Author: Suzanne Robinson

Categories
Review

Shows to Binge-Watch While in Lockdown

Would you like a list of some new shows to add to your watch list? If you said yes, then I have a few for you.

I’ve been watching some really great shows and I thought it might be nice to share them with you.

Panic

What is the show about?

“In the summer after their senior year, 47 graduates participate in the annual Panic competition. Winning Panic with a cash prize of $50,000 will allow them to escape their small Texas town of Carp. After the rules change they must decide what risks they will take to escape their home town.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_(TV_series)

The show is based on Lauren Oliver’s book Panic which was released on March 4, 2014. The story is about high school seniors that play a daring competition that gets more dangerous as the activities and actions for each level exceed the danger of the previous ones…in fact, the things that the kids are asked to do are downright horrible and silly. I would never participate in this game.

Even though personally you would never do the things in the game Panic, you get invested in the main character, Heather Nill (played by Olivia Welch) and want her to win to allow her to follow her dreams.

I really enjoyed the show, although I cringed a few moments due to the dangerous actions. I liked the way the friendship group of Even though personally, you would never do the things in the game Panic, you get invested in the main character, Heather Nill was very supportive even though they were from vastly different backgrounds.

If you want a show that makes you wonder what is going to happen next, then this is for you.

You can find Panic on Amazon

The Outsider

We have Stephen King to thank for this mini-series, the show is based on his book of the same name. The Outsider is also produced by Jason Bateman (Bateman is only in 2 or so episodes) and Ben Mendelsohn, both also star in the show.

If you truly wanted a show that makes you second guess things, question what has happened, and have supernatural storylines, this is your show.

What is the show about?

The show is about one horrible crime that has police second-guessing themselves. The evidence contradicts everything the police know about the case. Not only is this not the first horrible crime that has contradicting evidence no one believes that the person accused of the crime is actually innocent.

Ben Mendelsohn who plays Ralph Anderson is troubled about how the case is not adding up, why is their evidence of the person being in two different places at the same time and places that are not possible to travel to if you are already in one town. Ralph powers through his sensible nature and finally comes around to the supernatural forces at play with all these crimes.

I loved this show and am rather sad that currently there is no series two. After looking it up on the internet, Stephen King said that a season two was written and planned but HBO has not renewed the series, and therefore the show is shopping it around to see who will back the next series.

You can find The Outsider on Apple TV

Virgin River Season 3

I started watching this series ages ago and although it is more wholesome than other shows listed here, I got attached to finding out what happened to the characters.

What is the show about?

“Virgin River follows Melinda “Mel” Monroe, who answers an ad to work as a midwife and nurse practitioner in the remote Northern California town of Virgin River, thinking it will be the perfect place to start fresh and leave her painful memories behind. But she soon discovers that small-town living isn’t quite as simple as she expected. She must learn to heal herself before she can truly make Virgin River her home.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_River_(TV_series)

You can find Virgin River on Netflix

LOKI

What is the show about?

This show is based on the Loki character from the Avengers film. The television show is rather quirky and although it is set in the future the set and props seem to be based in the past and very retro.

Owen Wilson plays the main investigator (Mobius) who gets special permission to have Loki help him find the other Loki’s in the different times across the other universes.

Loki is played by Tom Hiddleston and some of the dialogue is very amusing and Hiddleston delivery of the character is very humorous at times.

The show “shares continuity with the films of the franchise and takes place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), in which an alternate version of Loki created a new timeline. Loki is produced by Marvel Studios, with Waldron serving as head writer and Kate Herron directing for the first season. Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki from the film series, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Sasha Lane, Jack Veal, DeObia Oparei, Richard E. Grant, and Jonathan Majors also starring.” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9140554/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)

I rather like the quirky nature of this show and the fact that it looks like a 1960’s or 70’s show with the set design.

I’m sure you will love it too.

You can find Loki on Disney Plus

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The Mysterious Benedict Society

This show is another quirky one and is rather funny. The whole style of the show is very much like Wes Anderson’s style. It is a very very strange but fun show, that, of course, makes you want to find out more of the story and of course you on get bits and pieces, which makes you want to find out more.

What is the show about?

“During a global emergency from a suffering economy and other factors, Mr. Benedict, a very talented and smart individual, recruits four kids for a dangerous mission to infiltrate The Institute. The Institute is a school run by Mr. Curtain, who is sending messages that infiltrate one’s subconscious, which makes him able to slip in ideas and thoughts into people’s minds. Mr. Benedict sends the four kids he has recruited into The Institute to stop this nefariousness and to save the world from Mr. Curtain’s control.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Benedict_Society_(TV_series)

The show stars Tony Hale who also played Gary in VEEP.

You can find The Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney Plus

This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy

What is the show about?

This is a very interesting documentary about money, the economy and the rich. One thing that I liked, was does money make you a dick or do dick’s attract money?

The documentary is presented by Kal Penn and it is very informative, entraining and also funny.

You can find This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy on Amazon

Leverage Redemption

I loved the Leverage series and Leverage Redemption is pretty good. The new show is missing Timothy Hutton, and this might have something to do with a lawsuit that is against him (this was from over 20 odd years ago but the studio wanted to distance themselves from the bad press, so new series without Hutton happened)

Move forward to the new show, the same cast is there and to balance the missing link without Hutton, Noah Wylie is the new person and I must say fits in nicely.

What is the show about?

“Reformed criminals put their unique skills to good use by helping ordinary people fight back against corporate and governmental injustices.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverage:_Redemption)

Evil

I love this show, it is scary and also rather funny. Some of the dialogue the way it is delivered is very clever and funny.

What is the show about?

“A skeptical forensic psychologist (Herbers) allies with a Catholic seminarian (Colter) and a technology contractor (Mandvi) to investigate purported supernatural incidents.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_(TV_series)

There are funny scenes with a ghost or supernatural creature called, ‘George’ and he is very creepy but the way he interacts with the lead character Dr. Kristen Bouchard is played by Katja Herbers.

One of the evil characters is Dr. Leland Townsend who is played by Michael Emerson, and you will know him from LOST and Person of Interest.

I am sure you will love this show too and you can find Evil on Stan.

While compiling this list I have noticed that the following shows have new seasons available:

I hope you like this list of shows that will keep you occupied during lockdown, it is nice to go somewhere but not having anything to watch is even worse.

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Categories
Family

Lockdown Extended

I know it was needed, I know that we are being safe staying at home, BUT it is very sad that this lockdown has happened at the start of the school holidays and will be for the whole duration as well!

We didn’t have grand plans but did think that we might be able to take the kids to the movies, mini-golf, go to a cafe or restaurant with the family and maybe visit some friends. However this never happened, we stayed at home and watched movies, played games and watched the youngest learn to ride his bike without training wheels.

I even have a new car (well secondhand but low km and hardly driven) that I was keen to take the kids out in, however, it has sat in the driveway other than trips to the supermarket to get food for the family. I suppose the lack of outings has saved us money but it would have been nice to have had the experiences, but these will have to wait for later.

As I write this it is the Sunday before school is meant to start again, yes Tuesday is the start of term 3 here in New South Wales and as lockdown has been extended all kids that in the lockdown zones will be learning online.

Hours after the NSW Department of Education announced that schools will be preparing for home learning, they were hit with a cyber attack. Yes, talk about horrible. All the teachers need to access the Google Classroom portal for their school to plan the content for the kids that will be learning from home.

Google Classroom unavailable – Now fixed and ready for term 3

“The timing of this creates considerable challenges for staff as we prepare for the start of Term 3,” she said in a statement. An education department source familiar with the attack said that, in line with security advice, the outage was initially reported as scheduled maintenance.
“Thankfully, our teams have been able to isolate the issues and we are working to reactivate services as soon as possible.” https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-education-department-hit-by-cyber-attack-hours-after-remote-learning-announcement-20210708-p587z7.html)

I just checked with my girls and they are now able to access their Google Classroom. Hopefully, this continues and is all good for the start of term 3. It would have made it so much worse to not be able to access their online learning portal.

Overnight we have had 77 cases, 55 known sources and 22 from unknown sources. We are lucky that where we are there are no infections, however, due to be grouped as Greater Sydney we are still in lockdown too.

I was meant to be at the Fresh Content Awards Night on the 21st of July, however, this has now been postponed till the 8th of September. I’m now worried that if the numbers don’t go down, the event in September might be postponed yet again or may be cancelled. I do hope that the event happens as I am so excited about being nominated and going to the awards night.

We were also set to see a short film the twins were involved in but the screening has been postponed until the lockdown is over. Currently, the organisers don’t want to set a date to cancel it again and are waiting until the lockdown is over. I was very keen to see the finished film and celebrate with everyone, but we will have to wait.

You would have thought that employers would be more compassionate due to lockdowns and also having kids at home. Bayside Council, in Sydney’s south-east, made employees fill out forms stating that they would not be looking after children under the age of 7 years while they are working from home.

Geez, how about really penalising families for having children?

Make it even tougher due to the sanctioned lockdown orders that are out of our control that dictates that everyone needs to stay home and kids are only able to go to school if their parents are essential workers. I would say that being a council worker is not considered essential, and therefore many would indeed have kids at home.

Working from home during the lockdown

The juggle is hard and stressful, but as we are in crisis with the new delta strain I would have thought that Bayside Council would more compassionate to their employee’s needs and help them more.

“A staff member who spoke on the condition of anonymity described the council’s approach as “messy, unfair and unclear”. “It clearly shows an absolute disregard … for the health and wellbeing of employees, their families and the community,” the employee said. (https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-work-space-is-a-work-space-council-banned-staff-supervising-kids-while-working-from-home-20210708-p587vo.html)

Bayside Council said that staff can take annual leave to accommodate this time with kids learning from home. Personally, I think this is a shit offer and a horrible way to support their staff. Some people might not want to take leave or might not have available leave to take. Also what if the extra week lockdown extends for another 2 or more weeks? At this point with the number of infections are increasing, so a longer lockdown is a real possibility.

Lockdown could possibly extend to August and if that happens how much leave will you have to take from your job to accommodate homeschooling? Also how many staff would have to take leave? Will this be focused on the female staff members as they seem to shoulder most of the childcare?

Many are working remotely or not working at all due to being stuck at home while we wait for the numbers to go down. All companies and businesses need to be more supportive of their staff during these times and asking them to sign stupid forms getting them to agree that they will not be the sole caretaker of a child under 7 is bullshit in my book.

Currently, we have been given no choice to have kids at home while we work there too, It is not the employee’s fault for being put in this position and therefore should not have to sign paperwork to prove that they will not be a parent to their child in a time of need.

The below excerpt has been taken from the Grattan Website

“Australian women copped a triple-whammy:

  • they lost more jobs than men – almost 8 per cent at the peak of the crisis, compared to 4 per cent for men;
  • they shouldered more of the increase in unpaid work – including supervising children learning remotely – taking on an extra hour each day more than men, on top of their existing heavier load; and
  • they were less likely to get government support – JobKeeper excluded short-term casuals, who in the hardest-hit industries are mostly women.”

As homeschooling is set to commence on Tuesday I am not really looking forward to it. In 2020 we had about 4 months of homeschooling and it was rather painful as kids were not doing the work they were supposed to, and on top of that, the 4-year-old at the time thought it was playtime and would not let the older kids do their work. Flash forward to 2021, the 4-year-old is now a 5-year-old and in Kindergarten and the twins are now high school kids. It will be so interesting to see what a Kindy kid gets for school work. I do hope that all work well at home to get all their school work done and the arguments are kept to a minimum.

I am also amazed that many are breaching the lockdown orders. There has been a group that celebrated an 18th birthday party, a group of 15 men meeting to have a card game and many that are out in big groups and not following the restrictions.

I feel sad that many are doing the right thing and a small group is ignoring the rules. If we all stay home and the numbers go down, and the lockdown ends!

If you are in the lockdown too, what have you been doing to keep kids and yourself entertained? I spent the day yesterday cleaning the twin’s room, the outcome was good but the time doing it was painful.

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Categories
Recipes

Make Reese Witherspoon’s Green Smoothie

Lately I have been at a loss to how to help my hair. It seems to be like straw, falling out and just looking horrible lately. It could be my age (yes well over 40), it could be hormones, or it could be that I am lacking a vitamin or two.

Or it could be just stress and being in desperate need of a holiday (however with the restrictions, lockdowns and border closures a holiday is not going to happen any time soon.

It is not just my hair that is of concern, I am wanting to improve my overall health. Greens, vegetables and fruit offer so many health benefits, and having them everyday will make sure I stay super healthy.

I am hoping that adding this go to green smoothie to my daily routine will make me feel better, have more energy and it will also help my hair and skin too.

“The recipe comes in around 270 calories and has a whopping 20 grams of fiber per serving from all that produce, which helps give it some staying power.” https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7823948/reese-witherspoon-drinks-this-green-smoothie-every-day-heres-the-recipe/

Glow from within with Reese Witherspoon’s Green Smoothie

I have tried many things to help me out, vitamins, sunlight (could it be vitamin D?)

So thought why not give this green smoothie that Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon swear by, a good go.

Ingredients

  • 2 heads romaine lettuce (I bought a huge mixed bag of Kale and spinach)
  • 1/2 cup spinach
  • 1/2 cup coconut water
  • 1 whole banana
  • 1 whole apple (core removed)
  • 1 whole pear (core removed)
  • 1 whole lemon (rind removed)
  • Celery (optional) ( I purchased the pre-cut celery sticks and added 2 of them)
  • Almond butter (optional) (I didn’t have almond butter but added 2 tablespoons of Macro Cereal LSA. It has Linseeds (50%), Sunflower Seeds (35%), Almonds (15%)
All the ingredients that I used other than the Macro LSA for the green smoothie

Method

I deviated from the method Reese uses to create her smoothie but rest assured it all ended up blended and mixed so I suppose it really doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as it is all zapped and ready to drink.

  1. I added the coconut water to the blender
  2. Then added half a bag of my kale and spinach leaves
  3. I made sure all was well and truely chopped and all liquid, then added the pear, lemon, banana, 2 sticks of pre-cut celery, an apple sliced (I didn’t take off the skin so had to blend a little longer), and then 2 tablespoons of Macro Cereal LSA
  4. I blended for a little extra time to make sure all ingredients were thoroughly mixed in well and there were no lumps.
  5. Now pour into a glass and add the reminder of the smoothie to the fridge for the next day.
Trying the green smoothie for the first time

“Reese also mentions that she originally heard of this recipe from her Little Fires Everywhere co-star, Kerry Washington, years ago: “I sat next to her at an awards show and I didn’t really know her but I said, ‘Your skin is so beautiful, what do you do?’ And she said, ‘I actually think it’s this drink… it’s just really changed my skin and it makes my hair and nails really strong’, so I was in.” https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7823948/reese-witherspoon-drinks-this-green-smoothie-every-day-heres-the-recipe/

Post Smoothie Review

My first batch was very tasty and rather thick that it was a bit of an effort to drink with my reusable straws. My second batch I used the reminder of the coconut water and added an extra pear to the mixture.

I am only on day four of having this green smoothie daily but I think it is giving me more energy and get up and go. I know it is early days yet and being on it for a month or two you will see more results with your skin, hair and rest of your body.

Are you a fan of green smoothies? Have they helped you? If so let me know.

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Categories
Family

When is it Fully Dark?

Last night hubby said he needed to leave on Saturday (tonight) when it was “fully dark” this announcement made me laugh. Actually, I couldn’t stop laughing. Are we now saying the night is partially dark or half dark? And then when it is finally really dark, it is then called, “fully dark”.

Fully dark night sky….yes it is fully dark!

When is it determined to be “fully dark”? Is that the same as pitch black, or nighttime? I had no idea how you check for the night being “fully dark”, wouldn’t it just be very very dark?

Maybe this is a new way to measure the darkness, you can ask people is it fully dark yet?

After my giggling subsided for a bit, I asked him why he needed it to be fully dark bro…. yep I thought I would get into the lingo that he was using.

He mentioned that he and a mate were wanting to go and take photos of the glowworms. We are lucky that this is in our area and we can visit easily.

Maybe this is what the glowworm photo will look like

I then started my giggle festival again, two men in the fully dark capturing photos of glowworms bums in the dark. Yes, I was off and giggling. I did mention that this was a bad date and that elicited more laughter. Walking in the dark to take photos of worms and in the freezing cold!

This silliness could be an outcome of lockdown or just due to me being super tired at the time.

So tonight the guys will venture out only when it is fully dark or getting close to it. Let’s just hope that the fully darkness doesn’t cause other issues, like not allow them to see where they are going. I am sure both will have torches to allow them to see where they are going, but if it is fully dark that might make it harder to see everything.

Has your partner said something that is rather strange? Is it now a phrase that all the family use? Let us know what words you are saying.

Categories
Recipes

Gin Cocktail Recipes

Yesterday was World Gin Day and I was looking forward to a Gin and Tonic with my new Roku Gin from Japan, however, I was so exhausted after exhausting my five-year-old. I just had dinner and went to bed. So I will be celebrating World Gin Day a day later…however, I really don’t need a special day to celebrate a nice drink of gin, do you?

Which was a pity due to the fact I do love a gin cocktail or two.

Cape Byron Distillery, which is the home of the beloved Brookie’s Gin sent some gin cocktail recipes for everyone to try.

CUPPA SHIRL

CUPPA SHIRL

Ingredients
45 mL Shirl the Pearl by Brookie’s
30 mL Lemon juice
15 mL Honey Syrup
60 mL Hot water
Burnt Orange Wheel to Garnish

Method
Combine all ingredients in a cup and stir, and garnish.

Drinking Instructions
Best served in a teacup and perfectly paired with a blanket, fluffy socks and book.

CASSIA NOVA

CASSIA NOVA

Ingredients
50 ml Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin15 ml Toasted green apple & Cassia Bark Syrup2 dashes Angostura BittersDehydrated cinnamon glazed apple wheel – to garnish

Method
Combine all ingredients in a cup. Stir & strain into glass and garnish.

Drinking Instructions
Best served in a Nick & Nora glass whilst you stare longingly out a window watching the rain.

MULLED SLOW

MULLED SLOW

Ingredients
50ml Brookie’s Slow Gin
50ml Cloudy Apple Juice
50ml Water
1x Teaspoon Honey
1/2 Cinnamon Stick
2x Cardamom Pods
1/2x Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1x Orange Zest
1/2x Vanilla Pod

Method
Add all ingredients (except Slow Gin) to pan. Medium heat till boiling then reduce & simmer down for 15 mins. Add Slow Gin & strain into a cup. Garnish with Orange Zest. Recipe for one serve/cup but we recommend cooking larger volumes to store in the fridge & enjoy as needed.

Drinking Instructions
Best served in a Teacup, for those cold nights at home.   

If you are a gin lover you might also love my post called, MAKE MUM A FEENEY’S G & TEA

Enjoy and I hope this gives you some new ideas for your gin cocktails.

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Categories
Review

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Is A Must See

I have just finished watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and I cannot wait for Season 4.

What is The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel About?

The show starts in 1958 and is about Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), an upper-class Jewish American housewife who lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She has been married to Joel Maisel (Michael Zegen) for four years and has the couple have two children. Joel works at a plastics company and on the side fancies himself as a stand-up comedian. He performs at the Gaslight Café and copies other well-known comics material for his act. He is not good and rather mediocre at best. After a very bad performance, he leaves his wife and children as he thinks he is a failure and not to mention that Joel is also having an affair with his secretary.

Midge reacts to Joel leaving by getting drunk and going to The Gaslight Café to let off some steam. She ends up on stage telling the audience all sorts of personal stories and letting them know that her husband has just left her, and also packed his stuff in her suitcase! She swears and then flashes her breasts when she says, “Would you leave this?”, and gets promptly arrested for her language and for nudity. (In 2021, what Midge did wasn’t an arrestable offence but in 1958 it was).

All three season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are available on Amazon

Miriam moves in with her parents, Rose (Marin Hinkle) and Abe (Tony Shalhoub) and gets work at B. Altman (A high-end department store) at the cosmetics counter.

Midge realises she is good at comedy and would like to become a stand up comic. Susie Myerson (Alex Borstein) who works booking talent at The Gaslight Café sees that Midge is talented and has great potential to become a famous comedian. Susie becomes her manager and they both start working on Midge’s act.

The show is now the journey of how Midge navigates the world of work and comedy and also being a single mother. She is constantly pressured by her family to give Joel another chance but Midge has been deeply hurt by Joel leaving and believes she is better on her own.

I just love shows set in a different era, I like how the sets are styled to match the year, clothes, hair and makeup are also fabulous as they really make you feel like you are indeed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I really admire the set decorators and costumiers that create a whole world, they are beyond talented.

The Fashion from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

In The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Midge Maisel wears some really stunning outfits and so does her mother Rose. I just adore seeing what Midge wears in each episode and how her manager Susie Myerson complains about how fancy her clothes are and of course not right for the clubs they frequent.

I learnt from the show that you can match your shoes to your handbag, not your dress or skirt. Although the colours of the handbag and shoes did compliment the dress colours, I would have not thought to do this. One outfit Midge wore was a purple dress and she had a green handbag and green shoes that had purple stripes on them, and it looked amazing!

Women’s Rights and Independence

Even though the show is set in the late ’50s and early 60’s it is rather modern with regards to Midge and Joel’s relationship post-marriage breakup. Midge works during the day, goes to clubs in the evening to do her stand up comedy and is the mother to two children.

In the third season, she goes on tour to open for Shy Baldwin (LeRoy McClain) and Joel looks after the kids. It is the early 1960’s and many who learn that Joel is the primary carer for the kids are shocked. It is pointed out that Midge shouldn’t be travelling and should be a full-time mother to her children. This arrangement is very modern and embraces Midge’s new freedom to have her own career, and eventually buy back her apartment so that she can be an independent woman and make her own decisions for herself and her children.

Her parents finally come around to the fact that their daughter is walking a different path and embrace her new career and the fact that she has not remarried after separating from Joel.

Looking forward to Season 4

If you are a fan of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel you will be very happy to learn that Amazon has renewed the show for a fourth season…. what fantastic news, and I cannot wait to learn what happens to all the characters.

Currently cast and crew have been filming the fourth season in New York.

Filming has been stalled due to COVID so we might see the new series hit Amazon possibly end of 2021.

Make sure that you check out the The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as I’m sure you will love it as much as I do. You can watch all three seasons and either binge watch or watch a few each week.

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Categories
News

I’m a Finalist in the Fresh Content Awards

I’m very excited to announce that I have been named a finalist in the Fresh Content Awards!

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

See the other bloggers who are finalists too. HUGE congratulations to everyone, your work is stunning (yes I have checked out everyone else’s creative creations, and it is AMAZING!)

And as you can imagine I am beyond excited and have done what feels like a hundred happy dances, have had a big grin on my face for days and just extremely excited that this has happened.

On the 21st of July I will be dressed in a cocktail outfit, having dinner and drinks and of course meeting the other finalists, plus seeing who wins the trophy on the night. I am keen to win and it would make all the past entries and time working on the posts worth it, however, I am happy to be shortlisted and recoginsed for my work. I thank the Sydney Markets and Fresh Content team for adding me as a finalist.

I have entered this competition nearly every year since it started in 2015, and was all set to enter last year but due to COVID, the competition was cancelled.

Luckily the dates were extended for entry for 2021. I thought about my topic carefully as I wanted to give it a really good go. One idea I had was to do a piece about the food that was made in the 60’s and 70’s and see how they stack up now? Would kids eat them as we did? Or is there a reason some things are never made ever again? This idea was shelved as I thought this would be a nice idea for a bigger series.

What are the Fresh Awards?

“Sydney Markets Fresh Awards are a platform for encouraging and recognising best practice and innovations in fresh produce and flower growing and retailing.”

The Fresh Awards consists of six overarching categories:

The Fresh Content Award “aims to recognise the unique and flourishing nature of the online community and the contribution they make to promoting fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers.”

In previous years I have created two posts, one for flowers and the other for produce. A previous post for the content awards was using autumn flowers and leaves for your next dinner party. The same year I entered the dinner party decorating post I also entered the following Slow Cooked Beef & Veggie Casserole.

Yummy Imperial Mandarins at Todarellos in Katoomba

I decided to look at what was in season and eliminated food that I would not like to eat (for the record there was only one item that I didn’t want to use) or that will cause issues with other family members.

I picked mandarins!

Mandarin is my favourite fruit and one that I cannot get enough of in Autumn. I always thought that mandarins were in season just for me, since my birthday is in May. A silly thought but I was a child when I had this thought.

I cooked a mandarin curd tart and spiced mandarin marinade, read about the recipes here.

Download Simple Mandarin Recipes

Wish me luck for July!

Now the search for the perfect outfit starts. What do you think makes the perfect cocktail ensemble? I just hope I have time to get hair, nails and makeup just right.

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Categories
Family

Your Next Dance Party Songs

If you have ever wanted some new songs for your party, wonder no more. The below songs will make sure your party is a hit!

My five year old wanted to do listen to songs and dance.

Techno Chicken is another fun tune to get your dance on. I love the close-ups of the chicken, dancing and its head bopping along to the beat. This tune is a catchy one for your next dance party and I am sure if you had the video going it will put a smile on everyone’s face too.

He wanted to watch YouTube and told me that we should have a “Dance Party Mummy!” I then thought why not put YouTube on the TV and have a dance party as it was just my little boy and I and it would be a bit of fun.

These songs and dance moves are a bit silly but are a lot of fun and had my five-year-old in fits of giggles.

Pen Pineapple Apple Pen is a weird and catchy song, even if you think it is horrible you will catch yourself singing it later. Trust me, I have and you will be singing it too!

Stop looking, here are the perfect songs for your next party

You might have seen many other people on YouTube having dance-offs against the green alien and seeing who did the moves better? I must say that my five-year-old really did every move the alien did and thought it a giggle-fest at the same time. Have you had a dance-off with this green alien? If so how did you go?

When hubby and the twins came home they found both of us rocking it out to the green alien and doing the dance moves like he was. Alexander really has these moves down pat and loves it.

Enjoy and I hope you all have a great family dance off!

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Mother’s Day Debrief

I sit here looking at friends and families photos from Mother’s Day, these images are of happy families all looking like they have had a relaxing, fun and very happy day.

Mind you, these images are all posted on social media so maybe they are from 10 minutes of the day when everyone was smiling? Was it after the stunning stylish image that the kids continued their arguments? Did one have a tantrum to end all tantrums? Did the mother think “Why can’t my family just behave for a simple outing for lunch?”

Mums are always busy and Mother’s Day is the same.

After seeing all these carefully curated images, I then thought about my day.

There were a few fun and happy moments, but it was mostly exhausting due to kids arguing, one kid having several tantrums, kids not listening, no one doing anything they were told, when we finally got to lunch the youngest refused to sit on his chair and decided to be under the table and then decide to annoy his sisters and me. I just wondered why we bothered to go out at all during all this and that my thought of staying home seemed like a better idea.

Before we left the house all kids and hubby gave me wonderful and thoughtful presents in honour of Mother’s Day.

I don’t understand why everyone cannot behave for one day!

Personally, I would have preferred to stay home and do some things that I have not had time to do, being on my own would mean I can concentrate.

I did post some nice photos of the kids as they were having fun and I wanted to mark the day. However it would have been nice to have more moments that were photo worthy today.

I am a mother who is over all the drama, the crazy carry on of kids arguing and more! Would it still be Mother’s Day if I made the kids and hubby leave so I can have the day for me?

Have you ever had a Mother’s Day without the family? I know I would miss the kids, but the silence and calm might make me not miss them too much. Finally being able to do a few projects on my own would be so nice right now.

The kids did wish me a Happy Mother’s Day tonight before bedtime so that was rather sweet, and I gave them a cuddle and thanked them.

Maybe next year will be better.

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Download Free Mother’s Day Cards

I have created some fun Mother’s Day cards. You will not only get 1 card, but 5 cards to choose from.

One big plus about these cards is that they are 100% free.

What is the Process?

  1. Download the PDF file by subscribing below
  2. Once you confirm your subscription your download will start
  3. In the PDF you will see 5 different Mother’s Day cards to use
  4. Just pick the page you wish to print and say print that page only
  5. Use thicker card for your card and you can write your message on the other side

I hope you enjoy the cards and have a Happy Mother’s Day.

Klook.com

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Gwyneth Paltrow’s Vagina Products & Questionable Sunscreen Routine

Apple Martin, Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter recently made fun of her mums morning routine and of course her vagina scented products.

I do like the fact that Goop and Apple’s mum, Gwyneth Paltrow saw the humour and shared Apple’s Tik Tok post about her mother’s routine. Of course the video is another way to publicise the products and is free advertising for Goop, so not all bad.

Goop candle, “This Smells Like My Vagina”

If I created a vagina scented candle I am sure it wouldn’t sell. I think people would tell me that it was silly, disgusting or a crazy idea. However, if you are Gwyneth Paltrow and you create a vagina scented candle, it sells in record time in fact in hours it was sold out!

According to Gwyneth she met with the head perfumer and she commented on the scents and said, “This smells like my vagina”, although she claims it was a joke, I wonder why she would say this?
The candle according to Goop’s website says has fragrances of “geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar”.

via GIPHY

I am not sure about you, but these scents would have not made me say, “That smells like my vagina”, So it is a mystery why Gwyneth said this in the first place. Maybe she does have a geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar, scented vagina, and that is why the comment was made, if so, this is perfectly fine.

It has been said that this candle started as a joke. I however would love to created a joke that sealed out in a matter of hours.

I do agree that girls and women need to embrace their body and be proud of it, so Gwyneth is right about this.

Gwyneth Paltrow has been in the news recently about her sunscreen routine.

She said that she only adds the sunscreen to her nose and cheeks. Oh and also she said she doesn’t use the chemical sunblock, and only the natural options. Which are mineral sunblock’s that are made from zinc.

“And I’m not, you know, I’m not a sort of head-to-toe slatherer of sunscreen, but I like to put some kind of on my nose and the area where the sun really hits.” 

Paltrow was asked by Vogue to give an overview of her every day skin care routine. As you can see from the above video she only dabs the mineral sunblock on her nose, and bits of her cheeks.

Personally I slather my suncream all over me to ensure that I will not get burnt. I am a fair skinned person and one that doesn’t take long to burn, I also live in Australia where we have lot of sun and therefore need to be protected from skin cancers. Plus adding an overall suncream to your routine that is not dabs here and there is essential to protect your skin and help your skin look younger too. The more exposure to the sun the more it affects how old you might look.

Forbes wrote an article saying that Paltrow’s advice on applying suncream is very dangerous, and I agree. If we all took her advice we would be red and sunburnt all the time, oh not to mention the possible cancers this might give us if we took Paltrow’s advice.

Paltrow only applies suncream “where the sun really hits”. When you are out in the sun, you can bet that the sun will get all of you if your skin is exposed. So just saying that you will add the suncream to where you think the sun will get you is a silly idea. You need total coverage….I doubt you will be able to dodge the sun to not get burnt with the other areas that didn’t get any dabs of suncream!

Maybe you can easily spot a Goop fan if they are out in the sunshine. They will jump away from the sunshine or race to the shade. This will be a clear sign that they have only dabbed their face and body with where they think the sun will get them. However, in reality they will come home with weird marks on their face and body due to the speckled design left from the sunblock.

I don’t know about you, but for all the impressionable kids that follow celebrities saying this about applying suncream is just wrong. Kids need to know that they need to cover up in the sun and not just add the suncream to little bits of your body.

Let me know your thoughts.

Many are outraged at the advice that has been given by Paltrow about how she adds suncream to her body and face.

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Oscar 2021 Nominations Make History

Emerald Fennell who is nominated for best director at the 2021 Oscars for Promising Young Woman
Emerald Fennell who is nominated for best director at the 2021 Oscars for Promising Young Woman

Two women have been nominated for best director at this years Oscars. I don’t understand why more women haven’t been nominated over the years.

Not only have there been nominations for women in this years Oscars but there has been more people of colour nominated as well, and about bloody time.

Emerald Fennell who is nominated for best director at the 2021 Oscars for Promising Young Woman

Promising Young Woman

Promising Young Woman is a black comedy thriller that is stunning to watch. I was lucky to see it at Mt Vic Flicks a while ago now.

The film was written, produced and directed by Emerald Fennell who has been the show runner for Killing Eve (another one of my favourite shows). Promising Young Woman was Emerald Fennell’s directoral debut.

Promising Young Woman received the best original screenplay at the Critics’ Choice Awards, has been nominated at the Golden Globes for Best Screenplay, Best Film and Best Director.

Carey Mulligan who plays Cassie Thomas seeks revenge for her best friends rape at medical school. Mulligan plays the strategic Cassie so well that you are in the world of revenge and you want to help Cassie get justice too. I did find it sad that both Cassie and her best mate lost their lives to a horrible tragedy with the sexual assault and rape. You find out that her friend who was raped killed herself and Cassie has been seeking revenge for her bestie ever since. Both girls were at the top of their class and could have been amazing doctors and who knows, cure a disease we have been trying to rid the world of. I do understand the anger and upset but I am saddened that something like this ruins lives and makes people drop out of school, change direction and not live the life they deserve or have been working towards. It is also sad that it shows yet again that men and boys get protected and the women and girls doubted and not taken seriously when they take incidents like this to higher channels to get resolved and of course have the boys or men charged and answer for their crimes. After seeing this movie with a girlfriend of mine I remarked that it is horrible to think that these talented girls let the boys win by taking their dreams. I know being raped and assaulted is horrible and I do agree that the men responsible needed to pay and be probably punished but losing your life to one horrible incindet is horrible too. If you have seen the film let me know your thoughts.

Nomadland

“Nomadland is a 2020 American drama film written, edited, and directed by Chloé Zhao. It stars Frances McDormand as a woman who leaves home to travel around the American West. It also features David Strathairn in a supporting role, as well as real-life nomads Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells, as fictionalized versions of themselves. The film is based on the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder.”

Chloé Zhao is nominated for Best Director for Nomadland

Frances McDormand and Peter Spears optioned the film rights to the book in 2017. McDormand saw After seeing Chloé Zhao’s film The Rider at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and wanted Zhao to direct the

The nominations for the 2021 Oscars are….. drum roll please……

Best Picture
The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Director
Thomas Vinterburg, Another Round
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
David Fincher, Mank
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Gary Oldman, Mank
Steven Yeun, Minari

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja & Dan Swimer)
The Father (Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller)
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)
One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers)
The White Tiger (Ramin Bahrani)

Best Original Screenplay
Judas and the Black Messiah (Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas & Kenny Lucas)
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)
Sound of Metal (Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder & Darius Marder)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin)

Best Costume Design
Emma
Mank
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mulan
Pinocchio

Best Original Score
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Soul

Best Animated Short Film
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You
Opera
Yes-People

Best Live-Action Short Film
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers
White Eye

Best Documentary Feature
Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher
Time

Best Documentary Short Subject
Colette
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha

Best International Feature Film
Denmark, Another Round
Hong Kong, Better Days
Romania, Collective
Tunisia, The Man Who Sold His Skin
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Quo Vadis, Aida?

Best Sound
Greyhound
Mank
News of the World
Sound of Metal
Soul

Best Production Design
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
News of the World
Tenet

Best Film Editing
The Father
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
News of the World
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Visual Effects
Love and Monsters
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet

Best Animated Feature Film
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Emma
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Pinocchio

Best Original Song
“Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
“Fight For You” from Judas and the Black Messiah
“lo Sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)
“Speak Now” from One Night in Miami
“Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7

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It is so great to see more women getting nominated. Have you seen any of these films? If so what are your thoughts?




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Beware The Ides of March

Today is the Ides of March, and yes it is just any other Monday, but for some you need to be careful on this date.

The Ides of March the is the 74th Day in the Roman calendar otherwise known as the 15th of March.

Ides is dedicated to Jupiter and was the time of the full moon. The Roman calendar was based on the phases of the moon. Each month was the length of the lunar cycle and “ended on the day of one of the first three phases of the moon: new, first quarter or full. All days were referred to in terms of one of these three moon phase names, Kalends, Nones or Ides.” (http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-roman.html)

Did you know?

The Ides of March was when Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC.

“Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Senate. As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, were involved. According to Plutarch,[19] a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, “The Ides of March come”, implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied, “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.”[19] This meeting is famously dramatised in William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March.”[20][21] The Roman biographer Suetonius[22] identifies the “seer” as a haruspex named Spurinna.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March)

Full moon and Lunar Calendar

Also, the Ides of March is determined by the full moon and reflects the lunar origin of the Roman calendar. According to the earliest Roman calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.

“The ides were the 15th days of four months (Martius, or March; Maius, or May; Quintilis, or July; and October) in the ancient Roman lunar calendar; they were the 13th in all other months (originally, Aprilis, or April; Iunius, or June; Sextilis, or August; September; November; and December. Ianuarius, or January, and Februarius, or February, were added later).”

The Julian Calendar moon phases. Image from http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-roman.html

“The word ides comes from the Latin word idus, which is possibly derived from an Etruscan word meaning “to divide.” The ides were originally meant to mark the full Moon (the “halfway point” of a lunar month), but because the Roman calendar months and actual lunar months were of different lengths, they quickly got out of step. The ancient Romans considered the day after the calends (first of the month), nones (ninth day before the ides, inclusive), or ides of any month as unfavorable. These were called dies atri.” https://www.almanac.com/fact/ides-of-march-the-ides-of-march-holiday

The Romans eventual changed their lunar calendar to a solar calendar and added more months and this calendar had 365 days per year (just like we use now) compared to the 304 days per year with only ten months that the lunar calendar had.

Take care today

So be careful today. If you haven’t consulted your soothsayer for what is in your future. Tread carefully and make sure you are away from swords, knives or any pointy objects. You cannot be too careful, right?

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Jumping into Puddles

Today I am choosing to jump into puddles, and by this, I mean to embrace adventure and challenges.

Don’t sit back and wait to do something. Take hold of things you wish to do, and get involved in life rather than sit back and be a sightseer.

Unicorn is very wise and if you chose to jump into puddles and embrace life you don’t miss out, and of course have fun too.

My advice is coming from a unicorn and this unicorn is a very wise one indeed.

Don’t think that jumping into puddles is all you can do. Be brave and try new things!

Unicorn is embracing life and jumps into puddles.

You might have seen my post introducing you to the book, “Be A Unicorn & Live Life on the Bright Side”.

Are you going to be jumping in puddles? Let me know what you are doing to embrace more adventure?

More life advice from the very clever and fun unicorn soon.

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Oprah’s Interview with Harry and Meghan

I must be one of the only people that didn’t watch the Oprah’s interview with Meghan and Harry. It is not like I didn’t want to, I was keen and interested, but kids and life got in the way. You can watch the interview on Channel 10 catchup and I will watching this week so that I can see the interview in full.

During the lead up to the interview I have been living through the snippets that Oprah and her team has shared.

Personally I think that moving away from England was a bad move, yes I said it. Harry has left his family, his kids cannot see their GG (Great Grandmother AKA the Queen). And yes before you say anything I know that Meghan is in a different country and away from her family and connections too. So either way someone would miss out.

I do think that an arrangement could have happened where both Harry and Meghan step back and only do a few things on behalf of the royal family and then be able to live more of a regular life. However, I am not the one living their lives and after years of negation according to Harry he thought that the only solution was to leave to ensure that they would get better mental health, proper family time and allow both his wife and his kids to grow up not hounded by the press.

Regardless of living in England or America, this couple is rich, famous and known to all. Wherever they go there will be some sort of media circus to get a picture or at the very least meet them in person.


It is not like Harry and Meghan have been roughing it. They have purchased a stunning mansion in California. The house has nine bedrooms, sixteen bathrooms and is  on a 7.4-acre compound within a gated community. I do understand having space and making sure that the house you buy for the family is secure. However, when most people leave the family and are cut off financially they don’t buy a $14.7 million house. Mind you, it is not like this couple cannot afford something like this, Meghan has been very successful in her own right with her role on Suits and on other shows, and Harry has some cash as well from his family and other investments (who knows but I can only imagine). If I left my family I would have been in a shoddy apartment or house that is in desperate need of work or god forbid the heating didn’t work.

From what I have seen of Oprah’s interview it shows that the Royal family controlled nearly all facets of your life, who you could speak to, where you would go, where you would stay, and of course what you said to whom. The freedoms that you take for granted and don’t think that much about are things that you would long for and get so frustrated that you cannot just pop down the road, or have a chat with a mate like you once did before joining the royal family.

I know that I have judged, and given my thoughts on this situation. However, no one truly knows what happens behind closed doors. People might show you that they are so wonderful and nice, and when your home with them they turn into the most nasty person. I am not saying the royal family is nasty and I have incredible respect for the Queen and what she has done. However, we will never know what others go through and it is up to them to do what makes them happy.

One snippet I am shocked to hear is that a family member was concerned over the colour of Harry and Meghan’s baby skin before he was born.


Archie is one and will be two on the 6th of May, and personally it doesn’t matter about his skin. The only thing that matters is that he is happy and healthy. I think this is quite shocking in this time and day to be concerned about skin colour, just disgusting!


“Asked whether there were concerns that her child would be “too brown” and that would be a problem, Meghan told Winfrey: “If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/explosive-harry-and-meghan-interview-reveals-royals-worried-about-archie-s-skin-tone-20210308-p578ok.html

According to Harry, his Father Charles is not taking his phone calls, his brother William is having little to virtually no contact with him. Meghan also added again that there is no rift with Catherine and she didn’t make her cry at a dress fitting.

Meghan has said that she was so lonely that she thought of suicide. Which is a terrible admission, and very sad.

Life is too short to worry about what others think.

One happy admission was that Meghan is expecting a girl in the Northern Summer. I was hoping she was having a girl, and now the guessing game is on with what Meghan and Harry will call their little girl when she arrives. I am tipping Diana for a favourite name. (this is probably not news)

So if Harry and Meghan want to live in America and feel more at home that is up to them. I just think it is sad that it has cost Harry his title, things that he held dear and also caused chaos to his family.

“And let’s not forget the chickens. Part of the interview was taped at the couple’s sprawling home, in their chicken coop, with Meghan revealing their hens are rescue hens. Subsequently, “where to find rescue chickens” was trending on Google.”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/prince-harry-and-meghan-interview-live-updates-royal-couple-tell-all-to-oprah-20210308-p578nz.html

I do hope that Meghan and Harry stay together as I feel that a breakup would be horrible on all levels. A broken relationship is sad all around, and it is not just because you are famous and wealthy. If things end badly due to being in a new country and cut off from family it could negatively impact Harry in a bad way. What are your thoughts?

Do you think the monarchy can survive these allegations from the Oprah interview?

I’m now watching the interview on catchup on Channel 10. Did you see it? What did you think? Let me know.

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School Bans Dr Seuss Books

I love Dr. Seuss and his books. In fact, I grew up on them and so have my girls and now my little boy as well.

Ted Geisel, American writer and cartoonist, at work on a drawing of the grinch for "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
Ted Geisel, American writer and cartoonist, at work on a drawing of the grinch for “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”

The attraction for me to Dr Seuss’s books is that he has a brilliant imagination, fabulous stories, funny rhymes and stunning artwork to add to his fun captivating stories.

Dr. Seuss I believe was ahead of his time. He wrote books that made reading fun for kids and many like me who have a strong connection to his books learnt to read with many of his most famous titles.

My favourites are: Horton Hears a Who, The Cat in the Hat, Oh the Places You Will Go, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Green Eggs and Ham, Fox in Socks, The Lorax, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories and Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! (YES I have too many favourites…I did tell you that I really really like Dr Seuss).

via GIPHY


Dr. Seuss or otherwise known as Theodor Seuss Geisel was also a person who believed in looking after our planet, less consumerism and wanted racial equality. Many of his books addressed these topics in a way that kids could understand.

“Geisel’s books express his views on a remarkable variety of social and political issues: The Lorax (1971), about environmentalism and anti-consumerism; The Sneetches (1961), about racial equality; The Butter Battle Book (1984), about the arms race; Yertle the Turtle (1958), about Adolf Hitler and anti-authoritarianism; How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957), criticizing the materialism and consumerism of the Christmas season; and Horton Hears a Who! (1954), about anti-isolationism and internationalism.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss)

I have fond memories of my mum getting stuck in his tongue twisters while reading me his books. I used to laugh so hard and beg my mum to read them again and again. I am now having fun reading them to my little boy as I did with my twin girls.

The Lorax

My childhood was composed of weird and wonderful childrens shows, HR Puff and Stuff, The Muppets and if you ever picked up a childrens book in the 1970’s the artwork is quite psychedelic compared to the books you get now.

I think this was the reason that many of these books and shows were a hit with kids and adults alike. They were fun, bright and colourful, did something different, made you think and used words that were made up and made you laugh in fits of giggles.

Dr. Seuss’s artwork is also amazing to look at, it is very detailed and just out there. He was a very clever man to write such fun and enjoyable books and to also illustrate them.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat in the Hat

So imagine my shock to learn that a school in Loudoun Country in Virginia has decided to ban Dr. Seuss from their annual Read Across America day. Dr Seuss books have been involved in this event for over 20 years, and now on his birthday has been banned.

“Dr. Seuss’s birthday is celebrated on March 2 and it celebrates both the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel and the National Education Association to endorse the importance of reading. A lesser-known fact about Dr. Seuss is that he created the word nerd.” (https://nationaltoday.com/dr-seusss-birthday/)

It is such a pity that the school in Virginia has made this horrible decision to ban such clever and inventive books. Have you ever come across writing like this from other writers, NO, Seuss was one of a kind!

The reason for the ban is that his stories feature “strong racial undertones.”

WHAT????? REALLY??????

I have never thought of Dr. Seuss books as being racist, hurtful or harmful in any way.

For me they let kids embrace the silly, the made-up and think that the impossible can be possible.

Dr. Seuss lets kids learn to pronounce weird and wonderful words and some words are just nonsense, but that doesn’t matter. Having the ability to read hard and funny words helps children figure out more words that are hard and then when they read the easier words it will of course be easy for them.

One claim against Dr. Seuss is that there is a lack of girls and women, and yes this is probably true. I am not sure what the answer here is, maybe Theodor Seuss Geisel created more male characters as they were stories written from the perspective of him as a boy, and therefore had more male characters. I think we need to reflect on the story, what it tells us and makes us feel before we jump on why there are not different races represented and also girls as well as boys.

Remember that these books were written a long time ago. You can clearly see that the years that Seuss wrote just a selection of the below titles:

  • The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, 1938
  • Horton Hears a Who! 1954
  • The Cat in the Hat, 1957
  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, 1957
  • Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, 1958
  • The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, 1958
  • Happy Birthday to You!, 1959
  • One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, 1959
  • Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, 1958
  • Green Eggs and Ham, 1960
  • The Lorax, 1971

Personally, I never thought that Dr Seuss books were racist or horrible in any way. I always liked them for a giggle, fun and creative made-up worlds, words and characters.

It wouldn’t have crossed his mind that he was not including items and characters that we are now believing should be there. As a woman who is a massive fan of the Seuss books, I am not offended in any way that there might not be more girls showcased in the Dr Seuss books.

In 1975 Dr. Seuss wrote a verse for the New York Times entitled The Economic Situation Clarified: A prognostic re-evaluation. (Taken from https://seussblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/oh-the-places-youll-go/)

“As our graph shows. Trends are trending.
This is good. Yet, nevertheless,
the destination of the trendings
is not simple to assess.

As of now, the Uppers are upping
and the Downers are droobling down
excepting on alternate Thursdays
when it works the other way round.

And there occasionally are occasions
when some Upper comes a cropper
and bottoms out at the bottom.
Then…
some Bottomer is the Topper.

Consequently, on the other hand,
I believe this can be said:
you’ll be wise if you step gently
whilst you tread on your neighbor’s head.”

As you can see Dr. Seuss was caring and wanted the best for the economy, the environment and the world around him. What he wrote in this poem in 1975 is also current in 2021.

via GIPHY

DO YOU THINK DR SEUSS BOOKS SHOULD BE BANNED?

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Categories
Family

Hospital Visits

This is when my little girl broke her wrist the first time. Let's hope that it is just bruised muscles this time around.
This is when my little girl broke her wrist the first time. Let's hope that it is just bruised muscles this time around.

Sunday night I was at the hospital. It was not for me it was for one of my girls. This hospital visit was a long and hard due to the fact that both of us were very very tired.

This is when my little girl broke her wrist the first time. Let's hope that it is just bruised muscles this time around.
This is when my little girl broke her wrist the first time.
Let’s hope that it is just bruised muscles this time around.

So why were we at the hospital?


Saturday one of the girls fell at basketball. She was marking (in other words trying to block one girl from the other team from getting a basket), the girls of the other team bumped her and this made my daughter misstep and then fall on her knee and on her hand. Saturday night she had a big black bruise on the inside of her arm and her hand near her thumb was extremely bruised.

We decided to strap up the hand and arm to help and she kept it like this for Sunday also. However by Sunday night it was very sore and still swollen, and she couldn’t do much at all with the hand.

The concern with the hand and arm was this was the same wrist she broke years ago. So with the concern that she could have really hurt this arm and hand again, I took her to the hospital.

We got into see the triage nurse very quickly but I think my kid downplayed the pain, she still couldn’t move her thumb correctly so off to x-ray we went.

Just to give you some context we arrived at the hospital at around 8.30pm. We got to see the x-ray people around 9pm, and then we saw the doctor at 12am.

During our wait we chatted with the other people in the waiting room and also bonded over bad reality television.

When we saw the doctor he said that there are no breaks in the arm…Good to know!

He was concerned about her swelling and pain around the thumb and said that there could possibly be a break in the hand but these breaks don’t become visible until about 7-10 days later.

The doctor said that we needed to keep her thumb and hand in a certain position as a precaution until we can get her x-rayed again.

The kind staff at the hospital located an arm strap and put it on my daughter to show her how it can help keep the thumb and hand in a better position. The strap looked good and had padding but it must have been pressing her arm on all the sore parts. She was so upset and nearly in tears about this arm strap. I asked if she would wear it and she said it hurts, so the answer would be no.

I told the doctor that we are very thankful for them getting the strap but since it is hurting her I don’t believe she would wear it. The only alternative was to have her get a cast to make sure that she doesn’t move her hand and arm in the wrong position.

The doctor agreed and kindly got my kid a plaster cast and then we finally arrived home just after 1 am. And yes we were very tired.

While at the hospital I was thinking about all the times I have been there, and thinking about all the disasters was rather weird. Below is a list of what we have gone to the local hospital for:

  • Pregnant with the twins – Water broke at 33 weeks so then moved to Nepean.
  • Back after the twins were born
  • One of the twins fell on her head
  • One of the twins swallowed a rock and then had to get an x-ray
  • The twin who swallowed the rock had follow up x-ray to determine if the rock was there or not (the rock had moved out of the body naturally, you know what I mean)
  • One twin got a UTI and had to be on antibiotics with a drip (she had 40-degree temps)
  • Intense gastro
  • Standard illness that little kids get
  • Hubby hurting himself
  • Sick when pregnant with my third child
  • Seeing midwives at the hospital for my care with the third child
  • Back at the hospital after having my little boy.
  • Badly ill with mastitis and had to be on an antibiotic drip (don’t recommend this as it burnt my veins and hurt)
  • The third child got dropped face-first on edge of a concrete path and nearly lost all top teeth (this was a horrible visit)
  • One twin broke her wrist and got told she needed to have it rebooked due to it being at a 15-degree angle (geez not good, but all ended well)
  • My little boy got really ill and didn’t eat or drink this then meant his blood sugar dropped. (This was very scary and glad I took him to the hospital when I did)
  • I got bitten by a suspected redback spider – foot swelled up and it burnt and was stabbing at the same time…HORRIBLE PAIN!
  • And now again with the kid that broke her wrist and soon back again for follow up x-ray.

I know that hubby and I have had our fair share of accidents and sickness but we seem to be frequent visitors to the hospital and this can only be due to having kids.

Have you realised that since you have had kids that you visit the doctors or the hospital more often?

I’m very grateful that we have a good health care system that we can just get the care we need when we need it. My daughter was upset it was taking forever at the hospital. I did say yes it is a long wait but the doctors are busy, they are treating the most urgent people first and then us. I told her that we just need to wait. Many countries have to pay lots and lots of money for the care we received on Sunday and we have the benefit of having it all under Medicare.

I just hope that my boy is not a frequent visitor at the hospital like his sisters have been. He does give it a good go with all his action games.

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Categories
Travel

Mudgee Escape

Grapes at Elephant Mountain Winery Mudgee
Grapes at Elephant Mountain Winery Mudgee

The other weekend I went to Mudgee with a girlfriend. We were desperate for some down time and by that away from comittments and family.

The destination wasn’t that important the only important aspect to our weekend was RELAXATION!

We arrived to our hotel around dinner time Friday night as we left after work. It was a bit of a drive but a fun adventure. Once checked into our hotel my girlfriend and I attempted to have dinner at the resturant but that was not to be as they had hit their limit for diners due to covid restrictions. It was suggested we have room service instead and after a big day, a car trip that was rather a good idea.

The food at the Comfort Inn Mudgee is fabulous and so yummy! The restaurant is called Palate and if you can have the barrmundai it was AMAZING!

Our room was clean and tidy, and the beds are super comfortable. It was a little older but nothing horrible, we stayed two nights and it suited our needs and was just right. Perfect place for a getaway or a stop over with the family if you are travelling.

My friend booked us into a wine tour for our Saturday and I must say after we got back to our hotel we were rather buggered from all the tasting we had done. A lie down and rest was in order.

We were so exhausted from visiting wineries that we decided to do room service again and watch Netflix. I know this might not sound adventurous but if you are mum to three kids, who also works and has no down time this was just what I needed. Plus my mate enjoyed just not being on call to anyone too.

If you too would love to do a wine tour of Mudgee I would strongly recommend Maritza from Country Escape Tours. Maritza was fun, personable and very knowledgeable about the region and wines. It was a lot of fun and everyone on the bus got along and had a wonderful time.

Sunday we decided to drive to Rylstone to check out the shops and have lunch. It was fun as I bought the kids some fun pants and before we left Mudgee I also got the twins (jackets from a second hand shop) and Alex (hot wheel cars and tracks) some presents .

Our lunch while in Rystone was dumplings…yes dumplings. 29 Nine 99 Dumplings was a great find and I must say we will go back. If you do want to eat at this resturant they only take cash so make sure you have enough on you to ensure you will be able to have enough dumplings…they are yummy and I could have had a few more! We cannot get this in the mountains so it was a great treat. I did send a picture to hubby to make him jealous too.

After lunch, we slowly made our way back home and on the way, I was alerted to the drama that awaited me. One girl had accidentally hit the other in the eye with the Wii controller…this ended up with the injured child having a cut to the top of the eye, it is swollen and very black. Also, the youngest was completely distraught with the fact that mummy went away for two days, and was extremely upset and kept on wanting me.

Coming home was nice but I think I could have done with more than two days away.

Have you enjoyed time away lately? Did you arrive to disasters at home? I do hope that your escape was relaxing. Mine was and I do think I need to go away more to have some time out.

Where do you think I should visit next?

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