All Things Mum

The kids nagged me about getting up our Christmas tree so we spent a good part of Saturday doing it. I didn't make the mistake last year of putting up the tree first and then putting up the icicle lights across the back. This time lights go up first, then the tree.   Much easier, especially when it's done by hubby. I did buy a new set of blue bulbs for the tree from Big W and the Merry Christmas sign under the t.v. matches them. I went with a blue and white theme (sort of) this year and I think it turned out nicely. My son was meant to make a Nativity set for school. He is driving me nuts at the moment. He has been diagnosed with a combined type ADHD and his concentration levels are giving me and his father frustrations like no other.   Anyway, he was meant to bring in a shoebox and other bits to make a Nativity scene. I had remembered that I bought this panel of fabric from Spotlight a few years back because I thought it would come in handy one day...

Last year I met up with hubby in San Francisco after his work conference finished up. It was a long trip marred by the fact that I went to the wrong terminal and ended up missing my connecting flight. I also missed the second flight and wound up tearful and jetlagged while getting my ticket filled at the children's line at Southwest but the lady was nice enough to do it for me. I would have just cried otherwise. Then the first flight where my bags went was delayed by 5 hours so I was in SFO Airport requiring the baggage place to track it down and thankfully send it to me later to my hotel. Needless to say, I wanted to avoid this at all costs for this particular trip. So, this time my bags were checked in again at LA to the baggage transfer people at LA and I was told to go to Terminal 7 , which is like a 10min walk outside of the building. I was messaging hubby at this time. Now that there are automated kiosks you don't need to wait in a big line to get your ticket. ...

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been away for a while. In New York City sans kids!!! I met up with hubby in San Francisco and we then went to the eastside. I can't tell you how jet-lagged I was by the end of this trip. Anyway, two more aeroplanes (and a half hour midnight delay in Chicago) later, we finally made it to New York. I'm liking all the new automated ticketing kiosks they are using these days though. I was a bit anxious about LAX but it wasn't as bad this time around. Plus, I was messaging hubby as to where I should be going. My luggage went straight through to NYC so I didn't need to pick it up and walked all the way out to Terminal 7. But I'll leave that drama for another time. I can't remember much about Saturday (the day we landed) but I can tell you that Sunday morning we headed to church at St Patricks Cathedral. It's only a 7min or so walk from our hotel. New York is pretty easy to get around by foot. So wear comfy shoes. The Cathedra...

  Most things with me are last minute. So for this Father's Day I didn't pick up anything until the day before the actual day. I actually wanted to pick this up last year but had that crazy idea that "hey, I could sew up one of these myself!" excuses and didn't end up buying him one. You sewists know that one! So this year I went with the realisation that  "I've got no time to sew let alone do anything for myself" so I went with the wise choice of buying this little Lynx toiletries bag. It's a nice colour and size, comes with a body wash and body spray. He can use it when he goes off again to San Francisco at the end of this month. No, it ain't Christmas, it's the rest of his Father's Day pressies (include the Lynx bag at the back) Can you guess that triangular shaped one in the middle? These are gifts the kids bought from school. This is how you wrap a little bracelet. I call it the accidental fussy-cut package! M...

Seriously, I'm making something. It's an act of charity. A little hooded top which is part of a religious thing. I'll explain more later. But good news is I actually cut out a pattern! Trying to eat well to fit into a dress in three weeks. Eeeck. Have you been through the 'gotta wear a dress' diet. Well it ain't working here!!! Lol. Sunday bbq's. Need I say more? Lamb for dinner. You can't go wrong. I'll be back soon. You know what it's like... Hectic!

Google remembered my birthday! Haa ha. I'm feeling older. You know that feeling. You kinda feel like something should be different and it is... just not what you were expecting. I recently took a week off because I required a hospital visit to emergency and a few blood tests. All is well though. Thank GOD for that. I am very thankful for all the good things and now even for the bad things. My motto moving forward is going to be "What ever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." It's true. So things are moving along. Kids are well and mostly doing good in school. I'm doing well both at work and at home. Not great but everyone says "How do you do it?" We answer "We don't. We just get by." Lol. Seriously we just do the basics. Even those we don't always get right. I've been itching to get back into sewing. I really want to do more than just sew up holes and tears. I was thinking of this pattern below: It looks really p...

Hi there. My name's Kim and I've been so busy you may have thought that I've dropped off the planet. However, I am still here and still busy as always.  I made the insane decision the other day to take all the kids with me after school to the store to pick up groceries so they would have food for school. They seem to eat out the pantry quicker than I stock it. It was a bit chaotic but I managed to get what we wanted and the kids were happy. I tell you, having three in school and working 4 days a week plus charity work tires me out but I'm praying and taking these as they come. I need to plan/organise more often. Summer has ended down here but we've enjoyed some gloriously hot weekends so we made the most of them and went to Wet N Wild cos we have season passes. I get to remove some tan lines while hubby takes the older two on rides. They really enjoy it and I enjoy it too. The weather is getting cooler though heading into Autumn/Winter. So, School...

Happy 2016. I hope it's a Sweet 16 for you all. NYE was spent eating more seafood at mums. It was fun. We danced the night away. In the dark. It was good times. Yeah. That's me. Maybe it was the Moscato but it's yum and sweet and not like wine. I drove up to Salamander Bay for our annual holiday but it happened to rain. Like torrential rain. I was scared while I was driving and doing about 100kms on the freeway. Barely able to see the road. But we made it and there were huge puddles everywhere. We had a big ankle deep one right in front of our apartment/townhouse. I was just glad to arrive. One of my sisters made banana fritters. I tell you they.are.the.bomb. I could eat them everyday. We pretty much sat and ate most of the time or did short trips to the shopping centre. This was the townhouse at Oaks Pacific Blue Resort. Plenty of room for us to sit and play inside. I only wish it hadn't rained.every.single.day we were there except the day we left of ...

Merry Belated Christmas everyone and a very Happy New Year. If you were like me, you were flat out with holiday things and leaving everything last minute. We had a half day Christmas Eve so Missy came with me to work and enjoyed meeting my workmates. The kids enjoyed Christmas at their grandparents and we had a good old Aussie bbq on the day. It was the first time that it hadn't rained for a few years so we really enjoyed it. I made some brownies and that was about it. I left my Christmas shopping for the last few days and went shopping practically every day to pick up bits and pieces. I don't recommend this method but hey, it worked for me. I avoided traffic and shopping queues by either going early in the morning or parking close-by and walking the rest of the way to the shops. Funny enough, I bought things for myself rather than for other people, lol. A bit of retail therapy goes a long way. You can't live down here without feeling the heat and boy w...