Teen Anxiety and Blaming Parents

I recently read an article titled “10 Reasons Teens Have So Much Anxiety Today” and I was really quite shocked at just how much the author generalized and blamed parents in this article. A little too much blame methinks. As if parents don’t have enough stress on them too! How about the fact that in America it’s all about working rather than spending any quality time with your family? How about the fact that teachers aren’t given the respect and recognition they deserve? And yes, I do believe (highly unfairly) some parents expect teachers to raise and discipline their kids.

I think another factor is that society wants to give everyone a medal! God forbid we recognize that our child lost! – Our daughter had a soccer game the other day and it was awful! It was awful to watch. She played terribly. Her team was annihilated because none of them played well. She got into the car afterwards and told us how she played terribly. I said she had some moments that were good, but it definitely wasn’t fun to watch and she certainly wasn’t playing her best. She said she didn’t give it 100% – All we ask is that our kids do their best. Every time. If you are going to commit to something then you need to give it your best. I told her I appreciated her admitting that, but if she wants to play soccer then she needs to give it her best, every, single time. There is no talking it up at our house. We are by no means perfect parents but when our kid doesn’t commit and recognizes it themselves, I’m not going to disagree. I’m not going to praise the not-so-good. I am going to praise her great moments though. Our other daughter has just made a lacrosse team. It’s the B team. She started playing lacrosse at a free clinic last Summer. She did another clinic in Autumn. And another this Winter. She can’t expect miracles. She can’t expect to be the best immediately. It just doesn’t work that way. I’m proud of how she responded though when I told her this morning that she had made the B team. She said that if she wants to get better then she has to work hard. But she’s going to play hard nonetheless and actually said how thankful she was that we actually let her start playing the game now (14).

No one knows if they’re doing the parenting thing the ‘right’ way. Articles like these point out some great things to keep an eye on but they also blame parents in so many ways and that’s when it becomes unfair. We are trying to do our best. We are told what we can and can’t do as far as our parenting goes. We are told we are doing it wrong all the time. “Too many electronics!” “You have to have your kids skilled in electronics!” “They’re not exercising hard enough!” “You’re putting too much pressure on your kid by having them exercise hard throughout the week and playing competitive games on weekends!” There’s a happy medium somewhere there, but we can’t be blamed for everything! Society as a whole needs to intervene in a more productive way. Playtime at school has to happen. Yes to less screen time, but haven’t the so-called experts been saying that for years about TVs?

My son told me he was bored the other night, I told him to read a book or play legos or take his imagination on an adventure! We ended up playing a family card game of Uno. It was fun! Kids need to be bored and parents need to allow them time to develop coping skills, it’s also a time when parents can add some family fun into the mix.

I very much believe in the hierarchy point though. I have friends whose kids seem to dictate all that they do. I have friends who treat their kids as equals and share with them far too many facts about themselves or other adult friends. Your kid is your kid. Not your peer. Not your friend. When they are adult enough, become friends. But they need you as their parent, their guide, their guardian, right now.

This article points out things to keep an eye on within ourselves (as parents) and some modifications we can definitely make in our day-to-day lives as the parents of teens or even tweens, but blaming us for everything isn’t the answer either.

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May the fourteenth be with you! Ok, we’ll take the force! 

It’s been a few days now since I last wrote a blog and things have been a little all over the place. The local police called me to ensure there were no injuries in my car as this guy is obviously still insisting that he is injured, even though it was such a minor accident for his truck anyway, having no damage whatsoever, not so minor for my car that hit the corner of his truck bed, that was literally made of steel, yet we have no injuries and he is saying he was injured. I don’t think so! I am just hoping he was caught on camera unloading somewhat heavy items from the back of his truck after the accident. If there is one thing I don’t like it is people who try to to take advantage of the system and of situations. I had three children all under the age of 5 in my car, all in the back where the impact was, and they are all just fine. Seriously, just fine and this dude wants to try to sue me? Again, I don’t think so. 
Ok, let’s not focus on the negative, there were some positives from this week, the dentist was amazing and has said that he will continue with Ally’s treatment free of charge! Yes, free! Would any dentist in Australia or USA do that? No is the definitive answer. Very happy with that. Also, I finished the first 4 weeks of Insanity. Here are my photos so far (now the first one in the blue actually goes back to the beginning of the whole thing when I started T25, the second one is from 4 weeks ago when I began Insanity and the third is from tonight):


I can see some results. Not as many as I would have liked given how hard and how long I’ve been working out but also given that I haven’t been on a diet as such, I think it definitely shows that working out is helping me get toned. Oh and I’ve lost somewhere between 6-7.5lbs depending upon the time of day I weigh myself and the day of the week of course 😜 (who knew scales could be so bloody temperamental??). 
It has been a somewhat subdued week, I guess. Hunter went back to school on Thursday and Friday, but Thursday I ran around and did errands, we did get a new (old) car finally. It’s something from 2002. It was cheap. It runs well & has AC and heated seats and a heater of course. All the basics and it means some independence for me, although given how shitty last Monday went, I’m not too keen on driving just yet. It’s weird, I have always been a reasonably confident driver yet this accident has thrown me for a six. 
Friday was spent doing odds and ends at home, Maddy had a half day for some reason, so I couldn’t go get the Lipolysis shots either as I didn’t want to traumatize her, but she helped me so much around the house and got to play and hang out with her friends so it was a really nice day for the most part. We did happen to go to the grocery store and witness a man collapse and gash his head quite severely on his way down. The whole thing was all a little overwhelming with the ambulance getting called and this man literally out cold. It was obviously quite traumatic for her as she didn’t want to go back to the commissary on Saturday (I forgot to get milk) until I reassured her he was ok and that it wasn’t going to happen again whilst we were there. How do I know he’s ok? Well, we had some friends come over for dinner and drinks on Friday night and one of them happened to work with this guy, so when I started telling the story, she chimed in with how she had been the first person they called from the hospital because she was the last to speak with him on his phone. It really is a small community over here and I’m finding this out more and more on a daily basis. 
Saturday morning, we decided to purchase the entire collection of Star Wars movies with copious amounts of junk food (ok, maybe not copious but certainly more than we would normally ever consume in a week, let alone a weekend) and stay in for the weekend and have a Star Wars marathon. I had already worked out Saturday morning so I wasn’t feeling guilty about not doing too much for the rest of the day and the kids seemed to be onboard (until their friends came door knocking wanting to play with them outside). It ended up being hubby and I who really watched the movies with children grazing on junk food and watching bits and pieces then wanting all the blanks filled in because they were somewhat lost. We did make the ‘best parents ever’ stigma for a short time, given there were no set meals over the weekend and food consisted of very few ‘healthy’ things! Honestly, you may think I’m the worst, but every now and again one just has to go with the flow and let your kids just eat crap. They stayed up late interspersing their time throughout Saturday and Sunday with playing outside on their bikes and watching the movies with us. On Sunday afternoon we all went for another family bike ride and it was so enjoyable. This time Hunter didn’t complain at all and his little legs kept pedaling the entire time. It was truly fun, even when it started to rain, there was no complaining from anyone. The rain gave us a good excuse to watch one more Star Wars movie (yes, we made it through the first 5 in order, throughout the weekend). It was just a nice, low-key weekend, with no need to be anywhere at a particular time and no one demanding our attention outside of our family. 


Monday (today) has already been successful. I am now on the recovery week of Insanity, which means doing Core Cardio and Balance every day, starting today. And it felt good. I am still trying to kick this nasal, sinus, chest thingy I’ve got going on but I’m now guessing it’s from the yellow dust coming in from China. From what everyone has told me, it sticks with you for a while until you get used to it. Shit! If I wanted to deal with crap coming into my lungs killing me, I would have kept smoking. This is ridiculous. And poor Ally just cannot get rid of her cough! I’m thinking I will definitely have to take her to make sure she is not asthmatic or suffering from bronchitis or who knows what! This place is not agreeing with her lungs either. She is the worst of us all. One of her teachers actually made me so angry last week. Ally is always coughing, always blowing her nose, it is literally like she is allergic to this place, she gets into coughing fits and almost throws up at times. I have her doing a nasal rinse daily and we make sure she spits out all of the yucky stuff when she’s home, but the poor kid just doesn’t seem to be getting better. Back to this teacher. Ally came into her class and started coughing, the teacher stopped talking until Ally was done (as she apparently does when anyone makes any noise in her classroom that she hasn’t approved of). Then Ally’s nose started running and she had to use the roll of toilet paper this teacher had in her classroom for just such occasions. I can’t remember exactly what she said but she basically singled Ally out and ridiculed her then got mad at her for using too much of this roll of toilet paper. On top of that, Ally’s voice was a tad croaky last week because she has had this thing going on for so long, this teacher then made fun of her because she couldn’t reach the notes she had to reach in the class (it was choir class). Ally came home devastated. I was furious! I thought and thought about the best way to react to this. Ally didn’t want me to make a big scene and she didn’t want this teacher to pick on her further, and I completely understood where she was coming from. I know sometimes teachers will take it out further on the children if the parent intervenes, especially those teachers who don’t offer a nurturing environment to their pupils. That was the last thing our daughter needed in her life right now. So, I didn’t do anything until after I had calmed down immensely. When hubby got home, I asked Ally to tell him about it so I could gauge his reaction to the whole thing and was surprised at how angry it made him too. I told him my idea and as always he suggested I wait until I was calm to do it. Now a part of me would have liked to storm in there and grab this woman and shake her a bit until she came to her senses and stopped being such a bitch, but the more practical, sensible side of me knew that wasn’t anyway to show my child how to resolve conflict, instead I wrote her a letter and gave her a new roll of toilet paper. And yes, the toilet paper was my cheap shot, but at least this way, Ally can use it as much as she likes and this woman can never make her feel bad about it. 


She never gave Ally a reaction, but she hasn’t picked on her again, so I’ll take it as a win for my little (big) girl who needs all the wins she can get right now given her health and her friendship situation. More on that another day. 
Back to today, I went with my friend Rebecca back to see our favourite dermatologist spouse (again, hoping she’s actually a nurse) and to get our Lipolysis shots. This time, I actually took a photo of her sticking a shot into my belly. So weird. She and her husband only realized today that I’m actually Australian, even though I told them the first time I met them. Anyway, they were both excited today because their sons (yes, there are 2 of them) both live and study in Adelaide, Australia, and they have both been there. This was followed with, “it’s pretty, but it’s too hot and too dry.” I felt like saying in return that I could completely understand their distaste as this place is too cold and too wet, as well as too hot and too humid, (and yes, I do mean wet & humid independently of each other) for my liking. On top of that there’s the yellow dust and the monsoon season. Um, hello! Give me Australia’s weather any day! 


 Right, I think I’ve caught you up on all our exciting happenings. The days are definitely getting warmer here in South Korea, we are supposed to hit 33C on Saturday, That’s about my perfect temperature right there, although I think that’s hotter than it ever got whilst we were in Colorado Springs! A sprinkler may be in order though, just in case. 
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I hope you have a wonderful day or night, wherever you are in the world. This Aussie Mum plans on doing so! 😊

Final daily blog – but it’s not over….

So I think today’s the day to end my daily blogs. It has been a very quiet day. My emotions are running a little askew given this crazy week. My faith in the system is faltering as is my faith in people (just a little). It also has given me food for thought as far as this blog goes and the direction I want it to take. I know I have the Insanity Challenge to finish, and don’t worry, I will. On top of that, I’ll keep you informed of my progress, just not on a daily basis. 
I want to be a professional writer. This blog is my start to doing that. I am still trying to find my way as far as the subjects of my writing. I love being able to give you my personal opinion and my take on everything, but I also love writing about the crazy stuff that happens, therefore, on what could be termed a ‘boring’ day, I believe it necessary to give the daily blog a miss. 
Please let me know your thoughts. This is important to me & I truly value any feedback you can give me. Have you enjoyed the blog thus far? I thoroughly enjoy sharing parenting moments, military spouse experiences, South Korea craziness, exercise hurdles (pardon the pun) and general everyday stuff, but only when it’s exciting, not when I’m forced to on a day-to-day basis and not when I’m trying to ‘dress-up’ daily activities in order to keep you entertained.  
I will tell you I did Plyometric Cardio Circuit this morning and it still about killed me! Waiting for the day it doesn’t! My Neighbour and I also headed over to get our Lipolysis shots, unfortunately it also meant we passed the location of all my misery for this week (aka the accident scene) and my friend and her daughter almost got hit by a motorcyclist on the same bloody road! 
Thank you for reading my blogs and staying supportive of me. Please continue to share my more exciting posts. This professional writing business doesn’t happen unless people are aware of you 😊 and please give me your opinions about anything and everything I write. 
I hope your day is amazing! 

Please find me on Facebook: Aussiemumsadventures 
Email me at: Aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com

Challenge Accepted Day 39

So my hubby finally got home at about 0100 this morning and was full of talk having gone beyond his normal bedtime, though after he was done telling me all about it, literally crashed in 5 seconds. Sometimes the man drives me insane! How can one go to sleep so quickly? For me, well I lay there and lay there, finally allowing my darling Jasmine to come in and sleep with me. It’s not too often this happens. Jasmine is the loudest purrer ever firstly, secondly, she feels like she needs to show me her love by being as close to my head as possible and by digging her claws into me. I woke up this morning with marks all over my chest from where she had ‘lovingly’ clawed me throughout the night. And throughout the night I had to take cover under my pillow so she didn’t lovingly claw my face. It sounds like she’s being mean, but she’s honestly not, it’s just the way she is. It also means I don’t let her sleep in our bed very often anymore. Madison and Ally do though, unless she’s mean to them throughout the night and I mean properly mean, not lovingly mean- Yes, there’s a difference. Anyway, she was so cute, how could I say no to that sweet little face? 

Onto today; Another day, another adventure. It was actually a fairly nondescript day today, although, my TV and I nearly came to blows this morning. T25 RIPT Circuit doesn’t work with about 15 mins 20 seconds to go! I fiddled with it, I fast forwarded, I stopped, I skipped and attempted to rewind but nothing. Not a damn thing would happen after that time. By the time I got done getting angry, I honestly wasn’t sure what to do! How am I going to incorporate RIPT Circuit when I don’t have over half of it available. Any suggestions would be most appreciated please. I am truly at a loss and not sure what the best thing to do is. I didn’t continue with anything else thereafter. I tell you. It would be so easy to give up right now if I wasn’t accountable to all of you who read my blog. 
I washed my face using the morning Redefine regimen, then folded laundry. It was all very exciting. In the meantime, Maddy’s friend came over for a play date so that was wonderful for her, given big sis had her friend here for a sleepover. Only problem was then little brother felt left out. Luckily he was in the mood for a movie so I put Big Hero 6 on for him and promised he would have one of his friends over for a play date today or tomorrow, sure enough at 3:30pm, his friend came knocking on the door, so he got to have his play date too and Mummy kept her promise. Today it was like my house was the kind of house you would see in ‘The Cosby Show’ or ‘Growing Pains’, it was the kind of house I always wanted to be in when I was a kid, but we lived on a farm too far away from anyone for anyone to just pop over. It was great though. Not that I would want it everyday and I know my hubby certainly wouldn’t but it’s nice to know the kids want to come here and play and that this will be a regular thing. It makes me happy to know we have a welcoming home. 
This afternoon was spent painting and I really got into it and came a long way on what I hope will be my best painting so far. We finished the project for Grandma and Grandpa and will get that off in the mail tomorrow afternoon, hopefully in time for Mother’s Day. Grandma has another present in there so this is just a bonus thing for them so I will share it with you on here and if she sees it, well, it’s ok. 

  

I’m honestly not even sure where they would hang it up and it will just be one more piece of junk they’ll have to find a home for (sounds harsh I know, but none of us are super sentimental like that, we adore this stuff, but then it gets put away somewhere for safe keeping.). I just really liked the idea when I saw something on Pinterest, so I wanted to make my version of it, forever safekeeping their footprints at their current size. Anyway, this was my first attempt at calligraphy style writing too, not bad. The present I did get my Mum though is practical for her current needs, so I think she’ll like it too. 
We had to go out to dinner again tonight with hubby’s VIPs and it was actually a good, fun night. Our kids were amazing! They sat at a table next to us but they were independent and did so well at it! I was so proud. It meant hubby and I had grown up conversations and people could swear and tell stories without worrying about kids being near by. It was great. I felt like an independent adult too, not just like ‘Mummy’! Sometimes, when we go to places, my kids occupy my entire night and I don’t get to talk/socialize/do anything but deal with them, sometimes it’s like people don’t want to approach me because I’m a Mummy and that’s all I appear to be able to do. Tonight, it was refreshing to not be shunned to a corner, to talk to adults about adult things, to not be harassed every five seconds, to just be Sheryn. I know I’ll miss them being little, but every now and then it feels great to bask in the glory of their growing independence too.
All in all, though not an exciting day for many, for me it was quite peaceful. I’m looking forward to painting again as soon as possible, but I now have to awaken at 0430 to drop my hubby off so I can have the vehicle tomorrow. Bah! Yuck. Not sure why the Army needs everything to happen so early. I’m also a tad concerned that I’ll be out before curfew. It’s ok for hubby, he’ll be in uniform, but not sure how it works for me. Guess we’ll find out. It’s not like I’ll have been out on the town or anything though is it? Oh well, I’ll let you know on the morrow! 

Tonight’s plan is to do my night regimen then assess whether or not I’m too tired to paint 😜 Have a great day and/or night no matter where in the world you are and hit me with your suggestions for the T25 Beta RIPT Circuit please. 

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 35

Another interesting day in South Korea! I started out my day feeling like rubbish! Honestly, it was like my head had filled up with gunk overnight! Yuck. Not nice. We had a birthday party to get to and we didn’t get up until late, so it was a bit of a dash to ensure everyone was organized and ready to go. I forgot to buy a birthday card also, so the kiddos had to make one this morning as well. I hate buying birthday cards though. They are expensive, they get read then thrown away. I’d much prefer to just throw a small slip of paper into the bag/box/packaging and save a tree. Oh well, just personal preference. I had some cough/cold medicine that tasted awful and did nothing for me, followed with vitamin C and OJ, none of which did jack! Oh well, ‘big girl panties’ got put on and off we went. 
We headed off to the party which was to be followed by a work lunch for hubby. He had some VIPs who came in and they were trying to ensure they had a shopping and local dining experience that was relaxed and fun. The party was great. The kids had a blast and they had food, like real food. And good real food. We were full by the time we went to lunch with hubby’s VIPs. I was also starting to feel like rubbish again. We get to this all you can eat meat place where everything is so low key, they are not hounding us about the amount of food we are going to eat or anything! In fact, neither hubby nor I ate but I cooked Korean bbq style at the table for the kiddos and decided this was actually a good opportunity to try Soju! Actually, I thought it was more wine, but it wasn’t. It was straight Soju that I picked out. And no, not a midday drink. I tried to share it around but only two others would partake, so I packed the remainder of the bottle up in my bag and left it at that. It’s about the size of a mini wine bottle and it was just sitting there in the fridge; what’s one to expect? Not some sort of Korean vodka/whisky type thing anyway! 

  
I felt immediately better and told my hubby Soju worked much better than cough medicine any day! As I am writing, I am sneezing like a crazy woman! Not sure if tomorrow (our day at the beach) is going to pan out! We have a good time though wondering through the streets of the Osan ‘Ville’ – what makes it super interesting is I see this spa type store that has fish in it eating this girl’s dead skin! I’ve read about them but never actually seen one. How cool! Before I know it, I am saying, “Yea, I’m in!”

  
  
Very interesting! I’ve never felt anything quite like it. The fish tickled, felt revolting and amazing all at the same time! It was weird. They nibble away, they tickle, they feel refreshing, they tickle, they feel weird and revolting. That’s the best way I can explain it. When you get out (it’s a 10 minute thing) your feet and legs feel great! I would have liked something deeper that went about mid thigh. They really went crazy on my legs, perhaps because I had just shaved this morning? I don’t know. But my ankles/lower calves came out feeling amazing! And still look amazing 4 hours later. I may be on to something here. The legs rather than the feet needing the nurture? 😉
  

We came home and visited our temporary custodian cats; Luna still doesn’t like us but greeted us with joy nonetheless. Itty Bit (our 20 year old feline friend) was more enthusiastic and purred her love for us all. We spent a long time hanging out with them and showing them a bit of love, before heading back to the abode.

  
Tomorrow is still up in the air; With me feeling like rubbish, the lady who organized it concerned about air quality and various other ‘Korean’ factors coming in to play, I am still all a go right now but must hit the sack and attempt to get rid of this congestion! I shall keep you in the loop as far as everything unfolds!
Unfortunately there has been no T25 stretching today 😕 it just hasn’t happened and I haven’t pushed it given the crappiness that is filling my head right now. I hope you however, are feeling amazing and continue to do so! 

Have a wonderful day and or night no matter where in the worl you are!

Challenge Accepted Day 34

Hello and goodbye to Saturday! Not sure where you went, but you’ve gone! We had a busy, but not hectic day over here. It all started with my silly internal alarm knowing I could sleep in but not doing so. Awake at 0600, I was, not good! Dear son greeted me just after 7 and the day was off. Coffee, breakfast, washing, I thought about running and should have taken Luna for a run, but it just didn’t happen. We went and fed and hung out with the cats for a good half hour (we’re pet sitting for the next 10 days, and that was fun. They have a Luna too, but she’s not a big fan of little people unfortunately, unlike our Luna who loves everyone). It was all good though. One of the cats is 20 years old so she needs some special attention and Madison has taken it upon herself to make sure she gets it. She made her walk around, we fed them, the kids tried to get Luna to play a little with them, we made sure the old lady had her medication. It was all good, and the sweet lady we are looking after them for left all sorts of gifts on the counter. Individual gifts for each of my children and a bottle of vino for moi. I didn’t grab any of them though as I don’t think any of us should get anything until we’ve done a good job and until the job is finished. So I didn’t even show the kids anything. 
By the time we returned home, we had to head out. Hubby had to go to the airport at 1300 (also known as 1pm in the civilian world) and he had to pick up a suit he had made in the ville beforehand. Then everyone would need to eat and that would be our time with him today done. We parked and walked to the tailor shop and wow! That suit was perfect. The stitching on it was superb, the cut was identical to what we had picked out and it fit my husband like a glove (no, not a glove, like a Savile Row suit though) very impressive as was the price. If ever you need a suit, the quality here in South Korea is very good. Hubby had a suit made in Bahrain years ago and the quality of it was nothing on this one. I’m even thinking about getting them to make me a dress for the gala. Here’s one I found online: 

  

What do you think? I’m not sure of the dressmaking skills though, nor about how they would put together such an elaborate outfit so it’s probably not going to happen, but I can always ask and see what fabric/suggestions they’ve got. There’s a couple more that I have found too so it could be really fun. I’ll need to decide in time to buy some shoes though, can’t really get too much variety around here with a foot my size, so I either need to have shoes to match or need to order some online. God I sound like a bit of a diva! I’m not even really into all that stuff, more often then not you’ll find me walking around with ‘active wear’ (anytime I hear that I immediately think of the YouTube hit by the Australian women of the same title, if you haven’t seen it then it’s a must). Anyway, it’s either exercise gear because I’m about to exercise or have already (that’s my go-to outfit for the bus stop because I always work out in the morning) or it’s track suit pants and a shirt, soon it will probably be a pair of 3/4 pants or shorts, nothing remotely lovely. I also rarely wear makeup and like I told you in another blog, my hair is up in a ponytail or hidden under a hat, so that’s as far as my egocentric dress code goes. When I do have the opportunity to dress up, I take it. 

We ate lunch at an American style diner after checking out a South African place we had heard great things about but deciding hubby and I should return sans kids for date night there. It was literally called JJ’s American Diner. Well, I wasn’t too impressed. It was pricey for what you got, there were no drinks with kids meals (a normal thing Stateside) and my wrap did say tenders but I assumed that meant the cut of the chicken meat not actually chicken nugget tenders shoved inside a wrap with lettuce and tomato. And the avocado ranch was a little bit of avocado thrown into ranch dressing. I felt like I could have gone to the store and bought everything and made it for myself in a matter of minutes using all prepackaged store bought ingredients. Hubby had a panini melt and it looked good and he said it tasted great but it was basically a toasted sandwich with prosciutto, ham, and salami on it. Madison’s hot dog was awful! I’m not sure what meat they used on it but I would never again buy a Korean hotdog if that’s the standard to go buy. Yuck. We all broke a little off to taste it after she said it was disgusting and everyone agreed with her afterwards. We left there feeling ok to never return. 
We dropped hubby off, ran some errands then decided to check out the community activity center (CAC). Inside of there, Hunter guided us towards the pool (he had been there before with hubby) and we were all shocked at the size of the indoor pool. The kids begged me to take them swimming so how could I say no? Home we went to grab our gear and swimming it was. What fun, if a tad cold for my liking, but it was good for the kids and I to have some fun together. I’m normally the one who hangs out on the side whilst hubby plays with the kids in the water so it was good today for me to have to stay in there with them the entire time. We had a good time and I got a little bit of natural exercise in on my rest day. 

I made a concoction for dinner that turned out to be amazing! Yes, I shall give you my recipe though it’s definitely not a ‘healthy’ choice! 

Large pasta shells (entire box)

2 bottles of red pasta sauce – your choice

1 large can of white chicken breast meat – low fat

1 small container ricotta 

Other cheese (a couple of handfuls of the grated kind, I used 4 cheese Mexican mix) and about 1 cup mozzarella.

About half cup fresh Parmesan

Chicken salt or other seasoned salt, pepper to taste

Garlic powder

Parsley (fresh is best but jar will suffice)

Onion could be optional (I didn’t use it but had it just been me eating it, I would have)

Cook pasta shells about 9 mins as per directions. 

Get two large dishes and pour half a jar into the bottom of each dish (using and entire jar to do both).

Mix chicken, ricotta, half of 4 cheese blend (or equivalent), half of Parmesan and half mozzarella and parsley

Add salt and pepper to taste (literally taste it cold, you’ll know if you need more seasoning

Stuff shells with your mix filling up both dishes. Cover with remaining sauce (1/2 jar each) and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes in a medium to hot oven (400F/200C)

Yum! Enjoy

  

I haven’t really touched on the T25 or Rodan + Fields stuff today but I don’t want to bore you by repeating myself daily either. There was nothing new to report today. All went well with my face regime this morning, my skin is feeling really good, no sensitivity at all. And it was rest day prior to stretching tomorrow before beginning T25 Beta Monday! 
So, now I sit here, my eyes are closing, I am tired from my day of doing a lot but not doing too much. Tomorrow we have a birthday party to go to followed by who knows what other adventures! Have a wonderful day or night, wherever you are. 
If you would like to order your own products from Rodan + Fields (the number 2 Premium skincare Company in the USA mind you) then please go to my website:

http://www.slongmorescott.myrandf.com

If you want to email me directly then please email me at:

aussiemumsadventures@outlook.com

And remember to like aussiemumsadventures on Facebook. 

Challenge Accepted Day 33

Hello and happy Friday! First things first, today was supposed to be a sleep in day but instead I awoke before hubby’s alarm, needing to go to the toilet but not wanting to get up! Isn’t it crazy how we do that? You lay there thinking it might pass because you don’t want to get out of your warm, cozy bed, never fully comprehending (no matter how many years you’ve been on earth) that the urge isn’t going anywhere and eventually you will have to give in to it. Today I held out for over an hour! Unfortunately meaning I didn’t ever go back to sleep, but somehow won the battle with my bladder because I did stay in bed! So, got up to the pitter patter of little feet at about 7 and got on with our day, me in desperate need of coffee before being the nice Mummy I can be sometimes. Madison unfortunately tested me before coffee intake and lost that battle! I gave her two chocolate doughnuts, she wanted the last three, I told her she could have two, she went on about how unfair it was, I sent her to her room and told her to come back downstairs when she had lost the attitude and to start again, this time without any doughnuts! So she did. Seriously, pick your battles with Mummy! And don’t even begin them when Mummy hasn’t had coffee, on top of holding her bladder for forever! 😜

We breakfasted without further incident and I finally willed myself to go upstairs and work out leaving the children playing on their tablets. Again, I could have used any excuse under the sun not to workout and I was thinking of them all. Even when I pressed play on ‘Cardio’ (no TBC today) I was thinking of excuses as to why I couldn’t do a second workout today, but I ignored them and I did lower focus. I did have a little half-chuckle to myself at my very brief notion last night of doing some extra squats and lunges. Bwahaha! After lower focus, there was no way in hell this body was capable of any extra lunges or squats! But it was good, and I was thankful to have not listened to my inner voice and to have done both workouts today and, given I am now about halfway through the T25 challenge, I wanted to show you my results:

  
Well, what do you think? I’d love some feedback! Madison told me I look a lot more muscular in the after shots. So I’ll take that as a win. I know the scales are only saying about a one pound difference (that’s about half a kilo) but the body is actually speaking (minor changes, I know) in these pictures. Thank god! As far as my face is concerned, I know you really want to see some photos of me without makeup as a halfway point for the R+F challenge, but I’m just not sure the photos are capturing the differences so I’m going to keep you in suspense until the due date for those results. If you look closely on the body photos, I’m not wearing any makeup and there is definitely a difference, you may just have to trust me on that one for right now. 
I followed my workout with my morning regime with Rodan and Fields and guess what? No irritation after using the AMP MD last night! Please ignore everything I said about using the AMP MD in the morning, the ‘night’ renewing serum is meant for just that and my skin felt amazing again this morning when I awoke and amazing after my morning regime. Back on track, I am. Yes, please call me Yoda. 😆 
I walked out of the bathroom with fresh skin, knowing what I wanted to do today; I wanted to paint and I wanted to be inspired by nature and by beauty. I dragged the kids and the dog down to the rice paddies and snapped some photos and collected some small branches and got a little inspired. I really like the ‘Southwest’ (USA) painting style and I am ok at it, whereas water inspired stuff, doesn’t work for me, as much as I love it. Now, please understand, I am on painting number 5 in my life. I’ve never had any training, not even art in school after grade 8, so this is a reasonably new hobby. I’m practicing my painting of water scenes but I did one painting of a Southwest scene and gave it to a friend and their daughter-in-law wanted to commission me to paint something similar for her family once they bought a new house, unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon how one looks at it) we moved over here and they moved into their house at about the same time. Anyway, back to the painting today, I wanted to try something different. When we were in Australia, I saw a lot of 3D art and thought today I would attempt to make my own. It didn’t quite come out like I had pictured it, well no, let me rephrase, I had no idea what I was planning on so I guess it came out as it was meant to….

  
(This was my second painting ever (well aside from finger painting I guess).

  
My abstract 3D painting from today…..

The afternoon was followed with drawing another ‘Southwest’ picture, I may just start painting it shortly. We’ll see. I have to go with the vibe when it hits me and I know I’m accountable to all of you each and every day as far as my blog is concerned, so that takes priority, well, after my family of course. Our dinner was a wonderful roast beef, I’ve finally mastered the 110 voltage converters here we live out in town rather than on the base/post and there are 110v and 220v plugs with a built in converter somewhere), they aren’t very good and for whatever reason, the 110v are very slow, even the toaster spits out bread rather than toast. So the 110V slow cooker has to have a couple of hours added on to the time, today’s meal took 10 hours whereas stateside it would have taken 8 on low cook. At least I know and can be prepared from now on. Anyway, the dinner was wonderful, a very lean, tender roast beef, with a gravy made from tomatoes, onions, celery, carrot, organic chicken and beef stock as well as vegetable stock and a light red wine, actually ‘Le card Bordeaux’, Alessandra couldn’t stop saying how wonderful the gravy was! We had Costco bread rolls, broccoli, mashed potato and homemade oven chips (fries) with chicken salt. Wonderful. All five plates clean. So, it’s Friday night, and I am going to say adieu because I haven’t really seen my hubby for a few days and finally he is here and doesn’t have his nose buried in paperwork, have a great day or night depending upon where you are and I’ll see you on Saturday! I’ll leave you with some more photos from our walk today:

  
  
  
  
  

Challenge Accepted Day 33

Hello and happy Friday! First things first, today was supposed to be a sleep in day but instead I awoke before hubby’s alarm, needing to go to the toilet but not wanting to get up! Isn’t it crazy how we do that? You lay there thinking it might pass because you don’t want to get out of your warm, cozy bed, never fully comprehending (no matter how many years you’ve been on earth) that the urge isn’t going anywhere and eventually you will have to give in to it. Today I held out for over an hour! Unfortunately meaning I didn’t ever go back to sleep, but somehow won the battle with my bladder because I did stay in bed! So, got up to the pitter patter of little feet at about 7 and got on with our day, me in desperate need of coffee before being the nice Mummy I can be sometimes. Madison unfortunately tested me before coffee intake and lost that battle! I gave her two chocolate doughnuts, she wanted the last three, I told her she could have two, she went on about how unfair it was, I sent her to her room and told her to come back downstairs when she had lost the attitude and to start again, this time without any doughnuts! So she did. Seriously, pick your battles with Mummy! And don’t even begin them when Mummy hasn’t had coffee, on top of holding her bladder for forever! 😜

We breakfasted without further incident and I finally willed myself to go upstairs and work out leaving the children playing on their tablets. Again, I could have used any excuse under the sun not to workout and I was thinking of them all. Even when I pressed play on ‘Cardio’ (no TBC today) I was thinking of excuses as to why I couldn’t do a second workout today, but I ignored them and I did lower focus. I did have a little half-chuckle to myself at my very brief notion last night of doing some extra squats and lunges. Bwahaha! After lower focus, there was no way in hell this body was capable of any extra lunges or squats! But it was good, and I was thankful to have not listened to my inner voice and to have done both workouts today and, given I am now about halfway through the T25 challenge, I wanted to show you my results:

  
Well, what do you think? I’d love some feedback! Madison told me I look a lot more muscular in the after shots. So I’ll take that as a win. I know the scales are only saying about a one pound difference (that’s about half a kilo) but the body is actually speaking (minor changes, I know) in these pictures. Thank god! As far as my face is concerned, I know you really want to see some photos of me without makeup as a halfway point for the R+F challenge, but I’m just not sure the photos are capturing the differences so I’m going to keep you in suspense until the due date for those results. If you look closely on the body photos, I’m not wearing any makeup and there is definitely a difference, you may just have to trust me on that one for right now. 
I followed my workout with my morning regime with Rodan and Fields and guess what? No irritation after using the AMP MD last night! Please ignore everything I said about using the AMP MD in the morning, the ‘night’ renewing serum is meant for just that and my skin felt amazing again this morning when I awoke and amazing after my morning regime. Back on track, I am. Yes, please call me Yoda. 😆 
I walked out of the bathroom with fresh skin, knowing what I wanted to do today; I wanted to paint and I wanted to be inspired by nature and by beauty. I dragged the kids and the dog down to the rice paddies and snapped some photos and collected some small branches and got a little inspired. I really like the ‘Southwest’ (USA) painting style and I am ok at it, whereas water inspired stuff, doesn’t work for me, as much as I love it. Now, please understand, I am on painting number 5 in my life. I’ve never had any training, not even art in school after grade 8, so this is a reasonably new hobby. I’m practicing my painting of water scenes but I did one painting of a Southwest scene and gave it to a friend and their daughter-in-law wanted to commission me to paint something similar for her family once they bought a new house, unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon how one looks at it) we moved over here and they moved into their house at about the same time. Anyway, back to the painting today, I wanted to try something different. When we were in Australia, I saw a lot of 3D art and thought today I would attempt to make my own. It didn’t quite come out like I had pictured it, well no, let me rephrase, I had no idea what I was planning on so I guess it came out as it was meant to….

  
(This was my second painting ever (well aside from finger painting I guess).

  
My abstract 3D painting from today…..

The afternoon was followed with drawing another ‘Southwest’ picture, I may just start painting it shortly. We’ll see. I have to go with the vibe when it hits me and I know I’m accountable to all of you each and every day as far as my blog is concerned, so that takes priority, well, after my family of course. Our dinner was a wonderful roast beef, I’ve finally mastered the 110 voltage converters here we live out in town rather than on the base/post and there are 110v and 220v plugs with a built in converter somewhere), they aren’t very good and for whatever reason, the 110v are very slow, even the toaster spits out bread rather than toast. So the 110V slow cooker has to have a couple of hours added on to the time, today’s meal took 10 hours whereas stateside it would have taken 8 on low cook. At least I know and can be prepared from now on. Anyway, the dinner was wonderful, a very lean, tender roast beef, with a gravy made from tomatoes, onions, celery, carrot, organic chicken and beef stock as well as vegetable stock and a light red wine, actually ‘Le card Bordeaux’, Alessandra couldn’t stop saying how wonderful the gravy was! We had Costco bread rolls, broccoli, mashed potato and homemade oven chips (fries) with chicken salt. Wonderful. All five plates clean. So, it’s Friday night, and I am going to say adieu because I haven’t really seen my hubby for a few days and finally he is here and doesn’t have his nose buried in paperwork, have a great day or night depending upon where you are and I’ll see you on Saturday! I’ll leave you with some more photos from our walk today:

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!