the brady bunch house

Well let me just say it again. Selling a house is no fun. The nerves before each open house and waiting to hear feedback, people wanting a bargain, our first offer being so much lower than the minimum we set, the cleaning (oh the cleaning) and just being in a bit of limbo not knowing what will happen. The worst part for me is definitely the cleaning. Having 4 little people who do the opposite of clean is tough work. Tonight I've put them to bed with a dvd and a pile of books so I can clean around them and next Saturday I'm not going to be here before the open house. I tried to cancel the open but the agent advised against it. Dear Lord I'm not sure what state the house will be left in before the open since I leave the house at 7am for my market.

But anyway, part of the fun of selling should be looking at houses to buy. And it is. Sort of. But I found an absolute classic today that I had to share with you. This house ticks a lot of boxes for us and is on our list of properties to see.....but I am just absolutely fascinated with the presentation. It looks like the Brady Bunch lived in it and just stepped out to lunch and it hasn't been touched since then. Retro daddy is already calling it the brady bunch house. And you can't fault the cleanliness or presentation. I even think that might be the original fridge that was put in when the kitchen went in.  

So that's the house update. We're still positive, we've revised our pricing and also set (between ourselves) the absolute minimum that we'll accept and will wait and see.

All of these pictures came from www.realestate.com.au where I spend a lot of my time!

Win a $100 Big W voucher to dress your little ones in style!

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Would you look at my little stud muffin? I got a little teary when the super talented Rachel Devine of Sesame Ellis sent me back the photos from a recent photo shoot we did for Big W and Nuffnang. Yes, I know I make extremely attractive children (kidding! no actually I'm not, they are very attractive offspring!) but I've never had a picture taken of my twinnies looking so gorgeous. Finn looks like he stepped right out of an upmarket kids magazine

And you might remember my Big W $100 shopping challenge. Hard to believe Finn's outfit came in at $25. He looks a million dollars to me. $17 jeans and $7.96 for the tee.

We met up with the lovely Rachel at my favourite spot in Sydney, Clontarf Reserve on Sydney's northern beaches. After a week of rain the sun was out and the twins were happy to be out and about. OK, well Tillie was happy to be out but immediately started saying no photos and running away from the camera. She has her moments and was definitely a little drama queen. But I'm so glad Rachel managed to capture some of Tillie so beautifully too.

Tillie's outfit you might remember came in under $35 for the lot. $9 skinny jeans, $5 long sleeve rib tee and a $19.99 cardigan. I am just loving her outfit. It's something I'd pick up for her from a much more expensive store. In fact that's what I love about these outfits. You would never know I dressed the twins for about $60 combined. I would normally spend more than that on one outfit. Ask retro daddy, he'll tell you how much I spend on dressing 4 children. But these photos prove that you can still keep your little ones looking gorgeously stylish for much less. Retro daddy might be giving me my own $100 Big W challenges on a regular basis in the future.

But of course I love to share! And I have a $100 Big W voucher to giveaway to one of my lucky readers so that they can go and dress their little ones stylishly this winter too. Just tell me what you'd buy at Big W for your little ones (or your grand little ones) and why and you're in the runnning. Now be creative as the most creative and original entry will win. The competition is open to Australian residents only and get creative! $100 goes a long way at Big W. Full T&C are available here and the competition closes February 29!

Thank you Big W and a huge thank you to Rachel Devine for these photos. I've already told her she'll be photographing all of us when baby number 5 arrives.

Happy Valentines Day - it's time to get a pap test

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Oh boy, I have to let you in a guilty secret of mine. I had to share it with my OB on my first appointment this pregnancy. Because I've had so many babies in a short period of time - let's see, 4 babies in under 6 years and pregnant with number 5. So after each baby my OB gives me a pap test at my 6 week check up. And I don't mind my OB giving me the test since he's seen everything anyway. My test results always come back fine and then I fall pregnant before my next pap smear is due. It has been convenient. But after Elodie the result said there were too many pregnancy cells so I needed to wait 3 months and have it redone. And I received a reminder in the mail. And then I received another reminder and stuck it on the side of the fridge. And I knew I had to do it. And then I got pregnant. So I need to wait until I've had this baby for my next pap test.

love this aussie ad

Oh the guilt. That's the thing about pap tests. We know we have to have them. And none of us like having them done. I don't like having them done but then when it's done I realise it wasn't that bad. Apparently a recent newspoll found out that 13% of women have never had a pap smear and over 40% of those surveyed don't get them every 2 years. And what scares me is that most cases are detected in women aged 35-55 which is me and I’m pretty sure would be most of my readers.

not so sure about this american ad.

Which is a scary statistic considering over 700 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year in Australia and 4 women every week will die from it. And most have not had regular pap tests. Now I feel bad. Really bad. In Australia young women can now receive the cervical cancer vaccine and combined with pap smears it is hoped that these will end cervical cancer in Australia. It seems so silly that most of these cervical cancer cases could have been prevented with regular testing.

On a lighter note, apparently 97% of women will plan in some personal grooming before their pap test. Yes, personal grooming. Kind of like me now that I do regular aqua classes at the gym. That means grooming down there, shaving your legs, wearing nice underwear and the right clothes. And the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation (ACCF) is suggesting that since Valentine's Day is a time we make special time for our partner and get ourselves looking nice (ok, most of us. Perhaps not if we have 4+ children) then perhaps we should make a date for our pap test too around this time of year so that we don't forget.

now this is an american ad where pap tests are recommended every year but I had to share it for a laugh!

And there you have it. I'm spreading the word on the importance of having a pap smear every 2 years eventhough I'm overdue for mine. So don't do what I do. Make your appointment this week, make it a priority, let someone mind the kids (which is usually my biggest issue since I have 3 at home with me everyday), make sure your family and girlfriends are up to date with their tests and just do it. And you can find more information on the ACCF website here,and facebook.

 

And tell me - do you have regular pap tests? are you overdue one? do those statistics scare you? Let me know........

edited to add this great comment from Maryanne today:


Being a woman and a GP I thought I would add my 2 cents worth!

Personally I'm not that keen to have a pap done, but do it regularly as I know what a brilliant life saving test.

From a professional perspective, I regularly remind and encourage women to have their paps done. I think it's great to remember a few things.
It's usually a quick procedure and often thinking about it is worse than having it done.
It is truly lifesaving - a pap is not looking for cervical cancer it is looking for early changes that may become cancer if left untreated over time. Get a pap, find the pre-cancerous cells, treat them and you don't get cancer. Don't get a pap, you may miss the opportunity to treat a pre-cancerous change and unfortunately it may progress to something so much more compliated to treat. I know a pap isn't great but the alternative is so much worse.

Finally I thought you may be interested to know I do 3-5 paps a week and I only work 2 days! Over my doctoring lifetime I have done thousands. It is part of my every day. I am never embarassed when I do a pap even though I know those who come to see me sometimes feel uncomfortable. Whether you have had time for "personal grooming" or not(!) get your pap done!! You will feeling so much better when you have done it rather than worrying about it. And don't worry about what the doctor thinks!!! We have done them so any times before!

the weekend is over

Well it's Monday! Saturday was a blur with ballet, swimming, our open house and going to look at a few open houses.

Sunday was mass and retro daddy deciding he'd take us all out to lunch. I love it when he annnounces this but I also think he must have a short memory as it never ends well when we go to a 'restarort' as the twins like to call them. Someone always loses the plot and has a total meltdown before the bill is paid. You can never pick who it will be. Yesterday it was this girl.

We went to Cavallino's in Terrey Hills. Such a lovely place if you have a family and you feel as if you're somewhere in Italy. Keira even practised her italian on the waitress. A lovely meal......until I had to rush my profiterroles and warm dark chocolate sauce to get out of there.

And now it's monday and straight back into real life, school, after school activities and stuff. I've decided to get stuck into my knitting while my sewing room is all packed away. I pulled out this almost finished project this morning. I just need to do the sleeves, block it and put buttons on. It's a really cute little newborn project - Puerperium. Don't ask me to say that, or spell it out again. The pattern is on ravelry here.

And the yarn I'm using is amazing, the colour is just so beautiful. I was instantly drawn to the colour as it's something a little different than blue or green for a boy. Not that I know what I'm having yet. You can find it at suzy hausfrau here. And yes I love my rustic dining table as a backdrop for photos.

and the other thing I've been working on is this raglan cardigan which I'm knitting in gender neutral cream. It's been a bit slow going as my eyes start to close after 2 rows but I'm getting there. As best I can. Ravelry details are here

p.s I'm supposed to be on the Today show this week so keep an eye out on Facebook when I let you know which day. Very exciting but I think I'm more nervous about looking how fat oops I mean pregnant I'll look on national tv.

salted caramel and macadamia brownies

Did that grab your attention? It sure did when I found it in a new cookbook I bought this week. I'm not quite sure how I snuck ANOTHER cookbook into the house. I'm sure retro daddy would have made a comment about how I have more than enough cookbooks for one person. But anyway. He wins with deliciously homecooked food. And here is the latest addition to my library, Tenina's latest book for the Thermomix, For Food's Sake.

You'll find the brownie recipe in there as well as on her blog here. Wow is all I can say. I know that salted caramel is very trendy right now but I've actually never tasted it before. I loved it but will keep the extra salt for the top off next time, it was a bit too much for me but the overall brownie is amazing. Your lovely thermomix will make the caramel for you in 15 minutes and you add the rest of the ingredients.

 

Bake for 20 minutes and voila......salted caramel and macadamia brownies. Definitely give them a go. Amazing. I'm so glad I made these AFTER today's open house because I managed to open a new box of cocoa and get it everywhere.

elodie the artist

Long time no elodie photo. And what better way to give you an update than her latest hobby of drawing on walls. That now means that all 4 of my lovelies have all loved a bit of wall art, some more than others. Tillie in particular liked to go off to a quiet place and find some wall to draw on where no one could find her.

Yesterday we were all sitting around when all of a sudden Finn piped up to tell me that elodie was drawing on the wall. I didn't believe him but there she was, drawing and laughing, caught in the act.

By number 4 you are pretty much used to it so there is no freaking out (poor keira got the freaking out mummy) so I just grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures before getting out the gumption and a chux and wiping it all off.

Dressing my twinnies for less at Big W

Sponsored by Nuffnang

I love when a new sponsored post opportunity comes along for a brand that I love and totally embrace. Big W is such a brand. I am in there almost every week. Why? It's my one stop shop! Nappies, formula, a cookbook (best prices for books in my opinion), baby clothes, a DVD for the kids (best price for DVD's), hardware item for retro daddy, lunchbox, a bag of lollies, school supplies and so on. I always need something from in there and it always saves me time and money doing it all in one go.

And I love a good budget challenge. Retro daddy probably wishes that  I used and applied the word budget a little more in my everyday life. But with baby number 5 on board I am ready to embrace the word budget. And so I received a $100 Big W voucher to put together some outfits for my twinnnies and show you how great Big W's kids clothing range really is.

quality control

And I'm loving that I put a complete outfit for each twin together and came in under $100.  Retro daddy, are you loving that? And what I love is that I haven't needed to deviate from my normal style I like to dress my little ones in. Yes I have a style for each of them. 

Now when it comes to my girls I love cardigans, ruffles and sweet girly styles in  pinks, reds and navy. This sweet cardigan was on special for $19.99 and I was immediately drawn to it. It looks like it cost a lot more than the price. Teamed with a $5 long sleeve rib tee and $9 skinny jeans. No, I am not kidding $9 skinny jeans. I normally buy the little one's jeans on special in the winter clearance sales but $9 as the regular price is pretty nice. And they are a great colour and quality. And there you have it, this outfit came in at $33.99. Totally adorable, totally my style - I mean Tillie's style - and a great price.

Now for my Finnie boy I love navy, preppy and a classic look for him. So I started with jeans. Now unfortunately Big W were all out of $9 jeans in his size but I got this great pair for $17 so still well under what I'd normally pay for his jeans. I picked up a few long sleeve tees starting from $4.48 and these will be perfect for preschool because he insists on painting every time he goes. I loved these two preppy tees and they are totally what I'd buy for finn but for much less money. See, I totally loved this challenge.

And for a little bit extra I picked up this great tracksuit for finn. Again for preschool but it came in under $20 but fits my classic, navy and preppy style.

And there you have it. That is retro mummy shopping on a budget for kids clothes in Big W. Hopefully I have proved that you don't need to compromise style or quality to buy for less and that your kids can be looking great this winter. And I also loved that I picked up maternity clothes at the same time. See one stop shop. Love it. Thank you Big W for this great shopping challenge. 

I'll be back in a few days with some great pictures of a little photo shoot we did with Rachel Devine of Sesame Ellis at my favourite park. 

Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake

On a diet or health kick at the moment? Then DO NOT MAKE THIS CAKE! It is pure evil. I had to run out to the shops to buy more butter annd sugar once I started pulling out ingredients and realised I didn't have enough. But the taste. Oh. So good. And it's super easy to make and makes a big large cake perfect for a crowd, or a big family or yourself. And if you have a thermomix it's super easy as I did the whole lot in it. But don't say I didn't warn you when you start to read the ingredients. It's a special treat.

OK let's get started. If you don't have a thermomix then the full recipe is here on Pioneer Woman's fabulous blog. I can't take credit for this recipe, it's her amazing recipe. I've just converted it for my lovely thermomix owners out there. Man, I can't wait till her new cookbook is out. Ok back to the recipe. You're going to make the cake first and then you'll do the icing while the cake is baking and the icing goes on the hot cake.

the cake

2 cups plain flour

2 cups caster sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

1 tsp baking soda

225g unsalted butter

4 heaped Tbsps cocoa powder

Place raw/white sugar into your TM bowl and process for 9-10 seconds on speed 9. Set aside. Now place butter (cubed) into TM bowl and melt for 2 minutes at 90 degrees on speed 1. Add in cocoa and process for 10 seconds on speed 3. Now pour in 1 cup of boiling water from the jug and leave for 1 minute. Tip in flour, sugar, baking soda and a pinch of salt. Process for 10 seconds on speed 3. Now add in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and process for 10-15 seconds on speed 3 until well combined. Pour into a large baking tray ( I used a large rectangular cake tin) or baking sheet and bake in a 170 degrees oven for about 20 minutes until a knife comes out clean. Now my oven is hot hot hot so if yours is slow then bake in 180 degree oven.

the icing

200g butter

4 heaped Tbsp cocoa powder

6 Tbsp milk

1tsp vanilla

500g icing sugar

1/2 cup pecans

Now make your icing sugar in 2-3 batches by processing for 15-20 seconds on speed 9. Don't overdo it as the bowl tends to warm up. Set aside. Place nuts in the bowl, closed lid position and press turbo button once and not too long. Don't press it twice. Made it too fine. You want some chunks in there. Now set aside and rinse out your bowl. Place butter in bowl and melt for 2 minutes at 90 degrees and speed 1. Add in cocoa and process for 10 seconds on speed 3.Add milk and vanilla and icing sugar and process for 15-20 seconds on speed 3. Scrape down bowl inbetween if you need to. Now add nuts and processs 10 seconds speed 1.Now set aside.

When the cake comes out of the oven pour icing over the top. No need to spread just make sure entire cake is covered. Leave to cool then enjoy. So good. The icing is runny and oh boy. Seriously good cake. I hope retro daddy is reading this from Brisbane and wishing he was home with us.

And let's just get a close up. Mmmmmmm, doesn't that look good? So give this a go and tell me it's not the best chocolate cake you've ever had. Thank you Pioneer Woman for your good recipes. This was a winner.

relaxing.....a little

I don't think we'll really relax until our house is sold and we've bought another one. Unfortunately it's also retro daddy's busiest time of year as they go through a major restructure at work. I've never seen him busier and have been secretly sending him through job ads during the day. I don't think anyone should work until 2 or 4am in the office on a regular basis.

So yesterday we spent the day away from the house, I didn't clean, retro daddy didn't paint and we just took a well deserved break. We had a fun photo shoot with the very talented Rachel Devine for an upcoming sponsored blog post, mass down in Manly and fish and chips for lunch at a local cafe. Man, I love being pregnant and throwing my diet out the window.

everyone wanted to sit next to their daddy

and the funniest photo of the day! Well it would have to be trying to get the twins to smile together and Finnie pulling this face. I'd love to know what he was thinking. Maybe he had a little bit of attitude after his photo shoot?

And that was one relaxing sunday. Until retro daddy went back into the office at night to print off documents. Oh well, I got to watch Homeland in peace and quiet (loving that show, just loving it)  

one very clean craft room

Oops! I realised this morning that I hadn't shown you any pictures of my craft room looking all sparkling and clean. Something that is very rare. Now, obviously I am not sewing or doing any actual craft in this room because it's way too clean for that!

We had hoped to paint the dresser white to go with the room but totally ran out of time. Painting cornices and skirtings took priority over that. And I placed a few quilts and books around to give the impression that someone sews here. The reality is that I boxed up over 20 boxes and tubs of craft stuff and put it into storage BEFORE the open house.

and a bed was made up to show how spacious the room is and that, well you can fit a bed in there. I've obviously been watching a few too many home shows but think for a spare room it looks respectable. Especially since a spare room in this house quickly becomes a dumping ground.  

And some of you might remember this is Keira's quilt that I made after Christmas. Unfortunately Keira saw it and almost had a meltdown that her quilt and pillow wasn't on her bed. I promised she could have it after the open house and all was well. I really hope I can make a similar quilt for Finn. 

the first open house

Well it's been an exhausting and emotional day. I didn't expect the emotions. I was just supposed to finish cleaning the house like I'd never cleaned the house before, tell Keira and the twins not to go up to their rooms about 50 times because we were 'selling the house today', and tell retro daddy which bathroom he could use and that I really wish he didn't need to use the toilet just as we were leaving the house. Again because I'd just cleaned it perfectly.

piano in the 'formal' lounge

I can honestly say I have not stopped cleaning over the past 2 days except to sleep! Oh and eat. Everytime I thought I was done I'd find a little mark on a wall or another job to be done.

the bag was not there for inspection. I went over every room before inspection removing everything! And stuffing them in cupboards.

I know a few people who keep their houses as clean as my house is now. Where do they get the time? I'm just plain exhausted. Retro daddy said to me, 'you know I hope we can live in a house this clean all the time'. I wish I had thought to tell him 'that's great, well get yourself a cleaner............everyday'. But I only thought to say it the next day. Don't you hate that.

But we did it. We left the house 20 minutes before open house and there was already a family waiting on our nature strip and then it hit me. The tears. The emotions.

the old kitchen. Really wishing I hadn't packed all the books into storage!

Tired, nervous, exhausted, worried because we've spent so much money on a kitchen and renovation that I wanted and maybe buyers won't pay what we want and of course I cried because I'm pregnant. And then everytime I started to talk I wanted to cry. Oh dear. It's been a long week.

this was after we got home. Notice the crumpled quilt on the bed and the campervan has been played with. Not allowed before open house. No. Not on my watch!

Thankfully while the open house was on I was at the hairdressers getting reblonded, relaxing and having a lovely time with a big pile of magazines and my lemonade. Retro daddy texted me to say that 16 groups had been in and 1 contract has been requested. And I smiled and started to relax.

yay! at last we can play outside and make a mess. With water. Mummy has been mean all day not letting us touch anything

because I can't clean the house like I have every single saturday. I'm just exhausted. And I had to be a mean mummy and I didn't like that.

first day of pre-school

Well I always share the big moments in our life on this little blog. And the first day of preschool for my twinnies is no exception. To say that they were excited is an understatement. They've only been asking me EVERY SINGLE DAY since last year 'are we going to preschool today?'.

And as soon as they woke up this morning they were running around the house screaming!!!! I've never had to calm them down so much first thing in the morning. It was totally crazy. They'd even hold hands and jump around together in circles.

but after a few photos and checking we had everything....off we went.

first stop was keira at school. Then for some reason after I dropped her off and started driving to preschool I had to fight back the tears. I mean really fight back the tears and couldn't speak.

I think the reality was setting in of such a big step eventhough I've been hanging out for this day for a long time. A LONG TIME! But I've never put these two in care so they've just always been around me. Finn got a little bit nervous when we got in there but tillie was all smiles and they both hovered around each other before deciding they wanted to paint first. The beauty of twins, you get to start preschool with your best friend right by your side.

yes, we call finn 'little justin' as he looks just like his daddy!

I feel so bad for keira because she didn't go to a traditional preschool like the twins are going to. The difference in quality is huge and I feel so lucky the twins can attend a brand new catholic preschool. I almost cried when I saw the little prayer corner set up. It's been an emotional morning, OK? It's just such a lovely place.

but we said our goodbyes and this mummy took elodie off to the mall for a little peace and quiet. And it was nice. I only had to share my hot cinnamon donuts (a pregnancy treat I indulge in ) with one little person. But as nice as today is, I keep wondering what they're up to, hoping no one has wet their pants and that they are enjoying themselves.

And I'm sure it will be 2.30pm in no time and time to pick them up and get keira from school!