2 with soft drinks

13.5 for snacks at the airport to take on the plane

So our whirlwind stay in Dubai is over, except for a small stopover on the way home (3 hours), and today we find ourselves in Munich, day tripping off to Rothenberg, the town known for being the most German of German towns.

Hoping the Sydney Autumn is not quite as crisp as the Munich Spring!

Auf Weidersehn!

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 05:29:00 +0000

Time flies but we are finally packing our bags for our trip to Germany! The Husband is lucky enough to work for a German company, and every year members from all over the world congregate in an industrial type area called Schwabisch Gmund for their annual sales conference. Husband is not in sales, but he is a technician and on the merits of this he has been invited to attend and to take the opportunity to learn from the German onsite techs while he is there. It's his second trip, but as I was pregnant with Sebastian, and had tiny 7 month old Lorelei that I couldn't bear to abandon, he went solo for his last visit.

When the news came he was invited again, I jumped on that Soul Train and invited myself along. He has the 3 day conference, but we have stretched out to 10 days and will be whirlwinding our way through Dubai, Munich, Stuttgart, and just as a little treat for me while he is at work, Paris.

Paris!

I'm not sure which part I'm most excited about, but I think Paris might be it. I'm terrified about navigating my way around a strange country with a foreign language on my own, I can't even navigate in Sydney, but I can't let this opportuinity pass me by. We probably couldn't have afforded to trip if we tried to do it as a family or even as a couple, but since the Husbands airfares are paid by work and I've picked up some extra paid work (hello Easter Show!) to help pay for mine, we've been able to make it happen.

Wish me luck, and if I manage to find free wifi I'll be sharing lots of jealousy inducing photos as we travel.

Raise the Roof: The End Result

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 11:45:00 +0000

This post has been too long in the writing, I can't seem to rustle up the right enthusiasm for writing at the moment, even though I know future Elise will thank past Elise for making the effort.

The process for repairing and restoring our roof took three days. The first was occupied by the roof cleaner, the second was the painting and repairs. The final day the key tradesman involved returned at our invitation to clean up the property and give us the paperwork required for our long term warranty. The house isn't as clean as I would have liked, it's also not as dirty as I was afraid I was stuck with. We've had to put some effort into scrubbing the window frames to get the last of the black residue off them and we think we might be stuck with the coating on the timber cubby house.

The roof however, looks amazing. I am so happy we had it done. Besides wanting repairs and the comfort of knowing that another strong rainy season wouldn't be doing serious damage to the house, I had cosmetic reasons for getting the roof done. I wasn't a fan of the original maroon trim on the roof, and we've now had the whole roof painted charcoal.

We started this change back when we painted the house, as originally we had blue and maroon wooden trim along with maroon tiling and gutters. Even though most people commented on how lovely the original door and trim colour was, I just wasn't taking a liking to it. All of the blue trim is gone, removed completely instead of painted as it was rotting in places. Most houses in my street have a simpler look, and I decided I didn't want to keep it.

This most recent step of engaging Modern to complete the roof repairs and paint brings our roof work to a finish. We're really happy with how it turned out, it looks really fresh and new again, and we're hopeful it will have a positive affect on our energy bills.

Once again we are now back to saving for our next piece of work on updating the house. We probably need to get a plumber in next to overhaul our pipes and taps in a number of places, but then we can get to work on something more fun, like maybe an outdoor eating area or a fancy pants new Laundry. It feels really good to have scratched a big item off the list, everyone in the house starts to get demotivated when we scrimp and save for a long time. It's easy to lose sight of why we are behaving frugally and feel depressed that we can't "afford" to do or buy things that we want. Getting something big like the roof done reminds us (well, the Husband and I at least, not so much the kids) of why we make those sacrifices.

Raise the Roof: Step Two The Preparation

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 11:06:00 +0000

See that? That was a full clothes line when I left for work that morning. Anybody else might assume that their very capable teenager decided to bring in a basket of laundry when she raided the line for school clothes but I know there is more chance of my neighbour thoughtfully deciding to bring the washing in than my teen.

I had a few moments of panic when Madeleine rang me after school to stress out that all her clothes that she had seen on the line that morning were now missing. She knew they were there this morning because she collected a school shirt, but now the dance uniform she was seeking was missing...along with everything else.

We found the answer soon enough. Our roof cleaner had been out to the house to start work that day, something I knew, but given the short notice had not put much thought into how I should prepare. Thankfully, he very kindly took all our washing off the line and into a basket we had left outside as a hint for Madeleine. He'd put it aside where it wouldn't be affected, which was a very thoughtful touch.

At the point of sale, we had been promised that the cleaning process would consist of two people, one on the roof, and one on the ground cleaning up as they went along. We were asked to let our neighbours know that the workman might be on their side of the fence to clean up any mess to ensure the neighbouring properties wouldn't be affected. Not being home to supervise the process, we can't honestly say whether this happened, however it didn't seem so. From both the mess left behind and later conversations with the tradie that restored the roof, it would seem that there were was not two people doing the roof clean, and nor do they clean the mess left behind unless the owner specifically requests them to. They also do not enter the neighbours property without the neighbours express permission.

Our roof might have been clean, but our property was filthy. There was a black film on everything that had apparently come from the roof. When I say everything, I mean everything. The cubby, outdoor table setting, swing set, clothes line, walkways, gutters, window frames, everything. And because I didn't get home with the little ones till the light had started to fade, we followed our usual routine of playing on some outdoor equipment while I sat on the grass watching. By the time I realised how dirty it all was, the kids and I were covered in it. Fortunately, thanks to the roof cleaner, my laundry is about the only thing that wasn't covered in it.

At the conclusion of our roof restoration (more on that in my next post), we gave the tradesman a call and gently asked when he would be taking care of the cleaning. He seemed surprised, as he indicated he didn't notice anything dirty, but promised to come the very next day and take care of anything I wanted at the same time as giving us our warranty. So as it turned out I need to work from home that day in order to ensure everything was cleaned.

My Tips for Preparing for a Roof Restoration (do as I say, not as I do)

1. Remove all laundry from the clothes line!

2. Move all outdoor furniture to a sheltered location, either in the house or garage

3. Cover any delicate plants or flowers if at all possible

4. Clear the yard of any toys

5. Cover any permanent outdoor structures with a tarp

Be prepared for anything you leave exposed to be covered in the nasty black film that comes from the roof. Even after cleaning we can still see traces of it everywhere.

More to follow on the results of our roof restoration.

Raise the Roof Step One: The Negotiations

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 11:41:00 +0000

It all moved quite suddenly and unexpectedly this. 2 weeks ago we started organising quotes to repair and restore our roof. We got some quotes from locals, people recommended as great tradies, as well as some majors. Out of the blue, the company we booked with had a cancellation that left them free this week, so we are proceeding 6 weeks earlier than expected.

Before we picked who to go with, we did get a series of quotes. Every offer was a little different to the next, it was hard to compare them as no one quote was to the exact same specifications. We had some extremely low quotes, which were very simply to replace broken tiles and repaint the roof. 1 of these had no warranty, another offered a 1 year labour, 10 year materials warranty. The catch with this kind of warranty is that you need to claim on the materials warranty through the manufacturer - in this case Dulux. While Dulux is a brand I know and trust, I'm not keen on 3rd party warranties, they are never straight forward to claim on.

We ended up going with Modern, in part because their 7 year warranty is with them, but mostly because we like the process they will follow in cleaning, repair/replacing tiles, priming, coated, and double painting with some assurance that we will see a reduction in our cooling and heating costs as a result.

The proof will be in the pudding. No matter what, we had to do some roof repairs as our building inspection identified a series of problems that won't withstand another couple of rainy seasons. But we are taking this opportunity to change the colours and include the elements barrier that should reduce our bills.

I'm not allowed to share the end price (which sucks) as we agreed to keep it private once we negotiated the crap out of it, but I can share the starting price, and the first negotiated price. For those of you wondering what it will cost to do a full scale overhaul of your roof our starting price with Modern was in the higher $7,000's. (We didn't remember to write it down so I can't be more specific). Agreeing to keep a sign out the front advertising their services for 6 weeks brought the price down to around $5,900.

Given that we are living in a gorgeous suburb, but on one of the older streets with homes around 16-17 years old, many of them home owners, our neighbours are a ripe market. No-ones roof's (rooves?) have been redone yet that we can see, but will probably start to need it over the next few years. We counter offered signage for six months and the price came down even further. What I am trying to convey by sharing (or not sharing) my end price and situation is that it is always worth doing the research on your street and counter offering, even once the usual sales pitch and price has been finished.

Our end price is higher than any other quote - but not significantly so. The inclusions however definitely feel worth the extra.

Mostly I'm happy to know that I've gotten the last of my important structural home improvements out of the way and I can start to focus on fun stuff with my next lot of savings/bonus/tax return - like an outdoor eating area.

B T Dubbs: This post is 100% NOT sponsored. Any brands mentioned have not paid or asked me to do so, nor am I remotely on their radar as a blogger.

Flare Ups and Thermomixes

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 08 Feb 2015 12:37:00 +0000

Coming on the back of a renewed determination this year to manage stress and my Crohns disease is a weekend long flare up. When I wasn't paying attention work worries translated themselves into work stresses, and those combined with worrying about Madeleine's health not to mention the perpetual money planning that is forever at the back of my mind have mixed together to become my latest flareup.

For those of you not in the secret Crohn's mystery club, flare up seems to be the euphemism we use to describe any range of painful, uncomfortable, or mortifying circumstances that fall outside the range of day to day management. I tend to use it to explain away a far too intimate relationship with the toilet bowl. It's the most graceful and tactful way to explain to a semi-sympathetic employer why you suddenly need to work from home for the day anyway. As a general rule when I'm 'having a flare up' I tend to not be sleeping well as a result so working from home buys me a little more sleep too.

I fall asleep each night planning, worrying, thinking. I wake up in the morning having executed all those plans, having worked and parented and lived all night long, exhausted from the lack of sleep. Besides work being a little more high pressure than normal right now, Madeleine has been showing some worrying signs.

Over the last couple of months, we've come to realise that she was vomiting and having her own intimate bathroom issues when she ate certain foods. It took us a while to notice a trend, but eventually we realised it was whenever she ate Spaghetti Bolognaise or Lasagna. This was puzzling, because these are regular staples in our home, we would eat it at least once a fortnight, if not more often. But Christmas and holidays meant that life was busy, so I tucked away this trend to deal with on a future day and made a point of cooking something different for Madeleine if those dishes were on the menu.

When will I learn to stop postponing health issues? I've regretted it before, and sure as shit I've regretted it again. She's gone from being sick when she eats Spaghetti and Lasagna, to being sick pretty much every day. Chicken and rice, nuggets and chips, meat and salad sandwiches, pizza, you name it, she's been sick after she eats it. Dr Google and I have diagnosed Maddy with Coelic Disease because of course. Of COURSE. Thanks to me and my Crohns my kids are pretty much guaranteed to get any number of immune conditions. Right?

I'll rationalise this shit later once I've had a chance to get Maddy to a doctor. It will take a few days to get an appointment for her, because our doctor can be hard to get into, but I don't want to see just anyone at a medical centre either.

Crazy, CRAZY dreams have eventuated from all of this. Dreams that start with serious conversations in the workplace, conversations I would never have in a million years, that morph into arguing with the husband about using my annual bonus money to repair the roof instead of buying a Thermomix. Because a Thermomix is the cure for our daughters terminal disease. (Don't get all commonsense on me, I realise that even in the likely hood that she actually has Coelic Disease that it isn't a death sentence). But Husband still, obscenely, insists on repairing the roof. Bastard.

I'm grumpy. And tired. And hungry. But I can't eat, and I can't take a day off work right now. So I will work. And I will flare. And I will get my kid to the doctor as quick as possible so he can tell me whats wrong with her.

Grommets 8 Weeks In

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 11:12:00 +0000

Little Sebastian had grommets put in his ears back in early December. I wasn't expecting to see big changes in him, although I've heard from so many people that their children practically changed over night once they had the procedure.

I wrote a post within a few days of the procedure and I can't say that I noticed anything in particular at the time. But 8 weeks on and there are HUGE changes.

My son is speaking in small sentences now, instead of two words tops. His words are clearer, and his vocabulary is so much broader. We can understand much more of what he is saying, his baby slurs have given way to crystal clear phrases that leave no room for doubt.

Now he's also taken an interest in various TV programs. He's never been a child to be attracted by the different ABC3 shows, it was only a rare music show that could hold his attention for a few seconds. He sings constantly, tunes we can recognise, and breaks into various medleys all day. Thomas the Tank Engine, Disney's Cars, Frozen, these are all favourites now. He actually has favourites which is incredible for a kid who had zero interest not that long ago.

I think back to us looking blankly at the specialist when she asked us if Seb had hearing problems. We hadn't noticed any hearing problems. He answered when I called him, and just how talkative did I really expect a 2 year old to be? Even though he is my third child, I still didn't notice that big a difference to the milestones he was marking compared to his sisters. Maybe if he wasn't the youngest, I would have noticed a younger sibling getting there earlier.

He's happier. More forceful in his requests, because he knows what he wants and how to ask for it. He sings and dances his way around the house, and stands up for himself verbally with his 3 year old sister, instead of resorting to biting straight away. That's the weirdest one - I've noticed a massive reduction in his biting over the last few weeks, and I can only pin it on the fact that he has another conflict resolution tool now.

Grommets for the win.

The Secret to Having the Best Lawn...

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:43:00 +0000

2 years ago we moved from a suburb where mowing the lawn was a special occasion activity. If the neighbours were out mowing, then sure enough there would be a party to come in the following days. Either that or Christmas.

I'd like to say we were better, but the truth is that Husband avoids the lawn mower like it's carrying an infectious disease. He has all kinds of wimpy allergies, and uses them as the basis for venturing outside as little as possible. Typically I had to have lost a child in the jungle out there to kick him out to mow.

We've since moved to an area where every lawn is mowed regularly. Just about every Sunday morning sees half the street with someone outside mowing and tending to the garden, and the other half are looking after theirs during the week. I'm determined to have a home that I can be proud to pull in the driveway of, so I get out there myself now every fortnight to mow. I can't start the damn mower without help, but I can push that thing around in a neat grid and that's usually enough to guilt the husband into doing the edges more often than not.

I'm definitely holding my own in this street, but no matter how often I mow, my lawn never looks as neat and trim as my neighbour to the left. A lovely retired couple, the gentleman is outside no less than twice a week, mowing his lawn. I've counted three times before as well, which suspiciously seems to coincide with me mowing our lawn.

My neighbours lawn is flat, perfect, and never, EVER, looks like it needs mowing. Even when my lawn is mowed it doesn't look as perfect. And he makes a point of edging a perfect straight line where his lawn meets ours, all the better to emphasise our scruffy yard and his perfection.

Look at that line. It perfectly defines the point at which his perfection stops and my scruffiness starts.

On the flip side, my neighbour to the right is just ever so slightly worse than we are. He never gets too long, but he seems to mow just that little bit less often than we do, and with the same casual approach to just getting it over with. And as a result we tend to look not too bad if I face his direction and ignore the perfection behind me.

And therein lies the secret to having the best lawn in the street. The trick is in looking better than your neighbour. As long as you put in just slightly more effect than the neighbours, you can come out ahead.

Financial Irritants

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 12:03:00 +0000

It's been a weekend of financial irritations. Just little things, but they are all adding up. Husband and I are grumpy with each other because of the various financial constraints I have us under, and so we bicker constantly over all these little irritants and everything else.

As I type, he is in the bedroom, sourly sewing a button on his work pants, determined to not watch whatever I might have on TV. And in response, I have a Gilmore Girls episode on, knowing that 20 times later, he likes the show no more than the first time I made him watch it marathon style.

Money is thin. Knowing we have school and dancing fee's coming up along with some insurance premiums I have cracked down on the budget. But we still need to make progress on some house improvements, and bedroom fans are super high on our list. So I've been a busy bee, selling random crap that I should have offloaded years ago, books, DVDs, old kids clothes, you name it, it's gone up for sale, mostly on local Facebook sale sites and Gumtree. Every time someone picks something up, that ten or twenty dollar note gets thrown in a jar with the intention that as soon as we get enough we will buy another fan for the house. We need four, we have one. We want to pay an electrician to do all of them at once, but that means buying them all first. At $160 for each fan, it's not a quick process.

As you can imagine, I was pretty happy when I had collected $220 by Saturday night. That's a fan and a bit. But no, it's not meant to be. A routine rotation of my car tires has produced 2 almost completely bald tires. I'm thankful I haven't had an accident, but spewing that my fan money is now going on 2 new tires.

Adding to it all, I sent hubby to the shops with a $30 gift voucher, to top us up with a few things we just can't make it to payday without. Some fruit, sandwich meat, milk, bread, you get the gist. He knows money is tight right now, but he still came back with various unnecessary items that weren't on the list, and slightly indignant that the gift voucher had bounced.

Instead of putting a few things back, he instructed the cashier to put the voucher through for $20, and put the last $10.74 on our ATM card. Which went through. But barely, because we only had $11 left. Except now we have $0.24 cents left, and I'm stuck with $10 credit on the gift voucher that can't be used for anything else in an emergency except groceries. We've had a fight about the stupidity of not putting back items if you think you only have $20, and not looking at the card to realise he was only $0.74 cents over the limit, and so now we aren't talking.

We aren't speaking over $10 worth of groceries. Isn't that ludicrous? I forgot how much strain money problems can put on a marriage. I know it doesn't help that I can be quite rigid about money, but it's just the way I am. We'll get over this, we always do but it doesn't make it all less annoying in the short term.

Money problems pissing you off right now? Do share,

New Year, A New Budget

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:21:00 +0000

Every year at this time I pull out all our bills and do an annualised budget/financial calendar for our family. I plot out how much money needs to be put aside each pay in order to meet the big bills as they arrive throughout the year.

I factor savings into this budget, and consider all of the bills and expenses that can be expected throughout the year. I also allow for day to day living expenses, and usually the amount left over gives me an idea how much I should be saving each pay.

I have a negative number this year. Each fortnight, after I put money aside for all my expenses, I have -$36. I am so shocked, it's the first time in years I haven't had a surplus, even if it's small.

We don't have heaps of area's that we can cut back, our grocery budget is slim, our entertainment budget is non-existent as we have been lucky to have lots of tickets and opportunities through the blog lately that have become our "fun", so that leaves the kids extra curriculars. Much as I hate to do it, this is one of the main luxuries that we spend our disposable income on, so we are having to scale back.

This frustrates me enormously, because by cutting back in this area we are impacting a couple of small business owners as well as the kids. Our budget stresses flow through to the wonderful people who make their living nurturing our children's talents. Having become close to some of these people over the years, I know how much small business owners can struggle to make ends meet themselves. But the flip side is that I've seen families who have not made the decision to scale back when they should, and have ended up with, and walking away from, a debt from their kids activities. This is horrible for everyone, so I am pulling us back to a level we can honestly afford.

This is not a boo hoo post. We are not in hardship - we can afford to feed our kids, we can afford to cloth them, and each kid still gets to do a class of something they love. We are super fortunate still and we know it.

Many bills have crept up, our insurances seem to have skyrocketed in the last year or two, and Maddy's braces are a big chunk of cash each pay. If you haven't reviewed your finances this year, make it part of your New Years Resolutions. It's always better to know what you are dealing with, than keep paying everything blindly and hope it all adds up.

Have you been stung by rising costs this year? Do you review your budget on a regular basis?

Commitment To Her Art

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 13:27:00 +0000

As if she wasn't already so much like her teenage sister, 3 year old Lorelei seems to have inherited her flair for dramatics as well.

This afternoon, out of nowhere, Lorelei let out a shriek at the back of the house. We ran to her, sure that she was pinned beneath her brother being tortured, but instead found her clutching at her leg and moaning.

There was no apparent injury, but my little one was cringing and flinching as we flexed and straightened her leg, trying to get to the bottom of it. With no accident or trauma to pin it on, we are assuming that she has pulled a muscle, and settled her on the couch with a heat pack to look after it and Frozen to keep her happy and still for a few minutes.

A few minutes later though......"MUUUUUUUUUMMMMMY!" Batting her little eyelids, she sweetly informed me she needed to be moved to the beanbag - and then that she needed something to prop up her leg.

Every ten minutes for the rest of the afternoon, she called me for one thing or the other, always sweet, and always grateful, but constantly assuring me that her leg was sore.

After an hour or this treatment I became sceptical and stood her up and encouraged her to walk to me - stretching out the muscle is the best thing for her right? She limped and winced and dragged it slightly behind her, stopping after only a few steps to put her arms up and beg to be carried.

My poor little love, I spent the rest of the day massaging her, stretching and flexing, and holding a heat pack in place. She refused point blank to walk again, and I felt so guilty at making her.

Tonight we went for dinner to her grandmothers though, and as expected I carried my little invalid into the house. After I settled her on the couch I teasingly suggested she ask her Teta to heat up her pack again to help fix her sore leg. Excited by the idea of showing off her sore leg, she leapt up and ran into the kitchen with her heat pack.

No sign of a limp. Am I surprised?

She's definitely inherited Madeleine's dramatics.

I'll be watching this sore leg, because I'm sure there was something in it, but it's hilarious to see Miss Lorelei will milk it for all it's worth.

Sealife Art Aquarium and a Family Pass Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 10:24:00 +0000

In the October school holidays we took a day trip into Darling Harbour to visit the beautiful pair of Dugongs at Sealife Aquarium.

It was a gorgeous day out, any day in Darling Harbour always is. The kids had an amazing time at the aquarium, it was a first time visit for Lorelei and Sebastian, they'd never been before and they were fascinated by the bright fish and sea creatures.

We managed to catch a sneak peek at a new attraction being introduced these school holidays - the seriously amazing digital Art Aquarium that Sealife is using to bring kids creations to life.

My photo's of the experience are truly atrocious, the low lights and shimmering water does not make for great photo's unless you have an awesome camera and matching skills.

Photo Credit (because mine was lousy!)

Art Aquarium takes kids artwork to a whole new level. First Lorelei and Sebastian were able to sit and colour in a picture of a fish using some texta's - there were plenty to choose from but the attraction was super bust so we needed to wait a little for a space at the table. Well worth the wait though!

Hot Tip: Do make your child's artwork particularly unique. Write their name on it, or a special symbol, something to make it stand out.

The kids take their art work to a staff member for scanning into the aquarium. From here is it super quick for their beautifully coloured fish to appear in the Digital Aquarium, swimming amongst the other fish.

Incredible right? It definitely helped to have written Sebs name on his scribbled on fish, because we would never have spotted it amongst all the others as his colouring is very faint.

If you'd like to visit Sealife Aquarium and see the Digital Art Aquarium for yourself I have a pass for a family of 4 up for grabs!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cubby House for the Win

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 11:53:00 +0000

The key point on our shopping list for our own home this year was a backyard. It didn't have to be big, just big enough. Big enough to eat outdoors sometimes, big enough for our swing set, but most importantly, big enough for a cubby house.

13 year old Madeleine was given her own cubby house at our first home when she was 3. Having it for so many years, so many birthday parties and play dates, it was the main thing we regretted leaving when we made our rush decision to move early last year. With Sebastian and Lorelei so little at the time, it was sad to think they would never enjoy the cubby house that Maddy had loved so much.

We were absolutely overjoyed to be able to get into our home this year with plenty of time for Christmas. Over and above anything else we could do for Christmas, we wanted to get the little ones a new Cubby. They're an expensive gift, but our logic has always been that the earlier we buy it, the more years it gets used for making it better value the longer we own it.

I shopped around for a while, looking for an open fort on stilts with a slide and a sandpit beneath. There were lots out there, we eventually I found the best price (including shipping) not too far from home. WA has HEAPS of cubbies at great prices, but once shopping to NSW was added it wasn't worth it. Before I made my purchase, I quickly checked eBay, and was surprised to see the same fort for sale - $150 cheaper Buy It Now! The same business had their stock on eBay at a lower price, which makes no sense to me since they have to pay ridiculous eBay fee's, but I bought it through the eBay channels anyway for $1695 including freight.

We had hoped that we could have it erected secretly by Christmas Eve, but even after 3 days of stealth work when the little ones were either napping, out of the house, or being occupied by me at the front of the house, we were electrified when little Lorelei suddenly asked out of the blue "Can I go outside to play with my cubby?"

I brushed it off casually hoping that she just meant her old little plastic cubby that she had seen in the garage, but the next day she busted us completely by randomly ripping up the blind in her room to look out at the cubby in all it's unfinished glory. We accepted the inevitable and let them out to it on Christmas Eve where they got to "help" husband finish building it.

The Fort was a huge win. It made Christmas Day and Boxing Day for us. Our kids and all the visiting kids were crazy about it, all ages playing on it for hours. It's been same each day since with my little ones wanting to get outside as soon as they wake up.

It's the best thing we could have bought for them - it meant that we went a little light under the Christmas tree with mainly gifts in the "Something they Need" category for the little ones (new preschool bags, PJ's, shoes etc) but there were some small toys for each of them to open anyway, along with a few items I won in various December Blog Giveaways, and they have absolutely loved having the cubby house so it was worth it!

Hoping everyone else had a wonderful Christmas as well, ours was a super relaxing couple of days, we don't do too much rushing around for Christmas anymore, we mostly just host a handful of people. Watch out for a couple of great giveaways over the coming days, I have some passes for Sealife Aquarium that I will be putting on the blog soon!

Getting Some "Helpling" Around the House

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 10:26:00 +0000

Make sure you read till the very end to get your Mummy Hearts Money exclusive coupon code for 1 hours free cleaning.

As if I wasn't already convinced that blogging is the most amazing hobby EVER, in the midst of end of year chaos, a little ray of sunshine landed in my blog inbox this month.

2014 saw me return to Full Time employment, and now for the first time in 4 year years we have 2 people in the workplace 5 days a week. It's been a constant challenge to keep up with the housework, dishes pile up, the laundry mountain NEVER goes down, and not much else happens at all.

Since our move in August, the house and I have reached a stalemate. I still have a garage of unpacked boxes, shelves full of random items that were shoved there till they find the home that has never been found, and a never ending stream of dirty dishes and laundry that I never quite get on top of. The chaos is hard to live with, but impossible to deal with. I tell myself it's only for a few years till the little ones are not such tornado's, but I know we will not get much time back to ourselves for a long time.

An email from Helpling was a little piece of awesomeness in a super chaotic month. I've been wanting to hire some help with the housework for some time now, but didn't know where to start. How I do know how much time to hire someone for, what am I allowed to ask them to do, do I need to be home, and lastly, but most importantly, will they think I am a complete grub?

Helpling's website took so much of the guesswork out of the equation. There is a clear hourly fee, a great estimation guide on how many hours will be needed taking into account bedroom and bathrooms, and a simple tool for locating a cleaner in your area. The website definitely takes the awkwardness out of engaging someone, although I don't know what I was worried about.

When Sharon showed up (VERY promptly) she was friendly and talkative. I had previously done a tidy up of the house, ensuring all the random debris that a household of 5 accumulates had been put away, but I had resisted the urge to wipe down cupboards and clean the oven top, although every fibre of me was mortified at the idea of someone cleaning up my mess.

We did a quick tour of the house, and Sharon talked me through what she would be taking care of. Based on the size of my house, she assured me that it could be cleaned in much less than the 4-5 hour quote on the website, which I thought was terrific that she would be so frank about an assessment for ongoing work. I don't have a huge 4 bedroom house, and she was done in about 3 hours. The quote was more consistant for a larger 4 bedroom house with more living space and extra bathrooms. She also let me know that some customers engage her for cleaning for a time period they could afford, instead of for the suggested timeframes, and she would clean based on their priority lists, usually getting more done than was asked for.

While she was here, Sharon cleaned out my fridge (!!) dusted surfaces and windowsills, cleaned all the mirrors and mirror doors, scrubbed the oven and cupboard doors, as well as doing the floors. Bathrooms are clean, walls have had fingerprints wiped off, and the house has that fantastic disinfected smell. She made the beds as well, and washed our leftover breakfast dishes, which was definately not something I was expecting.

She brought all her own products and resources, asking me early if I was OK with her using bleach or if I would rather she didn't. She let me know she was always happy to use someone elses products, as many of her clients prefer chemical free cleaning products and would leave them out for her.

My house is spotless, the fridge is sparkling, and it all feels more orderly than it has done the whole time we have lived here. Knowing she was coming today meant that we all pitched in and did the house tidy that sometimes gets neglected because the job is so big. This is definately an ongoing option I need to explore. Husband and I have been talking about whether one of us needs to scale back a little to have at least 1 day each fortnight or week, but neither of our jobs can really cater to it. Getting someone in to help out once a fortnight with the house, and maybe someone else to help with the lawns is probably a good compromise.

My house is lovely for Christmas day now, I just need to keep my little ones distracted long enough to keep it that way! It might be a little too late for Christmas Day for you, but if you'd like some help getting ready for the New Year, cleaning up after Christmas, or even just need some ongoing help like me, Helpling is there to help you out. You can set up a once off clean, or organise something more regular. And to get you started I have a voucher code for 1 hours FREE clean! (Minimum clean: 2 hours). Consider it my Christmas present to you, because spoilt as I am to have had a full house clean, I probably wouldn't have accepted this awesome little blog perk if it hadn't come with a perk for my readers as well.

If you do go ahead and book, let me know! I'd love to hear your squeeky clean house experiance.

Abandoning the Santa Photo

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:44:00 +0000

I love getting a family Santa photo every year, but my timid and occasionally surly 3 year old does not. We are happy to hold her, and never force her to sit on his lap, but just being close to the man in red sends her into a panic of expectations. We have yet to get a smiling photo of her with Santa.

This was a free photo taken at a blogging event in November, but Madeleine was missing so we had no expectations of it ending up as our family shot this year and didn't really pretty ourselves up (the adults anyway!). There was armpit and not much else.

Then there was the fancy pants photo of 2013. We gussied up in our prettiest clothes, and wandered into Harvey Norman for their free photo. Once again, misery at being forced to be part of the process.

Looking back a little further to 2012, and Sebs first Christmas. She was OK, as long as we didn't try to give her to Santa. Safe in Mums arms there were no tears at least.

And back one more to 2011 and Lorelei's first Christmas. This was where the tradition of family Christmas photo's started, as before that Madeleine was always content to sit on Santa's lap by herself for her photo's. This one was always planned to be a family photo, as I liked the idea of sending it onwards to all the extended family to share with them our newest addition of the family outside of Facebook.

And that brings us to this year. I abandoned the Santa photo. Visiting Santa should be fun, amazing, an event of anticipation. Not something to dread and be terrified of. After seeing Lorelei at the free event at the Tower Eye, I realised that this was not our year for a happy family photo all together. So instead, I set them up at home in front of our own tree after the big decoration effort, and started snapping. And snapping. And snapping some more. I don't have an awesome camera, and I don't have kids who naturally pose in those adorable, catalogue worthy positions. It took a while to hit a semi winner, and I've run with it for this years Christmas card.

I think it captures pretty much exactly what 13 year old Madeleine's year has been with a 2 and 3 year old in the house.

What do you think? Do I have a winner?

The Giving Tree Disaster

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:51:00 +0000

Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

We have a family tradition that we started when Madeleine was little. We like to take our kids shopping to choose a gift for another child their age to put under the Kmart or Target Giving tree's each Christmas.

This is something we started many years ago when Maddy was 5 or 6, and we wanted her to understand how important it was to make other peoples Christmas wonderful. Buying for another child who isn't as lucky as yourself seemed like an easy connection for a little girl to make. Over the years this tradition has continued, but this is the first year we have involved 3 year old Lorelei. The last few years we have chosen for Lorelei and Sebastian ourselves because they seemed too little to understand the idea. But at 3.5, Lorelei was horrified at the idea that a little girl might not have a present, and promptly went hunting through the shops to choose something nice to give her.

All seemed like it was going well, we had to steer her away from a few expensive choices, but soon enough she was clutching a sweet little doll and a toy stroller that she loved. She couldn't wait to buy them, and dragged them around the store with determination.

Madeleine picked out a few decorative bedroom idea's, and a light up pillow pet was chosen as Sebastian's contribution.

We passed through checkout, and all was still well. Grabbed a few gift bags on the way out, and bagged our gifts up together.

Everything was still awesome.

It was all awesome until we headed back in store to pop a gift tag on the bags and put them under the tree. Lorelei loved her gift, completely blissful and refusing to let go to allow anyone to help with the bagging and tagging.

That should have been my first sign.

We TALKED about this. Lorelei was totally into the idea of gifting a nice present to a little girl that didn't have one.

The little girl she had in mind was herself. There were tears. There was more than tears, there was a damn tantrum, screaming and sobbing as we walked away from the tree. There was no right answer here. Snatch up the charity parcel from under the tree and pander to a demanding 3 year old? Walk away with a kicking and screaming child attracting attention to the mother forcing her child to give up a coveted toy that she personally chose and purchased? I could have died.

Maybe, just maybe, 3 was a little young to start this particular act of charity. Better luck next year at 4.

Seb Gets Grommets

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 19:34:00 +0000

Seb's been failing hearing tests in his right ear since he was born. We've been back to Westmead hospital countless times to have him retested, and time after time he fails the right ear and returns fuzzy results on his left ear.

While it hasn't seemed to affect him too much, his specialist describes it as like trying to listen to the world with fingers pressed into your ears. There's sound, but it's muffled.

This week Seb went in for day surgery to get grommets. For those that have never heard of them, or have heard but aren't sure what they are, a grommet is like a tiny tube, no bigger than the size of a match head, that gets inserted into the middle ear. The grommet will allow air into the middle ear, and will eventually be pushed out naturally when the eardrum has healed.

The specialist tells us that we can probably expect to see some changes in Seb once his hearing is improved. Less yelling from him, improved speech, less tantrums caused by communication problems, these are all possibilities. He's a pretty challenging 2 year old, but not so challenging that I will be disappointed if there are no changes. I'll just be happy for him if he's more comfortable in general.

What changes have we noticed so far?

Seb is still yelling when indignant or wanting attention, so hearing himself better isn't giving him a reason to not raise his voice. He is also arguing about some words. I'm guessing they sounded differently to him before, so he's gotten annoyed with us when we are apparently saying them wrong.

"Shoosh peeese Mummy"

"You want some juice Sebbie? Let's use the blue cup"

"NO JOOSH! Want SHOOSH! SHOOSH!"

This can go on for a while and just stops when I produce the juice.

I've also noticed he isn't snoring at the moment. It was never loud before, more just super deep and snuffly beathing, but it isn't happening at all the last few nights.

I'm not sure how much these changes can be attributed to the grommets, or how much I'm just seeing because I'm looking.

Scary as it is to have Seb go under a general anaesthetic, so far it seems like the procedure has been good for him. The costs involved weren't cheap - Approximately $587 out of pocket costs for the specialist - but we have no gap cover for kids at Westmead private so that part meant we didn't have to go on a waiting list to get the procedure done.

Sebs has no pain that I've noticed, and bounced back after the surgery almost straight away. The hospital had him booked for 7:30am surgery, so our little guy did not have to fast for too long - just from 9pm the night before. Brekky was a little late, but given he woke up to ice cream and jelly he wasn't complaining!

Fingers crossed the world is a little clearer for my boy now.

While you're here, make sure you enter the giveaway for an OMO/Jif Pack to give your uniforms a second chance for next year!

Preserving Uniforms with OMO {Giveaway}

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 10:52:00 +0000

One of the brands I met at the recent Bloggers Brunch was the Omo/Jif team. In the midst of exciting and unique products, they had created their own little stand of reality.

For me, it was the reality that jumped out at me. Because my reality is a never ending pile of laundry. Clothing to be washed, hung out, brought in, sorted, ironed and put away. Of course, a couple of those steps sometimes don't end up happening. It's my mortification that my teen doesn't even know that we have an iron.

I've never been a great laundress, my technique is to sort into blacks, colours, and whites, and wash loads of those shades without doing much more than check pockets for tissues (even that step I oftem skip). It frustrates me though that our clothes quickly look dingy. Maybe I'm growing up, maybe it's the frugalness in me that despises waste, but I've actually spent time lately trying improve my clearly dismal laundry technique.

Dismal because toddler clothing is always grungy around the neckline, my own work clothes fade so quickly, and white uniforms look disgusting before the term is over. Everything is clean, but so many of our clothes stop being attractive very quickly.

It feels very wasteful. Uniforms especially. Maddy hasn't grown out of her school blouses, but they no longer look crisp and white with splotches from careless food. Seb has only been wearing his soccer uniform for a term, but it is stained and grayish in many places already. What is it about sport uniform fabric?

I took my Omo Ultimate sample from the Bloggers Brunch, and considered the possibilities. "Actively lifts 48 hour dried in stains.". 48 hours. That's adorable. If 48 hours were the worst of my problems I'd be a happy lady. I gave it a whirl on 8 week old washed and rewashed stains.

Sebs jersey is so grotty looking. I dread to think about how many uniforms he will go through in life in an effort to keep him looking smart. I took my bottle of OMO Ultimate and smeared some on the various stains. The process was pretty simple, any remaining liquid in the cap went into the machine to finish off the load.

I'm not kidding. This was not intended to be a cheesy stain removal advertisement. But damn, when I saw the difference in Sebs jersey I had the email typed out requesting some product to giveaway about 2 minutes later. The stains are gone. Gray stains, gone. 8 week old stains, gone. I cancelled Madeleine's uniform order for a few new blouses, because I want to see what a difference OMO can make in rejuvenating the old ones. If it gives them the face lift I'm hoping for that's $120 I don't have to spend in a hurry!

Thanks to the OMO/Jif team I have a New Year cleaning pack to giveaway. As unChristmassy as that sounds, I can't think of anything better than saving a bundle on new uniforms this year.

If you'd like to see some OMO and Jif flying your way in Santa's sack, follow the easy Rafflecopter entry below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Visit Santa at His Highest Point This Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 12:46:00 +0000

Today we took a field trip into Sydney to visit Santa. This is most definitely a change from our usual freebie at one of the local mega-chains, (which we still need to do since Maddy had to miss out on today), but when the invitation came to visit Santa at The Tower Eye, I couldn't resist.

Whether you call it Centrepoint Tower, AMP Tower, Westfield Tower, or The Tower Eye, it's definitely a excursion of legendary proportions for a Western Sydney girl like me.

These days, The Tower Eye has been undergoing some modernisation. It's now part of the Merlin group, who have been steadily bringing some great Australian attractions into their fold.

We started our visit in a waiting area, viewing all kinds of interesting trivia and displays. While The Tower Eye was the 4th biggest building in the world when it was first opened, there are many that eclipse it these days!

From there we headed in to watch a 4D movie about Sydney's attractions, from the birds eye view of a friendly Lorakeet. There was water, bubbles and vibrations, which worried a few kids in the room, although the Mummy Hearts kids thought it was a great adventure!

Once the movie was over, it was time to take the elevator to the sky. The littlest kids clamped their hands over their ears when the weird sensation of ears popping and blocking came upon them, but quickly enough we were in the sky!

The view was as amazing as I remembered from years ago. It's incredible to be so high up in such an iconic city. The water stretches in one direction, traffic is a million miles below, and all the landmarks are there before you.

Can you imagine meeting Santa in such a special setting?

From today till Christmas Eve, Santa will be spending time in the tallest grotto in Australia on the Observation Deck in The Tower Eye. Every child visitor will receive a free photo with Santa as a souvenir of their visit, taken by a professional photographer.

My kids were thrilled with the view, Seb in particular loved pointing out all the trucks and cars way down below, whereas Lolly was more interested in the boats she could see in the Harbour. I had my fingers crossed that with such an exciting build up, and after a couple of weeks of her telling me all about how Santa would be visiting our home for Christmas, that this would be the year that her shyness would break and she would have a chat and a nice photo with Santa.

Alas it was not to be. She was hopping from foot to foot in our little line, eager and enthusiastic, but when the moment came to step forward she panicked and clung to me. There was no way she was going near the big man, no promises or bribes could get her to so much as look at him, even though Seb was happy to give some high fives.

I sat with Santa for a few minutes to take a photo with Sebastian, and given Lorelei's interest we thought we might try a super quick snuggle on Mum's lap as far from Santa as possible. A world of no.

To his credit Santa was a trooper. He happily wandered away for another cherub to have a turn at sitting on his chair and taking a photo without him, and didn't flinch when Lorelei screamed and wrestled herself in the opposite direction. The photographer is pretty matter of fact about it as well, it's a memory worth capturing!

What does this free photo cost?

Even though the photo is free, entry is not. A single adult visit to the Observation Deck to see the view and meet Santa is $18.55 and kids over 4 are $11.20 (prices are the discounted online price). Family packages are available, but the people who really get some value here at those with Annual Merlin passes. The Annual Pass gives entry to 11 Sydney attractions (among others) so a regular tourist could head in for the day to see the view and meet Santa without paying anything at all.

Parking was available nearby on Sussex St for $10 all day (weekend rate) once we had our ticket validated at the Sky Deck reception. It's always worth checking the website of any attraction before heading in to see if there are parking options available.

If you're a Sydney local or a regular visitor, this was definitely a magical way to meet Santa. A little bit special, it makes a wonderful memory. Even if that memory includes a 3 year olds armpit.

Meet Husband

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Sun, 30 Nov 2014 11:46:00 +0000

I'd like to introduce my readers formally to Husband. Readers, meet Husband. His real name is Ahmad. Ahmad is a Lebonese/Australia Muslim who lives in the Western Suburbs in our little home with a yellow door.

He was born in Beirut as the oldest of 7 kids, and migrated to Australia with his parents, Aunt and Uncle when he was just 11 months old. He's never been back to Lebanon, even for a visit although all his siblings have, and doesn't know any way of life other than Australia. It just hasn't worked out for him to visit, but one day we'd love to go as a couple and meet the multitudes of relatives over there. I can tell from Facebook that they all look just like him, which is no surprise as I often mistake his brothers and he in old photo's.

Ahmad mows the lawns on the weekend. He spent this weekend putting up Christmas lights to make me and the kids happy.

He works as a technician repairing drills for a major German distributor. He cooks dinner more often than I do and makes a mean lamb cutlet that makes me drool.

When his kids need their nappies changed, he changes them. He got up at night for all 3 of our kids, and actually took a year off work for our first daughter when I felt the need to return earlier than expected due to some severe PND.

He waves a flag for Australia day, and cooks snags on the BBQ. He enjoys some hummus and tabbouleh next to everything, takes his daughters to dancing, and jumps on stage to dance with them when the opportunity arises.

As a family, we celebrate both Christmas and Ramadan, we respect our different religions and we raise our children to be respectful of all religions.

You know what he isn't? He isn't a terrorist. He doesn't spend time making bombs or planning world domination.

Next time you feel a little suspicious or scared of a Muslim, please remember that they are a minority group in this country. They make up no more than 2% of our population, and the majority of them just want to live and be part of this wonderful country. They aren't terrorists, and they aren't raising terrorists.

What prompted this post? A few too many stupid comments this week by people I know and people I don't. Use your brains before opening your mouth. And FYI - any sentence that starts with "No Offence" is almost certainly going to cause offense.

Saving For Those Milestone Purchases

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 12:55:00 +0000

In my kids early years, I find that milestones creep up often and quickly! As soon as all the nursery items have been purchased, they are needing a new big kid bed complete with doona, bed sheets and mattress, and then barely a year or two later you are purchasing their first uniform and school bag bundle! Blink and High School is letting you know they need an iPad, and your teen is hinting they would like help buying a car.

While none of these expenses are massive on their own, (um, except the car and iPad), they can exceed our disposable income for one or more pay cycles, making it a challenge when more than one come up at once!

So that we don't get caught out unawares for these major purchases, we transfer $5 every pay to a bank account for each child. This money is earmarked for the bigger items for our kids and means that as one of those milestones start to creep up, I can take advantage of a sale at a moments notice and not end up paying full price at the last minute, or worse, not being able to buy it for the kids when I need to.

Birthday, Christmas, and Ramadan gifts go into these accounts too, although I usually try to buy them something little with the cash before I bank the bulk of it. When I'm spending the money on them later, I feel justified in getting them something a little more expensive because it's partly gifted money. So I might buy the Mermaid quilt Lorelei wants instead of the pretty unlicensed version I would have gone for.

13 year old Madeleine is the exception. Just before she started High School, we opened a second bank account for her to have an ATM card attached to. This is the account that her pocket money goes into, that she can decide whether to spend or save in. She buys all her clothes from her pocket money, so has had to learn to budget to make sure she can buy new things as the season changes and she grows out of things. She is getting very good at letting her money accumulate for longer periods of time so that she can buy bigger ticket items now.

Her savings accumulate for longer periods now, but when she needs something it tends to cost more than when she was little! We know we have some household bed changes on the horizon, Lorelei is ready to upgrade from her toddler bed to a big girls single bed, Seb is showing signs that he should be moving to the toddler bed, and Madeleine has been complaining that her feet touch the bars at the end of her single bed. It looks pretty simple! Everyone will hand down their bed to the next sibling, and we will dip into Madeleine's savings account for either a double or a king single bed.

This system works well for us, but when opening account for children under 16, just remember they can only earn a maximum of $419 interest each year before you need to declare their tax file number to the bank.

Bloggers Brunch 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Elise) — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 11:59:00 +0000

One of my favourite perks of being a blogger is being invited to events. The big red circle on the years calender is the Kids Business Bloggers brunch which is like a big expo just for Bloggers. It's awesome. The room always has a variety of brands targeted towards Bloggers with kids, and all those Brands are keen to make some relationships for outreach work.

Not every Brand is a great fit for the blogger, and not every blogger meets the Brands criteria. Some Brands aren't looking for anything further than the social media saturation they will get by being in front of so many influencers all at once, some are keen to work with every blogger that shows interest, and others have a select amount of opportunities for a handful of Bloggers that can provide the reach and influence that fit the campaign.

Not every Brand will rate a mention or follow up email from me. At this event, Breville launched

'The Boss', their answer to the Thermomix. It was definitely an impressive machine, and having seen the Thermo in action recently I know the Boss is a bargain at just under $1,000. But even at half the price of a Thermo, it still isn't an appliance I could justify purchasing at this stage in our lives, so I probably follow that lead through!

Brumby's on the other hand provided the sweets for the day. I've never heard of the company before, and was a little disinterested when I found out they only had a few stores in NSW, and none near my home. But once I ate some of their insanely delicious Christmas treats, I was hooked.

The Christmas balls? Amazeballs. Especially the White Chocolate ones. I was disappointed when my take home goodie bag felt light on baked treats, but jumped for joy when I realised that there was a $10 voucher tucked inside to make a purchase at my nearest store.

As luck would have it, I won a $200 voucher for Pottery Barn from the lovely girls at Omo that day, so we promptly scheduled a trip into the Bondi Junction store with a side trip via the Randwick Brumby's store on the way home. It's easily a 1.5-2 hour trip for us to go into the city like that, so killing 2 birds (and picking up some gorgeous Christmas presents at Pottery Barn kids at the same time) with 1 stone made the trip worthwhile. I almost cried when the girl in store at Brumby's told me that their Christmas balls won't be in store till next week, because I was determined to buy a double batch and freeze some for visitors. It was only the banana bread ($8.60) that saved the day. That is a surprisingly cheap price for a bakery quality banana bread, so I grabbed a few loaves to freeze. Because who knows when I will make it back into the city for those Amazeballs. If you live near a Brumby's, I 100% promise you will not be disappointed if you try them. Or anything else in their Christmas range. Or their banana bread.

Over the coming weeks there is an excellent chance that I will be showcasing some of the products from the day. I will be pursuing some for a giveaway opportunity so that some readers get the chance for product sampling, and in other cases if the product is innovative or different I may do a review. Case in point, the "Intelligent Potty". I'm already intrigued.

Brands represented: Omo, Avicom, Arnotts, Infosecure

Fingers crossed that I can land some great giveaways!