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Pray for our safe return...

lol! Rocky, Jet & I are leaving tomorrow to go "adventure camping". What does that entail? Well...you take everything you need, including water & food for 10 days & a boat drops you off on an island that is totally deserted out in the middle of the ocean. So its just you, the national park your standing on & a hell of a lot of water.

The good news is its the beginning of the stinger season to so we cant even take jet in the water, yay! & we only get 5 litres of water per person per day so I'm not sure how we will go giving him a bath either - not that we are taking a bucket because we are only allowed 40kg of luggage between all of us flying up there. At least we will be using cloth nappies so we wont be carting 10 days worth of stinky grows sposies around with us (you have to take all your rubbish with you).

For the past couple of weeks people have been telling us all the wonderful stories of things that can go wrong, the best one is a friend of a friend getting dropped out on an island by a boat, then the guy that dropped them out there had a heart attack through the week & didn't tell anyone he was meant to pick them back up & they were stranded there for an extra 2 weeks with no food or water - fantastic!

Rocky's friend lent us this little dovalacki called an EPROM or something, its some emergency response thing that you set off & it notifies all the military, police, air force (& anyone else in the area) that you need urgent assistance you know, just in case we get bitten by a brown snake, stung by a box jelly fish, attacked by a shark or all of the above.

I might just mention at this point that i have a phobia of sharks. I started watching Jaws when i was 3 (that doesn't have anything to do with it though...noooooo). I'm absolutely fascinated by them but i respect their awesome killing power way to much to go anywhere near their domain. Rocky is taking us to that island because of the awesome snorkeling you can do at the reefs, but cause jets with us only one of us can go out at a time & there is no way on earth I'm going out to be shark bait all by my self!

anyway, wish us luck (rocky always has to drag me kicking & screaming to these things but i normally have a fantastic time).

Hopefully ill be back in 10 days to tell you all about it.

Picky Pants in Action

Here's a couple of shocking action shots of the picky pants i knitted jet. The were taken on my phone camera cause we are going on hols in a couple of days & rocky has already packed the camera & i cant find it! Sorry, they are a little blurry where it counts.

This is jets funny crawling technique by the way:

I just thought this one was cute & you can see the picot edging in it too (kinda):That's it! Sorry the pics are so shocking!!!

Ta Da...

I finished my mystery project - lol! Its my very first attempt at a pair of Picky Pants & i think i did ok. The crotch is a bit funny. If anyone can enlighten me - the whole bit where it says cast on two stitches when you are doing the leg bit, does that mean do that thing where you stick the needle in between the first & second stitch on your other needle then wrap the yarn around, pull it through & stick it back on your needle then do it again between the new stitch & the first old one (hope you can comprehend some of that?), cause that's what i did & it looked a bit funny. But who is going to be looking between his legs anyway!

I did the picot edging on the leg hem to give it that ship recked angel look (really I'm just trying to justify a girly edging by giving it a more masculine identity). Its got quite allot of colours jammed in there, which I'm not really sure about but i guess it looks ok. You might need to click on the pics to get a better look cause its hard to see them well at this size, but here they are: Ill get some action pics (i know i still have to stick action pics up of my last project too - ill get round to that as well). They are quite big on jet at the moment, but he'll grow into them. They have the drawstring anyway though so he can still wear them at the moment. They are meant to be Capri length but they look more like pants.

All in all I'm pretty happy with them! think I'm going to attempt one of those cute toys you can knit next. I really like Joe the Worm so i might give him a go.

First Paid Post Purchase

I just received the very first thing ive bought with my paid posts money!!! Its a Wild Child Dreamy Night Nappy & it is absolutely divine!

Ive wanted one for ages but they are around $41 each which is quite allot (they are meant to be fantastic though) but since i earned the money through paid posts i figured what the heck. There was a stocking of them 2 nights ago & i was lucky enough to nab one. Jets actually wearing it right now (very naughty - hasn't been washed yet *slaps wrist*) cause all his other night nappies are wet (rained today & all my washing was still out), im not sure how it will go cause bamboo needs a couple of washes to reach its max absorbency level.

So for all you MCN addicts out there here it is:

cant wait to see how it goes!!!

Just Beautiful

Did you know that initiating breastfeeding within an hour of birth can prevent 22% of all deaths among babies below one month in developing countries?

Every newborn, when placed on the mother’s abdomen, soon after birth, has the ability to find its mother’s breast on its own and to decide when to take the first breastfeed. This is called the ‘Breast Crawl’.

The Breast Crawl organisation has made a fantastic video showing a newborn attach all by itself for the very first time - just beautiful!!! If you want to see the vid Click Here (i did have it embeded on here but it started automatically & i think thats a pain in the arse so now you have to click on the link).

Pink Dyson Vacuum Cleaner Giveaway

OK, don't gasp when i say this, but we don't currently own a vacuum cleaner, shocking i know! We only have tiles though & i figured we wouldn't need one so i bought a steam mop instead. But you know what, we do need one & id absolutely love a Dyson. Ive been eyeing them off for years. I really like the whole bag less concept.

Anyway, The Domestic Diva has a competition on at the moment to win a Pink Dyson Vacuum Cleaner!!! All you have to do is write a post on your blog like this one & link back to her site (of if you don't have a blog you can email 10 friends about it). So if your interested click on the button below:


Wish me luck!!!

New Project

I still haven't posted an action shot of my last knitting project (the ribbed soaker) - sorry bout that! ill get around to it one day. I think i made the leg holes a little big but apart from that its working really well.

Im about 60% through my next project already. I was just going to do something small but i just had to attempt this pattern because ive had it sitting here a while! Heres a sneak peak:

The yarn is called 4 seasons or something, i got it on sale at lincraft a little while ago, im not 100% sure about all the colours in there together but we will see how it looks when its all finished. So far its actually going pretty well, i haven't had to undo to many rows or made any major mistakes (yet). Hopefully ill have them finished in a couple of days - wish me luck!

Sleep Issues

Whoever made up the term "sleeping like a baby" obviously didn't have kids!!!

Jet is going through such a rough patch with sleep at the moment. He is sleeping in with us because as soon as you lean over to put him into his cot he starts screaming. It wasn't always this way, he even went through a stage where he would put himself off to sleep without so much as a squeak, but that was really only for a couple of weeks. Now i either have to hold him or lie down next to him to get him to go off & he screams bloody murder the whole time! & if i try & put him down or get off the bed he wakes up & we start all over again.

Maybe its just a phase, he has 3 teeth on the bottom & 3 on the top so I'm sure there are two teeth that are going to come through soon & he has a really snotty nose at the moment so maybe its just that but its driving me up the wall!

Oh well, there's no quick fix. I have the no cry sleep solution book which i read when jet was only a couple of weeks old so i should get that out & read it again. I'm off to start another sleepless night - at least it will be full of cuddles!

This pic is for Rocky:

not because he isnt funny but because im one of those people thats always laughing at their own jokes when no one else is. Im sure he would love to have this pic on a card he could flash at me multiple times a day ;)

Adding a Rolling List (or Marquee)

I thought i would share some tips & tricks that ive learned over time. Not sure how often ill get around to it but here is my first one.

How to put a rolling list on your blog:
I just stuck a list in my side bar thats called 100 things about me (granted there is only 40 of them in there at the moment but you have to start somewhere!). It looks like this:

• 1. I am a mum to a beautiful, energetic, happy baby that hates sleep.
• 2. I am the wife of a very wonderful man
• 3. My hubby is better than me at both cooking and cleaning (yep...he got a raw deal!)
• 4. I LOVE being a SAHM
• 5. My favorite colour is purple but i love green to at the moment
• 6. Im afraid of sharks
• 7. I dont remember the last time i went in the ocean
• 8. i love watching jaws - started watching it when i was 3
• 9. I spend way to much time on the computer
• 10. I love buying books
• 11. I havent read at least half of the books i own
• 12. I need more books
• 13. I tend to pick up at least 2 new hobbies a year
• 14. My newest hobbies are knitting and sewing
• 15. My favorite food is mangos
• 16. We have two mango trees in our back yard!
• 17. I eat to much chocolate
• 18. My chocolate to exercise ratio is way out of wack
• 19. I weigh 15 kilos more than i did before i got pregnant with jet
• 20. I am a pisces
• 21. My rising sign is aquarius and my moon is in sag
• 22. I love astrology (that was last years hobby!)
• 23. I am an only child
• 24. I havent had an alcoholic drink since just before i got pregers with jet
• 25. I dont smoke
• 26. I dont do drugs
• 27. I always feel like a bit of an outsider
• 28. I winge way to much
• 29. Some of the best adventures ive had my hubby had to drag me kicking and screaming too
• 30. I always try to do everything the natural way
• 31. I hate going to see the doctor
• 32. I hate going to the dentist too!
• 33. Im very indecisive
• 34. I cant spell
• 35. A couple of years ago i decided to learn the violin. I played for 1.5 years and havent touched it since jet was born
• 36. I spend to much money online
• 37. I am veyr concerned about saving water, but somehow i just cant stick to 4 mins in the shower, its my relax time
• 38. I put things off
• 39. Im a little bit lazy!
• 40. this list is hard to write - think ill finish it later

Im going to show you how to do a 10 things about me list. First off you'll have to click 'add a page element' on the page elements tab & choose HTML/Java Script. Then you need to paste this code into the box that comes up:

<div class="'widget-content'"><marquee direction="up" width="250" scrollamount="1" height="100"> <ul><span> <li>1. Enter Text Here</li> <li>2. Enter Text Here</li> <li>3. Enter Text Here</li> <li>4. Enter Text Here</li> <li>5. Enter Text Here</li> <li>6. Enter Text Here</li> <li>7. Enter Text Here</li> <li>8. Enter Text Here</li> <li>9. Enter Text Here</li> <li>10. Enter Text Here</li> </span> </ul></marquee></div>

Replace the 'Enter Text Here' parts with your own text. Give it the title '10 things about me (or whatever you like) and thats it! This is what the above code will look like before you put your own text in & add the header:

• 1. Enter Text Here
• 2. Enter Text Here
• 3. Enter Text Here
• 4. Enter Text Here
• 5. Enter Text Here
• 6. Enter Text Here
• 7. Enter Text Here
• 8. Enter Text Here
• 9. Enter Text Here
• 10. Enter Text Here

If anyone has any probs just let me know & ill attempt to try and figure out whats going wrong.

Gym Junkie In The Making - lol

I joined a gym yesterday! i wasn't planing on joining but rocky & i went down to one of the local gyms & got suckerd in by all the 'special deals' they had that were only valid for that day (what a coincidence!!!). Anyway, im really glad i joined up.

I have a confession(which is already on my blog somewhere), I currently weigh 15 kilos more than i did when i got pregnant with jet (insert blushing smiley here) which is totally shocking. i initially lost about 5-7 kilos then somehow (nothing to do with my chocolate to exercise ratio) managed to put it back on. I haven't been to worried about it because i am still breastfeeding & jets nutrition is more important but he is on solids now & its time i start thinking about my health.

Anyway, Rocky decided to do some gardening late yesterday afternoon so i handed him the sling & the baby & told him i was off to the gym! i got there just as a class was about to start - it was called body attack, not an appealing name for my very first class but i figured id give it a go.

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face while i was waiting for the class to start (it got wiped of pretty quickly once it started though, hard to pant & smile at the same time). its just so nice to do something just for me, something that pre-baby would have seemed like a chore now feels like a treat for me. The class was very punishing, i lasted until about 1/2 way through going full ball then just fudged the rest.

Im well aware that i look like a blob running around in unfashionable gym wear with a bright red face, very unappealing especially next to the highly toned & defined bodies of the gym junkies, but you know what, i dont care! im just happy to be doing something for me & i have plenty of denial to get me past the image issues for now ;)

What i really love about this gym is that they have a steam room. I didnt even know steam rooms existed, i love saunas (which they have also) so i was excited about being able to use that regularly, but i think ill be living in the steam room. i dont even feel sore after yesterdays thrashing. They have an aromatherapy relaxation room too - cool!

The down side is that ive been up since 2.30 am, i was buggered so i went to bed at 8.30 which is unheard of for me, normally i cant get to sleep till 12ish. But my body just isnt programmed for sleep anymore so 2.30 rolled around & i was wide awake. Guess i should be getting some housework done instead of playing on the computer!