Parcel Day - Dinosaur Hoodie

Oh hai I is Dinosaur

I am one of those Mothers.. yeah whatever. You know you want one too! D has a Monkey ear one and this one.. OMG dinosaur thingees? Want want want want! I ordered this for Pickles but he would not leave the hood long enough for me to take a picture. That was one reason why D is modelling but also because Pickles was yelling CHOO! CHOO! CHOO! at me. He means train. Train on the phone. YouTube to be more precise. Do not ask.

Ordered these from Next Direct last weekend on Saturday. I never received a notification for shipping or tracking number for DHL. The next minute, a van drives up, there was a knock on my door. And I thought huh? It was my Next Direct Package. Woohooo!!! Awesomeeeeee...

Bought some PJs for the boys too but they look like it will take another 2 years to fit into them. Oh dear.. I still have not got used to their sizing!

What I hate about the site is that there is no order history - Or I have not figured it out yet. Which is really annoying.

Call me Lingy from the Block Aldi $25 velour tracksuit

JLo rang and she wants her velour tracksuit back. She also took back all her gold bling so I am not wearing big gold hoop earrings or giant necklaces.

I went to two Aldi stores near me to look for this. The first one had sold out, not one single piece was left! Bestie K said there were only Sz 10s left at her Aldi. BUGGER. The second Aldi I went to had a sz 8 hoodie but no pants. Really people, stop stealing one part of a two piece item! I took the hoodie to the cashier and said I cannot find the pants. He asked the manager if I can have it at half price, so I bought the hoodie. Somewhere someone has a sz 8 of these pants and you should be ashamed of yourself.

So I went home and said only got one half of the suit. And lovely @notthatcate said she would go and find one for me. Cate managed to find one in Sydney for me, Sydney people.. this operation find tracksuit went interstate. She braved a huffy Aldi employee and getting the set thrown at her to get me this. Thanks CATE!! The pants are a little short when I sit down and I am not that tall. Maybe I just have super long legs which you so cannot tell in this pic. I look very compressed in it!

Everyone has been laughing at me and my velour fascination at work. They think I am kidding, but I am a Juicy Couture fan. There is something so tackilicious about Juicy. It's appeals right to us Chink's heart, you know us Chinks love the PJs and Bling. WANT WANT WANT!

So need to stop going to Aldi, I went again on Saturday to get these $7 thermos. One is of food and one is for coffee for Mick. $7 each! He is currently using one that we somehow took from my grandma at a Singapore trip that I took when D was 3months old. Grandma had lost her some of her memory even then. She claimed that that flask was used when I was a baby. It wasn't... She bought it when I was like 10 or something from good old CK Tang (rebranded Tangs now).

Red Tulip Eggs, Gozleme win, Cupcakes and a ban on Kids' Parties

I am imposing a self ban on attending ALL kids' parties.
ALL! Repeat ALL. If you catch me saying oh right I have that kid's party this weekend. Remind me about this self imposed ban. I repeat -> nobody wants Tiger Mum at their party. Full stop.
I shall not discuss this any further other than, I have hit a very low point in my life today. What I would do to protect my little tiger cub is crazy and let's never talk about this again.

So to negate today's party... I had to go shopping. All I got were socks and a chain from Lovisa. D helped me pick the necklace. Well... i sort of held stuff up and he told me which one he preferred and I sort of steered him towards the discounted items. I also had to get him a cupcake because we dragged him out of the party before the cake was cut and served. He told Mick that he had wanted cake earlier. So I am glad that I did this. It was also a good method to get him to go back to the car. He wanted to take the cake back to Picks (L) and Mick. He asked if Picks was going to have some cake, I said yes he will share with Daddy. He asked Mummy, you don't like cake? I said Mummy does, but I won't have any so that you can have more. You can hand me my cross now and call me Martyr.

I feel like I am going backwards in time for this post, bear with me. But this morning the farmers markets was at Bulleen and we are trying to get back into the farmers markets cycles. We always look for the gozleme store. There are a few doing the circuits and I gotta tell you there is one guy that has a frozen version and sells it for $6. Buy it if you are desperate. There is a group of women that includes old ladies rolling the bread out in the back. Seriously if you find this one, buy two. There is also a guy who has grated pumpkin, feta and spinach that sells at Warrandyte market. This is worth buying too. I always associate farmers markets with mud, wet, cold and today did not disappoint.

That is D eating his gozleme reluctantly. He told me that he did not like the cheese but he likes cheese?! I am distraught he is not liking feta. How can he?

That is Mick blowing on some gozleme.. Pickle's eyes lit up after he saw this. He thought it was Christmas and New Year at the same time. So after this picture was taken, I heard. Umm.. Honey.. I look down and L had fallen on his face flat on the ground. I didn't realise as he did not make a sound... Perhaps it was because his face was in mud... He had mud on his knees, face and jacket. Not sure why we bothered dressing them up for the party later and take them to a muddy market first?! I picked him up and he had held onto his bread... and continued eating. Go Pickles.

Just to prove how much chocolate we eat in this house. I rummaged around the pantry on Friday night and found this! 2 packets of unopened Red Tulip eggs. Mick should go to poker more often if this is what I find in the house.

I love Aldi: Frozen Meal Review Sundried Tomato Chicken

I know I know..  I am still that same person that blogged that I do not buy cake mixes. But as I am working from home a few days a week, I thought I would pick up frozen meals when I was at Aldi and just have some on hand for lunches. You know those days where you do not want to leave the house but want something to eat? There is only so many packets of instant noodles you can eat in a week.

I had read a few tweets about the frozen Mac n' Cheese so I bought one awhile back. As I am used to my home cooked ones with cheesey white sauce, parmesan, bacon and onion... this one went into the don't go there category. Here's the one that I had this week.

What Aldi says it should look like

This cost $4 from Aldi and I think the serving size is slightly larger compared to the other 'branded' ones. Price wise I think it is good, as I have paid more for less. A quick comparison with Coles Online says that a 320g serving of Coles Lite Pasta would be about $4.85.

This is what mine looked like

6minutes in the microwave .. ping.. I sat down to eat it with my weekly Target catalogue. I am the catalogue queen - seriously. The plus - it had crunchy beans in it which I did not expect. Lord knows if you are gonna be eating freezer meals you gotta pack some fibre in there. The pasta was ok, not as soggy as the Mac n Cheese. Chicken looked and tasted real - not compacted faux-ken (LOL) but the sauce was a little bland. I added white pepper to mine but it did not quite save it. It could probably do with some red wine in it when you cook it. I kid.

Compared to the Beef Stroganoff one, I think that one was better and tastier. I will take pics of that one and review next time I buy that.

The worse part about freezer meals is that the tiny serving sizes. I am not on a diet and honestly I think I need another packet right now. So now I'm off to search for biscuits or something.

Price: Tick
Appearance: Tick could look a lot worse
Taste: Half a Tick. The chicken and beans were good. The sauce was a little bland. I will not even comment about soft pasta as I think all frozen meals are guilty of overcooked pasta.
Will buy again Factor: Maybe ... I sit on the fence about this.

P.S: This is not a paid post. I had shelled out $4 for my own meal.

Nails called Wednesday on a Monday night

While watching Masterchef and Mad Men last night .. I did my nails. I had planned to do my nails this fluro baby pink colour while I was on my mini holiday with me, myself and I. I did the base coat then I got a DM over tweet saying hey come over! I'm alone. So I decided not to be a recluse and socialised.
I had been waiting to use this for ages. I had ordered Wednesday which is the pink I used above and Just a Touch of Frosting. I got lucky as well as I ordered around their A/W Presale and I was also sent a glitter called Discotheque.. even though I did not preorder.

Just a Touch of Frosting reminds me of Stila, I think it was called Goddess or Athena? Anyway it was a shade that I really really wanted when I was a teenager because I saw it in a US fashion magazine. My mum asked someone to purchase it for me when they went to the US. I think it was something like $20++ which is a lot of money to a teenager as you can imagine. But her friend said not to worry about it. Oh heck I cannot tell you how it made my day back then. I felt so special to own Stila nail polish. On that note.. Does Stila even still do nail polishes?

So those are the colours that I bought. Love? Hate? You want them too?? www.hellodarling.com.au Now I need to sell my American Touring My Address is Hollywood colour. I no longer like that pink. I have this!!

Fantastic night away hosted by Big4 Bellarine

In the world of Twitter, it is perfectly fine to be eavesdropping and barging into conversations. This was how I stumbled upon the Big4 Bellarine's event held last Saturday called the Mothers' Only Sleepover. An invite was sent via snail mail!! Followed by a sleep blindfold... and lastly a map!
We all knew that we were suppose to participate in teams for a race. What exactly were we doing in this race - we did not know. But hints were dropped along the way for some. I was not the only one who was relieved that the race was only to last an hour and we had a few hours of lounging and relaxing before pre-dinner drinks. LOL

So on Saturday morning off I went! Of course trust me to fail to get coordinated in team colours. Head to toe in hot pink.. what was I thinking? DUH. It was cold... cold cold.. I was glad that I decided to take a jacket. I was taking a train and had to travel to Southern Cross so I did not want to be carrying a whole lotta stuff... Well I regret not taking that big puffy winter jacket. Dude.. I cannot express how much I regretted it. I wanted to rip the jacket off Norlin when I saw hers.

When I got to Southern Cross, I saw a Hungry Jacks' poster that said "Today is your lucky day, there is a Hungry Jacks' here". Hell yes this is my lucky day! Hungry Jacks in the building y'all. LOL Off I went after I bought my Vline train tickets to get my sausage muffin meal. This is breakfast for winners I am telling you.

The fun thing about being in the city on your own is that there is always some random thing happening. There were a few cameras and from what I could tell sports people standing there at Southern Cross filming. Had a bit of a perv at muscles but they were not that muscly.. None of the NIB promo ladies bothered to approach me to see if I knew much about League. I obviously do not have an iota of sports knowledge on me and anyone can see that all over my appearance... It is the Balenciaga bag I am sure of it. Balenciaga bag owners = not sports people.

So people in the know - who is that???? Was he famous? Should I have done a Lara Bingle (even with my lack of boobs) at him?

This train was so quick - reached Geelong in 49minutes. I am serious - $7.20 fare from Melbourne to Geelong. A cab ride within 3 CBD blocks would set you back more! I get to Geelong and Tim had spied me at the entrance, he had that look of .. is she? Is she not? We both looked at each other and went phew.. ... It was another 20-25minutes drive (he kindly took the scenic route along the Waterfront). 

I arrived and basically ran excitedly like a crazy woman to my little cabin. ISN'T THIS THE CUTEST THING LIKE EVER? Check that out! It even has a red main door. The room was amazing! A King Sized bed! I excitedly took a picture and sent it to Mick. But I was sad because I really wanted him with me. Ok you can start playing the violins now.

We all gathered at the front for our Race around the park. When I met Mez and Mandy, I told them.. Alright let's get this straight up... We are not going to be bothered if we do not win right? Major sigh of relief when all of us got it out there that we did not care. Phewwww... Now seriously Mick would be very upset that there was no video proof of me kicking a football. And by football I mean AFL footy. Seriously, I was even wearing my jogging shoes. Even D when he saw me again today he asked Mummy.. what are those shoes Mummy? Why you wear them? Those not your shoes. I had been warned about the giant jumping pillows before I went. I thought that my head was still jumping up on those pillows when I slid off. Seriously, this is how unglam I was. I got on all fours and crawled my way up the pillow. I don't want to fall on my face right at the start of the race. The BEST part of the race for me was the Flying Fox. I mean seriously how cool is this? 

This was what I woke up to in the morning. The Sunday Age, sunlight plus wind chill. I sat outside for a bit and really wanted my husband to be there. Ok more violins.. seriously crank it up.

Just to show you how much thought and care was put into this event. In not just the stationery, the printed invites, the amazing dinner we had, the lovely staff lead by Tim and Sophie Bones the owners of the Park. This little noodle box filled with a little packet of Twisties and a cute little Maltesers was waiting for me in my lovely room with this note. The next morning lovely @coaxwithcandy dropped me off at South Geelong train station after my morning massage and egg & bacon roll. I made my way to meet another Twitter friend who flew in from Sydney. The boys met us for lunch as well and D had the face of ... it was horrible without you. Mick told me that it was the most awful night that they both had in a long while. Both of them must have missed me and slept really badly. The guilt set in.. so while telling Mick about the giant jumping pillows and how D and L would realllyyyyy love to have a go on those. He gave me the strangest look like .. huh? What? I said it's like a giant huge trampoline but it's a pillow. Still huh? What? I had to show him a picture. And he said oh right.... I thought you had gone crazy and had no idea what you were talking about.

I had an amazing fun time at Bellarine Peninsula. Did you ever think that you would see me on a Vline train heading to Geelong? No right?

Oh Lovely Mothers' Day

Ok so this post is late.. Shoot me!
I cannot believe it is the end of the week already.

This is what I got from the boys' for Mothers' Day. They had done some planting in the front. Mick thought that he should keep the front garden going.. mmmmm I thought it was done. This is how much I know about gardens. We both managed to get our haircuts done and the boys waited for 2hrs in Jamie's studio. Tears and yelling came out when the fighting over iPhone started. Thank goodness we were out by then.

We had dinner at Grand Tofu to celebrate as well. And seriously how good is Grand Tofu? I have eaten here twice and honestly check these Nestum Deep Fried King Prawns out. We had homemade egg tofu as well this time. Honestly this place is the bomb.

My weekend - one birthday, cashmere and cake

So.. guess who turned 3 over the weekend? Pork Chop is now 3.. 3.. how come? Where did the time go?
This is what we have done for him the last 2 years for his birthday.

1st year - he had a cupcake, I stuck in a candle in and blew it out for him. Then I ate said cupcake. It was red velvet and it was yummy.

2nd year - all of us fell asleep in the middle of the day to recover from our trip back from Singapore.

3rd year - I have been asked for a party the last fricking 2 months. Ever since he attended a birthday party in Singapore... he has realised people do these things called parties. So everyone knows that I am a grinch of parties. So this year I took one for the team. There was even a cake and everything - outsourced of course. If anyone in Melbourne needs a cake person.. let me know. Seriously look at this! D has obviously done this many times before for some reason. He started singing Happy Birthday by himself. ROFLLLL...

I made pasta and couscous salad... had Chinese style BBQ pork belly and sausages from the local butcher. I think I we just managed to get through the day without me asking for a divorce. Because of the rain, we now have 6 big bubble wands on hand! Great! Anyone wants to have an adult bubble party? 

 It is also getting much colder these days. I have been digging for my cashmere sweaters again. I have missed these greatly when I was pregnant - nothing fits! I bought them in 2006 when I was in Woodsbury Common. Heck I miss that place so much. Ralph Lauren cashmere for $69? Yes please.. here is a light pink one with gold threads. And I am wearing the lovely Marc by Marc Jacob heart neon pink bracelet. I heart cashmere. But seriously it is cold.

Let's talk Insurance ... I know I have been avoiding it..

I was contacted by Virgin Money AU regarding this and I thought about this for a little before replying that I was going to take part. Then I spoke to my DIG (or due in group) BFF who used to be a financial planner in her 'previous life' about this. She always has a lot of keep it real stories that relate to any money story or dilemma that I have. She said this is an important area that a lot of people neglect in their financial plans. I also have another girlfriend that was talking about this recently (well a year ago now) on Facebook. I was meant to reassess my insurance, as usual, other things took a priority. The problem that I have is like everyone else - I am just trying to keep on top of my day to day life. And this went into the Too Hard basket.

So now that Virgin Money AU is offering everyone a chance to win $4,000 in cash and $1,000 in My Baby Warehouse vouchers. Take the time to participate in this survey and it might give you a better idea of what you need to assess when insuring yourself. Click here for the link or follow @VirginMoneyAU on Twitter!