Looking for a house without bears

(image source)

I feel like I have Goldilocks syndrome when it comes to my house hunting adventure. 

Too small, too far, too ugly.

I have discovered that waiting for an open inspection is like waiting for a job interview. You size up the competition on sight, but what do you really know about them? Sure you arrived in a "better" car, but they are "better" dressed. Then there's the uncomfortable part when you're trying to look at rooms to work out if your furniture will fit in them while you try to over hear what other prospective tenants are asking the real estate agent.

I have to be honest I have hardly any experience at this sort of thing. The first time I moved out of home I lived with one of my friends in a house that was owned by her parents (super cheap rent, oh those were the days). Then I moved to London where I lived in a house with about 7 other people, the only reference you needed was in the form of a months rent paid in cash. When I came back I was VERY fortunate that my parents had a bungalow in their back yard and I lived there until P and I moved into our current home. Which he brought before we were a "couple" and I was temporarily living in Canberra for work. Oh yeah the house I stayed in for the three months I was away for was sorted out by work, so again no inspections. So looking for a new home for us is a new and sometimes daunting experience for me.

This weekend I have another place to look at. The street's name is the same name I had chosen if Sadie had been a boy, so that's a good sign right? 

Hopefully this place will be just right!

Meat Free Mondays

 Tonight at my place it's Meat Free Monday. 

Did you know that committing to a meat free meal once a week can help combat the fight against global warming? If you're interested red more here

For years I was a "semi-vegetarian". I would occasionally eat chicken and seafood but my main food source was vegies. I think I started eating meat again when I started living with a red blooded carnivore and couldn't resist just a little taste of spag bol.

Even as a young child I would favour vegetables over meat and it now seems that Sadie has very similar eating habits to me. For a while I was worried about her not getting enough meat, but she is perfectly healthy and there are plenty of children in the world that survive without meat altogether.

Last week I was excited to make the super yummy

Pumpkin and Chickpea curry , last time I made it Sadie had seconds .Last week she spat the first spoonful out and had a banana and naan bread for dinner. ARRGGGHHHHH!!!!

On the menu tonight is Baked Mushroom Risotto with some pumpkin added for colour.

Fingers crossed the kid eats it tonight. Worse case scenario - I've got a loaf of garlic bread and the fruit bowl is full!!!

Can I just add how ace is taste.com.au.

Goodbye cookbooks that take up precious shelf space, my trusting computer this chef's best friend.

Point & Shoot

The excitement of my weekend may just be the batch of ANZAC biscuits that I baked yesterday.They are a bit naughty though, I melted our remaining easter eggs to top them. MM MMM, MMMMMMMM!

A very lazy weekend was had in this house. Daddy was finally home for A WHOLE DAY!!!!

So while Sadie shadowed her dad, I got some boring household chores done. Did I say boring!!!

We did take a moment of reflection for ANZAC day. "The Last Post" always gives me chills but I must admit I was a bit teary this year. I was very thankful that my cousin is back on Aussie soil recovering after being involved in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan earlier this year.He was in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and it was great to see he, he's now back in Brisbane for rehabilitation and is on the road to recovery. So hearing stories of the soldiers that haven't returned from previous wars really hit home.

This munchkin did make me laugh a lot this weekend though. Especially as she kept reaching for the biscuits with a couple of her favourite words

"More?"

and "Yummy"

Can't wait to see if any of the other point & shooters had bigger adventures than us

Mother's Day

With Mother's Day just around the corner I thought I would have made up my ridiculous wish list by now. But I'm struggling a bit. 
You see when it comes to birthdays, Christmas, mother's day etc I totally think that gifts should be things you want, not things you need. Practical is boring. Sure I need skin care and new (Peter Alexander) PJ's but that's everyday things that I can get myself. So after a bit of brain racking (?) this is what I have come up with for my wish list.

A beyond snapshots online photography class 

These House Of Harlow shoes 

 

My love for Marc like no other

both from shopbop

then there's always this or remember this post, or this one

Two weeks to go, now what to get fir my mum?

Home sweet home pt2

Dear Universe,


Following on from my previous post, I thought I would let you know what my required preferences are to make a house my home.


* A living room with enough room for at least one of my sofas and unit (Both sofas would be even better). Said living room also needs to have enough room for Sadie to play.
* A small back yard that welcomes our dogs.
* A front fence with a small area for Sadie to roam without stepping in dog poo
* A CLEAN bathroom and functional kitchen that has enough space for our oversized fridge/freezer.
* 3013 postcode


Bonus features would be
* A third bedroom
*Off street parking
*White walls 


I think that's it, so now that it's out there.......

Home sweet home

(weheartit)

Until I had to do it I never realised looking for a house to rent is so much harder than looking for something to buy. When buying you spend a massive amount of money on a place to call your own and if you hate the colour of the walls you can paint them, whatever colour you like. Or you could just remove the wall altogether. When you rent you are living in a place that is to someone else's taste and you can't do a lot about it. While looking I have discovered that there are many people with, lets just say unique taste!


I am beyond positive that we will find tenants for our place in a heartbeat, that is not even a concern. But I need to find somewhere for us to live before I had over my front door keys finding somewhere to call home, well it is starting to stress me out a bit. You see we have a mapped area of where we would like to live, we also have a budget and we also have pets. These three factors don't seem to be easily compatible, so another weekend of house hunting it shall be.
So fingers crossed that somewhere live-able and lovable comes my way. Or that the stars align with our lotto numbers and I can't buy a place that I can smash down the walls of!!

Point and Shoot

Peek a boo.

Here's my entry for this weeks point and shoot

I took advantage of the return of the sun and think I may have washed every item in my house, so much so that I had to use the inside airer. 

Sadie thought this was ace and has now found her new peek a boo spot.

She is on awesome overload at the moment. I discovered on Saturday that she has learnt (?) a new element of fear, or a way of dealing with it at least. We were watching Lazy town and there was a snow monster, she sat on my knee with her hand over her face every time it came on screen. Obviously I don't like to see her frightened but it was extremely cute.

Last week in my haste to get my post done before rushing off to work (ahh Mondays) I forgot to properly explain my point and shoot. You see my photo was actually taken by Sadie. While she was taking photos of us (and our ears, top of heads etc.) my niece was snapping away at her. Some people freak at my willingness to let her touch and hold grown up stuff, but I figure the sooner she learns to treat things carefully the better. And who knows maybe I am nurtuing a future photographer

Just 5 minutes

With great intentions, I sat at my computer to blog about my life of woe, but alas I heard the (insert motorbike noise here) of the postie and look at the little goodie he left in my letterbox. 

So kettle boiled and easter egg stash raided, I'm takin' 5.

mixtape blog and you can order here 

I am very proud to say that Justine, the creator of Mixtape is one of my very dear friends and this zine is something I have seen her develop and nurture over the years and I think she has done an awesome job of this issue, especially considering the fact that she has bubba #2 arriving in just over a week. 

I love you Juzzy xoxo

Sisters are doin' it f or themselves - Point and Shoot

I'm playing point and shoot with fatmumslim again

I'd like to introduce my lil sister and BFF. This is us at about 1.00 p.m. yesterday, I would say in- between entree and lunch because we look like we can still move before stuffing our faces with garlic prawn goodness!!!!

My lil sis has a wicked sense of humour, is smarter than she would admit and has some sweet lasagna making skills. I might also mention she is the mother of three girls aged 10, 6 and 4 and manages to survive with ONE bathroom!

You're my hero. Love you xoxo

Fever isn't such a good thing!

What a mixed bag the last few days have been. 
Friday night I went goo goo for GaGA. I took my niece to see Lady GaGa and we had a ball. Even if you're not a fan of her this chick has TALENT, but I might come back to that, I have some strong feelings about things GaGa related and this is my soapbox to air them!!
Leaving the house on Friday night wasn't easy though as Sadie has been unwell with a viral infection, combined with some grief from her back teeth moving around. This has resulted in high temperatures, bad sleeping and a constant need to be attached to her mumma 24/7. The weird thing is she would have little bursts of hyper energy when I'd think YAY the road to recovery, but alas an hour later temperature up and mood down.
My lovely lil sis came by on Saturday, initially she was going to hang out with Sadie so I could get my garage organised for a big clearance sale I'm planning, but that didn't go according to plan, with a child attached to my hip. We did manage to make some room to move though.
Sunday we celebrated the baptism of my cousin's daughter. I was a bit anxious about Sadie at the church, after her initial bout of chattering away (showing off!) she feel asleep in my arms for the remainder of the service. We then had a great lunch and although Sadie wasn't her usual cheery self, she cheered up with a bit of sugar and some more playtime with her cousins

Is it wrong to be jealous of my own child's wardrobe?

Waiting for feral.....

This child has consumed more chocolate in the last three days than she has in her whole life. And there is still a month's supply in the cupboard!!!!

April Fools

Best april fools joke EVER!!!

Last night while trying to cure my insomnia with some web surfing I saw on Twitter that the next designer collection for Target (USA) was going to be by Chanel. My eyebrow was raised, but desperate for sleep, I thought I would investigate a bit further when I woke.

I forgot the date!!!

Workin' 9 - 5, um try 6 'til ??????

I currently work two days a week. When I say days, I mean 5 hour shifts. And by work I mean paid work.  Back in the "old days" of working full time, I would easily work the same amount of hours in one day that I currently do in a whole week . 

 Now my full time job doesn't have set hours, incentive bonus's or even an end of year Christmas party. The work I do now is not financially rewarding and let's just say that mopping the floor every day is not exactly satisfying.

OK that may have been a bit of a fib, there is a small amount of satisfaction having a clean house, even if it only last for a grand total of 3 minutes.

Lately I have been thinking how nice it would be to have that full time pay packet. To not have to think twice about buying a new nail polish, a pair of jeans, eating out or NEW UNDERWEAR.

But then I hear that little voice, not the one in my head, the one who's most used word is mummy (or Dora). And naked nails and mismatched underwear don't seem that bad.

Being a mum is the best job ever