When all that matters is grey plastic.

It looks so mighty up there, if only I felt so mighty visiting!

Our Aldi and Woolworths are situated in the same complex but in order to get an undercover park and get to Aldi I have to walk through woolies, which bruises my ego a bit lot. Pathetic, I know, but it does. I always feel a little povo when I walk through Woolies with a trolley full of bagless Aldi goods, especially when I have "borrowed" a woolies trolley and their car park to save on the $1 and the rain. I occasionally attempt to cover my bag-less goods as best I can, sometimes with a handbag, other times with a child. But when I think about it, no one probably cares except my ego, although I have had the odd posh-woolies lady stare at my poor indescribable situation: bag less goods, screaming toddler and not a deli-wrapped package in sight- the horror!
Today though, the ego was inflated, an entire shop at woolies, I didn't even jump ship for cheap nappies. I was like a show poodle, making my way up and down the isles, head held high, prancing on tiptoes. When I got to the counter the lady asked, "Do you have eco bags?", "No, just the grey plastic for me thanks and plenty of it, I want everyone to know that I shopped at woolies today". Well that's a stretch of the imagination but it makes the story sound better, and the truth is, thats exactly what my head was saying even if I didn't actually verbalise it.
It's hard to believe that there was once a time when I thought my $300 Oroton bag was a bit povo, and I was hankering for a LV. Imagine if I said to myself 10 years ago "Love, don't worry about the LV, in a few years time all you will want is a grey plastic bag."
 How did I get to this?
Aldi is a great supermarket chain, 80% of their produce is Australian owned but the process of box-picking and bag-less goods seems to shout poverty. I feel like I should wear a signboard that reads "Yes you guessed it, I am on my way to Aldi for cheap unpackaged goods, but once I drop that load in the car and will pop back upstairs to wealthy woolies for some deli ham, a grey plastic bag and some air  for my ego."

Do you ever feel the same or am I just pathetic?

Have a happy Sunday,
I'm off to nurse 3 sick cherubs :(
Liv xo

MacGyver didn't have an elastic.

(skin colour, so it's barely noticeable amongst the party bling)

Whilst secret agent/trouble-shooter MacGyver can battle Soviet soldiers and serve soup to the homeless in the one episode using every non-violent resolution known to man, he never once used an elastic to solve the heinous crime of flyaway hot hair. Not once. We are one up on MacGyver ladies.

As an avid user of hair elastics I know all too well the ramifications of not having a hair elastic on hand (literally).
I recently had my hair cut into a not so lovely twee bob (another story) , hoping it would curb my lazy tendency to reach for an elastic and in fact, force me to attempt the hot look for hubby.
What was I thinking?? With 4 little kids, a 'clean up style' wins hands down over a 'hot, sticky, sometimes snot infested (from the kids), in your face, stuck to your lip balm combination.'

But we're all suckers for both I've discovered, we want the look just not the hassle.

This is usually how the senario goes:
"Babe, I'm going to get my hair done for the party on saturday." (tick. he knows to look out for it)
Saturday comes and you walk around the house flicking your hair, trying not to be too obvious, but in truth, desperately keen for the "OMG Darl you look amazing" kind of reaction.
a) when you get that reaction, you dutifully tell him he looks hot too and it's going to be a GREAT night
or
b) you don't get the reaction, so you get in the car, sulk for a bit, then say "so do you like my hair?", all the while eyeing out the elastic on your wrist.
Then you get to the party, take one last look in the visor mirror, flick it again and resume the uncontrived facial expression.
You work the room until every last person of importance has seen your locks and then, once you presume they have all made a mental note of how nice your hair is, you reach for the elastic.
Up it goes, without so much as a farewell see you next year.

I thought it was a "mum thing" at first, you know, it's easier working with kids when you hair is up. Well that's what I tell my husband, but clearly it's not because on the weekend at Ladies Day I witnessed 3 young ladies doing just this and none of them have kids. They worked the sidelines, not quite they came, they saw, they conquered, more like they came, they showed, they MacGyverd.

I realise this post is definitely in the mundane category, but I just had to reassure myself that I'm not the only vain one out there, you all do this right?

Liv xo

My name is Olivia and I have a problem.

It's my handbag. No matter how hard I try, it just keeps filling up.
I bought this fancy accessory over a year ago and swore black and blue that this one wouldn't be used as a garbage depot.
Well....I failed. Miserably.
This morning at the shops, with a few impatient shoppers behind me, I tried desperately to find my credit card. My wallet is on deaths door and everything is falling out and everywhere. It was like fishing in the Yemen before they stocked it. Impossible.
I huffed, rolled my eyes and excused myself and all of the groceries. The token line "it must be in the other handbag"  slipped out.
So when I got home, flustered and hungry, I tipped the thing on its head.
OH MY GOODNESS.
This was not your ordinary clutch. It was like carry-on luggage, rucksack and toy box all rolled into one, with a splash of nasal congestion for good measure.
I'm disgusted. Is it me or the kids that are to blame?? I know for one that the dirty tissues are theirs, b/c last weekend at Church two had the snots and as I handed them fresh tissues, I saw used ones being deposited (I thought I had made a note to self to remove them once we were out, but it must have slipped my mind.....over and over again).

Do you suffer from the same problem? Please say yes.

Like writing down your daily food intact and pasting it on the fridge is the only way to loose weight, confessing what was in my bag will hopefully have the similar positive effect. So here goes:

6 x dirty tissues
wallet
1 x nappy
1 x packet of wetones
2 x handcream tubes
hand sanitiser
a lady beetle figurine
panadol
rosary beads
matchbox car
kids shoe polish (clearly the first week back at school and it didn't get done in the 3 weeks of holidays)
bingo game
3 x bandaids
a fairy
packet of matches
3 x empty snap lock bags
docket
manicure set
packet of tissues
a hair dresser flyer
my niece's necklace
a picture hook
loop hock
a brooch
moxies
packet of fisherman's friends
sticky tape
2 x packet of Anticols
eyeliner
4 x lipsticks
Muesli bar
Lollipop wrapper
A hair clip
2 x hair elastics
sunglasses
keys
some crocheted doily ??
2 x pens

All but the kitchen sink, as the saying goes!

I'm a (huge) bit embarrassed but that was very cathartic.

With Love and a conscious decision to change,

Liv xo

Marvelling the mundane today.

Today a few things caught my eye. Some made me stop and appreciate their beauty, others made me smile, one cracked me up and one had me bent over double laughing.
I'll let you decide which photo got what reaction!

Two $2 surprises in the one hand of change.

Ratatouille 

Gum blossoms

Bear

Hubby's attempt at beating the ducks.

(if you knew my hubby, you'd know he is a perfectionist- everything has a place,

and this messy pool would be killing him)

Game 3, Game on!

Happy Wednesday

Liv xo

Back to the grind!

It's been a few days and I feel I have to touch base with you, but to be honest, there isn't much to tell.
After a sunny sunday filled with 5 loads of washing and a visit from Uncle Nick and Ez, our wonderful winter holiday came to a grinding holt. On monday we gave our lives over to the education board and the steering wheel for another 10 weeks, my only consolation is that I have my treash home for 1 more day without the little people (well 2 anyway).

So today its tuesday and hubby has decided to take Lulu to the movies for a daddy/daughter date whilst I get my paintings all wrapped up for Cairns. I mentioned it was "cheap tuesday", and suggested he could say she was a fully grown baby and get into a 'babes in arms session'. He replied "how about I take you to the movies tonight. I'll carry you to the counter all frocked up in a sexy number say to the Greater Union Staff that i'm cashing in on 'Babes in Arms' twice today!
Sorry, another silly joke, but he made me laugh.
He is so lucky he married me b/c I don't think anyone else would laugh at his stupidity.

Anyway the movies isn't happening, we are off to the footy instead. An English team has come out to play our school, but after all the English victories lately i'm not holding my breath.

My day in images:

           I lined Bear up with some balsa and tacks so I could get some work done. Hours of fun.

                                                 
                                                      I hung a few at the local cafe.

                                                    And a sent two in the truck.

And then it all got too much for one little Bear.

Hopefully something more magically mundane to tell you in the days to come.

With Love

Liv xo