Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that what happened on Friday afternoon turned out to be absolutely fine.

Friday was never going to be a good day.  It snowballed into one of "those" days very quickly.  Starting with a 2 year old, a full bottle of water and my bed and ending with a trip to hospital.

About ten to six I popped the kids chicken nuggets into the oven and stuck my head out the back door to tell them dinner wouldn't be too far away.  They were playing happily with their duplo in the doorway to the shed so I went in and started making my bed.  The big one came in at 6 as he heard The Simpsons start.  Not long after I hears the baby crying so I yelled out to the big one to go and see what was wrong.  Being that time of the afternoon the littlest things cause tears so I was sure it was just something minor.  About 30 seconds later the baby starts screaming so I race outside as the big one is coming in to tell me the baby has pink sprinkles in his eyes. 

There he was covered in pink cleaning crystals. 

To make matters worse he was rubbing them in his eyes. 

Luckily my head and instincts took over and I raced him inside and threw him in the shower having to pin him down while making sure the water got everywhere especially his face.  Poor little thing was screaming but I rinsed him off got him out and rang Poisons information 131126.  The lady was very helpful and told me to put him back in the shower, get in with him and have the water slowly go down his face then take him to the hospital to be checked.

We got back in the shower then set out for the hospital.  Thankfully there was not much traffic and it did not take long to get there.  43 minutes from the time I parked the car to the time I went to pay for the parking we had been assessed by a triage nurse, assessed again in the children's section of the emergency ward and been seen by 2 doctors.  Who all said that he was perfectly ok and that his eyes looked fine.  For this I am eternally grateful and thankful.

This is not my first experience with the poisons hotline.  About 2 years ago I rang them when the big one, who was not quite 2, decided to clean the toilet with a bottle of bleach while I was feeding his newborn brother.  Luckily he was wearing long pants and tshirt and did not get any on his skin.

So today I am thankful for the public health care system which everyone seems to bag out but I have had nothing but good experiences with.  I am thankful for the nurses and doctors.  I am thankful for the outcome which could not have been better.  I am thankful for the fact my head and not my heart took control when it first happened.  I am thankful that as I type this the gorgeous baby who finally fell asleep after 11pm on the lounge last night and then kept me up kicking me and headbutting me in his sleep until I put him in his bed is sitting here eating his breakfast this morning sticking a toy plane up his nose.

Moral of the story is no more playing in Daddy's shed unless he is there. 

Linking up for my first Thankful Thursday in ages and also the first time over at Six by the bay.  Funny how it takes a near disaster to really make you see the thankful side of life.

Tell me guys what are you thankful for today? 

Ps FFS Friday will be an absolute corker this week.  Tune in to find out the rest of the weekend!!

Wordless Wednesday- Daddy is the best, Mummy is mean and the result of Saturday nights storm.

Daddy's new work truck

Toddler tantrum as mummy said it was time to get out

It was a little bit windy here!!  Lucky the washing line could be fixed!!

Linking up for Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys.

Metallica and 13/13

I always found this song a bit of an odd choice to play at a wedding until I googled it and read the lyrics.  Reading them rather than listening to them made sense!!  It is actually quite a sweet song.

13/13 reading challenge update.  This is not good.  Nearly the end of Feb and I have read half a book which technically I read at the end of last year so the total number for 2013 so far is zero.  I have much catching up to do!!  If only the kids would go to bed at a normal time!!

A quick one from me today.  Linking up with Essentially Jess for ibot as its Tuesday. 

So whats the most bizarre wedding song ever, and how many books have you read this year but I don't want to know what time your kids go to bed unless its later than mine!!  Also leave me a link to your blog (if you have one) so I can pop back and visit!!

Strawberry bran muffins

Strawberry bran muffins

 1 cup natural bran

 250g punnet strawberries

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg lightly beaten

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup self raising flour

1/4 cup milk

1. Place bran and 1 cup of boiling water in a bowl.  Set aside for 1 hour, until water is absorbed.
2. Preheat oven to 200 deg or 180 deg fan forced.  Line a 12 hole medium  capacity muffin pan with paper cases.
3. Choose 4 strawberries and set aside to use for topping.  Hull and chop remaining.  Add sugar, egg and oil to bran mixture  Mix to combine.
4. Add flour. milk and chopped strawberries and stir until just combined.
5. Fill prepared pan.  Slice remaining strawberries length ways.  Lay 2-3 slices on each muffin.
6. Bake for 20 mins, until muffins spring back when lightly touched.  Cool on a wire rack.

Winner winner winner.  These were delicious and easy and the fussy 3 year old actually asked if he could take one to preschool for morning tea.   

I could not find natural bran so I used All bran instead and as I wanted to cook these for desert I did not soak it for an hour only half an hour but they turned out almost like the picture!!  I got the recipe from the Coles Fresh Magazine.  These are yummy and easy although not budget friendly at the moment with strawberries so expensive!!  They can also be frozen so next time I make some I will do a double batch!!

Linking up for some Monday Open Slather with One Mother Hen.

FFS Friday- Tuesday and Operation go the f&%k to bed (gtftb).

Tuesday was never going to be a good day right from the start.  FFS

It started with me making a coffee in the dark at 4am and instead of putting sugar in it I grabbed the rice.  FFS

Which I only discovered when I was near the end of it and ended up with a mouthful of rice.  FFS

Obviously my taste buds do not work so early in the morning.  FFS

My computer would not work to add my link to ibot.  FFS

The computer did not work all week, turns out it was my computer, the wifi and facebook.  FFS

Back to Tuesday, I decided we had enough time to do a big grocery shop before playgroup so we all wen to to get dressed.  This is where shit went down.  FFS

A few weeks ago we had 2 giant huntsman spiders in the boys room on their blind.  One was alive the other was dead.  I sprayed the ass out of their room when I discovered that.  Turns out the spray did nothing.  FFS

As there was a million baby spiders crawling all over the windowsill and blind.  FFS

Never in my life have I remained so calm when dealing with something so freaking disgusting.  FFS

An hour later, all bed sheets/doona/pillows washed, room vacuumed and then sprayed with basically a whole can of spray we had a shower and went to playgroup.  FFS

Playgroups topic of the week was the letter B.  The kids spent half an hour talking about bugs.  So ironic.  FFS

YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK.  FFS FFS FFS.

I will proudly say I got every one of those suckers and their room is now bug free.  FFS

All day on Tuesday my skin was crawling and to make matters worse it was an itchy pregnant belly day.  FFS

Now on to Operation gtftb.  What a disaster this was.  FFS

The earliest I had a child in bed this week was 745pm and that was because he was ruined from a massive day at preschool.  FFS

These children are really trying my patience.  FFS

Lucky they are so damn cute.  FFS

Also we are still living with green snot, all I do all day is follow the baby around with tissues and wipes.  FFS

Lastly as seen in the Sunday paper last weekend- we are praising our children too much.  FFS

Not me though.  Screaming like a banshee at them does not count.  FFS

How bloody ridiculous.  I praised the ass out of the big one on Tuesday arvo when he picked up some chalk and started drawing proper pictures of his family members.  I even took photos as this is the first time he has done anything except scribble.  He deserved to know how proud we are of him.  FFS

Now to start selling those works of art to art galleries for thousands of dollars.  FFS

Thats it.  I am done.  If you drink please have a few for me after this horrific week!!  FFS

Linking up with Dear Baby G for the Friday whine.

Wordless Wednesday- error

I am trying hard not to swear or throw the computer out the window but it is trying my patience today!!  Hopefully it works tomorrow!! Have a happy Wednesday!!

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys on this Wordless Wednesday.

Tantrums and the Labyrinth

Sarah: I can bear it no longer! Goblin King! Goblin King! Wherever you may be take this child of mine far away from me!





Todays post is inspired by an epic toddler tantrum all over the fact I did not have a $2 coin to put into one of those stupid shopping centre rides.

While he was screaming the shops down I had a random thought of the Labyrinth movie where the main character begs for her little brother to be taken and the Goblin King takes him.  Which then made me laugh to myself and probably look slightly insane as the Goblin King is David Bowie and that would have been so funny to see him rock up in his tights at the supermarket  but then I was thankful that the Goblin King had not turned up and taken him as I am just too tired to go on a magical adventure to get him back.

If you have not seen this masterpiece it is a classic 80's movie made by the amazing Jim Henson and it is up there as one of my faves!! 

The image of him in tights makes me laugh every time I see it!!

Linking up for ibot for the first time in weeks with Essentially Jess.

Toffee Muesli Bars

1/2 cup (115g) butter
1/2 cup (180g) golden syrup
2 1/2 cups (275g) toasted fruit muesli
12 fried apples, diced

Line  18cm x 28cm rectangular baking tray with baking paper.  Melt the butter and golden syrup in a medium saucepan.  Add muesli and apple and stir to coat.  Scrape into the prepared tray and neaten.  Cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  Slice to serve.  Taken from the 4 ingredients 4 kids book

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned trying these out and I finally got around to it last week  They are extremely easy to make which is good and the HOTH and I both thought it was yummy however the kids were not too fussed on them.  My only other issue with them was the fact they are really sticky so for little kids they are probably not a good option.  I will try these once more and next time add more muesli to see if that makes them less sticky.

This weeks recipe is Strawberry muffins.  I am hoping for good things here!!

Linking up with One Mother Hen for open slather.

For other lunchbox ideas the fab http://www.kirstenandco.blogspot.com/ has some great recipes!!

FFS Friday- go the f$%k to sleep

Surely this book is one of the literary must reads of our generation.  FFS

So true at my place the last few weeks.  FFS

930pm is not an acceptable time for a 2 and 3 year old to get their asses to bed.  FFS

Bring on Sunday night as things are going to get tough on the bedtime front.  FFS

We are still covered in green snot must be time to buy bubbles for us all to leave the house in.  FFS

Also the big one is still talking with a ridiculous kiwi accent.  FFS

In other sleep related issues I experienced the ultimate Murphy's Law on Wednesday when the non day sleeping 2 year old demanded he have a nap just when I was about to bundle him in the car to go to the nursery and buy a basil plant.  No worries I thought I can tool around on the computer.  WRONG not only would the computer not work but the wifi was stuffed too.  FFS

Lastly this week I have been glad that One Born Every Minute has not been on lately it really is not a good show to watch while pregnant.  Then last night I discovered a new similar show The Midwives.  FFS

Also not a good show to watch.  Who the hell thinks giving birth is a good idea.  FFS

Thats it for me.  My brain is fried.  FFS

Oh and apparently we will have no power between 9 and 3 today.  FFS

Linking up with Dear Baby G for my weekly whinge. 

Wordless Wednesday- Flies everywhere are driving me nuts

Yuck

I would not mind so much if they were this cute!!

Ok wordless wednedayers help me out please.  We have flies everywhere and they are driving me nuts!!  Does anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of them or a deterrent like a plant??  They are mainly hanging out in our outdoor area and not where you would assume like the garbage bins. 

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

FFS Friday- cotton wool kids

                            Funniest article I have read in a long time!!  Do yourselves a favour and read it!!

Seriously what the hell is wrong with the world.  FFS

That link takes you to the ridiculous story of how blowing out birthday candles at some daycare centres may be banned.  FFS

Or how before and after playing in the sandpit children must sanitise their hands.  FFS

Honestly I did not read the whole article as it was so ridiculous it gave me the shits.  FFS

Obviously if kids stop blowing out candles on a shared cake then that will eradicate all germs and no child will ever get sick from going to daycare again.  FFS
On Thursday at preschool drop off I did some research/spying.  All I saw was a bunch of kids having completely unsanitary fun and teachers who care about each child and in particular the one teacher who saw my child was in all sorts from all the late night non sleeping partying going on around here the last few weeks and picked him up and distracted him so I could make my escape.  FFS

Turns out he had another great day and soon got over whatever his problem was.

I do not want to live in a world where any of this is wrong.  FFS

"Whatever happened to a vegemite sanga and an apple?"  Amen SarahMac Amen.  FFS

That awesome comment is exactly what I have been thinking about school lunches for a long time now.  Well apparently gone are the days of getting something yummy as a treat at the school canteen as it is common knowledge that the school canteen is making kids fat.  FFS

Back in my day (yes I can sound like an old person as I am about to become a great aunt ffs) we got lunch money maybe once a fortnight and if it was going to be a hot day we got ice block money.  Other than that it was a sandwich, a muesli bar and a couple of poppers or juice boxes for anyone who does not speak aussie.  Now it has to be gourmet and healthy.  FFS

Now those little rants are over I can now concentrate on my own issues.  FFS

Like the fact we got through the whole school holidays without any major injuries but the week preschool went back both my children banged up their heads doing lounge gymnastics.  FFS

The baby in particular has 2 lovely multicolour bruises.  FFS

Also the big one has started talking with a New Zealand accent.  FFS

It is driving me insane and to make matters worse the HOTH cannot hear it and thinks I am making it up.  FFS

We have welcomed green snot back this week.  The poor baby, it must be because his brother ate some birthday cake at preschool last week and the kid whose birthday it was blew out the candles or because there was not enough hand sanitising after playing in the sandpit.  FFS

The HOTH has been working away all week and the earliest the angels have been in bed is 845pm.  FFS

Also I have a 2 year old who does not believe he needs a day sleep anymore then crashes out late afternoon meaning he is not tired at a normal bed time.  FFS

If you need me today I will be locked in the bathroom.  FFS

That is it for me this week, there is more but insomnia combined with baby brain has made it impossible to think.  FFS

The last couple of weeks have really sucked around here and sadly we had 2 funerals to go to in one week.  I was drained by Sunday and did not switch the computer on or check my phone all weekend but the first thing I did on Monday morning was go to Dear Baby G and get some much needed light hearted fun reading.  Thanks to those who linked up and made me smile.

Readers Choice= Freezer cooking

If i wanted to make four different meals to have in the freezer on an ongoing rotation basis what should they be and why :)

 

Great question Mums Take Five and something which I have been considering for when I have to deal with witching hour x3 in a few months time!!

 

We have a small freezer which is not plugged in at the moment but I plan on firing up soon to stock up with some things to make my life easier.

 

I don't cook a lot as such in summer, we mainly have bbqs or old faves like spag bol but in winter I love baked dinners and casseroles and soups etc.  The first sign of cold weather I love to start cooking all the cold weather comfort food.

 

So my 4 in no particular order are

1. Cooked mince. 

For us its either savoury mince or a bolognaise sauce.  The bolognaise is  a no brainer as surely a sleep deprived person with 3 screaming kids can defrost a container of cooked mince and put a pot of pasta on to boil?  The savoury mince could be used as pies with some puff pastry or served with some mash or used in the wonderful Kirsten and Co's delicious gnocchi topped cottage/shepards pie (which by the way is awesome and I will never make normal shepards pie again!!)

    2.    Soup

I make a chicken and veg soup the minute someone in our house gets a cold.  Its a staple in our house in winter even if the HOTH whinges that soup is not a meal!!  Last year I made an awesome roast pumpkin soup which was delicious!!  I always make heaps so I can freeze at least 2 meals. 

    3.    Casseroles/stews

Easy, chop up meat and veg chuck in the oven for a few hours and dinner is done.  It can be such a cheap meal and so yummy in winter.  If you have a slow cooker I believe this would be an even easier process!!

    4.    Lastly would be the accompaniments and back ups.

Garlic bread, frozen veg, I am not a big fan of freezing meat but I always have frozen mince and chicken breasts, chips, premade chicken schnitzels from the supermarket deli (we have been bbqing these over summer), supermarket lasagne (not as good as homemade but good in an emergency), a loaf of bread, basically whatever your frozen dinner of choice that the whole household will eat!!

Hit me up guys, whats in your freezer??

Wordless Wednesday- Duck feeding fun!!

Climbing on the bench after getting bored with throwing bread!!  One child was also caught eating the stale bread!!

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for some Wordless Wednesday fun.

Lunchbox ideas- HELP!!

I am on a quest this year to not only become more like Martha but to win the coveted Mother of the Year title which keeps eluding me thanks to my darling children. 

First up on my list is to make/bake more and in particular lunchbox food.  This time last year there were hundreds of lunchbox related posts floating around the internet, this year not so much.  I am lucky I only have to make lunches twice a week!! 
I was given a copy of 4 ingredients 4 kids for Christmas and there are a some great ideas in it and one of them was for Toffee Muesli Bars.  After re-reading it I was sceptical at how healthy these were as the 4 ingredients are butter, golden syrup, toasted fruit muesli and dried apples and I basically I dismissed these due to the butter and golden syrup.  However one afternoon while watching Play School (as you do) the presenter made muesli bars and used golden syrup, butter and brown sugar so I figure if Play School are making them like this they must not be that bad.  So I will be trying the 4 ingredients recipe either Monday or Tuesday and reporting back!!

If anyone has any great homemade lunchbox fillers could you please let me know.  Also Common Chaos Chronicle is also after ideas too!!

Also if you know where I can buy a nappy wallet (I think thats what they are called!!) could you also point me in the right direction!!  You guys know what I mean, an insert to put nappies, wipes etc that can be moved from bag to bag. 

Ok a day late but I am linking up for Open Slather with One Mother Hen

Ps the play school link takes you to pdf files with episode info etc which may be a valuable resource for anyone with small children!!

Set your piggies free!!

While I wait for the return of my brain and the ability to think and string words into sentences please enjoy this little tune which would have to be one of my fave kids songs!!  Pregnancy brain really does exist!!  This is going to be a long few months!!

My children love to set their piggies free.  Me, I only set my piggies free on hot days.  I wear socks to bed every night unless it is stinking hot and you will not see my feet in winter. 

Being Tuesday its time for ibot with Essentially Jess.

Have a fabulous Tuesday guys!!

Bloggers Boogey- NKOTB

NKOTB were on The View and I sat there reminicising about when I was absolutely in love with them back in the day and 25 years on still am!!