I have been featured in the Sunday Sip

Hello my lovely ladies and jelly spoons, I'm just popping in on my way to the Bahamas (I wish) to let you guys know that an interview I just did with the ladies over at More than Mommies has just been posted.

To see the full interview, plus much more from these lovely women, please check their website out here

Tips for surviving Pinterest

So everyone here has heard of Pinterest yes? If you haven’t please tell me which rock you have been living under for the past year, and is there enough room for me in there too? For the rest of us non rock-dwellers, we all know that Pinterest is, like most fandoms, something you just don’t get if you don’t participate. While us pinteresters talk about boards and pinning and crafts and Mod Podge, the non pinteresting people just stare into space with an incredibly bored look on their face.

But even if you are Pinterest’s biggest fan, you will know that not everything goes to plan when using the ideas you get from there. And sometimes nothing goes to plan at all. And then there are the times that you end up burning your house down while trying to make grilled cheese sandwiches.

Luckily for us the rise of websites like Pinterest has also given birth to websites aimed directly at laughing at the failures of people who try the things they pin. For a good belly laugh as well as a good directory of what not to do when trying any of the pins you can find, check out craftfail or the wonderful blog Pinstrosity. There is also the hilarious Pintester, who I have mentioned in a previous post here.

So for any of you who are seasoned Pinterest fans, or for anyone out there looking to dip their toe into the waters, I have come up with a fool-proof plan for surviving any visit on any board anywhere on the website. Please take this as a reference next time you wade through the pins.

1. Avoid anything that looks deceptively easy

So if anyone tells you that you can bake a perfect soufflé in less than five steps, take a giant step back and press the bull#$%^ button. There is no such thing as a soufflé in less than five steps, or even less than ten steps. In fact the first five steps should be dedicated to egg whites alone and would probably go along the lines of keep beating, keep beating, almost done, keep beating, I know your hand is sore but just keep beating. Remember the age old saying if it looks to easy to be true, that is probably because it is.

2. Avoid anything with glitter

Glitter is the herpes of the craft world. Once you have it, you can’t get rid of it. As I type this, I am sitting in a pool of sparkly tiny metal flakes, thanks to my baby sister’s decision to have a glitter and sequin themed 21^st birthday party almost two weeks ago. Two weeks ago and many goes with the vacuum cleaner and I still can’t get the @#$%@ stuff out of my carpets. We have a running gag in our house where we try to describe what Edward Cullen has been doing in our house to explain away all the glitter you can find layering every flat surface and a few non-flat ones.

Image source

Nuff said

3. Avoid anything that calls a Mason Jar an everyday household item

The same goes for Cream of Tartar, or resin, or glycerine. For some people these may be every day household items, but for the most of us, the inclusion of the words Mod Podge in a tutorial means a special trip to your local craft store and then hours of frustration and hair pulling while you try to learn how to use this new ingredient you hadn't heard of before today. If you find something you want to try with foreign sounding ingredients, buy them first and play with them a few times before you start tackling the big projects.

4. Avoid anything that Martha Stewart says is easy

There is a rumour going around the internet (started by me) that Martha Stewart is a sorcerer who sold her soul in order to be the best crafter in the world. While she may be able to make any meal look good, (see here for proof) her estimation on how easy a project is going to be is in fact a perfect indication that this is going to take several years off your life. If you can get through a Martha Stewart project without needing to be institutionalised, or at best resorting to voodoo to try and rid the world of the evil spirit that has possessed her, then you are a stronger person than I am.

Image Source

5.  Always make sure the pin links to a proper tutorial

This one is a big one, and a huge source of frustration to me and I’m sure millions of other people who try to copy something they see on Pinterest. You see the beauty of Pinterest is not only is it an inspiration board, it is also an effective bookmarking tool, which looks a whole lot better than a bunch of tabs at the top of your browser. The only problem with this is sometimes people don’t actually pin things directly from the source. Sometimes they pin things from Google Image, sometimes the pin is just a link to another website where they talk about the fact that they've seen this, but don’t actually tell you how to do it, and sometimes it takes you to a spam site where they try to harvest your kidneys through your modem. (True story*) If you are just going to use the picture as your inspiration and you don’t need any instructions, then pin away whatever the heck you like. Otherwise you will be sorely disappointed when you finally try to make that button bowl and realise the website it is sending you to is just the artist’s blog where he sells the bowls pre-made.

6. If all else fails; Google it

The amount of times I have saved myself the heartache of another failed project by typing the end result into Google only to come across lots of posts by angry and frustrated people who have failed miserably at the same thing could propel me around the world twice. (I stopped paying attention part way through that sentence, what did I just say?) While Pinterest is a wonderful website full of awesome ideas, Google is an even better website full of angry people and trolls (but only around the bridges) who are more than happy to tell you not to bother trying to make cupcakes in ice cream cones, or any form of cake pops, or string balloons.  You can ignore their words of warning at your own peril, but don’t be surprised if they all show up at your house screaming “I TOLD YOU SO!!!” when everything fails miserably.

Well that should be enough to get you started for now, I'd also suggest letting friends and family know when you are going to log into Pinterest, so that they can check on you every 24 hours or so to make sure you're still ok. If any of you have any further advice you'd like to pass on to the readers, please add it into the comments box below.

*Of course that isn't a true story, if you believe that then you’ll believe anything, and this tutorial really isn't enough to help you. May I suggest some sort of 12 step program?

Spotlight on Mental Health - Jamie's Story

Hello everyone and welcome again to another episode of Spotlight on Mental Health. 

Today's special guest is Jamie from Being Positive with a Depressive Soul. Her blog is an amazing insight into the life of someone currently suffering from depression, and even when she is having the worst day in the world, it is all shared with her audience so you can see what it takes to get through depression.

I am a 42 year old mother of a teenage girl, anxious with life, wild at heart, blogger and an Administrative Assistant, who loves finding freebies and deals.  I also happen to suffer from major depressive disorder and choose to blog about my journey staying positive with major depressive disorder.  My daughter also suffers from depression.  I am me and this is my brief story.

I remember, I believe I was around 12 years old, feeling so alone, lonely, and sad.  I was a very shy child, got my feelings hurt easily, and cried a lot.  I always cared way too much and was very sensitive, I still am.  As I got into my teen years, thanks to being introduced to alcohol, I was able to get over some of my shyness.  Now, mind you, alcohol and I have not had the best relationship but that is a story for another time.  I was young, naïve, had no self-confidence, and absolutely no experience with boys; Yet I fell in love for the first time.  We had a short six month romance and then he broke my heart and at age 19 I had a nervous breakdown and I was diagnosed with depression.  Little did I know that this would the beginning of a life long illness.  

I have struggled with alcohol and drugs but didn't let them consume my soul.  Anyone who has a mental illness and takes medications knows that they shouldn't drink.  Well, I, many times, challenged that and lost each time.  I have been in a toxic relationship with my daughter’s father now, on and off for 17 years.  We currently live together but are not romantically involved.  One change I wanted to make this year was to be able to move out on my own but due to financial difficulties that didn’t happen.  There is always next year!

I used to be very pessimistic about things in life; a bad attitude to say the least.  I have had never actually tried to commit suicide but I have wished many, many times I was dead  Turning 40 turned out to be a pleasant experience.  For the first time in my life, I made my mind up that I would not be depressed about turning 40; age is nothing but a number.  Every milestone 25, 30, 35, would roll around and I would be so negative and dwell on all the things that I didn’t accomplish.  There is something to say about getting older and gaining maturity.  I decided to take my life into my own hands.  I decided to take responsibility for myself and stop blaming others for my mistakes, my past, and my own happiness. 

Blogging has been the best decision for me that I could ever make.  I feel that I am finally free to be me and no longer have to hide who I am.  I am a kind, loving, fun individual who deserves the best in life.  So what if I suffer from major depressive disorder and will need medication for the rest of my life, there is more to me than that.  I do feel lonely and sad a lot but I will take each day as it comes and I am hopeful of the future and believe that the best is yet to come.  One positive step at a time!

So firstly I would like to thank Jamie for sharing her story with us. As her blog shows, her struggle is still a daily one, and sometimes while you're still in the middle of something it can be hard to write about. Luckily for all of us Jamie is always happy to talk about her past and her struggles. If you would like to show Jamie some of the love I know you awesome readers are capable of, please feel free to visit her website, or leave a comment below. 

Well that's all for today, sadly I don't have a new story lined up for next week at this stage, so we may have to take a brief break from this series while I madly try to rustle up some more people willing to tell their stories here. If any of you my wonderful readers have a story and wouldn't mind sharing it here, please get in contact with me, I would love to feature you.

Until next time, stay awesome.

Life Hacks Episode 3

Well here we are again at another episode of Life Hacks. In this series I give you a heap of quick and easy tips designed to make your life just a little bit quicker and easier. If you are the kind of person who still types www at the beginning of every web address you visit, then pay attention because this series is for you. (Little side note and nothing to do with today's episode, stop typing www at the beginning of every web address, seriously you just wasted 3 seconds of your life by doing that. You'll get to exactly the same place if you just start typing the address after the www. Go ahead and try it, I'll stand here and wait for you.)

For episode 2 click here

Now today's life hack is something that I know everyone has to deal with, and that is preventing clogged drains in your kitchen. Thanks to our laziness, most of us just tip every little bit of fatty, dirty, food infested water straight down the sink, and then curse our stupid plumbing when it all comes flowing back into the sink after you turn the tap on full.

Image source http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

I told you you can't flush an entire pumpkin down the sink!

Now there are many ways that you can actually prevent all that nasty fatty scrappy gunk from being washed down your sink. You can always tip fluids out into the garden, or go out and buy a tiny strainer for your sink, or you could use something that you probably already have in your kitchen and are about to use to scrub out your pot anyway. 

So to safely empty a dirty pot of crud into your sink without blocking your drain, you will need the following

1 pot full of scummy water (or a whole sink full of dirty dish water)

1 steel wool

1 rubbish bin

Now I Googled steel wool before I wrote this because I'm never sure if these life hacks will translate into other countries, but I'm very happy to find out that Australia isn't the only country that sells steel wool. So way to go the rest of the world, you can do this too! However the type of steel wool you use may end up producing different results, I have used a very coarse steel wool that is already well loved, so there is plenty of room for the water to drain out of it while the scum and crud stays put.

So to save your drain and your sanity, plug up your drain with a piece of steel wool BEFORE you start emptying the water out. If you are emptying a pot, this is simple, just plug up the hole. If you are doing this while the sink is already full of water, it is still simple, just make sure you use two hands, one to pull the plug out, the other to jam the steel wool into the drain hole.

Voila! one plugged up sink hole, and a perfectly timed drop of water splashing into the sink. How awesome is that?

Note that I have taken a photo before anything is tipped down the sink, because truly that is a nasty sight. Once you have emptied all the water, take the steel wool over to your rubbish bin and shake all the crap out into the bin where it belongs. If you are a squeamish person who can't stand the thought of actually touching a dirty scrubber feel free to use gloves while you do this, or even better find someone else to do it for you. 

The beauty of emptying out water in this manner is that while it saves you from having to unclog your drain in the future, it also helps keep our waterways cleaner and reduces the amount of work that water treatment plants have to do once your dirty water reaches them. It truly is a green tip you can feel good about doing it.

Well there you have it, another short cut for you done and dusted. I'll be back again tomorrow with our next episode of Spotlight on Mental health, and for once it isn't a family member i begged to write something for me so be sure to tune in tomorrow for that. 

Recipe- Toasted Banana and Nutella Sanga

Hello again my wonderful audience, I am back with another super dooper awesome recipe for you guys to share. Now I am feeling incredibly lazy today, which explains why I am so late in posting this recipe, as well as why I have chosen a simple meal to share with you guys today too.

So as you can tell from today's recipe, I'm showing you guys how to make a toasted sanga. For any of my audience who doesn't call Australia home, this term may confuse you, so to confuse you guys even further, I'll tell you that I'm either toasting sandwiches, or an Abyssinian Ox. I'll let you guys decide while I post this picture.

For anyone who guessed I was cooking an Ox, you are awesome, PM me now, we need to talk!

Yep I am so lazy that today my recipe is a toasted sandwich. But this is a toasted sandwich that takes a certain amount of skill. Because it's one thing to smear some Nutella on a piece of toast and walk to the lounge room while chewing on it. It's another to combine the Nutella with hot melty banana and eat it without ending up looking like a two year old who is still learning to eat properly.

This is usually how I look after eating one of these bad boys.

Ok so to make my favourite breakfast/lunch/snack/comfort food, you will need the following.

2 slices of bread. 

Margarine or butter to lubricate the bread

Nutella or other similar choc-hazelnut spread

1 medium to large banana

1 Sandwich press or grill

So to make a toasted banana and nutella sandwich, first spread your butter/margarine/olive oil spread/Nuttelex on both slices of bread

Smear a generous amount (read; shitload) of Nutella on one slice of bread

Mash the banana and spread it on the other slice of bread

Slap those two babies together, being careful not to spill any banana, that stuff is precious.

Put the sandwich in the sandwich press, or under the grill until the bread is golden brown and crispy, and the banana is nice and warm and soft

This bad boy feeds one, but don't be surprised if you start getting hungry eyes from everyone within a ten metre radius.

image source http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

I'm so hungry I'm going to stab this melon....ladies

Well that's all from me for now, I'm off to go do something productive, like make another toasted banana and nutella sandwich. Later y'all.

My first guest post

Hey guys, it has been sooo hard to keep this one under my hat, but I have just been published as a guest blogger on another website for the first time ever!!!

So pretty pretty please all of my wonderful readers, pop on over to All My Happy Endings right now to check out my post on dealing with mummy guilt. I'll seriously love you all forever.

                                       

Image source freedigitalphotos.net

MY FIRST GUEST POST WOOH YEAH!!!!

No more wait and see.

Hello again my lovely readers, I come armed with words of warning to all of you. (Ooh that sounds ominous doesn't it?) For any of you out there who have children, or are planning on having children in the future, this applies the most to you. For any of you out there who never want to have children, or call your pets your fur babies, some of this can be related back to yourselves, so don't turn away just yet.

So over the past 2 years of being Miss K's mum, I have noticed a distinct lack of willingness for medical staff to make decisions when it comes to treating children. There is a prevailing attitude that it is safer to wait and see, especially while they are still babies. Now while I am sure this attitude is perfectly safe in some cases, in many it can be more dangerous and come with more long term damage than making a cautious decision to start low level diagnosis and treatment at a young age. Now I only have my personal experiences to draw on here, so I'm not saying in any way I am an expert. But I will give you my stories so you can understand why I have come to my own conclusions now.

When Miss K was first born, we had a huge problem with her breathing. Occasionally she would stop breathing and choke on some mysterious fluid that seemed to be coming from somewhere either in her lungs or stomach. Every time I brought this up with a nurse or a doctor they always brushed me off and said it sounded like excess amniotic fluid. Then at 2 weeks of age she got this massive infection in her eye complete with lots of oozy pus (sorry for any sensitive souls out there, who get queasy at the sight of the word pus.) I had an appointment with my MHN (Maternal Health Nurse for anyone who is not up to speed with parenting acronyms) who said it was just a case of conjunctivitis, and proceeded to tell me I could treat it with breast milk. Now this was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. I know that breast milk is full of lots of wonderful vitamins, minerals and antibodies, but nowhere on any of the forums on breast feeding that I have gone to have they said to use it on serious infections. So I smiled politely, and left the nurse's office and took my baby to MY doctor, who took a swab of the infected area and told me she'd get back to me the next day with a diagnosis, as it was more likely a staph infection than plain old conjunctivitis. Well by the time she got back to me 5 days later, we were already in hospital getting Miss K treated for meningitis along with a whole host of other infections, so I thanked her for confirming my suspicions, and told her we were already getting everything treated all at once in hospital.

From that day on, I have developed a deep suspicion of doctors. There are very few people in the medical industry in my area that I will actually trust with my daughter's well being, because no one around here seems able to accept that as her mother I may know a little bit about what I'm talking about, and that my concerns need to be taken seriously. My second case in point is Miss K's eyes. I took her for her first appointment at the optometrists at almost 10 months old, because she already had a lazy eye. While the optometrist we saw was a lovely gentleman, and he was very patient with both of us, especially as 9 months old don't always have a tendency to be able to sit still long enough to have their eyes examined, but even though he admitted that she does have a problem with her eyesight, he was hesitant to start treating it straight away, and told us to come back in 12 months time. So despite my concerns that this wasn't something that was just going to right itself, I went away and came back 12 months later, this time to be seen by our current optometrist Dr Con. Now I love Dr Con. He is so patient with my squirmy 2 year old, and he always manages to get what he needs out of our consultations, but I got so angry when he told me that Miss K should have been given glasses at our first appointment 12 months earlier. And then he told me that a lot of the balance, co-ordination and developmental issues that we had been having with Miss K all this time was most probably linked to terrible eye sight. So yet again my daughter was kept behind by another medical expert hesitant to try anything to help her, and my own stupid belief that the doctors know better than I do.

So when I went to our old family doctor with concerns about Miss K's speech and breathing, and again was told she was too young to have anything done about it until she was three years old, I refused to give in. I took her to our current MHN (who does not believe that breast milk is a magic elixir that cures staph infections) who spent five minutes watching Miss K and then organised to get us into a program designed to help kids with developmental difficulties. It was such a huge relief to have someone finally tell me that I wasn't an idiot for wanting something done sooner rather than later I could have cried. We were assessed for the program a week later, and started attending the very next day. Miss K has been going for two weeks now and the change in her was almost immediate. And it's not just her speech that we are getting help with, it is also her gross and fine motor skills, something which I didn't even have any idea were under developed. I have been madly searching the internet for other things we can do at home to help boost the work we are doing in the sessions, and I found a forum telling me don't wait until the child is 3 like our family doctor told me to do, get it taken care of sooner, to stop them falling further and further behind.

Now our old family doctor is indeed old. He has been seeing my family since Ben was about 8, so he's been doing this for a long time, and is currently getting ready to retire. He is still very much an old school doctor, so the treatments you get from him can be a bit dated. I can't fault the level of care he has given us in the past, because he has been a trusted physician for our whole family for as long as I can remember, but I can't put up with one more person ignoring my concerns just because I'm only a parent and not a trained physician. What these people seem to forget is that we mums (and dads) are the ones who spend 24 hours a day with these little people. We are the ones who learn exactly how they are feeling just by the look in their eyes. We are the ones who know when they're just a little bit off or when something is seriously wrong from the colouring in their cheeks. We may not have gone to university for a period longer than all of my relationships put together, but we are experts in this little person we are bringing to you, and we wouldn't be coming to you if we didn't really think that something was wrong. You can't just pat us on the head and tell us to stop being such a worry wart, take us seriously dammit and check out the child.

So that brings me to my words of warning. Doctors are not gods. They may have an extensive medical education to back them up, but they aren't infallible. There are times when you are more of an expert than they are, because it's YOUR body or YOUR child that you are talking about, and who knows them better than you? Now I'm not saying stop going to doctors, or start a revolt and insist that they give you a barrage of tests for every single sniffle, but if your gut instincts tell you that the doctor isn't taking your concerns seriously, then seek a second opinion. or a third. At the end of the day if something terribly wrong wasn't diagnosed and treated correctly, you are the one who has to deal with the aftermath, not them.