Tag: Skincare

Birthday/Mother’s Day Weekend – May 7&8

Day 19

The drive to our gala ball was long and filled with traffic delays. Some people who came from the Area 1 region were stuck in traffic for over 8 hours so I can’t really complain about our three hour drive! It just felt like forever. When you’re stuck in traffic, it was always does. 
We arrived and raced into the bathrooms to change because last year anyone who was late was apparently locked out until the official ceremony portion was finished, luckily for us, so many must have been delayed that they pushed back the formal portion for a bit and all was good. I have to say that I looked very nice. Yes, I just said that. But here’s the catch, firstly, I bought some blue contact lenses for about $10 here. I wanted light blue but couldn’t find any so a darker blue they were. Well yesterday morning I decided to put them on. It had always been the plan since I had decided on my blue dress, to wear the contacts. I bought a beautiful blue eyeliner as well. I had put them in before going to have my hair done, but hubby and I had crossed paths very quickly in the am whilst I raced out to get to my appointment thinking we were in a hurry. I got home from the hairdresser and as he was looking at my hair, my darling husband exclaimed, in a not so promising tone, “Oh, what happened?” I looked at him and he at me and his look was one of almost horror! I laughed because I knew what he was now referring to, the damn things were uncomfortable, so I was very aware of them at all times. “I don’t like them at all! In fact, they make you look soulless!” Wow! Ok, didn’t see that coming, but it was too late, my mind had been decided. I was wearing the dark blue contacts. I ended up having time to put my makeup on before we headed off for the mammoth journey and off we went. So firstly let me explain that these contacts are different to ones I had bought years ago, they didn’t quite cover my entire eye, so my eyes went from dark blue to green to black pupils. They also impeded my vision somewhat, making everything have a greyish hue. It wasn’t like I was blind, but reading anything small was even more difficult. And they were a bit uncomfortable. So we get into the social area and hubby knows a few people and is talking away to them and here’s the other thing going back to yes, I looked nice, but…. I am that girl, the one who looks like she’s all held together and I speak very properly, but I am an absolute spastic! I know it. My husband knows and still loves me for it. So he is introducing my to one of his colleagues (who happens to be a lawyer and he holds out his hand to shake mine and I go to shake his and my greyish hue isn’t helping matters, nor is the tiny part of my hem that seems to have come undone a tad, and as I step forward I miscalculate where the hem is and trip on it and my glass of wine is literally mid transition from right to left hand so I can shake his hand with my right and somehow I save my glass but a large quantity of wine jumps out, not getting anyone else mind you, just me, but lands all over this hand that is reaching for his. It was comical and I just saw that look on hubby’s face, the one that says, “I know you’re a spastic and I love you for it, but sometimes, I really wonder.” There was no hand shake. 😜 thank god, the east of the night was uneventful as far as calamitous events go. The great thing was that my friend Michelle that I met on our crazy journey here to South Korea, was actually there at the ball. It was so good to see her. On top of that, there were many people we knew from Hawaii and Colorado. The Army is a small place. I met some really good people. It was a bit of a strange ball, we were greeted by a man on stilts as we descended on the escalator, but it was nice nonetheless. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hear a lot of the speeches because of the echo in the back corner, but it was entertaining. I just wish we hadn’t had to drive so far to get there and back. I also wish we had known about the childcare option. Oh well, next time.


Saturday May 7 was a beautiful day in South Korea, a nice day to celebrate being 21 (x2) and definitely time for us to get out of the house. We decided to head out for lunch and I was in the mood for Mexican. So off we headed. We found what looked to be ok Mexican restaurant up on the second floor in the main Vill outside of Osan. The service was a bit shoddy but the food was actually really good and they did a frozen kiwi margarita, that was great. We even got the kiddos one virgin mango margarita to share and she put it evenly in three plastic margarita type glasses for them too. The first thing I ordered unfortunately was not to my liking at all, I guess South Korean mole and I don’t see eye to eye, though I’m sure I’ve had it (true Mexican style) a few times before and liked it, but this particular mole enchiladas was awful! My darling husband went and talked to them and got them to switch it over to the burrito that he was having that looked and tasted absolutely amazing! Thank you husband! That was the best move you, and I, could have made today. 


Then it was time to go to the movies. Captain America, Civil War! Epic. Now, I didn’t like the whole civil war part of it, but the movie, the action, the everything, was awesome! What is really interesting about seeing a movie at an overseas military base (& we had completely forgotten because it had been years) is that the national anthem is played and everyone must stand. This would have been fine if that’s the way it had gone yesterday, instead, they started playing the Korean national anthem with no introduction whatsoever. I hear this music come on as I am beginning to write my blog on my phone and look up and it is some Koreans scaling a very picturesque mountainside (an advertisement for Korea, is what I thought) I go back to writing until my daughter says, “Mum, stand up!” I stand up before I even know what I’m doing and look around and everyone is standing. It’s the Korean National Anthem, followed but the US national anthem. Please, a little more introduction wouldn’t go astray, we haven’t all been here for a long time, we also aren’t all familiar with the protocol, it might be nice for our new spouses (and not-so-new spouses) and new soldiers for that matter, to at least know what’s going on, especially if you never go to the movies. 
The movie is over, it has been long, but fantastic. We are all getting up to walk out of the movie theater when I look down at my seat as something feels odd and low and behold, there is chewing gum everywhere! Someone has thought that putting chewing gum all over a movie theater seat is a really good idea, and I am the victim to it. Thanks! Like I’m not uncoordinated enough as it is. And, I’m wearing my new gladiator high heels as well, with a really cute, short dress. Yes, you are a winner! You got me! Gum all over the back of my dress, right on my bottom. Thank you! From the bottom of my heart, thank you, you super immature idiot! You put a big dampener on my birthday! Oh and I still haven’t gotten it off my dress, plus the fact that you germ infested that gum! Eeew! Disgusting in so many ways! 


Hubby and Maddy went in and got a birthday cake from Baskin Robbins after the movie as I didn’t want to go anywhere given the gum situation. We then headed home and spent a very quiet evening playing family games, and just enjoying each other’s company. I was very spoilt with a beautiful gift of a Colombian emerald necklace. My wonderful husband had bought it when we went on our cruise back in the beginning of January! I had tried this necklace on at least five times and it was magnificent but I had also said no. We couldn’t afford it. It was a great deal, but it was something frivolous that I didn’t need. My husband had snuck back there on our last day and had bought that necklace and had made secret payments (I pay all the bills from our main account). He is such an incredible trickster and awesome present buyer! He was sure I knew, but I had no iota! None whatsoever. I’m sure I’ve said before what a crappy present buyer I am, and how amazing he is, this once again proves it! 
Today is Mother’s Day in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Belgium and the United States. We were able to sleep in a little bit, but duty called eventually. I had some beautiful cards from the entire family, but yesterday’s present was an all inclusive one, just as it should have been. Hubby was going to make breakfast but soon realized that given last week’s crazy schedule, we had very few groceries. Breakfast soon came off the table. The kids ate whatever we could muster and hubby and I drank some good coffee. Neither of us were feeling so great, this bloody horrible thing ripping through our bodies, is leaving us drained and full of yuckiness! The coughing is getting old. Today was probably the worst it has been for me so far, but then again, I’ve been taking mucinex (an old prescription from Colorado that is for this exact type situation and wasn’t out of date) but hubby can’t take anything prescription based unless it was currently prescribed to him. So he’s had to suffer without. He didn’t really want to go anywhere but was willing to if I wanted to. I knew we needed to get some supplies in order to function tomorrow, so it was off to the bigger commissary we went. I told them all they could choose a restaurant for lunch given our limited food, and of course, they all chose Chilis. Thank god it was amazing today! The woman who served us was truly incredible. Our food was as good as it gets at that Chilis, no complaints though. We then went to the Commissary and grocery shopped. All very exciting I know. From there we came home, unpacked, called my mother to wish her a happy Mother’s Day (I had called her numerous times already but this time she actually picked up) and popped over to our friends’ house with a bottle of Champers to celebrate both my birthday and his birthday. We had a lovely time with them, but alas, it was a school night and we had to call it early. We got home, tried to finish our family card game after putting little man to bed, when I realized my emerald bracelet was no longer on my wrist! Let me give you some background on this bracelet; The husband had bought this for me last year when I came back from Australia to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary. He had to go away and wanted it to be something special. He had found this bracelet at an estate sale at a well-renowned jewelry shop. He had gotten it for a bargain (an expensive bargain but it was incredible) but we had had it appraised for a whole lot more. My Christmas present was a beautiful emerald ring he had made to match the bracelet. This pendant (my birthday present yesterday) had matched both. Now my beautiful bracelet was gone and we hadn’t even had it insured. I’m not sure why, I think we were waiting for the paintings or to figure out the whole mess with the paintings not being here and the fact that we had to insure our stuff back in the US even though we are here and we just have had so much other shit to deal with, we hadn’t gotten around to it. This was literally a one of a kind bracelet. I was heartbroken. Let me go back one further. When we lived in San Antonio, our house had been robbed, these bastards had literally waited until the husband and I took my Mum and Dad to the airport, then went in and robbed us of all they could. They went through every draw, every cupboard, every everything they could in our bedroom. They did however, leave our baby’s (Ally’s) room alone, but they stole everything else of value that we had. My husband and I had saved up all we could, he had gotten out of he Navy and had joined the Army. We had just bought our first house, literally using our savings to pay for 1/3 of it because no one would give us a loan unless we could. We had lived in the Middle East and hubby had my sister get this beautiful emerald pendant handmade (in Saudi Arabia) for me for my birthday/our wedding. It too, was one of a kind. The bastards stole that. I just happened to be wearing the matching earrings, so they never got those. They got our Video camera with all of Ally’s 1st year of footage on it. They took everything we had worked for. It was a complete violation of us and made me very bitter towards San Antonio, for no other reason than I needed to blame something and I didn’t have a person/s. To come home and find your door kicked in and your baby’s entire first year of memories gone because some bastard thought it was worthwhile taking the video camera and you hadn’t even given it any thought to transfer those videos because you had it in a safe place and the ‘tape’ still had 20 hours of footage to go on it! Gone! Forever! Our baby girl’s first adventures in Italy that we filmed will never be found and we can never show her because some arsehole broke into our home and stole them from us, not only did they do that, but they took every piece of jewelry both my husband and I had ever saved up for! Long story short, I am bitter and the minute something goes missing, I completely freak out. That’s what happened tonight. I freaked out. I literally lost it. I was out with my torch (flashlight) and my neighbour, Geoff happened to be out there and asked if I had lost something and I couldn’t even talk, I just mumbled, “emerald bracelet! I’ve lost my emerald bracelet.” He asked if he could help me look and I couldn’t even answer. I just kept saying I don’t know, I don’t know. 
I called my friends and had them searching on the rooftop, I searched up and down the road, the girls and hubby were pulling everything apart searching inside. Nothing. I couldn’t even feel anything. All I could think was not again, what did I do to deserve this? Every part of you that has done the most minute thing wrong starts to wonder exactly what it was that you did to cause this. I know it’s only a material possession and as I said to my girls later on; “I got this upset over something materialistic, but something precious to me because Daddy bought it and it was very special, imagine that at the end of the day, that means nothing and you guys are everything, imagine just how devastated I would be if something happened to you when a bracelet means this much, but means nothing! They both seemed to understand and nodded and promised they would always be careful. They promised they would always let me know where they were, they promised they wouldn’t do anything stupid. I used the bracelet analogy to even mention that I didn’t actually ‘lose’ the bracelet, it fell off, so sometimes we don’t even mean to do anything but it happens, and told them they just always need to make good decisions. Very deep, I know, it was all I could do to keep my shit together after freaking out over my bracelet then realizing the only thing that is truly important is my family. 
The bracelet was found! Thank god! Hubby found it in my handbag. Either on our way to our friends’ house or on our way back, it fell into my handbag. I wasn’t being punished, just tested. I didn’t pass well, but afterwards I was able to draw on it to send a point home to my girls to let them know how much they mean to me. Happy Mother’s Day. The only thing that matters is your people. That’s it. We get involved with the material things and they are lovely things but the people are the most important. My people, your people, our people. 
Well, that’s all for me, today, I look forward to your feed back and as always:
I hope you have a wonderful day and/or night, wherever you are!

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Challenge Accepted Day 59/Day 17

Wow! Only one more day until my Rodan + Fields 60 day Redefine challenge is over! How has it been 60 days already? I have a really busy day tomorrow, but I shall definitely find the time to post those ‘after’ photos before I put any make up on. I also have to find the time to work out super early, because tomorrow is already looking like it’s going to be a shambles! With the Korean holiday, Hunter will be home all day and Maddy doesn’t have a piano lesson! Thank goodness we have met good people here who have offered to help out until our babysitter can get here. Craziness! 

And today, well today has been all about the deep cleaning for me. The yellow dust has come in and even though I awoke feeling worse than yesterday, I just didn’t want to put anyone in the family in more jeopardy by not getting rid of all the dust in the house. Both air purifiers are on their max setting now and my house is, for just a short time, dust free. The bathrooms are clean, the washing is done, the floors are vacuumed and mopped and I am exhausted. 


I even made my own version of bulgogi for dinner. I had the meat marinating from this morning in a concoction of Asian pear, soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine, and a couple of other things and I thought it was wonderful, so did Ally, unfortunately no one else in the family appreciated it. Yes the baby corn doesn’t go in traditional bulgogi, nor do the ramen noodles, but we I am all about compromise if the children will eat it and baby corn and noodles are some of their favourites! I even threw in cashews just for a little something extra and it was lovely. I’ve got my lunch tomorrow sorted out. 


I had to take Ally to her music lesson today as the bus wasn’t running but it was fun. Whilst waiting, Maddy was able to practice on one of the many pianos and her teacher (there were no classes today but her teacher was still there for some reason) even let her play on the grand piano! She thought it was wonderful. And I am amazed at how far she has come in two short weeks. She seems to be beginning to read music and has a natural talent when it comes to actually playing. Her teacher just kept praising her today saying how amazing she was. Then Ally was in there having her guitar lesson and her teacher was also impressed. I guess they have my Dad’s musical ability. 


We picked up hubby, tried to find a phone deal that would work with Ally (a phone seems somewhat necessary here as the kids are off doing their independent things) yet were shocked at how there is no basic option. Everything has to be fancy. Our daughter doesn’t need an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy. She has a tablet and is very lucky to have that, there’s no need for anything else fancy, she just needs to be able to make and receive calls and text messages. Anyway, I haven’t had time to investigate it further, but there has to be a solution. We have an old iPhone 4 just sitting there but are not sure it is unlocked nor if the SIM cards here fit in it. Getting a working phone is just a lot of hassle and it shouldn’t be. 
Otherwise, I had cardio recovery this morning with the Insanity workout. That stretching is a killer! OMG! Those squats and lunges where the searing pain starts to blur your vision and its either stand up or fall arse over and never recover! I wanted to fall arse over, in fact, my body begged me to, but my mind didn’t want to play, so I stood up, relaxed for a few seconds and went back into it. Not fun! 
I’m am about to shower and do my second last Redefine regimen for this 60 day challenge. There is still a bit of all the products left over so I will use it in conjunction with the Reverse regimen until the products run out then continue just doing the Reverse Challenge for 60 days! I’m excited though. Just hoping this throat thing clears up for tomorrow night! Now hubby and the son seem to have it also. I can imagine us at the ball, that’s when my nose will decide to start running and my eyes will start watering and I’ll be coughing like someone with the Black Plague and my dress and hair will look wonderful but my makeup will have run because bodily fluids have enticed it to be anywhere but on my face! Hey, there’s a raccoon in a ball gown! Oh dear. This could literally be the worst night ever! Let’s keep the fingers crossed and hope that all my vitamin C and honey lemon tea, have worked their magic on me. Oh and hubby too. He’s the driver and there will be two of us in the car that have birthdays the next day! He’s already asked me to calm it down a notch on the way home. 😜 
I hope you have a wonderful day and/or night, wherever you are!
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And if you are interested in Taking your own Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge, then let me know at the above mentioned email and we’ll get you sorted out with the right regimen for you. 

Challenge Accepted Day 58/ Day 16

Well, where do I start today? What a day it has been! Nothing at all like I was expecting when I awoke this morning! Better, so much better! So once again, sleep eluded me for a couple of hours this morning. Hubby had put the phone ‘off the hook’, so to speak, but the battery had obviously died during the night, so it then came out of the base of the silly thing! I really could have hurt the person on the other end of that line at 0320! I guess it’s a good thing they weren’t nearby. To make matters worse I got cranky at the hubby thinking he hadn’t taken it off the hook and as the saying goes, misery loves company, and I wanted some at that time this morning. He wasn’t playing! 😜

I got the kiddos ready for school and knew hubby needed to be at work earlier than usual so thought I would save my workout for after I had dropped he and Hunter off. Hunter had a big sports day at school and my neighbours were going to volunteer to help out at it, so had asked them to take some photos (he’s only three after all, how big could it be?) I had my first spouse’s luncheon plans. I had been invited once before and couldn’t get there because I didn’t have childcare but this time, my boy was in school so it would all work out perfectly. Then we had Ally’s honour roll ceremony/presentation afterwards. It was going to be an exciting day. My throat hurt and I could feel the gunk accumulating in it, but nothing major, so it was big girl panties time. A couple of Tylenol (Panadol) and I was good to go. I also drank so much water yesterday and today and had the little Korean vitamin C drinks, drank orange juice, took vitamin C, had my lemon and honey tea last night and this morning, so think I’ve battled it with all I’ve got! 
Off to school we go, “No, No. Hunter and Mummy stay.” Were the words I heard as I was kissing him goodbye. “What?” 

“Yes, Hunter and Mummy stay til one o’clock.” 

“Hunter can’t stay by himself?”

“No, Hunter needs Mummy to race.” 

Oh crap, I thought. What am I going to do. My neighbour’s husband said he would look after him if I really needed to go, but how could I? This is my little boy. This was obviously a big deal at this school. I said I had to go home and get running shoes and a couple of other things and I would be back. I called the lady who had invited me to attend the luncheon and told her what had happened and she was very understanding. Then it was a race to get home and get some stuff together then get back to try and find a park at the school. As it turned out, I got the absolute prime parking, rock star parking even, , and everything else just fell into place. 
It started out with a variety of Psy songs (the Korean singer best known for Gangnam Style) on these ginormous speaker, literally rocking the place to the ground! Had I not known better, I would have thought we were in a nightclub, we were literally yelling at some points to communicate! Then I realized there was actually a professional DJ! Whoa! Things quieted down when all the children went out onto the parade ground and stood listening to speeches. It was at this point in time a lady introduced herself to me as Hei-El’s Mum, Eun Mee. What a godsend she was! She spoke perfect English and was full of knowledge about everything we (my neighbours and I) wanted to know. I feel like I was supposed to stay at school not only to hang out with my son, but to meet her and understand Korean culture far more. It was such a wonderful experience today, made better by her explaining everything. Finally, I understood what was going on. 


The Republic of Korea (the official name of South Korea also known as ROK) pledge of allegiance to the flag was the first thing to happen and like Americans, the South Koreans put their hand to their hearts with most of them knowing it by heart. Then it was the ROK national anthem. I found this to be less important than the pledge, as I stood for the pledge out of respect for my host nation, but Eun Mee told me to sit down for the anthem. Weird. The various people including the female principal (very unusual in this male dominated society) gave their speeches then it was time to start. This was a big deal. There were hundreds of prizes. I thought they must have been for the kids but she then told me they would be raffling most of them off. What? Yes, on the program, there was a number and throughout the day they would be calling numbers out to claim prizes. How cool. That would never happen at an Australian or American sports day. There were two teams, the whites and the blues and through some selection process that I will never know, they selected my son and his two German/American friends to be on team blue. I’m not going to give you an event play by play as I wasn’t really sure what was happening sometimes, given the loud music and all the craziness, but I can tell you there was a race where the kids put on fake bottom pants and had to use a hockey stick to roll a football up one end of the field and back again in a relay format. There was also another event where they brought in two of the biggest bags of balloons I have ever seen in my life. The object of the game was to let them both out at the same time and whichever team popped their balloons the fastest, won. Then there was our event.
So I went up holding Hunter’s hand and we went two by two with the teacher in the lead holding our neighbour’s daughter, Anna. Her Dad and her sister, Ava, were directly behind me. Their Mum had to work briefly in the morning so was coming a little bit later. We get up there and Eun Mee is trying to tell us there is some sort of swing and we will have to go in twos and carry each child up and around a pole and back to the start, again using the relay method. Ok, then the teacher says that I can help Jeff (Anna and Ava’s Dad) and she leaves! Help him do what? Why are you making the non-Korean speakers go first? We go over to where the starting line is and are looking at this contraption and I am thinking wth? Then I see the other people starting to connect everything and show Jeff what we need to do. There is literally a little swing hanging between us. They put a helmet on Anna that is miles too big and we squat down so she can get in. Next thing you know it is time to start and we are running down that field carrying Anna and looping around with a slight lead on the other team. Then it’s Hunter’s turn and would you believe it, that kid decides he’s not going to get in! We all do our best to coax him and I promise him it will be fun, eventually he hops in, the helmet falls off immediately and we are running down that field like there’s no tomorrow. He did enjoy himself though even with that trepidatious start! We get back and Ava is waiting so she jumps straight in and Jeff and I are off back down the field, this time trying to make up for some lost time and doing it, but just not enough to account for Hunter’s delay. I am exhausted. It is the most hilarious thing I’ve done/seen at a sports day. 


On top of that, Eun Mee’s sister is there and I had asked her if she could take some photos of us, well for some reason she thought Anna was my daughter, so photos of us carrying Anna are the only photos I have of this event. Oh, well, it’s good that my neighbours have good photos. 


Then they start doing the first raffle and the prizes are so funny, we are talking about ziplock bags, laundry detergent, paper towel, toilet paper. It was really cool to see practical stuff that people could use rather than rubbish no one wants. And all of them were wrapped up so beautifully. This guy walks up to Jeff, Rebecca (who has just arrived) & myself and tells us to come over, they want us at the microphone.”They want all foreigners at the microphone” we’re his exact words. I’m not sure why so we three head over there and they give us prizes and tell us to draw a number then announce it in English. I think we were either the celebrity guests or the monkeys at the circus, I’m not sure which, but it was fun nonetheless. Then they give us each a prize for announcing. I got a beautiful package of ziplock bags. 


The events and raffle went on throughout the day and Eun Mee filled me in on so many things. I guess the public school system here is actually very hard to get into and this is a very small school that not many people are aware of. It is also a very good school with the teacher:student ratio at about 1:5! How amazing is that? People sign their kids up to go to a certain public school but there are only so many slots open; say there are 200 kids applying and they only have 40 slots. They do a lottery to decide who gets in. I asked Eun Mee what happens when you don’t get in and her response was they have to go to private school. My first thought on that was what about people who can’t afford private school, given that it’s about 1.6m ₩ (equivalent to US $1,600)! 

“They have to find a way to afford it, there is no other answer.” Was her reply. Wow! I asked about home schooling and this didn’t seem to be an option. So now I sit here and feel very lucky to have found not only this wonderful school where there are so few students, but to have even gotten Hunter into a school in the first place. This is something very few outsiders get to experience and we were welcomed today as part of the community. I had so many adults and children walk up to me and say “Hi!” Eun Mee said they wanted to talk so much more with me but couldn’t speak enough English to do so, my thoughts were I wish I could converse with them in Korean but I’m too old to learn another language fluently in the time we’ve got here! But Rebecca and I have a plan to at least do a basic Korean course. We will find out what we can next week about what is on offer through the military before looking privately. I shall at least be able to ‘get by’! 
The kids all did a race and Hunter came in 4th. Though I’m not sure what he was doing at the beginning of it, then it was time for a few more activities/raffles then lunch. They took the kindergarteners up to their room for lunch and Eun Mee and I chatted the entire time. Rebecca and Jeff then decided to leave as all of our kids’ events were done. I decided to stay and keep Eun Mee company as her car was parked smack bang in the middle of a whole lot of cars. And it was a good thing I did. They called out the last prize of the day and it just so happened to be my number! Yay. It was also a really nice first aid kit and I had just looked at buying one the other day, so it was perfect. They ended with a short ceremony and it truly capped off the entire day! I have never seen such a well-organized, high-end, music-filled sports day! They had rice cakes (nothing like what we call a rice cake in Australia) throughout the day (that were amazing mind you, filled with honey and just plain yummy) there was tea and coffee and water bottles supplied to all the parents. The kids got snacks and ice creams and yummy drinks as well. They also got a beautiful present from their teacher as their ‘Children’s Day’ gift. Children’s Day is a big celebration here, it is about honouring children and their need for love, care and respect. It is also a day to honour adults who have contributed to the greater good of the children. It is always celebrated on May 5th and is a Korean holiday. In fact, this next week is sort of like a Spring break for Hunter, as there are a few different holidays being celebrated. They are off on Friday in honour of Buddha’s birthday though his actual birthday is on May 14th. On May 8 it is Parent’s Day, another very important day to honour your family. Then on May 15 it is Teacher’s Day, and I am looking forward to giving Hunter’s teacher a lovely gift. Apparently it must be under ₩30,000 in order for them to accept it, which I find very interesting, but I already have some things in mind so I’m not too worried, just looking forward to seeing their happy faces. 


From the school, it was a mad dash home to get changed into something more acceptable to wear to an honour roll ceremony. Then off to pick the hubs up and off we went. Well, what an unorganized disaster that was! Firstly, they ran out of programs. Then the certificates were not there, then the certificates arrived and were not in any recognizable order, after about 20 minutes of us sitting there whilst the principal, the vice principal and the 3 members of student council tried to organize it, they gave up and just started calling names in any order with no semblance of rhyme or reason. They brought kids up who were on the honour roll, with kids on the Principal’s honour roll, there was one boy who just went up by himself and stood there with nothing further going on and this was smack bang in the middle of the ceremony. It was ridiculous. We were embarrassed for them! Especially after I had just been at a school that had so meticulously planned their entire sports day. It was truly unorganized chaos. Anyway, our daughter eventually got her certificate and from there it was a mad dash home because we were now running late and I didn’t want Madison to get home and be by herself! Luckily, we made it with minutes to spare! 
I somehow worked up the resolve to do today’s workout, Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs! OMG! I struggled. I think my body is fighting off this thing and I had such a big day, it was just plain hard. But, I did it. Not well, but I did it! I was finally able to have a shower tonight when I washed my face with the Rodan + Fields Redefine Daily Cleansing Mask, and oh, did it feel wonderful. I followed up with the Enhancements Micro-Dermabrasion paste and that too, felt amazing. The Pore-Minimizing toner and Overnight Restorative cream were only made better when I included some Redefine Multi-Function Eye Cream! Lovely. My hubby has once again returned to work for the evening, I am filled with a quiet household and this soon to be 21 x 2 lady is going to relax with a glass of vino for a minute. 

I hope you have a wonderful day and/or night, wherever you are!

Please like my page on Facebook: Aussiemumsadventures 
Email me at: aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com
And if you are interested in Taking your own Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge, then let me know. At the above mentioned email and we’ll get you sorted out with the right regimen for you. 

Challenge Accepted Day 57/ Day 15

Today has been a bit of a rubbish day. The weather has been crappy, I had very little sleep as our Vonage phone rang five different times between midnight and 0350! It was terrible! On top of that, my throat started hurting around 2am and has gotten progressively worse. So this blog shall be short and sweet so I can get to bed sooner rather than later. 

It’s a strange place, South Korea, there are so many wonderful things here but when you arrive in the dead of Winter and the place is both freezing cold and extremely barren and you find yourself and your family getting sick over and over again because of the polluted air, it makes it hard to fall in love with. I feel like we have all been sick here more times than anywhere else in our lives! Ally has this perpetual cough that will not leave her, hubby also has it, but not quite as bad, and I am constantly getting sick. Madison and Hunter are both doing fairly well since we brought in the air purifiers but even they complain of headaches and a variety of other ailments on a weekly basis. 
Anyway, enough of that, the day has been rush, rush, rush. Children off to school, including the small boy, followed by a super quick trip to get the Lipolysis shots -in teeming rain, where I had to run about a kilometer from where I had parked to get to the place, all after having done half of my workout. Then it was off to the bake sale, where we did really well, over US$500 raised!! But it was after that the medication started to wear off and I went downhill rapidly. I went and paid the rent, in the pouring rain once again and realized when I got home that I hadn’t eaten all day. I came home to a messy house with stuff everywhere. So the only thing to do was clean, wash, vacuum, you name it, then it was time to ensure Maddy had an event free ride on the bus and this young lady knew she should never bully her or anyone for that matter, again. All good there I think. I guess it didn’t happen on the music bus but on the actual school bus, so I spoke to the bus monitor about it and she is going to watch for anything further and report it if something else happens. 


I spoke to my other sis and caught up on all of her happenings and her drama, picked Hunter up and came back to continue cleaning/folding laundry (best job ever, said no one). We met with Ally and Maddy and had them do their regular chores and homework, shower etc. then I finally did the other half of my workout, with a quick warm up again. It was Plyometric Cardio. It was after that, I again realized that I hadn’t eaten today, so I whipped up some spaghetti, went and picked hubby up from work and we ate and now I am about to go to bed after having a shower and cleaning my face. I may take the phone off the hook tonight and try to rest peacefully after having a honey, lemon tea I bought at the local supermarket. It is amazing tasting stuff! 
I hope you have a wonderful day and/or night, wherever you are!
Please like my page on Facebook: Aussiemumsadventures 
Email me at: aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com
And if you are interested in Taking your own Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge, then let me know. At the above mentioned email and we’ll get you sorted out with the right regimen for you. 

Challenge Accepted Day 56/Day 14

The morning started out rough! I had all weekend to catch up on sleep, yet my body chooses Monday morning to fight with me about staying in bed! I only ‘snoozed’ once, but I’ve felt the pain all day. And today’s the day I had a food handler’s course and a variety of other things I had to get done. 

Then it was off to the bus stop to take Maddy to school and I hadn’t seen any dogs there for a while so thought I would take Luna. Big mistake! Of course today’s the day that this woman, with whom I’ve had bad doggy interactions with before, is there with one of her pups. That was all good, the puppy came over to say hi, Luna (who gets so excited at seeing any dogs, especially one smaller than her) jumps at her to say hi, the puppy backs away and I said “Luna, you can’t jump like that, she doesn’t know you’re playing!” She walked away to greet a friend, all was fine. Then her husband, who obviously was unaware of the previous incidents between the other dog and Luna, brought that dog out to the bus stop & straight over to Luna. The dog immediately started growling at her, then the wife pipes in saying, “come away, she doesn’t like Luna playing with other dogs!” Now before I even knew what I was doing, out of my mouth came the words “no, I don’t mind her playing with other dogs, it’s just your dog. She doesn’t like Luna. She wants to attack her.” I went on to talk about how I’ve been attacked by a dog and their dog scares me and, as I’m right in the middle of saying all of this, their dog growls then tries to bite Luna’s face! It was like the timing of my words couldn’t have been more coordinated with that dog’s temperament toward Luna. Luckily the husband had a hold of the leash, but I was pissed off. I said my goodbyes and walked away before I said anything further. It was only the beginning of my shitty day! 
I worked out – fit test today but I couldn’t find my previous results so just had to write it down and compare it to my results from 2 weeks ago:

Switch Kicks Day 1: 83 Day 14: 93

Power Jacks Day 1: 33 Day 14: 41

Power Knees Day 1: 61 Day 14: 75

Power Jumps Day 1: 33 Day 14: 39

Globe Jumps Day 1: 8 Day 14: 9

Suicide Jumps Day 1: 13 Day 14: 15

Push-up Jacks Day 1: 10 Day 14: 19

Oblique Push-ups Day 33 Day 14: 40
A big improvement in only two weeks! Yay me! Something went really well, so I shouldn’t call it a shitty day. I am only now just comparing my results to those of last week. Some light at the end of the tunnel 🙃

 From there it was time to drop the boy off and head off to help hubby with something he didn’t need help with at all! He had been told he would need extra hands to help him collect gas masks for all of us (his family). Yes, we all need to have gas masks when we live in South Korea, I guess because of that somewhat crazy guy who’s up to the north. Anyway, I had never been to CIF (the distribution place where they get all their kit) so it was an interesting experience nonetheless, but the information about needing help to carry the gas masks was most definitely false. So we stood in there, me feeling a tad out of place, hubby thinking there was going to be some full on suit for all of us, and these 2 small cases come out with 2 slightly larger cases. Nothing my husband couldn’t have handled by himself, yet three different people had told him he would need help. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. I now understand his frustration when he talks about getting his gear though, definitely an interesting setup. And I’m not really sure what the hell I’ll do if we actually do have to put the gas masks on. These are amazingly complicated! 


From there I dropped him off and went on my way to a Food Handler’s Course. We are having an FRG (Family Readiness Group) bake sale tomorrow and we have another big event coming up on May 21, so I wanted to be able to help out at both and decided to take this course so I could. Basically, it’s about food sanitation and general food hygiene. Most of it is common sense, but there are some good pieces of information as well, so I was very glad I took the refresher course, it had been a while. I was also very glad the class went for an hour and 15 minutes rather than the original four hours, I had thought it was going to go for. From there I picked up a new charger and some new foundation (had to choose from Revlon, Maybelline and Covergirl) and ended up with this one from Revlon, here’s hoping it’s nice.


The day got a tad boring with mundane stuff (although I did manage to put together a yummy, healthy lunch) until I was about to go and pick up Hunter and my phone rings. It’s a number I’m not familiar with but its local. Low and behold, it’s Madison. Trying to tell me something about how this girl on her piano bus has sprained her arm. I wasn’t really understanding, eventually I got the message that this girl had grabbed Madison and had hurt her, but she was ok. I say to her I will see her after her lesson and we can talk some more then and she can give me the whole story. I go to pick up Hunter, who has had another amazing day at school. And get another call, this time through Facebook, from a neighbour. All I can think is Luna has gotten out or been hurt or something. So I answer the phone and this Mummy tells me she’s at piano and Madison’s arm has been hurt by someone and Madison’s friend is very worried about her. WTH! So I tell her I’ll be there as quickly as I can. You can imagine everything going through my mind on the way over there! 


I walk in the door and the first person I see is Madison’s friend who was very concerned and I asked her to tell me very calmly, exactly what happened. She then proceeds to tell me how they were getting on the bus and this other girl was getting on and she wasn’t very talkative or anything, so Madison had asked her if she was ok, she didn’t answer I guess, so Madison again asked her if she was ok, apparently she then grabbed Madison’s wrist and twisted it and told her to shut up! To say I was furious, is to put it mildly. Madison then came out and I asked her to tell me the whole story independently from her friend. Her story was identical to her friend’s. I asked her if she was ok now and she said yes, it hurt a lot at the time but had stopped hurting now. Then I asked where this girl was and they showed me her practicing in one of the rooms. I went to the piano teacher, who doesn’t understand enough English to understand the entire story but who did tell me how amazing Madison is doing at piano. She is a natural. She then wanted to show me a piece she has learnt to play and I was very willing to listen whilst I calmed down a tad. She played very well and I couldn’t believe it. I am so happy we have her doing these lessons! I had calmed down when I knocked on the practice room door where this 5th grade girl (who looks like she could be in grade 8) was sitting at the piano. I very bluntly asked her if she had twisted Madison’s arm and told her to shut up. She was scared, I could see that. But I didn’t raise my voice, I just stared at her. Finally she nodded. I then told her if she ever touches my little girl again, not only will I go straight to her parents, I will also call the police. Then I walked away. Too much? Not enough? Hubby wanted to go and find her parents tonight and talk to them. I just thought we should give her a second chance. But now I’m sitting here thinking we should have found out where she lived and gone to see them. I will be there tomorrow when the bus comes. I want to see exactly what happens. I will also talk to the bus driver and ask him to keep an eye on the situation. This bullying bullshit is not ok. Which goes back to my blog on “The Unknown War in South Africa”. Parents can not stand by and do nothing when their children are hurt. Nor should they. Especially when the situations are so clear cut. We don’t have the racial tension here in South Korea that exists in both South Africa and the US, but bullying still happens and it is never ok. 
I came home and had to make lots of muffins for the bake sale tomorrow, then pick up hubby and drop him off at home, in time to get to the dentist once again. Madison and I went where I spent about 30 minutes in agony because they had asked if I could tolerate it without pain medication and I had said yes, trying to save on time, big mistake. Holy crap it hurt! But all bad things come to an end as well and eventually that torture did too. I said to Madaion that we had to run over to the dermatologist as well as I had made an appointment for Friday to get my lump lasered. So we ran in the pouring rain (neither of us with umbrellas or raincoats) a good three blocks, and told them I had to change my appointment to another day. Well she looks in her appointment book and low and behold, there is no appointment for me. Great. I said I would come back on another day and make an appointment as I just couldn’t deal with it all then and our conversation was all being transcribed either through Google translate or through another patient. I really need to learn some Korean! 
Finally, it was time to come home and bake some more, put kiddos to bed and write my blog. This week hasn’t started out so great. Here’s hoping tomorrow is much more positive with great interactions at the bake sale. Not sure I can take any more negativity. I have a lot of little things that I need to figure in order to make this week work and I’m just not sure how I’m going to do it, so that is also frustrating me some. I’ll worry about it tomorrow. For now, my skin is clean. My Rodan + Fields Reverse Regimen just arrived in the mail, so that’s exciting. Yes, that will be my next challenge. But for now, I shall finish this one and show the results to you on Friday. A very appropriate day given I am going to the ball that night and it’s the night before my big 21st (x2)! 😉
I hope you have a wonderful day and/or night, wherever you are!
Please like my page on Facebook: Aussiemumsadventures 
Email me at: aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com
And if you are interested in Taking your own Rodan + Fields 60 day challenge, then let me know at the above mentioned email and we’ll get you sorted out with the right regimen for you. 

Challenge Accepted Day 52/Day 10

Let me first start by apologizing for yesterday’s crazy blog! I wrote on three different mediums yesterday at four different times throughout the day then put it all together after a very long, wine-filled lunch! Not the best for sure. My chief proof reader (aka the husband) was asleep when I published and I didn’t proof read to ensure I hadn’t doubled up on anything, including jibberish that I’m not even sure how it got there! Anyway, none of that today. Just me writing on one IPad then copying directly to WordPress to publish and today’s blog is worth sticking around for! 

So, I did wake up with a hangover this morning. I tried to drink lots and lots of water last night before going to bed but, given we gave the water a miss during our 6 hour lunch session, I’m not sure it helped any! It was worth it though, what a fabulous time we had. Back to today. I got up and had a berocca (the Australian kind that actually helps with hangovers and doesn’t contain caffeine), then woke Maddy up nice and early. We actually had a nice breakfast and talked about the various happenings at school and it was great. I walked her to the bus stop, sent her on her way and dear son and I came back and woke Ally up. I reminded Hunter he was going to school today and he immediately ran upstairs to get dressed. I tried to do a quick tidy up and was very surprised when he came back downstairs to finish his breakfast dressed like so:


He cracks me up, this one. Ally and I had a great talk as well about being a girl, it didn’t actually start off so great though when she started talking about going on a diet! WTH! I don’t think so. That led us into this conversation about boys and how they are categorizing them at school! No! If you are a Mum to a boy, it is your job to stop this sort of shit from going on. No boy should be categorizing girls! More of this conversation is going to come in a separate blog, dedicated to this subject as this isn’t where this blog needs to go. 
We dropped him at school and I dropped hubby at work, I came home and spent a lot of time researching various things so by the time I was done, it was time to shower and get dressed for the outing today with my German friend, and what an outing it was! She had been telling me about this dermatologist she had been seeing and that she was going to see him today and did I want to tag along, I thought it would be a good idea to go and see another dermatologist about this lump on my forehead so I said yes. After driving around forever, we finally found a park down this little tiny alley. Luckily South Korea is the safest country and one can almost park anywhere and be just fine, the only concern is more the high parking tickets. Anyway, we made our way over there and My friend told them that I was just looking, just seeing what they had to offer. We went upstairs where the Doctor and his wife actually practice and it was all very bizarre with the wife telling me that I should have this full on face treatment that was ₩900,000 and I should get these shots for extra fat on my face and I should get fillers for the lines around my mouth. And Botox to stop my jaw looking so strong. It was rally strange. The South Koreans are literally obsessed with their looks. Plastic surgery has become a huge thing here and everyone who has enough money goes and has various treatments. They are also obsessed with being very thin. I mean very thin. 
I told her no to all the treatments that she offered and said I would think about it, then my friend invited me to come in whilst she had her ‘fat’ shots. Say what? I asked her what was in the fat shots and she had no idea. So I went in and watched as this woman injected her with numerous shots on every ‘fat’ bit of her body. Very interesting. Whilst she was getting that done, I thought I would try to look up what these fat shots are as the woman couldn’t explain to me in English. And here is what it is: Lipolysis shots. The active agent that’s injected is called phosphatidylcholine (PPC). PPC is produced naturally by the body. It is a component of all the cells in the body and is highly concentrated in liver cells, fat cells and the covering of nerve cells. The PPC used for fat dissolving injections is harvested from the soy plant. PPC has been used in other fields of medicine, usually intravenously, for treating fat embolisms in the lungs, for lowering cholesterol levels and as a liver protective substance. PPC injected into fat deposits supposedly has a detergent like effect, causing fat cells to rupture and dissolve. Fat released by the cell is metabolized by the liver and excreted by the body. There is also some tightening of the skin in treatment areas. It can be used all over the body: face, neck, arms, back fat rolls, abdomen, thighs, love handles and knees, well, what the hell! Why not give it a go? So I did.
The first thing the doctor did was put me on to a BMI machine where everything was calculated. It came up that my BMI is 22% a little more than I would like. In fact, he told me it was 3.5kg of fat too much. Ok. Then his wife came out and starting pinching my belly fat. Literally grabbing hold of it and saying, “Yes, you must get rid of this!” The Koreans are very honest when it comes to things like that. Just as she was very honest about everything I needed to do with my face. I said “ok, just my belly.” So that’s what we did. For ₩150,000 I’m going to have 8 weeks of treatments, 2 times a week. That’s not all. Here’s how it works: You go and lay down, and she pops the injections all over your fat bit, whatever area you want them to do. My friend is getting them all over. The shot goes into the subcutaneous fat layer, and starts to do its job. She doesn’t give you anything for the pain, she literally slaps you then puts the shot in. It’s weird. When she has finished doing all the shots, she straps you up to one of those machines that sends electric shocks to spasm your muscles an Electronic Muscle Stimulator (EMS). Now that is weird. But apparently it helps to break the fat up. It almost feels like contractions. We were sitting in that room, a German and an Aussie, literally pissing ourselves laughing with the shocks going through our body! The weirdest thing I’ve done in a long time, but definitely comical! I even took a photo of me as I was spasming.


Now I know plenty of you are probably thinking why on earth are you doing this, or you shouldn’t be doing that. But I’m here to say that something has happened to my metabolism. 6 months ago, I was able to maintain my weight, eating more than I am right now, just as long as I exercised on a regular basis. Now, I’ve put on this extra 10lbs (all of it seemingly in my stomach) and I’m doing some fairly hardcore exercise, even the 5 weeks of T25, and nothing is getting rid of this belly. I’m at my wit’s end. And no, I’m not going to go and get liposuction or anything, but I needed to do something to get rid of it. Three babies have taken their toll on my lower abdomen. And this girl was given the opportunity today to try something new that may just take care of this problem. So, why not? 


The whole thing honestly feels like a dream. Hopefully, this works and I’ll be an advocate for this method of fat trimming! Obviously you should do everything with diet and exercise, which I’m doing, so let’s hope for the best and I’ll keep you posted. 

From there, we went to one of the local stores and bought special ‘Korean’ shoes for the kids for their school (you can’t wear shoes inside). And it was just one of those days where things just went comical. There was a display in the lingerie section for both men and women that cracked us up. The South Koreans have very interesting taste in men’s lingerie, then there’s the matching stuff! Sometimes, one has to wonder. After all the children came home, I finally did the Insanity workout and really enjoyed it. Hunter and Madison finished it with me too. My belly did however feel like it was still pulsing throughout the Insanity workout, here’s hoping it got a double kind of workout. 


I finished the workout very sweaty and in desperate need of a shower, then it was time to do my nightly Rodan + Fields Redefine regimen. I also used the AMP MD as one of the things they were really pushing on me today was derma stamping. Basically, doing the same as the AMP MD roller but in a stamping form. It just reinforced the fact that I have this tool at home and need to consistently use it. My skin feels wonderful. My belly does have some bruising on it but it’s not sore or anything. Just tingling a little still. 
Anyway, I’d love to get your feedback on tonight’s blog! The day certainly went somewhere I never saw coming. Please remember to like my Facebook page: Aussiemumsadventures and email me directly at aussiemumsadventures@gmail.com. If you would like to try a Rodan and Fields regimen yourself, please let me know and I’ll be more than happy to help guide you through it. Thanks for reading my crazy blog and I hope you have an amazing day and/or night, wherever you are! 

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

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 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 Days 48/49 and 6/7

Here it is, Sunday night and yes, I failed yesterday and did not write my blog. It was a big day. Where do I start? With a yard sale first thing in the morning, I guess. And what a terrible failure it was. The weather was supposed to be ok, but it wasn’t. In fact it was a chilly 10C with aa cool breeze and overcast skies. Not the most inviting yard sale weather. I advertised and asked other members in our ‘Ville’ to participate, even offering our space to anyone in apartments. One lady took me up on the offer and braved the weather with me and it was nice getting to know her and I had someone to chat to as hubby and the girls went and did a SHARP (Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program) run together that ended up being a colour run and had a lot of fun doing it. Had I known it was on prior to the night before a planned yard sale, I would have gone and done it with them, though with no stroller, not sure how we would have gone with Hunter. 
Back to the yard sale: what a dismal failure. I ended up making $20 and ₩1000 (less than $1). The only good thing to come from it (other than meeting another neighbour) was that I ended up donating lots of crap at the end of the day and we have a tad more room in the house too. I’ve still kept some stuff that I’m going to try to sell on consignment at the thrift store, so we’ll see. There may still be hope yet, but I’m not counting on it. We finally called it a day at about 2, and packed everything up. Hubby and I cleaned the house as it was a bit of a disgrace. This place (South Korea) has dirt and dust like I’ve never seen before and even though we have our ‘robbie’ roomba, the couch and many other places all need to be vacuumed on a regular basis too. We knew we were going out last night too and we didn’t want the babysitter to come in to a terrible pigsty either. After doing some tidying up and making spaghetti for the kids for dinner, I then went over to see my other neighbour who had a lot of drama going on in the morning as well. Her mother isn’t well and got very sick during the night (they had come to stay for 3 months) and her parents had decided during the night to completely change their travel plans and leave yesterday morning very suddenly. She was devastated and was concerned about her kids being devastated when they realized their grandparents weren’t coming back. When I got over there, she was opening her second bottle of wine (& no, I don’t think she’s a big drinker as she was quite tipsy) anyway, I joined her for a late afternoon beverage and I think she needed someone to just talk to, so that’s what we did. We sat outside and talked. Finally, I realized I needed to get home and shower and get ready for our evening plans. 

What a fun night we had. The four of us caught a taxi and went in to a little South African restaurant that has a great reputation with many Americans. It was fun and the food was good, so I understand why it so well liked. I introduced myself to one of the owners and may have mentioned that I was an Aussie. South Africans and Australians have a friendly rivalry going on, just like we do with the Kiwis (New Zealanders) and the Poms (Brits), so it made for some fun throughout the night when he came over to our table and goaded me a little. There were some other South Africans in there as well so they joined in on the fun at times too. Anyway, conversation flowed between the four of us and it was a great night. Everyone else got beers samplers but not me, no, I drank far too many Moscow mules (well a South African version of them) and by the end of the night, this girl was drunk. Yes, drunk. The taxi ride home is a bit fuzzy and the kids made fun of me this morning as they were still awake when we got home, so unfortunately, there was no blog written, I asked my husband to write a statement for me but he didn’t know where to go and kept asking me what he needed to do but I wouldn’t give him further explanation apparently, so here we are, me writing both Saturday’s and Sunday’s blogs all in one.

What about today? Well, today has truly been a blow out! I haven’t moved far from the couch to be quite honest with you. What I will say is that my husband went to legendary status this morning. I normally do most of the cooking. I’m good at it. Hubby doesn’t do very much and claims he’s not so good at it but this morning he proved himself wrong. He even gave us each a menu choice to select from! I chose an omelet with a side of bacon, the kids all chose pancakes with bacon and for himself, he made scrambled eggs with bacon! All by himself. I did see him getting a little stressed at times and both girls went in to ask him if he needed help and were a little scared as they had never seen Daddy quite like that 😉 but he did it! And it was very, very good! 


We moved to the couch and watched The Green Lantern thereafter and the movies continued from there. I finally let the girls watch the two of The Hunger Games movies. And other than having to pause it to answer a lot of questions and explaining to them that this was showing a really nasty side of the human characteristics and it was not real, we all really enjoyed it. The girls discussed it as they showered tonight too, with Madison throwing ideas about in her head and saying how unfair it was that they were all put in that position and showing a maturity well beyond her 7 years. 

And that was our day. There was no exercise this weekend, there was no Shawn T, there was nowhere near enough water, the skincare treatment wasn’t up to par either. Basically, my entire weekend was a bust. Though there were lots of good moments thrown in! Now it’s time to finish the night with ‘Antman’ before going to bed and feeling well-rested tomorrow! 

Have a great day or night, wherever you are! Luckily, tomorrow is another day

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!