I'm sitting at Perth Airport waiting to fly home, feeling a little sad to leave a place I really haven't had a chance to explore properly. We arrived on Sunday evening and wandered to a local pub for a dodgy marinated lamb pizza (it tasted a bit like the marinade was toothpaste) and a few... Continue Reading →

The secret is out ... if you've been following me on social media you'll have guessed already why this blog post is late ... I'm in Western Australia! When DD suggested going to Western Australia with him - he has a board meeting and fancy pants dinner party at a Chairman's house - he was... Continue Reading →

There appear to have been no serious repercussions from the Mummy Loses It incident. The youngest yelled "Byeeeeee, Love you!" as she exited the car at school yesterday morning. I still feel a bit crap about it, but you live and learn. The healing process has been helped by her early birthday present - a... Continue Reading →

Many moons ago I wrote a blog post called "Mummy yelled at me and I cried". It recalled the joy of Education Day at the kids' primary school in 2012, when I started reading the kids' “My Weekend” diaries and was chastened by their unique take on the family’s leisure activities: One entry said: “Daddy yelled... Continue Reading →

Magazines were a pretty fabulous place to work ... back in the day. I hear they're fairly soul-destroying now, what with bulldozed budgets and decimated circulations (actually, circulation isn't even audited any more by most of them because it's so parlous) and fear of the unknown. Sure, there were downsides when I occupied a harbourview... Continue Reading →

Yesterday sucked. I was minding my own business, eating Vegemite toast, when the brace on the back of my front teeth snapped. Hurrah, I thought, there's another freaking expensive bill to add to all the other freaking expensive bills that never stop piling up.  My local NIB dental care centre told me it didn't have... Continue Reading →

I took the kids to see Hidden Figures on Friday night. Probably not the best choice of entertainment for a 10-year-old, but she was mollified by the comfy Xtremescreen seats ... and then embarrassed by her mother noisily weeping throughout the movie. Hidden Figures is based on a true story about three African American women... Continue Reading →

Paul Stanley might have warbled "I was made for lovin' you baby. You were made for lovin' me" but I'm not sure that's entirely true. People aren't "made" for each other. It wasn't "meant to be". You chance upon someone who lights a spark and you nurture it into more. You can do all the... Continue Reading →

Valentine's week is always a bit weird for me as it's the anniversary of my husband leaving. He got the keys to his solo apartment on Valentine's Day. Sooooooo romantic! We told the kids a few days later and 24 hours after that he was gone. It didn't really sink in that it was OVER... Continue Reading →