Did you know?

Did you know that you can order cards on Hallmark.com and "write" inside of them and Hallmark will then stamp and mail them (using a $.44 stamp not a $1.60) to your recipients????? For someone like me who always lets special occasions sneak up this is LIFE CHANGING! 

ABSOLUTELY LIFE CHANGING!

Without Hallmark.com my bday card to UM would be dreadfully late! Thanks to Hallmark.com, it will be early, they say it will be there in 2 days! 2 days! SERIOUSLY! THIS IS AWESOME!

Tools of The Trade

For years I have resisted a high priced professional blow dryer, even though I have hair drama and spend/have spent way too much on my hair I thought a $150 blow dryer was just a bit excessive. Last week, I walked into a shop, plunked down my money and a couple of home blow drys later I am in heaven. Why did I wait so long for professionally styled looking hair in the comfort of my own home? Why did I wait until I was in a country where everything costs 2x as much and is half as good to do this? (great post on this subject http://www.floridagirlinsydney.com/2011/05/australian-prices-vs-american-prices.html) Am I not worth $150 hair? YES, YES, HECK YES  I AM! Next up fancy flat iron! My bargainista has kicked in on this one and I am stalking the internet for a deal. 

Thanks to my new blow dryer, I look like this 24/7! Don't tell me otherwise! 

Something else I have always wanted was one of these magic stick things to puree, whip, blend, do the laundry and paint my toes. You may have seen them on QVC or even proper cooking shows, you maybe lucky enough to own one. They come with about 1000 attachments and promise domestic ecstasy. Well again, I stormed the Big W(where an older woman[customer] was getting yelled out for using the PA to express her discontent with the current sale and merchandise availability) and walked out with the StickMaster. I am not saying the StickMaster is the best, it is probably the worst since it was the only one left on an otherwise empty shelf(should have used the PA myself to get some resolution on that!) but what I will say is: My whipped butternut squash is enviable and my mashed cauliflower are like fluffy clouds of smelly rooty goodness! A bonus: using it is a bit like using a power tool in the kitchen as it roars around the bowl like a little Tassie devil.

And to round out the list we have the Delonghi Dehumidifier. I will not claim I have always pined for one of these little gems. I did not know they even existed and I certainly did not know owning one would be life changing. It. is. Life. Changing. FULL STOP! Winter in Sydney is wet. Very wet. So wet that our leather bed was wet, like most people our bed is in our bedroom, inside our house and it was wet. I jumped on appliancesonline.com and had one to my door the next day. It has saved us from the mildew army that was invading the house. Next on my wet weather list: Hunter Boots, not just a fashion statement here, this is actually functional clothing that I can not live another day without.

The coat of many colors...

Is a Dolly Parton song where she describes a coat her Mama made her from rags. To be clear, we are not wearing rags, but due to extortionate prices and limited availability(ie sub par shopping), "things" have become very dear here in Australia. For example, the boys were given some hand me down clothes from a very generous friend yesterday and today CH was wearing one of the shirts. In the States we were given boxes and boxes of clothes but we never got around to wearing them. We were not too good for hand me downs, we just had so many clothes we never had a chance to wear them, yes, I know, barf! Flash forward to today trying to buy long sleeve long pant PJ's. I was at the checkout when to my horror I saw that they were $40 a pair. The clerk said, "but they are 100% cotton." I said "No, thank you, we will wait," and I walked out of the store. I think the clerk tried to embarrass a little me by being over sympathetic and dramatic, I think he said, "oh, oh, OH my dear, I am so sorry, I should have told YOU." I thought for a few minutes, am I cheap? Am I crazy? Should I just buy the PJs? Then my husband said it best, "$40 for kids PJs is OBSCENE!!!"

Brother, puhlease, do not mess up our PJS, we have to wear these for the next 4 years!!!

We have no bananas today!

When bananas hit $15.99/kilo(that is $8.00/lb or about $1.80/banana) I stopped buying them. The guilt I would feel over throwing away such a dear banana was too much! Well, we have bananas TODAY! We went to Chinatown this weekend and took a peak into Haymarket. We were there at the crack of dawn for a Sunday, 10:00 am, and so we had the run of the place. After deciding we all already had enough stripper costumes and "designer" handbags we went through to the green grocery section. This is where I discovered and purchased bananas for $4.99/kilo! Just like a drunk misses his drink, CH missed bananas. He ate 5+ bananas. I went back and bought more. By the time we got back to the market it was packed and Momo was almost savagely run over by a produce cart, but we got our precious discounted bananas. Of course today, I am the only one eating bananas.

Happy Banana Dance in Darling Harbor

                      
                                    

OZ- Where shopping is not a pleasure

If you are lucky enough to get to shop at Publix, you know their tagline and you know it is true. What I wouldn't do for a Publix! Anyway, a grocery shop loomed large so I headed out to the Warringah Mall today to accomplish two goals, hit up my local Big W to look for some warm weather jammies for CH and get the grocery shop done in as little time as possible. The scene at Big W was calm and quiet until you get to the merchandise and then it is like a size 12 rump in a size 6 skirt, stuff is everywhere and it is bursting at the seams. It is such a hot mess there was a poor grandpa trying to dress his granddaughter from the boy section. The only warm weather jammies look like they are made for a Lothario apprenticeship. Picture it, good night stories and kisses with your precious little angel, you tuck him for sweet dreams in his mini wife beater and silky lightening McQueen boxer-ish bottoms. Yes, I am certain these were for children, and yes I am certain they were a silky ish poly gross blend, and yes I bought everyone a pair, Happy Birthday. Who did the liscensce deal for this at Disney? Larry Dallas (Jack Tripper's wingman 3's Company)? That kind of outfit is the gate opener to navel buttoned shirts and gold chain accessorizing and this family is not going there. Instead of getting size appropriate jammies for CH I pay an extortionate fee for Crayola crayons and give up hopes of ever buying anything more than groceries here in OZ. Speaking of groceries, I move on to Woolies where it is uneventful until the cart is so full and heavy that I need an OSHA approved back aid to push it (4 wheel drive carts). Once I maneuver to the check out line the universe goes topsy turvy when my raspberries don't have a bar code. The checker asks me the price, I tell her $6.99. She tries to manually enter it but ends up charging me $33 for 8 bags of frozen raspberries. She tries to void it, that doesn't work, she rings her little bell(little silver old school, bang on top of the bell ala small country inn, no one comes, she rings it more aggressively, no one comes, she rings it a bit more aggressively, no one comes, she is pushed to her breaking point, everyone has one, she grabs the grocery separator bar and beats the tar out of that impotent little bell. Finally someone comes. I get my raspberries for free for having to witness such a blatant display of emotion or maybe just to avoid having to pay a workman's comp for the checkers arm/mental health. That will be the only apology to me or acknowledgement of me as the customer waiting 10 minutes and getting over charged $33 and having to watch the violent scene of the checker going LAPD vs. Rodney King on the bell. Ironically, Woolies slogan right now is a PRICE KNOCKDOWN, complete with boxing glove logo!
Clues I am acclimated: 1. $6.99/small clamshell of raspberries is not the most I have ever paid for raspberries, in fact it is $4.00 cheaper than the most 2. It did not occur to me that anyone would acknowledge me or apologize to me 3. I was SHOCKED I got the berries for free 4. Going to a big grocery store/mall is a big event and blog worthy.

The boys modeling age appropriate jammies

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way


Thanks Willie! I really love that song

Christmas for our family usually means taking a week or so of pure R&R and heading to sunny Florida to be with family. We all really look forward to this time. We eat, drink, play in the pool, walk the beach, and basically unwind from the rigors of the year. This year with Mike having 4 days of vacation a trip to the States was not in the cards. So in attempt to make the best of a not ideal situation we planned a Griswold style vacation. We loaded up the family truckster(we did not spring for a new station wagon with fancy wood panels, the CX-9 would have to do) and we headed out to see this wild and wacky country of OZ.

 We left right after the baby prom and made our merry way to Port Macquarie. All of Mike’s work mates said it was wonderful. It was. But we had to discover that as it was not apparent on first glance. The drive into town was awful. It looks like you are on your way to a great family vacation in Palatka. And then suddenly there it is the most beautiful beaches. It was so incredibly beautiful pristine and so incredibly unpopulated. We spent two nights in PM. Highlights were a trip to the Big W to buy raincoats-we will expand on rain rain rain later. At the Big W I could have been at any smalltown USA Wal Mart, it felt exactly the same, complete with the local flavor of colorful characters, local fashion statements and local locals. Real highlights were The Koala Sanctuary, where we excelled at roo feeding, some of us excelled some of us dumped food on the roo or in front of the roo. Kangaroos are so soft, they have some of the softest fur I have ever petted or as they say “patted.” I took a coastal walk enjoyed alone while the boys were napping, the family went to a delicious dinner at the Stunned Mullett per the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2011, despite being muy gourmet they had high chairs and $18 hand breaded chicken tenders! After dinner we had a wonderful night walking around the rockwall and off to bed. 

MORE PICS TO COME. 

We busted out of P.M at 8:00 am. We were able to achieve this amazing departure time thanks to Colin and his incredible internal clock that has set itself to 6:10 am. If you hated me because my kids slept from 7:30-7:30 you can stop, cuz that ship has sailed. From PM we drove the Pacific Highway to Bellingen. Bellingen is a small town that has many of its buildings on the World Heritage list, it also could be any Colorado mountain town, not Vail or Aspen more Telluride Crested Butte or a tiny tiny Boulder. Long haired freaky people please apply read the sign. It was a cute town and not too far off the beaten path so I would say it was worth it. We got a great cappucinno and snacks at Vintage Espresso, an almost too cool espresso and antiques shop. I say almost because it wasn’t too cool, it was actually cool. There were a group of the greasiest haired counter culture ish people enjoying a Christmas Eve day cap together, which makes me wonder what is so counter culture about not washing your hair or conversely is it all that conformist to have a clean head? Am I a slave to the man and machine because I love a good loofah? I LOVE TO SHOWER. I could do it multiple times a day! Sometimes it is my relaxation “activity” during the boys nap. If “fighting the power” means I can’t shower then count me out of the revolution, man. 

After Bellingen it was off to our next stop Byron Bay. A great town, I would love to go back one day, this is like a little Boulder set on a beautiful Bay, of course. BB is complete with wealth and health and patchouli all in one fabulous place. We tried to eat lunch at another Sydney Morning Hearld Good Food Guide rec but it was closed for lunch so we lucked into some delicious dim sum or yum cha right next store at a teahouse. After Byron it was back on the Pacific Highway, Gold Coast or bust! The drive took most of the day. We had two things going on, one an intense rarely ceasing rainstorm that followed us all day and 2. The Pacific Highway itself. I think this highway would be like US 1 before I-95 kinda in the sense of all the little towns and Mom and Pop joints on the wayside. It is sometimes a freeway, then suddenly that is totally lame so it changes it up and it becomes a two lane road, and then that is so over and it becomes a little road with roundabouts, stop lights and all of the fun things you do not want to see on a long car trip! The cool thing about the drive is we are really getting to see what life is like outside of Sydney and outside of the bigger cities. On the drive the diversity of the topography was astounding. All I have to compare it to are places in the States, and everyone who reads this blog is American so...one minute it looks like N. Florida S Georgia and not in a good way, think notel motels, then in another instant it looks like the drive in the mountains in Colorado in summer, then the next minute you have California craggy rocky mountains, then wide rivers reminiscent of Missippi delta complete with sugar cane factories, then the next few kilomaters could be Hawaii with banana plantations set on the hillside, then we have N. Fl and S Ga in a good way, think lush vegetations and roadside fruit and veggie stands. It must be something in my blood because I can barely pass one of those without the overwhelming desire to load up on a ten pound bag a taters. Now what would I do with it, who knows and what would I do with it at the Marriott the next five days really who knows but I feel such a pull to stop and get that farm fresh goodness. One thing is universal small towns want you to stop and really pull out the marketing geniuses to stops to to try and lure you off your GPS. 

A few favs: 

1. “Don’t you want to see what the Scottish town of MacClean’s is hiding under it’s kilt?” Huge roadside sign complete with giant scary Scottish man tempting you with what is under his windblown kilt. Um no, um hell no, that signs makes me want to do anything but turn towards the Scottish town of MacClean, it actually makes me want to hit triple zero(911) on my phone and have my finger on the call button ready to notify the authorities in seconds.
2. The Macadamia Castle

Good Coffee

Pancakes 

HOT NUTS

Written on the sign exactly as shown above. A few reasons this made me laugh, the coffee is good, they have pancakes, no assurances or claims on taste and they have HOT NUTS! We both laughed out loud when we passed the sign. Yes it is actually a castle, it is guarded by a giant knight, and if it is not a tropical depression I will stop on the way home. The marketing geniuses win this one.

3. Sudden Comfort Inn- Sudden Comfort, is sudden anything good? It all sounds too jarring for me. Oh my gosh I am now so suddenly comfortable. It was shocking. I was so uncomfortable prior to my entering this one story exterior corridor 6 room motel, thank goodness I am now suddenly comfortable, lead Zepplin could have had a follow up to Comfortably Numb. "I have become suddenly comfortable. 

4. Honey Tastings- I love rich sweet food more than the next guy but I don’t know if I could stomach a honey tasting. 

5.The Old Butter Factory- Great Shopping No Butter. Am I the only one dissapointed and disillusioned to hear the old butter factory has NO BUTTER? I was going to hit up the butter tasting right after the honey tasting and maybe throw a 5 pounder of fresh churned in the suitcase!

Port Macquarie Coastal Walk

PMCW

 PMCW

Three Stunned Mullets

The house that time forgot, beachfront, perfectly manicured lawn, looks like nothing has changed since it was lovingly built circa 1950/60? This type of thing always intrigues me.

The rockwall Port Macquarie

Beautiful

Brotherly Love

One of the Gingerbread Houses at the Marriot

I could eat them up in their Big W "kino" raincoats. Kino aka Lightening McQueen

Same details different day

All of this fun and frivolity brings us to our next stop the Surfers Paradise Marriott. A beautiful Marriott. One of the prettiest I have ever seen, and as the offspring of a lifetime platinum member whose number starts with 0000, the number on his card more than likely indicates he was the 234th member, I have seen alot of JWs creations! I checked in proudly as Pete Montaigne. Clearly, I look like a Pete b.c no one asked for id or blinked when Allison Medor's Am Ex paid for Pete's little holiday. Scary huh? I got my upgraded room and my comp’d chardonnay and cheese plate, you know I chose it just to keep up the fascade that I am Pete. I wonder what will happen when I check back in as Allison Medor for my reward stay on Tuesday? The hotel has gorgeous grounds, an awesome resort pool complete with a stocked lagoon and artificial reef that you can snorkel in, its own marina with many toys. It is big open and airy. The bar is beautiful.  It is a very nice American chain hotel. If you have done any international traveling you will know that Americans do hotels well. There are generally no crazy surprises in your room like, oh, I am so sorry Madam we have no a/c and when you open your windows you can not get out of the bed the room is so small, ala Venice or oh your taller than 4’11” then you must lean out of the shower from the waist ala my in laws in France or the ac will only run with your key in the door and we will only give you one key so when you come back to your room your stuff may or may not be melted due to the over 100’F temps. or the dreaded twin beds pushed together as a king that seem to abound internationally. So, I am loving this place! Aussies seem to disdain what I love! Including Surfers Paradise! Surfers Paradise is Ft. Lauderdale ish with high rises abounding, beautiful beaches and legendary weather. EXCEPT when its a tropical cyclone which is happening right now, on our vacation. Tropical Cyclone Tasha and apparently she is bringing one of her mates right behind her.It has rained and rained and rained some more. I actually can not believe there is still rain in the sky. We have eaten most meals at the hotel because of the weather and are actually excited to go to the Bennihana on the third floor!

Some people may say that a vacation with kids is no vacation at all. You know from reading this blog I am crazy about those monkeys so although I crave and lust after a vaca without my kids I will say that a vaca with little ones is the way or pace that a vacation should be. It forces you to slow down. If you come home from your trips feeling like you need a vacation from your vacation(I always did) try it toddler style. You wake up early, but not work early just early enough to get a good start on the day, eat a proper breakfast, no coffee and croissant on the run here, we need real food, fruit, waffles, pancakes, sausage or in Colin’s case 2 chocolate croissants(yes call CPS I am horrible Mom) You play. You eat a proper lunch, digest a bit and then down for a nap. You wake. Have a snack to get the blood sugar back up. Explore the town, maybe another playtime. Have an early dinner, because it is frowned upon to bring little ones to the 9:00 pm seating, walk around digest a bit and then off to bed. You will feel like a million bucks, “99 and three quarters percent guaranteed!” Despite the Cyclone trying to ruin our trip I still feel so relaxed and I owe it all to following the toddler vacation plan.

MORE PICS TO COME FOR THIS POST

You say POTATO I say HOT CHEAP EASYBAKE MESS!

Rarely have I been accused of being overly frugal, actually I never have been accused of anything close to frugality. I do not think I am like a Real Housewife of New Jersey, but no one is going to come to me to get money saving tips! During our move it hit me that I was just a gross over consumer. We had so much wonderful beautiful expensive stuff and most was rarely used and we had WAY too much of it. So now I am really making an effort to be cognisant and mindful in my spending and I am working to not “overconsume.” I ask myself if I really need the fanciest mixer, I am no pastry chef, I rarely bake etc...So, trying to be a nifty thrifty got me all gummed up on this potato thing. I was so excited to be invited to the American Thanksgiving Extravaganza that I volunteered to bring ANYTHING. If I had to shoot my own turkey I would have done it, truly. Well, I usually make a great mashed potato I did not say as much but that is what I ended up making. Then it hit me, I do not have my serving utensils, bowls, my pots suck here at the Funky Cold, no mixing bowl, and oh yeah and most importantly no mixer. Other than that things were off to a really great start. I easily acquired the mixing bowl and a nice inexpensive serving bowl. Then I headed out to get a little hand mixer, still mindful of my big girl Kitchenaid back in the States that rarely saw the light of day. I went to Meyer, like a Dilliards equivalent. I picked up the least expensive handmixer, a Breville on sale for from $45 to $35, I am so thrifty I congratulate myself as I go to the counter, way to go resisting the fancy ones I cheer myself on! The lady wrung me up and said oh boy an extra $5 off, yeah! I hear everything is negotiable here in OZ and this has worked for me at this store before so I say “do you have any other discounts.” She says, “No, but these handmixers do not last long, you do not need a Breville, go to Target and pick one up for $10. I say great, “thanks!!!” Feeling so proud of my sensible shopping I head to Target, the same mixer is $45 there, but they do have one model for $16, so I pick it up. I do not bother to open the box and verify this is not part of the Easy Bake Playline of kitchen appliances. I then head to Woolies to get my potatoes. The POs look different here, they are either bright white, like they have been peeled, or orange clay brown. I ask the produce man which I should use for mashed, he says, “well, the brown are cheaper and if you are just mashing, it does not matter, I would get the brown.” So I go cheap again. I get home and start washing them and realize the clay color is not their color, it is actually clay and dirt on the damn potato. I wash, and I wash, and I wash and I wash. Finally, my HUGE bag of POs are clean. I peel them and still have to wash them again. I then cut and boil them in two pots and in two shifts. While they are boiling I bust out my new fancy mixer. OMG! Are you kidding me? This must have been placed in the wrong section, this is clearly a toy mixer, I would have been better off  mashing them Lucille Ball grape stomping style. But I am stuck, they boys are napping, Mike is at work and this is just going to have to work. I mixed and I mixed and I mixed and I mixed and still my potatoes were lumpy. I thought that little thing was going to catch on fire it was so hot by then end and the littIe motor was revving to max RPMs. I was devastated, I mean having good potatoes could have the potential to get me into all the right social circles, but now with lumpy potatoes forget it, just forget it I will NEVER have friends! I eventually decided that people may give me a second chance. Mike said they were yummy but I was not happy AT ALL! I tried to forget it and just be happy with lumpy POs. I couldn't, I woke up the next morning before the party and blended again but still lumpy. He said he overheard someone at the party saying they were good, and they were all gone, but I don’t know, it seems impossible that they were good. Bottomline, cheaper is not chic'er when it comes to mixers and potatoes, and of course shoes. Also after writing this blog one question is really bugging me why is the singular potato and the plural potatoes? Why the addition of the E? I know there are some really smart people who read this, so please  learn me somethin' on this one! And yes the mixer is going back to the store and I have picked out a lovely one that is not the highest end but it is certainly adult sized and functional and will not catch fire from an oversized batch of mashed potatoEs.   

   

Yes, this is my hand and yes those were the beaters and no apparently it was not a joke

Even Car thinks it is a toy, it looks just his size