Anti-ageing birthdays
He walked into the bedroom brandishing a golden box tied in a silky red ribbon.
My husband looked pleased with himself as he presented my birthday present to me and I excitedly clambered up onto the pillow to give myself more elbow room to open it.
“Happy Birthday Darling!” he explained.
“Wow!” I exclaimed back.
Payback- the teen mobile phone plan!!!
The mobile phone bill popped into my inbox this month for teenage daughter number 4, and it was $160 over the monthly $30 limit.
“I didn’t hardly make any calls this month,” is the first response.
Quickly followed by, “It’s a stupid plan.”
On closer inspection of the breakdown of the bill, the excess has come from $450 worth of texting.
The Bangkok hit-list. How many nights is enough?
Admission… Bangkok wasn’t on my hit-list of must-see places in the world.
The line in the song, “One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster” was enough of a deterrent. I hate oysters and my expectations of the city itself were deep-sea low.
However, when your husband makes a surprise holiday booking to visit friends in Singapore, those friends return to Australia after a decade away, and you’ve been to Singapore numerous times, serendipity becomes the travel agent of choice and Bangkok became our destiny.
So, we changed our flight, went for more than one night, (in fact five) and it just goes to prove that fate is best left to work when it’s not on a hit-list.
View from the river cruise
More towel trouble in Paradise.
There’s been a re- shuffle in our house.
One of the five childrens’ bedrooms is the Taj Mahal of teen sleeping spaces.
It is as large as the master bedroom, but without the ensuite. It’s spacious enough for a couch, on which to slouch and hang out with friends, and has a built in desk and robe so you sizeable enough for a small party.
Needless to say it’s the most coveted of crash zones.
To win this room, it’s easy.
Magical Christmas Reads.
If the perfect Christmas present is to lie back with a good book, then these two recommendations are my way of re-gifting in the best possible way.
Both are so different.
But in common- a glitter of fantasy.
Aussie Brady Bunch does the U.S!
We are about to depart on a once-in-a-lifetime overseas family holiday. All seven of us to the United States.
I am hoping that the only similarity between us and the “real” Brady Bunch is that we are also a blended family TERRIBLY EXCITED to be taking a holiday in America.
Because when Carol and Mike took their tribe on a trip there was some sort of disaster.
Parenting tip..do not throw in the towel, lock them up!
To many people, summertime means the beach, the pool, swimming and togs.(bathers for those outside Queensland)
It certainly does for me as well.
But to parents, it also means wet, soggy towels left lying around EVERYWHERE!.
Fascinating Find..in time for Melbourne Cup.
Meet Georgette de Vil.
She (feminine, like a boat) is elegant yet cheeky, sophisticated but slightly wicked, and what’s even more striking yet surprising is just where I met her.
“L” plates for parents.
‘L’ is supposed to stand for Learner Driver.
‘P’, for Provisional Licence Holder, in other words a driver who has just graduated from ‘L’.
I am suspicious the single letters are subtle codes for what Transport Department officials have covertly branded parents, who are attempting the teaching.
L for Laughable,
or Ludicrous, or even Loser.
P for Paranoid
and Pathetic.
This is no fairytale..A novel step-mum read.
Here’s a novel idea.
A story where the central, strong and well developed character is a stepmother but not vain or evil.
Karryn Wheelans 