Life Begins at 40...cards 26-40

All 40 postcards have been sent!

I sent cards to Australia (NSW,TAS,Qld,SA), New Zealand, Holland, Estonia, Canada, England, Latvia, Algeria, Brazil, Switzerland, Finland and America!

I've had a reply from Patty at Just Letter Rip

Card 26 went to April in the USA, April and I wrote to each other a few times then stopped, I'm not sure what happened. So I sent April one of my cards.

Card 27 went to Jenn from Mountains and Musings who sent me a Pantone postcard a while ago.

Sorcha was the recipient of card number 28, Sorcha is also doing a mail project, she's making some fantastic mailart!

Cards 29,30 and 31 all went to members of Bookcrossing who replied to a post in the forums there. Card number 30 went off to Algeria, I don't think I've ever sent a card to Algeria before, not even through Postcrossing.

Card 32 went to Colleen in the USA, like April, Colleen and I used to write and stopped. Maybe I'll find some of my old penpals through this project.

Card 33 I sent to Talita from Brazil whose name I found on the GoodMailDay blog.

And cards 34-40 all went to members of Bookcrossing who had replied to my post in the forums.
Cheating I know but I sent 2 to Finland, 1 to Switzerland, 3 to the USA and 1 to England.

Hopefully some of my 40 postcards made people happy to get a surprise in the mail, much better then a letterbox full of bills!
I enjoyed sending them out and finding people to send them to.

Hopefully over time I will get a few more replies!

In my search for mail projects, I found Love Notes So I joined Jennifer's project and have sent 2 of my Love Notes out so far. Mine are not as artistic as some of the ones Jennifer has posted on her blog, but hopefully my partner has enjoyed them. I haven't received mine in the mail yet.

Here come Santa Claus....

Danielle at Fivelittlereasons posted last week about How to get the best Santa photo and included a photo of her lovely Christmas album that she keeps all their Santa photos in.

I looked around for a similar album and couldn't find anything. So I looked at Kmart in their photo album section and they had nothing that would hold a single photo to a page.

But in the Scrapbooking department I found the perfect album-
A Creativ  brand 8'x8' scrap booking album in Red.

 They were only $5 each and you can buy extra pages to add in. My Kmart didn't have the extra pages so I bought 2 albums as I have photos of my kids with Santa from 1992 onwards, so I needed more then the 20 spaces there are in one album.
I printed the dates on a piece of paper and slipped it in the cover. I kept it plain but you could do something more fancy if you liked.

Much better then before where all our photos were just loose in the paper cards you get with the photos.
This photo was taken in 1992, when I had just one child!

Life begins at 40 ...cards 16-25

I've had a bit of a break in the sending out of the cards due to some family stuff.

Card 16 went off to Zane in Latvia, I don't know Zane, I found his (?) address via the Sendsomething site, I just asked for a random address, the fact that it gave me someone in Latvia was just an added bonus!

Card 17 I sent to Patty from Justletterrip in Virginia in the USA. I've been following Patty's blog for a while.

Card 18 went to Carla at 365letters in Texas USA. Another blog about letters and mail.

 Number 19 I sent to Missivemaven also in the USA, who has lots of lovely links on her blog.

Card 20 went to the Realwall
in the UK which sadly hasn't been updated for a along time but has lots of interesting stuff to look at.

 Half way through!
I've filled all 40 spots now and I'm even considering sending more as I had a lot of replies on the  Bookcrossing forum to my request to fill 40 spots.

Card 21 was mailed off to Limner from Oh,Write me! I love mail blogs, I can waste a whole morning reading through them!

I love the photo of mailboxes on The Penpal Project's blog! I sent card number 22 to Bev, who hasn't updated her blog for a while but has already let me know she received my postcard!

The next card went to Ohio to The Pen Thief

Melissa in Brooklyn was the recipient of card number 24, she has a blog at Viva Snail Mail

And card number 25 I sent to herchelle a lovely Bookcrosser I know in Canada.

I need to buy more stamps so I can send off some more cards, but I also need to mail Christmas cards as well so it might be January before I get the rest in the mail.

I'm gonna get dressed for success, shapin me up for the big time, baby..

My school formal was in 1989. My dress was light green, made by my mum, off the shoulder,noisy rustling taffeta.
I still have it in my wardrobe but my daughter sadly wouldn't wear it for her formal this Friday!
I've no idea why not?

My formal night was like a comedy film. I didn't have a lot of friends in my grade but went to formal anyway.
I went on the bus (due to the no friends thing, so therefore noone to goes shares in a limo with!) and when getting on I stood on the front of my dress and ripped a small hole in the seam.


Our formal was being held at Newstead House in Brisbane (we wanted it to be on The Island but the teachers wouldn't be in that for some reason?).

On the way there, they bus broke down in Fortitude Valley and we ended up sitting in our formal dresses and suits on the stairs of a tiny church. We waited a long time for a replacement bus, everyone who had arrived by limo had already started eating by the time we got there.

The best part of the whole night was being able to go outside and see the river. Newstead house is lovely  and we had photos taken outside with a backdrop of the river and also of the back of  the building.
When the photos came back (back in the time when you had to wait for photos, and there weren't 120 other cameras there) 5 people's photos were not there, of course mine were missing.
My Mum took some photos of me before I left home and while I have one, it's double exposed. 
So I don't have any decent photos of me taken that night with my lovely green eyeshadow. 
I do have one taken at my Grandmothers house the next week.

(Photos of the photos, my scanner is a piece of crap)

I can't remember what we ate and I don't remember dancing but I'm sure they played "Dressed for Success" and "Tucker's Daughter".
I do remember the toilets as I spent some time in there as I started feeling unwell.
I  had lots of mozzie bites on my uncovered shoulder by the end of the night.
I remember the trip back on the bus too, feeling more and more sick.

The next day I woke up covered from head to toe in Chickenpox. I was so sick over the next few days I was delirious and I couldn't attend graduation properly. I missed most of the last week of school.

Hopefully my daughter's formal this Friday will not be quite so eventful!
Here's a photo of her wearing my dress. It fit her back in 2009 when she was 14, doesn't fit her now she's 17. 

Life begins at 40, cards 9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15.

 7 cards all sent out at once. I'm just sending them out as I get stamps. More weird cards, I've no idea what exactly "Dear Internet Citizen" with a picture of a loaf of bread is supposed to mean? The Internet is the best thing since sliced bread perhaps? Who knows!

Card number 9 I sent to Lisa who is one of my more recent penpals. She lives in the USA. I think we foudn each other via Lettersets.
Card number 10 went to Nicola who is my most recent penpal, Nicola is in the UK and also contacted me via Lettersets.
Card number 11 went to Kym in Canada. I can't remember how Kym and I found each other? Kym also enjoys Geocaching like me.
Cari in New York got number 12, Cari is a Bookcrosser I met when she was travelling in Australia a few years ago. We went on a day trip one day with a few other Brisbane Bookcrossers,to Yarraman which is about an hour and a half west of here. We took a lot longer to get back as I showed then a different way to get  back which may not have been the best way back!

Skyring, also a Bookcrosser but from Canberra recieved card number 13. Skyring was among the first Bookcrossers I met when I went to the 1st Australian Bookcrossing convention in 2004 in Sydney.
Number 14 went to Shelita. I went through my box of letters and picked out some addresses to send cards to of people I haven't heard from for a while, so Shelita might be a bit surprised to recieve the postcard.
15 went to Sammie from Box 332  I don't know Sammie but her address is on her new blog at Paperbased.

So that's 15 cards sent out so far. I still have 8 empty spaces in my list of 40, so if you're here reading this and I haven't sent you a card, leave a message and I will add you!

Life begins at 40, cards 4,5,6,7 and 8

Card number 4 I sent to my friend Jay who lives in New Zealand. I met Jay through Bookcrossing. Jay travels around New Zealand for her work (lucky hey!) and she sends me books and I send her postcards or books. Jay is Awesome fun.

Card number 5 went to Kate from Ourlittlesins whose Pantone postcard sendout was where I stole the idea from!

Cards 6 and 7  I sent to Anke and Karin who are both penpals I've been writing to for quite a few years. Anke lives in Holland and Karin in Estonia.

Card 8 I sent to Maxine in Canada, we have been swapping postcards in bulk for a year or 2, but I don't have many decent cards to swap now, I have a lot of lovely postcards from Canada that Maxine has sent me though!

I need to buy stamps before I can send off anymore cards.

Today I received a postcard from Jenn at Jennunger who is also doing a Pantone postcard send out.

Jenn sent me Blossom in a cool envelope made from a refidex page!

And the lucky contestant was sent a whole years supply of buckets of yucky excrement

I love entering competitions and one of my favourite things to win (besides holidays!) is "a years supply" of something.

Some things I've won a years supply of-

Sunscreen (lasted much much longer then a year and I gave away heaps of it!

Green Tomato Sauce. The kids loved this, I found it hard to get past the colour even though it tasted the same as regular sauce!

Dishwasher Tablets, they're a really cheap brand but they were free!

Water. Sparkling water and normal bottled water. We have a box of out of date sparkling water in the garage. I call it my Armegeddon water, if the zombie apocalypse happens, I'm sure I won't care about the date on the water.

Simple face care products, didn't last a year with 2 teenage girls in the house. I've hidden a small amount so I can actually use it myself!

Mentos. Hmm my idea of a years supply is a lot different to theirs!

Icecream. They just sent me a voucher which of course we didn't spend on icecream.

Cereal. It won't last a year but we have a good choice for breakfast at the moment!

FFS Friday

So we went on holidays for 4 nights. We didn't swim on the first 2 days, we have 3 more days right? It rained for the last 3 days FFS
It's supposed to be The Sunshine Coast FFS
We had to go and buy jumpers it was that damn cold FFS
Since we got home it's been stinking friggin hot FFS
The whole household is sick now with the flu FFS
 Having the flu in warm weather really sucks FFS
I must have been crazy when I booked a 2 bedroom cabin for 4 kids and 2 adults FFS
The baby slept very well in the porta cot, I didn't sleep for more then an hour the whole 4 nights FFS
Since being home the baby has now decided not to sleep in her cot, it's much more fun to stand up at the side now we can do that FFS
Of course she has no idea how to get back down again, so she just lets go and falls FFS
The 2 hours of sleep I got between 4.30 am and 6.30am this morning is the most sleep I've had in 7 nights FFS
And the worst thing? School goes back Monday FFS

Linking up with Dearbabyg (If it works)

Life begins at 40, cards 1,2 and 3

I sent the first 3 of 40 postcards out today, all to people in Australia.

Number one went off to Rin from Paperedthoughts. I don't know Rin but she has her address on her blog and enjoys receieving mail! I hope she likes the penpalling themed card.

I did take photos of the front of the cards but for some reason they only load sideways on here, bizarre.

Number 2 I sent to Bianca from GoodnightLittleSpoon. I love Bianca's blog, one of the first mail themed blogs I started reading. 

Number 3 went to Steph from Stephandhusband. Steph sent me an awesome Batman postcard from her Superheroes box!

I bought more stamps today so I will send cards out randomly when I go near a postbox. I still have 9 spaces left I think! 

I joined another postcard box sendout over at JennUnger

Cleaning Out My Closet.....

I've been printing out The Organised Housewife's 20 day Challenge task sheets. There was way too much going on here to even think about starting on day one, but I bought a folder and I've been printing out the sheets each day.
I'll start when I think life is calm enough!

There are some great ideas in there and I love the idea of the 5 minute jobs.
I already have a reasonably organised house, I just wish everyone else would put things back where they belong!

I really enjoy seeing all the linked posts on the weekend, some more ways to get ideas for my home.

Life begins at 40....

A few weeks ago I received a postcard in the mail. Now that's not so unusual but this one was from a stranger. Kate from OurLittleSins started a postcard project where she sent out 100 Pantone postcards over 100 days (or close to !) and I was number 80. You can see her post about sending the postcard off here-
Day 80

Kate did a round up post after the 100 postcards were sent off and from that post I saw a couple of other people have started postcard projects, including Steph of Steph&Husband who is sending out Super Heroes! 100 Superheroes

Now I have a couple of box sets of postcards here but I've used some out of each box, and I also don't think I could ever find 100 people to send postcards to, but encouraged by Steph I've decided to do a 40 postcard project. Why 40? Well it's my 40th Birthday on Monday!

I'm not expecting to send 40 postcards in 40 days or anything that ambitious but hopefully by the end of the year I'll find 40 people to send them to.

I'm sending postcards from McSweeney's Greetings from the Ocean's Sweaty Face box. These postcards are odd, so sending them out like this is great as I always send other postcards from my collection as some people may find these ones offensive or just down right strange!

Of course I'd love to get some mail in return to I will be putting my post box address on the back. To start with I'm going to send them to mail bloggers who have their addresses on their blogs, some of my penpals and some of my friends. I'll also find addresses from lists on blogs like Good Mail Day and Send Something .

But I will have lots of spares so if you want one of these rather unusual postcards, comment below and I'll contact you!
And if you know of any mail bloggers or anyone else who might like one, let me know!

Well, I guess I'm freaking forty....

Inspired by Tiff's post at Mythreeringcircus ....

I'll be 40 in just under a month, I haven't really thought about what I want to do on my birthday or even what I want for presents. I already have all that I want really.

I'd like some washi tape I guess, new books are always welcome, and maybe some perfume.

I'd also like- to go to the bathroom without anyone knocking on the door, a whole nights sleep and to solve all the problems in my life at the moment, all these are unlikely!

What I will get is a day with my family, no matter what we do or who is or isn't here, someone will say something cute, someone will do something nice, the baby will give me her beautiful smile and I won't have to cook dinner!

Like Tiff I have a list of things to do. I want to learn to drive, I want to see more of Australia, maybe go back to New Zealand again one day.

I always wanted to go up in a hot air balloon but I'm too scared to do things like that anymore.

Some things I have done in my life-
I have given birth 5 times, 2 "naturally" and 3 csections.
Been pregnant 6 times.
Watched a friend give birth.
Been married twice
Had a church wedding
eloped
Been in a abusive relationship
Been a bridesmaid twice
I've had skin cancer
Been a "troubled" teen
Won 3 holidays including a "money can't buy experience"
Had a poem published in a book
Went to New Zealand 3 times and went on a ferry between the 2 islands.
Been in an advertising shoot for a book publishing company.
Walked under the Brisbane River
Travelled on the first electric train out of our town.
Been in an icebar, a gondola,a hovercraft and in a train drivers cabin.
Been on lots of camps.
I was on tv once, 
I went to Open day at Expo 88.
I've volunteered at school,at the War Veterans home, for Endeavour, and at Riverfestival.
I've Lived at 18 addresses
I've been a sister, a friend,a wife,a girlfriend, a mother, an aunt, a daughter and a granddaughter.
I've made many mistakes and done some dangerous things.

I'm sure there's a lot more to come... I wonder what the next 40 years has in store for me?

Eight Days a Week...

I wish I had eight days in a week! I might be tempted to use that 8th day to sleep though!

I'm a listmaker. I also have a diary and an iphone.

I use reminders on my iphone a lot as well as the calendar. I know I can somehow sync an online calendar with my iphone but I'm not clever enough to have worked out how exactly.

My diary is a Mum's Memory there are a couple of small things I don't like about it but mostly it works for me. I spent a long time looking at diaries before buying the MM. I've had the MM 2 years in a row now.
One of my main problems is that it's just too big to carry around with me. So it stays on my desk and I check it every day and try to write appointments in straight away.

I also bought an InnerB Mums agenda in a lovely pink but I haven't actually used it yet. If MM ever stops being made then I'll buy a refill for the IB.

A friend of mine made her own diary using a Levenger journal and some ideas from DIYPlanner.

Some other diaries I considered were-

OTI
InnerB
Masterplan 
Tiny Me Design your own
BabyBrain
Personal Planner


There are so many family organisers available. I've tried a few different things, I have a magnetic whiteboard family planner but I don't really use it. 
I've made our own family folder with ideas from some of these sites-

My Org
Did You Remember the Milk?
KikkiK
FlyladyOrganise your life
OrganisedHome

I keep our takeaway menus in it as well as school papers like tuckshop lists, uniform price lists etc.
There's also a section for family holiday ideas and a section for menu planning.
I also have copies of any organising printables I find on the net.



For menu planning I'm currently using a 5 week planner from Picklebums blog.
Kate has lots of useful printables on her blog (as well as some great family recipes!).

I find working our meals 5 weeks ahead works well for us at the moment. I can write a shopping list each week a lot quicker and I can swap meals around if I need to.

These things all help me stay organised to some extent but I could still do with that extra day!

These are a few of my favourite things....

Here are a few of my favourite things- I was going to include my favourite baby items but have decided they will get their own post!

So... Pascalls Marshmellows, yum!

 I love the coloured pack with the yellow ones, Banana yum! The new choc covered ones are pretty nice too and I did get sucked in by the Pascall swirl ones for a while.
And the very best way to eat them? Buy some crispy MandM's as well  and shove them inside the Marshmellows!

Cocacola Zero   and  Nescafe coffee,  Caffeine is a big part of surviving 5 kids!

TimTams Is there anyone who doesn't love Timtams? So many flavours to choose from! I love the good old original ones, just have to hide them from the kids! Right now you can win some great prizes by buying Arnotts biscuits from Woolworths including a years supply of TimTams! There's also a pretty cool Timtam advertising promotion on now where you can be a star in your own ad! 



Pineoclean wipes, My kids make lots of mess, these are great for cleaning up mess, rather then the kids just moving the mess around with a sponge.
PineOclean Glen 20 spray is awesome too, the crisp linen fragrance is the best!

Omo Sensitive Again, mess control! We've tried lots of different powders and liquids but this one does the best job!

Garnier BB Cream  Thanks to Daisy I tried BB cream and I love it, sun protection and a light foundation in one! Thanks Daisy for your recommendation !

Lynx deodorant, the new Anarchy for girls, but also Dark Temptation, both my teenage girls prefer Lynx over "girls" deodorants. (And not just because I won an amazing holiday from Lynx!)

Apple products,

This is our household collection, the ipad, iphone, classic, the mini and 2 of the shuffles are mine. I was devastated when my original ipod was stolen when our house was broken into.
I've only had the ipad for 2 weeks but it's the most brilliant thing ever!

My Milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...

I didn't breastfeed my first 3 babies, my first husband said breastfeeding was "for poor people" and that "women only do it because they want men to perve on them". Turns out those were his mothers opinions.
I probably should have fought harder but first time round everything was pretty overwhelming as it was and all the other mothers I knew at the time bottle fed their babies.
3rd time round I did want to breastfeed but when the nurse asked he answered for me with bottle feeding thanks.
My 4th baby was breastfed for 6 months with formula topups, My 2nd husband is much more supportive about breastfeeding. I probably could have fed baby 4 for longer if I'd had a bit more information. I thought I was low on milk but now I know a lot more about breastfeeding I know I probably was doing fine, I was just thinking about it from a bottlefeeding view, "It's only been 2 1/2 hrs he can't be hungry again".

This time I've fed baby H 51/2 months so far, bar some formula on her 1st day to help settle her blood sugars and that was tube fed anyway not via a bottle.
I hope to feed her for at least 12 months, it's just so convenient and easy, and I love feeding her early in the mornings.
She's my last baby so I'm glad to have gotten it right this time round.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

I'm a readhead, a "Ranga", Carrot top and all those other horrid names.
I didn't bother much with sunscreen or hats as a kid or as an adult and now I'm paying for it.
Currently I have about 30 stitches in  the back of my head and it hurts.
I've lost count of the sun cancers I've had removed but I've had one skin graft and at least 2 big removals both on my face and now my scalp.
Wish I'd worn a hat now.

Hello....Is it me you're looking for?

Maybe it's just me, maybe my expectations are too high, maybe I'm just a bit too weird or too awkward, but at almost 40 I'm still trying to find my "BFF" .
I have a good friend but she lives too far away, too far to just drop in for coffee or to go shopping with.

Since babyH was born I've joined a mothers group and tried 2 different playgroups and the ABA group, but I still never seem to find the right kind of people. The sort of people I can feel compfrotable with and not feel like I'm trying to find the right things to say all the time.

I've met people through penpalling and through Bookcrossing and Geocaching, through the P&C at school and through parenting forums. I've met some wonderful people but not my BFF.

How did you meet your BFF?

Start Spreading the news....

My 1st blog post.. what to write?
I'm almost 40 and I have 5 kids between 19years and 5 months. 3 girls, 2 boys.
I had an 11 year gap between the last two so it's like starting all over again.
Everyone keeps saying "You must be an expert", but I have found someone changed all the "rules" in that 11 years!
So I've been  spending a lot of time at home and I've been bored and a bit lonely, so I started reading a lot of "Mummy blogs" and decided I would start my own. Probably nobody will read it but that's ok with me!

2012 wins $2868 1995-now $68125

January

4 tickets to Muppet movie $60
12 month supply of dishwasher tablets $50
double movie pass to Weekend $30

May
Owl bag $40
Lion King2 and 3 blurays $40

June
Fridge $2000
Brave pack $160

July
Years supply of cereal $185
Book $25
Teething Necklace$50

September
Baby Food $30
Book pack 50 shades $30
Itunes card $20

October
Poppin popcorn $30

December
Museum pass $40
Skincare stuff $13
dvd $20
handbag $20
boobie bikkies $25 

Books Read 2012

January
1 Cross fire
2 Lake of Dreams
3 Don't Blink
4 The light keepers wife
5 Before I go to sleep
6 Dear Me
7 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
8 How to crack an egg with one hand
9 Honeymoon
10 Extreme Motherhood The Triplet Diaries
11 the Mistake
12 The Mothers group
13 Holding the Baby
14 The wind through the keyhole
15 The Meryl Streep Movie club
16 The Light between Oceans
17 Save Me
18 Secret Mothers Business
19 Lone wolf
20 Between the Lines
21 Love Anthony
22 Days like These
23 The end of your life book club
24 secret life of a slummy mummy
25All I want is you
26 On Broken Shore
27 The Unfinished journals of Elizabeth D
28 The Storytellers daughter
29 The young widows book of home Improvement.