FFS Friday / Shiny Things Friday

I've toyed with several ways to write this post. It was going to be either:

• The Pregnancy Edition, consisting solely of whinging about how the baby has suddenly flipped breech, leaving me in indescribable amounts of pain (see how I slipped that in anyway?)
• The Cat Edition, where Lucy describes the several injustices of her world or
• The There's Nothing To Whinge About edition.

Instead, here's the regular edition for you.

The Renovation is Absolutely Not a Sensation Update

• The floor has been tiled and grouted. The walls were set to be tiled this week, except when our tiler held his spirit level up to the walls in several places it was discovered that our walls are 'Thees walls. They like bananar.' FFS.
• This means we've had to hire a chippie to come and effectively replace the bottom half of three walls in the bathroom. FFS.
• He was unavailable for a week. FFS.
• Why oh why did the tiler not think about this when he quoted on the job, two months ago? FFS.
• I can't be angry with him. He's too charming. FFS.
• I'd like an inside toilet BEFORE I GIVE BIRTH. FFS.

• As I mentioned, baby has flipped breech. I think this happened two nights ago, when Mr S was showing me his fancy new commuter pushbike and I suddenly doubled over from sharp, shooting pain. I think Mr S wondered if I was just uber-impressed with his new bicycle. (actually, that's a lie, he looked concerned because we'd just eaten a super hot curry making jokes about labour.) I saw my midwife yesterday who advised panadol and heat packs and rest. 9 weeks to go. FFS.
• I keep making my cups of tea too hot. Good lord. FFS.
• BNHQ are either idling their sports exhaust-ed cars all day, allowing their dog to bark all day or shifting their 6 cars around. Your car works so turn it off already, your dog barks all day and you have too many cars. FFS.
• Mr S and I misplaced the only heat pack we own on the weekend sometime. We've spent all week looking halfheartedly for it, when I found it this morning in the bottom of the washing basket. Ah, thanks Millie. Why didn't we think to look there sooner? FFS.
• I picked up a new pair of sunglasses this week, whereupon I noticed there was a white mark between the lens and the frame. The lady surveyed me and went out the back to see what she could do. She then came back and politely asked 'Are you cleaning everything in sight yet?'
  'Yes. Why?'
  'Welllllll... it really is a tiny mark. So tiny that we could barely see it. That's when I realised you were probably nesting and cleaning everything, therefore you see every mark, minute or not.'
• I want to be insulted. But she's right. FFS.
• And thankfully, they fixed the damn mark.

Shiny Things Friday

'See Daddy, it's right there on, page 2. Here, let me show you.'

M takes selfies first thing in the morning whilst my phone is on the dock.

We had our carpets and couch cleaned this week. I had to
resist all urges to put no furniture back and turn it into The Good Room.

Our meals this fortnight are from this cookbook. It's lovely!

Apron I made for my SIL's birthday (today!). I love it so much
I had trouble sending it away...

Sneak peek! Hairclips, destined for Etsy this weekend. Keep your eyes peeled!

Making! I finally finished this pouch after weeks of thinking I'd
borked the zipper. I kind of did, but it doesn't look like it here! Hooray!

Linking up with Sarah at Dear Baby G for today's post.

Thankful Thursday: The Quiet Courier and the Tenuous Day Nap

This is what sunshine looks like.

My little lady was a cat-nap only kind of gal for the longest time. Then she turned into a two nap per day girl, with each being almost two hours. Heavenly.

Then, she grew up into the toddler-lady that she is right now. One nap only. Thanks. At daycare, 3-4 hours at a time. At home we've been lucky if she will sleep for an hour. Let me also say that in all of our time together she has never slept for 3-4 hours at home. Never.

And there's me. I appear to be very much related to my mother, who will answer the phone in spite of whatever she's doing, sometimes just to tell me that she's busy and she'll call me back.

If someone knocks on our door I will usually jump to get the door. After all, this is The Country, so it must be important, yes?

The truth is, if it's not someone we're expecting, it's often Jehovah's Witnesses, who drive around The Country door knocking. Now that's believing in your cause.

Yesterday when BNHQ* rumbled to life with a sports exhaust kind of welcome, Millie awoke suddenly half an hour into her sleep. Awoke is the wrong word. JUMPED AWAKE AND STARTED SCREAMING is perhaps more accurate. Poor poppet. I picked her up and we just sat in the darkness of her room, listening to her music mobile and cuddling. I was prepared to call it on the nap, and we'd just grit our teeth through the afternoon (7 hours until bedtime....argh). Then I heard it.

Knock, knock.

So softly I wasn't sure if it was the wind on the screen door or not, there was a knock at the front door. As I heard this knock I looked down and noticed Millie almost conked out again. Unheard of.

I decided to let the door go. I thought it was perhaps one of the tradesman who have been fixing our bathroom, and that they would wait a few minutes. No one was coming between my Millie and her unheard of continuation of nap.

Millie closed her eyes and went back to see her friends The Snoozebears. I tiptoed out of the room and went to the door to see what had happened. And that's when I saw it.

The polite knocking had been from a courier. Perhaps they saw the car seat in the car and kid paraphernalia everywhere, and being parents themselves realised that it was possibly nap-time, so not the best time to announce one's arrival. Perhaps they knocked louder than I realised and I didn't hear it. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

I'm so thankful that they didn't give me a KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, only to hand me a parcel. I like to think it was my above 'Couriers as Parents' theory and they decided it didn't need to be signed for after all, so they wedged it in my screen door.

Today, I'm thankful for the politeness of strangers, who really made my afternoon so much easier. Little M snoozed on for another hour or so and woke up full of sunshine.

What are you thankful for today?

*BNHQ: Bogan Neighbour HeadQuarters. Our loud neighbours across the road, who seem to squeeze about 5 people into a 1.5 bedroom house. 

GIVEAWAY - Coles Comfy Bots Nappies

image from www.coles.com.au

In the Smyth Household we alternate between disposable and cloth nappies, depending on what we're doing, how much washing needs to be done, whether or not we have an inside toilet and whether or not someone (ahem, me) has been lax in assembling the cloth nappies.

When I was contacted and asked if I'd like to try Coles Comfy Bots Nappies with a giveaway for you guys, I jumped at the chance. Once we'd found a brand of nappies that worked (i.e. did not leak!) we've tended to stick to that one brand, although others are cheaper. Coles Comfy Bots Nappies had been on my 'Oh wow, that's a great price!' list for a long time, but there's not a Coles nearby here, so we'd never got the chance to try them.

For starters, let's talk about pack size. Millie fit the Toddler size, and there was 50 nappies in a pack, which retails at $12.00. That's 24 cents per nappy. Bargain! Other brands we use were anywhere from 30-48 cents per nappy.

I sent a pile of them to Daycare with Millie for her carer to use and give me some feedback while she was there, and had absolutely no complaints. We accidentally used one overnight, also with no leaks. The sizing is a little different to what we'd usually used so they were a bit bigger than the existing ones we were already using. I'm certain this helped with the dry overnights.

The nappies felt quite flimsy, but held up to 4-5 hours use with no problems and no wet rash, including one day when heavily pregnant Mummy forgot how long it had been between changes, and it was 6 hours. I know, I know. Call the Mummy Police. However, no wet rash and no leak throughs. I did find that a super heavy nappy seemed to break apart a little bit within the nappy lining itself, but not through the lining at all.

The Nitty Gritty

Would I buy these? Yes.
Would I recommend Coles Comfy Bots Nappies? Yes.
Am I pleased that you can win a month's supply of Coles Comfy Bots Nappies? YES.
Would I like you to also send me some chocolate? The baby wants some... YES.

Enter using the spunky RaffleCopter widget and I'll be contacting the lucky winner within 48 hours of the competition ending!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I received a pack of Coles Comfy Bots Nappies to try and review. No payment was made, and all opinions are most definitely my own. Pass the M&Ms. Unfortunately this giveaway is for Australian residents only. Apologies, my international friends!

FFS Friday....er Saturday.

I'm late with this, I know.
Yesterday, this finally happened.

A tiler about to beautify the bathroom.

• After standing us up 2 weeks ago, and then three times this week, The Tiler arrived. I attempted to maintain a polite yet cool demeanour:
  "Would you like a cup of tea? No? Okay then. I'll be in here."
  but he was so gosh-darned charming. When I joked that I'd be so happy to see this renovation done as I was feeling a bit too pregnant for all this he said in his Polish accent
  "Oh, but you look so happy. So pregnant and happy." and kept popping his head out saying "Don't worry, be happy!" I felt compelled to make him cups of coffee and offer Tim Tams, which he politely rightfully refused. FFS.
• I then went into town to buy a dress the size of Texas to cover my shame bump for my brother's wedding in two weeks, choose and order new glasses and do my tax. I also meant to buy curtain rails, get new bipper remotes for the car keys and exchange a pair of M's shoes. Turns out my bump protested most of the way and after retiring to my bed at 6.30pm with hot packs I still can't walk particularly well. FFS.
• A big shout out goes to the lady at Laura Ashley whom upon my asking what they might have told me 'to just look around' and then determined 'we don't have anything to accommodate you.' Way to ensure repeat business. FFS.
• There are only ten weeks (MAX) until #2 rocks up. I am not prepared. FFS.
• I was stuck behind a car with 'Sponsored by Centrelink' and Transformers stickers on the way out of the Valley yesterday. This car drove erratically above the 100km/hr speed limit, dipping off to the left hand side randomly. I kept my distance until we hit the double lane and it was safe to overtake. As I overtook I thought it was also a P-plater, limited to 80km/hr. This was confirmed when they overtook me immediately. I was travelling at 100km/hr. I wished valiantly for a police car, but there was none. FFS.
• I know how old I sound, complaining about the young-uns driving unsafely. FFS.
• Whilst preparing my tax after dinner one night this week I tore my filing system apart looking for a receipt that I'd sworn I'd taken out of my purse and put somewhere safe. Two hours later I had a heck of a mess to clean and I found the receipt. In my purse. FFS.
• My accountant laughed at me repeatedly whilst doing my tax because of the different types of income I produce through my ABN. I'm sorry graphic design, sewing and music performance are so hilarious to you. FFS.

Shiny Things Saturday

Millie loves to pretend that she's reading the paper and eating
cereal, just like Daddy.

No words, just heart explosion.

I got a package from Canada via NZ this week. I do not need to buy
chocolate again.

Daffodils out. SO stunning.

30 weeks.

Making more hairclips.

Linking up with Sarah for FFS Fridays. She still loves me even though this is late.

What we want for you... 12 months on.

Yes, this is a repost from 13th July, 2011. It's become especially relevant again as our government moves to make same sex marriage legal in Australia. 
I remembered that when I originally wrote this I hoped that same sex marriage would be legal in Millie's lifetime, but I really didn't hold much hope. What a change a year makes!
I enjoyed re-reading this passage, and I thought you might too.

If you want to know how you can help, GetUp have an automated petition on their site so you can send your support to your local MPs. But as I stated last year, one of the best things you can do to help is to talk about it. Start conversations in your community, go and chat to your MP and feel confident that by passing this legislation we're on our way to making an equal society where no one is discriminated against for their sexuality, race or gender.

Read on! Please share this post if this is an issue you feel strongly about. Let's keep the conversation going. Thank you!

What we want for you…

There’s a passage in my daughter’s Baby Book that is headed ‘What we want for you in this world’. It’s still blank because there’s so many things we want for her that I haven’t been able to articulate them.

I want Millie to grow up in a world where she has choices. A world that is free from poverty and disease. A world where she feels she can make a difference. Heady stuff. She’s already got a great start on this. She was lucky enough to be born in Australia, a first world country with many things. 

Federally funded health care. Work equality. Freedom to speak her mind. The freedom to make choices about birth control. Running water in her house. A non leaky roof over her head. Parents that love her. Freedom to marry whom she chooses, for love is all you need. Wait one minute.

Before I jump on in, let me begin this by telling you that I am married. And when we married last October, the non-removable part of our vows was along the lines of ‘In Australia, The Marriage Act defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman.’ Because right now that is how our country defines marriage.

Now let’s rewind a bit. The big issue when my baby boomer mother was in her formative years was women’s rights and equality. The big issue when I was growing up was homosexuality. In my household it was no big deal. We spoke about it and my parents went to pains to make sure my siblings and I knew it was okay, a non-issue. I vividly recall a conversation between early teenaged me and my father - ‘What do you mean he’s gay?’ ‘Yep. He’s gay.’ ‘Oh. So <insert name here>’s his boyfriend then?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘Huh.’ And that was it.

It wasn’t like that for a lot of people, and when I was growing up to be called homosexual was still an insult. I can’t imagine that in many schools today that it’s still an insult and for this I rejoice.
It never occurred to me until years later that same sex couples were not allowed to marry. I’m proud that Millie will grow up in such a household where homosexuality is not a big deal. We may not speak about it, because it’s not a big deal.

Back to marriage. I cannot buy into the idea that same sex marriage devalues a traditional marriage. I cannot understand it. Why, on some level, are we still comparing ourselves as superior to others? It’s like saying African Americans can’t patronise the same bar as Caucasian people. Or saying Aboriginal Australians can’t vote. Thankfully we don’t advocate these backward ideals anymore.

I’m constantly avoiding arguments about same sex marriage within social & traditional media because I can’t believe it’s an issue. I don’t care if couples of the same sex get married. I simply don’t. I care that they can’t make a choice to, because I love the country that we live in and part of that love of our free country is the choices you can make.

• Vegemite or Promite? (As if that’s a question anyway? Vegemite always wins.) 
• Buy a house or rent? 
• Have more children or only one? 
• Go to work or stay at home? 
• Regular unleaded or premium petrol? 
• Openly practice a religion or state your atheism?

These are very basic choices. Followed on by a choice that only straight couples can make… 

• To marry or live in a de facto relationship?

I’m baffled by the time and energy expended by both non religious and religious folk in making sure the government decision for same sex couples to marry will be still a ways away yet. I’d like to know why other’s decision to marry offends your sensibilities. How does another’s expression of love change your expression of love? If it helps, my husband and I are not religious. We got married. And I was pregnant when we did. Does that offend your sensibilities? Why? What does it make you feel about yourself?

I hope we live in a time where my daughter grows up and feels confident about stating her sexuality and is able to marry whomever she chooses. And that should she choose to marry, she will not be applauded or made an example of, because I wish for anyone’s decision to marry to be a joyful one that can happen any day, to anybody.

That is what I wish for my daughter. Choice.

(There’s information over here, but the best way you can help is to talk about it. Start conversations and talk away.)

So, you're having your SECOND baby. (not that long after your first)

One of my most popular posts on here is 'So... your friend's having a baby', along with 'Life with a newborn', and 'So YOU'RE having a baby'. And as our next little baby's due date approaches at a rapid rate, it made me think of what I'd give a friend having her second baby. Ergo, what would I like to be given, should people be kind enough to give us gifts this time.

Let's face it, there's not a lot a second baby needs. Unless you're into Big Ticket Items and buying a double pram for us... we've got enough clothes and things to last us through another four children. (No. Absolutely not.) And a second pregnancy is far less about *you* than your first was. For starters, there's no lazing on the couch demanding dinner and cups of tea when there's a toddler eating a newspaper in the corner. So, given that a second baby doesn't need a lot of *stuff*, Mums and Dads could use a bit of pampering.

My list thus far (for giving and receiving) would be:

• A nice, new fluffy bath sheet for Mum, with a matching bath towel for baby. Hooded baby towels were great until Millie was about two months old... then they weren't quite big enough. A regular bath towel is a great size for a mini-me.

Pure Fiji Starfruit Body Butter.
Image from purefiji.com

• Beautiful body moisturiser. My current obsession is Pure Fiji Star Fruit Body Butter. I got a sample one in my BellaBox in June, and Sarah was kind enough to post me her sample pot too. Once I run out of those two... yikes.
• I know I spoke about Bodum insulated cups previously, and I have this set. However, after having one at work and constantly jostling piping hot tea over my hands whilst walking up the stairs, I've decided that ones with a handle would be beneficial. These ones look ace. While you're organising that, some fancy tea or coffee would be welcomed too. 
• If you're the baking kind, a batch of frozen biscuit dough balls for the freezer is such a great idea. The beauty of these is that you can just pop as many on a tray as you'd like, and cook them for 5 minutes longer.
• Always, always, a meal for the freezer is SO very wonderful. Another suggestion is that if your friend hasn't started a list already, grab any piece of paper nearby and catalogue their freezer for them. It makes the world of difference to be able to treat your freezer like a takeaway joint, at least for a few weeks.
• While you're at it, a few large sized single serve frozen meals are a thoughtfully wonderful idea for the man of the family who still has to go to work every day. Both parents will be exceptionally sleep deprived, and if Mum doesn't have to think about dinner, and Dad doesn't have to think about lunch, they'll love you that little bit more.
• New nail polish, with a bottle of nail polish remover, a nail file and some cotton pads. And, a note that you'll come and entertain the kiddlywinks whilst Mum has an hour to herself.
• Garnier BB Cream. I was lucky enough to win two Garnier competitions last year (from Veggie Mama and Good Googs)and am only just working my way through the second tube of this miracle cream. It's like a great moisturiser, concealer and cover-all-my-sleep-deprivation-blotchy wonder cream. I knew it was marvellous when I had a mate I hadn't seen for a long time compliment me (honestly) on how great I looked. I'd been running on 4 hours of broken sleep for weeks. I vowed to only buy this cream forever more. And it's cheap! $13 per tube, and the first tube lasted me 8 months of everyday use.
• It's left field, but a one month subscription to Bellabox would be a lovely treat for a Mum who might like to pamper herself but has a) no idea how (that's me!) b) no money to do so (also me!) or c) is aware that there's suddenly no time. Bellabox subscriptions are $15 per month, and come jam packed with personalised goodies. They are a generous mix of sample sized and full sized products. It's one of the highlights of my month!
• Whilst not a lot of us are overjoyed with doing housework, an offer to run the vacuum around the house, and perhaps sweep and mop the floors would always be appreciated. Or put a load of washing on. Or put some washing away. Or all of the above. Then, leave. If there's a toddler running around, you could make them a sneaky vegemite sandwich too...
• If you're popping by, a nice fresh loaf of bread with some lunch fixings is a great idea. So much of this is about food, but it's so true! With a newborn you're so preoccupied with the feeding and the changing and the OH MY GOD instant hunger that thinking of food in advance is difficult. And I imagine once there's a toddler as well... oh dear. This would be a great help.
• You could offer to do the weekly shop for the family if they'd let you. I'd happily pack someone off to the supermarket with my shopping list and my bank card, so long as they didn't buy themselves too many extra blocks of chocolate.
• If you'd like to buy things for the baby, think about the weather in six months time and gift something appropriate for the season, in a size 00-1. It's so nice once the dust settles to find it's cold/hot weather and that there's something nice and new for baby in the cupboard already.

What are your tips for helping care for a family with a second baby?

FFS Friday / Shiny Things Friday

First world whinge time! Wheeeee!

Thanks for nothing, Lucy.

• The tiler has not shown up this week. That's two weeks now. At this rate we could have had any tiler wanted, instead of the one who will 'fit us in no worries'. FFS.
• The front half of my house smells vaguely like septic because there's no a) bathroom door or b) tiles on the wall to let there be a toilet in the floor. Mr S has gone to great lengths today to ensure that the smell is gone by putting a something something cap in the floor. FFS.
• At least, I think the house smells like septic. My head is so blocked up I'm not entirely sure. FFS.
• Although, I could certainly smell that nappy this morning... FFS.
• I thought Mr S was either a) waiting for me to get home and deal with said nappy or b) finishing his cup of tea. It turned out to be c) When I went to change the nappy, he came in brandishing an extra pack of wipes and preparing to entertain M and hold her down. He said 'Sorry, you'll need help with that.' He was right. OMG. FFS.
• We also have no firewood. Mr S told the woodman that we were almost out and he assured us he'd bring some 'later in the week'. Lo and behold, later in the week and no wood. It's also freaking breath-vapour cold outside. I am running an electric heater on low so we do not freeze. FFS.
• Related: I got the power bill last week for the winter quarter. It appears that our Rheem Heat Pump Hot Water has not been working again. FFS.
• I have no clothes that fit. No wait, that's a lie. There's a pair of maternity jeans, three maternity shirts and one of Mr S' jumpers. I have trackies that don't stay up and shirts that don't reach the trackpants. I have a perma-frozen patch of under-bump skin. FFS.
• Related: I am going to a wedding in QLD in three weeks time. FFS.
• M lives in Tantrum City approximately 40% of the time at the moment. Yesterday's doozy was caused by me picking her up from daycare. As in, we had to leave daycare. Ummmm.....? FFS.
• This week my Dr mentioned they'd like another ultrasound for bub at 34 weeks. I was all 'oh yeah, no worries. MONTHS away.' He was all 'So, that's in 5 weeks time.' I guess this means I'm having a baby FAIRLY BLOODY SHORTLY THEN. Oh dear. FFS.
• I shouldn't complain, I feel like I've been and will be pregnant forever.  FFS.
• I certainly look like I've been pregnant forever. A delivery driver at work helpfully asked me two weeks ago 'So, almost any day now huh?'. I replied in my Caps Lock voice 'ANOTHER TWELVE WEEKS THANKS VERY MUCH.' FFS.
• While I was doing my new preggo exercise DVD on the weekend, M helpfully sat on the floor next to me and lifted up my shirt to pat my belly. Thanks, kid. FFS.
• Our brand new fridge got delivered, finally. That's a whole other blog post. FFS.

Shiny Things Friday

After a shitty day last week, Mr S surprised me with this after dinner.

My new iron. If it were possible to divorce and remarry...

The child proof gate to the bathroom... is not. Oops.

At the park!

I have found a use for my old iPhone 3GS. Seriously, best fabric weight ever.
#firstworldrecycling

Craft time!

28 weeks.

New polish. It's delightful but will be a pain to remove. I can tell.

One of my many forgotten cups of tea. When I'm at home, my ratio
for making: drinking is approximately 3:1.

My first lot of clips about to make their way to a new home!

See the pretty glittery nails? It's like a disco party on my hands.

Making. I'm enjoying this fabric so much, I think I'll have troubles
giving the finished product away.

Linking up with Sarah over at Dear Baby G for FFS Friday.

Thankful Thursday : Moogle & Independence

This week is a bit light hearted on my behalf. It's been a crappy week of sleep and illness in the Smyth household.

The sleep has maybe perhaps sorted it out for M, although I feel like I'll have Pregomnia forever... Or perhaps just the next ten weeks or so?

Millie reminds me to take a moment and laugh. She is a pint sized whirlwind who finds delight in spinning around in a circle, touching the cat's ears, walking around the house with one of her many play telephones saying
'Hello? Um, ummmmm, um. Baaaa! Mmmmmm. Nana. Nay nay. Um. Yes. Bye bye!'. A rough translation (and perhaps why it's so amusing) is this:
'Hello? Um, ummmmm, um. Sheep! Cows! Banana! Horse! Um. Yes. Bye!'

Who couldn't love that? I also overheard her having an imaginary phone conversation with Mr S - there was lots of 'Daddy!' in there too.

I have succumbed to the Man Flu that has been circling our house for five weeks now, and I thought I'd escaped unscathed. When I am ill, it is truly a Man Flu. I need attention, cups of tea, and someone to pat my head. When I am lying on the floor in state, M comes up and pats my giant belly. Unfortunately, it's not quite the same. Close, but no lily pad.

On Tuesday morning I caught the early bus to work after precious little sleep and a head full of flu. I was well on my way to a crappy day when I received a message from Mr S with the following picture and the text simply said 'Moogle.'

And the independence. Well, M can now climb on to our dining chairs and sit herself at the dining table, often unbeknownst to us. She's also recently discovered what the iPad is ('Ooooh! Wow!' she says) and Mr S found her googling away merrily with my iPad, that I'd carefully placed in the middle of the dining table. (I.e out of tiny hands reach...)
I also found this window in the same browser session too:

I mean, what's up with that Google? No results? Piffle.
It's now referred to as Moogling, and I will be activating the parental controls on my iPad ASAP. If little lady is anything like her Mummy, the Internet shopping world is her oyster.

Linking up with Kate from Kate Says Stuff for Thankful Thursday.

It was a really good idea. Until it wasn't.

Linen wars.

After a few years of sleeping on beautiful 1000 thread count Egyptian Cotton sheets* I discovered a small tear in one. Then another small tear. Then one night I put my foot through the sheet. Never fear, we've got another set! And the exact same thing happened.

Now that we are in a Post Children Financial State of Mind we were in Spotlight (my Happy Place) and spotted (pun!) a sheet markdown bin. Win! WIN! However, we could only find two flat sheets in the colour we were after. One king sized, one queen sized.
'Never mind!' We said. 'It'll be fine! Just like hospital corners!'
So we bought them for $10 each and patted ourselves on the back for being such thrifty bargain hunters.

For the next two months I swore like a trooper every time I made the bed. In theory a King sized sheet should be much much bigger than a Queen. Could I work it out? No. My massive elephant sized beautiful baby bump made this task even more frustrating and I would inevitably wind up with the wrong sheet on the top.

But still. It was a BARGAIN. So I stuck with it and told myself I'd work it out eventually.

I did not.

So I broke and this week went back to Spotlight and bought two fitted sheets. They are different colours, but I do not care. We now have two new sheet sets and I have some semblence of bed-making sanity.

And oh yes, when I made the bed with said new sheets yesterday it was painfully obvious that I was putting a King sized top sheet on. Come on now.

What have you bought that was a BRILLIANT idea... but then wasn't?

*Clearly pre-children. I inwardly die at the idea of spending $120 on sheets now. Did you know they sell sheet sets at Woolworths? Huh.

FFS Friday / Shiny Things Friday

Really? What happened this week?

This is what the Wonder Weeks tells me... Oh god. FFS.

• I'm fairly sure my memory vacated the room when sleep also left this house... FFS.
• My baby. She no sleep. FFS.
• The Olympics are almost over and I'm going to be lost for shiny moving pictures at 3am. FFS.
• Mr S (deliverer of feline drugs) neglected to notice that Lucy was out of drugs until he gave her the last one. Two days before I (collector of feline drugs) would be in town to get more. It was actually three days because M was sick on the second day, so I was not at work. Lucy was off her tree for three days, and is still only just recovering. I feel for her, I really do, however my tolerance level for TWO clingy toddlers in the house was minimal. FFS.
• Because Lucy doesn't wake up Mr S at night when she's feeling loco. FFS.
• Not that he would have woken up anyway, as he'd been sadly so very bedridden with the flu that there was no waking him for anything. FFS.
• Pregnancy insomnia is here. I regularly wake at 10pm and 4am wide awake. Twitter does not amuse me at this time, everyone is very boring in the middle of the night. FFS.
• Caffeine makes Braxton Hicks worse. FFS.
• I got stuck behind a car in the right hand lane (THE OVERTAKING LANE) doing 75km/hr in the 100 km/hr zone. They did not move over, even as we passed the sign saying 'Right Lane for Overtaking Only'. FFS.
• I have millions of great ideas, but I appear to lack the memory to remember them, and the time management skills to implement them. Gosh. And, FFS.

Shiny Things

The bathroom is ready for the tiler. I discovered
Millie and Lucy inspecting it on the weekend.

Millie met our mate Andrew on the weekend. I'm unsure
who was more taken with who...

The Bump is capable of supporting crockery. However it kept kicking it off.

Millie pretends to sew. I'm dying from the cute.

When I went to buy an iron this week I was so sleep deprived that
when they told me this one was the best (and obviously most expensive), I
shrugged and bought it. Now I can't wait to use it! 

This is a lovely quote.

I discovered this nail polish in my kit this week. It's lovely!

Millie enjoying Lucy's company...
Lucy is still jonesing badly...

Nappy box car. One month on, still going strong.

When I bought the iron, I also bought Apple TV. And a fridge.
And a sandwich maker. Lesson here? Shiny toys good.
Sleep deprived shopping Bad.

Almost hairclips. How exciting!

Linking up with Sarah for FFS Friday. Go say hi!