A  photo of my husband's grandfather (right) and his brother in Bucharest, just before the war. This photo has only just been found. These two men were the only survivors from the war in their entire family. During the war they lost contact and never saw eachother again.  

I just wrote a comment in response to someone's advice and I realised that the thanks should not just go out to her. The entire MINTI community deserves a super big thankyou.  If I could shout it from the heavens so that you all could hear I would. The combination of all advice and comments has helped me to achieve positive outcomes with my children and my husband.A long time ago I made up my mind to focus on the good things that all parents do everyday. It is pretty hard. I like to gossip and bitch just like any one else, though I never have admitted it before. The abundance of positive advice and positive comments on this site has allowed me to keep focused on positive  LIVING. I really have learnt that I can change so much in my world, just by making a few changes in the way I react. This site has also helped me to overcome a fear I had of expressing my opinions, especially if they went against anothers. I have been liberated!! And I think so has my family.

THANKYOU! 

This is my daughter at this year's Melb Grand Prix. She has ear plugs, folded socks, ear muffs and a scarf over her ears. Clearly having the time of her life!

Isn't it funny how things usually happen for a reason! My car was at the mechanics yesterday because of...... let's say HUMAN ERROR. When i went to pick my beast up the mechanic told me what happened was a blessing in disguise. The hose that leads to the head was about to split. He showed us the aged pipe and boy did it look nasty. He said that if it had of split, it was more than likely that the engine would have blown up. My husband went white. THANKYOU UNIVERSE!!

I really don't feel too bad about putting petrol where it doesn't belong now.

 

Let me advise people out there that it is NOT a good idea to put petrol in the radiator. Yes, I did it, and perhaps if you ask my family, they would say that I should have been born blonde. Now let me explain. Yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to check all the levels in the car as my good husband has not done it in a while. The only thing that needed filling was the water. So I open the garage, grab the container the reads RADIATOR COOLANT and begin to fill up the car. Now I have a cold and my nose is pretty blocked. Ok, the stuff was not green but I thought that it may have been some new fancy coolant. As I was replacing the cap I noticed a petrol smell. I stuck my nose over the reservoir and definitely smelt petrol. Then I smelt the RADIATOR COOLANT container and yep, petrol.

So I ring my dear beloved, to ask him if we had a new type of coolant that smelt like petrol. You can guess the answer. After ringing up RACV I really started to panic because they told me that I have to go to a specialist mechanic that removes flammable materials. I rang my mechanic and he has just told me to bring it in.

How did petrol get into the wrong container. A relative of my beloved filled an empty coolant container with petrol for the lawn mower. They Neglected to write that the hazardous material had been changed. I have to say the I don't think you're allowed to store petrol in plastic anyway. So this relative gives the container to my beloved, letting him know that it is now petrol. He stores it with all the other car stuff and doesn't tell ME about the change. I see the only container of coolant and didn't even think  that there would be anything else in there. Now my beloved is telling everyone that I put petrol in the radiator and that is it. No explaination just that I was silly enough to do it. I really don't think I am to blame!! Do you?

Now I am without a car today, which normally wouldn't bother me, but today is the only day I work, and I have to catch PT to the city.  That wouldn't bother me either but I have my kids' cold and I won't get home until about 8. Oh well. Lets hope the car is ok.

Just got back from the doctors and my son has a bad throat/ chest infection, and his tonsils are red. I thought he was getting better but he started coughing persistently today and hasn't really stopped. It makes me want to cry just watching him. The cough suppressant doesn't even touch the sides. So , now he has to take anti biotics which I hate, hate, HATE! Lucky he is a fairly strong boy and he will bounce back relatively quickly.

My daughter on the other hand, that's a whole different story. The rash she has looks to be an allergy of some kind. This is the third time in about 4 weeks. Bad health has always plagued her and it pisses me off because I believe that I am so careful with the foods they eat. She is already on a strict diet, no wheat, no yeast, no sugars and no dairy. I cook really wholesome food. FCK! I hope we can get to the bottom of this quickly, and I hope it is just environmental. Our little suburb is such a dust trap. I can't wait until we can move. She must feel terrible I know, and she tries to protect me from her worries I am sure. I am so upset for her.

On the up side, I love my doctor. He does so much for us. There was a waitng room full of people, my son was barking continually. He ushered us through B4 anyone else when really we should have waited. I know that the others wouldn't have minded because he would do the same for them. I always say thankyou to everyone when I leave though. At least I know what I am dealing with. If your ignorant, you can't find the solution! SHT  

My daughter is home from school today with a terrible rash and stomach pains. I am not quite sure if it relates to the previous mornings events, I guess we'll find out this arvo. Jessica loves doing special things for me and one of those is making perfume, my favourite. She has just now gone outside to make up a new batch, as this helps her to relax. The usual recipe is as follows;

1 big bowl of water, 1 big handful of sticks, 1 big handful of assorted leaves, assorted petals if any can be found( these could be petals from flowering weeds), loads of glitter, bubble bath, lemons fromthe lemon tree (make sure to jump on them first), maybe some essence of slater (bugs). Mix all this together then cover bowl with copious amounts of glad wrap. Leave in the sun for at least a week, checking every so often to make sure it is producing smell. Put in glass jar, give to mum, and insist that she put some on immediately!

 

This is my first time doing this but my third try at copying the photo I want. Think I'll have to get technodad to come and show me how. Here it goes

My daughter revisiting her youth.............or mocking her brother!

I think my son has a weird fascination with his bowel movements. A little while ago he produced brown snakes, today, blue cows! I don't know where that one came from. He claimed that the blue cow jumped into the toilet and went splosh moooo! Go figure. Anyway it is great to see him having a bit of fun again. He has been really sick the last few days. High fever, terrible barking cough, and just really really unhappy. I haven't had to give him any panadol since bedtime last night, which is such a relief as I worry about the effects of the stuff on his kidneys. He is normally a moody boy, but to have him so unhappy has been really draining, not to mention getting up at all hours of the night. I feel like a zombie.

Then to top it off, my daughter had extra time before school this morning and decided to put makeup on. Mascara, a bit of foundation, blush, hairspray, hair straightener, body glitter and who knows what else. And she has an external excursion today. Just before I SCRUBBED all the gunk off, she said she was itchy. After the redness from me washing her face had subsided, she was left with a nasty rash all over her face.  Too angry I sent her to her room to lay on her bed, hoping the rash would subside, and to give myself time to chill. No results and now we are pushing it for time. Grab the chamomile, make a potion, wipe her face with it, put some cream on and send her to school looking like some contagious freak. I haven't had a call from school as yet so I think that she is alright, but now I just feel guilty for not being sympathetic. I am sure she will let me know about it when she gets home.

Do you remember when you were 8,9or 10 and you liked a boy and you knew that he liked you and you were boyfriend and girlfriend though nothing was ever said and now that you are boyfriend and girlfriend you can never talk to each other and you can never be seen together!

My daughter has been friends with a particular boy since he arrived at her school earlier this year. She found out through the school grapevine that this boy thought she was the best girl he'd ever met. They formed a really close friendship that was based on talks of technology and schemes of how to get the teachers' reference books so that they could see what they were hiding. the friendship developed into the boyfriend/girlfriend kind yet neither of them posed the question.This was the result of wheeling and dealing of friends. Now that they are informally betrothed, they don't talk to each other! Reminds me of my first love.

My three year old boy has just been to the toilet. Normally when he goes for a poo he will call out that he has done a plops and needs help. Just now he called out, "There's a snake in the toilet and you need to flush it!"  When I came to see what was going on, I was not surprised. Then, reaching out to press the button, my son cautioned me, " careful, it might grab you and bite you on the finger!"