I did it, look out Martha Stewart! And now also Aussie Wordless Wednesay.

Remember my plan was to get all crafty and attempt to do some paper pom poms just like Martha Stewart and Maxabella Loves

...well here they are, and we all loved them so much that the girls now have one hanging in each of their rooms.

What do you think?

Due to illness, I am using my Sunday post for the WW. Expect to be back to full strength and new post next week.

Happy wordless Wednesday!






P.S. I have a giveaway in the post just down below, join in if you are an Aussie.

Girls and boys play differently, a review and a giveaway all in one post...

Boys and girls play differently, in general. Whatever their specific interest they still have a built in nature that tends to lead them to different styles of play.

I was always of the opinion that they should still be offered the same types and styles of toys to play with, that blocks, cars, dolls, train sets and dress ups should still be on offer to both sexes and they can use their imaginations to use these ‘tools’ as they like.

Recently Popps and Immy were fighting in the sand pit, we only have one match box car in the house, and even that had been left behind in the car by my nephew. I realized there was a lack of male centric toys in the Babble House. However there have been many times when SS has arrived home excited about sharing a new toy with the girls, there was the time he bought the wooden train set and spent a good half hour getting it just right, but they didn’t touch it. He has purchased kids golf sticks, fishing rods and a Little People Fire Engines. They all lay untouched while the baby doll pram is falling to bits and the numerous tea sets are now odds and ends due to overuse.

All this has even lead to a specific style of television viewing too. So when Handy Manny ‘A Very Handy Holiday’ arrived in the mail recently it was not something they had seen before. With another little four year old visitor I propped them all up on the couch and they sat down to watch Handy Manny and his toys go about preparing for Christmas Eve.

Handy Manny is lovely for preschoolers, he is full of nice things and his tools are rather funny, with names that are cleverly thought out. There is Pat the hammer and Dusty the saw, Stretch the tape measure and my favourite Felipe, the Phillips head screwdriver, plus a few others. In the main Christmas feature the toys go through a process of helping a few other people in the town and in doing so they learn that different cultures celebrate in different ways and believe in different things. There are lessons of good behaviour and manners and treating people nicely. There is nothing to upset a young mind engrossed in the story of Handy Manny, which is a real bonus for the very young viewers.

There are smatterings of Spanish worked in really well to the program, with counting and the odd word here and there. All three girls sat and watched and seemed to enjoy the Christmas episode.

But Handy Manny didn’t have the draw that a more traditionally girly feature would have. The older two were off and didn’t come back to watch any more and when given the option on another day for Handy Manny or a more pink alternative Popps went with the chick flick option.

Immy was delighted to meet her good friends Winnie the Pooh and co in a bonus feature of this DVD and did her little excited dance when it came on, considering she has never seen them on screen before she seemed really surprised that they had come to life from her books. Certainly a bonus of this DVD which is hitting the shops this week on 3 November.

So while I once wouldn’t have expected, encouraged or thought it would occur in my household, there seems to be a natural move to all that is traditionally girly and a lack of real interest in anything that is not frilly, sparkly or pink.

While I go and dust off the blocks and purchase a few more match box cars for the Christmas stockings to bring some new play styles into the house, you can comment here about your opinions on boys and girls playing styles and go into the draw to win

Your very own copy of Winnie the Pooh, A Very Merry Pooh Year.

You will also need to be a follower of this blog to enter.

Enter by Friday 5 November by 8pm

Winner announced on Saturday 6 November 2010.

This giveaway is only open to Australian and New Zealand residents.

When stuck inside for the day...

Today, everyone I know pretty much is at the races, SS is there too.

And the rains are coming to town for what is expected to be a major downpour.

So while I am feeling stuck at home with a day inside I have decided to give my lack of craftiness skills a tutorial and give some of the ideas I have gathered over the last couple of weeks a try.

First up, I loved the paper pom poms that Maxabella Loves made for a recent childs party and thought they would be fairly mess free, my kinda craft.

I have the supplies so will give it a try.


Then for the arvo, I must be feeling looney, but I am going to give the spaghetti painting from Hear Mum Roar a go...how bad can it be, can't I just send them out in the rain to clean them up?

Either way, it will help pass the day.

What do you do when every one is away and you can't get outside?

Marketing help for everyone

This weeks find was initially to give my fellow marketing chicks and chaps something that is worthy of reading for work purposes, but as I am also a believer in good marketing strategy, and that having and implementing said strategy can be your path to Louis Vuitton handbags, many of my followers with small businesses or blogs will really get some use out of this read.

Pollen Marketing is the blog of Queen Bee Natalie Giddings.

This is not a blog that will send idle "my kids made a mess at breakfast and I am over it" posts to your RSS feed. Instead, the posts will be less frequent than many blogs, they will be worth the wait as you get a well organised and easy to digest update on all things marketing.

If you run a small business of any kind, you could also take a good look at the layout of this blog, how it is blog, but business website at the same time. It shows how important a good web layout can be to help grow your business and that offering people free advice through articles on a blog can lead to many potential clients heading your way.

The side bar will take you to all the marketing areas you want to know about, exploring the traditional marketing mix to more recent social media. Every business or pro blogger wanna be needs some outside marketing advice to keep their ideas fresh, new, innovative and dynamic. Have a read over at pollen, mosey around and see if you can find some ideas to freshen up your blog, business or marketing job.

Bloggers might especially like the recent post on the unspoken rules of writing a good blog post. (hope I have followed them here...)

Australian Wordless Wednesday: Giraffes in our backyard

Who needs Africa when we have Werribee, the place used to smell like sewage, but now it is all beautified and dignified.

Comment and Linky up and let's play Wordless Wednesday. Click through the links to see some other great Aussie Bloggers.

Run Man, Run

Yesterday I had to work on a presentation in powerpoint (I loathe ppt) but I was wanting to put this youtube clip in to make the boring more interesting. I couldn't embed it in to the presentation so instead decided to just share it here instead.

Next time you are having a bad day, look twice before crossing the road.

Screentime that isn't for preschoolers: Santa Paws Review

Let's be honest here, I am not super strict on the amount of screen time my kids have. While I try my super dooper best to entertain them with my singing, dancing, craftiness etc, there are times when I rely on good ol' ABC kids to help me out, they are my inhouse virtual baby sitters, and they do a damn good job.

What I am strict about is what is viewed within this screen time. I have always made sure it is appropriate and age relevant for pre-school children. My girls don't watch the news (which pretty much means I don't either) nor do they watch commercial televsion, so i know they don't see adverts for programs that are not suitable.

Recently I jumped at the chance to review the new Disney Christmas movie The Search for Santa Paws. It has a crazily cute doggy on the front, it is about Christmas and put together by those that have specialised in kids movies for donkeys years.

Popps and I snuggled up on the couch all excited.

Unfortunately about 15 minutes was all she could take.

Within this time the movie takes shape, and Santa heads off to New York with his cute puppy, while an adorable little girl is dropped at a nasty foster home, her parents "didn't make it and had to go to heaven." where the lady in charge throws all their toys in the incinerator, makes them do chores all day and provides no affection.

Meanwhile, poor old Santa is hit by a car on the street, a homeless man robs him and then Santa can't remember who he is.

At this stage, we turned it off. Popps is a sensitive soul I know, but this movie has distressed her for the last few days, we have had discussions about what is not real on television (yes, not even Dora or Little Princess) that the nasty lady is actually really lovely (and has nicer clothes) and the girls all live with their real parents.

So if you have a preschool child that is not used to more intense movies, this is not for you.

However, if you are a sucker for Christmas movies, cute singing children and super happy endings (yes, I admit, I am guilty of such things) than you and your family will love it.

Everything is rounded off perfectly, the homeless thief turns good, the nasty carer gets found out, the two main girls get a family to live with, the dogs all kick up their heels and, phew, Santa is saved. There are also a couple of musical scenes, I should also admit I have Sound of Music up there in my top ten movies, so I do love a musical scene, but these ones do add some happiness/atmosphere/smiles to this movie.

You can watch the trailer for the movie here (not scary I promise) and hang around for a few weeks when I will have a copy of this movie to give away right here on my blog (just in time for Christmas).



If you want to read some of the other reviews on this movie (especially for kids over 4) try here and here

Friday's Find; Blogs, bogans and Woogs

This week's find is one of my all time fav reads.

Mrs Woog from Woogsworld is F.U.N.N.Y!

Mrs Woog, and that is woog as in boog, not wog as in bog, so she tells me, is classified as a Mummy Blogger cos she has two kids (the woogettes) and a Mr Woog. But she is so much more than that. She is, bugger those two children and a weak pelvic floor, wet ya pants laughing funny.

However trying to explain the style of a funny blogger is tricky, so I asked Mrs Woog to write a post for me and (jump in the air with excitement) she said yes!

I gave her the title "The inner bogan in all of us"

She has done me proud



You say Bogan like it is a bad thing
According to Wikipedia, The term bogan (pronounced /ˈboʊɡən/, rhymes with "slogan") is Australian and New Zealand English slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for a person who is perceived to be from a lower class background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies such a background. [

Similar slang terms and concepts exist in other countries, including: chav, scally and pikey in England; ned in Scotland; scanger in Ireland; zef in South Africa; tokkie in the Netherlands; Proll in Germany; white trash or redneck in North America; ars in Israel and lumpen or lumpenproletariat in Russia.

It is a universal concept. I am a bogan from birth. I grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney, slightly west of Mount Druitt, the bogan capital of Sydney, if not Australia.

We wore our jeans tight and stonewashed.

Not only did I grow up there, but did most of this growing in the 80’s, which I believed then and still do, to be the bogan glory years. When bigger was better and louder was best. We were called westies back then. And did not know anyone else but westies and thought everyone was the same, apart from the really cool dudes on 21 Jump Street. But even then on reflection. They were really just bogans with guns.

I think your heritage never really leaves you. I now live in a part of Sydney full of pinot sipping monarchists who drive Volvos. But there is no prouder moment I have than watching Mr Woog hoon up to Bunnings wearing his Bonds Wife Beater in his 1975 Holden Ute which is so crap the floor recently fell out of it. And he only ever turns up the radio in it really loudly when the Angels come on singing “Am I ever Gunna See your Face Again…. Nowaygetfuckedfuckoff. And he lifts weights to Rose Tattoo’s “We Can’t be Beaten” in the garage.

Mr Woog. Cultural. Intelligent. Bogan.

Some people get confused as to where they fit on the Bogan Wheel, so I have concocted a little survey to complete. It is a bit like sitting for your driving test, but hopefully not just passing because you showed the gross old man from the RTA your boobs.

The first time you got pissed was

a)At your 18th Birthday Party with your parents on 2 glasses of wine

b)After skulling a hip flask of vodka at a Blue Light Disco

c)After skulling rocket fuel at the skate ramp

Your First Celebrity Crush was

a)Prince Andrew

b)Simon le Bon

c)Ozzie Osbourne

You have tattoos…..

a)Nowhere and think they are disgusting

b)A small butterfly on your ankle

c)A tramp stamp featuring a dolphin smoking a bong surrounded by frangipanis as well as your 7 kids names down your arms along with their full birth dates. And your eyebrows are tattooed on. Also a bit of bright blue eyeliner. But that is it for this year.

At your wedding you wore…

a)A Joanna Johnson gown

b)A crystal covered strapless dress by a shop in Wetherill Park.

c)A crystal covered strapless and backless dress by a shop in Wetherill Park with elbow length white gloves

Your Ideal meal would be…

a)Italian in Norton Street

b)BBQ in the Backyard

c)McDonalds Family Dinner Box in the car.

Please circle the correct spelling

a)Tiffany

b)Tiffani

c)Typhanee

Ed Hardy is

a)Who?

b)Pretty Bad

c)A fucking genius

Your Ideal Man

a)is caring, supportive and shares your values and beliefs

b)has a good job and is a good dad

c)is hung like a donkey, the last one standing at a keg party, nearly always calls you the correct name and loves Jim Beam, Ed Hardy and Tatts.

If you score mostly A, you are not a bogan. But I do suspect that you’re extremely dull and only ever do it in the Missionary Position and never eat carbs after 10am.

Mostly B’s? Where the majority fit in. Welcome. You understand the principals of boganism and are aware when you start to drift towards the line. You are able to self-check your actions and smarten up your act a bit. Although you still get a bit feral when you hear Metallica.

And my lovely ancestral sisters who find themselves in the C group. Thank God for you, but why are you either super runty skinny or morbidly obese? You make life colourful, give us unique spellings, keep the piercing industry in business and make sure you are heard wherever you go. The world needs folk like you. Do not change. The only thing I ask is please stop wearing leggings as pants.

Apart from that, as you were.



Thank you Mrs Woog for doing my very first guest post and for everyone else, you may now head over to Woogsworld. (Tena's may be required if you haven't been keeping up the exercises).


PS For those that can't remember the image is of Johnny Depp from his 21 Jump Street days.