whats going on....

Having taken some time yet again to remember the damn password on this thing.......i swear - one day I will write it down!!!

Plenty of time has passed since I last wrote and had time to write and had time to sit and nut out the password business - and so many things happen.

Whats the buzz in our house at the moment?

Well Jon is going for his second interview for a Head Chef job at the Adelaide Zoo.
Actually he is going to that interview in 30mins - so good luck to him!
Hopefully this job - while keeping him doing the same hours in a day and in a week - will also have him doing less saturday/sundays and evenings .... fingers xxxxxx.
Which will be great! I miss going out with him, and he misses catching up with friends.

Other bits and pieces -
- Lucy begins full time kindy next term
- Aimee is 18months old & is being a very normal 18 mth old - destroying stuff, tantrums & sweetness all in 60 seconds - only to be repeated again & again for the 10 hours that she is awake.
- I have had my lovely varicose veins taken out of my leg, & apart from being incredibly painful in the first week or so - the leg is looking better each day.

Mini Skirts will be mine again!!! ha!

Ha.....

said I didnt have time.... here I am again to prove myself wrong.

wanted to post this picture I our "Tiger" - art work done by Lucy.

Grrrrowwwwwwwllllllll.

gotta love water based markers - they come off with a water - and lots of it.

Ways in which you know your a MUM.... 2

Your one year old wanders in to see you in the laundry - holding a chunk of POO, and throws in on the floor next to you - as if to say "this would be yours"............

A complete clean out

Times are busy in our household - and have been so for the last 5 months - ever since Jon began his new job.
Free time is not as readily available and everything gets put on a list to do - scaling from whats important (like family time and household stuff ) to whats not, and unfortunately blogging and facebook are WAAAAAAYYYYYYYY down the bottom - or should I say they are the bottom.

So forgive me if i never reply to your requests for 'chump biting' or 'Likness Ratings' tests... I just dont have time to spend doing any of it. Although for the positive side - feel free to use my name as one on the 20 people needed to find out the results of said quizzes.... I wont be offended.

Having said we have minimum free time - we are almost at the end of a very long 2 months sorting out the girls bedrooms and my study.
Lucy has gone into her own room, which needed painting.
Seeing Jon only has the whole day of Tuesdays to do anything constructive (while Im home from work) it has taken some time. And then the good old heatwave hit - slowing things even more.
It took us 5 weeks (tuesdays) to paint the room white....
Next tues: we had to swap furniture from one room to the other - what a mess...and then sort out clothes, toys and hundreds of drawings of faces, families, dolls, stickers and general scribble.
Next tues: Aimee's room, cleaning out baby stuff, toys and too small clothes.
Next tues: buy the third (yet wonderful!) ikea storage unit, put it together, which by the way was timed.... speed of 45 mins!! He is after all an expert by now...- move crap out of the way and install.
Next tues: today... sort out said crap, put away stuff and throw out all sorts of rubbish.

Wow.

Hopefully it will all be over soon and we can go back it using our dining room, lounge, family room and hallway for what they were meant for - Not as storage area's.

All this brings me to the reason for writing this blog (while Jon cleans the kitchen and other area's up of the evidence that we have small children living here) and feeling incredibly guilty for doing so - so I shall make it quick.

Gift Bags........

Why? When? How come me?

Why do people continue to give gifts in them? Yes I know they are pretty, and cheap - and they make 'wrapping' a gift a whole lot easier.
When did this all begin? Seems like only in the last two to three years - and suddenly we have been overwhelmed with them...
How come me - why do I have the compulsion to keep them, not wanting to throw out such pretty yet handy bags, in the vain hope of re-using them one day.
But never, Never, NEVER even re-using one......

So tonight - they go.

I know Im a hoarder - but only of things that have some purpose, and maybe someday a place on a scrapbook page - but these bags......

So thats it - I have had enough of them and of the laziness and unfunness that they come labeled with. In the Bin.

Please dont be offended if you are a gift bag giver - I have nothing against other people giving them, to me or my children. I just wont pretend anymore that I too shall do so.

I love unwrapping a gift - just ask my family - I am well known as the one who unpicks the sticky tape so to be able to 're-use' the paper, and unwraps so slowly that they all yell out "just rip it".
I love the anticipation of not being able to see instantly what it is - I love the slow revealing of whats hidden inside - and I love the fact that paper can be re-used......

So I am going to stick to that old fashioned way - whether liked or not.

Ways in which you know your a MUM

* You spend a warm Thursday afternoon trying to pick sticky little Head Lice out of your daughters EYELASHES.......

Yes - we have come home from Holidays at a CP to find that Lucy has somehow been near someone who has the delicate yet determined little creatures - and now has them herself.
We have spent the last week wondering what the little dirt spots are just behind her ears, on her temple and at the base of her hairline... and on the eyelashes of her Right eye...the GP confirmed it - Louse.

ARRRRRGGHHH!

I really assumed that I would not have to deal with this until school days - turns out I was wrong.

Having never had to deal with this myself - yes I have had them but it was always up to good old mum to fix - now 'I da mum' and holy shit I find myself with the problem that needs solving.

We have fixed the hair - and have put off and put off the unfavorable task of tackling the eyelashes. But now it must be done.

We are well prepared - we have googled "how to get nits out of eyelashes", checked the Child and Youth Health website, have been to the chemist, have vaseline, cotton tips, tweezers, face wipes, tissues, a movie, some chocolate for bribing to keep still and best of all a Magnifying glass.

So here goes....

Will keep all those enthralled posted.....

Makes you just itchy thinking about it Huh????

Back...

Haven't had much time to myself lately to do any blogging - now that Jon has his new position my evenings are mainly spent getting myself and the girls tea and into bed - and sometimes cleaning the house gets a look in. Sounds fun Huh.... you betcha.

But have now found myself with a free hour - bliss - so thought I would come and do a little typing.

Will try to do so more frequently if I can - surely 10 minutes out of my busy day cant be too hard to find.... Can it???

Good golly and gee willakers....

Dec 18th so my little computer calender tells me.....

My last post was on October 19th - time just goes. You could almost pinpoint that as the date when Jon began his new job at the Oriental Hotel....

Since then free time has been at a premium - and fun activities are listed according to time needed to do them - money - need and a can I-be-fu**ed-cos-Im-too-tired attitude.

I have had to begin a book - empty to start - and now filled with 'To Do' lists....
* some to do this week (grocery shopping - uuuggghhhh),
* some to do in the next 1-2 months ( like roll over super annuation - ugggggghhhhh!)
* some to do over the next millennium ( like cleaning -double triple and quadrupple uuugghhh)
and ohhh lookey I started another list....

This night shift biso has taken some getting used to. Single mum 5 nights a week - (and just plain lazy the other too - hee hee)

Anyway

life is good, we are good, jon is good, lucy is good, aimee is good and I am good.
So there thats it in a nutshell.

bye.

(till next year - heeheeee heehee haaaa hehee and a ho ho ho)

Ahhh - Some free time to blog....

No matter that it is 10.43pm!!!

Here are some pics from the holiday.....
The view from our bungalow - what a view to wake up to each morning....
This is our island resort - Erakor Resort, surrounded by Erakor Lagoon.
Michelle and Glenn at the beginning of their ceremony.

Well I'm way behind in the Adventures of the Hogan's - and so much happens in such a short time that it would really be too boring to list them all! We have also been extraordinarily busy - both working lots to make up for the time we were away.

So I think I will begin with the most exciting and then work my way down - who knows you may end up reading about my trip to the Gyno!!!
Hmmmmm.

The most obvious and most exciting thing that has happened round here is our little trip to the beautiful Vanuatu...... Sigh..... I can still picture it so clearly.... the warm soft breezes... the lush plants....the tropical cocktails!!!!
What a place - what a holiday.
We went over for Jon's sisters Wedding - to the lovely Glenn (our new brother-in-law), and spent 7 nights on a private island resort - Erakor.

It was a family holiday of giant proportions and the whole shebang went.... oh-but did I forget to mention that our two delightful little girls DID NOT go!!!! Whoooopeeeeee.
My mum (god bless her) had them for the week - took the week of work for it......

What we did: Sailing, Snorkeling, Kayaking, Swimming, Touring, Lazing, Reading, Touristing, Eating and Drinking. For a whole week. Yep I know. How good is that.

The water over there is stunning - still crystal clear @ 8-9 metres deep - and about 23deg. Just perfect.
I had not successfully snorkeled before and was a little apprehensive at first - but am now so glad that I gave it a go... having never seen coral and fish and starfish like that before - I must admit that I was in awe.

Michelle and Glenn's wedding day, was perfect. The ceremony was on the beach, they were bare foot and the waves gently crashing in the background was better than any wedding song I have heard.
After the family photo's, the wedding guests (all 16 of us), headed down for Canapes while they had photo's taken. And then it was onto the reception - a wonderful buffet dinner and some very moving speeches.... I had some tears I gotta admit.

We were all very sad to have to head home to Australia, and other parts of the world, only a couple of days after the wedding - as our time there had been so much fun.
It was also wonderful getting to know Glenn's family, and Glenn for that matter - as I had only met him twice in the 6 years they have been together.

Unfortunately time just slips by and we have now been home for 2 weeks, back to normal life-normal routine and work.

But things are about to change round here again as Jon has another new job....(Michelle if we haven't personally told you about this - we apologise...).
Jon is the new head chef at the newly renovated 'Oriental Hotel' on Magill Rd.
Very Exciting stuff! He starts in 2 weeks time, and he cant wait. I haven't been there yet - but lots of people who have say it is good.

My job is going well, and they have just employed another Pastry Chef. She used to work with us at Michele's Patisserie.... so it is like a reunion there. I am really loving it there - they are great to work for, and are happy for us to give lots of idea's and also implement them.
If you live in the Campbeltown area - watch the space - as this bakery is going places I reckon....

Lucy and Aimee are both happy and healthy.
Lucy is still my delightful (?) little 3 yr old...... not sure how great I feel bout being a mum some days - but other moments certainly make up for it all..... (???)
Aimee is crawling round all over the place, walking round furniture and getting way to confidant for a just 9 month old!

Gosh this sounds like a diary entry....

So that is our adventures for the last few weeks - as usual always busy and never bored.
Jon and I have sat down and had dinner together ONCE! in the last month-and that was last night!
Jon did 65 hours work the week we returned!!! Sucks.
But there you are - thats life huh....

Oh yeah, and onto the gyno..... she had these stirrups.........

4 sleeps to go....

Come fly with me, come fly - lets fly away!!!

Yep, we are finally off to Vanuatu very shortly. We have been planning this trip for almost 18+ months now... and I cant believe its actually here.

We land in Vanuatu at Midnight, and according to the weather forecast - will wake up to a glorious day of 27 deg, sunshine and low humidity!!!
While our friends back home will wake to....rain.... albeit much needed rain, but rain all the same. Sorry fella's - I would put you all in my suitcase and take you with me... but you know how tetchy the customs dudes are these days!!!

This is just a quicky as I still have so much to do - including Vanessa and Nathan's wedding cake - and only 3 shorts days to do it in!!!!
Heeeee heeee heee heee..........