The Modern Housewife

Well the cat pee Christmas tree saga continues. After days of sitting next to the said Christmas tree and thinking "I am sure I can smell a whoof of cat pee, stupid freakin Christmas tree (add more expletives here)". I decided I had to do something about it or I was going to throw the tree in the rubbish bin, which in itself would be difficult considering the size of the tree vs the size of our rubbish bin. So on a beautiful sunny Monday afternoon my daughter and I got a giant bin of soapy, disinfected, lavender smelling hot water and started to submerge the separate chunks of Christmas tree in it. Shaking it around trying to rid that evil tree of its stinky odour. Now this took approximately an hour to do, due to the tree being made up of approximately 50 branches. I then laid the branches out on the concrete patio to dry. Later submerging the Christmas decorations, I know what you are thinking, "really could those pretty glittery decorations sourced directly from t

I would like to formally thank the neighbours cats for giving me another smell to associate with Christmas. I can now add the lovely aroma of cat pee to the smell of pine, candles, roast turkey and copious amounts of chocolate. We had an issue a while ago where the neighbours giant fat tom cat was getting into our garage and peeing on EVERYTHING. Now we keep the cat door locked and our only remaining cat left stays inside, so the cat pee has stopped. Alas I pulled out the Christmas tree this morning (I know I am a month early but bribing my daughter to forget a present I brought in her company yesterday) anyway the Christmas tree and decorations STINK. Nothing like a cat pee Christmas tree, tis the season after all. I have sprayed it with Oust, sprinkled it in Baking Soda (quite clever as it looks like snow) and now have it sitting outside in the wind trying to rid id of that horrible smell. In desperation and after googling it I then sprayed the entire tree with vinegar and water,

OK I have been missing in action, lost to the blogging world. My brilliant thoughts have been rattling around in my head all alone (laughs). My ability to stick to things has faltered yet again, although my house is at this current moment clean and tidy. There have been multiple times where I have taken the recycling out to the curb in my PJ's. A few times where the clean washing was piled up so high on the bed that it was just about easier to sleep in the spare room. I have failed to put makeup on and have managed to find some manky old track pants to wear around home.  But if nothing else the kids and I have been having fun, creating cardboard cars, making playdough and playing in the park. I hereby state that I will no longer let my thoughts rattle around in my head all alone and forlorn........... I will try and force others to read them as well. Good night and happy blogging.

I have just been hit with the fifth cold this winter. That's ridiculous, its more colds than I have had in the last 5 years and I am not kidding. For two years I didn't even get a cold or flu (pre kids and during my first pregnancy). Its like my immune system is saying "woohoooo come one, come all, free entry to all colds and other annoying illnesses, I am shut down and don't feel like protecting my owner today". What is so different in my life today than three years ago when I was super healthy and never got sick. I have one word for you "CHILDREN". Don't get me wrong I love my kids so so much, but it seems that having two kids screws with your immune system. Well mine anyway. Seems lack of sleep doesn't help either. I also have to go with the fact that we are getting out and spending a lot of time around other kids at play centre and music class etc so we are bound to get more bugs. The sad thing is that my little man has been the one to pass

When I say my green nappy, I don't mean my little man had kiwifruit yesterday and I am paying for it today. What I am talking about are keeping it green with environmental re-useable nappies. I am so old school in the fact that I LOVE my re-useable nappies. Or am I super modern? As these things are coming back into fashion. Either way I love using them, I love the feeling I get when I pass by the nappies in the supermarket and don't have to buy any. I love seeing those colourful little nappies all lined up on the line. I love that my rubbish bin is empty of disposable nappies. I love seeing that puffy little bum that reusable's create. Although I love using reusable's I realise that it is not everyone's thing, and I really don't judge or care if others don't use them. Whatever works for you I say. What brought this on? Well my little boy is no longer little and has outgrown his Nappy Days Bamboo nappies (small size). Yes I now realise I should have brough

Well, after another massive power bill and the fact that it isn't getting any warmer around here, we are enforcing a power budget. Anyone who knows me will laugh at that, thinking I am normally on a budget anyway. Yes I know, but as time goes by I seem to slack up, and after watching old re-runs of environmental programs on TV I decided to kick our house back into shape. I refuse to let us be cold, as that is how we seem to get sick. So we heat the room that we are in and only that room. Luckily thanks to my wonderful husband he had the forethought to get heat pumps put in the lounge and our bedroom ready for this winter. We already had a large heat pump in the main living area, but that is in the open living area. It has to heat the entire hallway, any rooms that are open and deal with the cold air coming up the staircase from the garage. So after spending last winter cold and still paying a massive power bill Hubby decided to take action. So we now heat the lounge (door closed)

There are either those who give, and expect nothing in return or those who just take. I try and surround myself with those who give, and not because I want things, but because I don't like to feel like I am being taken advantage of. I know some amazing people, who would do anything for you. To me those people stand out from the crowd, its like they glow. They are always the first to offer help, no matter what is happening in their own lives. They care how you are and how you are dealing with things, even if they hardly know you. Yet these people don't expect anything in return and they never ask you for anything. Its sad that there are people out there that are happy to take other peoples time and energy but are very reluctant to give anything back or to help those in need. These people are few and far between, well in my life they are anyway, as I make it a point not to include them in my life as they tend to suck you dry and make you feel worthless. When I give or do so

I am fascinated to see my children grow and develop. To see their personalities being expressed through everyday activities. When they were born, it was fascinating to see what they would look like, and where they got their looks from. Now I am more fascinated with who my children are becoming and what their little personalities are going to be like. Well it seems my older daughter is a little nutter. Hard not to be when you have two nutters as parents, that trait cannot be blamed on just me. She amazes me on a daily basis and is constantly making me laugh. She is a little performer, always signing and dancing for us, with the big finish and everything. Demanding that we clap at the end of her performance. She is stubborn, hands and the hips stubborn, but again that is a trait shared by both her parents. The attention span I have to say she got from her mother. She has the attention span of a fish, approximately 7 seconds and you have lost her. I am hoping it is because she is two.

I got all excited on Saturday when I heard that the rugby was on. No I am not a rugby fan nor was I going to watch it. I was excited as it meant that Hubby was watching the rugby with friends and I could sit in the bedroom and watch whatever I wanted to on my TV. Antisocial much - mmmmmm I should probably work on that. You see when we lived in our small little house I often watched TV upstairs in the bedroom while hubby watched it downstairs. But it didn't seem too antisocial as we still talked to each other as the house was small and the walls were like paper. But when we moved to our new house, Hubby started getting extremely lonely sitting in the lounge. Two closed doors and a long passageway between us. You see although I have direct line of site, window to window, its pretty much soundproof. So we made a rule, that unless I was coming to bed to sleep, we would sit in the lounge together. Which often means that we both compromise on what we watch and that I never get to wat

I have many random thoughts throughout the day that puzzle me and I often never know or find out the answers. So I thought for your amusement as to the weird and wonderful way my mind works I would include them below: Can animals be Homosexual? I always used to wonder this, as I sat up on the top of the hill at smoko time, during docking season. I asked my father once but he just looked at me with a sideways glance and eyes rolling into the back of his head, in a oh my gosh not again look. I mean people pay huge money for stud animals, I was thinking Bulls and Rams in particular. After all that money is forked over what happens if that Bull or Ram simply doesn't swing that way.......... After all, Bulls and Rams pretty much only have one purpose. It would be a tiresome life if that was your job and you just weren't that into it. Do modern Cold and Flu medicines simply enable us to better spread our germs making more people sick? In the old days if you were knocked out wi

Who knew that my computer was the one sucking the life blood from me. OK I don't need to be that dramatic, really it's only stifling my creativity, draining my motivation and making me totally uninspired. Don't get me wrong, I love my computer and think I would find it hard to live without it and wireless. Yet when I am sitting at the computer all day, I seem to get writers block, artist block and cleaning block (OK that last one is just my laziness kicking in). Its amazing how you can wile away the hours sitting at the computer doing relatively nothing. As soon as I physically separate myself from my computer, my mind starts working again. The cogs start turning, smoke starts coming out my ears and my brain kicks into gear. Even the simplest task of having a shower got me thinking about pictures to paint. You see, inspiration has always been the sticking point for me. I have the motivation to paint if I have an idea for a composition. I have the motivation to write if

I thought I would write you this letter to apologise for everything I have done to you. I have neglected you, I have cheated on you, I have put everyone else's needs before your own. I have even let your greatest enemies invade your own house. To my garden, I am sorry, please forgive me. I can't excuse my terrible behaviour, my reasons are weak. You stay out in the cold all of the time, yet I can't find the courage to venture out for a few minutes in order to take care of you. Beetroots and Carrots I'm sorry, I have let you live in an overcrowded situation. I neglected to weed out the weaklings and let the strong thrive. Alas I have fixed that situation now and I hope you find your housing situation adequate . Onions where the hell have you come from, I didn't invite you. Yes you were staying with us last year but I sent you packing and DID NOT INVITE YOU BACK. I think it is inappropriate for you to leave your children with us without asking for them to stay

My drug of choice is "SLEEP". I discovered this in the last week after getting at least 6 hours straight sleep every night. Its like I am on a total high, like someone has slipped something into my drink. Everything is lovely and even when the kids are being naughty they are still as cute as pie. Six hours sleep you say, that isn't much. Well you know what, I'm OK with six hours and I don't want to push my luck, I am thankful for what I am getting. For those of you without children, you have NO idea. Oh yeah young people I hear you saying, "what I go out and don't sleep all night sometimes". Yes that may be, but you haven't felt the result of continued loss of sleep on a daily basis, for months on end. Every night only sleeping in 2 to 3 hour segments. Yes it adds up but you can never really get into that nice deep sleep that makes you feel alive in the morning. There is a reason they use sleep deprivation as a form of torture, it makes you g

Yes I actually made this, for people that know me they would be amazed.  Granted it doesn't look super pretty but dam it tasted good.  If only I had coffee essence as the coffee version tastes even better.  I thought I had better share this recipe as if I can make it then pretty much anyone can make it. I can't take credit for this recipe, the lovely golfers at Pahiatua golf club are and in particular Nola Fergus is responsible.  The Golf club publishes a recipe book every year, including their favourite recipes and dam they are brilliant, these ladies are geniuses. Sponge - gateau Beat 4 large eggs, add 1 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. Hot water, beat until thick. Fold in 1 cup self raising flour. Bake in 2x9inch (23cm) tins. 20 minutes at 198.C Chocolate:- Use above mixture, using only 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder. Add extra 2 Tbsp. Water. Ice with chocolate icing. Coffee:- Same mixture add 1 Tbsp. Coffee essence. Ice with coffee icing. Filling:- 4

It was Friday evening and Hubby called up from work saying should we go out for dinner tonight. Since it had been over 6 months since we had been out to dinner with the kids I said "Why not". So he booked in very early to avoid the crowds that are inevitable at Monteiths on a Friday. So we turned up at about 5:15pm and I could see the people around us doing that 'oh no they have kids' look, although I think the two high chairs should have clued them on to that one slightly earlier. We secured both kids in their highchairs, and only put the 2 year old in there so that she couldn't escape. It was great, lovely food and a good atmosphere. Luckily it was slightly loud in there so when my daughter decided to use her outside voice we didn't get any stares. It was great, as she is old enough now to understand manners and listens when we explain why she should or shouldn't do something. Whether she actually does it is another thing. For once I was fully prepar

Some people get their thrills out of going to concerts, going on overseas trips or buying new fast cars. Myself I get excited about the small things in life. I always have and hopefully always will. Don't get me wrong I love new cars etc, but I probably get more excited by the number of drink holders than the actual car (sorry car enthusiasts). Its the small things that make me happy. A caramel cappuccino, poached eggs on toast oh and I hate to say it but a McDonalds breakfast. Sunshine on your face after days of rain. The smell of nice clean washing coming in from the line. Gentle raindrops on the roof when you are about to go to sleep. The smell of freshly cut grass. It has always been the small things that put a smile on my face and make me truly happy. Since having children I feel like those happy moments have been multiplied. It seems every time I turn around my daughter is doing something that makes me smile and laugh. Like when I ask her if she can do something for me

We are going for a short visit to my mums house this weekend. I was just getting used to travelling with my two year old daughter. She is potty trained now so her bag is substantially smaller than it used to be. I just pack her clothes as I would pack my own, maybe with a few extra pairs of underwear and pants. Since her clothes are soooooo much smaller than mine it means she only needs a little bag. Now I have to pack for a 5 month old as well, oh man. It seems silly that when you go and visit someone for two days that you take 50 bags and just about need a roof rack to hold everything. Ok it isn't hat bad, at least there is a cot, blankets and thousands of toys at mum and dads. Otherwise that car would really be packed to the rafters, with porta cot, blankets, teddy's for baby, nappies, clothes and toys for my daughter etc etc etc. Not to mention the two Nelly's (my daughters little soft toy doll she sleeps with). Why two Nelly's you ask? Well after my daughter got

I visited my parents this weekend and when I left they sent me packing with my old Lego from when I was a child. I have to admit I was DAM excited about getting home and having the chance to play with it. Although I didn't know if it would be the same without the other half of it. My brothers half that is. I always had the houses, post offices and a few cars and trucks. My brother had the roads, space ships and other vehicles. Basically between the two of us we had a little Lego empire. Cue evil laugh (Mew ha ha ha ha ha). Anyway after getting the Lego home, my daughter and I spent 2 hours sorting it out and putting it into its little slidy trays. That was a great job for a 2 year old as she LOVES sorting colours. To be honest it was a life saver and a great way to waste away the hours. Especially when a certain mumma forgot that there was a 4 hour power cut. So there we were sitting in the lounge in our PJ's playing with Lego until 2pm. Had I realised there was going to b

I knew I was getting old when I started to watch the news, preferred staying in rather than going out and started growing my own vegetable garden. I grew up on the farm so I am used to seeing giant vegetable patches that produce all of your vegetable needs. When I moved to the city and lived in rented properties I had all but given up on the idea of producing my own vegetables . Cue TV cooking shows that had chefs growing their own kitchen gardens. For example, James Martin Digs Deep and River cottage, which I quickly become addicted too. Hubby and I were inspired, surely we could grow something in our tiny wee 2 metre square garden. By this time we were living in our own home, so we could dig up what and where we wanted, to create our little slice of vegetable paradise. We started small and brought in some actual soil and sheep poo thanks to dad (our section was all rocks and clay). Hubby was in control of most of it as I was known to be a bit of a black finger (aka every plant

I thought putting my latest creation up here might encourage me to paint more, sorry about the photo it is a little wonky, but the painting is hanging up in the front door area and I couldn't get a better angle.  At the moment I am just painting to decorate our house which is very bland with hardly any pictures on the wall.  Also painting pictures for family presents, poor people, when you give someone a painted picture they feel obliged to hang it up even if they don't like it.  But we have a rule for grown up Christmas presents, that we only give presents that we made.  It makes you think and be a little creative and so much fun.

I was sitting down finally having a rest after putting both kids to bed.  Tired after a night of taking care of a little girl with a tummy bug, changing sheets after sheets.  Washing clothes, clothes and more clothes after she was sick on us all.  When the door bell rang, I got a little ray of sunshine.  Clare from goshorty was stopping by to drop off the dribble bibs and beanie that I had ordered for my little man.  Wow they are cool, not sure what it is about baby gear but it is so dam exciting.  I wish I could sew but alas I can't and even if I could I doubt my creations would be anywhere as brilliant as these goshorty ones. Check out her website, facebook page and blog Webiste: http://www.goshorty.co.nz/ Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/goshorty.nz Blog: http://www.shortbutnot.blogspot.com/

OK man flu has officially hit our house. Lucky for me, the rest of us have already had it, so I only have the one grown man to take care off. OK apart from the fact that we have a sick wee girl that must have a tummy bug today. I can't blame hubby for feeling so sick though , I had this flu about three weeks ago and it was hideous, in fact at one stage I remember saying "Oh my gosh I think I have the man flu" it was that bad. In saying that, I was at my sickest during the week so I was looking after both kids at the same time as feeling like a bus had run me over. Sure I wasn't paying them my fullest attention, after all I did have trouble keeping my eyes open. But baby had clean nappies on and they were both being fed. Unlike hubby I found it very difficult to get any sleep during the day time and I fully blame the Wiggles for this. Every time I closed my eyes my daughter would race up to me and yell "WAKE UP MUMMA, WAKE UP". Bonus is that I am now feel

When I was pregnant with my first child I decided to start something that would keep me busy and utilise my creativeness.  I came up with this giant activity mat.  It was hard to get a picture of this one as it is giant, about three meters by two meters.  I painted onto the calico with material pants, that you iron on after the paint dries.  I painted a collection of pictures and words on the mat and also added numbers, English and Arabic and the alphabet. I initially wanted to put a waterproof cover on the back but due to the lack of my sewing skills and my uncooperative very old sewing machine, I pulled out of that idea.  My two year old is just really starting to enjoy it and loves me shouting out a word and she then runs and jumps on the matching picture.  It is also great for my 4 month old little boy to roll around on as it stops him eating hairy carpet.

Making Finger puppet butterflies It has been raining for way to long now, so I decided that I needed some special activities for my little girl to do.  While watching some of the many hours of Kids Zone that I seem to be watching these days, I saw this idea and thought it was brilliant.  My daughter loves stickers and zooming around like a crazy person so something that incorporates both was a goer. Remember that all I did was cut out the shape (note to self, try and make sure the next butterflies don't look like she is giving the finger).  My daughter stuck the stickers on, where ever she wanted to.  Then I wrapped a bit of cardboard around my finger and stick that to the back of the butterfly after she had decorated it and we were ready to fly. After this we proceeded to zoom around the lounge being butterflies.  This held my daughters attention for a good 30mins, which is kind of a record with her.  I am now motivated to do more fun activities.  More updates soon.

I made a pact with myself recently, to keep myself and my house in a presentable state. Simple task you may think, alas not when you are me. Its not that I am a messy person its just that I seem to have inherited a lazy gene, when it comes to keeping a nice house. Add to that mix, the fact that I have a 2 1/2 year old little girl that is like a toy hurricane and a 4month old little boy to take care of. So I set myself the following rule: I will have the house and myself in a presentable state at all times. This means that anyone can knock on my door at any point in the day and I will not be embarrassed about what I am wearing or the way my house looks. When I say at any point in the day I mean after 9am and before 9pm any other time you may catch me in my snuggly PJ's. I set this pact with myself as I was sick of looking like a homeless person, who was living in a tip (ok my house wasn't that bad). We never used to get random visitors, we always had some sort of warning. So

Tonight I feel like a bit of a hippy. We have just finished dinner of Dahl (lentils) curry with homemade preserved lemon.  I will follow that with a homemade double layered butter cake with butter icing (not so healthy, I know). I would have included a picture of the lentils but lets be honest, they don't look pretty. I have not included a recipe for the Dahl curry, as I am not sure if anyone would actually be into that. Plus I have no idea what I actually put in it. I am a bit of a random chef and throw a bit of this and a bit of that, then if it doesn't taste quite right I throw a bit more in. Plus I used my secret spice mix from my mother-in-law (authentic Indian). I have to say the curry was exactly what we needed, both Hubby and I were feeling a little unhealthy and lacking in vegies. Plus it tasted dam delicious, warmed the cockles of my heart, it did (smiling as I say that). Perfect for this cold and rainy weather we have been having. Hubby is a bit reluctant to jus

I had a light bulb moment this morning, mummy needs to book in "Me time". My light bulb moment occurred as I was about to have a shower and I realised that my leg and underarm hair was nearly a groomeable length. The leg hair I could handle, I mean after all it is winter. But the underarm hair, I actually screamed and jumped back with shock. OK to much information you're thinking, agreed but I needed you to realise that when you are a mum sometimes the simplest of things fail to get done. The problem is, that on the lengthy list of things to do each day kids are first priority, Hubby second priority (what he has the ability to take care of himself). The house is the third priority and Mummy is the last priority. On the majority of days mummy gets jumped off the list to another day (aka just dropped off the list altogether). Why does this happen? Mothers these days are highly educated intelligent people who have temporarily dropped their careers to take care of their

I just made the yummiest soup using veggies from the garden and whatever was in the fridge. Minestrone is the perfect soup to keep people healthy and warm in these cold days of winter. Now I am not normally a fan of Minestrone soup but after watching food TV and looking at the good old Edmonds recipe book I attempted to make one. This is what I did and yummo, it was exactly what my sick body felt like. Ingredients: Some oil to fry onions etc in 1 large onion 2 cloves garlic 1 leek 3 small funny looking carrots (ok so my carrots have not grown very big in the garden this year) 2 large potatoes Half a cup cabbage cut thinly 4 leaves of Silverbeet 1 tin of beans, any but just not baked beans (well you could try but not sure how that one would work) 1 tin of tomatoes Chicken stock ( or if you are like me and don't have any, a couple of packets of maggi onion soup etc) What to do: Chop up all of the vegetables. Fry the onion and garlic, in oil or butter

How do you feel when you see a child that is all snoty with a cold at kindy, music or other activities? Do you take your children out when they are sick? In the past I have always hermitised my daughter and I when either of us is sick. As I don't like going out and getting other people sick. Especially because my daughter is super cuddly and kissy with other kids and I would hate to have her smear her snot all over another child's face. I on the other hand don't really mind if other children are slightly sick at kids activities etc but do mind when they are fully, green snot hanging out of their nose, sick. With my second child having arrive in January I am now in somewhat of a conundrum . I now realise that with two children there is a huge likely hood that at least one of us will have a snotty nose at any given time during the winter. So the question is; to go out or not to go out? Having been in solitary confinement (ok trio confinement) for the past 2 weeks w

Ever since I got into this environmental kick I have been looking for alternatives to cleaning and beauty products available today. Ok I am no environmentalist by any means. I like to think of myself as a suburban environmentalist, I mean I care, but not enough to pull a muscle over it or anything. When I first started getting all environmental, I tried all of the new "Green" products in the supermarket and health stores, trying to do my bit. Yes they were good but also very expensive, often more so than the normal products available . At that same time I was listening to a talk back radio show with Shannon Lush  a cleaning guru. She was my hero, she could get stains out of anything and mostly using trusty Baking Soda and Vinegar. This started off my "what can I do with Baking Soda" kick. I tried using Baking Soda a lot of different ways and eliminated the ones that just didn't work for me. Three years later I am still using my favourites to clean, shine and d

I remember on long road trips my parents would give us the "back in my day" speech and tell us how it was when they were young. They described that there was no TV and when they did get TV it was only in black and white for a long time. "Wow no TV" we used to say but how did you survive, what did you fill your days with. This got me thinking, what will I tell my children in my "back in my day" talk, what has changed over the years since I was young. I realised that it is going to be a dam big talk over multiple road trips, as so much has changed. They are going to think we are sooooo old when I tell them that when I was little not only were there no cell phones our phones didn't have buttons on them and when it rang we didn't just pick it up, we had to wait to see if it was our ring, as we were on a party line. If we called a business, there would be no automated voice telling us what to press or say, we actually got a real person on the line a

I have fond memories of all the dinner parties my parents used to host. Preparing food days in advance, the whole family pulling together to get the already spotless house clean and tidy. The best crockery was brought out and cleaned. The silver was shinned up until you could see your face in it. Tables were placed together in order to squeeze 12 or more people in. The nicest table clothes were pulled out along with their matching napkins (no paper napkins in sight). My job was to set the table with the best of everything. Now was the time to test my knowledge on which piece of cutlery goes were and in which order. Crystal wine glasses were pulled out of the display cabinet, I tell you it was a magical time. Once the guests had arrived and kids had been shown off we were all shuffled off to a separate room with our chippies and TV. These dinner parties weren’t just a slapped together meal, it was often a four course meal. With soup for a starter, always rich and creamy. My favourite

Environmental rant of the month.... How things have changed. In my parents generation if something broke you got your trusty screwdriver out and fixed it, or if you really had to admit defeat you took it to someone to get fixed. These days if something breaks you merely throw it in the rubbish and buy a brand new, WAY better, one. In the process filling landfills and messing with the environment. Back in the day you could buy quality goods that real people had made with materials that normal people can tinker with and fix. For example my parent’s fridge lasted, if I remember rightly, 27 years (pretty sure that one was replaced on their 27th wedding anniversary and not because it was broken). One of their original pot sets has lasted years, and to prove that point I have now inherited it and it is brilliant. I remember at my granddad's house, his teapot handle fell off so what did he do, he screwed a goat horn onto it and it lasted the rest of his life. In my mum’s day, when you

Namaste Yes this is my new thing, some of you may think it’s weird, what a choice and why. Well to explain it, my husband is Fijian Indian and his whole family speak Hindi. My husband understands it and speaks a little but mainly smart arse Hindi. So my reasons are that I want our kids to understand and speak Hindi, as I want them to retain their culture. More importantly I want to make sure that when Hubby’s family is talking in Hindi that they are not talking about me. Quite often I am at family events (with older family members that don’t speak English) and I try to look like I am listening but....... after 2 hours of trying to listen to a language you don’t understand I am sure the best of you would tune out. So I start watching Hindi television, which to be honest is pretty dam good, again, I just wish I could understand it. My mother in law is very good at explaining things to me, but still I struggle. I spent many hours learning from CD’s a few years ago, when we owned a

Today I decided to do something with my life. Not that I haven't done something with my life already. As I have two wonderful kids and a lovely husband, a great house and basically everything I need. But now that the kids are giving me time to think, breath or whatever..... I think I should do more than be a business analyst. I mean what the hell is a business analyst anyway its just a name given to any job that doesn't actually have an exciting job title, like astronaut, biochemical engineer, exotic dancer you know the ones. So I decided that I need to find a new niche. Something that I am good at, something that is my special talent. Now usually with a special talent you don't have to go looking for it, its just there. Like a friend of mine is a great sewer and has created her own business sewing groovy little kids clothes. Another friend creates websites and does a dam good job of it. A lot of other friends are teachers which I consider the ultimate calling. I tried that