!RainbowBlogStar!

STFU Parents

2012-01-27T21:51:00.002+08:00

We all need a good laugh every now and then. Just to turn off, check out and laugh.

Have any of you visited the website STFU, Parents? I don't know if it is because kids are on my mind at the moment, my sister is pregnant and one of my best friends just had a baby, but this site is both hilarious and mind blowing. These parents post pictures of the most bizarre and horrifying things!! Placentas? Giving birth, complete with bloody legs bllleerrrrk, poo pictures, kids bloody noses, vomit ewwwwwwww!!! Why would you! Another one that confuses me is the mothers complaining about people ringing their doorbells. HOW DARE YOU RING MY DOOR BELL MY CHILD IS TRYING TO NAP!! Why not just disconnect your bell? Why leave psychotic notes under your bell, just unhook that shit! The Mommyjacking category is also great, it is amazing how a parent can turn any innocent comment into a chance to bring up their children. Today Lee found a real one on a WA Today status that I urged her to submit to the site.

Oh gosh, it is so much fun please give it a read. It is great for a few laughs. I also love the shit out of Regretsy, 1.00 FTE, Damn You Auto Correct and 27b/6 which is David Thorne's website and makes me cry with laughter on a regular basis.

What are your favourtie funny websites?

Love Caz xoxo xxxx

My workplace is hotter than the surface of the sun

2012-01-26T21:00:00.002+08:00

Today I was out in the dungeon for an hour or so cutting oranges and being there, with no windows or doors to the outside world was actually cooler than being out in the cafe with the coffee machine, bain marie and toaster pumping out the heat!

Oooh orange cutting fun! It took about an hour to do three crates worth. Cutting oranges might sound like a highly tedious and dull job and yes it pretty much is! However I also find it very zen. There is something relaxing about doing a no brainer repetitive task like that.

Took some pics.

How are you holding up in this hot weather?

Love Caz xoxo xxxx

Steve's First Catering Job

2012-01-25T22:11:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday Steve did his first ever catering job. It was a wedding for 96 people for family friends Lisa and Rob. A three course meal with two options for main course but all the same starters and desserts. Steve took four days holiday from work to start prep (and one day to recover), he did most of the work in advance and then Yoshi and Swan from work helped out on Saturday night. I organised the wait staff, my sister Ash, Bayley's Mum Carly, and my workmate Leah all helped out.

I was admittedly a bit worried about how mains would go out smoothly but everything went so well. We were really happy at the end of the night and Lisa and Rob were very happy too. All in all after a lot of stress, every thing worked out amazing and we were really happy.

Here are a few photos from the night. Apologies for not having any photos of the main course but they went out too fast and we were too busy!

Love Caz xoxo xxxx

Tower Time

2012-01-02T11:14:00.001+08:00

Photo taken moments before the tower crashed :) we got it taller than Bayley!

Goodbye 2011 and hello 2012!

2012-01-01T22:35:00.000+08:00

When I wrote last years farewell to 2010 I predicted that 2011 would be a rollercoaster ride and wow did it deliver! Today is the first day of 2012 and I have been thinking about what to write in this post for the last few days and I still havent decided exactly how I feel about the year that was 2011.

It was hard, it wasn't overly nice, bad things happened for Steve and I, our little family was shaken to it's core and it still isn't over. Earlier in the year I wrote how this situation has changed me and I still stand by every thing I said in that post but, well, it has been an incredibly exhausting year.

In positive news, after almost six months of trying and fighting and eight months of living at home with Mum and Dad, we finally are going to be moving into our new home next week. We cannot wait! Steve, Bayley, our puppy Roxy and I will have our own little house with a vege garden some chickens and some much desired privacy and space. Living with Mum and Dad has been nice but it is so hard to live your entire life out of one bedroom. It will be great for us to have our own kitchen, lounge and office space. It also means that it will be the last time we'll have to move house for a long time. Bayley is super excited to have his own bedroom. He has picked out the colour he wants us to paint his walls and this morning was jumping up and down n my bed saying "I'm excited I'm excited I'm excited!!" We are really looking forward to starting this new chapter in our lives.

2011 bought promotions, Steve finished his apprenticeship and is now a fully qualified chef, I got promoted to manager at the cafe after K-Loo flew off to the UK with Pete to live earlier than they had originally planned! Another result of K-Loo and Pete heading off means that Steve, Bayley and I are now the official surrogate family of little Ari the rat!! At the moment she spends a lot of time in the cage as Mum and Dad have way too many chewable items laying around but once we move into the house she will have a lot more freedom to roam. She seems to be taking the change in circumstance ok which is great. We will be having little skype dates soon so she can catch up with Kirst and Pete.

I am still doing Polercise!! I was taking classes twice a week for most of the year, I recently cut down to once a week to save a little cash for the house. Hopefully the roof in the new house will be high enough for me to put a pole in somewhere so I can train at home as well as in class. I still absolutely love Polercise and am so happy I met Tracey all that time ago at Mash. She really changed my life!

2011 was a year for intense emotional growth for me. I have spilled many tears, had many laughs and made many amazing friends. I have had a beautiful time with Steven and Bayley and I value them more than anything in the world, the best thing about this year has been all the great times that we have spent together. If I had one wish for 2012 it will be to make many more happy memories with Steve and Bayley. They are the lights of my life and I love them so much.

How was your 2011? What are your dreams for 2012? Remember that the best way to make your dreams come true is to chase them down and fight for them!

Love life, live life, have fun and when things look dark remember to find the silver lining. It is always there.

Much love and luck for the new year

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

A Very Merry Christmas

2011-12-26T20:49:00.000+08:00

Oh Christmas time, I love it all year until December gets here and I realise how much hard work it all is! This year all that hard work was compounded by the fact that after months of trying and saving and stress I can now happily say that we finally got our home loan approved!!!

Yay!

Bank of Queensland worked their arses off for us and we are ever grateful for all that they did for us. The house that we wanted was still available so we have gone ahead with the sale and are looking forward to a January 4th settlement date. Buying a house is tough, tougher than I thought it would be and once we have moved in and I am relaxing in my own work area in my own house I will be writing up a little hindsight post for anyone even thinking about maybe buying a house one day. We went in virtually blind and without asking every question that we should have and it came back to bite us a little. I hope to help other people avoid all the problems that we ran into!

For Christmas I got a kitchen starter set and a pasta container from Mum and Dad which I was ridiculously excited about. Lee and G got me some new perfume which was perfectly timed because I was down to the final dregs of my last bottle, Ash and Ben got me a voucher for K-Mart as did my Nanna; so we'll be using those to get lots more house things! Steve's Dad and Marilyn bought me two wooden roosters!! I almost cried! If you didn't know already, my last name Gallo, means rooster in Italian, my Nonna and my Mum have roosters all through their homes and I had bought a few for my Mum while I was up on holidays in Darwin. I am so happy to have two to display in our new house! It will really make it feel like home.

We spent Christmas Eve night with Steve's parents at his sisters house and that was a nice night, Bayley and his cousin Zarah played for hours on the trampoline and we got to play with our puppy Roxy too. Christmas Day I spent cooking and preparing the final touches to the boyfriend presents (we made them all Tshirts with our faces on them...pics soon), and fixing our presents for the family. Being low on spare cash we made every one little gift baskets with mini melting moments, gingerbread, and home-made jam, as well as some framed wisdom from Steve. I wasn't super happy with our offering and wished we could have been able to afford a little more but we will make up for that next year! We had dinner at home that night, a feast! We had Dad's special octopus salad, which is to die for, as well as fresh prawns, squid, fish, salads, turkey and ham. Needless to say, it did not all get eaten, I think it will take a few days for us to get through it all. It was a lovely night, Nanna and my Uncle Malcolm came over as well and Nanna stayed longer than she usually does so it was very nice to have the whole family together. Next year we're going to have at least one (I am hoping for two if I can get my act together) tiny additions to the party because Lee is pregnant! Yep, sometime around early June next year I am going to be a first time Aunty and I am very excited and happy for Lee and Gareth! They are going to be great parents.

Today is Boxing Day and I have eaten so many leftovers and I feel pretty gross so I am going to go have a little run on the treadmill. Our Christmas was lovely, Steve's Dad and Stepmum are down from Darwin to see the grandkids and Bayley has had a wonderful Christmas, he received plenty of toys and he is also pumped to move into the new house in a week or so. I had today off work but have to work the public holiday tomorrow which might be a busy one as people start running out of Christmas dinner leftovers and really run our of energy to cook themselves.

I had a great Christmas. It was stressful, crazy, fun and full of love and happiness and when you get down to it, love and happiness is really what Christmas is all about nowadays!

How was your Christmas? What did you get? What did you give? What did you do?

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

Green tea and blogging.

2011-11-05T07:48:00.000+08:00

Good morning world! I am at work ridiculously early today so I thought I would write a little life update until I actually have to start my shift.

House

I haven't written about the house buying for a while mostly because nothing really new has been happening and it is kinda depressing. We had a meeting last night with Kaeti from Bank of Queensland and it was more not so awesome news. We are definitely on track to getting our finance accepted, which is good, it is just going to take us longer than we hoped which not as great. We really want to be in our new house by Christmas and Kaeti has been positively amazing and is pushing to get us there with everything she has got, we are going to give it another go on the first of December so I will have another update for you around then! Until that time, Steve and I just have to keep save save saving because the more we can put in the better our chances are of acceptance.

It has been a long road and I am sure it will have a happy ending and I will have a wonderful post full of hindsight wisdom!

Work

I am full time now at the cafe. I haven't worked full time in so long and it has taken a little while for my body to adjust to the change but I think I am slowly getting there. I still love working there, I haven't worked in a place with such an awesome team of staff since back in the good old days at Vat and it is so nice. My barista skills have been improving but I am in a little bit of a slump with it at the moment. I think all the other annoying things going on in life are affecting me in little ways and coffee is one of them!

Family

Bayley is fantastic. He is the little light of my life and I am really trying to appreciate and make the most of the time we have together. Now that I work full time I have to work on one of the days I usually used to spend with him which sucks but it's making me do more with the time I do spend with him so that is great.

Steve just qualified from his apprenticeship yesterday and we went out for dinner for a little celebration. Caught up with Kat and Dan and Renae came along too. It was a lovely night!

I was going to write more but my shift has started so I need to get to work. They are the main things that are happening anyway!!

Love 'n' stuff!

Carrie xoxo xxxx

Polercise over a year on...

2011-10-31T21:57:00.000+08:00

Just thought I would share a few photos from Polercise with you all. I've been doing it for about a year and a half now and just changed this week from Intermediate to Advanced. I go to class twice a week at Polercise WA here in Bunbury and taking these classes literally changed my life. I went from exercise phobe to taking a real interest in my fitness and now I try to walk three times a week as well.

At Polercise WA we aren't taught sexy routines we are just trained in particular moves that we can work on individually at our own pace. Shows are held once or twice a year and students can put together routines if they wish to enter. The focus is always on the exercise and fun and is never strip club or sexy. Eww I would be way too embarrassed!

Girls of all body shapes take the classes and a mens class has just started running too.

I love it so much!! Hope you like the pics!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

You can find me....

2011-10-25T23:44:00.000+08:00

Just a quick post today to update you on all the other places you can find me on the Net. I do have Facebook but I am not going to bother including it on this list because I don't add people I don't know as a friend and I don't post enough public status updates for anyone to bother subscribing to my feed.

Google + Most of my updates on Google + are public. I look through the profile of anyone who adds me to a circle and decide based on their content whether to follow back. I love this aspect of both Google+ and Twitter, that following doesn't have to be reciprocal. On Facebook people get so antsy if you delete them or reject their friend request. I have one 'friend' who I deleted for being a moody jerk and that person has tried to re friend me three times. No such problem with Google + !

Get Served: Diary of a Hospitality Worker this is my other blog over on Wordpress. This blog is, obviously, about the exciting trials and tribulations of working in hospitality. It sort of started out as a venting page for when customers bothered me but now I am trying to transform it into something more. There will still be venting but I also want it to be helpful to other hospitality workers and to people in general. I love the hospitality industry, at least the restaurant/cafe side of it that I work in. I have a huge passion for it and I want to make it a better place and I don't want to look like one of those obnoxious waitresses with a bad attitude and chip on her shoulder a mile wide. This blog doesn't get updated as much as I want it to. Less than this one gets updated if you can believe that but I want to change that once we have our own house and I am done with Uni for the year. Give it a read anyway!

I have two Twitter accounts. Well, I guess you could say I have three if we are including my work account. I guess we will.

@CazMinx is my personal account which I use more than any other network account.

@GetServedDiary is the Twitter account for my Get Served blog. I update this from work sometimes so every now and then you get a thought that hasn't gone through my appropriateness filter.

@CafeOneForty poor little Cafe 140 Twitter has only got 14 followers. Probably because not many Bunbury people have jumped on the Twitter train yet. This is my work and most of the Tweets come from me and are connected to our Facebook page too which is why they will often go over the 140 character limit.

Cafe 140 on Facebook you can also go and 'like' my workplace on Facebook if you want to.

Well that is all the relevant and current places you can find me. Hit me up!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

Shark cull NOT the answer

2011-10-23T19:47:00.000+08:00

I am COMPLETELY against the culling of the shark who fatally attacked the diver at Rottnest.

This is the third fatal attack in as many months and as much as I sympathise with the victims, their friends, and their families; killing the shark won't bring their loved one back, it won't make this any less tragic and it will not make the ocean any more safe. There are plenty more sharks in the sea.

All three recent victims were no strangers to the ocean. Kyle Burden was an avid body boarder, Bryn Martin was on his regular swim when he was presumably taken and the latest victim George Wainwright was a diver, in Australia on a tourist visa. These men knew the risks, of course what happened is still horrific but they all knew this could happen. We all know the risks when we step into the water. My Dad used to own a jetski and it was always in the back of my mind when I was out on the ocean that there could be sharks under me and that if I fell off I could be swimming with them. I did fall off a few times and I was VERY quick to get back on. I feel that it is unfair for humans to enter the territory of a predator like a shark and then decide to kill the animal when it is just doing what it is built for. If you knowingly walked into an area known to be inhabited by lions, then you got attacked by a lion, would it be fair to kill it?

Another statistic commonly thrown about when this subject is bought up is the fact that more people are killed in car accidents than shark attacks. Very true. In the month of September alone in Australia 93 people were killed on our roads, 18 of those deaths were in Western Australia. Yet nothing comparably as radical is being done about that problem.

Australia does not sentence death on humans who knowingly, willingly and without any compassion kill other humans. So why give a shark a death sentence for doing something that is well within its nature? Is it going to scare off the other sharks? No. Will it decrease shark attacks? Unlikely.

So why are we doing it? What are the other options? What do you think should be done?

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

References

Road Crash Stats http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/road_fatality_statistics/index.aspx

Shark Hunt Order http://www.watoday.com.au/national/shark-hunt-order-over-fatal-attack-20111022-1me0j.html

Shark Victim Farewelled http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/shark-victim-farewelled-in-emotional-paddleout-20110908-1jytm.html

No TV Day

2011-10-12T21:47:00.001+08:00

This morning I declared to my three year old stepson that today was to be a TV free day. Usually in the morning we wake up and Bayley watches cartoons while I make him breakfast then he eats watching Dora and Wonderpets and the like. Unfortunately it usually results in Bayley taking forever to eat his breakfast and then getting upset about having to shower and get dressed for the day. Now that the weather is finally nice I decided it is high time we both kicked the habit.

Bayley, of course, didn’t take the news so well. There were tears and “whys?” but once his peanut butter and honey toast was ready he had recovered. He went and sat outside with my Dad (Pete) and my Mum (Les) while I made my breakfast. By the time I made it outside Bayley had turned the table into a train and we all had to have tickets to ride. He finished his breakfast in record time and went about ‘driving’ us to various places. He dropped me off at Uni (I literally had to leave the table and hide around the corner) then Pete got off the train at ‘work’ (he also got kicked off the table and had to go down to the bottom garden). When we were ‘finished’ we had to call the train for Bayley to pick us up. When I got back on the train we arrived in the jungle, I was scared and Bayley assured me it was ok and said he would hold my hand, just then a snake appeared in front of us! Bayley picked it up with his bare hands and threw it away from us “it’s ok, it’s safe now” he told us. Les, Bayley and I got back on the train and picked up Pete from work.

Then the train broke down and turned into an airplane. Apparently we were going on holiday and Bayley was the captain. Partway through the flight after making sure we all had our seatbelts on Bayley informs us that the plane has ran out of gas and he has to go fill it up. “How can you fill it up! We are in the air!” Pete, Les and I asked. “It’s ok” Bayley replied “I will just turn off the plane” Obviously concerned we exclaimed “but Bayley the plane will fall out of the sky!!” Pete had a solution “Do you have parachutes?” Les and I were not keen on jumping out of a plane, less so when Bayley replied “yeah I have two” there were four of us, this plane trip wasn’t looking like it was going to have a pleasant landing, then Bayley said “two for the plane”. Right, so his plan was to stop the plane and let the parachutes out so the plane will slowly fall while he fills it with gas then he can turn it back on and fly off before we crash. His plan worked and we had a very smooth landing.

After the plane ride we all had to head off and do other things, Les went to have a shower, Pete and I went to fix the Internet and Steve came upstairs and I sent him outside so Bayley could keep playing on the train/plane. Needless to say, Bayley forgot all about TV and cartoons. With an imagination like that, who needs them!!

After getting showered and dressed and some more hanging out we wandered down the road to have lunch at the cafe down the road that has just reopened after changing hands for the umpteenth time. If it ever comes up for sale again I want to buy it so bad. Such potential, but that is a story for another post. We had a nice lunch, I wrote notes on the service and how I would improve things because that is just what I do when I go out. Then we all walked down to the playground for a while and Bayley tried to climb a few trees, we played chasey, had piggy backs and played on the playground equipment.

We spent a good few hours just wandering around and playing games before heading home then it was time to take Bayley back to his Mums place but it was just such a great day and cheap! All we had to pay for was lunch and realistically we could have just made sandwiches and had a nice little picnic instead. Through Winter i felt so guilty having Bayley inside all the time but I think, sometimes at least it, may have had less to do with the weather and more with laziness. Of course I know that I am not as bad as some people and this isn’t the first time I have enforced a no TV rule but still, today made me even more determined to make changes to the time we have with Bayley. This Summer we will break bad habits and make new good habits. Outside all the way!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

p.s. what is your favourite way to spend time with your kids? How do you deal with the wet weather?

p.p.s. at the playground today I was astounded by the amount of little kids playing on the gym equipment they have nearby. Haven’t parents heard the horror stories about kiddies being hurt on them? Do you let your kids near them?

We still don't have a house...

2011-10-06T16:16:00.001+08:00

There is a scene from Mean Girls, and I tried to find a video but couldn't, where Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is talking about how she can't stop talking about Regina George (Rachel McAdams) and how she can feel all her friends getting sick of her talking about it but she just can't stop.

That is how I feel about this mortgage.

I am so sick of talking about and so sick of thinking about it but it is still ongoing and I cannot escape it! This is where we are at now.

We are now going through Bank of Queensland directly. I am in love with Kaeti who is handling our case, she has been amazing so far and I know that if we don't get the finance it will not be through a lack of trying. She has kept us in the loop the entire way with fantastic communication, she has talked us through all our options and has made sure to not unrealistically raise our hopes too high. If this deal does fall through and we have to wait to reapply, I would definitely go through BOQ and Kaeti again. The experience has been so much nicer.

In the last post I wrote about the mortgage we were waiting to hear from the bank. Now we have and it isn't all bad news. Basically it is a yes with a but; everything is ok except we just need to prove that we can actually make the repayments. So to do that they want us to save $2000 each months over the next two months. We can easily do it the only problem is that it means we might lose the house that we have our eye on. The owners will give us an extension on the sale contract but it will have a 48 hour clause in it to give someone else the opportunity to come in and make an offer.

I know that there are other houses out there but this is just in the area we wanted for the price we want and it ticks many boxes. Losing it will suck but at the end of the day if we get the money then at least when we do find another house, we won't have to go through all this finance drama again!

So recap, we have to spend the next two months saving to get our finance approved and in that time we run the risk of someone else coming in and making an offer on the house we want.

Who said buying a house is easy!!

In other news I start working full time at the cafe as of next week, it'll be the first time I have worked full time hours in two years! Hoping it will get my sleeping patterns fixed once and for all. Early to bed early to rise, just in time for Summer!!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

Mortgage Update #500

2011-09-27T15:10:00.001+08:00

Today we should find out if the bank has approved our application and if the bank says yes then we need to wait for the mortgage lenders insurance place to approve. By the end of this week we should know one way or the other.

I hope to have good news! To be honest, I am tired of talking about this!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

STOP PANICKING FACEBOOKERS!

2011-09-26T15:13:00.001+08:00

Facebook is never going to charge users to access it’s site. Never ever.

I cannot believe the amount of people buying into this rumour at the moment. Of course it is not the first time and probably will not be the last time rumours have reared their head about Facebook implementing a monthly charge to users. What is it about now that has made the rumour so strong and widespread? Is it due to all the recent UI changes Facebook has made? Do users assume that because FB has made a few tweaks to the service that the logical next step is to start charging?

The reality is that charging users for access is just not a financially viable move for Facebook. Think about it. If they did start charging would you stay? I know I wouldn’t. Why would you when networking sites like Twitter and Google+ are offering their (arguably better) services for free? Charging users would be the easiest way for Facebook to instantly become as socially uncool as Myspace. They would lose users, they would lose advertisers, they would lose money.

So rest assured Facebook loving friends! You won’t be getting charged Facebook fees any time soon!

In other news…

You won't have bad luck or be murdered by a dead girl if you delete a chain email. (I am not dead and I wouldn’t call myself unlucky and I delete all chain mails without reading them)
Nobody will donate $5 for every copy and pasted status about little Sarah Sickgirl. (how on Earth do you think charities would be able to monitor millions of FB accounts for relevant status updates??)
You have not really won the European lottery (key indicator here being that you never entered the European lottery)
That poor lonely Iraqi princess who wants to give you all her money does not exist. (this doesn’t need elaborating)

You are welcome

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

P.s. what is your favourite internet rumour/scam? Do you know anyone who blindly believes in any of these rumours? Tell me all about it!

More mortgage news

2011-09-16T18:25:00.001+08:00

Today we were told that the reason we didn’t get the loan is because we aren’t paying rent.

Let that sink in.

Now tell me if that makes any sense at all to you because it blows my mind. They also said that there is nothing we can do to reverse the decision. So despite the fact that we have a deposit, we both have extremely secure jobs and we can easily afford the repayments, we cannot get a loan.

Uuugghhhh. It makes no sense to me at all.

I am upset and frustrated and stressed and losing hope.

Still not giving up though, new banks on Monday. Sigh.

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

Thanks for messing with us

2011-09-13T15:38:00.001+08:00

I am so angry and upset right now.

My last post I was saying how Steve and I were meant to find out the results of our loan application the very next day. Well Wednesday came and went with no answer. With our finance deadline on Friday we were freaking out and were not having much luck getting a hold of our mortgage broker. Thursday we once again had no answer. Friday Steve and I were both at work and hitting the panic stations hard. At midday we heard from our broker only to have him tell us that Suncorp still had not come to a decision but we should expect something by the end of the day. I spoke to our property manager Digby when I got home from work at 3pm almost in tears expecting him to tell us that if we have no answer by the end of the day then the house is gone. He assured us that if the bank was still deciding by the end of the day we could wait till Monday and hope that they got their shit together over the weekend.

Friday ended with no answer from Suncorp.

A very stress filled weekend followed and I got sick which made the situation so much more fun. Yesterday after a text and an unanswered phone call we finally hear from our broker again. Suncorp still had no answer. Despite them claiming to have a three day turnaround and it being well over seven days later their computer still didn't have a result for us. I imagine their computer must be from the 1960's, the answer probably prints out on dot matrix paper. Maybe that's why the results were taking to long, they had to go antique shopping to source paper for their relic of a printer.

Before I tell you what happened today, let me back up a little and tell you what happened with the first loan. This is the second attempt of a loan through Suncorp, the first one was denied because Steve had a default on his credit report and because they wanted a bit more information. Steve got the default removed and wrote a letter explaining it (it was a six year old phone bill that he paid off six years ago that was due to be wiped next march anyway, thankfully vodafone wiped it clean for us), we dropped off the extra bits and pieces they requested and wrote another letter explaining that my job is secure and I get paid overtime etc (I am only casual at work, because it pays more and is more flexible, and the bank see's that as a risk, a casual job is not very secure normally). We did everything they asked and resubmitted the application thinking that if we have addressed everything that was a problem then surely getting the loan would be no problem right?

Wrong. Today at 2.30pm we were informed that we were denied our loan again. We don't know why yet, we should find out why later today. It is so frustrating. We can afford the repayments easily. We both have secure jobs. I do not understand what the problem is! The worst part is that when you go online and look at all those mortgage calculators and input your details they have all said we should be able to borrow over $300,000. Of course I know that they don't take into consideration every situation but if they are all estimating we should be fine for that much but then we get denied for the $270,000 that we need. It is soul crushing.

Luckily, Digby, the property manager of the house we want to buy is an absolute legend and is trying to get us another finance extension from the sellers of the house. Hopefully they agree as nobody else has tried to put in an offer and Steve and I are going to try going through another bank. Straight through to the bank without a mortgage broker!

Please wish us luck!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

Update #1: Ok we can't go through the bank we wanted to by ourselves because they have a 'must have lived in your current house for over one year' rule. Our broker says he can talk to them and try get around it. Another friend suggested we ask about Keystart Loans so I am going to talk to our broker about that too. If anyone else has any advice I would love to hear it please!!

Wednesday is the day

2011-09-06T23:14:00.003+08:00

Tomorrow we find out if we have been approved for finance to buy our house. It is very nerve racking. I keep trying to convince myself that there is not really any reason for them to reject us. Steve and I both have stable jobs and the only debt we have is Steve's car which should be fine because the car is also an asset.

It would be lovely if you could cross your fingers for us! We really really want this house so we can move on with our lives. It feels like we are in limbo at the moment and I know that once we have our own little slice of heaven we can really kick into high gear and put our little life plans in motion.

So exciting! So nervous!

I will let you know how we go!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

How do you blog?

2011-08-24T23:08:00.000+08:00

Last week, a friend of mine on Google + asked me

I'm curious where do you find inspiration to blog? I've wanted to blog, but I find I'm rather dull and boring with nothing of interest to say.

Good question. Hard question.

Writing on this blog used to be pretty easy for me and any of you who have been reading here since the beginning would have noticed a huge change in the tone of my posts over the last six months in particular. I started this blog as a venting tool. All the things in the world that were pissing me off would end up here where I would curse and moan and make hilarious jokes. Writing those posts were easy because I was just funnelling all my thoughts out of my head through my fingertips and onto the computer screen. They were also pretty fun to read as long as you didn't mind the constant swearing. Eep!

Then I changed. Just a little. I decided that I didn't want to be that girl spewing vitriol all over my blog. Being negative and angry was exhausting and my posts - as much as they were pointing out things that were often true - weren't offering any suggestions as to how to fix the things that made me so angry. Complaining about things is just stupid if you aren't actively trying to change the things that bother you. So I decided to be more positive and helpful.

The hard thing is though, for me, writing positively seemed boring and dull and uninteresting. Sound familiar? My first step was to stop swearing. Reading my old posts is so embarrassing. So full of cussing and not much else. I sound like the biggest bogan on Earth and even though my sister told me one million times (seriously, go check her comments) that I needed to stop swearing, I ignored her because it was just "my way of expressing myself man". Well big sister was right and I fully expect the first comment on this post to be from her saying "I told you so" :) So here we go , yes Lee you did tell me so and I should have listened but...well, I didn't.

I wrote a few great posts that I am proud of in the last six months but I also threw in quite a few filler ones like the whole 30 Day Song Challenge posts. Which have fallen on the wayside a little but for me the point of doing those posts wasn't because I think it is a fascinating insight into my life, it was just to get me on here writing SOMETHING. To get me into the habit of writing. It actually helped a lot because it made me want to keep up the regular posting but it wasn't exactly amazing content.

The posts I liked the most were inspired by real life events and current affairs. Neverender was things I had learned over a tumultuous, stressful and incredibly emotional period of my life that I just needed to share. Having a boyfriend/girlfriend is not the most important thing on Earth was inspired by a whole bunch of status updates on Twitter by MALE friends complaining that "girls suck, I want a girlfriend, why are girls so stupid". Dear Someone More Informed Than Me was obviously inspired by the hundreds of stories and opinions all over the tv, radio and internet that didn't really help me to understand both sides of the issue. I found topics that I was interested in and inserted my opinion, or asked for clarification or told a story. When I go back and read over my blog, it is those type of posts that I enjoy reading the most.

Of course what you write about also comes down to why you have a blog. If you intend to turn it into a business that will make money for you then you need to have a market in mind and write content to suit that market. This blog would never make it because the topic range is far too large and posts are irregular in both length and timing. My other blog is one that I intend to market better and eventually hope to generate a second income from. For now I have other things I am focusing on but soon I will start putting some real time and effort into making that one work. Which for one, means I have to work out what direction I want the content to go in. Blogging for money is a lot more than just putting some adverts on your blog! Content can make or break you.

Practice makes progress. I have always enjoyed writing and I have found it to be an invaluable tool to release pent up frustrations and to talk about topics that are sometimes too heavy for general daily conversation. Writing helps me to sort out my thoughts. If getting the words out to an audience is something you struggle with then I highly recommend signing up to 750 Words. 750 Words is like an online scribble pad or venting board. Everyday you log in, write 750 Words about anything in the world that you want then you hit save and it disappears. Nobody can read it. You get a little stats page about what you wrote and that's it. It is the perfect way to clear your head of the millions of thoughts that race through it on any day, or to practice your writing, or to write about your secret love for The Backstreet Boys without anyone ever being able to find out. It is a tool that really helps me get me into the writing zone.

Recently I have also started asking a friend to proofread my blogs before I publish them. In fact this post here has already been proofread by a friend once and will probably be read again before I finally publish it. This is something I never used to do but I feel it is a great way to pick up mistakes that I don't notice. Sometimes I take a long time to write a post, I am very easily distracted, and after a long time working on the same post my beer goggles come on and I feel like I am writing and reading gibberish! Having a fresh, second pair of eyes, is very helpful in getting a coherent post published.

In a nutshell, start by working out why you want to blog, then work out how you want to come across to your readers and then look for inspiration that relates to those two conditions! Practice your writing and think about getting a friend to proof read your posts before you hit the publish button. Most importantly, have fun with it! If you are hating life writing your posts, it will come through to your readers.

Now it is your turn. How do you find inspiration? Why did you start blogging? Do you have a tool such as 750 Words that helps you?

Leave it in the comments folks

Much Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

Still waiting...

2011-08-10T10:40:00.001+08:00

Our finance is taking so long to come through!

We put in an offer on the house that we wanted subject to finance and the current owners fixing up a few things. Our Mortgage Broker told us we should know within a week or so and it's been a week and a half so I am getting nervous! Especially now with the stock market going crazy I am concerned that they won't give us the money we need and if we can't get finance I.will.cry.

Sigh.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

House hunting and staying up too late

2011-07-21T01:09:00.003+08:00

Uggghhh house hunting!!

We are looking to buy a house which is not as horrible as looking for a house to rent but it is pretty close. At least with buying you feel better about spending a little extra money because it will be YOUR HOUSE, with renting you are spending a ridiculous amount of money to live somewhere generally shitty only to have some uptight bitch threaten you with eviction because there was a tiny speck on the back of the bottom shelf of the laundry cupboard. Or because the lawn is dead because you can't water it because it's the middle of summer in Australia and everyone is on a partial sprinkler ban.

Anyway, we have found a place and today found out we have a good chance we will be able to get enough finance for it but now Dad has put seeds of doubt in my head about whether we should go for it. Steve and I both love it and it is on a big block and is cheap and has a very cool 70's vibe to it, however it has that vibe because it is a 70's house.... also, it is the first house we looked at, and Dad's argument is that we should have a better look around before we decide.I am concerned however that if we keep looking and find nothing, and somebody else gets this house, then we would have lost a house we both loved, that was in the area we want, and that was a bargain.

Any advice in that respect would be much appreciated.

I have been staying up way too late recently. You would think that staying up late would equate with more time being spent on my blogs but no. I have been wasting time on stupid things like YouTube clips and playing games. My theory is that I am staying late because I genuinely adore my alone time and lately I have not been getting any unless I stay up till every one else has gone to sleep. However, staying up late has been making me sleepy all the time and making my skin break out and that sucks. So I am going to attempt to put myself in a strict 10pm (it is already 11.43pm as I write this so it has been going really well) bedtime followed by a 6am wake up. I don't want to sleep more than 9 hours a night, I read somewhere that sleeping longer than that is bad. I also read that it is better for you to sleep in short sections. I bet if I looked I would be able to find somewhere that says you should only sleep on your stomach with one leg out of the bed, one arm raised at a 65 degree angle and you would wear flippers. Just because you read something on the Internet or in the back of Zoo Weekly, doesn't mean it's true.

I have also been making things. Making things is hard when you currently share a house with someone who moves everything you own if you leave it in one spot for more than 30 seconds. I love my Mother but holy hell I am constantly searching for my stuff. Anyway I made a bunch of bows and today I made Dad some West Coast Eagles coloured pillowcases for his birthday and I made Bayley a little monster pillowcase just because he wanted to watch me using the sewing machine. Here are some pictures of the bows I made...

I have partially set up an Etsy store to sell the things that I make but for now it is going on the back burner until we get our own house and I have a dedicated space to make things because at the moment it is like I am working in a shoebox and that doesn't go very well with creativity.

Wish us luck people!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

p.s. When we get our own house I will also be able to set up my worm farm and I am so excited for that!

p.p.s. one of our friends wants to try make Yagerbomb jelly shots. I think Yagerbombs are revolting but am so intrigued as to how they will taste in jelly form. I am betting on them being even worse. I told him that I'd make them for him. If it goes ahead I will post photos and let you know how they tasted.

p.p.p.s. oh my god, arranging those stupid pictures so they published properly was so painful.

Jelly Shots!

2011-07-14T01:17:00.001+08:00

Cointreau, Banana Liqueur, Midori, Blue Curçao and Vodka Rainbow Jelly Shot

I know I know, two cooking posts in a row. Don't worry, as much as I do love to cook this isn't going to turn into a cooking blog...or should it.... No it shouldn't.

Anyway so I made some jelly shots over Easter and a few friends were like whoaa! Then I made some more for a friends going away party recently and a few more people were like "hey how the hell did you do that?" and I may or may not have promised to give them the recipe I used and then I may or may not have completely forgotten to do that for like two weeks. Luckily I am a big beleiver in better late than never so here you go guys!!

It all started when I was reading Regretsy one day and came across this post and was amazed and then clicked through to Jelly Shot Test Kitchen and almost died of joy! Do yourself a favour and look through that blog. It is amazing. After visiting it I did intend on trying out a recipe or two but they looked complicated and I never really go around to it.

Then Mummy dearest bought the My Kitchen Rules cookbook and on page 87 found a recipe for some cake with Frangelico jelly!! Yeah!! It was the easiest recipe ever so I got out every bottle of liquor I could find (exaggeration for dramatic effect) and got to work!

There is an important thing you need to know about me and recipes and cooking. When I am cooking I say a lot of things like "that'll do" and "pffft as if that's enough garlic" and "this'll be way better if I add this and this". For me, a recipe is more of a 'this is how you can make it if you want' rather than a strict set of rules...so when I altered the jelly recipe for the layers I wasn't exact and didn't bother looking up anything about about much gelatin will set how much liquid. As if I could be bothered. I just halved, doubled or kept it as is.

Now here is the recipe...

125ml cold water
60g Castor sugar
8g powdered gelatin
80ml booze
vegetable oil spray
I also add food colouring so they look pretty.

Spray your jelly tin with oil. The recipe says to use a 12 x 12 tin. I just used whatever was in the cupboard.
Stir water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat till the sugar dissolves.
Bring to the boil and sprinkle over gelatine and whisk the shit out of it till it dissolves. Don't be put off by how revolting it smells. It stinks right now but it will go away when you add the alcohol.
Remove from heat and stir in the alcohol and food colouring.
Pour into your tin and whack it in the fridge, wait for it to set, time will depend on what size tin you used, when it's ready turn it out and cut it up.
EAT IT AND ENJOY!!


Liquorice Allsorts Jelly Shots with Baileys and Cointreau. I didn't use Black Sambuca because I wasn't sure my friends would like it. Would have been deelish though!

Allsorts before the cut, you can see where the black bled a little into the middle layer, I think I poured it a little too hot.

These should have had a red layer too but that layer didn't work out unfortunately. That is how I learnt that you shouldn't put paper on the bottom of the container...

Baileys, Cointreau, Glitter Jelly Shot and Rainbow Jelly Shot

Now if you want to get fancy and do layers it is pretty easy but a bit time consuming. First you have to figure out how much jelly to make for each layer then it is just a matter of timing. The Rainbow shots took.for.ever. because I made each batch separately, but for the Allsorts I kind of doubled up a little. I made a big batch for the Cointreau layers (the black ones), poured half then kept the other half aside for later. Much easier!

The layers don't have to be completely set before you pour the next lot, it just has to be firm enough to be able to hold up the next layer. I think it took about 15 minutes or so. It will depend on how big your container is though and how deep the layers are. You'll figure it out! You also have to make sure the jelly mix isn't too hot when you pour it or it will just melt the bottom layer and will look crappy. It should be just warm.

I have heaps of cool ideas for the next time I make shots but if anyone has any ideas for me to try or if you make your own after reading this then please let me know how you go in the comments! Also if you have any questions leave them in the comments too.

Till next time have fun and enjoy your jelly shots!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

Today we made cake...

2011-07-13T00:30:00.001+08:00

Today Bayley and I decided it would be fun to make a cake. However, me being me, we couldn't make any old cake, it had to be some crazy coloured monster cake! It was fun and messy and after it eventually finished baking, tasted pretty ok too. Enjoy the photos!

Bayley sifted the sugar and the flour. I beat the eggs then Bayley gradually added the sugar and flour. He is master of the gradual add!

We split the batter into four and coloured each batch then layered them in the pans. We did a regular size one plus a mini one using Bayley's mini loaf tin that he got with his CSR baking kit. He also got the chef hat and apron with it in case you couldn't tell :) After we finished Bayley licked the spoon and the bowl.

After a ridiculously long time in the oven (we used double the ingredients and it took forever to cook the large cake) it was time to decorate! I made butter frosting with lemon and orange. It was pretty deelish! Then Bayley went crazy with the sprinkles! Messy and fantastic!

The finished products and Bayley gives it the first taste test. Honestly, the cake didn't smell so great when I took it out the oven but it tasted pretty good! The layers didn't work the way that I originally planned but after pouring the second batch of batter I knew it wouldn't work out right. The finished look was a bit tie dye though so we loved it all the same!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Love Carrie and Bayley xoxo xxxx

30 Day Song Challenge - I am stuck!

2011-07-05T23:22:00.000+08:00

So day 9 of the 30 Day Song Challenge is meant to be a song that you can dance to and I am stuck! I don't know what to choose because I don't really go out and dance anymore.

However it occurred to me that I do have two songs picked out in my head that if I was ever to do a routine for Polercise (not likely), I would do it to one of two songs. So I will use them...

First one is ....

E.T. - Katy Perry

This video is the Kanye West version which I don't like so I would use the regular version but go ahead and watch the video so you can fawn over how hot alien Katy Perry is. This song would kick arse to do a pole routine too. I even have an idea of what I would wear. If only I was better at Polercise!!

and second song...get ready to be revolted in me...I already am...

Blow - Ke$ha

It is no secret that I don't like Ke$ha, buuuuut this song would be kinda cool ok? Right? Are you with me? No? Oh dear, I need to go have a shower, I feel so dirty after watching that and writing this.

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

Day 8 - 30 Day Song Challenge

2011-06-22T22:54:00.000+08:00

Day 08: A song that you know all the words to

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

This song kicks arse and is so much fun to sing along to! A little while ago I was talking about this song at work and one of my workmates didn't know what it was. After I recovered from the sad fact that somebody had been living life without Bohemian Rhapsody in it I made it a mission to find it on Youtube and show it to her. Turns out she did know what it was, she just didn't know that's what it was called. Luckily.

Anyway enjoy and sing along!!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx

No More Exams!

2011-06-22T21:47:00.000+08:00

Well my exams are over for another few months and I have about a 6 week break from uni too so I have been celebrating my new found freedom by taking Bayley to Perth to Scitech and AQWA and neglecting my 30 Day Song Challenge! Woops! I will get started on that again shortly.

Have you been to AQWA? This is the second time we have gone and it is just fantastic! I love the Shipwreck Coast exhibit where you stand on a little conveyor belt that takes you under the aquarium. Bayley also loved it despite the noisy school groups that were there on the same day. Going to places like AQWA, Scitech and the zoo, I always expect there to be school groups and as annoying as they can be you always just have to remember that they are often on a short time frame which means if yo hold back and let them go ahead. You can often avoid running into them again. That is what we did with great success! We also had lunch at the café there and I had a surprisingly delicious burger, with a homemade beef patty and all!

Scitech wasn't as great as I remembered when I was a kid but I think it was more because Bayley isn't quite old enough to appreciate most of the exhibits. He loved the obvious ones, that moved or made noise but subtle changes like light globes turning on he wasn't as interested in. We will definitely take him back again once he is a bit older though because if he is anything like his father and stepmother he will develop an interest in that sort of things eventually! If the dinosaur exhibition comes back any time soon we will be there with bells on!

Uni break means I have a few little projects I want to get a start on. I am taking up a second Polercise class, hopefully it will help keep me active and fit over the dreary winter months. I have just ordered some more hair clip supplies and have bought some embroidery supplies too. I am getting crafty! Lastly I am ordering an Italian language book so I can teach myself/maybe go to classes with Tegan. I am going to be a busy little bee!

Song challenge post to come, I am not going to do every day that I missed, I'll just do a few. Oh and I am on the lookout for a good list of must see movies. I found one but a lot of the movies on it seemed like they may have just been there because they are old and not really because they are good. I also want to watch every Marilyn Monroe movie! So please feel free to hit me up with some suggestions. They don't have to be cinematographic masterpieces. Just something you like, and maybe tell me why you like it.

Thanks friends!!

Love Carrie xoxo xxxx