Tag: beauty

Challenge Accepted Day 44/Day 2

The shock collar is ordered! My heart is racing with both adrenalin and a little bit of anger thrown in. My bloody dog, that I love incredibly has finally pushed me beyond the limits. And other people’s dogs have instigated it. What am I talking about? So I leave the house this afternoon ready to go and pick Ally up from the bus with Luna as I no longer take her on my morning or afternoon walks with Maddy because too many people let their dogs off leash and I am not ok with it. Especially when your dog can be aggressive. There are too many kids and too much action. Your dog should always be on a leash unless it is completely non-aggressive and completely trained. My dog is completely non-aggressive but she’s not well trained. In fact, she’s a little shit. So, today, this lovely golden retriever that is obsessed with Luna as it is, is off his leash as we walk out of the house and his owner (before knowing we were coming around the corner) throws a ball in our direction (right down the middle of the street mind you). Well the dog isn’t interested in the ball anymore once he sees Luna and he comes pounding down to us and jumps all over Luna, well she jumps all over back at him because she is not trained and she loves everyone and she’s a little so and so, and next thing you know she has twisted off her collar and is running full pelt away from me with this other dog, I am running down the street getting crankier and crankier by the second because I know my dog isn’t going to listen and she completely surprised me by getting loose. Eventually, she came back, the street was full of people, I very loudly said every dog should be on a leash and walked back to the house. Luna is now grounded and I am furiously typing away because I am still cranky. I know we don’t have a park, I know that lady and her husband both walk their dog, and their dog doesn’t listen either, it is a busy street and dogs get hit by cars and my dog is one giant ball of craziness and now she is getting a shock collar. Done. The issues I’ve had with dogs since we’ve moved here is ridiculous! What happens to Americans when they move overseas with their dogs? Why would you feel the need to just let your dog run through the neighbourhood as a free for all? I guess I wouldn’t be so cranky had we not had, not one, but two, run-ins with the other lady and her dog. For some reason she just thinks her dog can run around free, her dog started growling at Luna and getting ready to attack whilst there were kids around. I’ve been attacked by a dog, I freak out at dogs growlIng and getting ready to fight. The only thing that saved my wrist was my metal watch that this dog who attacked me many years ago, broke when he tried to bite me. He still drew blood but he came away with my watch in his mouth rather than my wrist. I have a real fear of aggressive dogs. I just don’t like dogs running around free when there are kids the dog doesn’t know also running around. Dogs are animals, if a kid does something to a dog, the dog is going to bite them, as it should, because that’s the only instinct the dog has. And kids can be animals too. Owners should always be aware of their dogs and their dogs’ needs. Just as parents should always be aware of their kids and their kids’ needs. Sometimes we can’t do it, like today, but most of the time, we can. Right, rant over. And here I am doing something I never thought I would do, in fact, I was downright offended when a friend suggested to me I should get one for Luna, but she is right. I’ve done everything to try to train this dog and she is not listening and I will not have her doing that again, so shock collar it is.   
So that’s how my afternoon started, but my morning started with saying au revoir to my girls then coming back and starting on ‘Plyometric Cardio Circuit’ and seriously going OMG! I thought I was doing ok, I remember why I love T 25! That reason; because it’s 25 minutes plus a 3 minute cool down. This; holy wow! This is intense! I forgot how intense it was! I couldn’t even complete the third drill, I think that’s what he called it when you do the basket ball drills, the level one drill, the ski (?) drills and the up/down drills (where you’re down in plank and you bring your feet up together and have to jump up). Anyway, by the time round three came around, I was done! I managed to do the cool down exercises, but man, I was both shocked at how many exercises there were and shocked at how tired/exhausted I was! It was intense to say the least. Tomorrow, I have a big day again. I have to go and see the school, because today my Korean American realtor/real estate agent, came over and read through all the paperwork and is trying to get some questions answered on our behalf. We don’t think Hunter’s should go on the field trip on Friday. Just because the bus drivers here are well beyond crazy, in fact, they are the craziest! 2 hours on a bus to Seoul, by himself, with a crazy bus driver? No, it’s not going to work out. I know he’s not actually really by himself but he’s three and with lots of people who don’t speak the same language and it’s his first week of kindergarten, no, it’s just not going to work out at all. 
After all the drama of the dogs, I was finally able to take a few minutes and get my painting finished. Not sure if I want a tree in the right hand corner or if I like it as simplistic as it is. Either way, I like it. I’ve given you two different perspectives of it depending upon the light you view it under and honestly, neither of them really show the colors as I see them. Anyway, I would love to know what you think. Here’s the other version:

  
As far as Rodan and Fields, my skin is feeling great, I’ve just ordered the Reverse regimen to do as my next challenge. Unfortunately the MACRO E has sold out and is gone. As are all accessories right now, but they promise to bring more back (accessories of course), yes please. I’m looking forward to revealing to you all just how wonderful my skin looks and how great it feels. Right now though, hubby is at work, it’s nearly midnight, and I am off to catch some beauty sleep. For the last four days I’ve cut out the Benadryl (Kim you will be happy) and used either meditation or melatonin, both of which have meant about 4 hours of sleep per night. Of course hubby is out on this night and tonight’s the night it all catches up with me. So good night, may you find happiness in the smallest things no matter where you are! 

Challenge Accepted Day 43 & Day 1….

My son went to a Korean kindergarten today. And he loved it. I have been worrying about it all weekend too. He has never really gone to kindergarten, even when I used to volunteer and he went into the childcare, it was hit and miss. It was only once a week, but sometimes he would cry for the first hour or even longer. It took about 3 months before he was finally okay to stay there without crying. He wouldn’t even stay with friends, my friend Trine was really the only person he would stay with for any period of time. We had talked about him starting school often over the last week. Yesterday, I even asked him if he was going to cry when Mummy said goodbye and he very proudly told me that no, he wouldn’t. Well, he told the truth. Not only did that kid not cry, he had a big smile on his face and was very excited. He had his little backpack with his blankie and his Spider-Man toy and he was ready to face the world and all its challenges. He kissed hubby and I goodbye and went into his classroom, ready to socialize with his classmates. The two German/American girls with whom he is friends, weren’t even there yet, but he was still excited to go in and see what this school thing was all about. I must confess that his bravery and eagerness did bring a tear to my eye, but don’t tell anyone will you! Hubby was quick to point me to the car in case he changed his mind and regretted his decision to face today with such courageous jubilance. But he didn’t. He walked into that classroom and immediately joined a group of young Korean boys and girls and happily played with them. 
For me, well I dropped hubby off at work and came home to a quiet house. I have to admit there were times I went to talk to Hunter throughout the day. A helicopter flew right over the car and I almost pointed it out (as I always do) until I realized he wasn’t there with me. It wasn’t like this with the girls and not because I don’t love them as much as I love him or anything to do with boy vs girl, it comes down to the fact that he is my last. There will be no more babies, and he is growing up. A day that makes you realize that things are changing, I’m getting older. There will be no more pitter patter of little feet in my house until the grandchildren days. Whoa! Grandchildren! Holy wow! Can’t even go there at this point in time, but I’m understanding my own feelings about why I was a little taken aback this morning at my own emotional response. Anyway, I got home and took some more ‘before’ photos, because today I started Insanity! Yes, my T25 voyage officially came to an end for now, although, my friend is going to send me her T25 DVDs (she doesn’t use them anymore and quite by chance offered them out to any takers on FB – I, of course, put my hand up big time). So Insanity it is! Here’s the original before photos with the photos I took today in the black pants which will now become my new before photos. 

  
  
I couldn’t really notice much of a difference in the first two front photos but I do see a difference in my butt from 5 weeks of T25! I did the fit test too, the one that you do at the beginning of the Insanity challenge, and did much better than I thought I would, surprising myself. I’m going to leave the results here so you can help me track my progress. 
  

Ok, enough Insanity talk and prep, there it is. You’ll just have to stick with me for another 60 days to see the results and then we can maybe go back to a T25 challenge and then who knows where? 😜
I decided to make hubby and I lunch and took it to him in his office, aren’t I the sweetest wife ever? 😂 yes, I crack me up too! But it was good and sweet, I even put it in a picnic basket. We didn’t have long unfortunately, but that was ok because I had things to do anyway. They have this paperwork that we have to have ready in case we need to evacuate (you know, like if someone just north of us might be a bit loopy and do something he threatens to do all the time). Anyway, it is actually serious business. We have to have everything in a ready to go packet so in a worst case scenario, we can be ready to go at the drop of a hat. Even the pets have to have their own paperwork, so my job today was to gather together final pieces for that. I picked up some groceries, and ran a couple of other errands before heading home. The first pick up was at the bus stop for Maddy, then we drove to the school to pick Hunter up. We got there a little early and the doors were open (with a teacher standing there) and we watched Hunter playing in his class, looking so happy still. Until……. He and another little girl were running to get something in this game they were playing and neither of them looked up and ended up banging heads. Tears were shed from both. Luckily it was on Hunter’s other side and not his already bruised eye. Finally his teacher saw me at the door and brought him over, then proceeded to tell me all about his day and an upcoming field trip, in Korean. I vowed then to use Google translate for every conversation. Thank god for modern technology! Because then she handed me all this paperwork that looked something like this:

  
Yes, I have at least 30 pages of Korean paperwork to fill out and read. So, I used Google translate for the first 10 pages and was able to understand most of it and fill it out, by the time I got done with that though, I was exhausted! It takes a lot to concentrate on this sort of stuff. With Latin based languages I can at least look at the root word and go from there but Korean may as well be alien writing to me. I am not only impressed but filled with admiration at those who can speak and read both Latin based languages and Asian languages! So, I did the next best thing and invited my realtor over for lunch and asked her if she would help me read through this. She said yes! So tomorrow, hopefully she can help me fill all of this out. One of them is a permission slip to go to Seoul on a field trip and I’m all about that but they would travel by bus (I think) and bus drivers her are the craziest of everyone! If my son’s going to be on one of those crazy buses, then I’m going to be there with him! Haven’t got a full plan yet like what I’ll do with Maddy in the afternoon, but one step at a time. 

Tonight, well, tonight has been quiet. The kids ate and were about to go to bed when hubby got home (he got a ride from his colleague) so we put them to bed and sat and had dinner together watching two of our favourite shows that we watch together; ‘The Good Wife’ & ‘Madam Secretary’. We are very diverse in our viewing preferences enjoying comedies to superheroes and everything in between; ‘Modern Family’ & ‘Blackish’ to ‘The Goldbergs’, to ‘Supergirl’, ‘Agent Carter’, ‘The Flash’, ‘Shield’, are all regulars on our tv and soon we’re hoping to borrow the entire Game of Thrones collection, so we can get into that. Anyway, it’s been interesting. Tomorrow I get to do the full Insanity thing! Tonight, I shall do the Rodan and Fields Redefine night regimen and follow it with the ACUTE Care, I only have a few of those left, so should be seeing a decease in the wrinkles (I am already). So I shall say adieu. For now. Have a wonderful day and or night wherever you may be and give those little babies a big kiss and enjoy their pitter patter, even for a moment.

Challenge Accepted Day 42

Tonight I’m feeling very somber, I don’t want to get you down, so I’m just going to keep today’s blog short and simple. This has been a very sad last week. First a friend in a horrific motorcycle accident and possibly paralyzed, then a friend fighting a losing battle with cancer, now my friend’s father has passed away. To say this last week has been sad is to put it very lightly. 
We did very little today. Everyone was worn out from so many things going on, I wasn’t in the mood to explore or seek out new destinations, hubby was still recovering from his enormous week, the kids were starting to realize they were going back to school tomorrow and we had a house to sort out to enable our new IKEA purchases were going to fit in. The day, although seemingly nice, was extremely windy and quite cool. A good day to stay in. Hubby built all of my pieces and wow! I am so happy with everything. In fact, we have even decided to keep the island from Costco as a good little liquor cabinet thing. It just works. 

  
The kids and hubby watched another Harry Potter movie, and I painted. I am confirming my Insanity start tomorrow and I will take before pics for that new challenge. I also have less than 20 days on the Rodan and Fields challenge and my skin is feeling wonderful. I’m really sorry to my T25 supporters that I am unable to finish the challenge. Tomorrow will show if the has been any change in at least the alpha portion of the challenge and we’ll see where ‘Insanity’ gets me. 3.5 weeks before my birthday too!! 
Well, I’ll finish it off with a photo of my current painting. It’s nowhere near finished, but I’m happy with it so far.

  
 As always, please feel free to email me at:

Aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com
Like my Facebook page: aussiemumsadventures 
If you too are interested in taking the Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge: http://www.slongmorescott.myrandf.com

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 30

No run today but I did do abs, and that actually went really well. This was followed by a mad dash for the shower so I could drive hubby to work and have the car today. I picked up my friend Sara and we headed off to grocery shop (very exciting, I know) at both a local Korean store as well as at the commissary (the armed forces grocery store where you can get a lot of US staples). It was interesting. 
We started out the adventure at a place called Home Plus. Sara is of Korean heritage so even though she doesn’t speak the language fluently, she has a fairly good grasp of a lot of things, including foods. I ended up buying lots of amazing sweet Korean chips and a few other food items that I never would have tried had she not been with me, and having just opened a packet for Hunter to eat, I can rest assured they were really good. Honey chips. Yum. I bought a couple of bottles of Korean wine too, and something I guess is considered to be a whisky type drink but is very smooth going down. One day I’ll work up the courage to drink it all. Apparently that one sneaks up on you so we’ll see how it goes. 

  
We wandered around looking at cooking supplies and various other things, I even bought a set of chopsticks that are called learning chopsticks, so my kids can learn to use them and won’t look like crazy weirdo foreigners attempting (& failing) to use chopsticks. I’m excited for them to have a go. The only thing I didn’t think through was that I only bought one set, meaning fights are going to break out now whenever the chopsticks come out. Oh well, it was more for fun rather than serious learning so I didn’t want to spend another 5000 won on a second set. They’ll just have to take turns on different nights. 

  
We followed our sojourn to Home Plus with a visit to the Air Force Base, it was midweek lunchtime and the place was fairly busy but we got a carpark and were able to eat our lunch without much of a wait too, our only incident occurred when Hunter was in the little indoor play area and a little boy just pushed his head straight into a bar going across. I about lost my mind. I went and got Hunter, who was crying and said to this little boy, “That wasn’t very nice, in fact that was very mean!” I looked around trying to see a parent and couldn’t until eventually, the mother came over and told him to come and say sorry, he didn’t, but he did ask if Hunter was alright, so I let it go. I’m on kid number three, not too much is going to get me riled up, but I don’t like kids who are mean just for the sake of it and this kid was just that. 
Onto grocery shopping we went. My whole day has gone fairly smoothly and I think, I want to buy hubby a nice plant for his office. It’ll keep the air clean and give the place a little bit of life and just be nice. So I did. I picked out this really cute fern type thing. I put it in the trolley (cart) and went about shopping for fresh produce, next thing you know I can hear this really weird noise, I’m wondering what on earth it could be (Hunter has a miniature trolley so I’m looking to see if he has crashed into something) but no, it’s my newly picked out plant, it has fallen over and these large gravel bits are literally pouring out all over the floor. Crap! I go and try to pick up as many as I can but these things have gone everywhere! Hunter and I are down on the floor trying our best to put them back in the pot plant, when eventually I call it and say that’ll do. I should have known then that the plant was possibly jinxed as then they charged me twice for the thing and I didn’t even notice until I got all the way home! Bugger. Hubby had better appreciate it, that’s all I’m going to say. Honestly though, given the number of times Koreans tried to take us (or themselves) out on this trip, I’m going to thank my lucky stars! These people are wonderful, sweet, lovely, normal people, until you put them behind the wheel of a car, then they turn into these crazy, drag racer, speed demon, hellions, looking to risk life and limb to get down the road! Insane! 

 So what’s all this talk about Dolly Parton? Last night (as televised here in South Korea) Dolly performed with Katy Perry at the Country Music Awards. Dolly Parton and Katy Perry, and it wasn’t that bad. I love Dolly Parton. Coat of Many Colors has been a favourite of mine for many, many years and last year, the kids and I sat down and watched Dolly’s movie, they too now love the song because they saw new meaning behind it rather than just having Mummy playing it and singing in her best Dolly imitation! I sound amazing! Well, I do when no one else is in the car with me anyway! Actually even Hunter tells me how wonderful I sound, not anyone else, but at least I have one fan! 😜 So Dolly coming on last night and singing on a show I normally wouldn’t have watched (I’m not into singers, actors, etc awarding themselves for doing their jobs and getting a shit ton of money on top of that)! Anyway, I was looking for the show ‘The Good Wife’ and this was on instead and there were no other interesting options on our hugely diverse AFN (American Forces Network) with its 5 channel range, so I left it on whilst I finished my blog. Hearing in the meantime this crazy notion that Dolly & Katy were singing together. It wasn’t half bad either. I thought Katy Perry (though looking like she was taking the Mickey out of every Country fan but at the same time giving her own twist on traditional country garb) performed very well. When you’re up there on stage beside Dolly Parton, there’s some big boots to fill (figuratively of course). I wish I could see Dolly Parton perform live. My sister and my niece went and saw her and I was so envious! My friend in NZ went and saw her, again, feeling like I should have been there, but no. I guess Dolly and I are never destined to meet, even with me in the audience and Dolly on the stage! Each time I sing in my loud Dolly voice, I shall pretend I’m hearing the real deal! 😆 

  

My skincare regime wasn’t quite as normal after I finished watching them perform, I looked at my neck and it was very red and a bit sore to touch. I think I may have pressed too hard on the AMP MD or I may even have to face the fact that the AMP MD and I aren’t going to work well together anymore. I would have thought any tenderness would have shown it’s face in the early days, but I am no dermatologist and what I can tell you is that I could see marks on my neck from it and they were stinging. I know that doesn’t do much for the sales side of it, but I have really sensitive skin so I’m a little surprised I have been able to use it this long without incident. I also promised to be honest with you in this blog, always, even when things don’t necessarily go the way I want them to. I shall give the AMP MD a miss today and possibly tomorrow and use it very lightly on Thursday and see how I go and let you know then how it worked out. Today marks my halfway period with Rodan + Fields and I think my skin is looking and feeling better. I’m just trying to establish the reason behind this sudden tenderness. It may even be that diet is playing a role. Who knows. 

  

Some exciting news for the night is that we are heading to a place called Anmyeondo, it looks beautiful and it’s a beach! A real life beach! And it’s warming up! I may even be able to just sit down and enjoy it (ok that’s highly unlikely given I have a three year old but I can dream right). At least I will be able to go to this place and see if it’s somewhere we can go as a family one weekend. It looks amazing. One of the ladies in the ‘ville’ (what the little estate areas are called here where everyone lives and/or shops) is going and put it out there to see if anyone else wants to come and I saw the post and jumped at the chance. I have been so desperate for warm weather and water and beauty! To say I’m excited is a little bit of an understatement! Hubby can’t come but the kids and I are on Spring break, so we shall go and enjoy ourselves! I have even given him the heads up to not expect us home early and he’ll either have to find a ride or get a taxi home! 
Came to also find out upon hubby’s arrival home that we have a ‘Spring Gala’ to go to on May 6th. Here’s the crazy thing about the Military life, we may go through a lot of stuff and deal with hardships and adventures like very few other people but we also get to dress up and go to Cinderella type balls on a fairly frequent occasion. I couldn’t do it every day, but I do love dressing up every now and again like a princess. This one is a couple of hours away from us so we shall have to figure out some logistics but I think we’ve got most of it sorted out already. My goal to look fabulous before my next birthday just got real. Now I have a ball to dress for on the night before! The bison steak I just ate for dinner tonight along with the garlic bread and mashed potatoes and gravy had better come to a fast and firm end! 

As for everything else, well, it’s all good! I hope it’s all good in your neck of the woods too!

Challenge Accepted Day 21

 Happy Easter! Hope the bunny came and you’ve all had an amazing day or are about to anyway! We’ve had a quiet one. For me, things didn’t quite go as I had planned last night, which in turn effected how my day has gone today. So, I finished my blog last night and went and played Uno with the family. I got the munchies and had one slice of cheese, just one. What I didn’t realise was the mistake I made by doing that! I forgot all about chewing only on the left, eating my piece of cheese quickly only realising shortly after I had swallowed it that my temporary filling had obviously gotten stuck to it and I had swallowed it. Oh the pain if something goes in there! Ouch! It’s awful! I’ve never experienced anything like that! So I went to Dr Google this morning to research a temporary fix until I return to the dentist on Friday & had I been in the States, it would have been an easy fix,m; just pop down to the local pharmacy, pick up a temporary filling kit and you’re as good as gold. If that’s not handy, grab some bees wax and use that temporarily. Here in South Korea, neither of those things are easy to locate and are not normally something spoken about in conversational English. Not sure what I’m going to do to get through the incredible pain when either a hot or cold liquid comes into touch with it sending terrors down to the nerve that could easily help me win any screaming contest! Not fun. And that doesn’t even begin to explain what happens when a tiny sliver of chocolate gets in there, as just happened. Holy wow!
So my Easter Sunday consisted of waking up at literally the crack of dawn and freaking out because Luna (our dog) may have gotten to the chocolate; the Easter Bunny didn’t pull a very bright move and left 3 baskets outside of middle daughter’s room as they all had a camp out together in there with the dog. All we could think about was if dear son had opened the door and allowed said dog to feast on all the chocolates in their baskets (I’m a worrier, I think worst case scenario and imagine it has happened). Luckily, he hadn’t. Instead middle child, Madison, had everything under control. She had picked all baskets up before allowing Luna out of the room and had even divvied them out to each child! 
I let hubby go back to bed and I got up and made milos (we discussed these the other day) and washed up the few dishes. Meanwhile, Madison comes running downstairs saying Luna has thrown up everywhere in her room. I double, triple, quadruple check that she didn’t get to any chocolate and they are all sure she hasn’t had any. I put her outside and we watch her and wait. She starts running around the yard as happy as Larry! Although a tad cold. I can’t go and deal with dog vomit until I’ve had a coffee. Oh, the water filter has been unplugged, there’s no hot water. Yay! Happy Easter! Finally, everyone gets their hot drink and I go and deal with the dog vomit. It’s not that bad but I still don’t know why she did it. She did have her first bath last night and I rubbed a little bit of organic coconut oil with a drop of lavender essential oil in it (I looked up the mix ratio and it should have been well under anything that could have hurt her, literally one small drop and about a 1/4 cup of coconut oil, well mixed. I only rubbed a small amount on her rump too. Anyway, as I’ve been writing this I thought I was going to have to rush her to a veterinary hospital as she started doing this weird thing I have never seen before. Thanks to Doc Google once again, I now know it was ‘reverse sneezing’! I’ve never even heard of that. I literally googled dog looking like their having an asthma attack & there it was. It was only that her tail was still wagging that I wasn’t freaking out too much. Oh that and I didn’t even have a car as hubby had to go into work, so I knew I was going to have to figure out something. I guess it’s quite a common thing. She’s perfectly fine now and it literally lasted about 2 minutes and she was fine! Talk about scary, especially after this morning’s happenings! Never a dull moment in this house.
  
So our Easter Sunday has been eventful, yet not so eventful. I ducked out to try to find something for my tooth this morning but was unsuccessful. We did happen to walk right past the Krispy Kreme donut shop and I said to my daughter that we should get some for breakfast. I’m not a donut fan but lots of people have said to me just in the last couple of weeks that I should taste them so I thought why not. Well I got a dozen mixed donuts and I tried something called the New York Cheese and OMG! It was wonderful! Like really good. I’m not a cake fan so when there’s a surprise inside, then that makes for a good donut and there was a wonderful, cheesecake-type filling inside. Yum. Not good for the weight loss though! Oh well, we are all allowed our little treats every now and again aren’t we. 
We had an Easter egg hunt for the three kiddos, with each of them hiding eggs for the other one. It was great and they loved it. They didn’t get to participate in any other egg hunts this year but they certainly didn’t suffer with each of them having about 65 eggs each to find!!! Like seriously! It started with Ally hiding for Madison whilst we were out searching for a temporary filling solution. 
 
   
Then Madison, Hunter and I hid for Ally upstairs whilst hubby and Ally hid for Hunter downstairs. We had Hunter’s egg hunt next (with the eggs hidden in a tad easier spots than those of Madison). He had a ball though, giggling and absolutely loving finding each and every egg. This year the eggs were filled with junk but next year we are going to fill them with coins too. I don’t support buying made in China rubbish so think this is a good idea especially when the kids have to save at least 1/4 of what they get and put aside 10% to buy others something, leaving them whatever is leftover to spend wisely on themselves. See my blog about the big talk to find out more. 

  
Ally’s was the final egg hunt and Madison and I did our best to really hide some. She thought at first she had it in the bag but soon realised it may have been a tad more difficult than she thought. It was fun though for her, she had to open things, look under, inside and around. It was a good lesson for her that things may not be as easy as she thinks they are. 

  

That was followed by a ham, mashed potatoes, broccoli, French bread and gravy lunch that got 5/5! I’ll take that as a win! Then hubby went to work, kids all sat down to relax after doing their homework and I started writing my blog. When hubby got home, I encouraged him to do the stretching DVD of T25 with me and it was actually enjoyable. It was great to just stretch. It wasn’t overly exertive or too much, especially when my body felt like it had to rest today & it did. I’ve also done the morning Redefine Rodan + Fields regimen and will be using the MACRO Exfoliator tonight as it’s Sunday night once again, meaning tonight’s the night! (Love the Macro Exfoliator)! Looking forward to giving my skin a good vacuum! By the way, if you’re interested in starting your own challenge with Rodan + Fields please go to:

 https://slongmorescott.myrandf.com/Home
If you click on ‘shop skincare’, then select ‘Get Advice’, you can find out which products are just right for you and take your own 60 day challenge. The challenges I have taken are to reinforce my own belief in both R+F and the BeachBody programs. I am not affiliated with BeachBody in any way, shape or form, but I am a Rodan + Fields Consultant and I had lost heart with the products because I had never really given them the dedication they deserved. I saw results immediately the first time I used them and intermittently since, but I’ve never dedicated myself to following the regimen Doctors Rodan and Fields set out. I am doing that now, and have reached 21 days or 3 weeks into the challenges. My skin feels amazing, I am finally not struggling with every exercise DVD that I do. The only way is up from here. 
Please also remember to like my Facebook page: aussiemumsadventures. I hope you have an amazing Easter Sunday filled with absolutely no drama! As always, please share my blog if you find it interesting and give me feedback! I love feedback! 

Challenge accepted Day 16

Today, is hubby’s birthday. He’s not feeling well unfortunately but he’s one of those people who won’t just rest when he can and has never had a sick day in his life! Today he did rest a little though because I forced him to! What are wives for, right? 😉
We also went out for an early, quick dinner with the family because that’s a tradition in our house, not necessarily the early & quick part, but the birthday person gets to choose where they want to go for dinner. We went to an American restaurant on the Air Force base – Chilis – the kids were good, the food was decent, the service great, all in all, a nice meal out and sometimes, you just don’t get that when you have three fussy kiddos! Or just when you have three kids in general! I had a Southwest chicken salad and water. I also ate quite a few chips and salsa, it was all very nice though and I could only eat half of my salad but it had lots of tortilla strips so it definitely wasn’t healthy!

I feel like all I’ve done is eat today! I worked out this morning (Speed 1.0) luckily that workout isn’t yet affected by the big scratch that has taken the last few minutes of Total Body Circuit, so here’s hoping with some special love and affection, I can maintain that DVD for at least a little while yet! I ran for just over a mile afterwards but I didn’t want to overdo it either after not feeling so great last night. My workout was followed by some cake making (hubby had requested chocolate cake and chocolate marble cake with triple chocolate icing (blught- yes I made that word up and tried to spell it exactly the way I say it)! That’s a little too much for my liking but hubby loves this on his birthday! I can make beautiful, fancy cakes and this is what he wants! 🙂 There was no pavlova today. I think just given general unwellness, he was thankful to have a cake at all! By the way, I opted not to have cake for dessert, instead I had some local strawberries with some vanilla Greek yoghurt on top- not necessarily low in calories but it was yummy and good for you! 
  
Going back to food from earlier in the day, I had the most amazing lunch! Local lettuce combined with local tomatoes, organic spinach, a little bit of pre-mixed salad, carrots, a little bit of avocado, some of the Costco chicken from the can heated up in a little bit of balsamic vinegarette all with some grilled haloumi! Yum! What is haloumi I hear some of you ask? It is a cheese you can actually grill directly. It originated in Cypress and has become a key element in many Mediterranean & Middle Eastern cooking recipes. I haven’t had it for years but saw it at Costco on Sunday and got so excited! I was a bit concerned it wouldn’t be as good as I remembered it, but I wasn’t disappointed. This is the best salad I’ve had in years- it could definitely compete with some of the salads from ‘Aloha Salads’ in Hawaii! Definitely! 
  
Whatever it was that was going on with my jaw and teeth last night, well, I’ve got no idea. Hubby has been fighting off whatever has gotten to him for a while and I think it finally won the battle. He’s all heady. Lots of congestion, headache, you know. Just blah! As for me, I felt like anything I was feeling was all being felt in my jaw and in all of my teeth. Really bizarre! Then I made the mistake of going to Google Doc and got told I was having a heart attack! Ha! I think I’m going to make it! 😉 I do however have an appointment with my dentist tomorrow night to check on everything so we’ll just hope for the best. 
A funny thing that did happen today (well today and every time we go anywhere in Korea using our Korean/English GPS) our Korean lady GPS tells us about school zones, speed cameras, parking infringement regulations, sharp curves. She’s very helpful and annoying. Apparently there are huge fines for speeding in Korea and cameras everywhere- Australia, you thought you had it bad! She also says this thing, and we’re not sure why because it doesn’t look that bad to us, but she says, “Warning, danger zone!” Every time she says it, hubby and I immediately start singing: “Highway to the danger zone!” The kids at first just thought we were weird, then I told them it was a song, then they found it amusing, now they normally just ignore us, until today when Hunter asked if he could sing that song too. We laughed and assured him he could but I don’t think he’s hearing her cues or registering that the cues come from the GPS. It was funny to hear him sing it though and next time, well who knows.
Back to the Challenge:

So I just had a long talk with my sister tonight and realised that perhaps I needed to explain the 60 day challenge a little better. That will require a little bit of insight into me. I am a bull at the gate kind of person. I guess being Taurus doesn’t help if you believe all that. Anyway, I have little to no patience and am terrible at following through for the long term when it comes to some things. This 60 day challenge was the concept of my husband months ago, when I first became a Rodan & Fields Consultant. As you can imagine, I jumped in head first without really knowing the products but feeling like my skin had come alive within just a few days! I could only begin to imagine how great it would look if I stuck with this amazing regimen. Hubby said to write a blog about my journey. But I didn’t do either (stick to my regimen or write the blog that is). I used it inconsistently, I didn’t follow all directions. I tried to cut corners. I used a mishmash of products and the results didn’t continue to happen. I lost heart. I lost my oomph! I wasn’t so sure I believed in the products anymore and I’m not a sales-type person. I have a really hard time selling anything. I just wanted the products to speak for themselves and at first they did. Then they didn’t. My friend who got me started was disappointed, I know. Life got in the way too. It just wasn’t working out. When our household goods finally arrived here in South Korea, I realised I had to make a decision, believe in the products once again and let my skin do the talking or walk away from it all, once again. Obviously, I chose to take on Rodan + Field’s 60 day challenge (try the product and if you’re not happy within 60 days you will get a refund, empty jars and all). I needed to commit for 60 days and so I did. 
Today, I looked at my skin after my workout and wondered if there had been any changes yet and I really couldn’t see any and I started to once again feel disheartened, disillusioned, ready to quit, but no! I’m sharing this challenge with all of you so I have to be accountable. I can’t quit. Just like I can’t ‘not’ workout. I have made a promise to you. I’m not going to let you down! I’ve even gone on an AFW! That’s an Alcohol Free Week for those of you don’t know 😜 we (my Aussie family) have AFD’s (Day) & AFW’s & this is an AFW. The exercise is a whole different story that also got me down today! And the weight thing, but we’ll talk more on that another day. 
I think the main thing I have to remember is to ensure I consistently follow directions and to remember that the damage to my skin didn’t happen overnight so I can’t expect change to happen overnight either! It is just frustrating and I really want to turn back the hands of time! One other thing I need to remember is that I am only using one of the regimens. I should be using Redefine in the morning and Reverse at night. Reverse is what is going to get rid of or at least decrease the sun damage, melasma, that sort of thing. But I don’t have any Reverse regimen left and I can’t invest anything more until I believe in the products again. I can’t ask anyone else to invest anything more until I start seeing those results I saw in the first few weeks when I first started using the products! So here I am. Day 16. Not seeing miracles, but knowing it’s a process. It’s going to take time. Just like the exercise will take time and consistency & I’m going to need every ounce of patience I can get! 
  
(This photo was taken straight after my workout this morning). 

Challenge Accepted Day 14

Normally, we have some excitement in the day, there is truly never a boring day in our household, but today may have come close to being that. We got up, I did some clothes washing, made biscuits and gravy for the husband and two of the kiddos (myself and Madison aren’t huge fans). She had bacon, I had coffe and a yakult (the probiotic drinking yoghurt).

We got ready and went to Costco, I did my morning regimen beforehand of course but left the T25 stretching until tonight. I do have to mention something else I’ve been doing religiously for the past 14 days and that is moisturizing. When I get out of the shower, I really massage the tops of my thighs and buttocks with moisturizer, I also pay special attention to that little flappy bit under each arm (aka ‘bat wings’). I’m fairly muscular in my upper arms, always have been, people always thought I was a swimmer, but I’m getting older and need to take care of them now, before it’s too late. Anyway, back to the moisturizing, in a roundabout way of course; I’ve spoken a lot about my hoarding but haven’t really gone into detail, one of the things I have done throughout my life is collect shampoo bottles, moisturizer, conditioner, shower caps (you name it) but anything that says the name of a cool hotel I’ve ever stayed at. I was a flight attendant for a while so I got to stay at some wonderful hotels throughout the world. I’ve left these in baskets in our guest rooms or guest bathrooms over the years but they never got used and I’ve consistently packed them and brought them with us everywhere. It was like a link to my cool traveling days or something. Anyway, we’ve moved to a house at least half the size of our previous house, so all the little crap needs to go! And rather than just throwing it away I am slowly but surely using every little bottle, cake of soap, you name it and throwing the empty ones away! And each use feels good, I am finally putting this stuff to use and helping clear my house of all the little shit that is all adding up to be too much! When planning on regularly using this, I thought I could incorporate it into this challenge; every time I have a shower, I get out and I massage those above mentioned bits with the moisturizer and I knead it pretty hard and try to get in the there and help my body circulate and dispose of any extra fatty tissue from problem areas, it can’t hurt can it? And I’m disposing of this other ‘stuff’. 

Ok, back to today, we go to Costco and spend a small fortune, as you do at any Costco upon entering. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and call a conspiracy theory; Costco is using some sort of high range frequency the minute you enter their store to make you buy things, anything, lots of it too! 😉 ok, maybe not, but I find it very hard to walk out of Costco without spending at least $200! Today was even worse! We bought a small island. Not the kind surrounded by water unfortunately, but a small kitchen island. We needed some extra bench space in this little kitchen and I hated using my antique table for anything, so this was our solution, but we got home and hubby put it together only to attach the top and find this:

  
Not happy! So I guess we’ll have to return to Costco on Saturday and see how the Korean Costco return process compares to everywhere else. Here’s hoping it is as exceptional as we’ve experienced before! If not, I’m not going to be happy, as it is it’s going to be a pain in the you know what! And here I was so excited to have at least a tiny little bit more space. We’ll use it until we return I guess, we certainly don’t have anywhere to keep it other than where it is, so, que sera sera! For now anyway.

Alright, hubby and I went up to do the stretch video, two daughters went out to play and son was happily playing downstairs (so we thought) until he came up asking for pavlova. I told him we would all have some after dinner, but I had left it sitting on the aforementioned island, not yet covered in anything, including protection from little fingers. We came downstairs to start food prep when we spotted the pavlova which had a little finger poke in it that had acted like a tiny tremor precluding a cataclysmic event sending solid cracks all over one half of the pav (Australian for pavlova of course). I tried to rectify the damage using a lot of cream but it didn’t quite work out the way I intended it to and the cool whip wasn’t a huge hit with the girls and I (we prefer real cream whipped up, but hubby prefers that rubbish so I gave in to his wishes given it is his birthday week. 

   
 
  
I took that last photo to try to show you what it looks like inside, this one unfortunately got a little too cooked underneath but we have this super hot, tiny gas oven so I’m trying to think of anything I can do differently on Tuesday when I make another pav to prevent it from getting too cooked on the bottom, it shouldn’t even be brown, it should be a light malt colour and it does affect the flavour. 

My one success tonight was an amazing smoothie, strawberries, mango, chia seeds (a Costco purchase from today as was the organic, frozen mango) & cranberry juice – that’s about the only good healthy thing I had today, but at least I did that! 

Tonight, I am drinking my ‘sleepy time’ tea and I’m about to go and do my Sunday night Rodan + Fields regimen which includes the macro exfoliating! Yay! Well, have a great night/day and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Challenge Accepted Day 13

It has been a long day and I’m not going to lie, I haven’t been feeling very well; self inflicted unfortunately. Far too much wine last night, but an amazing conversation with one of my dearest friends until 3:30am! 

Hubby had a work thing followed by a barbecue and we all had to attend – well we didn’t have to but it’s complicated. Nonetheless, I woke up to the doorbell at 8am (kids aren’t allowed to answer it unless I’m there) & was feeling like death. Couldn’t really move, yet I knew all of my kids were up! Summed up some sort of super hangover power and managed to fall out of bed. I even made them all milos (pronounced /ˈmaɪloʊ/ – an Australian malted milk drink created by Thomas Mayne in Sydney in 1934) they did have to get their own cereal and I quickly lost my superpower and laid down on the couch where I could not move from for the next few hours. 

Hubby called to say he was on his way home and I was nowhere near being ready! Crap. I got into the shower as quickly as I could, which given the circumstances, was rather more at the pace of a tortoise not trying to win any race. I was slow-moving in both physical action and mental agility. I showered as quickly as I could and did my morning Rodan + Fields regimen of course (a little later than normal though) I asked hubby what the weather was doing and he told me it was quite a nice day – 15C and sunny. I dressed in 3/4 pants and a light shirt and very light cardigan. It wasn’t enough as I later found out when I stood shivering at the bbq! 

Hubby hasn’t yet gone into his job so he’s sort of living in limbo at work and feels a little like a third wheel. This is where it got a bit weird today, we wanted to talk and establish relationships with soldiers and their families but the person that hubby is replacing is still there and we felt like it should have been a little more about him than us and there’s 5 of us, it’s not like we don’t immediately have presence when we go anywhere – 3 kids who have two volumes; loud and asleep! So we went then sort of left quietly because they were doing speeches and presentations and it was time. We felt bad about leaving and bad about staying. But I will tell you one funny story, we got out of the car upon arring and started walking to where everyone was standing when I looked down and realised that I had the hairiest legs! That doesn’t help when you’re going to meet lots of new people! To say I was mortified was putting it lightly! From then on I just wanted to hide my legs and the goosebumps were not helping at all! 

We grabbed some items from the store (which is when our boy fell sound asleep – Who knew driving through the supermarket could be so exhausting) and came home where kids and I made chocolate brownies, salsa and a pavlova. Yum! Had to practice for hubby’s birthday on Tuesday, pavlova is his favourite. This is an Australian dessert (though there is some controversy from New Zealanders saying it originated there) that tastes like marshmallows stuffed inside of meringue shell. It’s heavenly. Here is the product from the oven, I’ll decorate it tomorrow.

  
Well, that’s all from me for today. It’s time to have a turmeric latte, do my evening regimen and fall into bed. By the way, today was the rest day for T25, thank goodness, & no, there wasn’t any running happening today! Sweet dreams!