R+F – aussiemumsadventures

Challenge Accepted Day 54/ Day 12

So today was a nice easy day for us. Maddy stayed home with me whilst everyone else went to school/work. For some reason, she has had Friday’s in April off. I worked out just after Ally left for school but before Hunter went to his school. It was Cardio Power & Resistance day and when I’m limited on time, it is of course a 37 minute (or something close) workout! It was tough but good. I have just noticed I’ve got a double workout tomorrow! Yuck! I’ll have to fit that in somewhere, as I’ve got my second round at the dermatologists in the am and we are car shopping in the pm. Cars are cheap here but they are also a bit used and abused! So we’ve opted to pay a few hundred bucks more to try to get a little more quality, but we’ll see where that gets us.
Anyway, about the belly. I haven’t given you any updates on how that’s gone since my Lipolysis injections. For about 36 hours afterwards, my stomach was sore like I had done hundreds of sit-ups. I’m guessing this was from the electrical muscle stimulation machine, but whatever, it certainly wasn’t from me doing hundreds of sit-ups! I use my core in daily workouts, but not quite like that! It felt good, used, tired, like it had worked out! I did get a little bloated last night, was wondering if that was the fat doing whatever it is supposed to do, either way, I felt great today and ready to take on the world. I have one small bruise on my belly, but otherwise, all is good.
Maddy and I raced home after dropping hubby off as that whole trip took a tad longer than expected whilst we discussed with the Naval LTC in charge of dentistry here what our options were as far as the dental insurance goes and I must say, we are a tad disappointed. We’ve paid a fair chunk of change into this dental program but really haven’t seen much in the way of return with so many things requiring such a huge copayment. Unfortunately, our timing for Ally’s dental procedures is not going to work out and we are going to get screwed any which way we look at it. We were really hoping to get a good deal but there just doesn’t seem to be a ‘right’ answer in sight. I think we are going to cancel further treatment for her and just have to bite the bullet and pay for the treatment ourselves once returning to the States or get new dental insurance and give the fairly crappy one we have now, a miss. I just don’t know. And I’m a bit mad at myself for jumping the gun. Unfortunately though, the wording is a tad deceptive for OCONUS military (that means Outside of the Continental United States) and there really is no black and white with everything dependent upon the provider. We are edging towards cancelling everything as far as Ally is concerned but I’ll keep you posted.
Maddy and I then dropped Luna off at the only dog grooming place I could find yesterday that wanted to charge me an absolute fortune for grooming! Now we got her groomed in January but I gave her a bath about 5 weeks ago and brushed her hair, cleaned her ears etc. yet this guy was all about her being in a tangled mess. She definitely smelt and was in need of a good cut but ₩150,000 wasn’t going to cut it for me, that’s just under US$150! She has that hypoallergenic hair that doesn’t need to be brushed daily. I told him that I had her groomed in the States for between $60-$80 and he just laughed. Eventually we agreed upon ₩100,000 but that’s a hell of a lot of money and I wasn’t very happy about it. She does look cute but ‘I Like Dog’ will hopefully give me a better price with perhaps some better treatment next time. I don’t think she got any water for the 5+ hours she was at this groomer as she came home and drank so much, she vomited. We gave her extra love/snuggles/treats nonetheless and it was much easier to do, given how good she smelt!

Then Maddy decided she wanted to have her hair cut and get ‘bangs’ (a fringe as we call it in Australia). I wouldn’t let her cut her hair too short, in fact I said she could just get all her split ends cut off, but if she really wanted a fringe, then she could do that. We had fun going out today with both of us dressed in matching skirts and high heels, so I put a little tiny bit of makeup on her eyes and boy did it stand out! The girl walks around as though she’s wearing mascara naturally, but with that one streak of purple/blue, she looked like she had full eye makeup on! I wasn’t sure I had made the best decision after seeing it on her, but hey, we were having a special day together and I just wanted to enjoy it with her. Anyway, after her haircut, she looked so much older than her seven years that I couldn’t believe it! Even big sis said it when we greeted her off the bus. Maddy’s attitude, her demeanor, everything changed after seeing those bangs, it was like she had literally aged right in front of me! This girl is going to be our trouble maker, I’m sure of it, yet she has the biggest, sweetest, kindest heart of any of our children. She just cares. And people know that she does, so they naturally like her but she’s also incredibly beautiful, I don’t think anyone has ever particularly disliked Maddy, though her strong-willed temperament may have turned them off a tad.

After that, it was lunch with Daddy. It’s so nice to catch up with him during the day, especially when one of the girls can do it? They just love spending time with him. We returned home having done absolutely no grocery shopping or clothes shopping but just hanging out, then we spent about a half hour playing dress ups! Me for the ball and Maddy for the sake of it! It was fun. Sometimes it’s just fun to hang out with a kid and forget all about being grown up. All she wanted to do was try on every dress I tried on, and I let her. She even wore my shoes at one point. We picked out my dress and shoes and hairstyle and I’m now excited about this gala. I do still fit into my clothes! Then it was time for piano and for me to collect little man from school. The groomer also used that opportunity to let me know Luna was ready for pickup.
We came back in time for me to fold what seemed like a never ending pile of clean laundry before greeting both girls once again and popping over to dear Tawny’s house for just one (ok maybe two) glasses of vino. It was a lovely evening to sit and chat on her amazing rooftop, but nothing like the other day/night! I greeted hubby home, gave everyone their respective dinners (yes, it was that kind of night here) we put the kiddos to bed in a big slumber party type atmosphere upstairs where they could all camp out and watch Netflix to their hearts’ content. I cleaned my face and did my nightly Redefine regimen (the skin feels so lovely and soft) and we are going to watch something ourselves on Netflix.
I hope you have a wonderful day and/or night, wherever you are!
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Email me at: aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com
And if you are interested I. Taking your own Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge, then let me know. I’m posting my 60 day pics in just a few short days!!!

Challenge Accepted Day 51/Day 9

I awoke to another gorgeous day in South Korea. After getting everyone ready for school (except dear son as it’s Tuesday) and hubby returning from PT (physical training) and departing once again for work! I went upstairs and immediately did my Insanity workout: ‘Pure Cardio’! I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that one, but it went well and I did my best.

We were heading off to lunch at noon, so I thought I would attempt to get a quick jog/walk with Luna before showering. I wasn’t really sure how it would work with Hunter but initially, my thought was to leave him in a spot where I could see him at all times and do a quick loop around with the dog. It never happened. Our walk/jog with Luna was an absolute disaster. We got down to the beginning of the rice paddies when dear son fell over and scraped his knee. I don’t want to call my son out too much, but the kid is the worst when it comes to being hurt. He literally screams like a little boy and carries on to no end. The biggest drama king I have ever seen in my entire life! I’m not sure if this stems from his numerous hospital trips and emergency surgeries or what, but he is the most accident prone thing I have ever come across, and the sight of blood brings blood curdling screams all the way from the depths of his lungs to the vibrations of his lips. I am now positive that every single person in the Ville behind us as well as our Ville, know exactly who we are. When I attempted to put a bandaid on it after carrying him screaming at the top of his lungs for the long trip back whilst trying to ensure the dog didn’t pull us both over as she wasn’t quite ready to end her journey so quickly, he then proceeded to reach decibels unknown to mankind. I was fairly sure the Korean police were going to arrive at any minute to arrest me for attempting to murder my son. Every dog in the neighbourhood had their ears pricked trying to figure out what was communicating with them on an ultrasonic level never heard before! It was truly an epic moment of bandaid in hand and son screaming bloody murder and fighting me with every ounce of strength his body could find! He wouldn’t even let me get him dressed as he was afraid I’d have a secret bandaid stash hidden somewhere. I even put the bandaid on my arm to show him it wouldn’t hurt but he wasn’t having any of it.
Thereafter it was a little more Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang to try to relax him before heading off to lunch. And lunch was fantastic! Sitting up on the third floor watching all that passed by, chatting with my friend that I felt like I had known forever, the afternoon rushed by. I greeted both girls as they got off their respective buses, even watched Maddy get off her school bus on to her piano bus, all was good. In fact, the afternoon was fabulous until my phone died at about 1715 (5:15pm). That was it! I was incommunicado with hubby therefore making me a rogue agent. Yes, sometimes even husbands and wives get their information mishmashed. Hubby couldn’t remember where my girlfriend lived and I had lost track of time, therefore meaning our communication got lost and he didn’t know where we were, I didn’t know what time it was, he was concerned, I was having a good time on a school night. Luckily, all ended up being ok. After retrieving a a lost blankie and tablet (yes, modern day version) all was good.

I never did get back to the latisse thing did I? If you’re not aware of latisse, it’s this eye solution that was originally designed to lower pressure deep within the eye, often referred to as intraocular pressure. When doing tests on patients, it was also found that these eye drops assist in the growth of eyelashes. Now I don’t have particularly short eyelashes, but they could always be a little longer and lusher. When we were waiting for our tour in Belize City, Belize, there happened to be a pharmacy right there, advertising all sorts of stuff to the American tourists from the boat including ‘latisse’ or Bimatoprost Opthalmic Solution 0.03%. It was cheap, like US$15 I think. I had a friend who had enquired about it Stateside (in the USA) and I’m sure it was a couple of hundred dollars. So I bought some, then promptly forgot about it until the other day when I rediscovered it. Now, it didn’t come with the lash brushes that Latisse comes with, but I’m currently using cotton buds (cotton swabs, Q tips) and throwing them away once I’m done to ensure no contamination. I am also being very careful not to let any excess fluid touch my skin or my eyes (as it can cause pigmentation) but I thought, why not? We’ll see how that works. I’m not going to track the results of that, I’ll give you intermittent updates though on how it’s going. Early days right now, so no change whatsoever.
I did my night time redefine regimen, followed by the latisse thing, then it was time to finish this blog and fall into bed. I hope you have an amazing night and/or day, no matter where in the world you are!
Remember to find me on FaceBook: Aussiemumsadventures and if you want to email me: aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com

Thereafter it was a little more Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang to try to relax him before heading off to lunch. And lunch was fantastic! Sitting up on the third floor watching all that passed by, chatting with my friend that I felt like I had known forever, the afternoon rushed by. I greeted both girls as they got off their respective buses, even watched Maddy get off her school bus on to her piano bus, all was good. In fact the afternoon was fabulous until my I awoke to another gorgeous day in South Korea. After getting everyone ready for school (except dear son as its Tuesday) and hubby returning from PT (physical training) and departing once again for work! I went upstairs and immediately did my Insanity workout: ‘Pure Cardio’! I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that one, but it went well and I did my best. We were heading off to lunch at noon, so I thought I would attempt to get a quick jog/walk with Luna before showering. I wasn’t really sure how it would work with Hunter but initially, my thought was to leave him in a spot where I could see him at all times and do a quick loop around with the dog. It never happened. Our walk/jog with Luna was an absolute disaster. We got down to the beginning of the rice paddies when dear son fell over and scraped his knee. I don’t want to call my son out too much, but the kid is the worst when it comes to being hurt. He literally screams like a little boy and carries on to no end. The biggest drama king I have ever seen in my entire life! I’m not sure if this stems from his numerous hospital trips and emergency surgeries or what, but he is the most accident prone thing I have ever come across, and the sight of blood brings blood curdling screams all the way from the depths of his lungs to the vibrations of his lips. I am now positive that every single person in the Ville behind us as well as our Ville, know exactly who we are. When I attempted to put a bandaid on it after carrying him screaming at the top of his lungs for the long trip back whilst trying to ensure the dog didn’t pull us both over as she wasn’t quite ready to end her journey so quickly, he then proceeded to reach decibels unknown to mankind. I was fairly sure the Korean police were going to arrive at any minute to arrest me for attempting to murder my son. Every dog in the neighbourhood had their ears pricked trying to figure out what was communicating with them on an ultrasonic level never heard before! It was truly an epic moment of bandaid in hand and son screaming bloody murder and fighting me with every ounce of strength his body could find! He wouldn’t even let me get him dressed as he was afraid I’d have a secret bandaid stash hidden somewhere. I even put the bandaid on my arm to show him it wouldn’t hurt but he wasn’t having any of it.
Thereafter it was a little more Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang to try to relax him before heading off to lunch. And lunch was fantastic! Sitting up on the third floor watching all that passed by, chatting with my friend that I felt like I had known forever, the afternoon rushed by. I greeted both girls as they got off their respective buses, even watched Maddy get off her school bus on to her piano bus, all was good. In fact the afternoon was fabulous until my phone died at about 1715 (5:15pm). That was it! I was incommunicado with hubby therefore making me a rogue agent. Yes, sometimes even husbands and wives get their information mishmashed. Hubby couldn’t remember where my girlfriend lived and I had lost track of time, therefore meaning our communication got lost and he didn’t know where we were, I didn’t know what time it was, he was concerned, I was having a good time on a school night. Luckily, all ended up being ok. After retrieving a a lost blankie and tablet (yes, modern day version) all was good.
I never did get back to the latisse thing did I? If you’re not aware of latisse, it’s this eye solution that was originally designed to lower pressure deep within the eye, often referred to as intraocular pressure. When doing tests on patients, it was also found that these eye drops assist in the growth of eyelashes. Now I don’t have particularly short eyelashes, but they could always be a little longer and lusher. When we were waiting for our tour in Belize City, Belize, there happened to be a pharmacy right there, advertising all sorts of stuff to the American tourists from the boat including ‘latisse’ or Bimatoprost Opthalmic Solution 0.03%. It was cheap, like US$15 I think. I had a friend who had enquired about it Stateside (in the USA) and I’m sure it was a couple of hundred dollars. So I bought some, then promptly forgot about it until the other day when I rediscovered it. Now, it didn’t come with the lash brushes that Latisse comes with, but I’m currently using cotton buds (cotton swabs, Q tips) and throwing them away once I’m done to ensure no contamination. I am also being very careful not to let any excess fluid touch my skin or my eyes (as it can cause pigmentation) but I thought, why not? We’ll see how that works. I’m not going to track the results of that, I’ll give you intermittent updates though on how it’s going. Early days right now, so no change whatsoever.
I did my night time redefine regimen, followed by the latisse thing, then it was time to finish this blog and fall into bed. I hope you have an amazing night and/or day, no matter where in the world you are! (😂🕹📟🎥📽📹📼🕹bl ,Suberin ft vihghbfirths it s two

Remember to find me on FaceBook: Aussiemumsadventures and if you want to email me: aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com
phone died at about 1715 (5:15pm). That was it! I was incommunicado with hubby, therefore making me a rogue agent. Yes, sometimes even husbands and wives get their information mishmashed. Hubby couldn’t remember where my girlfriend lived and I had lost track of time, therefore meaning our communication got lost and he didn’t know where we were, food for thought, know we gavevhotevubedI awoke to another gorgeous day in South Korea. After getting everyone ready for school (except dear son as its Tuesday) and hubby returning from PT (physical training) and departing once again for work! I went upstairs and immediately did my Insanity workout: ‘Pure Cardio’! I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that one, but it went well and I did my best. We were heading off to lunch at noon, so I thought I would attempt to get a quick jog/walk with Luna before showering. I wasn’t really sure how it would work with Hunter but initially, my thought was to leave him in a spot where I could see him at all times and do a quick loop around with the dog. It never happened. Our walk/jog with Luna was an absolute disaster. We got down to the beginning of the rice paddies when dear son fell over and scraped his knee. I don’t want to call my son out too much, but the kid is the worst when it comes to being hurt. He literally screams like a little boy and carries on to no end. The biggest drama king I have ever seen in my entire life! I’m not sure if this stems from his numerous hospital trips and emergency surgeries or what, but he is the most accident prone thing I have ever come across, and the sight of blood brings blood curdling screams all the way from the depths of his lungs to the vibrations of his lips. I am now positive that every single person in the Ville behind us as well as our Ville, know exactly who we are. When I attempted to put a bandaid on it after carrying him screaming at the top of his lungs for the long trip back whilst trying to ensure the dog didn’t pull us both over as she wasn’t quite ready to end her journey so quickly, he then proceeded to reach decibels unknown to mankind. I was fairly sure the Korean police were going to arrive at any minute to arrest me for attempting to murder my son. Every dog in the neighbourhood had their ears pricked trying to figure out what was communicating with them on an ultrasonic level never heard before! It was truly an epic moment of bandaid in hand and son screaming bloody murder and fighting me with every ounce of strength his body could find! He wouldn’t even let me get him dressed as he was afraid I’d have a secret bandaid stash hidden somewhere. I even put the bandaid on my arm to show him it wouldn’t hurt but he wasn’t having any of it.
Thereafter it was a little more Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang to try to relax him before heading off to lunch. And lunch was fantastic! Sitting up on the third floor watching all that passed by, chatting with my friend that I felt like I had known forever, the afternoon rushed by. I greeted both girls as they got off their respective buses, even watched Maddy get off her school bus on to her piano bus, all was good. In fact the afternoon was fabulous until my phone died at about 1715 (5:15pm). That was it! I was incommunicado with hubby therefore making me a rogue agent. Yes, sometimes even husbands and wives get their information mishmashed. Hubby couldn’t remember where my girlfriend lived and I had lost track of time, therefore meaning our communication got lost and he didn’t know where we were, I didn’t know what time it was, he was concerned, I was having a good time on a school night. Luckily, all ended up being ok. After retrieving a a lost blankie and tablet (yes, modern day version) all was good.
I never did get back to the latisse thing did I? If you’re not aware of latisse, it’s this eye solution that was originally designed to lower pressure deep within the eye, often referred to as intraocular pressure. When doing tests on patients, it was also found that these eye drops assist in the growth of eyelashes. Now I don’t have particularly short eyelashes, but they could always be a little longer and lusher. When we were waiting for our tour in Belize City, Belize, there happened to be a pharmacy right there, advertising all sorts of stuff to the American tourists from the boat including ‘latisse’ or Bimatoprost Opthalmic Solution 0.03%. It was cheap, like US$15 I think. I had a friend who had enquired about it Stateside (in the USA) and I’m sure it was a couple of hundred dollars. So I bought some, then promptly forgot about it until the other day when I rediscovered it. Now, it didn’t come with the lash brushes that Latisse comes with, but I’m currently using cotton buds (cotton swabs, Q tips) and throwing them away once I’m done to ensure no contamination. I am also being very careful not to let any excess fluid touch my skin or my eyes (as it can cause pigmentation) but I thought, why not? We’ll see how that works. I’m not going to track the results of that, I’ll give you intermittent updates though on how it’s going. Early days right now, so no change whatsoever.
I did my night time redefine regimen, followed by the latisse thing, then it was time to finish this blog and fall into bed. I hope you have an amazing night and/or day, no matter where in the world you are!
Remember to find me on FaceBook: Aussiemumsadventures and if you want to email me: aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com

Edge and. Power for Luce, one wmunst. Ask uwo round mind😊I didn’t know what time it was, he was concerned, I was having a good time on a school night. Luckily, all ended up being ok. After retrieving a lost blankie and tablet (yes, modern day version) all was good. And no regrets from me, other than a lost plate at the end of the night when I forgot what was in my basket and plonked it on the stairs, smashing it beyond further redemption. Bugger! Fgibfirvgiug , Good night!

Challenge Accepted Day 50/Day 8

The weather is warming up in South Korea, meaning after a day inside yesterday when we should have been out and about playing, I needed to get outside today! We dropped dear son at school and I then dropped hubby off at work. I had to exchange some money in order to deposit ₩ into my bank account so they could take the school fees out today. It’s a public school but we, as foreigners, have to pay. I think I had mentioned this in a previous blog. No one could give me an exact amount but from my understanding it’s a little more than what I was told the other day but cheaper than I originally thought and works out to about US$220 for 2 months + milk. Yes, milk is a separate charge & all the kids drink milk so if your child doesn’t drink it, then they will immediately be segregated. Hunter is already segregated enough with the language barrier so he doesn’t need anything further. Either way, even with the milk, it is amazingly cheap and apparently this school is one of the best schools. It’s special somehow, I think it could possibly equate to a charter school? I’m not sure though, Judy (our realtor) tried to explain it to me as best she could and she just kept saying, “this is a very good school!”
It was as I was walking to the bank that hubby called and reminded me he had volunteered to read to Maddy’s class and would need to be picked up (again, the one car issue) and dropped off. He did however send the memo up last Friday so here’s hoping we can get that sorted out sooner rather than later. So my errand running came to a quick end so I could get home, grab the book he wanted to read and try to get a quick workout in. I didn’t have time to join Shawn T, so opted instead to use the beautiful weather to go for a quick run with Luna. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. She being her usual exuberant self, and me, well I just enjoyed getting out and about again. On the way back to the house though I did notice Hunter’s two school friends out playing in their yard (not at school) so I was a tad concerned at how his day would have gone given their absence. I didn’t have time to talk to them at that point though their Mom later told me she had taken one of them to the dentist and it just worked out that both of them stayed at home together.
There was no time for a shower after the run, so I opted to sit in the car and wait for hubby to finish reading at Maddy’s school and use the opportunity to begin writing my blog. This lovely elderly couple came out of the school, I assumed he was a veteran as he was carrying a book (it’s the day for active duty and retired soldiers to read to the elementary school kids) and they walked up and got into the car beside me and I couldn’t help but hear their conversation. They opened the doors to their car and it was quite warm and the lady suggested they should have left the windows down, the gentleman then said, “But my darling, the great thing is you can wind your window down as we drive if you like.” She smiled at him and continued talking about Chicago having the best bulgogi she’s ever had. Bulgogi is a traditional Korean barbecue beef dish and I’m not really sure what she was talking about when she said Chicago as he then told her, “If that’s where you want to eat, then that’s where we’ll go! Whatever makes you happy my darling.”
To my ears, it was like a lifetime of togetherness that still had the sparkle. I’m a romantic at heart you know. Hubby ruined the moment when he came back and talked about how the guy before him was an elderly gentleman who read poetry and the kids were going to sleep on him! I don’t care, the romance gets even better with the fact that he chose poetry (although maybe not the best choice for 2nd graders) Yes, the day was about military kids but sometimes it’s more about a teaching moment; Even if only one child there appreciated it, then that’s one child who shall grow to appreciate poetry and I think everyone would have appreciated seeing this couple together and knowing they were sharing a lifetime of love.
Right, after that it was time to drop hubby back at work then attempt to get some travel set up for us. It didn’t happen unfortunately. We are trying to find somewhere great to go for June/July timeframe. I want to see so many places here but it adds up very quickly when there’s 5 of you. The other thing we have to decide on is do we actually take the kids on a tour of a country or do we all just go and hang out at a resort and just enjoy some sights close by? Hubby is opting for the latter because it’s so expensive and he doesn’t want to run the risk of all of us being miserable because the children are at breaking point on a tour we’ve paid a small fortune for. I understand! I’ve seen them at breaking point. Not only would it ruin it for us but for everyone else on the tour also. We’d get blacklisted and have posters put up of our family warning people to never travel within the vicinity of us! Who would have thought planning a family holiday (aka vacation) would be so stressful! To all you single people, or people who don’t have any little people running about, enjoy your freedom! Seriously! Once they’re here, they don’t go back! Instead they suck you dry; of food, of clothing, of shoes (that’s a new one for us that’s beginning to really add up) of almost anything out there you take for granted! Gone! But, I digress…. They’re wonderful little buggers when they’re not milking you of everything! 😜 Back to the holiday, I’ve just put some more feelers out on Facebook and tomorrow I’m having lunch with a friend and very much looking forward to discussing all of her travels in the region and picking her brain for the final opinions about their most recent trip to Vietnam.
After I left the travel office with more frustration and confusion than when I arrived, it was time to get a couple of things and be home in time to get Maddy off her bus and into the van to go to her first piano lesson. It was exciting and weird all at the same time. She really enjoyed it though and is very much looking forward to going back everyday. (Yay! At least I picked a winner for right now!) I said hello and goodbye to her then went to get Hunter from school and amazingly, he had another fabulous day, even without the girls there! It was great. Hubby called me on my way there and said he’d gotten the memo back and could I swing by and get it, that way I could drop it off where I needed to and get the ball rolling on the second car thing. Excited I was. I shouldn’t have been. As with everything in the military or any Government agency or any bureaucracy for that matter, there’s always one more thing you need, and yes there was! So, another day.
It was time to meet both daughters coming in from their respective buses so we raced home once more and collected them up in the car (Hunter was sound asleep in the back and I didn’t want him to wake up super cranky). Then it was finally time to do my Insanity workout. Did I struggle! It was hard. It felt like I hadn’t done anything in weeks not literally just two days. I’m not sure if that was from the big night on Saturday or just my welcome back intro to Insanity all over again, or what, but it was tough. My phone rang and it was a welcome reprieve from the hell my body was going through, but I finished. After all of my lazying and eating yesterday, I had to!
My skin does feel lovely tonight. I used the AMP MD on it, followed by the ‘liquid velvet’ and it really does feel amazing! I can see results. Hopefully you’ll be able to also. I have less than two weeks, in fact 10 days, for the Rodan and Fields Challenge remaining. Where did that time go? It’s been fun though and my skin is definitely glowing from the special attention I’ve paid it.
Well, I hope you have an amazing day and/or night, wherever in the world you may be! Remember to like my Facebook page: Aussiemumsadventures and email me at aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com. Please share my blog if you enjoy it 😊

Challenge Accepted Day 47/Day 5

Oh, where to start? So, being a military family, making friends happens fast and strong. You meet someone and it’s a matter of, is this person my sort of people? If yes, then firm friends happen, if no, then you both move on. There is a middle ground, but the older you get the shorter that middle ground. There’s no time for it. So today I just said goodbye to someone I only met a few short months ago, that was my sort of people. She was the first person I met in the ‘ville’ and she immediately made me feel welcome. She has a son Maddy’s age and a daughter between Maddy and Hunter and they all played really well together. They’ve done their time in South Korea and are happily leaving, but I’m a little sad to see her go as she truly was the first welcoming face after moving into our new home and I genuinely liked her. But alas, this is the life we lead, constantly saying hello and goodbye. So Leigh-Ann, I say farewell and wish you wonderful things in your future endeavours, it’s a small world, so until we meet again…
The day has been good. I drove hubby to work so I could have the car, I came home worked out doing ‘Pure Cardi….O M G! It was good, but there was no rest, like wow, things in my body were screaming in pain that I didn’t even know where to locate! But it was good and I felt great afterwards. I didn’t look great mind you:

I showered, doing my morning regimen of Rodan + Fields Redefine (Did I mention I’ve ordered the Reverse regimen as my next 60 day challenge?) It’ll be good though to clean up some sun damage. Speaking of damage, I forgot to mention last night that after the dentist I walked around and found the dermatologist and went in and asked if they could do a quick consult, the dermatologist said yes and had a look at the lump on my face and said she would do laser treatments on it as that was the only thing she could think of that might work (she did ask history and what not too, so I was actually quite impressed). Anyway, I’m going to get laser treatment from her but without thinking, I made an appointment for May 6 at noon, that I’m going to have to reschedule, because that’s the night of the gala! That just won’t work. I’m not sure how laser treatment does work but I can’t imagine everything is all good on the same day, considering she did tell me she would need to inject a local anesthetic there before the treatment. What I was shocked at also was the price; ₩70,000 for the first laser treatment and half for the second and subsequent. I remember years ago talking to a guy in San Antonio who wanted $500 to do a laser treatment on that same lump. $70 sounds much better to me and this is with a local, whereas he said he wouldn’t give me anything and I would have to buy numbing cream! Obviously, I didn’t do it. I shall need to do a little further research obviously, but I wanted to make the appointment whilst there and research it at home, now I shall have to return there next week and reschedule the appointment anyway (I’m not sure anyone’s English is good enough for us to do a phone conversation & my Korean certainly wouldn’t get us anywhere) so I’ll have plenty of time to research laser treatments on the face.
Back to today, after the shower and morning regimen, I gathered up the children (the girls both had the day off school as there were parent/teacher conferences going on) and we went and had lunch with Daddy. I had a savoury crepe filled with chicken, pesto, mozzarella, onion and tomato and it was delicious. I love the little crepe place that is on both the Army and Air Force bases. We dropped hubby off and headed over to the high school for the conference for Ally and boy was it worth going. At first to be honest, I was a little skeptical as I had never seen a conference quite like this before. It was in the gym and all teachers were lined up in alphabetical order in a great big U shape around the gym. Some of the teachers obviously teach a lot of classes as one in particular (Ally’s Science teacher) didn’t even recognize her and asked what class she was in then went through a massive folder and pulled out his report on her. The fact that the man had ensured he had reports on every child was impressive nonetheless, but he was a bit like a surgeon, you know what I mean, there’s Doctors then there’s surgeons, one, in most cases has a bedside manner, the other, i.e. Surgeons, does not. He didn’t. But he seemed to know what he was teaching and Ally knew where he was coming from, so that is all that concerned me. Her next teacher knew who she was and praised her, though she said he was pretty mean most of the time and didn’t understand kids at all. It was her next three teachers that were really amazing. All of them praised her incredibly, I mean really praised her. One of her teachers told me she should be in a gifted program and that he was doing everything he could to ensure that she was getting the stimulation she needed as far as her education went. She and 4 other students are in a small reading group that meets every week and reads at an advanced level and discusses both their reading and higher level thoughts/ideas/anything and everything they should be discussing given all of their advanced levels. It made me so proud to know that Someone else recognized something in Ally that was so special. She’s very intelligent (just like my father) sometimes lacks some common sense though (just like her mother) but basically is a well-rounded kid with loads of potential. Her report card was astounding! Even the Science teacher remembered she had moved here in January and he was surprised at how quickly she had caught on to the weather assignments, given she has never done anything to do with the weather before. Basically, all three kids have done us proud since moving here, Maddy’s report card was phenomenal as well and her reading level is where it is expected to be at the end of her school year (we still have a term to go) whereas, only last year, she was really struggling with her reading. She received nothing but praise from her teacher as well. Then there’s Hunter, who has just been amazing with his schooling here and who wants to go full-time at a local Korean school. Mummy proud moment! We celebrated with ice cream!

Tonight has been spent preparing for the yard sale tomorrow, including refreshing a Barbie house hubby and I made a while back that we need to sell. I’ve invited a few of the neighbours (who live in apartments) to join us in our yard if they want to and for others to set up their own yard sales so we can make it a community event. We shall see how it goes. If we can walk away from it with some extra money in our pockets and all our crap gone, then I’ll be happy! Off to do my nighttime regimen (ooh and latisse – shall talk a little more about that tomorrow) and to get some beauty sleep before my 0600 (6am) rising to prepare for the yard sale.
Have a wonderful day or night wherever you are!

Challenge Accepted Day 46/Day 4

This picture is of my darling son as he came downstairs this morning after changing from his pyjamas. All he wanted to do was to grant Spider-Man wishes, ergo, the Spider-Man Fairy! It made me chuckle and that was nice today as it was a Bit of another somber day today. My friend’s funeral is today and I cannot be there. I cannot believe she is gone so soon. She had booked a holiday for the end of April with her husband, hoping to just not be in hospital, not thinking she would be gone already. No one was ready. Including her.
I had double booked myself today, forgetting about my original plans, so I had to cancel one of them, then unfortunately the other one was cancelled as well, so dear son and I have hung out today, me trying not to think about where I should have been and Hunter wishing he was at school and begging me to go. With no car, there was little I could do. In fact this no car business is driving me crazy! I just need for my hubby to have some time to get this paperwork done. Unfortunately nothing seems to be easy in his world right now, and my needing a car for independence is at the bottom of the totem pole. No, not because I’m not one of his priorities, but because he is facing craziness right now and is trying to ensure the lives of his people are better taken care of in their working environment. I knew there was a mess that needed to be cleaned up and I knew somewhat what we were facing when he took this job, unfortunately it’s worse than we expected meaning my needs are not so important at this time. Today however, I just felt like getting out after my plans got cancelled. Instead, I spent over an hour untangling this mess:

Yes, even though I had gone to Pinterest and tried to use the idea of the straws to ensure my necklaces didn’t get tangled on our cruise and subsequent trip over here, they did. Big time! Afterwards, I used big straws, sometimes doubling them, so there was no room for extra chains/possible tangles.

I made ‘nice cream’ also – http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/neapolitan-banana-ice-cream.html – It turned out a little differently to what they have, but I also added a little bit of apple sauce and some honey to sweeten it up for the kiddos. I’m about to test it out on them….and……. it wasn’t much of a success. It certainly didn’t quite have the texture the one on the video had. It tasted good but definitely tasted like banana, so the only one who ate it and liked it was Hunter.

The whole reason the idea started out was because I had lots of left over strawberries that weren’t going to be any good after today, I put them in the juicer, after discerning those still good enough to eat as is, and those my kiddos wouldn’t touch because they had started going soft. There was a large container leftover after I had made the nice cream and I thought to myself, I’ve got very little freezer space, I don’t do jams, I don’t have enough dried fruit to do my other experiment (an Aussie thing called a fruit stick) so, the only thing that came to mind was a margarita! Yum! Unfortunately, by this time, my early afternoon had passed and it was bus pick up time! So what does one do with a freshly made, spare of the moment margarita when one has to walk to the bus stop; take it in a to-go cup of course! Afterwards, the kiddos and I just hung out not doing too much until hubby got home and it was time for our recurrent dental appointments, this time for Maddy and I.

So who would have thought it would be a neighbourhood catchup at the dentist? I’m telling you, my daughter Madison is like my mother, everywhere we go, she seems to know someone. Seriously, that joke about my Mum standing beside the pope would work just as well with my daughter; you know, where the pope is standing beside either my Mum or Madison and the crowd says, “who’s Lyn and Madison standing next to?” Everywhere we go, they know people!

Back to the dentist we are, me still dealing with all the problems with my pits and fissures and cavities that have come in underneath them and Madison just beginning her journey dealing with the exact same problem! Obviously inherited directly from her mother! Poor girl, we got sealants on her teeth in Colorado and obviously there’s no guarantee because the X-ray showed a cavity and when he removed the sealant, the cavity was really large! She’s seven. Crappy teeth unfortunately. Neither hubby nor I have great teeth and we both clean them and take care of them and have looked after our kids’ teeth too but I guess sometimes, it just doesn’t matter. I also had to discuss Ally’s treatment as we’re not sure of the best options there either. Being a parent is so difficult sometimes! Trying to figure out what’s best for your kids and what’s best financially! Sometimes I just don’t want to adult, let alone parent! I’ll let you know how it all goes afterwards. All this after a mid-afternoon margarita! OMG!
So, just as a side note, the cardio recovery workout today was awful! Here I was looking forward to stretching but that was way beyond normal stretching! My legs are hurting from all those squats and pulses and lunges and holding it there! Wow! Rodan + Fields has all gone well today though, I’ll do the AMP MD tonight once again too and it’s time for the second last ACUTE Care treatment too! Well that’s it from me for tonight. I hope you and yours are fairing well and life is good.

Challenge Accepted Day 45/Day 3

What a funny, interesting, weird, challenging, yet satisfying day. It started off with dropping little man off at school and once again he was very excited. He wants to go all day every day. We are thinking on that one…. But the exuberance with which he runs into his classroom is wonderful. And his teacher absolutely adores him, this morning she actually came out of the school building to greet us at the front door and give Hunter a big hug! It was a relief to see. There is obviously a huge language barrier but one knows one’s children and when they are genuinely happy and the happiness I saw in both of them instantly reassured me we had made the right decision in sending him here. So I said goodbye and drove hubby to work. He had a few minutes to spare and after not getting home until 0200 this morning, I think he needed a tiny reprieve before going into the office this morning. By the way, I forgot to mention that I was awoken at 0530 this morning with, “Oh, Shit!” I asked what was wrong but could smell it before he had to tell me, our lovely puppy dog had obviously eaten something that didn’t agree with her yesterday and had gotten diarrhea during the night – somewhere between 0200 & 0530 more precisely- and had shat all over the bathroom floor, with the majority being on the bathmat! Hubby had then proceeded to step in it because he doesn’t turn the light on so he doesn’t disturb me. His exclamations certainly woke me up and he wasn’t very happy. Nor was I to be honest. The overwhelming stench permeating from our bathroom brought tears to my eyes and bile to my throat. Meanwhile Luna just looked at me like, ‘I couldn’t help it but I’m so sorry, especially after yesterday!’ Hubby cleaned up his foot and I told him to leave the rest to me. Yes, once again the champion wife! 😜 Really, the only way is up when your day starts like that!

Going back to the few minutes to spare, hubby showed me a few of the new things going up on the base and it was really cool to see where things are going to be, unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be here for most of it, it will be amazing though once completed. I dropped him off at work and headed into the local ‘Ville’ to meet with the music teacher. Yes, I wanted my kids to get into music, Ally was taking guitar lessons in Colorado and has a guitar and I wanted Madison to start doing piano as she seems to have a knack with it, so I finally got there to see what the studio looked like. So here’s the deal in South Korea, most places will supply transport of some sort to the kids for extracurricular activities because they know we are limited to one car. I had seen the music bus parked and had talked with the teacher a couple of times about getting the girls in but I wasn’t sure on prices and wanted to check out the studio myself before allowing my kids to go there. Today I was very happily surprised. Madison will start piano and go 5 days per week for 1 hour and will be picked up from our little ville and returned afterwards, there are a number of students who already go so this will work out perfectly and she is so excited. All of this at a cost of ₩140,000 per month! That’s less than US$140.00! This is a group lesson, yes, so she will be sharing her hour with 4 other kids, but even so, that’s perfect for Madison right now as her attention would waiver if she was intently taught piano for 1 hour. They have a great setup too, with 7 grand pianos in there! Ally will go to guitar lessons 4 times per month, each lesson for one hour, but her lessons are one on one. They will also come and pick her up and return her. All of this for ₩120,000 p/month (less than US$120). We were paying $50 for 30 minute lessons before! All of this and now I have spoken to a number of people around here who all have their kids in lessons there and are very impressed at the caliber of the lessons. We are all excited to begin this new musical journey!
From there, I went and met with Judy, the most amazing real estate agent/realtor, I have ever come across (sorry Jodith but this is different). All agents here go above and beyond, they are your go-to when you pay bills, if you have any issues with your house, if you want something done in the neighbourhood, basically, for all your basic housing needs. Judy has gone well beyond that! Yesterday she came and helped me read through all the paperwork that I had gotten from the school, some of which Google translate lost in its translation. There were questionnaires to fill out, things that needed to be done and I just wasn’t getting a full description from my app. Judy filled out the answers in Korean, she went through everything with me and called the school directly to ask questions. She then spoke with Hunter’s teacher numerous times to figure out kindergarten pricing, the cost of milk (apparently food is provided but you have to pay for milk separately and all Koreans drink their milk at lunchtime so he would be a bit of an outcast if he didn’t, luckily he loves milk), whether or not I could go on this field trip on Friday, all sorts of stuff. She then called me to say I have to open a Korean bank account in order for them to take the money out for his tuition fee and milk as they are no longer accepting cash. So after the music school, I headed off to meet Judy at the bank.
What an interesting process. It’s very similar to opening an account in most other countries (by the way, I have realized I now have bank accounts in England, Bahrain, USA, Australia and now South Korea, what a shame none of them have money in them). The teller at first really didn’t know what to do as normally a foreigner is a US/Korean national, I am neither. Then when I didn’t have an income here, she was a little taken aback too. Finally she understood that this was for schooling fees and after making me sign lots of international forms for taxation purposes, actually ripped them up because she realized I didn’t need to worry about any of them. I had to enter my pin what seemed like a ridiculous number of times and I asked Judy if I was even going to be able to use an ATM because if it was all in Korean, there would be lots of problems. Luckily, there’s a foreign language button on there, so I’m good to go. I must say though, I was very impressed at the uniforms of all the tellers, very flashy indeed with a built in necklace and all:

From there I decided to venture into the local city. I had wanted to see a dermatologist and Judy (the woman is a lifesaver) called her friend and found a great one for me, even the bank teller said they were the best (I guess lots of people visit the dermatologist here). Anyway, I have this weird little lump above my right eyebrow but in the center of my face. It has been there for years and it annoys the crap out of me. I don’t know how I got it, I don’t know why it’s there, all I know is given the dedication I have had over the past 44 days to my face, I have become very aware of it and I want it gone. I have been massaging it intensely with my R+F products and it has gone down a tiny bit but it’s still there, so I thought I would go and just get the opinion of a dermatologist. She called and set it up for me to go in for a free consult this afternoon, but OMG! What a kerfuffle! Do you think I could find that bloody place? No! I drove around and around and around. I couldn’t find anything and I spent forever on the GPS trying to find the dentist (because this place was sort of in proximity to the dentist) in the favorites list but couldn’t (hubby later told me its in a folder all its own and he’ll show me how to access it next time we’re in the car). Anyway, after doing my exploratory drive around town and heading down a road where there were no other cars and the streets were a bit weird looking and a different colour, I thought I had better call it a day and try again some other time. I tried to just drive down streets that looked familiar and had entered one thing on my waze app and another thing on the car GPS, so they were both yelling at me to go in different directions and I was ignoring both of them with a vengeance! I ended up driving down this country road and thinking, ok, now I’ve gone too far, when both of them started telling me to turn around, do a U-turn, anything, just stop going straight ahead! So I finally listened and headed back, it was only on my actual drive home that I realized I had been in the fields that run parallel to the main road for a little while. Oh well. The things you do when given car freedom and no little people to worry about in the back!
The rest of the day was uneventful. I spoke to my sister for a long time on FaceTime after having spoken to the other one last night. The kids played with some friends who are leaving to go back to the States in a couple of days; one of the challenges of living this life, you are always saying goodbye to people. I finally realized at 1700 (5pm) that I hadn’t done Insanity yet today, so quickly got my butt into gear and started doing it. What a workout! It felt good though, yes even the walking push ups! My legs are burning as I sit here and write this though, so we shall see how everything feels tomorrow! Hubby actually came home at a decent hour finally, and was exhausted. Dinner was a hodgepodge for everyone, though I did cook up a chicken breast and have a gigantic balsamic chicken salad that I love. And now, I am laying in bed, finishing this blog with a fresh face after using my Redefine regimen and sleep beckoning. I have avoided Benadryl all week and have been living on 4-5hours a night myself and hopefully tonight will be a good, sleep-filled one.
Thank you for all the feedback on your dogs and suggestions on what to use. I have seen the shock collar in action now and to be honest, I have always thought they were cruel devices that shouldn’t be used on animals, but seeing them, I don’t think they are. I will feel the shock collar myself before I put it on Luna to make sure I know exactly what happens when I press a button. But here’s the thing, she’s a smart dog, I haven’t given her the training she needed and now she is a little bit out of control and I need to get her in line with us. I need to make walking a fun, controlled thing, not something where she pulls me along. I want to be able to enjoy running with her and I can only do that after she has tired herself out a little. So, this is the solution I have come up with for now. My hubby was very surprised when I told him I had ordered one, given my strong opinion about them, but I’d never really seen one in person and had taken my opinion from the movies. I know there are people out there who disagree with them. I just need a good training device that will work with my dog and work fast. And my neighbour has been able to train a golden retriever puppy very quickly using hers. And she never looks like she is in pain, she just stops the bad behaviour immediately and wags her tail. I’m all about that!
Ok, well have a wonderful day and or night, wherever you are! Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment and to share my blog. Don’t forget to like my Facebook page: aussiemumsadventures and email me directly at aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com. And remember, you will never be younger than you are right now, so enjoy it!

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 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.

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If you too are interested in taking the Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge: http://www.slongmorescott.myrandf.com

Challenge Accepted Day 41

Today has been a sad day. I found out this morning that my friend passed away yesterday, she had cancer. She thought she had beaten it. It came back in full force, terminal. Yesterday, cancer won! The world lost. One of the good ones, gone. I’ll, be back to touch on this more on another day, but for now, that’s all I want to, all I can share about it.
I do have some other disappointing news I’m afraid, nothing compared to how I started this blog, but disappointing as far as this blog is concerned anyway. Given the circumstances surrounding my T25 beta selection, I’m going to have to end my T25 challenge early and start a new challenge; I’ve chosen Insanity! I’ve inspected the DVDs and all look good, though I think my pioneer DVD player that I bought in 2001, may be half the problem also. I’m looking for something to be able to clean it up – any suggestions would be appreciated. I don’t want to get rid of it because it’s dual voltage and worldwide region and I’m attached to it, but it surely needs a clean 15 years later…..
Well, what a day we had today. Our first experience at a South Korean IKEA! It was crazy! I thought Costco was bad but IKEA was a nightmare. I have never experienced anything quite like it. Koreans are a very kind people but they move like they drive, they will literally push you out of the way if they need to get somewhere. We find it rude, culturally, but to them, it’s just the way it is. I’m doing my best not to get offended and today was really good practice for that! Hunter did freak out a little bit because there were so many people but the good thing is we stand out, all of us with golden blonde hair and all, so there was never any danger of getting lost. But at times, it was standing room only in the biggest IKEA I’ve ever seen in my life. That place must trade in the millions (of Korean won of course) on a daily basis! We alone spent our fair share of money in there! It was great though. Crazy, but great. Anytime we needed anything, we just found a store worker who normally spoke enough English to put our Korean to shame. We bought a new, bigger and better kitchen island, so I now have the pleasure of returning the other one to Costco, because we just aren’t happy with it at all. Once again, I hope Costco is as understanding as they are in the States. We also bought some storage for the laundry as it’s driving me crazy in there. Nothing goes into the concrete walls and nothing sticks to them because of the humidity, we have very little storage in this house and the laundry has now had to become our pantry as well, because there wasn’t even a decent cupboard to hold food. When there’s five of you and a cat and a dog, you need to have somewhere to put all of your food. Hopefully, what I’ve bought will work and will clean it all up. I never feel like the house is clean because there’s clutter everywhere. I’ve gotten rid of so much since we arrived here yet still have too much junk! A planned yard sale at the end of April combined with more decluttering, should get me somewhere!
Everything else we bought was small or insignificant. One thing we did buy and I’m excited to start using, was a summer duvet. We use duvets or doonas (pronounced Doo-na) in Australia and they are used throughout Europe also. They are either feather and down quilts or wool or man made materials inside of a quilt type fabric. The difference is they are plain and you buy interchangeable covers for them as necessary to make your bed coverings the way you like them. It also means you don’t wash your duvet regularly, you just wash your cover, not ruining it like one does a quilt type spread whenever it needs to get washed (which is on a regular basis). My friend Trine who is Norwegian, introduced me to the idea of having both a Summer and a Winter duvet. Well, last night, and this may seem like TMI (too much information) but both hubby and I awoke absolutely saturated and no, not from anything fun! It is so humid here that one sweats immensely. I am not a sweater, yet I was drenched. It was disgusting! We talked this morning when he said he had woken up the same way and realized that the winter duvet we have is just too heavy and we need to do something about it. I told him about Trine and James and how they use both a Summer and Winter duvet and suggested we do the same. He was all about it. We both like to have a covering over us at night but this was just too heavy now and we also like to use the feather and down comforters, which actually offer a nice breathability, as does wool. IKEA was the perfect place to buy one, so we did. We thought about getting another cover but honestly, I’m still loving my white cover, especially as it is coming into Summer and I have my lovely blue accents to go with it, so I’m just going to stick with it for now and look next time we go (yes, we shall go again) for some new sheets as well.
We eventually finished up at IKEA with 400 won each, soft serve ice cream cones (well, the four members of my family did & they were terrific apparently, especially at the equivalent of less than 40c) and moved on to the outlets next door. These outlets are not really what we would consider outlets. Most of the items in there were overpriced as far as we were concerned, even the stuff that was 50% off. Hubby showed me a really nice light pink water resistant golfing jacket from Nike and it was on sale for Korean won 129,900, that’s about US $120.00. In the States at a Nike outlet store, I would have expected to pay about $80. The same went for most of the stores in this place. The only time we found a bargain was when we bought Ally a new pair of trainers (she has been complaining and looking for new trainers for the past 2-3months) finally, we found some. They’re a ladies size 6 mind you, the smallest size they had in the store, and they fit my 11 yo daughter who is one of the smallest (as far as height goes) in her grade. We always laugh because the running joke (pardon the pun) is that she needs to grow into her feet! Anyway, they fit her well when we put her inner soles in it (she has flat feet) and were 39,000 won, cheaper than all the shoes I was looking at online and she was able to try them on. Perfect. I’ve just bought new inserts for her too, so they’ll be great in her new shoes. That was literally the only thing in the 5 levels that worked out. Otherwise, I wouldn’t waste my time going there again. At the time of writing, this is the only IKEA in South Korea, (Gwangmyeong) so you’ll know where I’m talking about. Don’t bother with the outlets next door. It’s just not worth it.
We returned to our car and made our way back to Osan Airforce Base as the family had decided Chilis was on the menu (this is an American chain restaurant that has somehow made its way over here to a US Airforce base). I haven’t been all that impressed with it so far, but they all love it for some reason and tonight I finally found something on the menu I actually liked. Normally I’m a chicken kind of person at a restaurant, but all the chicken in this Chilis seems to have a lemon base in the cooking method and I don’t like lemon and chicken together unless it’s in a marinade and even then, I’m not the biggest fan. So it took me forever to decide on something and I was about to give dinner a miss altogether when I spotted something called the steak fajita quesadilla (I think). It was really good. No lemon in sight. It was just a very good meal. Far too much food for me, but good nonetheless. The steak was cooked well and was actually not very fatty, I got a blend of cheese rather than ‘jack’ cheese and it all worked well together. I highly recommend it if you’re heading to Chilis, Osan for dinner. We had some highly energetic kids still so we wandered over to the exchange store to look for some ‘slippers’ for Hunter for school on Monday. In Korean schools, you have to take your shoes off before entering the classroom, so you need some slipper type things to be able to wear inside there. I’m not really sure if I got him the right shoes, but we ended up getting a pair of adidas ‘flip flops/sandals’ and are hoping that not only will he be fine because of the little massaging pointy bits, but also that these will work as ‘slippers’.

I’m a tad nervous for him going to school on Monday. We keep talking about it but I’m just not sure how he’s going to do. I guess we’ll find out soon enough! Anyway, we found Madison a pair of trainers/runners as well and hubby found a lovely pair of dress shoes to match his new suit. All in all, a successful shopping trip. By the time we got home it was very late and dear son was sound asleep and we still hadn’t gone to visit the cats! We raced over there to find things a little amiss. Carpets moved, or rolled up. Different lights on. Weird stuff. The girls and I were a tad freaked out so I immediately sent my friend a message asking if anyone had come by today, thank god she answered almost immediately confirming someone had and apologizing for not letting me know. Then my phone died. We hung out with them for quite a while and when we finally got home I was able to get the full message about her friend stopping by and all being ok. Once home I did my nightly Rodan and Fields regimen followed by my AMP MD roller before sitting down to write my blog. And here I am. It’s almost 12:30am – I’ve missed my blog deadline. The girls are sitting up with hubby watching Harry Potter, and I am having a glass of wine or three and toasting my friend. I hope that you and yours are safe and well and you give all of your loves an extra squeeze tonight. Thanks for sticking with me and as always, pleas email me at:

aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com

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And if you’re interested in any Rodan and Fields products: http://www.slongmorescott.myrandf.com
Let me know too what else I can do to get more readers and to grab your attention. I was a little lifted today when I realized I’ve got over 400 people following my blog. Thanks for your support! It’s really appreciated!

On a side note, I cannot take credit for the main image for this blog but I did find out as I was researching images for it, this is literally IKEA’s largest store in the world. Credit to ‘The National’ for their image.

Challenge Accepted Day 40

Another day in beautiful South Korea. I’m not going to call it a good day or a bad day just another day. It was interesting. I had hoped to meet my girlfriend in a city called Daegu today. We travelled here (to South Korea) together and the story of our travel is pretty funny. Another day though. Anyway, we became fast friends during our respective journeys and I am so glad we did but we are just far enough away from each other that things keep popping in the way, yet close enough that we should be able to sort it out! I thought today might have been the day. Missed communication, combined with a planned dinner date tonight with hubby and his ‘work-wife’ and her husband (it’s an Army thing) – that didn’t even work out because she ended up having to go to Daegu (of all places!!!) and my hubby went to Seoul, meant it just didn’t happen. But it needs to. I feel like we need to ensure our friendship endures. We have both had some adjusting to do whilst here and neither of us are ‘loving’ it here yet, but we’re getting there and I know we’d do better if we each made a bigger effort! Also goes back to the one car thing. I have to be here in time to pick my hubby up if I want the car then there’s the school bus pick up when the kids are in school and it’s a 2 hour journey on a good day! So many variables get in the way of our social lives! I’m not sure how other Mums/Moms do it! For me, it was enough just trying to get to a farewell lunch for a lady today after our original plans didn’t really work out. Up and out of the house at 0430 to drop hubby off just so I could have the car, it almost wasn’t worth it to get up at that hour, then I remembered that today was the last day of Spring break so it was worth it to get out and do stuff. Though, nothing went as planned….
It’s a pot luck. I’m up at literally ‘sparrow-fart’, I start thinking about what I could make with what’s in the fridge/freezer. Stromboli. Yum! My one-coffee mind thinks yes, defrost it and get it happening, my one-coffee mind doesn’t take into account size of microwave versus size of glass container holding the frozen bread and that it won’t turn around in said microwave. I put it in there anyway. Low and behold, however many minutes later, one side of the bread has started to cook and is now ruined. Shit! What now? Spaghetti and pasta. Everyone loves spaghetti. Oh dear, no spaghetti sauce! I’m going to have to make it and double time it to get all the ingredients loving each other (as they should in spaghetti sauce). That’s what I do. It’s a little bit of crushed tomatoes, meets a little bit of tomato paste, meets a little bit of tomato sauce. Onions and garlic join forces, as do pepperoni (I know, I never thought I would be putting pepperoni in spaghetti but it’s a winner with kids) and ham. Mince (aka ground beef) with red wine and lots of seasonings including basil pesto, all top it off. For the next 2 hours, all of the above mentioned ingredients happily meet and intertwine to create a yummy, kid-friendly spaghetti sauce.
There is no workout today! I know, disappointing. There is something going on with my T25 Beta selection and I’m not sure about what to do. They used to work, now they don’t. I may have to axe the T25 workout and move on to Insanity! After ensuring all DVDs are in good working order that is. I have done lots of running and walking and lifting and stretching, but none of it is in conjunction with any DVD. I haven’t figured all of this out just yet as it was all a bit of a surprise. I was going to give it more thought and further fiddling this afternoon but my afternoon disappeared in a flash.
So we went to this luncheon/potluck/farewell. It was a bit weird because I didn’t know anyone and felt like a bit of an outsider, but all of the ladies were so friendly and inviting though not at first, even if any of them read this I have to share with you what happened when I first walked in; so we get there about 15 minutes late because I take a wrong turn. It’s all ok, I’m not too worried. We walk in the door and our host has to immediately go and deal with her two screaming children so I just stand there, crockpot in hand thinking “umm, ok…” No one turns to say hello, no says anything. I tend to my kids and put the crockpot in the kitchen and still no one acknowledges my arrival. It’s a small place. I’m thinking ok, I guess I need to take a leap out of my comfort zone and greet all of you, so I do. Finally, the 7 or 8 women who are there, start speaking to me. I don’t know about you, but for me, I was ready to haul my butt out of there very shortly after arriving! I don’t think any of them were purposefully being rude, most just didn’t know me and those couple who did were in conversation with their backs to the door and there were noisy kids everywhere. Anyway, not the most welcoming greeting I’ve been given but I did enjoy myself afterwards nonetheless. In fact, I really enjoyed myself and was able to connect with a couple of women and thought we could become firm friends. All good things must come to an end and I had to pick up some stuff at the grocery store and Mail off the package to my Mum (that I forgot to take with me on post). So 2.5 hours later, we finally left the party.
Ally had decided to stay home, so Maddy, Hunter and I went to the commissary without a list, but using Mummy’s incredible baby-deranged memory. Yes, we forgot half the stuff! Oh well. Here’s the deal with the commissary, there are packers/baggers who pack/bag your groceries but only for tips. There are big signs in every commissary specifying this. As I explained to my daughter today, I think it’s a great service but A; I hate other people bagging my groceries. B; I hate being told to pay other people to bag my groceries. C; these people use more plastic than a small country would (the commissary has the worst plastic bags I’ve ever seen and, if given the chance, most of the baggers would triple bag your groceries) I have my own grocery bags that I use most of the time but sometimes I forget them and it drives me almost to the point of insanity with the number of bags these people think should be used for a couple of heavy items. On top of that, things are never put together or where I need them to be. I once watched as 2 baggers packed my groceries and used my frozen ‘freezer’ bags to put canned goods in because they were the sturdiest. Seriously, it really gets under my skin. I’m a pretty efficient bagger and I normally won’t do it unless I’ve got someone there to help me, like my 7yo old daughter today, but today really pissed me off. I was determined not to get stressed, I didn’t have very many items. I had brought in my own bags and had to tell them 3 times that I would bag it myself. Madison and Hunter unpacked it, I bagged it. We had one of those half trolleys/carts – that wasn’t even full. It wasn’t a long or difficult process yet, they started getting cranky because I was still bagging and the woman was asking me to pay. I paid then moved back to bagging the 7 or so items I had remaining. This man came over and started yelling at these women and I knew it was about me doing my own groceries. The cashier starts telling him (I think) that I wanted to do it myself and he is getting crankier and crankier. The door to the commissary decides at that point to close/open (hard to explain as I didn’t really see it) on my son’s head, so he starts screaming. I think to myself, I’m going to be very calm and I’m going to finish my groceries, my son isn’t bleeding, he’s not in tremendous danger or pain, he’s just gotten a fright) so I shall do what I’m doing then deal with him as we go to the car. Well, they all start freaking out (not about my son but the fact that now it is taking me too long to pack my groceries) and this man starts yelling some more and the ladies start pushing me out of the way. The whole thing turned into an ordeal. Yet there was only one person waiting in line and 3 checkouts open. I told them all they need to calm down and I calmly grabbed my son’s elbow as we walked out and asked him and Madison what exactly happened. This all took place in a matter of 30 – 60 seconds. It was weird and really pissed me off. Again, no one needs to dictate to me who packs my groceries, especially in a store the size of a 7-11.
I got home a little cranky, grabbed the eldest child and the package and headed back to park almost exactly where I had been not 20 minutes before. We went to the post office, she grabbed me some butter (yes, I thought it best I not go back to the commissary today) and we came home. Our little garden was looking a tad worse for wear and we were starting to compete in the white trash competition, so I decided to clean it up with the help of the children. We cleaned, we prettied, we organized and all looked great. The girls then asked if they could go and ride their bikes and after all their hard work, it was a well-deserved reprieve. Hunter and I played in the new yard until Daddy called asking for us to come and get him. I grabbed Maddy, leaving Ally with her neighbourhood friends, and off we went. We came back to find Ally with a fresh bandage on her knee and a bloodied wound underneath. She did well though, she came home, grabbed her Girl Scout first aid kit, cleaned and wrapped the wound and was riding back to join her friends when we came along. We left Maddy with her and headed back to the house. Hubby was exhausted but ready for an ice cold beer, he and I sat out on our porch with Hunter discussing our days. Our neighbour’s came over to talk/meet, (their girls will be in Hunter’s class on Monday) and it was nice to finally meet the husband, but all of a sudden our dear, clumsy, crazy son, crashes behind me and I see Rebecca’s face and think “What has he done now?” Well, let’s just say he came damn close to doing permanent damage to his eye and the kid has a very fresh graze and scrape all the way down the left side of his face. He had already started to get a black eye when I picked him up off the ground! How, I don’t know. Only our Hunter could do it though. Our neighbours left when he started screaming and our eldest came back from bike riding crying and the entire house was filled with drama for the next 30 minutes. Luckily nothing is permanent. Ally and her sister had a fight and Madison embarrassed Ally in front of all the kids, and Hunter, well Hunter is truly a drama King and I’m sure he has a not-so-secret desire to do some permanent damage to his face! One day I’ll tell you about all the stuff our 3yo has done to his face! There was no emergency room trip today, but the sting is very real and he must have had a bit of a headache tonight as I gave him ibuprofen for his pain and he was out. No, he didn’t damage himself so badly he had a concussion, yes, sometimes it can just hurt like hell. Yes, I just went and checked on him after writing that to make sure he is ok!

So, basically today was a failure as far as T25 was concerned, though I did do both my day and night regimen of the Rodan and Fields Redefine. No AMP MD though. It was a failure as far as Stromboli was concerned but a winner when we talk spaghetti. A failure when it comes to entrances but it evened out when it came to staying the course. Both hit and miss in the commissary. Definitely some parenting wins and fails as well. Hence the reason why today was neither good nor bad, we shall call today and equilibrium of days. A day where everything met to give an average of ok.
I hope though that for you, your day and or night is amazing!
Email me with your suggestions at aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com

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If you’re interested in any Rodan and Fields products then either let me know via email or go to http://www.slongmorescott.myrandf.com 
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