Wordless Wednesday ~ This little Piggy

Sunday afternoon we were on our way to visit my in-laws , driving through the scrub/bush paddocks . [Yes, it very dry here-please send rain]. Suddenly, we saw this pig walking up from the dam.
 

In the 6yrs we have been visiting/living on the farm, we've never seen a pig on either of the two farms. This little [medium- size] Piggy wandered in from somewhere ? Nearest neighbours are a km or more away.

It appeared quite tame , not that I got out of the car. Hub quickly snapped a few photos with my iPad. I was taking some fruit& vegies scraps over to our Nephew's pet pig [white] so we tossed them to this pig instead. It ate hungrily. We drove off. 

It then tried to chase and follow us like a dog. We haven't seen it since. 
 

Wild Emus were spotted out the front at in-laws farm next door on the weekend too.I wonder if the drought is bringing them out searching for food.

 ♥

Blowing out ...

S

truggles ! I have a few dozen.


I don't know about you but even after doing kids' birthday parties for 18-19 yrs , I struggle each year. In 2-3 weeks I have to send invitations out. Their birthday being in school holidays in 6 weeks time.

Last year my friend and I were discussing her twin boys' upcoming birthday. She was asking for my expert opinions how to make it a success and as simple as possible ?

I was glad I wasn't alone in my feelings of overwhelming inadequacy !
I said you are asking the wrong person !

Though I've certainly picked up quite a few tips and tricks in the organisation of my oldest son's birthday parties and in delivering him for attendance at countless other raucous birthday events. My eldest , being our only child for 13 yrs, had yearly birthday parties and each year it was a struggle to find ideas and venues acceptable to all parties.

My own little lads started planning a raucous 6th birthday party with plans to invite a infinite number of 5yr- 6yr olds within days of starting school {80 kindergarteners}. I trembled every time a new friend or three was added to the list. I was filled with absolute fear at the birthday party monster they were creating.

Each day, my head spinning off it's axis, their heads filled with yet more requirements for their own party, 10 different birthday cakes, 20 different foods and 1000 lollies , jumping castles or a pool party {in July} .

Life had other ideas.Thankfully, or really with some disappointment, before the first invite was officially issued. Their birthday was 6 days after I was discharged from hospital for my surgery and in the July school holidays to boot. I'd originally planned for it to be when school resumed. Plans were cancelled. They were only a little disappointed and I'm struggling to make it up to them this year.

My experience ; I know that throwing a party for my twins and a few closest friends is likely to ensure a far more enjoyable experience for me and all involved. Yet, dare I cause a meltdown by only inviting a few, plus we have a few yr 2 children in their class and kindy class mates from last year , soccer team mates ...

Last year we had an impromptu backyard party {at my brother's} with a few friends from our old church & playgroup, their cousins , balloons , the trampoline and a Skylander's cake. They had a ball anyway.

Oh Yes, the children chorus !

Parties are fun, exciting and joyous...

Mums cry ...with money to burn the right planning,

and by breaking the day down into smaller, manageable components.

I reviewed a book last year but it doesn't help we can't host a backyard party or take a risk with a park and the weather in July. We had two local park parties with their friends in January. Too easy for their mums.

Is it wrong to want to throw the kind of birthday party that will be remembered for years to come and spend as little as possible ?....(with as little stress as possible!) 

I am thinking of hosting a Karate /Ninja party , though the centre I rang has yet to host birthday parties and are not too definite. It would be self catered so I can control the food.

I am so grateful for my boys , every day they are my reason for living.I want to make this birthday very special because they bring magic to every day and they have been so patient the last year.

Now before I turn into one of those intensely annoying mums who puts a ridiculous amount of pressure on myself to throw the perfect party I'll go make a cup of tea and come visit your blog.

What do you love or hate about birthday parties ?

Do you struggle too?

 


♥

From all the lands on earth we come

Today's prompt is we were asked to write a post about "Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them "

I ask myself and you "What sets one blogger apart from another blogger ?”

That is one of the hardest questions to ask - it is very challenging to pick -just- 5 bloggers amongst the 100+ I read for different reasons.  What if I exclude someone who I read often and perhaps unintentionally offend !

Not everyone is a writer , not everyone is hilarious and I enjoy the 'depth' of people blogging through challenges, well written or not.




Just saying ...I've been there.All my life I've tried not to compare people. I have never been competitive and nor taken competition too seriously.

I feel very blessed with the people I have met through blogging - the friendship and the connections and the honesty of some bloggers in revealing their own adversity, adventures and triumphs. I love the social side of blogging and connecting with other bloggers and readers. There are also many other fine bloggers who are never included in the Top Blogger lists.

We are one, but we are many 
And from all the lands on earth we come 
We share a dream and sing blog with our own voice: 
I am, you are, we are Australian  bloggers

All of us have traveled different journeys , we bring our baggage into blogging.We all have stories that count and matter. I just don't like naming names because I hated not being picked for the team .

 {Shhh - don't tell anyone but you are my favourite if you are reading right now}.

  ♥

Friends make life more fun

Dredging up my childhood isn't that interesting. Born and raised in Sydney, nothing really big or important ever happened in my childhood . I was happy enough and well loved. Instead I will tell you about my dearest childhood friends who helped make me the person I am today.

Two of my longest friendships are from high school, we met as 11-12yr olds. We are still firm friends almost 34 years later. Until I moved we saw each other for lunch every few months as well as family get togethers once or twice a year. Our husbands are friends too. Their daughters are all adults now, I was a late starter.

My friend D, who is one day older than me, has been a friend since we were 5yrs old. She lives 8 hrs away so we don't see each other much but we keep in touch. I even remained in contact when she was in foster care for 3 yrs (from 9-12yrs old), because my parents knew she was a special friend and facilitated contact.

Flowers from L ' behind her compost '; she said no-one was appreciating them so she picked them for me.

Another very special friend is L, I met her a family holiday in a caravan park, when we were both 16yrs old. Later we became housemates for a year and she would be my gorgeous bridesmaid. Since our tree-change we live 2-21/2 hrs apart and still have a close and strong friendship. I saw L, and her 3 adorable daughters a few weeks ago - they are 6, 8 and 11 - my youngest twin and her youngest daughter gang up against the 'middle' kidlets.They are so funny together and great mates.

I truly value their unconditional love, support and acceptance. They have been my sounding boards, a shoulder to lean on and someone to laugh with or whinge too. They have shared my pain and touched my heart and soul with warm and tender hands.

They all have a lot of patience especially with my hearing impairment and we all share a love of good food , talking and laughing out loud and wine (in the past !)

Have you had the same friends since childhood ?

 ♥

A favourite photo and Behind the camera.

I think like a lot of mothers I don't have many photos of my children and I together . I'm always worried how I look and avoid the camera. I need to remember there is no need to try for that elusive “perfect photo” and just capture a memory instead.

This was taken Sunday after I finished the Mothers' Day Classic .
 I'm so amazed I did it with a PB too.It was a very rewarding and special day for me.

I'm learning to hand over my camera (or iPad) to hubby and trust let him take a few photos.

Do you have a favourite photo of yourself ? 

Are you always behind the camera ?

 

This is my lot in life. It's not a lot, but it's my life.

~ LMS ?
Day 16 Blog Everyday in May

Being diagnosed with Breast Cancer has been the most difficult 'Lot in life' I have ever encountered , up there with losing my daughter, and my husband being diagnosed with cancer 3 yrs ago.

It has also opened my eyes to the fact I am not alone nor unique because of breast cancer..

You can read a few of the posts here

When Life is a Bitch
A big Internet hug
Life is a Bitch 2 
Comfort in Music 
Damn Straight - Double Mastectomy 
Hands of Kindness
Monday Muse and Moan 

Lots of people are fighting their own battles every single day. Depression, Diabetes, Addiction and even the man flu ...

What if we all wore a sign to describe our battle - would you care more about lesser things ?

Or you just adhere to the attitude of "I'm glad it's not me" or "Get over it " when you read some sob stories.

It is something I now think more about before getting annoyed at someone too because they have a whinge about whatever LOT is giving them LOTS of strife.

I digress. I'm working running (or walking) to overcome "my lot" by staying as fit and as healthy as possible.

I encourage others to run too, to fundraise for the cure and to support those already affected by breast cancer. I'm registering for 14km City to Surf - walk or running for Breast Cancer Network Australia. Once I get my fundraising page up I hope I get sponsors !

PS - Even if I never know what your battle or 'Lot in life ' is - I hope you overcome and win , or at least enjoy the fight. :) 

 ♥

5960 reasons to bring back nudity {Giveaway}

credit

I calculated , based on 5 loads of washing per week x 23 yrs marriage , I'm getting close to 5960 loads of washing = 5 x 52 x 23 . A very conservative guesstimate because when my twins were babies and toddlers (and in cloth nappies) I reckon I did 2-3 loads a day minimum. 

I was sent a sample of the new Dynamo Maximum to review. I was interested to see if the Dynamo maximised version had any extra cleaning power. As you know we are surrounded by red dirt , dust , more red dirt (and the odd cow poo).

...and today complete with a little red mud - HOORAY - because we really need the rain.

I mostly use a liquid detergent because we use cold water to wash, as we only have 50L HWS . We sometimes recycle cold shower/bath water too - because - yes we need rain and paying $300 load for water, to flush or wash clothes in, is insane and wicked.

This was some unfortunate woman's washing machine or rather boiler ? ...I found it here when we moved. If I had to use it - it would bring back nudity for sure.

I'm kidding ... seriously what have we got to complain about ? It's an age old problem for women.

My grandmothers used to spend all day washing or more.My MIL often speaks of her & her sisters working in the family guest house, spending 6 hours every day doing the laundry. In 1920-30's the biggest labour saving improvement was the introduction of gas boilers to replace the wood fired coppers.

I remember my mum having a twin tub and having to haul washing from one side to other to spin.
They were small loads too, so it took forever.

Electric washing machines may have shaved hours off time spent cleaning so women could enjoy more leisure time but they still spent hours creating a 'perfect' home for their families...No Facebook or Latte dates for these mums.

The 1950s saw the introduction of fish fingers, electric fires, washing machine, ink and toilet paper (thank goodness* a recent survey of my FB readers said TP was one of the best inventions). Though appliances, like washing machines and refrigerators, were so expensive they were out of reach for many. Mums were left doing their washing by hand, because only

33 per cent of households had a washing machine. Only 15 per cent had a fridge and freezers and tumble dryers were scarcely heard of.

Women from all classes tried to find excuses ways to get relief from doing laundry.We have got it good sisters ! No filling buckets with water, no boiling water, no grating soap flakes, no scrubbing boards and stirring dirty clothes with a washing stick.

I found the Malley's one out the back at the farm and I'm grateful I'll never use for it's intended purpose. (I think they are selling on ebay etc for >$150 ~ in mint condition ).

To be honest I wasn't sure what it was or did... boil water mainly I was told.

Thankfully , we just have sort colours (I do sometimes), place clothes into the machine, add detergent - like Dynamo Maximum ...press a button then come back in 30 - 40mins to remove the clean , fresh laundry.

Environmentally conscious , I peg them on the line or in the dryer only if absolutely necessary ...easy. (Don't talk to me about folding - I hate it - but I'm loving it more now I can make packet undies and packets out of everything -thanks to Gemma)

I'll stop whinging right about now. Our grandmothers would never have had time for social media with all the time they spent washing (& general cleaning) and imagine chopping wood to do the washing.

Are we soft ?

A few weeks ago we visited my brother's new farm and one of my boys fell in fresh cow dung out in far paddock. I shouldn't have said - "You're not coming in my car " because he burst in tears and was overwrought with emotion. It was ALL my fault for not bringing extra clothes too - he said

So he went in my Brother's car back to the house and then we found a pair of my nephew's tracksuit pants for him to wear.

The other twin was crying because his trackpants were full of prickles so I had to de-prickle them while he sat whinging in his undies it was my fault for not bringing pj's. Unfortunately, Dynamo does get prickles out of anything I had to pick them out, painfully, 1 by 1.

Anyway , with long arms  we placed the smelly ones in a plastic bag , tied it tight and tossed it in back of the car - I remembered 2 days later. So hubby pre-soaked them in the old sink.
-

and the stain was ugly on grey trackies. Well my worries were over - this was the result.

Also keeping my Ollie & Max shirt very white !

So I digress. Dynamo Maximum ticked all the boxes for me - clean washing without compromising the environment.

• Cold water friendly (energy saving+) It’s a liquid, so no worries about having to dissolve powder or re wash out powdery stains (I hate that) 
• Available in top and front loader variants.

• Dynamo Maximum complies with industry standards for phosphorus and biodegradability

• Worked for me -getting rid of the farm dirt, grotty twin boys & hubby's workgear plus adventures with rogue pooping cows,grime and spag bol and whatever this stain was - the first time. 
• Dynamo Maximum has minimal environmental impact with maximum stain removal power. 100% recyclable bottle or you can use Dynamo refills

Go on you know you want to try it too !
Well here is your chance!
Leave a comment- telling me...

What's your favourite labour saving appliance ?
What couldn't you live without ?

Two lucky readers will win Two x 2L Dynamo Maximum liquids with each prize valued at $32.98 each.

Australia addresses only.
Closes Monday 27th May.
Enter as many times as you like.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Dynamo and Digital Parents Collective and I received a complimentary bottle of Dynamo Maximum - however opinions expressed are purely my own

Wordless Wednesday ~ Mothers' Day Classic , I did it !

Hubby is funny & creative ! Saturday Breakfast.

Penrith Fog 6.30am !

Best Face Artist Ever !

I did it - 4kms.