Hiya, just a flying visit, time seems so short, I quickly scanned the first few pages of activity to find something to comment on, however I just wasn't motivated... Sorry.

Most of you on my facebook will know that I am trying to get Sassy Parents up and running, (thanks for your survey feedback, will post the results in a week or two).   Now I am trying to choose the theme, anyone who knows me knows that red is my favourite colour, however if you could give me a quick number for what you like best - that'd be awesome.

Sassy Parents - Theme

BTW, no it is not a competitor site for Minti, as I don't feel that the topics I will be talking about are really appropriate to Minti. Dummies, child abuse, breastfeeding vs bottle feeding, I encourage debate, freedom of speech and I don't care if people get hot under the collar about these subjects; in fact, I think they should, which is why I have my own site.

(Lola Rose playing in bed with her toys - I just wheeled her around the house with me when she had the flu)

Got to dash now, MicroMe needs to be collected from 'school' for Little Tigers, then we have Muay Thai, dinner break then more Muay Thai.  Between swimming lessons for both kids, Muay Thai and rugby for me, as well as my own online projects and studies, there has been little time for Minti.  Hopefully that will all settle soon and I can catch up with what everyone has been up to.

Hi/bye from me & the midgets...  Oh, PS we are in the grand finals after an epic semi final on Saturday against Merrylands. We were struggling, down to 13 players, (meant to have 15 for those who don't know about the game they play in heaven) and we won with a penalty kick on the final whistle.  We play Sydney Uni @ Uni this Saturday and for the first time, we go in as the underdogs.  We have 6 team members at the Womens Rugby World Cup, a few injured players out, however we are just as hungry as ever to drink from that cup again!

I have found myself in the midst of SEO training with The Challenge 2010 (Search Engine Optimisation?) and I am lucky to be receiving additional WSO coaching (Web Search Optimisation?) from Eddy Croft and Josh Denning of ClickThruiQ. To be totally honest, I am just guessing at those acronyms and it is all keeping me so busy, (along with having the flu and two sick kids for a week), that I haven't had a lot of time to stop and find out what they really are... In fact, I am not 100% sure what the actual 'Challenge' is and I don't mind. I'm learning a lot and the 'Coolest Guy On The Planet' sent me the link to start it; I am hoping I become cool by association.

Coolest Guy On The Planet

Luckily MissyMe is still small enough to sit on my lap and have a drink as I type, unfortunately MicroMe is not quite so patient and has gone from being fairly independant to quite demanding. Being sick has made them both a lot more needy of course and my patience is wearing rather thin. The creative side of things is fun, however the technical, (well my version), side of it is a bit frustrating... Every small win; such as getting my first site page live and getting some feedback, (thank heavens for friends and family). Right now I should be uploading, (or is it downloading?) my second site, however it isn't working and I've taken a creative break to cool my simmering temper.

Ironman not happy being cooped up inside; sick or not.

This is meant to be a common sense parenting blog, so here is the common sense tip: Make sure your kids are well fed, have a drink and are busy with an activity, (or sleep) before you try to tackle the www... Even if your MicroMe and MissyMe are your muses, the last thing you need is to hear are their plaintive cries for attention as you are trying to find out what it takes to be an entrepeneur, (or even spell it) in the cyber world. Here is one of my small wins from my 'homework' assignment last week: Sassy Parents Survey Click here to take survey on parenting for parents and other adult family members involved with children. If that link works, I have learned some basic html and it will be another win for me, I will be able to go back to word press direct without pulling my hair out... This time.

IronMissy entertaining herself; she has suddenly discoverd toys.

If anyone has time to take the survey; I'd appreciate it, as sometimes I feel I am way out of touch with the concerns that other parents have even though I am one... Plus it will help me with my homework :) 

MicroMe is always on the go... He get's up early in the morning and is keen to pack every minute full of action.  Unfortunately for him, MissyMe is up late at night and sometimes in the wee small hours of the morning and her (and my) favourite nap time is when he gets up.  Luckily he is very independant and he also has Nanna, Papa and UncleDrew up early in the morning, so things work out ok if he can't be convinced to snuggle up for a lie in with us.  In fact, when MaxiMe is home, he and his little 'Lady of the Manor' lie in until all hours while MicroMe and I get up to mischief and go on  missions :)  We have done a bit of travelling around the last few months as MaxiMe has been working away in regional NSW a lot.  We took the kids to beautiful Lake Cagellico for a week and up to Woolgoolga as well as a few side trips to Sydney, Blue Mountains, Sofala and Orange to fill some days.  More about travels at some other time though, this is really just a quick update to show off my little versions of MaxiMe and Me in action lately.

MicroMe always wants to do everything, rarely a day goes by when he doesn't ride his pushie. He is getting back into his motorbike so we will have to get him an MX helmet soon now that his neck is strong enough, (plus he is riding faster and setting up little jumps).  His swim lessons are going really well, even though he had 3years of just staying confident with us, he picked it up straight away and he loves it.  He is back into Karate and a bit of Muay Thai (kick boxing) 2-3 times per week, we also took him indoor rock climbing a few weeks back and he enjoyed that heaps too.  He has been helping his UncleDrew house hunt, (he wants to see an auction) and he also wanted to go to church.  Luckily for us we have a friend who rings the bells, so we went to the bell tower and watched that, checked out the bells and went out on the roof before going into the church to enjoy an african orphan children's choir.  He is going to give me some money from his money box and get me to use my plastic fantastic to donate money for him as he is very keen to help children with no parents.  He is turning into my number one helper and he is such a great supporter; he tells me to run faster when I train (grrrr) then the other night when I threw one of our friends on his back MicroMe yelled out, "go Mummy, good girl Mummy, you get 'em" which was much better than at rugby when he said, "Mummy... Why did you drop that ball?!"

MissyMe is a pure delight to be with every day... She is rather greedy, so I have given up on any pretense of modesty and I doubt there is a person in the vicinity who hasn't viewed my boob/s at some stage LOL!  Her favourite food is banana and although she eats baby rice, baby porridge, apple, pumpkin and blueberries, they all have banana with them most of the time.  She loves hanging out at the dojo watching us train and she went nuts at the Tuff Girl final eliminations (Muay Thai).  She gets a lot of extra cuddles and attention from all the lovely people down there too and we are both spoiled with people offering to look after her so I can train.  I never knew what an 'Octagon' was until 2years ago, now my baby naps in one safely while I train, (UFC Fight Cage)... How life has changed!  She has also been down to Sydney to watch me play rugby a couple of times, though I doubt she is paying much attention, she never congratulates me on our wins ; )  She loves Mumma and Daddy, however it is MicroMe who is her favourite person and he is an exceptionally good big brother and wonderful helper for me daily.  She likes going to 'school' when we pick up and drop off and has featured in the daily news diary getting her photograph having cuddles with the kids.  More latterly she has started swim lessons at the same time as MicroMe, we are in the same pool next to his class which is cool.  They both to go creche before hand so I can work out and grab a cappucino, then we all hit the pool; it's a good way to start each week.

Stephen just told me to check out this site, it is really cool, "I Write Like".  I cut and pasted my article on squidoo about spanking in it, (similar to the one I posted on Minti) and it said I write like Anne Rice; I was pleased with this as she is one of my favourite authors, I love her writing style. 

When I added the first part of Never Say Never it said I wrote like P G Wodehouse.  I have not read any of his work, (that I am aware of), this is good incentive to remedy this.  Anyway, post your last blog or article in and see what your result is, it's fun :)