A Scenic World Saturday

It is almost the end of the school holidays, I've almost made it :)   This past week is really when its started to drag.  Mr J and Mr T have been agreeing to activities I think partly out of bribery on my part and partly out of......nope, no, just bribery on my part.

We've baked, we've grown herb gardens, we've played soccer, been for haircuts and earlier this week even took a lovely trip to Featherdale Wildlife Park.  To be completely honest, I am counting down to school going back.  Please don't misunderstand me, I love my boys to bits; but there is only so much of a good thing you can take.  There are only so many times you can hear the word mummy in a day before you cringe at the mere mention of the word.  So by yesterday I was tossing up between half feeling guilty for trying to hide whilst eating some chocolate in the cupboard ( so I wouldn't have to share), and half guilty because I felt like I wanted the boys to have participated in a couple more exciting things during their break. 

So, with those thoughts in mind we decided to venture up into the Blue Mountains.  Now I've lived in Sydney for 14 years now and to be honest I think I've only been up into the mountains maybe once or twice.  I had heard of a few different places to go that are fun for the kids but wasn't 100% sure what would work best.  I knew there were some caves, a waterfall, Three Sisters but really, would that thrill the kids?   Still unsure I posted in my local Facebook "mummy group" to ask other mums suggestions for a great afternoon for the family.  The resounding response I got from just about everyone was "take them to Scenic World."  So it was with these recommendations echoing in our ears that we decided to give it a go.

Scenic World is only about 1.5 hours from where we live and we excitedly watched the outside temperature gauge drop lower and lower as we drove up the mountains, until it reached a balmy 6 degrees Celcius.  BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.  By the way,  I should probably mention I'm not a big fan of heights... Stupid I know.  I worked in the stage lighting industry for 12 years and I don't like being up high.  So although I was excited to be doing what "good" parents do and taking my kids on an educational and fun day out, I was a little concerned with thoughts of rides down mountains and suspended high above valleys.
 
The first nice surprise was that there was plenty of free parking available which as a family of four on one income was awesome.   Once parked, we wandered up to the information house to explore what was in store, only to be met by a fairly large looking line and a few coach loads of day trip tourists.  It was at this point I began to rethink the intelligence of our family coming up here on a Saturday during the school holidays.  We were however pleasantly surprised to see that the line was kept very ordered and three staff members behind the counter worked promptly to move everyone through within 5 minutes.  The woman we spoke to at the ticket counter was very helpful in advising the best order to experience each attraction in and also the shortest walks to prevent the boys getting too tired.

With my height "issues" ( and Naughty Dad laughing all the way) we decided to try the Scenic Railway first.  Again we were faced with a fairly hefty queue and the concern of trying to think of a way to entertain Mr 5 and 6 until it was our turn.  But you know what?  Yet again the staff members at Scenic World had everything down to a fine art. One staff member at the start of the line, one wandering through and three waiting at the other end loading people onto the train.  We waited at the most maybe 5-10 minutes before we were sitting in the funky train seats, trying to decide if we were going in Cliffhanger or Laidback mode and having our photo taken by a friendly duo.  ( to choose to purchase later).  Even better, this was the last time we had to queue for the rest of the afternoon. 

After the train, we took a leisurely 10 minute walk through the bush to the cableway, for a trip back up the mountain,  thoroughly being entertained by the stories of our Cableway driver as we ascended through the trees.   A short break in the cafe for Churros and coffee and we then braved the Skyway, a 720 metre journey suspended 270 metres in the air.  The extra fun on this ride is that a centre section of the cabin floor turns clear as you travel out across the ravine.  Ideal for those perfect 360 views and it was stunning.  After this we raced down for one more train ride to end our day.

All in all my verdict of the day was pleasantly enjoyable.  I was a little concerned that the boys might not be interested in the forest or the information or that one of them might be worried about the heights. But they weren't, they had an absolute blast and so did Naughty Hubby and I.  The heights in the end didn't even cross my mind, the views were just too beautiful.  The standout of the day would absolutely have to be each and every staff member at Scenic World . I can honestly say not one staff member was anything but above exemplary in their jobs.  From the helpful woman at the ticket counter, to the comedic commentary provided by each and every ride operator, the helpful pair at the photo counter who helped us find our photo without a ticket and the cafe staff who went out of their way to tell us  please not to rush our coffee as they packed up tables around us.

My favourite was the guy who took us all down on the last train of the day. He asked if anyone would like to travel back up the mountain on the cableway .  Mr T had loved it and wanted to have one last go, whilst Mr J and Naughty Dad loved the train and wanted to see the trip backwards.  So Mr T and I jumped out of the train and headed off on our walk over to the Cableway.  By this time it was almost 5 so getting a little darker and definitely colder.   It wasn't until we had walked for a couple of minutes that I realised our train driver was walking along with us.  He advised he was walking us along to meet with the cableway driver to ensure all guests were off the mountain.  We were chatting amicably when Mr T suddenly turned to me and said " Mummy I like this man".  :)  Well that earned him a double high five from our escort and the two of them chatted happily until we made it to the next staff member.  We continued on whilst he checked behind us and the new guy checked for everyone making  the remainder of the journey.  A very subtle but welcome safety check that I hadn't even considered as we took the last trip up the mountain.

As we met up with Mr J and Naughty Dad at the top to purchase our last train photo, our train driver friend  popped around to see Mr T again.  He saw that we had two boys and approached them with his hands behind his back asking each of them to pick a hand.  The excited guesses from the boys produced a small kangaroo soft toy for each of them, which was much appreciated by both boys and their tired parents at the end of a busy afternoon.  Again a shining example of a staff member going above and beyond to ensure that our whole family had a wonderful experience.  And without sounding old and jaded how often do you get outstanding customer service these days.

Scenic World was an exciting and educational experience but above all enjoyable and fun for the whole family.  Something I would highly recommend for anyone wanting a fun day out or even just an afternoon distraction from the mayhem of a busy city.  We will definitely go again and it will be at the top of our list for a place to go when family and friends visit.  Not just for the experience but for the friendly welcome we are sure to receive from the locals who work there. An absolute must for everyone.

Until next time

X


 Sidenote :- I would  like to point out that the above blog is based purely on my experience and opinion, and is in no way sponsored by Scenic World ( come on my blog isn't that big).  We paid for family passes out of our own pockets and this blog is a tribute to a great day out.  Go and see for yourself :)

Mid Afternoon Delight

Well the school holidays have officially been in swing for three days now ( if you don't count the weekend).  I'm not quite at the "are we there yet" stage but have to say its been a tiring start so far.  This whole kids being at school from 9-3 business does make for crazy mornings, but also offers a certain amount of freedom to plan my days.  On the flip side, school holidays make for a much more relaxed day to day household..... but a little more stress for mummy, when there IS.NO.ESCAPE... 24hours.a day!!   I have already exhausted my soccer playing capabilities, limited as much computer/iphone use as possible and refereed more than my fair share of spirited conversations between the boys.  We've coloured, played UNO, played Snakes and Ladders, painted and built train tracks and I've become a minor computer tech updating all our computer stuff.  I even babysat  a friends 18 month old while she went to work, just so the boys could have someone new to play with.  Well not entirely, this little girl is the most easy going child I've ever come across in my life.  Cleans up after herself, goes to bed and sleeps when told to...textbook perfect toddler.  Don't know if that's a girl thing or if she is just a great kid... probably both :)

But I digress.... To say I have a little school holidays cabin fever would be an understatement.  In fairness I did take the boys to see the new Tinkerbell and Pirate movie today and we will check out the zoo next week and I do have a girls lunch planned on Friday. So its not all bad.  But it has led me to decide on a little Wednesday afternoon silliness. Which brings me to a new little segment I like to call...... Dum da dah dum dum Daaaaahhhhhhhhh.

MID AFTERNOON MAN HUNKS

Just go with me here guys, this is going to be fun.  I have recently posted a few images of some fairly attractive looking young men on the Naughty Housewife Facebook page and I have noticed it to be quite popular.  Well really, who doesn't want to look at gorgeous half naked men?  After all my name is NAUGHTY 1950 housewife.  Can't be the perfect stepford wife all the time (Wait am I ever?).    Anyway this made me think of all the different ways I could incorporate the most delicious, gorgeous, manly, stud muffiny type man pictures I could into a new post.   I thought I could have a discussion about what my type is.....

  ( Exhibit A - My type today)

.....but really that can change on a minute by minute basis.  Then I thought well maybe we could have a blog about the changing image of men and how what was seen as attractive 30 years ago is completely different to what we see as attractive today.  

(Exhibit B - My type when type A isn't my type)

.......but then that would totally take too much time researching an intelligent article and coming up with some well educated discussion points.  Pffft  ain't nobody got time for that!  Then lastly I thought, well some ladies like very well built men........

 like body builders...

........Footballers

...........Surfers

.........  Metrosexuals

and even ........Moviestars

And then I thought well crap; how will I encompass each of that genre of manhunk into one post to make sure I am appealing to everyones taste in what makes an attractive man?  Then I thought, Bugger it!  I just did.   In full.... living ......colour.!

BUT WAIT!!!  Its not perfect until we add one more hunk to our observations. And he's in a category all of his own.........

How did I do? ( Blog post, what blog post?)

Until Next time Ladies 

Xx

A Dogs Life

 The big debate raging in the Naughty household at present is about a family pet.  When the boys were first born, we had a large fish tank with about 15 fish and also three small dogs; two pugs and a Chihuahua cross. So we are used to animals in the house.  The fish tank was quite old and becoming way too high maintenance with two small boys, so when we moved 4 years ago we gave the fish and the tank away.We had adopted the two pugs as rescue dogs about 3 years before we had kids, and the chihuahua (Dino) about a year before I had Mr J. 

About 18 months ago when Dino was almost 4 years old he started fitting and frothing at the mouth one night and sadly, after an emergency run to the out of hours vet he passed away.  The two pugs who had been young adults when we got them, both passed within 6 months of each other about 12 months ago.  Yep bit tough in our household last year, we had lost three dogs in the space of about 8 months :(

So now, 12 months since our last dear little pug passed away, we have been talking about a new dog.  My sister has two small dogs that the boys visited with at the Christmas holidays, and now they really want a dog.  Naughty hubby says lets have a bit of a longer break as dogs are a big responsibility and he is right.  However...............

I'm torn.  I grew up with dogs my whole life.  This past 12 months has been the first time in my ENTIRE life that I haven't had a dog.  That's 34 years of furry friend companionship (wait that sounded wrong.... Moving on).   I find it lonely without having a dog running under my feet, greeting us at the door when we get home.  The boys would love running around our backyard with a canine friend to rough and tumble with.  I like the extra feeling of security I get at night with a dog to bark at noises.  I am one of those people who wanders around the house completing tasks and talking to my dog. ( Crazy dog lady anyone?)  So I think I am noticing the absence more than anyone. It's okay though,  I'm being really subtle in trying to convince naughty hubby .... I only send him pictures of labrador puppies in pet shops about once or twice a day week!

On the flip side, I can totally see hubbies point.  Having a dog/puppy is a huuuuugggggeeee responsibility.   The dog we had before Dino and the pugs, had been in my life since I was 10 and I had forgotten how really well trained she was.  Bringing a new puppy home, that needs to be house trained and taught manners and not to chew or bark all the time or bite etc is a huge shock to the system.  Its also a whole truck load of hard work.  Then you also have to be fair to the dog, make sure they have enough play time and mental stimulation otherwise you will have behavior problems.  Then there is the cost. Not only do you have to pay $$$ to buy a new puppy ( even a rescue dog costs money these days) but you have to look at de-sexing costs and puppy preschool and flea treatments and immunisations and leads and beds and food etc etc etc.  Its like having another baby all over again.  And I  won't even mention the dog fur that seems to appear out of nowhere and set up residence on every piece of clothing from here to eternity. 

But they 

are 

 

so Cute.

Oh well, the debate continues
Xx
 

The Eternal Battle

Why do things that are bad for you have to taste so good?  And why are the things that are so good for you, not always the tastiest.   Following on from my initiation into the Green Smoothie Gang and some health problems I am having,  I have decided to try and start the household eating a little healthier.  Now Don't Panic!!!!!!!  This is me.  Ain't nothing going to stop my love of Ben and Jerrys and Margaritas and chocolate and pizza and oooohhhhh cookies & cream and caramel......  Ahem, sorry. 

As I was saying, I'd like to improve the general habits of our family to keep us a little healthier.  And to be honest, so far, its been an absolute failure. Don't get me wrong, I do have time now to spend on making good fresh meals for everyone and I have generally increased everyone's intake of fruit and veg.  Apart from Naughty Dad who I swear thinks he is allergic to fruit.    But generally I don't think I've made a huge difference to our overall well being.   Don't even get me started on my supposed attempt at a fitness program for myself.

All my life I start on a "Healthy Living" plan ( which I refuse to call a diet because I believe in an entire lifestyle reassessment, not just depriving myself) and I have a little success and then I will run out of time in my day a couple of times and lose motivation.  Or I will not see or feel any general improvement in my body and give up.  I try so hard not to be down on myself or beat myself up, we are all human after all.  But there is something ingrained in me that makes it so easy to admit defeat without really trying and then drown my sorrows in a huge tub of sugar filled happiness.   Which then spirals into a poor self esteem issues and lack of energy for anything; hate myself and berate myself for eating poor food as I shovel in more sugar.  The vicious cycle continues. 

But you know what?  I'm not going to let this beat me.  I know being a little bit healthier is good for us all, losing a little weight will not hurt me heading into my (ahem) later 30's and I want to give my boys better eating habits and relationships with food than I have now. 

So its about taking baby steps.  Being kinder to myself, taking it one day at a time and if I fall then not let it "eat" away at me.  Just get back up and try and be a little bit healthier tomorrow.  Every little bit counts.   As long as I can still hold on to my "cheat" day every now and then I'll live.  Just think how much better I will feel in the long term and then maybe I won't need my cheat day so desperately.    After all, we all want to be around long enough to do what the lady below is doing, right?  

 Until Next Time

Xx

Its Not Easy Being Green

**  Please note... No frogs have been injured in the writing of this blog***

 

 

 

I, like everyone else, have recently jumped on the green smoothie bandwagon.  For those of you who haven't heard of Green Smoothies you've either lived under a Facebook free rock or you are too cool for all of us and have better things to do with your time then troll Facebook. Things like, I don't know raise kids, work, get an education, all the really unimportant things in life. Green Smoothies are the newest health craze of the moment. Depending on how you use them Green Smoothie drinkers claim they can do anything from help you get your daily vitamin intake, to lose weight, to cure you of all your ills, to create world peace....... well maybe not that last one.  But seriously, people are getting pretty darn passionate about these disgusting looking drinks.  So me being me, I thought it was high time I started to give them a go. 

I'll be honest, even as a vegetarian I don't feel like I get enough "good" foods into me in a day, for that matter a week.  As we all know, busy day to day life tends to catch up with us and before we know it we are eating way too much take away crap or microwave meals, or the ever popular mummy meals ( that's basically eating whatever foods your kids don't finish).  As a result our already tired bodies becoming even more tired, which loops us back into the vicious cycle of being too tired to make good food to get the "right stuff" into our bodies each day.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not turning all healthy exercising greenie on you.  Lets be honest, Its just not in me to become a health food warrior. I love a good Ben and Jerrys as much as the next girl, along with a cheeky glass of wine, creamy pastas, chocolate dipped ANYTHING.....  ummmmm sorry, got carried away there. Back to the smoothies. 

Anyway after seeing a number of green smoothie references in my online travels each day, plus chatting to a couple of girlfriends who swear by them, I thought it couldn't hurt to give it a go.  So I dutifully scoured the net for all sorts of "beginner", "newbie" "Am I crazy enough to try this" type green smoothie recipes.  Not surprisingly I found a few and trotted off to my local grocer to stock up on ingredients for my unfulfilled obsession.  The biggest recommendation everyone made was start light on the "green" vege stuff and heavy on the sweet fruits until you adapt to the taste and then up your veges from there.

So there I stood in my kitchen ready for my first attempt, loading everything into the blender hoping for the miracle to begin.  I have to say as I dumped ingredients in I was getting a little excited to try this new taste sensation.... It looks yummy.

I pressed High on my blender, ready to taste my masterpiece and it looked like this......

Suddenly I'm not so excited to try this thing after all.   Purple brown dirt is so not my colour.


To be honest this first one was a struggle, but I persevered and drank it all down; for three days.  Until it was finally time to try again.  I made a couple of options and then after drinking them for about two weeks I made this one..... Its actually green!!

And you know what, none of them were all that bad.  Granted I think I'll need a little more time on the "newbie" smoothies before I graduate to "grown up" smoothies, but all in all I am managing to drink them down.   

Now do I think they are making a difference?  Well after only 3 weeks, its hard to tell.  I do feel better about myself because I definitely feel like I am getting my daily quota of fruits, veges, vitamins iron etc.  But is it actually giving me what I think?  Who knows.  Generally I do feel like I have a little more energy which is great, no weight loss really to speak of, but then I'm not using it as a meal  replacement either( I love food waaaayyy to much to go without). 

All in all I don't think it can be hurting me to have a little more fresh veges and fruit in my life so for now I'm going to keep giving them a go.  If it means I use this as an alternative of an afternoon to keep the sugar demons at bay then its done its job.  But I definitely can't promise I'll be graduating to the carrot, kale, pine nuts, protien grown up drinks any time soon.  I much prefer my grown up green drinks to involve tequila, a pact of secrecy with friends and a night you wont remember the next day :)

Until Next time

Xx




P.S  For those of you wondering,  my first smoothie is made of  2 x cups spinach, 1 x frozen banana, 1/4 cup of frozen mixed berries, 1/4 cup of raw nuts/ raw seeds ( I used sunflower seeds), 2 cups of ice cold water and a couple of ice cubes.  I use filtered water but really don't think it matters.    My second smoothie was made of  1 x cup frozen pineapple, 1 x frozen banana, 1 inch piece ginger, 2 handfuls spinach and 1.5 cups of cold water and a few ice cubes.  Good Luck!!

Don't Blog Cranky

 

Yes, yes I know its been a while and for that I apologise.  You see, the thing is, its been a rough few weeks.  Personally a few things have been pretty crap, there has been heaps going on at home and school, I've had some health issues and the naughty household has also had a few guests.  So all in all CHAOS. 

I kept thinking about different topics to blog about and to be honest every one of them tended to lean on the side of cranky.  And I don't just mean a little cranky, I mean that annoying, angry, whiney, nails on the blackboard, two year old tantrum, kids in the back seat of the car kind of cranky.  I even started blogging a few times and had to stop the negative spiral.   You know what they say "Never go to bed angry" well "Never blog angry".   However this past week things have slowly started to even out to a manageable status quo.  Home is calming down, sleep is plentiful again, I had a lovely visit from my big sister who lives interstate and things are peaceful ( well ish).  So I'm getting back to my happy place. 

Don't get me wrong I don't want this blog to be all sunshine and lollipops..... life just isn't like that.   But when it gets to the point where everything I want to blog is down and uninspired I feel like I have to impose a limit.    The good news is that things are looking up, my world is a better place again and I am implementing some awesome strategies to help keep my life in a relatively happy place :) 

So I thank each and every one of you for your patience.  I will do my best to get back to a relatively normal blog schedule and keep you all entertained with the craziness that is my life.  In the meantime enjoy a few of my favourite happy songs :)

XX

Girl Power

 I am your everyday kind of girl, grew up in the 80's , went to school, had a few boyfriends and eventually settled down with my husband and had two kids.  But you see apparently I am a little different and I don't get why.There is something that has intrigued and confused me for some time now and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to see if I am alone in my thinking.  Just a heads up... I think I might be, but lets see how we go.  Today I want to throw the gates open for your opinion, particularly on feminism, or what it means to be a woman in 2014. 

Lets go back to where this idea for this discussion came about and you might understand more of what I mean.  The Grammys.    I like most people, had heard a lot about the first performer of the night ( Beyoncé) and her recent album launch and subsequent change to a more raunchy style.  Fine if that is where she is going good for her, whatever floats your boat.  I watched her performance and although I didn't see anything earth shatteringly different to other shows, I did enjoy her new music and performance.  What I didn't enjoy, was reading for days later articles about how Beyoncé changing her style was a sell out to feminism everywhere and how her performance ( with her HUSBAND I might add) was "nothing short of pornographic".   Really?  Pornographic?  Honestly?   Look I have to be truthful; I haven't see a truckload of pornography in my time, but I can honestly say that from what I have seen and what I saw in Beyonces performance, pornography is not the first word that comes to mind.   I wouldn't even call it M rated.  PG at best. 

These articles and their writers in their self appointed wisdom decided that because a performer chose to dress in a "sexy" manner and be a little more suggestive in her style, that she no longer championed women's rights.  That her dancing on stage in a seductive manner with HER HUSBAND seemed to mean that she now somehow feels that women deserve to be nothing more than weak little eye candy, standing around waiting to be objectified by men.  Seriously one writer actually had that in their article.  So I guess this brings me to my question for you.  Do you think it was that bad? 

On a deeper level, why would there be anything wrong with a successful, strong, independent woman deciding to promote her feminine side or display her sexuality?  Why is it that whenever a women focus's on her appearance, or portrays herself in a more feminine or "sexy" manner she is supposedly weakening herself to the male population.  Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I've always felt that in a situation where a woman is comfortable enough in her own skin to promote her "assets" that it is quite an empowering situation for her.  Who hasn't felt pretty awesome, when you finally hit your goal weight after months of hard work, slip into that sexy little dress that has been waiting in your cupboard and head out for a night on the town?  If you are then noticed and appreciated by men during your evening doesn't that make you feel good?

Now before anyone takes it a step further, I am talking about this on a fairly innocent level here.  Yes there are situations where women are objectified and made to feel lesser based purely on their appearance. And yes this is a bad thing, as no one invites this kind of unwelcome attention. But that's not what I am talking about here.  There is this wide sweeping generalisation that a woman who is aware of her body and appreciates the attention she receives when she puts herself on display, is demeaning her entire gender.  I have to say I heartily disagree.  I think it is quite empowering to know that others find you attractive and quite an ego kick, even as a married women.  This is different to dressing in low cut tops and short skirts and perching on a male colleagues desk at work to get out of a task or grab their attention.  I'm just talking about good old fashioned appreciation of the opposite sex. ( or same sex if that's what you are into).  Feeling like even after so many years of marriage or babies or suburbanism you can still be an attractive being. 

Maybe I am alone out on a limb here. I have been told in the past that I don't think like "other" women, so maybe I'm wrong.  Or maybe, just maybe I am part of the new generation of women who aren't afraid to stand up for their feminine rights..... all whilst dressed in their favourite LBD,  red hot lipstick and raunchy lingerie  ;-) 

Something to think about.....

XX