Tag: BeachBody

Challenge Accepted Day 38

Last night I had a dream and in it my Nana (grandmother) pulled up in a really flashy Jaguar, no idea which model but it was full of class and she had her hair in a scarf looking like Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelley, but she was older, she was still my Nan. I can’t remember what she said to me or too much about the dream, all I can remember is her smile. It was bigger and brighter than I’d ever seen it before. I awoke feeling good. Feeling like she had left me with a happiness. I got up and made myself a coffee and sat down to look at my news feed on FB when it came up that I had memories from today, April 13th. Given its school holidays, I haven’t really been tracking the date; today would have been my Nan’s 113th birthday! How weird is that? I’m not what one would consider a religious person. I have my beliefs, including believing in God, I just don’t believe in religion as a concept, I’m also not too sure about the old heaven and hell concept, but what I do know is that I awoke with the feeling that my Nana is happy, she is content, she is in a good place. 
The other thing about today is that I had a baby due today. Not something I talk about or share very often. I’ve had two miscarriages, one at 8 weeks and one at 13 weeks. The latter happening right after I’d announced it to everyone! I guess because today’s my Nana’s birthday, I got really excited to have a baby due on it. I couldn’t even tell you what day I miscarried on. It seems like so long ago and such a nightmare that I really don’t think about it too often. I’m not even really sure my hubby has any idea about how it all went down and I don’t think I can describe it for you in a blog, but it just wasn’t very nice and not something I reflect on very much. Put it this way, when I think of April 13th, I think of my Nana, not of my miscarriage but at some point in time during the day, it comes to mind. It’s all a little bittersweet, but today was made a lot better by the visit from my Nana in my dream.
I worked out; Speed 2.0! Wow! It was tough but good. I was hoping for a break somewhere in there like the stretching in Speed 1.0, but no. And you know what, I was thankful there wasn’t one, by the end of it, I felt great! Even if physically I’m not all better just yet. So much better than yesterday. The kids and I cleaned the house and I showered, did my morning R+F regimen and felt great, I do have some sad news from the Rodan + Fields desk though; my favourite tool is being discontinued. Yes, the MACRO E is only going to be available for a short time. So very, very sad. This is, in my humble opinion, is the Clarisonic on crack. It’s wonderful. My skin feels amazing after I use it. It’s even dual voltage. I love it. This is a sad day for the world. On a side note, let me know if you want to order one before they discontinue it, you only have until April 26th unless stock runs out before then!

www.slongmorescott.myrandf.com

It’s under the Redefine regimen, MACRO Exfoliator.. A tool of awesomeness! 
Ok, back to our day, we went to the market once again today and got some amazing strawberries and tomatoes. Yum, my favourite so far here. Even the lettuce and onions were good today, thank god, because the onions at the commissary yesterday were rotten and disgusting and the pickings were slim.

We paid our electricity bill to our real estate agent (yes, you can do that here for no extra fee) and looked at the variety of items they had out for sale at the market just a few doors up. Each time I go it gets a little bit bigger, it’s wonderful. Well except for the bunnies in a box for sale, that was pretty awful. My kids begged and begged for a baby bunny but I had to say no (50,000 times mind you) a. Because we have a cat and a dog already, and b. Because if we continue to purchase animals from people like this, they will continue to breed them in who knows what conditions and judging by the 10 or so bunnies in that little box all quivering and shaking, the conditions aren’t so great. Every part of me wanted to rescue them all, but how can I encourage that? And it’s for us you know, the Americans, the foreigners, that’s who those bunnies were aimed at. I couldn’t take a photo, I couldn’t even look for very long as it made me sick to my stomach at the cruelty of it all! I knew I only had so much resolve and my kids just thought I was the worst Mummy ever, until we saw the puppies that is! Then the begging doubled. Again, two little puppies in a box. I saw someone carrying one around that was almost identical, so I’m gathering they started the day with more. I just can’t do it and I’m willing to look like the bad guy to my kids if it means one less person breeds animals to make a quick buck! 
We finished our day with a Family Readiness Group meeting and it was great. There was a great turnout, everyone was enthusiastic and the future looks bright. So glad that’s one thing my hubby doesn’t have to worry about, nor me for that matter. I am simply there to advise and he’s got way too much on his plate! It’s 11:30pm (2330) and he’s at work. Got there at 0600 this morning. Came home for about an hour for dinner and went back. I’m so glad we got to spend some quality time with him over Christmas and the beginning of this year as I knew this was going to be a long and arduous road ahead in his new job trying to right past wrongs and ensure it is functioning like a well-oiled machine. He’s got good people working with him, so it’s only a matter of time. But in the meantime, the younger kids don’t understand why Daddy’s not here anymore, when he was here so much before. The military life. You have to live it to appreciate all of it! 
We came home from the meeting to eat my amazing curry that I had made earlier and I have to say it was very good. It was a Thai curry but the entire family (+1 tonight as Ally has her friend over again) loves naan (Indian bread) so we incorporate that into every curry and yummo! I’d say we got a 5.5 out of 6 tonight. Ally’s friend wasn’t too keen on the rice but she did suck up all the curry juice, so I’ll take that as a win! 
To end the night on another bittersweet note, my friend’s hubby (who was in the motorcycle accident) awoke by himself from his induced coma today, that wasn’t supposed to happen for another 2-3 days, unfortunately he still has no feeling in his legs. They are being transferred to one of the big Army hospitals where they can better assess him and what’s going on. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts. 
For me, it is goodnight. I shall do my nighttime Rodan and Fields Redefine regimen and hope my hubby comes home soon.
Have a wonderful day and/or night wherever you are! 

Challenge Accepted Day 37

Well, I finally worked up the courage to do yesterday’s workout and I honestly nearly threw up a number of times. My body just isn’t feeling too good yet, so no double workout today unless something dramatically changes. I’m going to take each day as it comes with whatever this weird thing is that has hit me. I’ll definitely be working out everyday (aside from yesterday of course) so I’ll be a day behind and will need to catch up somewhere this week, but not today. Today is going to be a day about art. My kids are doing a project for their grandma and grandpa and I am going to continue to paint. I wish I had started painting in Hawaii, other than a wall mural for my daughter that is. It would have been nice to sit out on the beach and paint. Yesterday, had it not been windy, would have been so inspiring to paint. Like I said, water calms me down and takes me to a place of serenity like nothing. So I finished my workout and began to feel normal enough to eat so I made myself a yummy lunch: 

  

Dear son did come in and steal some of my haloumi though, the kids loves it as much as Mummy! I cleaned the entire kitchen and had to immediately make all children more food as there is some instinct inside of kids that says as soon as the kitchen is clean, they require snacks and/or food that will use as many plates as possible. As I looked around at the new mess, I thought, “Why not?” I had bought a number of ingredients to make what looked like an amazing (super rich, bad, fattening, omg, I’m going to have a heart attack) dessert a while back and before everything went bad, thought I should make it. So I did! And it was just as good in taste as I suspected it would be. Yum. If you are a cheesecake lover, then this is for you! We ate it still warm out of the oven, but I’m suspecting cold it would be just as nice! I don’t know what would be an equivalent in Australia to crescent roll pastry but you could experiment with both puff and pie pastry and see which one works best for your taste buds. The rich center is what makes this divine. I’ve shared the link to the recipe on my Facebook page: aussiemumsadventures – check it out! 

    

The kids and I started working on the project for Grandma and Grandpa and the dessert was Hunter’s reward for listening and doing what I say, yes I’m that Mummy, the one who bribes when necessary with all sorts of things including food! They all did exactly what they were told and Hunter didn’t scream or anything and he hates anything gooey, messy, yucky, on him, so this was definitely a win! Can’t tell you too much about the project until it has arrived at its destined home. 
It was whilst we were waiting for part of it to dry that I sat down and caught up on Facebook posts and was greeted only with bad news. It has started with my friend’s husband, my hubby’s former soldier, who has been in a terrible motorcycle accident and may have a severe spinal injury. They have been operating on him for hours and have just induced a coma as he had to have part of his lung removed and a rib and so many other things. They don’t know the extent of his spinal injury but he couldn’t feel his legs. I called my husband to tell him and neither of us knew what to say other than the usual claims of, “Oh my God!” We never expect tragedy to strike and when it does, we don’t know how to express every emotion we go through. My friend is located in Germany, a long way from her family and his family. They have two little boys, they’re lives are before them. It’s unfair. They are good people. How come crap like this doesn’t happen to child molesters and murderers, why doesn’t karma work in obvious ways? 
The second thing I read is that Cayleb Hough’s remains have been found. I have been following and sharing Cayleb’s parents’ websites and sharing their desperate pleas to find him for months. He was last seen alive at 7am on Sunday, December 20th, 2015 in Highett, Victoria, Australia. I didn’t know Cayleb or his family, but I am a mother, so the heartache of not knowing the whereabouts of my children would be my worst nightmare. And now, their worst nightmare has come true. Cayleb was 17. The same age as my nephew. 
Sometimes, life sucks! We must appreciate every single moment we have with our loved ones. Right now I have let my girls go out and ride their bikes in our little ‘ville’ but I always worry about them getting hit by a car. Even though there’s only three streets, sometimes people come in here way too fast. But what should I do? Let them sit inside on their Ipads all day? Wrap them up in cotton wool? I’d like to do that, but they have to gain some independence too. They have to know their own boundaries. They have to learn to do some things without Mummy watching their every move. Being a parent is tough. Finding that happy medium between ensuring they have the skills required to make the right decisions through being independent learners and your need to protect them, is a fine line. 
So, I lay down for a while this afternoon and snuggled with my kiddos (after they’d safely come back in from riding their bikes) and we watched an episode of my now favourite go-to show on Netflix: Doc Martin. Brilliant. My headache was back in full force and my vision started to blur so it was a good way to hang out and snuggle and use excuses not to do anything. 

Finally I realized I hadn’t yet been to see the kitties today so we all went and saw them and patted them, well one of them anyway, the other one doesn’t like little people and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me by extension. It was funny when I went by myself the other night, just how different she was, she came over to me, rubbed her head on my leg and let me pat her, today she just sat in her chair looking very regal (she’s part Siamese) and wondering why I bought those hellions back with me! Oh well, they love her even if she’s not a fan of them. 
It was refreshing to take a walk after almost vomiting when I completed my earlier exercise. I kid you not, I took a selfie but I look absolutely awful in it, not sure I should share a ‘trying not to be sick, after-workout selfie’ with you all! Oh, what the hell! 

  

Tonight though I started feeling almost normal. I made a 7 layered dip that was absolutely sensational, my friend who’s cats I’m looking after had some avos (Aussie for avocados) that needed to be used – she told me to grab them – so I made my own guacamole and my own salsa, they both worked so well in this dish as the salsa was really spicy and the guacamole had too much lime juice on it, making the whole thing come together like a star! Given it was taco Tuesday, it was only fair to incorporate it all with our dinner. Hubby was absolutely delighted, in fact I think the quote was “Best taco ever!” I skipped the tortilla but did have another small piece of heaven (the dessert I made earlier) so can’t really say I cut any calories today, may have added quite a few extra on though! Oh well, sometimes one also has to remember that life is short and we need to take advantage of every single day we have! 

Remember, you’ll never be younger than you are right now! Have an amazing day or night, wherever you are. And if you have time, maybe spare a thought or two for a family who tonight are coming to terms with the fact they shall never see their son again and another family who are hoping for a full recovery for their loved one. 

Challenge Accepted Day 36

Well what a lovely day! I awoke feeling like rubbish still, but it was time to put the big girl panties on and get out and about. And out and about we got. My girls are on Spring break this week and today was a great start to it (other than my rubbish cold that is)! Our neighbor and newfound friend, Rachel put out last week that she wanted to go and check out this place called Anmyeondo island. I love the beach, I love water, I love the peaceful feeling I get when I’m near it and I needed to feel some of that. So I jumped at the chance to join in and travel there. We cancelled our dentist appointments and changed some other stuff around just so we could go. That’s how important it was to me. 
  
This past year has felt like a very long winter. We moved from Hawaii to Colorado in July, 2013 and although Colorado was in Summer at the time, it doesn’t really ever get over 80F in the Springs and that doesn’t qualify as Summer for me, just like Hawaii never got over 80 nor did it ever really get under 70F. So the weather suited me just fine because it was always semi-warm, whereas when it gets cold, I need it to get hot, just to balance me out. My friend Trine (Norwegian) doesn’t think it gets really cold in Colorado and perhaps compared to Norway it doesn’t, but it got down to -32C once (That’s -25.6F) aka bloody cold, too bloody cold for my liking! No one told me hair can freeze when it gets that cold, my hair was damp when I left the house and it froze almost immediately and a giant chunk snapped off, literally snapped. Goodbye hair, it was nice knowing you. No, thank you very much. I like my hair and I like my warmth and though she is one of my dearest friends, we shall always agree to disagree when it comes to Winter. It just doesn’t work for me. Off point, I know. 2015 was a year that seemed to me like perpetual cold. No, it wasn’t the coldest winter on record in Colorado, in fact it was a fairly warm winter, but it was still winter, then we went to Australia in July, my first time home in 5 years, almost to the day, and it’s winter, again. Yay (sarcasm) It hadn’t even gotten up to 80 in Colorado yet! The Sunshine Coast was ok, though I still desperately missed Summer, but Melbourne was absolutely freezing. By the time I get back to Colorado at the end of August, they have pretty much had 5 weeks straight of 80+F temps that all came to an end the week we arrived back, no I’m not kidding! We booked a cruise in January to try and locate some warmth, but even that only gave us one day of nice, warm, laying in the sun, weather and that was on our second last day.
  
We get to South Korea and it’s bleak and miserable and cold and we arrive in Seoul to -30C weather where we have to go and take our dog to play every day, at least twice a day and where the son does nothing but cry as soon as we head outside. It was truly miserable. The one thing about Colorado’s winter is that it is truly beautiful, picturesque probably better describes it. It may be cold and snowing but at least the sun comes out a lot and there’s beautiful mountains and scenery to look at, even on the coldest days. Not South Korea. The trees seem to all be deciduous, so everything looks dead in Winter. It’s cold and bleak with high rises and buildings and junk everywhere. The Koreans are extremely technologically advanced but they still don’t care about litter. I drove back from the beach today and watched car after car roll down their windows and throw stuff out. The beach was covered in trash in parts, just like the streets here. I hate it. I want to stop people in the street and say “what are you doing?” There are also no public rubbish bins (garbage bins) so what are people supposed to do with their garbage? I had two bags of garbage just after our picnic today, the first I left in the restrooms inside the garbage bin in there because I didn’t want to leave a bag of garbage in my car, the second, I took with us. 
Back to today; I would have liked to crawl back into bed, but my need for beach and fresh air was more important, even with an almost 2 hour drive each way! I get out of bed and get cracking early enough to get an esky (cooler) packed as well as our picnic, but not early enough to work out. I do my Rodan and Fields regimen and lavish my face with Reverse #4 sunscreen (my fave sunscreen ever) then have to get breakfast for all children whilst also getting the youngest two ready. I take lots of vitamin C and some medicine that will stop my nose from running. Then it’s time to drop hubby off at work before feeding the cats we are looking after and picking up hubby’s colleague’s teenage daughter whom I have asked to join us, then meeting with Rachel at 9am (0900 in military speak). Crazy start to the day, yes. 
We are off. It was a fairly easy drive given the Korean driving skills, no great drama on the roads, a couple of weird GPS turns, but I expect nothing less, and all goes smoothly. Rachel is leading the minivan convoy and does a great job. I’m a terrible driver/leader, I don’t know why but I always sit there and think the person behind me wants me to go faster or something, and here, all I want to do is go faster but apparently, the Korean speeding ticket is an absolute fortune and there are speed cameras everywhere, so I don’t take any chances. I actually led on the way back and my phone and my car GPS were going crazy with camera locations so it was really a matter of using my cruise control, but I probably also braked a lot and poor Rachel was probably like, “What are you doing?” But I’m not sure how anal they are with speeding tickets and I don’t want to take a chance, so if I thought there was a speed camera, I slowed down to the exact speed limit if not less. And it helped that my GPS lady shuts up when I slow down too!
There are 9 of us hitting the beach including 2 adults, two teens, one tween, and 4 kids all under 8. In our car, we are excited. I can tell you that we all looked at the scenery as we were driving through these regions and finally saw ‘beautiful’ South Korea. It was wonderful to see only green for a change, or green intermingled with flowering cherry blossoms. I wish I could share a photo of it with you, but unfortunately as the driver, there were no good photos. It didn’t help that I didn’t take my camera either! We crossed a number of large bridges to get to the island and it was truly magnificent. I go excited the minute I saw water! We had no idea which beach we should have chosen though, so it was a matter of guess work and between us, we ended up at a bit of a rocky cove, but it meant we found amazing shells! I have never seen so many shells in my life! It was truly amazing. And we collected a lot. Thank goodness Rachel had a spare ziplock bag for us to throw some cool shells in. 
Leaving my eldest on the beach with her teenage friend (because neither of them really felt like going for a walk) the rest of us did a short hike over to the next beach where we discovered some cool shells, tide pools and a big rock stack. A gorgeous scenic viewing area claimed some space at the top of a fairly steep (for my 3 yo) staircase, there were also bunkers (we think) in between. That was my guess anyway, perhaps dating back to the Korean War where sentries kept an eye out for invasion? If anyone can enlighten me further, I would appreciate it.

  
It was a very easy hike even with young kids and well worth it for what awaited us at beach number 3, Sambong. A real life beach, with sand, and few rocks but lots of shells and tide pools. My phone decided a good time to die was right before I got a great photo of the entire beach! What I did get a photo of and what excited me the most was when Rachel’s kids found starfish! Starfish! They were beautiful and they were everywhere. It was so exciting, possibly even more so for me than for the kids, I love starfish! I grew up next to the wate but starfish were something I remember from a kid in New Guinea, I saw some in Tahiti, I think, and some in Malaysia or Thailand (or both) and a couple snorkeling in Hawaii, but that was it. This was literally hundreds of starfish hanging out on the beach in tide pools. We spent a long time just rescuing some who were looking like they had been beached, were starting to curl up, that sort of stuff. I have tried to do some research on starfish rescue (or ‘sea stars’ as they are now known – Ally kept saying this all afternoon but I didn’t give her credit and yet she was 100% correct) but no one seems to know too much about them. Apparently many are committing suicide on the west coast of the United States??? Seriously! Who knew? But no one knows why! Maybe real estate prices? Very strange though considering they have no brain according to scientists. Anyway, the kids and I thought it better safe than sorry given sometimes starfish just have to roll with the surf and have no control over where they end up, better to end up in small tidal pools with access to mussels than not, I say. So that’s what we did. Between us, we must have rescued 50 starfish. And yes, we are sticking with rescued! My kids are heroes! Even Hunter who hates anything stick or gooey on his hands, was very happy to pick these babies up and deliver them to the nearest tidal pool – Hero! 😊
  
These following two photos are credited to Rachel White:

   
 We eventually decided, given the next beach was 10km away, to end the hike there and return to our original location, find my eldest, and let the kids just play for a while before making our way back. On the way back, it seemed like what was an empty path became filled with Korean tourists from a bus tour, all on the steep steps. After many ‘hello’s’ though we go to the lookout to see the last group trying to take a photo. I asked if I could help by taking a photo for them and they were very happy. Having no idea, I mean none whatsoever, what Koreans use to say smile in a photo, I used the go-to for any English speaking person, “Cheese!” But this one dude in the back row cracked me up when his response was: “Kim Cheeeeeese!” Kimchee, or kimchi is a well known Korean dish and this seriously made me laugh, just because I guess I was expecting something like it, but I wasn’t. Brilliant! Next time, that shall be my go-to line, not Kimchee, but kimcheeeese! 
Back to the beach we go where the kids get to play for a while and the weather has warmed up enough for us to remove sweaters for a short while. It was fun. Needing to use the toilet wasn’t mind you, given the barnacle/rock extravaganza that awaited us, but it was fun nonetheless. I took the lead as I previously mentioned, to drive home when Rachel’s app didn’t want to cooperate, and it was all good except for my speeding up/slowing down maneuvers of course. We got home at a more decent hour than I expected and hubby was actually in between (meaning he came home to change before going out again) so it all worked out as the kids got to tell him all about their awesome, amazing, wonderful day at the beach. 
Unfortunately, the minute I got home, it was like all the congestion that spent most of the day leaving my body, came back in full force, perhaps the ocean air was a big contributor, anyway, rubbish was how I felt! It was time to check on the kitties again and I was supposed to start T25 beta round but at 7pm (the time we were back in the house) all this body wanted to do was relax, instead, I had to get my kids the extremely gourmet meal of ramen (2minute) noodles – thank you noodle Monday and for the fact that sometimes I don’t have to be elaborate! I had leftover pasta, got everyone in respective showers, including myself. Did the night regimen, no AMP MD tonight either, and sat down to write this. There may have been some trashy Korean TV in between, a first for our family as we searched for something suitable for the kids to watch with us, and it may have involved ‘little people’, a video of my dog intently watching the show ‘Little People, Big World’ and I may have also let my girls watch that crazy show ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’ just to give them an idea about how I am a very normal mummy! But otherwise, a relatively quiet night! 
I hope your day and or night are magnificent, no matter where you are. For me, I just want to wake up without a sore, runny nose in the morning and be able to do a double Tuesday workout, given I didn’t do this one today! 
Happy trails! 😊

Challenge Accepted Day 31

Well what a lushful day! I have been nothing but a big lush all afternoon! I started off my morning in the right frame of mind; making my bed, cleaning, unpacking/packing the dishwasher etc, etc. I even did Total Body Circuit on T25, ok almost did it, the DVD cut out with 7 minutes to go and I’m not going to lie, this body was lying on the ground like a beached whale with Shawn T asking me to give a little more and do wide in/out abs with a squat and I pretty much wanted to tell him where he could shove those when the DVD cut out! What a shame! Oh well, sometimes one just has to go with it and listen to the body (& mind) & tell everything else where to go. Today was that day. I cleaned ferociously afterwards, so it’s not like I just sat around like a beached whale all day, it was only the one time with Shawn T watching…..
My friend Tawni came for lunch and lunch was wonderful, if I do say so myself. She too loves haloumi, so my balsamic vinegar chicken, avocado & haloumi salad went down really well. If I hadn’t been so hungry I would have taken a photo of just how awesome lunch looked, and tasted! I also introduced Tawni to ‘Le Card Bordeaux de Franzia rouge chillable’ or Franzia box wine Chillable Red’ it sounds so much nicer in French. I love red wine and white wine, in bottle form, in expensive bottle form, but this US box wine is scarily drinkable. They need to start paying me commission for the people I introduce to this very drinkable, very mild, very light, very refreshing, very summer, box wine. Seriously. Add new person today! And if any of you taste it just because of this blog then we need to start a new hashtag, possibly #Sheryn’sFranziaDrinkableRed ? Let me know what you think! 
So lunch was amazing. Don’t you just love it when you connect with someone immediately and it turns out all instincts are correct and you can connect with them immediately again and again? In military life, we need to speed up relationships because we’re always coming and going and so are other people, so we need to get right in there with people we connect with and enjoy their company whilst we can. That’s just how it is and any Mil Spouse who’s been doing this for long enough, understands those credentials. If they don’t, then they’re either new or have been lucky enough to be stationed in one place for so long they forgot what it’s like to move every two to three years or they’re just not worth being friends with. I sound harsh, but I’m telling the truth. This life is very unpredictable. We need to know what we want, know what we need, have our priorities in place (family first always) and get on with doing what we do and being completely and honestly ‘real’. It’s all about being real. No one wants to bullshit and most of us don’t have time for it. We like good old fashioned real people. Most of us don’t care about where you fit in to the military rank ‘spectrum’. We like you because we like you and nothing else matters. It’s our soldier spouses who have to worry about rank, not us. So today was once again refreshing because my gut instincts were correct (no that’s not why it was refreshing) and I met someone who was/is consistently real, consistently herself. 

My afternoon was almost over by the time Tawni left but what a lovely way to spend my day. I decided to go on strike as far as dinner was concerned, I guess hubby is just popping in to see us anyway before continuing his night at work, so leftover tacos will suffice for him and cheese pizza will do for the kiddos, as for me, well, perhaps, a taco also. I’ll go with the flow. 

Onto the Rodan + Fields side of things, well, my friend Sue enlightened me today by suggesting that my tenderness from using the AMP MD has stemmed from switching to the morning and following it with the ‘liquid velvet’ Night Renewing Serum. It’s called Night for a reason; You need the entire night to recover from using the AMP MD and the serum provides that overnight renewal, not necessarily your daytime benefits. She thinks my skin has become more sensitive because of this reason and that once I switch back to the night time regime, things will go back to normal. I should trust Doctors Rodan and Fields. Probably a good idea. Sometimes I try to make things fit in with me and it ‘ain’t necessarily so’. I need to be stricter with following directions and listen to the experts! 
Today’s blog is short and sweet. It was a wonderful day that ended with the not-so-great side of military life where hubby has to work into the wee hours of the morning. Kids are in bed. I am tired. Looking forward to the AMP MD tonight (with very light pressure of course) and to chilling by the tv with no interruption. I must say though, my kids all crack me up with their little stories/isms during the day and Hunter is obviously here with me the most, so I get to hear his more than anyone else’s. This morning he had his Avengers pjs on. I told him if he wanted to come to the bus stop, he would have to change, so he went upstairs and grabbed his Captain America track pants and gap sweatshirt, came down and took off his pjs and put those items on. I asked where his shirt was and he said he didn’t need one. I told him he would need a shirt as it was cold and he said and I quote, “Mummy, if I wear that pajama shirt underneath, I’m going to look like a weirdo!” Seriously! 😊
Have great day and or night! See you on the upside! Don’t forget you’ll never be as young as you are today, so make the most of it! 

Challenge Accepted Day 29

Good Monday to you and yours. Awoke this morning feeling fabulous! I had a wonderful night’s sleep. Sent both children off on their respective buses when hubby came home so I took the opportunity to take Luna for a run as it was a beautiful day. Well, we got down into the rice paddies and I thought, “should I?” “Is it a good idea?” And, yes, yes it was! There was no one about so I let Luna go and oh how happy she was! I was really worried she would take off and chase the ducks or something but instead, she ventured out to see some white birds but she came straight back and from then on, she didn’t go far and kept looking behind her to make sure I was still there. How wonderful it was for us both, she not choking herself to death by pulling on her leash, me not feeling like I’m slowly Killing my dog because I cannot run a 4 minute mile! Seriously, you could see her smiling. We waved to farmers and had a great run! 

This was followed by a not-so-great workout. I’m not sure what it is about Total Body Circuit (& I have it 2 or 3 times this week) but we don’t mesh! I was exhausted about 3/4 of the way through! I literally had to stop the DVD and do the workout on my own time (fast forwarding to each move or skipping the parts on my DVD that are all messed up but trying to do them myself) in order to get it done! It was downright depressing! I’m on week 5 & still I have my struggle moments with T25! Especially after such a great fun. The day seemed to head on a downhill (soft) slope from there. 

I had to clean. The dust bunnies were taking over. It was a matter of life and death. I couldn’t shower and clean my face until I had finished cleaning the house; who wants to be all lovely and clean then have to vacuum and mop? Not me. I’ve set Robbie up to go daily at 10am but one still needs to use a regular vacuum to get to the nooks and crannies and the ‘oh-so-tedious’ stairs! Seriously when is some going to create a stair cleaning robot? It was a process and I didn’t even get to the dusting as such! I’m not sure how cleaning isn’t a full-time job in and of itself. Especially here! Luckily I’m not the OCD type and could call it when I needed to. And that was about 30 minutes before Madison’s bus arrived leaving just enough time to do my Rodan and Fields regimen and all the other stuff required on a Monday. There was a lot. I did it all including AMP MD. It felt good today. My skin was very much ready and I’m glad I took the break. I also didn’t do my moisturizer mojo over the weekend (you know where I use the leftover hotel lotions to massage those body bits that could do with some extra loving – read the entire blog if you’re sitting there clueless 😜) so I did that today and my bits literally jumped out and thanked me! 

I forgot to mention the incidents that happened in between! My phone rang, it was the elementary school nurse, (not good) she wanted to let me know that Madison had fallen over in the school hallway (no one else was involved in the incident was a point pushed home) and had smashed her chin so hard that it had bruised. Great, she’s a spastic like her mother and here I thought she was the coordinated child! I made sure she didn’t have a headache or anything that needed to be followed up and when given reassurance, hung up, chuckling a little at my ‘unco’ child. I then saw that one of the curtains wasn’t hanging on a little hook (curtains are a little different here in South Korea) & thought I should reattach it which meant some chair climbing/balancing/you know. As I was finally done, I tried to get down thinking that would be the easiest part, & honestly, I can’t really explain what happened next, but somehow my leg whacked the chair (it’s a robust chair as you can see in the photo) and got this giant knot on the inside of my knee. I didn’t even know that could happen! Anyway, it hurt like hell! I couldn’t really walk for a while and all I could think about was that it could finish this challenge midway! Thank god it got better throughout the afternoon with some ice and Hail Mary’s! It was not over…. Ally got home and shared with me that her middle right finger might be broken because a boy in school accidentally whacked her with a Lacrosse stick. What! I have a look at it as soon as we get inside and it looks bruised but ok. Again, thank god! There’s only three days of school left before Spring break but she has exams on Wednesday and Thursday. So Madison asks if she can go out on the street and skate after finishing her homework and I think, “No!” Too many injuries today. So I let her and Hunter go out into our little tiny yard and play together, just as I’m about to call them in Hunter starts screaming and Madison is in a bit of a panic too. “What happened?” I ask. Hunter fell down the stairs and landed flat on his face. Oh, yes, my regular, accident prone, uncoordinated kid has made an appearance today! Yes, I was wondering where he was! Luckily it was just some scrapes to the hands, the face and, somehow, the back of the thigh! It was bath time thereafter and everyone had to be wrapped in cotton wool. I couldn’t do anything more. Luckily, all incidents ended once they were in bed! 

We had tacos for dinner and I opted for lettuce tacos. If you haven’t seen these, they are literally tacos wrapped up using a lettuce leaf. Now the photo shows one but I ate 4. They weren’t that big….. But they were good. I thought I may have missed out by excluding the tortilla but it was honestly really great. I topped up with some baby carrots on the side, but honestly didn’t need to, I am still full, hours later. Tonight I shall endeavor to have another early night as I am taking hubby to work tomorrow so I can have the car and go grocery shopping/perhaps check out some other new Korean stores. Before going to bed, I shall definitely do my Redefine regimen and see you tomorrow on my 30th day (halfway point of the Rodan + Fields challenge & 5 days away from being the halfway point of my T25 challenge – I guess you’ll all want some photos this week) have a great day or night, wherever you may be! 

  
As always, like my Facebook page: aussiemumsadventures and if you’re interested in doing your own Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge, then please go to my website: http://www.slongmorescott.myrandf.com and ‘Get Advice’ on ‘What’s Right for You’ so you can get the perfect advice for your skincare concerns. 

Challenge Accepted Day 27 

Today has been fun, but not overly eventful. I didn’t work out. The idea of doing Total Body Circuit on what should have been my day off wasn’t overly appealing and we had to get to the bank before it closed, unfortunately, we didn’t make it because the last time they were open was yesterday! Oh hubby, check the times of the bank and don’t assume just because one bank is open, the other will be. We had to go on to the base anyway. Hubby had a lot of stuff that needed to go into his office and I couldn’t wait to get it out of the house. The amount of crap they have to carry with them just with their Army life, then the awards and other cool stuff they get down the line, all adds up. Needless to say, in this little tiny house, we needed the stuff gone ASAP. 

Off to his office we went and wow! Just wow. I took some basic cleaning stuff thinking it would be like his last office and need a bit of a clean but nothing major; I was wrong. Very wrong. It was pretty disgusting. I’m sure it hadn’t been cleaned in a couple of years and the layer of dust covering everything was somewhat overwhelming. The walls were dusty, the chairs were filthy, the whole place was just dirty. South Korea is amazingly bad for the amount of dust that seems to appear. I think I mentioned it the other day in my blog that it was just the worst I had ever seen. And this office was bad. I even had to clean the vacuum cleaner before I could use it. I wished I had another vacuum cleaner and could pull a Monica (Friends reference there), instead I got damp paper towel and cleaned the vacuum cleaner. Even after doing that, when I went to use the hand piece on it, I made a big mistake, dust went all over both myself and the carpet. Three hours later though, between hubby and I cleaning it together, we got it all looking nice, his stuff hung on the walls, the chairs all clean, the floor as clean as it would get given the vacuum cleaner situation, all in all, a successful afternoon.
It was a beautiful day here in SoKo too and we were stuck indoors for most of it. But on Monday when hubby goes into his office and it’s clean and his stuff is hung on the walls, it will be worth it. And tonight we went for our first dinner at someone else’s house. Someone who has nothing to do with my hubby, (I have to say that I love it when meals are shared and they’re not career related) and we had an amazing night! It was so much fun. We both had an amazing night. Hubby called it before we outstayed our welcome and with kids, and a wife who loves to have a good time (aka me) it was the perfect time to depart. We really did have a wonderful night and I think we could be couple friends, that’s always a nice thing particularly when you’re in the military because half the time that doesn’t happen. Seriously. I’m not sure how it works in the civilian world but in the military world it works like this; “I met this amazing woman, I really like her, her name is….” “I can’t be friends with them her husband is one of my soldiers.” Or…… “I met this amazing woman, she is awesome, her husband seems really nice…..” I’m not going to meet her husband sweety, that’s just weird….” Or “no!” 
So my husband met tonight with an open mind and I am so glad he did. I was a tad surprised when he met it with such an open mind, but he did. This all started with an ad about looking after cats, I’m a big cat person, my husband is not. My daughter’s are too. Son is not. I saw this ad and thought, you’re within walking distance, I’ve been there and needed someone to help me with my cat and had no one, so I want to help this woman with her cats. I responded to the ad and said yes we would help. It also added to bonus ad points that she said “will pay in wine.” What a fabulous woman to put that on a Facebook advertisement (just in our local village mind you). So we went and met her and she was frigging awesome, she’d also lived in Townsville, Australia for 6 years. Here I am in South Korea, understanding that I’m going to associate and live with both Americans and South Koreans but the chances of encountering an Australian or someone who has lived in Australia are minimal. First there was my cable guy (Aussie/Korean), who had never met another Aussie in the 8 years he had worked in Pyeongtaek (until me of course) and now this American who had live in Australia for so long! It was a sign. On top of that, I instantly liked her, so did my kids. Then she invited us for dinner and it just all seemed natural. And my husband went along with it. Definitely a sign. And what a wonderful night we had. I made pavlova because she had had it before and because my hubby is looking for any excuse to have it again. The kids had a great night, all in all, can’t imagine a better Saturday night, we really enjoyed ourselves and it makes for a better place when you find people you can relate to and enjoy their company and rank, place, position, whatever, doesn’t come into play. We also let our eldest sleep over at her friend’s house and this time I felt terrible for judging her dad when he can to my house as they both seemed like awesome people too. He’s just an extrovert, and the Mum/mom seems very cool and very nice, they just have that one car struggle too. All in all, a great day. The only thing that would make it better would be if my French friend answered her bloody phone, she asked me to call…. I want to speak to her 😊
Not too much to report on any front other than the night regimen went well. I used Redefine and all is good, having given AMP MD a miss today. Looking forward to stretching tomorrow with T 25, but otherwise all quiet on the front and as always, please like me on Facebook: aussiemumsadventures, and share my posts if you enjoy them. Also, if you want to try your own Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge, then go to slongmorescott.myrandf.com have a great night and/or Saturday! 

Challenge Accepted Day 26

April fool’s. I’m not very good at practical jokes. Never really have been. I always felt bad for lying. I tried to tell my kids this morning that we were going on holiday to Thailand and to pack their bags and neither of them believed me! “I don’t think you’re telling the truth Mummy.” “You’re being weird.” That’s how good I am at lying. I couldn’t even fool my kids. Last year I declared that I would get black garbage bags and wrap them up making it look like there was a dead body in them and put them out by the garbage bin. That was before we knew we were coming here of course. I thought about doing it last night, but somehow I don’t think the Koreans would find it funny. I’d probably end up in jail (did I mention there’s over 40,000 cctv cameras in South Korea, so you are always being watched). It’s a strange place this one. Very different to how I had imagined it. 
I wasn’t really thinking last night when I said I would make up for the lack of workout yesterday, today. It’s Friday! That means I already have two workouts to do today. I couldn’t possibly add a third. I don’t even think I can run today. I wore high heels yesterday, something I don’t do very often, and my calves, shins and feet are all sore. Not sure I’ve ever had that before! Does that come with age or am I just that out of practice? So today’s workouts are Speed 1.0 (that’s my favourite because you do intense stuff then stretch) and abs. Those damn abs are trying to kill me! Yuck! That’s my least favourite from Alpha round. I’ve never been one for ab exercises. But I want that nice belly that will look good in a bikini even after having three kids! So a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, right! I told hubby today that I think we should actually go on a proper diet, just to lose 10lbs. I can maintain, especially when I’m back on my exercise bandwagon, but this losing weight isn’t working out so far. Oh how I’m regretting doing nothing but eating and drinking over the Christmas and New Year season! Now I’m going to have to really call upon some willpower and get my arse into gear! Do you know what else is weird, and let me know if this has happened to you too, I am now craving sweet stuff! I’ve always been one for a cheese platter over dessert, yet here I am looking longingly at dessert. All these amazing sweet dishes go through my newsfeed on Facebook and I want to make them and eat them! What has changed in me so much that I have gone from savoury to sweet? Anyway, back to the diet suggestion; I pretty much got this sort of death stare in response. I’m not really sure it’s going to happen but I do all the cooking so he may not have a choice. I may just make my tacos with lettuce wraps instead of tortillas (oh I can only imagine the hell I would get from all of them)! I guess I’ll just have to incorporate something. I find with so many ‘set’ diets that I don’t like a lot of the food. Every diet seems to have lots of zucchini, cucumber, egg plant, sweet potato and capsicum (what Americans call peppers), I don’t like any of them. The other thing is getting what’s available here, I love asparagus but I’m not paying US$6 for a small bunch, which is what I saw them for yesterday. I’m not into the whole shake thing either. I don’t mind adding a smuice (remember that mix between smoothie and juice) but I’m not all about living on drinks. I had actually made a smuice this morning. It was wonderful! I finally got cashew milk too, I really like that in my smuice. I also made scrambled eggs. They don’t look too appealing in the photo because I added home made salsa to 2 eggs prior to cooking it. It just gives them a really nice flavour, especially when you throw some avocado on top. On the side is a piece of grilled haloumi, it gave the whole dish the saltiness that it needed. Great breakfast and I was starving. 

   
 I did the ab workout and survived (barely) there was no way TBC could follow unfortunately, even with my little helper doing it with me! Then I procrastinated and played on Facebook for a while before showering and doing my morning regimen. I went back to the Redefine AMP MD regimen this morning, but found that tonight I needed to use the Smoothe regimen again as my skin was tingling a little bit. I’m wondering what it is I’m doing, perhaps I need to slow down on the AMP MD daily. Maybe it’s a little too much for my skin and I need to slow the pace. Everyone’s skin is different and different things effect different people in different ways. Perhaps my skin is saying that it just needs to slow down. I’ve all of a sudden been the most hard core with my skin regimen than I’ve ever been in my life and I think there might be a shock factor going on, even at day 26. I’ll take it down a notch and we’ll go from there. It’s not going to happen overnight and that’s what I need to keep remembering, a bit tough for someone with very little patience. 
Dear son and I hung out for a while today, how could I resist when he walked up to me and said, “Mummy, I want to snuggle with you.” Best words ever! He is my little snuggle bunny. So we snuggled, watched some tv, talked and laughed and before we knew it, it was time to pick up Madison from the bus stop. Well there was some drama there too. I guess there’s one lady who has a daughter but is always complaining about all the kids hanging out near her apartment (which is right at the bus stop). Unfortunately there is no playground here, something we are hoping to change, and there is no central ground for everyone to hang out, other than these lawns which back on to where the bus comes. She went on to the central page and whinged about everyone playing near her house (it’s not fenced and you can get it fenced if you want to). She had this tree outside with this weird buoy egg thing decorating it. I honestly just thought it was a junk thing so wasn’t too concerned about it in fact never gave it any thought. Well today the kids were all playing and I guess one or all of them knocked it down. And the other mums freaked out a little bit. Madison and two other girls then spent about 10 minutes trying to pick it up and put it back together, to no avail. Well above mentioned lady came out and was about to yell at them when I said “girls thank you so much for trying to put it back together, you are all trying really hard and doing the right thing.” She didn’t really know what to say then, but just told them to leave it alone and bring it to her, then her little dog came out, you know one of those little dogs with little dog syndrome, and started trying to bite my dog. I asked her to please take her dog inside or to put it on a leash. Well I guess that was pushing it because I got the death stare. Needless to say, I’m pretty sure we won’t be friends any time in the near future. Oh well. Luckily I’ll survive. There’s another woman in the block that has obviously taken an immense dislike to me, though I’m not sure why, I’m honestly not that bad. I guess I just rubbed her the wrong way the first time I met her when her dog tried to attack mine (again, not on a leash) & I was concerned for both the safety of my kids and my dog. Not sure that I said anything other than to tell my kids to back away, but I’m pretty sure I gave her a bit of a death stare, I don’t have a good poker face at all and I have a pet peeve for dogs who can turn vicious, to not be on a leash. Needless to say, she was downright rude to me today when I walked right past her and said hello, she looked up then purposely looked down at some other dogs in the neighbourhood. I mean, are we in kindergarten? Where did common courtesy go? Weird. 
That wasn’t the day over yet. We got to go to the dentist! Yay! It was actually a real yay. I had to get that tooth taken care of and so started the long journey to rectifying problems stemming from what was thought to be the right move when I was a young teenager. Anyway, there we were sitting at the dentist and my darling Madison had joined me tonight & she is certainly entertaining. She also happened to be with me the first time we came in and I had what I’m now calling ‘the bidet fiasco’. What is a bidet fiasco? I hear you ask. Well, having used bidets before, I thought I was a reasonably bidet-savvy woman. That wasn’t necessarily the case. I went in to use the toilet and wasn’t really paying very much attention to anything and flushed the toilet after being done, or so I thought. What happened next was water started spraying up in the air! I quickly jumped out of the way of the massive spray that shot up out of nowhere and started pressing every button in there trying to both stop the spray and flush the toilet. Surely logic would prevail and the button that jumped out at you the most was the flush button right? No, that wasn’t the case my friend. Now let me just say that we are inside a very busy dental clinic. Not too far from the eyes and ears of the busy waiting room and water is now everywhere inside the stall and pouring outside of the stall in the smallest bathroom I have ever been in to in my life. Dearest Madison is outside the stall yelling for me to stop the water from running whilst chaos is ensuing inside! Omg! I finally put the lid down and there it was, looking like the light at the end of the tunnel, the flush button! Thank god! The spraying, steaming, cleaning session, that erupted without a bottom in sight, came to an end. I opened the stall to find Madison standing there asking me what happened. I explained to her and we both started giggling hysterically. I cleaned up as best I could, not being able to do a whole lot with the water that had made its way outside of the bathroom. Luckily every Korean bathroom has a sloping floor leading to a drain. I may have then strongly encouraged my child not to speak of this incident again, particularly in the waiting room, held my head high and walked out. The receptionist has a direct line to the bathroom and gave a questioning look, but nothing further was said in English and I behaved like it was all very normal and that’s how we foreigners use our bidets. Since then, I have used the bidet without incident. 

    

After taking care of one tooth and setting up the appointment to take care of the next, (months long process unfortunately) we went to Outback – an American chain restaurant they happen to have here in SoKo (what we locals call South Korea 😉). It was very disappointing, hubby asked for a medium-well steak, it came out rare! And there wasn’t anything too appealing on the menu. We are both ok to never go back there, so that sums up just how good dinner was. We did wander through the streets and this one lady asked me if she could take Hunter’s photo (this actually happens more often than you think, yesterday this old Korean man was trying to hold Alessandra’s hand and she flipped out) it’s hard to know where to draw the line between the cultural differences, but I said no to this lady tonight. I don’t know where that photo of my 3yo son could end up, so no. And I’ll let Ally handle the situation with people wanting to hold her hand – obviously stepping in if necessary – but she can handle her own and isn’t a fan of strangers touching her, can’t say I blame her. It’s always interesting here. And definitely always an adventure! 
Happy Friday! 

Challenge Accepted Day 25

Happy Thursday one and all! It’s been a big one for us over here with hubby taking up his new position today and all going reasonably well! Yay. We all got to doll up as well, unfortunately for me that meant wearing these crazy curlers to bed that literally tortured me all night! Men just don’t appreciate all we do as women. And please don’t take that out of context. I’m talking about accomplished women, ordinary women, in fact, most women I know! Not necessarily women who are only there to make men happy, I’m talking about women who are confidant, sometimes they, we, even, just want to look really nice, for ourselves, for our husbands, for whomever. It’s ok to want to look nice too. As I write this I’m trying to address age-old feminist issues that I shouldn’t even be concerned about. I’m very much about equal rights for both women and men but I don’t think a woman’s femininity should come into question just because she wants to look nice. It really irks me that this even comes into play. It’s ok to appreciate your femininity. You don’t have to feel guilty for wanting to be a woman, which is what I feel half the time. For me, being a woman is great, even if torturous at times. Like last night. These curlers almost killed me! I ripped three out in the middle of the night just so I could find one spot to lay my head without curlers interfering in my sleep. The removal of these three allowed a small semblance of peace, but not nearly enough! I awoke when the good old Vonage phone rang at 0400 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep thereafter. Not necessarily the sort of night’s sleep you want when you’re supposed to look lovely and be ready to talk, mingle, mix, represent your husband etcetera, etcetera. But that was as good as it got last night. 

  

We let the children stay home from school today too, I’m at that point in life where I care about our children being involved in momentous happenings in our life. School, schmool. It’s important yes, but not important enough to prevent them missing out on important family moments, especially because we move all over the world for Daddy’s job, therefore they should be a part of all the big moments, they should have a role in all the big moments. They are extremely important in everything that happens in our lives and they too should be recognized for all they sacrifice. April is the month of the military child, but the general public just have no idea how much military kids give. They move, normally without a say, sometimes they have to move at crazy times (like our kids did in December) and they roll with it. They say goodbye to their friends and hello to new ones, they try to get good grades even though they have been shoved midway through the year from an elementary (primary) school, straight into the line of fire at a high school. They do the best they can do in circumstances they can’t control. And sometimes, they rebel. With just cause. Imagine if you had to say good bye to your Mum or Dad who knows how many times and they were going off to war and you had no idea if they would come back in one piece or even alive! Then there’s all the training and what not, where mum or dad disappear for who knows how long, there’s long nights at work, yes you all know that, but there’s just this difference, because once you get to a certain age, you also understand that there is no permanence, any friends you make may or may not remain lifelong friends because who knows when you’re going to have to say goodbye and move to the other side of the world. It’s tough. It’s tough for me as an adult so I can only imagine just how tough it is on my kids and other military kids. 
So we got to go on a tour of a jail today which was really interesting and we even ate in the dining facility. All in all it was a really big twist on reality. We were all dressed up, doing a tour of a jail. It was nothing like I thought it would be. And I am really thankful I am not in there permanently. We also got to eat at the same dining facility where both prisoners and their guardians eat. The food was actually excellent. But the plastic trays didn’t really work for me, I much prefer plates. Again interesting and our kids were fascinated and asked questions during the tour too. I am so glad we got to do it. 
The rest of our day was really rather nonchalant, I asked my girls if they would like to return to school for an hour and a half and they graciously declined so we went grocery shopping instead. Not my idea of fun with all three kids with me, but when you need supplies, you need supplies. My girls almost had an all out brawl afterwards so that was a big dampener on the day, but they paid for it afterwards with no playtime after school and their only focus was on cleaning their rooms and homework. And Mummy may have quietly yelled at them for a while too. It was just such an amazing day, they were so great during the ceremony, we were so proud, then they leave marks on each other’s arms and I can hear them from inside the toilet! No, not ok! The only thing that made me laugh on our way out was dearest Hunter exclaiming very loudly, very proudly, “Mummy, look at me, I’m like the president because of my shirt!” Again, three years old! 

  
So, I didn’t even mention anything about Rodan + Fields or my workout today, probably because the day has been overwhelmingly about other things. Unfortunately, there was not time for a workout so I’m going to have to make up for that tomorrow. I did however use my regular Redefine regimen this morning although I’m not quite ready to use the AMP MD yet given my face is still red in the one spot, though not anywhere near as tender as it was yesterday. The plan is to put some more Smoothe #2 on it tonight and move back into the AMP MD on the morrow. Here’s cheers to all the wonderful things in our lives! 
Have a wonderful night! 

Challenge Accepted Day 24

Well hello Wednesday and hello to feeling sooooo much better! I had a good night’s sleep and everything just feels good today! The T25 program today was Lower Focus but I ran an 81/2 minute mile prior to that on the ‘dreadmill’ and it felt great! I’m starting to recover so much better now which means my fitness level is finally on the increase. This is going to sound weird but the other thing I felt when I was running was like my bottom was becoming firmer. Do you know what I mean? You know, you can feel it shake, rattle & roll as a female, particularly when you’re running and you’ve got a little bit extra there, but today it felt like it was shaking and rolling, with no rattling! 😉 it felt good! The lower focus portion of it sucked, but Shawn T likes to take you to hell and back with lunges and squats in these workouts and I ‘hate’ lunges and squats! Yuck. Talk about making for some torturous moves. If anyone ever wanted to seriously torture me, they could just make me squat then lunge then squat and so on and so forth and I would probably give away my first born! (I’m just kidding child 😜) 

I had a shower and did my usual regimen with Redefine and AMP MD, I know I had mentioned to you that I had started using the AMP MD in the morning routine because it works out better for me than at night but today I learnt that you shouldn’t use it in the morning if you’re going to be wearing makeup (shows how often I wear makeup doesn’t it?) It stings a little. I shan’t be doing the AMP MD tomorrow morning given it is a big day and I will be wearing makeup once again. I also put the Rodan + Fields Essentials Foaming Sunless Tanner on and it is looking good. I would show you a picture but honestly, I was so white beforehand and it gives you such a natural looking tan, that you wouldn’t be able to tell I even had it on. I did however, go from zombie to healthy in one swoop! And there’s no streaking and no funky fake tan smell. All prejudice aside, this is the best fake tan I’ve ever used. Let me know if you’re interested in ordering some. It sells out quickly! 
So, I had to also get in and clean today given my slack-arsery yesterday. This place is crazy when it comes to dust bunnies! Our dog doesn’t even shed and yet we end up with dust bunnies every day! I’ve never seen anything like it, even in Bahrain (where the sand comes in off the desert plains and causes a fine dust to settle on everything) it was never this bad. I have a roomba (a robot vacuum cleaner) dear son is obsessed with Robbie (yes, the vacuum cleaner has a name). We got Robbie when Hunter was about 3 months old and here we are (he turns 4 at the end of May) and he is still obsessed. I am talking like crazy, obsessive! We arrived here and got our house and moved in but our household goods hadn’t yet arrived and rather than asking for his toys and his bed, every day he would instead ask me when Robbie and Roberta were getting here. I didn’t mention Roberta, but she’s our robotic mop. Not quite as good as Robbie as far as accomplishments go, but she’ll do. Hunter doesn’t love Roberta quite as much as Robbie, but it’s close. Going back to the dust, I run Robbie daily and hand vacuum twice a week in all the nooks and crannies and still I find so much dust. That’s one of the reasons why I ordered an air purifier, well that and the impending yellow dust and the smog and the pollution and the fact that I am mildly asthmatic and dear son may well be too. You know, all those lovely things that come with living in South Korea. I’m understanding the masks so much better now! 

 
   
Last night my air purifier arrived. Yippee. I had bought one already from the Post Exchange (PX) our almost department store on the base, but I wanted another one for upstairs. Honestly, in an ideal world I would have one in every room, but that’s not going to happen, so this was the compromise. So hubby came home last night with all sorts of goodies for me including the air purifier, 4 extra carbon filters, a diffuser as per the recommendation of one of my Aussie friends, Sarah, who owns a health food store. You see not only does South Korea have some pretty serious pollution problems, it also has some weird, funky smells. Smells that I cannot really describe. Smells located somewhere between a rotting corpse, excrement, fire and soil/manure/fertilizer. So as you can imagine, it’s pretty pungent at times, hence the need for a diffuser. I didn’t realize it when I ordered it, thinking I had just bought a plain one, but I guess I got a retro diffuser that changes colour. Everyone else in the house loves it and I’m loving the essential oils, so it’s a win/win situation. So today I cleaned, vacuumed and set everything up ensuring the house smells lovely and has some fresh air. And it is as good as it can be right now. In fact, after yesterday, today has been really lovely; hubby came home early because tomorrow he actually starts work in his proper role, our eldest stayed at school and will meet us later when we go and see her perform at the school’s concert tonight. She has a solo, so we are really excited for her. She has a great voice, it could do with a little bit of training should she want to pursue a career, but it’s good nonetheless. That’s where we are off to. I made chicken tortilla soup, it was very nice too, and now we shall be off. I’ll finish the blog upon our return and be able to let you know how it all went then. 

  
Ok so concert was a bit of a bust, not because of a lack of talent but because we couldn’t hear. The band sounded great but the choir and all of the speakers needed microphones and there weren’t any to be found, bar the one in the centre of the stage (that you can see in the photo)  

 focused only on hearing the instruments. Oh well. The people in the front row cheered so they must have sounded good, right? There wasn’t really a solo either. From then on it was just the band and normally I would have been all about the music, but middle school/high school kids aren’t all necessarily super talented and when the program is a couple of hours long and your child’s only role is for 5 minutes at the beginning, and you have a 3yo and a 7yo along with you and a big day tomorrow, well sometimes you just have to call it and we did just that. In fact hubby made his way out super early leaving Madison and I to try to finagle our way out of this and get Ally along the way who was at the complete opposite side of the theatre to us. Sometimes being a parent is rough! And Madison is a very special child (& I mean that in a 100% caring, lovable way that only a parent can talk about their own child), she’s sweet and different. I explained to her that I wanted her to go over to the other side of the auditorium to get her sister and tell her that we were going and to come over to me. She runs (& I mean runs, full pelt) and can’t find her, so she runs back – this all while the band players are changing – I say to her that she’s definitely there and to go back and find her. So she runs back, full pelt, finds her and runs back to me saying she found her. I stop her and say, “Madison, what was it I asked you to do once you found Ally?” “I don’t know!” “I asked you to tell Ally we were leaving and to come here.” She runs back once again and finally gets Ally who comes over and tells me she needs to go back to a room and get her stuff., I tell her to go and get it and that we are leaving (the next band members are now walking up on stage and finding their seats) and to meet me in the front of the auditorium. She moves it and finally I feel like we are able to leave. 
I see hubby out front with dear son and he’s looking concerned; “I forgot to pick up the roses!” He exclaims. Oh crap! The Army is all about ritual and ceremony and the roses play a part in tomorrow’s ceremony, he’s already paid for them and we’re not sure what time the flower shop opens in the morning. We ‘book’ it over there (meaning go with haste) and he runs in to find the lovely lady has been waiting for him to come in and collect them for the past hour! You wouldn’t find that in either Australia or the USA! We may be limited for shopping venues for roses here in South Korea and they may be super expensive but they take care of you once you’ve ordered them. To say I’m impressed is to say the least. I pictured myself leaving the house at O dark thirty searching for yellow roses! 
Ok, now for the other bad news. I have this little mark on my face and last night I had this not so bright idea to put some of the ‘Reverse Skin Lightening treatment (from the accelerator pack) on this mark, hoping it would go away quickly. Don’t ask me why I did it, sometimes, we just don’t think, sometimes, I just don’t think. Anyway, I put it on there underneath a silicone scar bandage (again not sure what the hell I was thinking, just hoping for a quick fix because I wanted to look really nice for tomorrow) and now I’ve got a big red mark on my face – not sure if I’ve burnt it, or exacerbated it by using the AMP MD roller this morning, or what I’ve done, it’s sore and tender and I’ve had to give the Redefine regimen a miss tonight and use the Rodan + Fields Soothe regimen instead. I promised I would be honest with you, so I’m trying to be honest, even when I make mistakes. Now I’m feeling not only like an idiot, but also pretty upset at this mark that is now lingering underneath my left eye. Just in time to make an appearance for tomorrow when I’m still feeling overweight and yucky and we have this thing, this important thing that I wanted to look beautiful for. Shallow and egotistical, I know, but I have so few opportunities to look really nice, so when I do I want to make the most of it. 
That’s it for me today. Another crazy day in my life. I’ll update you on how the red mark looks tomorrow and how everything else goes. Have a great day or night, wherever you are!