Thursday, June 30, 2011

Frustration.

Oh dear, this seems to be the third time I've written about frustrating situations.

#1. Ryan opening stuff he shouldn't! Well he's a toddler, just have to say no and wait this one out.

#2 Mark doesn't look after himself well enough. He has acne at the moment, he won't Proactiv twice a day as recommended, he won't drink water, he wants energy drinks (the young teen version of alcohol) and McDonald's.

#3. Freaking tenant. I'll leave it at that!

#4. Overwhelming hunger and fatigue. I can't get stuff done, routines are not happening. I'm hungry all the time.

#5 Breastfeeding is very painful at the moment. Quite frightened about the next feed.

#6. I wish I could renovate.




-----------------------------------

A thought that popped into my head which is only slightly related to point number six. The Block is a show putting 4 couples against each other to renovate a house each. One would think the show is about renovations and design... but no. In true reality show stunts its all about creating conflict and stupid games. An entire episode was them running around the sponsors stores looking for little red houses. How am I supposed to learn about renovation if this is what they dish up???

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Messes

I know, two posts in two minutes is a little stupid, but I must write these down before I forget. Yesterday was a momentous day in Ryan's life.

#1 HUGE temper tantrum at Jesmond Park. He learned how to twist and project himself over the edge of the pram and SCREAM at the top of his lungs as he wasn't ready to leave the playground. It looked so dangerous the way he was leaning over the pram. He also played a bit in the tanbark dirt and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

#2. I'm letting him have a little more independence, letting him walk from the car to the house by himself. He doesn't go onto the road, he gets up the steps pretty easy. Yesterday he decided to "help" by carrying the empty oil tray to the porch.

The picture above is an empty oil drip tray, but ours does not look like that, ours has dirty, sticky, thick, gluggy, BLACK oil all over it. And that was the tray that Ryan thought would be better moved to the front porch. If I was a good mother, I would have taken a photo, but I put him straight in the bath. Lots of soap later and clothes tossed in the bin, I had a clean boy again. (For the record, he does not like the taste of soap, but must keep checking to make sure)

#3. Later that same day, Mark starts screaming, Mum come quick its an emergency. I was feeding Ben, so was stuck, but Jamie intercepted Mark in the kitchen with Ryan held at arms length. He had gotten into a jar of Sudocrem.

Which I'm currently using on his junior tushie as he's got a mild dose of nappy rash b/c of teething. It is also very thick, sticky and doesn't wipe off easily. Ryan is aware (somehow) that this is nappy rash cream, so he gets it on his finger and wipes it on the side of his leg. I know this because he got a tube of this cream once when I was changing him and as he kept still whilst putting a tiny bit on his finger and wiping it on his leg, I let it continue. BUT this time, it was a huge handful and all over his hand, tracksuit pants,t-shirt arm and face. Emergency strip. Again, we were bad parents and forgot the photo.

Yesterday was a messy day.

Weddings.

I'm sitting here watching "The View" and they are having a wedding special at the moment. Yesterday there was a funny Facebook discussion about weddings and bridesmaids. Which got me thinking about my wedding/marriage.


Jamie and I have been married now for 20 months. We got married at the registry office, only witnessed by the Drane family. I don't regret for a second the way we did it, but do wish our families had have been there.

I never EVER dreamed of a big white fluffy wedding. From early days of thinking about being married it turned my stomach. I didn't like the idea of being the centre of attention, I had a major blushing issue, I can't dance, and the kicker, I take a horrible photo (ie I look dreadful in photos)

I think the main reason Jamie and I took so long to get married was the thought of a wedding. Neither of us liked the idea of it. He's MUCH worse than me for centre of attention issues.

We were very lucky that both of our sisters did the "Big White Wedding". Jocelyn got our side of the family done, Connie did Jamie's side. The aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents all got to see what they needed to see. Ours was not necessary.

We had been together for 9 years, living together for 8. We already had Mark and Ryan was on the way. We didn't need gifts, we don't like parties all that much. We were very happy with our super low key registry office marriage.

When we are about 50, Mark will be 25, Ryan will be 13 and Ben will be 12, I think we can have a second wedding then with all the bells and whistles. We'll be happier in our own skin, it'll be fun. Maybe even do it in Fiji.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

CHOCOLATE

Lucky you can't see the toddlers face up close.
Toby and Ryan were given hot chocolates and Jamie makes them the way he'd have them, if he were to drink a hot chocolate. With HEAPS of chocolate. I'm not sure 1.5 and 2 year old boys need that much choc in their hot choc, but if Jamie is a making, I'm a not complaining.


Which reminds me of primary school. Every Wednesday was netball training night, Jocelyn and I went to Clare Owen's house and her mum took us to training (or so I think), we always had afternoon tea there, it was something healthy and a glass of chocolate milk. A middle sized glass with one teaspoon of Quik mixed in. Yes that's right, only one teaspoon, it was never chocolately enough for me. Which is probably why I overdose on Quik now, and why I'm overweight!

Here is a picture of relaxing Ben for your viewing pleasure.


It had to happen.


I got some new lipstick. A beautiful bright red from Nutrimetics, I've always wanted red, so it was on sale, so I got it.

My problem is... looking in the mirror, all I see is my mother. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I think my mother is a nice looking woman...


For 73.



Does this have to happen????

Stacks on.


I'm sure this will be the first of many many of these.
Stacks on Mark.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Concentrating

From what I said a few nights ago, I put a notepad app on my phone for when I get ideas for blog posts, so I don't forget what they are.

#1 Tennis:
Wimbledon has started, its on overnight here in Australia, so if I'm giving Ben a feed overnight, I might put it on. My issue with tennis is serving, their job - their entire job - is hitting a ball over a net. Why do they miss the first serve x% of the time? I'm not entirely sure what x equals, but its high. It is so high that they always take two balls when they are serving. The girls tuck the tennis ball into their undies and try to serve. I think I've just answered my question. The reason they have a fault on the first serve is the fact they have a tennis ball in their undies. The second serve usually goes in, that is because the tennis ball is in their hand and no longer tucked into their undies. So why don't they plan to get the first serve in (not plan for failure by taking two balls), and if they need the second ball, ask a ball kid for one. Ok that is sorted.

#2 is also from my overnight television viewing. From 3:30am, Good Morning America is on. I love this show almost as much as I love the Today show, they have a similar banter. At the moment there is a huge court case of a murder of a young girl in Florida, Caylee Anthony. They are having daily updates about this court case, the mother is on trial for murdering her daughter she is a young woman (born in 1986), reasonably attractive and has a very very strange story as to why her daughter went missing etc. As is sometimes the case, its captured the interest of LOTS of people. One woman I seemed to recognise, she was a character on Boston Legal, well I thought she was a character, until I saw her on Good Morning America. She is a legal commentor called Nancy Grace. I was very very surprised to see she is a real person and the way she was shown on Boston Legal was exactly the same as on GMA.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Thinking...

I want to visit my parents. I'm getting quite keen to do this soonish.

Next week is the last week of school for this term. Mark is going down to Melbourne for the holidays, he's flying down with Jetstar. Now my thoughts are that we change the flight, so the boys and I drive down, Jamie flies down on the middle weekend. Then the boys and I drive back.

I think it is a goer.

Need to convince everyone that this is a good idea.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I am older than I think I am.

I am amazed that I will be 38 years old in 3 months time. That is the age of a mom (yes I must use the American spelling of that, cos 38 is mom-ish).

What???

I am a mum????

Oh yeah, I forgot, I am mother to three boys and one of them is 13 years old.

I wore my favourite duffle coat the other day, every time I wear it I recall how I got it. My boyfriend at the time's step-mother gave it to me as she didn't want it any more. That was 20 years ago. I was given a second hand coat twenty years ago. That BLOWS my mind.

I've been out of high school for 20 years. I don't feel any different.

I still feel that Jamie and I are playing dress ups and our parents are going to tell us to come home.

We have control over the lives of our boys. I have to make decisions that will affect them for ever. Is Mark's playing of Modern Combat 2 going to turn him into a violent criminal and at his trial the prosecution lawyer will say, "his mother let him play M rated games, it was inevitable."

I was talking to Dee on the weekend and her reasoning behind letting 12/13 year old boys play violent video games is that back in our day, Rambo was meant to turn us all into killers, back in ancient Rome, they went to gladiator matches. That famous quote of Socrates shows that kids have always been defiant and should turn out ok
"Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers."

Growing up.

My little man is growing up so much. I can ask him to bring me his socks and will let me put them on.
He lets me know when he's thirsty by pointing to his cup (ok ok, its still his bottle, but we'll move to a cup soon, don't harass me)
When he is given something to eat or drink, he;ll plonk himself down on the floor and wait. Oh and then jumps straight up, but you get the picture.

Problem area is changing the nappy! I know this is a common problem. He won't lie down, he won't be held down. I put him on his back, hold his ankles and then I feel I'll give him a spiral fracture of his leg bones the way he twists and turns. Very frustrating... any tips??

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

So frustrating.

I really need to carry a notebook with me, especially to the shower. I have all these excellent ideas for blog posts through the night and in the shower, and when I get to sit at the computer, I have nothing, not a single idea.

Little boys are sick. I really wanted to go back to playgroup today, but alas, snotty noses make me stay inside. The BOM says very strong winds coming this afternoon eeek.

Cooking some brownies today. Making one (or two) batches of pumpkin/choc brownies, so had better make plain choc as well.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Injury

Not saying where, but when I was dressing myself today, I scratched a certain part of my body with my engagement ring. No blood was drawn, but this part is getting a real work out for the last couple of months and an injury there is not good. Still hurts an hour later....



Sunday, June 19, 2011

Sunday wrap up



Friday was Jamie’s usual day at home. We went to Glendale to pay the tax bill. Now that’s an interesting story. Jamie does his tax late each year, I have no idea why, its one of his quirks. So we have this tax bill, mine is a refund, so it would make sense to do them at the same time, my refund pays his bill… oh well. So Friday I decide to pay the bills. The one for the tax department is there, I look for the POSTBILLPAY code, there is none. There is no website address for paying by credit card. You can not pay your tax bill by credit card, it is not allowed! I did a Facebook update about this to get people’s responses. They ranged from “just to make life difficult” to “you need to pay your taxes with your own money”. In theory I get that, I really do. But Jamie and I have worked our life that our pay stays in the bank for as long as possible to reduce the interest on our home loan. We pay everything by credit card and pay it off in full each month. This has worked for us, it worked for my parents too. Frustrating is the word for it.

I also bought a game. An XBOX game. This is not something that I normally do. I have never had a electronic game (other than my Farmville). I have NEVER played an electronic game. I didn’t realise how much I really didn’t know how to use the controller. When I put the game in (LA Noire for those who want to know), the story was introduced and then a crime was called in and my character had to drive to the crime scene. So I waited for my dude on the screen to go to the crime scene… oops I had to drive the car and take him there. I don’t know how to drive using an Xbox controller. I had to call Jamie in, he taught me and I drove very badly. I think I may have run people over and had several crashes. I got a headache quite quickly, so made Jamie control the game and I told him where I wanted him to go. We have not gotten very far so far.

Mark went to his friends house for the night. The little boys are getting colds and are actually not very happy people. Football was cancelled due to the rain through the week. Flooding inland and to the north of us, but a LOT of rain here. Most the land surrounding us to swamp lands, so it becomes sodden very quickly.

The boat is getting closer to being able to float again, Jamie installed the transom (that is ‘boating’ for back) that for some reason needed replacing.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

LIST - a-z.

A

- Available: No.

- Age: 37

- Annoyance: No one helping around the house

- Animal: My dogs, but am NOT an animal lover.

B

- Birthday: 17 September

- Best feeling in the world: Motherhood - is that a feeling though? I do like satisfaction of a job well done.

- Blind or Deaf: Deaf, I think.

- Best weather: 22 deg and a little cloud cover.

- Been in Love: Yep

- Been on stage?: Year 9 play at school, got to hit Reece Brownhill over the head.

- Believe in Magic: Nope

- Believe in Santa: Nope

C

- Candy: Chocolate

- Color: Pink

- Chocolate/Vanilla: Chocolate

- Chinese/Mexican Food: Mexican

- Cake or pie: Cake

- Cheese: Not a huge fan, but do like a good cheese toastie when the cheese oozes out the side.

D

- Day or Night: Night

- Dancing in the rain: Hmm, don't think so.

E

- Eyes: 2.. haha green.

- Everyone's got: umm....

- Ever failed a class?: No, but did get an E for small business, maybe I should tell Jamie about that, might not let me do the books for his business.

- First thoughts waking up: Has Jamie wagged work today?

- Favorite Food: Chocolate

- Greatest Fear: Mice and bridges

- - Goals: To be a happy SAHM.

- Gum: Love it whilst it still has flavour.

Get along with your parents? Sure do.

H

- Hair Color: brown, with a few grey strands.

- Height: 165cm... shorter than Mark

- Happy: 80% of the time.

- Holiday: I would love one, want to go to America.

- How do you want to die: In my sleep of old age.

I

- Ice Cream: Yes please... oh chocolate

- Instrument: I have zero musical ability.

J

- Jewelry: My wedding and engagement rings, a gold necklace that Jamie got me and my gold bracelet that I have no idea who gave me, but have worn it for all of Ben's life so far... found it on the mantelpiece and haven't taken it off yet.

- Job: Registered Nurse on maternity leave.

K

- Kids: I love this answer, I have three boys.

- Kickboxing or karate: Neither thanks.

- Keep a journal?: This blog and my facebook. But nothing on paper

L

- Love: I love the men in my life: Jamie, Mark, Ryan and Ben. I adore my mum too.

- Letter: M - for Mark, as my eldest he and his name hold a special place in my heart.

- Laughed so hard you cried: Hmm... not sure, but I guess so.

M

- Milk flavor: Chocolate (sensing a pattern)

- Movies: Not a huge fan, I prefer a good hour long tv show in preference to a movie

- Motion sickness?: Nope.

- McD’s or BK: Maccas chick I am.

N

- Number: Who cares... 17

O

- One wish: To have enough money not to have to work and Jamie be happy in what he's doing.

P

- Pepsi/Coke: Coke Zero

- Perfect Pizza: Tony Pepperoni

- Piercings:

Q

- Quail:

R

- Reason to cry:

- Reality T.V.:

- Radio Station:

- Roll your tongue in a circle:

- Ring size:

S

- Song:

- Shoe size

- Salad Dressing:

- Sushi:

- Skinny dipped?:

- Shower?:

- Strawberries/Blueberries:

T

- Tattoos?:

- Time for bed:

- Thunderstorms:

U

- Unpredictable:

V

- Vacation spot(s):

W

- Weakness:

- Which one of your friends acts the most like you:

- Worst feeling:

- Wanted to be a model:

- Worst Weather?:

X

- X-Rays:

Y

-Year it is now:

-Yellow:

Z

- Zoo animal:


Friday, June 17, 2011

READING.

I used to read. I used to always have a book at my bedside that I read for about half an hour (sometimes all night) every day. When I caught the train (OMG that was so long ago) I read on the train. But I stopped reading when I was pregnant with Ryan, not sure why and then when he was 4 months old, I got myself an iPhone! I have not read since. Actually I have read one book, but that is all. I play games on my phone, now I've got a new smart phone with different games, I'm still not reading.

About a week ago, I asked my Facebook community for reading suggestions, and suggest they did.

James Patterson
Kelley Armstrong
Patricia Briggs
Christopher Moore
Matthew Riley
Nelson Demille
Tina Fey
Stephanie Plum
Chelsea Handler
Lee Child
Kathy Reichs
Tess Gerrison
Bill Bryson
Patricia Cornwall
and
Anonymums
Tomorrow when the war began
There's a bear in there
(They don't know the authors of those ones).

I finally remembered that I posted that comment, so am planning on going to the library tomorrow to get me some books.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

FOOD

Food is becoming like an obsession.Link I can't stop thinking about it.

I menu planned tonight as I did an online shop, so need super plan to make it worthwhile. For some reason, I don't put that much effort into a physical shop, but one does not have to make sense, does one?

Tomorrow night a family sized meat pit that I found here
Friday is a slow cooked chicken curry that my friend Manola suggested
Saturday will be a risotto of some description
Sunday will be a roast of beef with all the trimmings (should I attempt a Yorkshire Pudding that I've always wanted to try??)
Monday will be steak and veg
Tuesday is savoury mince - something easy for Jamie as he ducks out to indoor cricket
Wednesday will be any left overs that are left over.

I attempted cake pops. I failed cake pops. Not enough cake, too much icing, too fiddly to roll in melted chocolate and the cook had NO patience. That is why I am not a decorator of cakes, happy to bake and simply ice, but not decorate. To be honest, I don't actually like the cake balls (I didn't put sticks in them, so they are not pops).

Now for a little rant about cake pops - they were made "famous" by a blogger/website called bakerella. I have nothing personally against this woman, she's actually quite ill, having a kidney transplant possibly as we speak. I think it would have been particualrly awesome to be her dialysis nurse, imagine the goodies! Getting back on track, her site is called 'BAKERELLA', which would infer she is a baker. So I went to her site to learn how to make these cake pops... the recipe was:
Packed chocolate cake, cook as her directions.
Tinned frosting.
Mix together and then blah blah blah.
Bakerella should be making cake from scratch. She should rename her site to a more appropriate decoraterella.com - phew, that has been on my mind for quite some time, feels good to get it off my chest.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Mama's little helper.

No, its not Valium.

Its my angel, Ryan*. He's my assistant when it comes to Ben*.

Ryan will let me know when Ben is awake, he toddles off to his room when he cries.
If Ben is lying on the floor, Ryan will find a blankie and place it over him.
He will always ensure is dummy is firmly in Ben's mouth (at all times), then will pull it out, laugh and then replace it, sometimes 5 times in a row.
He will pat Ben on the tummy when he is crying. Yesterday when I was burping Ben, he was still crying quite a bit, Ryan appeared and patted him on the back.

One morning just after Ryan woke up, he was wandering around this house and then appeared with two of Ben's dummies, I think he may have taken one out of the cot!

Ryan likes to remind me when the cupboard locks are not done up. He will stand next to the cupboard and make his sound "neh neh" whilst holding the lock. Often he won't even open the cupboard, but lets me know that he could.


* I'm over using their names, because if I wrote "he did that to him" it would be hard to know who I'm talking about. Oh and to remind me, too many names in this house.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Goals


Blogs in the bloggisphere are all about goals ATM. So what shall mine be...


1. Keep washing up to date (ooh that is exciting)
2. Go to a park with the boys at least once a week.
3. Have a picnic on a weekend.
4. Be house proud, have it the way it looks when extended family are in town.
5. Read to the little boys daily, and encourage older boy to read.

Happy with that, achievable and reasonable, but not very exciting.

Hair cut


A few weeks ago Ryan had a haircut. It is awful. Looks like I did it myself and badly. I hate saying that we paid for the terrible haircut (but its better that than people thinking I butchered my own gorgeous son). Poor kid at 18 months is having hairspray and wax put in his hair to make it go to the side.

Today, I went to a hairdresser to ask if she could fix it. Answer: NO.

Cute stuff from my middle angel.

Ryan is cute. There is no doubt about it. Even when he's hysterical he's cute.

This morning is COLD. Its cold for Newcastle, I think its even cold for Melbourne, its spring for Nova Scotia!

Getting back to being cold. We're trying to save money, so am not using the heater very much at all, so that being said, our house is COLD.

Little teeny boys are cold too. Especially one who pulls off his socks for sport. Ryan's hands and feet were blue, so I was due to have a shower, so I thought a hot shower would warm him up too. In we hopped and he loved it, looking at the water falling from the shower head. After a little while, he became a bit heavier. He put his head on my chest and snuggled in. He didn't fall asleep, but almost. I then popped him to bed and he's been asleep since.

Ryan is a morning sleeper. Our routine is as follows:
5ish for a drink of milk, which I give him in bed and he goes back to sleep
7-7:30 wake up, Mark brings him in to me for a cuddle
8 breakfast then play
9:30 desperate to go back to sleep. Often becomes whingy or throws a tantrum.
11-2:30 wake up (yes this is correct, yesterday he went to bed at 9:15am and woke up about 2:30pm)
Lunch on wake up
4ish has a "time out" in his bed for about half an hour. This gives him quiet time, he doesn't usually fall asleep, but does sometimes.
5:30-6 is dinner
6:30 bath
7-7:30 is bed time

I thought i would do a grocery shop this morning as I really REALLY need eggs for Mark's birthday cake, but will now have to wait until Ryo wakes up.

Cuteness #2, I asked Ryan for one of Ben's nappies, he ignored me when I needed it. About half an hour later, he arrives in the lounge room with three nappies. Will have to convince him to put them away later.

Bless his little heart
xx

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Daily Outfit

As you might know, I follow the blog of Elsie Larson, its called A Beautiful Mess - see ------------------------------------>
She does twice weekly posts on what she's wearing, often colourful, beautifully photographed and interesting. This is my take on it.


The other day I wore:
GREY undies
GREY maternity bra
GREY tracksuit pants
GREY t-shirt
GREY socks
and my pink runners.

I didn't take a photo (can you imagine why??) Although it was all grey, the trackies and the t-shirt were different shades of grey.

That being the case, I have managed to get some more stylish clothes. I'm loving my fitted jeans and knee high brown boots. I just love the way it makes me stand, feel and walk. I feel I stand straighter.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Mamamia.

I'm quite obsessed with the website Mamamia, I get obsessed about things quite a bit.
Its an interactive website, newsy articles get posted each day and comments are invited. I comment, but don't join in the conversation. I'd comment a lot more if I had the time, I wonder how some contributors find the time, they comment so often.

This is what I'd like to say, but don't, and some other random stuff.

Live meat exports:
4 Corners showed a program the other night about cattle being sent to Indonesia for slaughter, and the horrifically cruel way they are killed. I feel sick. I feel the world is a little strange how horrified we are that cows are being killed in a way that takes 5 minutes instead of 30 seconds, but we don't seem to care about rapes and murders in Africa of humans. I think people feel humans can fight back, but the animals are helpless. Its a strange set of emotions, the cows are being sent there to die that is the goal, but the manner of the death is horrible. I think those images will haunt me forever. I feel especially guilty as we were just given 3/4 of a cow, its in my freezer. I know it was killed humanely, but now I can picture its death and I'm eating it! I could almost go vegetarian... but won't.

Joint bank accounts:
I just can't see how a married couple can not have joint bank accounts. Take Jamie and I, we own a house together, we have two cars, heaps of insurances - if we had separate accounts would that mean that I pay half of the health insurance and he pay the other half. MUCH easier just to join it all together. For the first two years of our relationship, I earned bugger all as I was at uni and on the parenting payment from the government. I have now caught up in my wages, but have also had a year off with maternity leave. Sometimes I earn more, sometimes he earns more.. doesn't really matter, the bills get paid, we are comfortable. Its US, not me and him. This is our house, our family, our cars etc when we got married (well actually about 7 years prior to that) we joined together as a family. Shouldn't be a power play.
This topic was on Mamamia this week. So many people said "protect yourself" don't' do it. Half of relationships don't last, well that means that half do! I know that Jamie put more money into our first house, should we split, I would take that into account. But I'm not a bitch, that is the worry the bitch/bastard factor.

Bonds ad:
This is just too cute. There is a sexy ad for Bonds underwear featuring Sarah Murdoch. Each time it comes on the telly, Ryan stops what he is doing and watches it with his mouth open. Tonight he even lifted his shirt up. I think he's got a thing for Mrs Murdoch.

I'll share more, when I can remember what I want to rant about.

Food Glorious Food


I have a love/hate relationship with food.
I love eating it.
I hate cooking it.

I have a very VERY VERY fussy husband. He seems to hate all fruit and vegetables, and, in general, the way I cook. That being the case I have become very lazy with my cooking. Basic, done at the last minute, not really caring if its nice because everyone will complain anyway type of cooking.

Jamie being fussy and (to be honest) rude about food has made Mark quite the same. More often than not, when dinner is put on the table, I get "that looks disgusting", "I'm not hungry" and "do I really have to eat that". Can you see what that does to my self esteem and my desire to cook???

Today - 2nd June 2011 - I am making a change. I will cook colourful, interesting and tasty food for Mark, Ryan (Ben when he starts eating) and myself. Poor Mark has bad skin, lots of pimples, I can blame myself for at least part of it. He eats poorly because I prepare poor meals.

I have not *made* him eat breakfast for over a year. That stopped today as well. He will eat breakfast each day! Today he had a Herbalife Shake, tomorrow will be the same or some Weetbix.

I will menu plan and shop to it.

Tonight is:
Steak, braised cabbage, steamed broccoli and cauliflower and mashed potato.

Friday:
Stir fry with lots of vegies.

Saturday:
Well that's as far as I have gotten. Will come back with the rest of the plan.