Whats on my phone

Please excuse the amount of pictures this week as I didn't post the weekly edition of "whats on my phone" last week so I have 2 weeks worth of photos to share today.

My extremely messy desk at work!

 Lilah enjoys colouring on whatever scrap pieces of paper she can find

 Don't make me call Grandma!. 

1 of the many tantrums Lilah threw this week

 Lilah brings home half the sandbox from Daycare every day

 BBQ with friends

 I had to starve myself for the week after eating this meal.  Pasta, creamy sauce, Prosciutto...all the fatty things!

 "I don't really like this pasta mom, so I think i'll just throw it all over the floor"

Our floor looks like this after each meal pretty much. 

 I got the dogs new tags cut and I think this one suits Spud better?!?!

DIY Yogurt!



The Birds & Old Routines

I know this may sound strange but the birds sound different here than they do in Canada.  Every morning I hear them singing away, and it just reminds me where I am.  I often blissfully wake up, and start my day then I hear the birds and they just stop me in my tracks and remind me that I am not in Canada anymore, and I am what feels like worlds away from my family. 

When I lived in Canada I pretty much had the same routine as I do now, minus 1 child.  I would get Eve ready for Daycare in the mornings, head to work for the day (I worked full-time), pick Eve up, make dinner, bath, read to her and put her to bed.  Hubs worked straight nights in Canada so would often be sleeping.  After I put Eve to bed each night I would call my mom.  We talked every. single. day.  Even though it's been almost 2 years since I've had that routine, I often still grab the phone once I get downstairs after putting the girls to bed.  Old habits die hard!. 

Almost every Sunday in Canada we would get up, get ready and head over to my moms for the day.  Again, after almost 2 years I still wake up on Sundays and get dressed, get the girls ready - but here I have no where to go. 

As much as I miss home, and think about my family every. single. day, theres these few little habits that I just can't seem to get out of.  I wonder if I will ever wake up on a Sunday and feel like I don't have to go anywhere?.  I wonder if I will ever feel like I don't have to call my mom every night?. 

It's Monday....AGAIN!

Monday's seem to really creep up on me.  I only work Monday-Thursday so technically Thursday night for me is the start of my weekend.  Thursday evening is my favourite day of the week.  I savour it because it's the start to 3 days off - 3 days to spend with my girls and do something fun.  Than as soon as I know it, it's Sunday evening and i'm getting prepared for yet another week of work.

It's Monday morning now, and I thought I would just share how my weekend was.  This is typically how my weekends go.  We don't usually have any concrete plans because of the nature of Hubs job and the call-ins/Shift Work.

Friday I went shopping with a friend and then Hubs and I went out for dinner and had a few drinks and enjoyed our night out without the girls.  They were asleep when we left and asleep when we got back - so they had no idea we had even gone out.  Hubs' brother was at our place watching them.

Saturday Hubs had to start work at 1, so we didn't get up to much in the morning.  We had his brother staying with us all weekend because his parents were away in Brisbane (his brother is 14).  Hubs' brother had his grand final Basketball game, Saturday afternoon so I took the girls to that then headed home so Lilah could have a nap.  I rented season 4 of Dexter on Sat night and parked myself on my couch (after the girls were in bed ofcourse), and watched Dexter until almost midnight.

Sunday morning we got up, and I had to get on the phone straight away to look for my mother-in-laws dog who had escaped the night before.  We called the Lost Dogs Home and she had been dropped off there the previous night.  They closed at noon that day so we had to go pick her up before then and pay her bail of a whopping $77.00!.  We then headed back to Sunbury, I dropped Hubs off so he could get ready to go on afternoon shift again, then the girls and I headed to the airport to pick up the in-laws.  Sunday evening rolled around, and I thought "here we are again".  I had to start getting everything ready (washing, ironing etc), for the work week.  Put the girls to bed and parked myself on the couch again to watch some more Dexter!

Now here we are - Monday.  I had a little glitch in my morning.  I got up at 7:30, and thought "shoot, I better hurry and get in the shower and get the kids up, dressed etc".  Did all that and got downstairs to find that I'd neglected to change the alarm clock back so it was really only 6:30 when I got up, not 7:30!.  So with all my extra time this morning, I started my dinner!.  I put a roast in the crock pot, so I don't have really anything to do pertaining to dinner when I get home other than putting in more veggies.  Gotta love that!.

How was your weekend?

20 things....

Here's 20 random things about me that you may or may not have known.  I bet even my faithful readers (My mom and Grandma) may not know some of these things. 

1).  I really don't like writing with a medium point pen - it must be fine point.

2). I eat my food one thing at a time.  I also don't like the gravy or whatever sauce is on my plate to touch the other foods. 

3).  My favourite chocolate bar is a Skor bar.  Unfortunately you can't get them here in Australia (well you can, but only at specialty shops and they cost like 3 dollars a bar!). 

4).  I love Popcorn...with that Ketchup seasoning on it!

5).  My ultimate dream job would be to be a Midwife or a L&D Nurse

6).  I love to play Poker and other casino games like Blackjack, Craps, Roulette

7).  I love Cats and would have 10 of them if Hubs let me!.  I'll be that crazy cat lady when im 80 in Walmart with my trolley stacked high with tins of cat food! ha ha

8).  I absolutely HATE the Dentist!.  I get nervous before an appointment and tend to cancel.  Luckily my Dentist is my father-in-law, and my sister-in-law works at the Practice, so I don't get to cancel!

9).  I have an incredible memory for telephone numbers.  I still remember my telephone number from when I was 5!.

10).  I am the ultimate yo-yo dieter!.  I have pretty much tried every diet out there and have yet to stick to anything. 

11).  I love people.com and read it every single day

12).  The car I have now is the first automatic car i've had.  I've had about 6 cars since I got my license and they've all been manual.

13).  I do not eat fish...and I don't think it's because I don't like the taste.  I think it's all in my head!

14).  I love getting my hair and nails done.  Call me high maintenance, but I love it!

15).  I prefer white gold instead of  yellow gold

16).  I love trying a new recipe and love to cook (when I have time)

17).  I love a good book.  If it doesn't catch my attention within the first few pages though I put it down.  I do sometimes start 3 books at time and keep going back and forth.  It's a bad habit.

18).  I love smelly things.  Candles, oil diffusers - anything that makes my house smell pretty

19).  I absolutely despise smoking.  I can't stand the smell...it just makes me want to vomit

20).  I LOVE Tupperware!

I struggled a bit to think of all these things, so I asked my mom in our MSN chat and she named about 100 things about me.  Amazing how much your mother knows about you!.  I love my mom!

Whats on my phone?!

It's Sunday evening and i've just finished 178543 loads of laundry, folded it and put it all away.  I've also done the shopping, cleaned the house, played with the girls, fed the dogs, fed the kids, bathed them, did Eve's reader and other reading homework and now i'm sitting in front of my Laptop having a drink!.  I feel good that i've been so productive.  It's all in preparation to the start of yet another week of work, school, daycare, thinking of what to have for dinner, drop off's, pick-ups etc. etc... - all you mothers out there know exactly how I feel!. 

This was our week in phone pics:

Cheeky Girl!

OH SO yummy homemade chicken parmigiana!!.  It was delicious.  Yep, I gave myself a pat on the back for this one! 

My little chicken devouring and loving her bowl of cut up pears and apples. 

Can you tell that we are a house full of girls?!.  We do a load of "pink" each week - amongst the whites and dark loads!

Took a trip to Costco - $$$463.00 later!!!!

What can I say other than she insists on eating yogurt by herself!!

Lilahs trying to put her shorts on!

Oh what a life!.  My cat, Sweetie hasn't a care in the world. I think her daily dilemma is whether to sleep on my bed, or sleep in the window!. 

Lilah loves Molly!

My little Leftie!.

We sit on chairs backwards in this house. 

My Sunday night drink!.  Low Carb beer.  So tasty. 



Smack!

The title of this post seems like it could be funny, but it's a mushy and gushy one.

I'm almost 2 years into my move here to Australia.  2.whole.years. Can you believe it?.  I can't.  I try and not think about the fact that it will be 2 years since i've seen my mom, rest of my family and my friends.  I saw my sister last year - so thats a whole year since i've seen her too. 

I go about my daily life appearing to be happy and content.  Ok, correction - I am happy and I do love my life here but theres always something missing.  Then Sundays roll around and S.M.A.C.K!.  It hits me and stops me dead in my tracks.  That was the day we almost always went to my parents and spent the day there and made a nice yummy dinner.  Sometimes my sisters and I would fight, but we always had a good family filled day.  I miss that so much.  I really hate Sundays now and always try and still make a yummy dinner for the girls, hubs and I. 

So as much as I may seem to be happy i'm always missing my family.  Nothing or no one could ever come close to measuring up to them.  I will forever love them and miss them terribly and feel that guilt I talked about in a previous post. 

I miss them.....

Whats on my phone!!!

I've been wanting to post this for a while but was having trouble figuring out how to get the pictures off my iPhone and onto my Laptop -did I mention I'm not very computer literate?!?!

I managed to get them on here and thought that since I rarely have my camera handy but always have my phone handy I would blog each week about whats on my phone.  I love having a phone that takes pretty decent pictures because i'm able to capture those moments when the kids do really silly and cute things.

This was our week in phone pictures:

 Lilah insisted on pushing the little trolly in Bunnings - for my Canadian readers, Bunnings is like Home Depot

 I got a new 2007 Honda Accord!.  LOVE IT!!!!

Have I mentioned how difficult Lilah is lately?!.  Well I think I honestly had forgotten how much work and how demanding 17 month olds can be!.  We've had a few time outs this week and this is one of them.



Needless to say, Lilah's not very thrilled about being in time out!



 She threw a fit to get this juice box.  I gave in.  I'm a terrible mother - I know.  I shouldn't give in to her, but it was definitely easier than having another tantrum and another time out.

Somehow Lilah got into the markers.  I turn my back for 1 second and BAM...she's into something!  I asked for the marker back and the picture below was her reaction to handing it over!. 

 The pictures below is Lilah's reaction once I had to take the marker away before she coloured on the walls!

 I got my tattoo coloured in on Friday

And we finished our week on Sunday evening with some fun in the bath.