Warning - mulberry eating machine

I thought bananas were the ultimate baby food. Mr J thinks differently.

I've been going through the frozen berries in the freezer. Blueberries are pretty good but last season's mulberries are particularly popular.

The neighbours have cut their tree back hard this winter so I'm not sure how well it will produce in the coming season. So I need help in locating other mulberry trees to stock up for next year.

So. Does anyone know someone with a tree in the backyard? Especially if they don't like mulberries... Most people can't eat everything a tree produces. Do you know someone that will let the babies have the excess?

Mulberries season isn't for a couple of months, so I have time to locate trees and beg.

Oh, and come summer, there needs to be a blueberry picking expedition in Murrumbateman. Mindy, you may be invaded.

total recall

I've been reading (as I'm sure you have) about the massive recall Mattel is doing for all of the lead-affected toys it has produced in China... but I've been too slack to find a comprehensive list of all the recalls. luckily, one of the articles I just read has a handy-dandy pdf, so here you go -

Mattel Voluntary Recall Information

and because a post without a photo just goes against the grain, here's a random piccy!


this is from the Play School concert a bunch of us went and saw a couple of months ago. I meant to blog it but caught a nasty bout of Teh Slack. the chick on the left is Angela Moore who used to be Shirley Purvis from the Castanet Club (for those of you ancient and/or hippp enough to remember). the pianist, Penny, was also from CC. they have a children's CD which sounds kinda cute. I might even fork out for it sometime. I heart Angela.

carry on!

I may regret this

I may have started a life long shoe fetish with these little things (they only came in pink). But I thought they were rather cute, and at $5 (BIG W on sale) will do a great job of keeping her socks on and her feet warm. She had a mini tantrum in the shop when I put them on her to see if they fit, then took them off again so I know she likes them.

It's too quiet

Had a job interview this morning, so in anticipation of starting the job, the kids are both at daycare today. It's Gemma's first day. She didn't cry. I don't think she realised what was happening. I was given the impression that if I got the go ahead for the job I could start tomorrow, although that now seems to be changed to next week. Anyway, I'm making myself wait until 3pm to pick up the kids. It's quite difficult. I'm dreading dropping Gemma off tomorrow morning, because this time she will know what's going to happen and I don't think she will be happy. I'm almost hoping that they ring back and say they have decided to go with someone else.

However, if I do get the job, it will pay for both kids' childcare, give me some much needed bling for the CV and it's only four days a week so I still get Friday off. But I don't get to have picnics in the tent on the verandah and chase the kids around in the mud. But I could pay the bills. I hate waiting for the phone to ring.

Update: Gemma cried this morning, so I got feeling guilty and upset so I decided not to wait for the phone to ring and called them. I start Monday. All I have to do now is find something to wear to work. I just realised that I haven't had to dress up to go to the office since late 2002.

I made it to 3.10pm before leaving the house yesterday, and I stopped for petrol. When I arrived Gemma just gave me a sunny smile and an 'oh you came back!' look. Charlie decided to stay until later so he could play with his friends. There was however a lot of cuddling later that afternoon and we had to put Gemma to bed three times before she finally went to sleep. I hope it gets easier.

The handy notebook

We have had an A5 brightly coloured bound notebook kicking about on our kitchen table for about 2 years.... Lately it has become the never ending list of bits of paper that need to be signed and contractors/builders etc that need to be rung. However in it's glory days we would occasionally write down absolute classics that come out of the mouths of babes. I would truly recommend it as a general habit as having a notebook handy to write it down in makes it 3000 times more likely that you will in fact remember it in more than 5 minutes time. I had forgotten these and was looking for any more papers/calls that we had forgotten to do when I came across two of the best:
"We had 2 budgies at kindy - Bluey and Squarky. Poor Squarky died & went to Kevin. Birdie Kevin, not people Kevin. Birdies go to Kevin, not people. After Squarky we had Budgerieguard. He saved people and kept them safe, but he didn't because he lived in a cage." circa Jul 06
and
"There's more love in the whole entire world than words" Jan 07.

And here's one that didn't end up in the book because I was driving home last night:
"Mum - what are booby traps? Do they hurt your boobies?"
try explaining it without laughing while doing 70km on the freeway in peak hour traffic....

Master Dafydd is an author- shameless plugg

David has written two books for the It's True series of childrens books. One of these is 'Bourke and Wills forgot the frying pan'. The other is 'The Vikings got lost'. They are both entertaining books that Alex is just starting to enjoy even though he is a bit too young to really get into them.

http://www.allenandunwin.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?ISBN=9781741144727

It is hard to get hold of the books so I have included the link to the publishers web site so that anyone who would like to get one of his books can. If you do a search for David Greagg you will get both books.

Hi-tech school reports

Yes it's half yearly parent teacher interview time and we have received the school reports... We loooove the school reports and I have been wondering whether teachers have a secret website where they write what they really think and the secret website chucks out the PC-parental version that they can paste into the report cards. No corkers this time round. Last year there was the ever classic "likes to create drama with her classmates" and "is an enthusiastic vocal contributor". It's become a bit tamer this year and almost heading into the stereotypes of our time such as "could apply her/himself more". I prefer the secret website option - anyone know any primary school teachers? Do the senior school teachers amongst us know something we don't?

You know your baby is hungry when...

you are chewing off a broken nail and he cries at you because you aren't sharing!

Because some people need a warning label

Despairware for kids

I particularly like the noise hazard one.

Fund raising goes hi-tech

I got an email from the younger brother on the weekend. The elder neice is doing a read-a-thon to raise money for MS. I'm all for anything that encourages people to read so I signed up for a token amount.

What amuses me is that it is no longer about wandering the local neighbourhood looking for sponsors. You can now fleece family all over the world and you can sponsor them through a credit card.

It seems a little odd, but I'm sure I'll appreciate it when it comes time for me to beg to friends on my kid's behalf.

Time for a new job?

You may have seen this one already - or even signed up!

JOB DESCRIPTION: MUM
POSITION :Mother, Mum, Mama, Mummy, Mumma, Ma
JOB DESCRIPTION: Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organisational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.
RESPONSIBILITIES: The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organise social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.
POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.
WAGES AND COMPENSATION : Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that University will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.
BENEFITS: While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

Little Bo-Peep - kindof

It's not sheep that have been lost but two bags of clothes. Girl's clothes - size 2. They would have originally been in two white shopping bags and come from Tina originally. Did anyone else acquire them because Tina and I have different recollections about their fate and now we need to track them down before Sophie has to run naked through winter (which if she's like any other small child I know would probably suit her fine but would cause consternation to both her parents and health professionals).

So do any of you girl children owners have clothes that have the size highlighted? (This is Tina's sister's method of marking clothes).

What do they put in Blueberry Starburst lolliops?

I'm pretty sure it's not blueberries.

Take one bowl of yoghurt...

left by a four year old who tired of the novelty of eating it with one finger, one silly Mummy who overheated dinner in the microwave and had to put it in the fridge to cool, and one hungry baby who hasn't quite mastered feeding herself yet. Unfortunately I missed the 'sticking the whole bowl over my face' incident with the camera.

A big day for P

Sunday was huge!

First there was the Christening

(complete with hallelujahs while we were singing the hymns)

Then there was cake!

(I had lots of fun with food colouring!)

And then there were the first steps!

(she knows how to work an audience)

Gemma learns about sharing

What rhymes with baby?

Apart from 'rabies' and that is a tenuous one at best. Or 'maybe', as per the tripod song.

Tops is constantly making up songs for the boy and I'm sure you won't be surprised how much rhymes with poo. His latests songs are lacking in variety for a lack of rhyming words.

Any one got any good silly made up song lyrics they can share. I think my personal best is to "The times, they are a changing"... I'm sure you get figure out how that one went.

The 70's were a scary place...

And if you need any further proof - check this out...
http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html

arrrghhhh
fliss

Toys and more - all yours!

Yes - the house is coming down and we're moving very soon. We have soooo many things that are not coming with us. Especially the toys! The 5 year old really doesn't need rattles anymore, nor the dinky and we have nowhere to store the swing set...

And there's a bunch of other stuff going as well - outdoor furniture, sheets, towels etc (all in reasonable nick) older crockery, large glass storage containers (Mouse do you want these?). I know the lead up to Easter is a bit mad - but if you guys aren't keen it's going to the op shops.

So please leave a message here saying if you are interested or mail me privately or better yet - call me, as I am in full chucking out mode from now til the weekend after Easter. If you can drop round and grab what you want that would be fantastic...

Cheers from the depths of a packing box....
fliss

Good home looking for size 00 and 0 clothes

Anyone got some they want to get rid of? The boy has grown and winter is coming on.

I'm not fussy with colour (tie-dying can fix stuff that is stained or pastel but otherwise serviceable).

And I now have a fair amount of 000 stuff to hand to the next baby. There is some stuff he never even got to wear.

And Wenchy. Where's your cunning Bonds store? I want to get the boy more stripeys.