Super moon distraction

Monday night was the rising of the last super moon for 2017. In our neck of the woods in South Australia, at 8:55 pm to be exact.

At this time of night I am usually settled in front of the telly with a wine in hand. Sitting drinking wine in the evening stops me from doing loads of things I could be doing, and I have just gotten into the habit I think, because that is me time. It's my time to just sit, but I've associated that time to drinking wine.

While having me time is a good thing, it just so happens that drinking most nights isn't so good. So I am on a mission to try and change that. 

In the past I have found that replacing one vice with another is usually the way to go. Or not...cigarettes instead of pot...tea instead of cigarettes(which I suppose was good, and no I didn't smoke the tea!)...

Coffee connoisseurs will gasp at the thought, but I've just bought some fake coffee. Coffee has NEVER really agreed with me, and I am not a drinker, but I actually am not minding a cup or two of this. Last night I made a mocha with it as I sat to watch Jamie Oliver and my SBS fix, Struggle Street. Did the trick...

Back to Monday night, Isabel and I jumped int he car and drove out of town a little, up on a hill and waited for the moon to rise. I don't have all the right equipment to properly shoot a super moon or any moon for that fact, but had some good practice for when I am the owner of a decent tripod and an appropriate lens. It was a great evening out with my eldest daughter, until she started complaining to go. I am sure it is the complaint of many a photographers family member., forced to stay until every photograph has been taken.

This is classic funny Izzy, pulling faces for the camera

Block of chocolate day, block of chocolate day.....

I can always tell when my time of the month is witching it's way around. I am always a little precious, and by nine oclock in the morning, I have usually sat on my bed and had a bit of a sook. 

One of the kids favourite shirts is in the wash, they've said 'Mum' sixty times already,  and they're unconsolable because they've dropped their breakfast on the floor. Give me a fucking break!

Combine this with shopping day and it's not hard to toss a block of dark chocolate into the trolley, just in case. 

Yesterday, that block of Cadbury Old Gold rum and raisin dark chocolate, didn't see the end of the day. Fair enough I gave Summer two squares, she actually liked it, but I ate the rest. I am sure it will put in good stead when I am bleeding like a stuck pig tomorrow. I hope.

If you ask me, every parenting room, and public ladies toilet should have one of those glass 'break in case of emergency' cabinets on the wall, with a glowing block of luscious brown goodness. Publicly funded of course, as part of a new Mental Health Act. With a box of top shelf tampons included. And maybe six million dollars. (Pushing it now).

Like the equivalent of the government Health Care card you qualify for in the birthing unit. 

"Congratulations on the birth of your new baby, here's 18 years supply of wine and chocolate, along with a lifetime membership to the loony assylum. Thank you for populating the nation".

It reminds me of a song my daughter sings, Two banana day. When asked where they heard it, I realise my kids watch way too much You Tube. They reply (like duh!), Big Block Sing Song.





I swap the words out for 'Block of Chocolate day' or 'bottle of wine day'. 

At least they seem to have moved past unveiling surprise eggs and Ollie (ugggghhhh. Don't go there). 


They've found Just Dance clips which is all sorts of gorgeous to watch (mental health restored).

My favourite quip in the mornings, if it's a bad one it's, "I'll be requiring wine tonight!".

I am astounded at my resilience at not buying said wine. By bed time I am scalding myself at the fact I did not buy wine. I really am not an alcoholic. Friday and Saturday may stand up in court to rebuke that.

I will deny everything. They are obviously childless and single.

And just like that, holy shitballs, I have a Tuesday blog post.
#IBOT  been a while!

Out of the mouth of babes

I didn't get my night away by myself the last weekend. It's all good, we went to the neighbours, the kids got to play til their hearts content, and I got to drink wine.

With no encouragement from me, or my other motherly neighbour, apparently we are all going to the Lake Mountain snow fields at the end of the school holidays. Four adults and five kids.

Men are their own worst enemies. A few wines and the inevitable scotch and their holiday is organised, bar the women's perspective bit, of all the fucking organisation.

I am actually looking forward to it. The last time we went to Lake Mountain, I was on the  cusp of an depression/anxiety diagnosis that Brett did not embrace. It was hard. Apparently crying half an hour into the trip, after the stress of organising all the shit for the trip on my own, was "ruining the whole fucking holiday". Yes, the man in life has less tact than a fucking grenade.

I am so ready for this shit, I am ecstatic.  I'm in a totally different frame of mind. I am going to ace this. And with my amazing mother of three under six neighbour in the cabin next door, I am going to feel so at home. The kid are going to have a ball, and me, well I am going to be having so much fun too.

We have a busy as shit school holidays, with Izzy competing in her first WAG gymnastic championship, in Adelaide, and then now, going to the snow in the second half of the holidays. 

What a ride. 

I'll be hanging on.

What is more exciting, is the Wattle Range Photography competition coming up this Friday night. I have been so looking forward to it, especially now since it was postponed a week. I have thirteen photos entered, and Izzy two. I'll be taking Izzy along with me for the opening of the exhibition. 

One of Izzys, showing people in the Wattle Range council area

I may have one too many photos featuring Summer in the exhibition, which is totes understandable. I don't have too many subjects to photograph besides my own family.

It doesn't matter whether I win anything at all. My mantra for this year was 'be brave'. This is the first year for me entering photos. I am being bold and brave, and having a go. At least, I am getting my photography out there. 

Some of the other photos, are photos of our local area, and this is what I am most excited to share with the wider world. 

Any hoo, back to gorgeous Summer. I asked her some questions via recent Facebook posts I had seen other parents post.

Here are her answers.

What is your name?  Summer
How old are you? four
When is your birthday? Junior (it's so November)
How old is  Daddy? 21, (gag, younger than my eldest son) her dad is 48.
How old is Mummy? 24 (Oh how I wish)
What is your favourite colour? Orange (such a cool colour and has been her favourite colour a long time)
What is your favourite food? Apple
Who is your best friend? Renae
What is your favourite song? Let it go
What is your favourite animal? Dolphin. News to me.
What are you scared of? Lions
What makes you happy? Funny stuff. She likes to watch funny stuff on YouTube. She has the best laugh too and a wicked sense of humour. 
Where is your favourite place to go? Swimming pool.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Shop keeper at Woolies. A couple of weeks ago this was a clothes shop. Now she has her sights set on Woolworths. 
What is Mummy's favourite thing to do? Cooking
What is Daddys favourite thing to do? Work 

An InLinkz Link-up

You know the time when...

We all have moments in the day, that make us or break us. Some are feel good and leave lasting happy memories, and some, well just plain suck. Here are some amusing moments that have come about in the past months.

....You head down the hallway to bed with your arm stretched out in front of you like Superman, feeling like you just conquered the world. But really you just conquered too many wines.

The reason I look preggers

....You've been eating well all day, you've got through the after school whines and are just about to cook dinner, when you just realised you got your period. You just say fuck it, I am going to have ice cream and wine for tea! Of course you continue cooking spag bol for the fam and binge the rest of the night away.

....Sad sack binging comes to bite you on the arse, when your uncle asks if you have 'one on the way'. You have to admit that you're just fat. Major reality check. You still go to Maccas for lunch.

A friend posted this on my FB timeline after the birthday party. Obviously to console me at the face painters
lack of talent in the portrait department. 

....Your husband decides to get his face painted at a birthday party, just for fun. On the off chance, you ask the lady if she knows how to do Channing Tatum, because that will make you really happy.

....You just go to bed and you hear your phone notification chime go off. Twice. You spend the next ten minutes convincing yourself not to get up. You spend another ten minutes after that, reminding yourself, not to forget to write this down in a blog post.

....You're watching the telly, and all of a sudden you hear your five year old yell from the back door. "I'm just putting the dog out, because he is rooting a toy". That's when you know you're doing this parenting thing right.

.... Hubby is winning in the parenting stakes too. Yesterday Izzy walks in saying to her sister, "You can't bother Dad in the shed. He's doing something that can make you blind". He was welding of course. It just sounded much worse.

Kids. My source of amusement, and frustration, all rolled into one.

Share a moment with me in the comments. Surely I'm not the only one having them.

An InLinkz Link-up

Coonawarra

I can hardly believe how fast the weeks seem to be going. It's already been a week since I took Summer to Penola for lunch and she tagged along while I dropped into Zemas in Coonawarra for some wine tasting.

Zema Estate, are one of the 20 odd wineries in Coonawarra along a 21 km stretch of road, just out of Penola. That's more than one winery per kilometre!

During the month of July is the 10th anniversary of Cellar Dwellers. I just had to drop by and take advantage of the festivities, and I am thinking of popping back again to enjoy some more!

Keep your eye out for the Coonawarra Wine Tasting Roadshow, when Coonawarra vignerons take their wines on tour around the country next month. 

My place in time #28 The receipt for something I bought today

Summer , in wool bombed Penola

Dad's hot red wine

I know for shizzle I am so over being sick this week. Sick of us all having a cold. It really does suck. What's worse is, no one gives a shit I am sick. There is no one to look after me! Except me that is. 

I know I still forgot to buy tissues. Summer and I used a full toilet roll between us on Wednesday. Summer got a hold of a full toilet roll yesterday when I wasn't looking and unravelled it all over the kitchen bench.

I know it's a public holiday on Monday(God save the Queen). I wonder when the Queen isn't Queen anymore we will stop having the Queens holiday. Will it be King Charles' birthday? The 14th of November. That would be cool. My son will have a public holiday for his birthday! But not cool because the Queen will be dead, or retired. I remember when the Queen's mother died. We were staying in a caravan park. Jake and another boy ran around the park yelling, "The Queen mothers dead, the queen mothers dead". Sigh....., memories.

Having been sick this last week, reminded me of the hot wine drink Dad used to make. He swears by it, and recommends it to treat a cold or cough. 

The only problem is I had no idea how he made it. Funnily enough the day after I reminisced about it, he asked me if I had 'done the wine'. 

Now Dad said to just boil the wine with some honey for a couple of minutes and then drink it.

However, as always, Mum puts her two bob in, and corrects him. She says to put in a tablespoon of butter and then set it alight to burn off the alcohol.

Although I do remember seeing Dad light up the wine when I was a much younger girl, after I had boiled the wine for a couple of minutes, I couldn't get a flame from it. I do remember having a taste when I was a kid, making this and drinking the cup brought back good memories of smells and tastes.

It's supposed to be drunk as a nightcap before bed. It's warming and soothing, and according to Dad, you should wake up feeling great.

1 cup red wine

1 big globby tablespoon of honey

1 tablespoon of butter or marg

Place all in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Let boil for a couple of minutes.

You can try light it up if you'd like. 

Tip the saucepan to the side and use a lighter at the edge or use a match. Be careful.

Serve in a heat proof glass or mug. Enjoy the warmth.

Wine glasses

Believe it or not, at the moment(well now a couple days ago), I don't possess a single glass wine glass. Sure in my time I have had lots. Lots of matching ones, that was before I had kiddlywinks. Before they all got broken by kids, or drunk people, none of which I will admit, or remember was me.

Summer broke the last one a week ago, while trolling my crockery cupboard, like one year olds do. It's like letting the proverbial bull loose in the china shop, leaving the child lock off the door. Mind you, my child lock consists of an egg flip through the handles of the cupboard! It is amazing how this works, and not so freaking amazing when it is not there. Sucker for punishment I am!

Wine just isn't the same in a normal glass. It doesn't have the same appeal. 

I scoured the caravan for a plastic wine glass, you know the ones you buy at the supermarket, the throw away kind. I am always going to the caravan for missing or extra bits of cutlery or crockery. In fact when we run out of just about anything, toilet paper, cling wrap, oil, dishwashing liquid, shampoo, the caravan is the first place I go for backup supplies.

I don't know why, but the ones from the picnic wine set a friend gave me years ago, escaped my memory. I only thought of them today. It is a pretty cool picnic set, even though plastic, and years ago who would have thought that it would come in handy(stored in the bottom of my pantry), more than ever right now. I think in over 5 years I have only used it once, maybe twice. I am sure I will use it much more now. How cool is it? I have to admit, it comes with a cork screw, but these days, I don't come across many corks. Am I not spending the dollars to get the cork, or have they become totally redundant?

So I have been on the scout for wine glasses. My first idea was to check out the local op shops for interesting and cool vessels (not necessarily matching), to drink my wine from! I came across five goblets for $4 on my visit to Lifeline. The box had the original retail sticker on it, $30 for six. Score!

The Lifeline shop has come leaps and bounds in the past 6 months. They have become so much more upmarket. From a dinky dive, to a modern second hand shop. The ladies who now run it are ex fashion goddesses and have brought second hand to the fashion forefront. I love the new look store. It is so much more appealing to walk into and look around. 

I got the five goblets(huge) for $4.

The others I got for $3 from a garage sale on Saturday. Now I just need an overhead wall cabinet to display them in, maybe in this corner away from kiddy hands. That will be the next project.