What the Kibble?



Peppa is so well behaved she wouldn't even take the ball without being told to.


When Peppa the pooch arrived she came with a letter of her likes and dislikes, her routine, her medical history and puppy pre school certificates. Clearly had been a member of the family.

Right.

OK.

I can do this I tell myself and head off for the supermarket with the list in hand.

First up, Kibble, WTF is kibble.

I return with dry food, pigs ears, some dog biscuit thingos and some other treats. Peppa takes off with the pigs ears and buries them somewhere and they are never seen again. Turns her nose up at the food and eats it after awhile as there is clearly nothing else coming.

She then digs up the compost, eats it and Mr H gets text messages about having to come home and use the shovel to clean up the steaming piles taking over the back yard.

So, thankfully the kindly Coles people sent us some help with some bags of dog nosh, dentastix and doggie ball for good measure. It has helped me out enormously and no longer am I clinging to a wrinkly sheet of notes hoping to purchase the right stuff.

Good ol' Coles are also sharing the love with one of you, if you have a dog and would like a box of help delivered to your door, leave a comment below, either here or on my Facebook page (yes, I am letting the Facebook lovers comment over there).

The full pack will contain:

The full pack includes:


- Banquet for dogs tender chicken and vegetables
- Banquet for dogs country lamb, liver and vegetables
- Purr with tasty tuna whitemeat
- Purr with tasty tuna, whole prawns and calamari in gravy
- Pedigree Dentastix
- Petz Plus puppy fetch'm ball
- Optimum oral care dry cat food (chicken)
- Optimum oral care dry dog food (chicken, vegetables and rice


Comp is running til Friday 1 April 2011 at 5 pm.


Be a lover of my blog by following here or on Facebook for this one.

And again, please send me your email address if you dont have it linked to your profile.





I didn't receive anything for this review, but Peppa the dog did receive dinners, play dates with the ball and wont have to go to the doggy dentist thanks to her Dentastix.

Feeding the troops for Easter

Yesterday I decided to clean out my bag (well a semi clean out) amongst the usual junk was a half eaten hot cross bun that Immy had placed there, because she wanted to be able to eat it later on. Great, don't you just love that she isn't wasteful?

Then Bakers Delight asked me to try some hot cross buns, a few styles, but as you know, the Gym and I are fast becoming BFF's and I am trying not to resemble The Bunny come Easter morning. So it was decided to leave the taste testing to the troops at my office and on Friday the buns were to be delivered for some serious testing by the professional suit wearing types.

When the buns arrived, I was in a meeting, cos I am important like that (not), from there we headed to have a mini afternoon tea on the free bun stash.

It was gone! Clearly those buns were not too shabby and  got devoured quickly.

Thankfully one lovely lassie bagged up a few for me and I shoved those in my handbag - just like Immy had the day before. I may have eaten one or two on my way home from work.

So, whether you like to jump on the HXB band wagon before Easter or not, these ones are yummo.

If you don't believe me, then give them a try...leave me a comment and five of you will be sent a voucher to grab some for free.

The bun rules:

You must be a follower of this blog.
Leaving a comment equals one entry.
If you don't leave an email address, then I can't find you. Either email it to me or update your google profile, twitter account etc so that I can track you down. Or at the very least like my Facebook page so I can send you a fb message and let you know you are a winner.


Leave comments before Friday April 5 2011 at 5pm.


The image is not my work place, you can find the owner here

She's sad, my Girl.

Popps hasn't been settling in.

Not just about kinder, but stuff. She worries and she just seems sad. A lot.

When I got the chance to hang at kinder last week I did. I played play doh and searched for bugs, I read the story to the class at group time and answered the question from little Holly "Where did Popps come from?"

When I left she was so sad again that the teacher asked if she wanted to write Mummy a letter.

It was a diversion to calm her down. One that worked.

But my letter is full of her fears, her desires to spend more time with me, how she misses me.

It breaks my heart.

Not so much just for now, but for her future. She is a worrier my girl and takes the weight of the world on her little shoulders.

I want her to focus on the sunshine and lollypops but sometimes all she sees are thunderstorms and spiders.

Amongst all her frills and fairie dresses, her glitter and her dancing, she cries.

It breaks me.

I was robbed. Robbed I tell you.



Just a handful of the items thrown my way




I am back from the Aus Blogging Conference. It was fantastic, possibly the best conference I have ever attended. They had organised excellent sponsors like all good marketing folk do.

The dinner had a sponsor too, they announced they would be giving prizes to the best dancers of the night.

Due to being robbed I won't be mentioning them.

Let's just say Nikki and I, the stage and the product, we were dancing up a storm. We turned "Man, I feel like a woman" into a "those that won't be named" theme song. Our moves were so good that I wouldn't be surprised if 'Dancing with the Stars' or 'So you think you can Dance' start knocking on the door at anytime.

But no, the people from 'those that wont be named' failed to provide me with a prize, and Nikki only gets a consolation prize being sent to her in the post (though this might be a bloody good prize!)

Truly. I was robbed.

Or, perhaps it is time to hang up my dancing heels and signature moves.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I am packing up

weheartit (again)

Today I am flat out, school information days, gymnastics classes, C25K exercises, work from home but most importantly, packing.

It is festival conference time in blogland and I have one of the golden tickets to attend.

The organisations with savvy marketing people working in them have cottoned on to the power of blogging and the influence of personal and professional blogs in providing information and advice to a wide and eager audience. These firms are also nudging in to the conference and I am expecting FREEBIES. God, I love a freebie, wave a free cocktail party in my face and I will don the glad rags and get myself there, especially if I don't have to be up for the weet bix brigade in the morning.

I hope to return with lots of ideas and suggestions for my own blog, my marketing clients and for work.

But for now, how many shoes should a girl pack for two nights away?

Full and Frank Disclosure

Like many mothers, I multi task and one of my roles is a three day a week job with a legal professional organisation. It’s a social media role, and it allows me to practise my marketing, tweeting and all things blogging together.
Sometimes in my day job I come across things that I think my loyal blog followers would also be interested in hearing about too.

So I’ve decided to retweet these tweets when I think they are relevant to you.

My followers will see them coming from @LIVPresident and they might include topics such as Prince William asking Kate for a pre nup or fun events such as a Melbourne Comedy Festival debate about young lawyers vs more experienced lawyers.

In our big wide social media world, it’s all about sharing information so don’t be surprised if you get the occasional retweet from the LIV President.

As always, let me know what you think.

It ain't exercise

I have given it my best shot, I have vacuumed until the Dyson really does seem to lose it's suck.

I have patted children to sleep and used the time effectively by doing pelvic floor exercises and sucking in my tummy.

I hang so much washing that I have done the bend and stretch enough times to have the flexibility of a ballerina. The Little Hueys have never really been 'little' always sitting above the 75th percentile on the charts, I have used this as a part of my daily weights program, carrying them around, lifting them in and out of the car, in to high chairs and off trampolines.

Do don't listen to any book, magazine or expert.

Housework does not classify as exercise. If it did I would be waif like.

Unless you are living the life of an 1850's woman living on the gold fields in a tent with no running water.

The gym and I are becoming reacquainted.

Wish me luck.

When things get dull

This long weekend is pretty mundane and things are rolling slowly. Mr H is working every minute of the weekend, the Little Hueys are just doing their thing, everyone else is off visiting, holidaying or doing the family thing.

So here are some images to brighten things up.

makes walking to the shop for milk seem easy.



Image



weheartit



National Geographic




National Geographic



Our Latest news

I like to research things before making any big decisions, so after the cat took off I decided that we should seek a more appropriate pet for Imogen. This meant getting something not too big. Something she could cuddle, snuggle, pat, brush, do it's hair, feed and play with that wouldn't snap or bite. Something not too small and yappy or big and boisterous.

Puppy farms are revolting I wouldn't want to support one, nor did I want to make a mortgage repayment on a dog. I searched the lost dogs home and even downloaded an App to find a dog. None were 'blue' which is suitable for young children.

Eventually I posted a wanted ad on the ozdoggy website. Getting a dog that needs rehoming is special, the previous owners are usually reluctant to give up the pet, they want to know about you and pick between all the other people asking for their loved pooch. But Peppa's family just knew we were right for their dog.

Today we went to the airport and collected the new addition to our family, Peppa arrived from Northern NSW after a big day in doggy air travel.

But she was soon cuddled, fed, walked, tickled and loved so much, I know she is in the right place.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Tree Change. Moving to the country.

Recent conversations with The Mayor, (also referred to as Dad or Poppy) have brought to my attention the thinking of those that live in the city and the country. The Mayor questions why I would choose to live in the big city in a house that costs stacks of money, with neighbours living fence to fence. Where traveling 10km to work can take over an hour and everything from private schools to creches have waiting lists and high fees.

Why do this when instead you can have:

A decent size block and a beautiful home, walk to work, put your kids in the local creche or school (public or private, just choose and go, don't beg and plead to get in) and be less stressed with a more relaxed lifestyle. Have chooks, grow a vege garden, provide lots of space for the girls to run around and live in a community where generally people are pretty supportive.

The Mayor would like to see more people move to the country towns in his area and can't understand why they are not flocking to get there. With lots of jobs and facilities on offer, what's not to love?

I cant really explain it other than I love being spoilt for choice and having lots of options. Whether it be something to do on the weekend, schools, shops or movie theatres.

What keeps you in the city?

What would it take to get you to move further afield? Or have you already made a Tree Change?



 
 
 

 

Today's image is sadly not my legs.

Women are amazing, so was lunch

On Friday I got in early and celebrated International Women's Day.

I've been lucky enough to attend IWD celebrations over the last ten years and always come away feeling very proud of some inspiring women, those, who against the odds rise up and fight for what is right. Whether it be for the good of all women by changing laws or society or just for themselves by escaping domestic violence.

Unfortunately I was reminded that amongst other things, women still earn 17% less per week than men.

That's a lot of shoes.

If you feel like an informative, interesting, inspiring read, here is Mary Kostakidis' speech from the lunch. It is lengthy, but well worth it.

Five things that are getting a little bit pricey.

Sure, everything is subject to inflation and some things are considered luxury items and thus come with a price tag to match. But it seems lately that some items are going beyond fair market value. Here is my list of five things that have come a little above themselves, seeking a few pennies too many...but I guess some suckers are still paying for it.

1) A scoop of Ice Cream - Kiddie Scoop - $5.40!
On a recent family city walk on a pretty hot day, we agreed to have an ice cream for afternoon tea. The first ice creamery we stumbled upon was Trampoline. They make it all themselves (as they all should) and have trendy little cups to eat your ice cream from. I went to order the girls a scoop in a cone each but was suggested to get the cup instead - $10.80 later the little darlings had a scoop. Can you imagine how many litres of Pauls Creamy Vanilla I could have got instead.

2) City carparking
Every now and then I have to drive into work to ensure I am there for a meeting. On my last trip I just snuck in before 9 am to get the early bird special day rate of $17.00, the man stamped my ticket and reminded me that if I was to leave before 3pm it would be the full price of $84.50 instead. Fruity Tooty! I was stressing all day that creche would call to say the kids were sick and I would have to delay getting them so that I didn't go broke by being at work!

3) Puppy dogs.
Once upon a time you could check the local paper under Free to Good Home and find your choice of pooch to suit your needs. But not so much now. We have been looking for a few months at the lost dogs home for a suitable pet and when they failed headed to the pet shop. While there were signs everywhere proclaiming "We do not support puppy farms" I have to wonder how it is that a puppy is now $1200 when it is 8 weeks old. Then you have to de sex, micro chip, vacinate...Seems it is designer dogs for designer people, while some poor doggy mumma is no doubt pumping out puppies non stop.

4) Op Shops. True! My local oppie was the place to scour for all the requirements of my recent 80s dinner party night (which was fun) but my local shop had sky high prices. It was more expensive there then the local dept store. An old dinner set, ugly, no one wanted, not even a full set - $45! Don't they know kmart has them brand new for $20. An op shop is fun to grab all sorts of bargains, but the aim is also to provide crazy low prices so that everyone in the community has a place where they can choose what they need and like and afford it too. The money at op shops always goes back to excellent causes, but surely donated goods should be priced accordingly.

5) Haircuts. Actually, this isn't new, always has been just ridiculous prices to get my hair cut and coloured at a 'salon'. Mr H gets his done for $18. Can you imagine what I would get for that price...one foil maybe?

Have you got anything to add to this list? What else have you noticed is climbing above its station in the cost department?



The image is from this talented tumbler account

Stuff from my recent seminar

I was lucky enough to attend a social media boot camp this week and there were a couple of little bits and pieces that I thought worth sharing. One was a very simple website, that depending on your job, could keep you up to date with any changes, news, or alterations you need to be aware of on certain webpages, (quite handy if law is your profession of choice) it can be used on any webpage at all, its free and you don't need to register, log in or have an account.

Check out http://www.changedetection.com/

It was also interesting to see so many in the room did still not really understand RSS feeds and readers.

Louisa at Everything is Edible recently covered this issue in her post about How to Read a Blog if you want to understand RSS a bit more her post may help you.

Otherwise, let me know if you need some more tips about setting up a reader or what an RSS feed/reader is and I will try and help you out.

New Name, New Look

If you are in a reader then you better click on over to the real blogsite.

...Ta da!

New look blog for your viewing pleasure.

I have also gone with a new name.

BabbleOn is no longer. I have changed this for a couple of reasons.

1) When I started blogging I really had no idea where it would lead to and just grabbed the URL and played around with different names.
2)the URL was always claireyhewitt.blogspot.com and the blog name was different, so I was hard to find if you didn't know the URL.
2) babbleon dot com was already taken, and I may consider going global and moving to claireyhewitt.com
3) Claireyhewitt is my twitter handle, so this makes everything that bit easier.

While you are all here reading in my new flash space I am renaming Babble Dad, sometimes he has been called SS too, but from now on lets just call him Mr H, it will make things easier for me, and you. Popps and Immy will retain their names but I may also refer to them as the Little Hueys from time to time.

I would like to say it is, but nope, I didn't whip this up myself the very fast Katrina from Media Mad is the artist to thank, turning my ideas around very quickly and installing it all too. Phew!



Hope you like it.

Do we have a problem?

This is Immy's dress cupboard. There are two coats hanging here, a couple of skirts and a plethora of dresses.

These are the ones she currently fits into, thanks to Groovy Granny and Nana Christmas who provide her with many an outfit, having an older sister and three older cousins plus a mother who never says no to a hand me down the child is swamped by fancy dresses. She is now having to wear infant couture to creche to get some wear out of them.

I was recently reading a post where the mum was a little concerned that her mum's group might be a bit snobby as her son was receiving some hand me downs. It still surprises me that the receiver of second hand goods can be considered somehow less than one who won't. When I was pregnant with Popps and discussing how much we had received another pregnant lady scoffed at me, "over my dead body will my son be wearing some other babies things", I did feel 'put in my place' I guess.

I recently also thought a friend doing it tougher than others might like some of Immy's wardrobe, and I admit to feeling uncomfortable suggesting it, in case they were of the 'no hammydowns' variety. It made my day to hear she is excited to receive a bundle of anything I want to pass on.

But now the problem I really see?

My own cupboard! You see, I have about three dresses, lots of jeans with holes in them and my maternity trackies that I may never ever throw out. Clearly, something needs to change around here.

How about you, are you happy to dress your kids in seconds or wear them yourself?