Sydney in 36 hours, don't say it can't be done

I think I will start a new business venture, tours of Sydney for people who like to see it all VERY quickly with toddlers in tow just to keep it challenging.

This weekend we had such a treat. Mike's cousin Kevin and his wife Abby were in town. Kevin happened to have a meeting in Port Douglas and so they made the Funky Cold Medina a stop on their tour. We warned them we live in sh&^hole, but they still agreed to stay with us. We had a ball with them and are so glad they are so laidback and acted like they actually liked staying here! And we really did show them the highlights in just a weekend.

They got in Friday afternoon and we hopped into horrible rush hour traffic to hit Bondi. We ate at the "club" by the Icebergs, great view great food family friendly great prices. This will be a consistent tour stop it was great!!!! Walked around Bondi after dinner.

Cousin Kevin and Car

Mike, Kevin, Abby and the boys at Manly 

Saturday. 10:12 am pulled into the parking garage at Manly Beach, toured the beach, got a coffee walked the Corso, hit the Marina, had a great lunch at Hugo's on the water, got on the ferry to the Circular Quay, walked the Quay, Botanic Gardens and the Rocks, they toured the Opera House, met back up at Darling Harbor, had a beer, walked to Chinatown had a great authentic not scary or life threatening dinner, walked back to the Quay, went through QVB saw the Christmas Tree made entirely of lights, waited for the ferry, ferried back to Manly departed parking garage at 10:12pm. Yes the boys were with us the whole time and they were SUPERHEROS!

Sunday. Late bfast/brunch/lunch in Mosman. Walked to a place we have an application in to lease. Taronga Zoo. Drinks at the park in Balmoral. Dinner at a Vietnamese place that lasted 1.5 hrs and we were not close to done, so we had the food wrapped up and headed home.

Hi Honey, how was your day? Mine was good, pretty normal...I bought a car, secured financing and insurance... oh yeah I also changed my long held perception of myself.

Here is my soapbox: Do not tell yourself you are not good at something or you can't do it, I'll bet you can!
Now I don't mean if you are still dreaming of being a runway model or a star quarterback and you are 45 you can still do it, just try harder. No that would be silly and I would call you "Uncle Rico." (Napolean Dynamite movie reference) I mean we all have things we tell ourselves about ourselves, some good and some not so good.

Sidenote: I thought I had blogged this but I must have done it in my head b/c I do not see it here. Does this mean I am crazy? If I already blogged this tell me to lay off the wine. Actually, maybe the blog would be better on wine, I do this during naptime usually and even on my worst day I can not let myself drink at 1:00.

I am not good at negotiating.
I am not thorough.
I am not good with details.
I am not good with math.
I am not good with finances or investments.
I do not understand "things" like that.
This is the negative track that played in my head and limited me based on my own self imposed restrictions, I will not tell you how lame it is that this track started in JR High when I did horribly in a algebra class, amazingly stupid huh? So, when it came time to buy a car I thought of course Mike will handle this, this is CLEARLY not my department. Lucky for me I went from having a Dad to handle this "type" of thing to a hubby to handle this "type" of thing. Yes I was a single independent woman at one time but I relied on my Dad for this or ignored it!
Well this time hubby can not do it for me. He just started a new job in a new country and is a little busy right now. I told Mike I could do all the legwork but he would have to negotiate, I can't negotiate, especially here. So I took a page from my Dad's car buying book and faxed my request to 20 dealers in Sydney in Mike's name. One got back to me with a quote in writing. This was $4,000 under what the first salesman told me was his best price. I called around and started talking to some dealers, I realized it seemed to work best if I was totally not me and acted meek, helpless and like I had no decision making power, they seem to dig that. Of course they try to talk you out of shopping around and you just agree, yes yes I understand, I will talk to my husband. So I used this technique to get another $1,500 off and some extra goodies thrown in. I could not believe it! Well, someone has to pay for the car and cash was an option but not a great one considering we can run this tax free through Mike's work. But we need someone crazy enough to finance two Americans. I found just such a guy, got a rate 1.5% better than the banks are quoting, he is doing all the work to run the Novated Lease with another company. AND... I found insurance $100 cheaper per year than the online quotes. ALL BY MYSELF! As the boys say, "MY DO IT!"

I am really proud of myself for doing all of this. It actually has given me so much confidence. So, I am working to turn off all of the negative, limiting or restricting tracks that play in my head. This will be a lifetime work in progress for sure!

We bought a black CX-9. It is due to arrive sometime soon. I will take a pic when it does! For now here is a stock shot. Just wait 'til we junk it up with our snacks, toys, clothes, diapers, it'll look so good!

Maybe one day we can really have fun and tour the Coke plant!

Mike had a get to know you work b-fast on Friday morning at 8:30am. It was originally scheduled for 7:30 am but I guess some complaining from others led it to it being moved until it is actually light outside. It was fun, as fun as these things can be. Not that I was dreading it but when Colin went to bed with a little fever I thought well someone has to stay home with him tomorrow CLEARLY it will be me! Well he woke up right as rain and so off we went.  The people were all very nice but you know how work things are people go of in their cliques and even if you are invited to a convo that seems normal it turns lickety split to work. So the boys had fun playing at the park I had fun telling people how great their country is and smiling and nodding happily alot! So one funny thing...His one friend Adam whom Mike told me he really liked, pulled me aside, and was like yeah, "you know what would be really REALLY cool? (no tell me I do not know anything cool)  we could get someone to watch the kids.... (I am thinking great he wants to do a double date, I know Mike thinks this guy is cool his wife seems cool I would love to have a friend or be invited somewhere, yeah friends!) and....he says... we could tour the Coke manufacturing facility, I think that would be so fun for everyone, I know Justine (his wife) is always having to listen to me talk about Coke and that would be so cool to see it made." A few things came to mind that I did not say 1. YES I know about hearing about Coke talk, my friend and I started a club called FCS it stands for F-ing Coke Spouses (I might wait til meeting them a second time to drop the f bomb on em) 2. You think I am going to waste my babysitting $ to look at sugar and water coming together, hell no, only if I can expense it and we are watching Cuba Libres being made! 3. YES I have seen Coke being made I used to work there! I also have done "really cool" stuff like fixed a fountain machine, loaded a cooler, and...wait for it... delivered product after hours. The range of my coolness just does not stop. How do you think I got my husband? I dazzled him with my sugar soda water prowess
Anyway, I did what I had been practicing I said, "yes, that would be wonderful" and made sure to smile excessively and nod approvingly! I can't wait! I will lock in a sitter NOW!!!

The Taxidermy Museum of Australia, aka The Australia Museum aka The Mothball Museum aka The Worst Museum ever!

Today is a horribly rainy day. It is the kind of day where you have to force yourself out of bed because you are sure the clock can not be right because it is still so dark and dreary. It is the kind of day where if you do not have small kids you just curl up in front of the tele or with a good book, crossword or anything else cozy and inside-ish. The kind of day made for napping as an extreme sport. Well, when you have two y.o twins and you live in a small hotel that kind of day is the stuff porn is made of. Pretty much it is never gonna happen to you, so forget it and move on. So we flip through our trusty books and find that we have not seen the Australia Museum. To all of our future visitors: thank me now, I have just saved you $12 you do not have to go. We walk in through the wheelchair pram entrance which is on the side of the building and it is none so welcoming. It is like oh you can not use stairs, I guess come on in but you have to come in by the dumpster. This is a little bit of a hot button for me. Life should be more accessible to EVERYONE regardless of their ability to climb a stair. The access does not have to be identical but it has to be comparable or equal.  I am fortunate that one day, my kids if God continues to bless them, will run up the stairs but for some this will never be a reality and they should be able to enjoy things as well. ANYWAY TIRADE on equal access over, sorry. It steams me up!

After I got over the entrance thing, I knew the second the door opened I was gonna hate it, the scent of moth balls hit you in the face like they have the Moth Ball Automatic Release device. But, my boys are there so I have to put on a brave face. I think of my courageous MIL who does not care for animals but enjoyed the petting zoo with us b/c the boys like it. I think, I can do this! I can! I think I will not live up to my rep that I do not like museums, I will like this! Come on, Smile, look like you love this! I tried, I did,  but it was awful, really awful. Here is a summary of the museum: It smelled like moth balls( I did not realize that moth balls were not only a secret of Gmas everywhere but also of museum curators), it was too hot then too cold, there was a room of skeletons(ick) and then literally the rest of the museum floors 1-3 was taxidermy. They would "church it up" and put it in different sections and try and call it different stuff but it was all taxidermy all the time. Just a bunch of stuffed dead animals EVERYWHERE! They had a kids zone which seemed promising. I will tell you at first I was having de ja vu from Mrs Jones 3rd grade field trip 1985 to the Jacksonville Children's Museum b/c it was so old fashioned and so LAME. Literally, they had the bugs in the acrylic little boxes that you could look at with a magnifying glass. If that did not get you revved up they had plastic animals in different sections ala dollar store. Oh, I am forgetting the one huge room that was dedicated to a very very small round table set for 10 with different silverware used around the world. COOL! The kids are gonna love this! Carson tried to leave the kids zone a number of times and told Mike the museum was "borning." So you know your museum is lame when my 2 y.o tells us he did not have fun and the museum was "borning" and he tries to escape from the "kid zone." Another dead give away it sucked was when the boys beg you to ride the elevator or accompany you to the potty b/c both are more fun than the museum. 

So now we are having a proper rainy afternoon. ALL of the boys are napping and I am relaxing with my  buddy the blog! I took a few pics of stuffed dead things, don't worry, I will post soon. 

Are you worried your kids aren't being exposed to enough pesticides or poisons?

I know, as a Mom this concerns me too. How can I make sure they encounter as many toxic things as possible? I would hate for them to be less fortunate than say, our parents, or us on this one. Maybe your not a Mom but you have often wondered...what is it like when a bug bomb goes off, that would be cool to be there and be able to breathe it all in, I feel jipped that I have to leave the room after I set off my bug bomb! No matter your motivation, I have found the solution. Raid Automatic Insect Control System. I checked and I am pretty sure they do not sell this in the States, so yes once I tell you how great it is you can send me $ and I can do a little exporting for you, in exchange for say Tampons or People Magazine. I saw this advertised a few weeks ago and really could not believe it, I actually googled it before I started writing this to confirm it was not serious jet lag hallucinations that dreamed it up. It is fo' real.
Have you seen a continual air freshener where at set intervals air freshener is released, well, this is the same thing except for it releases RAID! Yes just set it and forget it the ad says. The ad also boasts that it works better because it is a mist not a spray, oh good just a fine mist of poison, that is so much more comforting than a spray.

If you are still not convinced you need this product in your life...

Here are the specs
Raid® AutoMatic Insect Control Systems are designed for continuous 24 hour protection against flying and crawling insects.

Why use Raid® AutoMatic Insect Control System?• Eliminates Flying and Crawling Insects
• Naturally effective protection – contains natural pyrethins
• Set and Forget: 24hr continuous protection
• Fragrance Free


You can buy it for indoor outdoor or professional use I thought you would most want to know about indoor: 


Indoor RangeDesigned for insect control in your family home.
Naturally Effective Protection
Contains natural pyrethrins, nature’s own protection against insects, extracted from chrysanthemum daises. Even small amounts of pyrethrin are enough to kill most common insects.

• • • • • • •

Formulated with natural pyrethrins Lasts up to 7.5 weeks or 10,800 bursts Continuous protection Effortless: Set and forget Dispenser releases spray every 7 minutes DIY pack releases every 5 or 7 minutes and has low can warning light Ideal for use in homes offices, shops and other indoor areas. Register your interest today!

Colin The Magnificent or the missing diamond earring

Again, a shameless story bragging about my kids. Usual warnings apply.

Every night I take off my earrings and place them on the nightstand. Every morning the first thing I do is put them back on. The nightstand is low and the boys could get to them really easily. This morning I have no idea why, I did not do it. It was about 10:30 and we were leaving for the park, I went upstairs and one of my earrings caught my eye on the floor(grey carpet). CRAPTACULAR and other cursing ensued. The boys had obviously gotten to them. I found one but could not find the other. Mike had these made special for me and they are sentimental, I wear them everyday. I really love them. Tears. Pulling apart the room. Sheets off the bed move the bed, etc. It could be anywhere, in the drain, toilet, a stomach, really anywhere when 2 y.o twins are involved. Finally the boys came upstairs to see why we were not on our way. I sat down in their glider put my head in my hands and realized it was gone, Car rock the glider for me, sweet. I asked them where the earrings were and Carson was blank but Colin went right to the nightstand. I told him it was missing and we needed to find it. He tried to put a band aid on my leg, I guess since I was crying. I can count on one hand the # of times I have cried in front of them, so the gestures were very kind. I went to the other side of the room where I had not searched every inch, Colin went to my side. All of the sudden he runs over "found it found it found it" Wouldn't you know it, he found it. Seriously, a miracle. I thought I had searched every inch. He saved the day!

Later that day on our way to the park Car ate it hard, face on the pavement and everything. Colin stopped pushing his car, turned around pushed his car back to the accident, rescued Carson's car that had fallen down a little hill pushed it up to Car, and waited to see if his brother was ok. Our baby is really growing up.

Also same day I lost and found back at the park our apartment and safe key. Mike asked me how it happened it is so big he said. This was not the best thing to say in the midst of the crisis.  A few minutes later he texted to say it was the day of lost things, he had lost his laptop power cord. How could that happen it is so big, I wondered? All things have since been found! Even the teeny tiny power cord :)  

Socialized Medicine Part II

I am sure this will be a long series as this Socialized Medicine is just CRAP. I pray everyday our family stays healthy but I REALLY PRAY to God that nothing serious happens here or we are movin home, no questions asked lickety split fast boat to the States please!
Carson cannot seem to stay well. It is a bummer, it sucks, I hate seeing him sick but for the most part it seems to be just little viral infections that come and go. Or so we hope. A little cold here diarrhea there. He woke up Monday and was not feeling well so I made him an appt. Again, he sees a general or GP as a pediatrician is a specialist here. I hate this, I hate this b/c toddlers are not little people they are unique and things can get really bad for them in lightspeed compared to adults and I always found our pediatricians got that and made sick kids a concern and priority. So our appt was for 5:15. At lunch he seemed to have a hard time breathing, it definitely was not wheezing but it was labored but I could tell it was throat ish not lungish. I was not panicked but concerned. I called the Dr. to see if we could come in early. Now I must remind you we have a fancy non bulk billing Dr. I mentioned Carson was having trouble breathing she said "no I am sorry that is all we have we are booked, I guess you could go to the hospital if it gets bad, you could come in at 2 but I can not promise when we could see you. " Ahhh thank you for the hospital option, yes, the ER midday and nothing is bleeding or falling off, that seems rational to go there first instead of my Dr's office great plan. By all means please see the old bird with the corns before the sick child this is all very sensical, and yes, let me come and wait with my twins indefinitely, i'll bet you will find a place for me 'straight away' after listening to us recite Thomas books for two hours." I just said yes, thank you see you at 5:15 and watched Carson and the clock like a hawk until then. 5:15 rolled around, we see the Dr. who at least has more sense than the first two and knew that certain vaccinations were part of the WHO mandates. Kind of a big thing to know, but the first two did not. Car has a viral infection, no not allergies, yes it is possible to get sick this often, try "panadol" (tylenol) hot shower, fluids blah blah blah. Just to make sure lets get a throat culture to rule out whooping cough. For this we have to go to a pathologist, not like we think of them for cancer but like a Labcorp. Except you have to go for EVERYTHING! Urine, throat cultures, the most basic in office stuff you have to go to this awful place.
We arrive today around lunch, probably the worst time but...it is attached to a GP bulk billing place that runs as busy and crazy as a free clinic in the states, oh yeah thats what it is a free clinic, Dr.s peak their head out call a name two times... quick then assume the person is not there slam their door and thats that. Pity the old, slow moving or deaf soul. It is awful to me. The sign for the pathology tells me to take a # sit down and my number will be called. It is not the nice deli number situation, it is a card holder with laminated #'s and a dead bug inside. I pick my # not thinking to look through and see if it is actually in numerical order, I just focus on not getting dead bug wings with my #. We waited for a solid hour and no numbers were called. NONE! There is no one to ask. The front desk says they run separately and they have no idea, and pathology just has two pocket doors that say do not disturb testing in progress. Finally we left, who knows it may have been our turn in minutes but we were 15 and I saw a nice old lady with a 13 that is when I gave up. I hate this part of OZ. No pics for this section only frowny faces. Minus 10 for Oz on the score sheet. I hate to be political but you do not want this model coming to a Dr near you. Period. No matter what your bend this model does not work. I know all humans should have access to healthcare, I can not imagine having a sick loved one and not being able to access care for them but there has to be other answers than having the government run this, cuz it SUCKS when they do. REALLY SUCKS!