Project 365: Start of Feb and still going strong

Day 32: Gymnastics is back :)

Day 33: my morning tea

Day 34: First day of pre primary, a big school girl now.

Day 35: Outdoor shower time, well actually I was had watering the lawn and Miss T thought that was an excellent opportunity to run around under the hose.

Day 36: Some uber cute puppies, can I take them home please!!!!!!!!!

Day 37: A big bushfire just behind the hills in front of our place, a fair distance from us, but still scary looking at all that smoke and knowing that it has caused so much destruction already.

Project 365: week 4ish

Day 24: Sound asleep and laid back Miss M style

Day 25: my newest obsession, can you guess? :)

Day 26: Princess T

Day 27: Gday mate from Hogs Breath

Day 28: Sleeping Beauty

Day 29: Cheeky shopping trolley helper

Day 30: bouncy castle fun

Day 31: my footsies

Cyclone Watch in the city

As a long time north west WA resident I have experienced my fair share of cyclones, frankly it comes with the territory in the top end. You grow up knowing exactly what to do when that cyclone starts to form off the coast and you know exactly what the colour alerts mean.

So here I am down south in the big smoke, well if you can call Perth the big smoke, and we are on cyclone watch. Young Cyclone Bianca has gotten a little lost on her normal path of destruction and is travelling way south and is yet to cross land, this is expected to happen sometime tomorrow. When I heard we were on cyclone watch yesterday I spent a good while giggling to myself, the whole premise, and yes I know cyclones have hit Perth before, 1978 to be percise, just seemed completely ludicrous.

Especially given only days ago I had been reading a online news article on a popular news website about Cyclone Bianca actually originally forming and one of the first comments on this article was from a rather clueless person I imagine but she asked a simple question "will it hit Perth?" this poor girl got absolutely ridiculed for her obvious lack of knowledge on cyclone tracking and so forth and was told to batton down the hatches, well if she took there advice, she is going to be well and truly prepared for Bianca if she does hit us tomorrow. It's just too crazy, as I was giggling at all the comments in reply to this girl's comment, and I wonder what those people who ribbed her are thinking now as they busily prepare for that crazy idea of a cyclone hitting Perth.

I did clean up the yard this morning but still struggling that this is really a cyclone I'm preparing for, I merely cleaned up the backyard. I know if I was still up north everything would be stored away or tied down. So tomorrow morning, as so far cyclone isn't expected to cross the coast until tomorrow afternoon, I'll do what I should have done today if I hadn't been so complacent about the whole bloody thing.

Honestly though if the bereau stuck with typical alert system I would know what to expect, but on all their media alerts they've been advised not to use it. This is crazy as most if not all would know what the cyclone alert system is seriously blue alert, yellow alert and red alert, red obviously been danger, cyclone here now stay inside you numb skull otherwise you'll get blown away with blue alert been still calm but start cleaning up as it won't be long until that cyclone should come through, yellow alert then been Oi!! did you not hear, cyclone heading your way, clean up and get inside. If I knew that I was on blue alert I doubt I would have been as complacent as I have been with these cyclone watch warnings.

This is the latest warning advice

Australian Government Bureau of MeteorologyWestern Australia

Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre

Media: The Standard Emergency Warning Signal should NOT be used with this warning.

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCASTTROPICAL CYCLONE ADVICE NUMBER 45

Issued at 8:42 pm WST on Saturday 29 January 2011

CYCLONE BIANCA MAY IMPACT COMMUNITIES IN THE SOUTHWEST OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA ON SUNDAY

Bianca will be rapidly weakening as it approaches the coast on Sunday. Tides between Jurien Bay and Cape Naturaliste will be higher than normal and arelikely to rise above the highest astronomical tide level. There is uncertainty about how fast it will be moving as it approaches the coast and therefore there is some risk that Bianca could still have additional impacts on the southwestof WA. People should prepare for: . COASTAL EROSION and FLOODING OF LOW LYING COASTAL AREAS .

ROUGH SEAS and DANGEROUS SURF CONDITIONS .

DAMAGING WINDS with gusts to 100 kilometres per hour .

VERY HIGH to SEVERE FIRE DANGERS .

HEAVY RAINFALL south of the cyclone with possible LOCALISED FLOODING.

A Cyclone WARNING is current for coastal areas from Jurien Bay to Albany, including Perth, Mandurah, Bunbury and Busselton.

At 8:00 pm WST Tropical Cyclone Bianca, Category 2 was estimated to be 660 kilometres west northwest of Perth and700 kilometres west northwest of Bunbury and moving southeast at 25 kilometres per hour. Bianca continues to weaken as it begins to move towards the southwest corner ofthe state. As it approaches the coast it will weaken rapidly but there is some risk that Bianca could still have an impact on the southwest on Sunday. DAMAGING WINDS with gusts to 100 kilometres per hour are possible southwest of a line Jurien Bay to Albany. Tides between Jurien Bay and Cape Naturaliste will be higher than normal and are likely to rise above the highest astronomical tide level with ROUGH SEAS, DANGEROUS SURF, COASTAL EROSION and FLOODING of LOW LYING COASTAL AREAS. HEAVY RAINFALL is also possible on the southern side of the system with LOCALISED FLOODING. Extensive flooding is not expected. VERY HIGH to SEVERE FIRE DANGERS are likely near the west coast and through the Central Wheat Belt on Sunday. Please refer to Fire Weather Warning [IDW30000] for further information. FESA advises you to prepare an emergency kit and emergency plan, including are location plan for your family and pets. Store or weigh down loose objects,trim branches around your home and clear gutters and downpipes so they do not overflow after heavy rain. Do not go boating, fishing, swimming or surfing in affected areas. Ensure boats in pens and on moorings are secure. If you live inan area with a severe fire danger you need to have a bushfire survival plan and get ready to act. For SES assistance call 132 500. To report a fire or for a life threatening situation call 000. Keep up to date by calling FESA'sInformation Line on 1300 657 209 or visit www.fesa.wa.gov.au

Details of Tropical Cyclone Bianca at 8:00 pm WST:.

Centre located near...... 29.9 degrees South 109.4 degrees East.

Location accuracy........ within 55 kilometres.

Recent movement.......... towards the southeast at 25 kilometres per hour.

Wind gusts near centre... 140 kilometres per hour .

Severity category........ 2.

Central pressure......... 975 hectoPascals

It's now time for me to start taking this thing seriously, I can hear my father scolding me, I should know better than that, no more procrastination, tomorrow morning the backyard will be as bare as a babies bottom and clear of any projectile shit.

Happy Australia Day

As far as celebrations go, I am of the very low key, low maintenace variety, so it is not surprising to know that besides a bit of house work I did very little today. Just the way I like it.

I did venture down to the shops with kids in tow, Miss M in the ergo on my back, it's a fail safe way to ensure she has an afternoon nap, even if it is only for half an hour. I casually strolled through Woolies picked up the odd thing here and there for BBQ dinner and to take with us later to the the fireworks. Then keeping with the W theme, I did my lap of Big W picked up a couple of super cute Aussie tshirts for the girls to wear at the fireworks, we then went to the cheap shop and loaded up on temporary tattoos. It was then well and truly time to head for home, where I could plunk myself down on the bed and watch movies all afternoon.

Once the BBQ was done and dusted we headed down to the local park for an afternoon of leisurely waiting for the fireworks to start. Took a stroll down by the rides and side shows, first stop was a ticket game, Miss T bought one ticket and walked away with this mammoth of a toy, she was pretty darn pleased with herself. Kids jumped on a few rides, had a few more goes on the ticket game and added to our giant toy collection a giant panda, I was now pretty darn happy too :)

We then grabbed a seat and waited for the fireworks, which were spectacular. It was a great afternoon, really good music, beautiful weather, the kids had a ball and for the most part I was relaxed, couldn't really ask for a much better day.

Happy Australia Day!!!

Project 365: week 3 and 3/4

Day 17: my new cook book, how I love Jamie

Day 18: My first baby Jasper

Day 19: Miss M as Woody in her big sis' pjs

Day 20: dress up time

Day 21: proudly showing off her completed star chart for week one.

Day 22: I salute you :)

Day 23: table top painting

Operation: Try my dinner

As some of my readers and good friends would know, I've had a rough trot with getting one of my girls to eat. Miss T is the fussiest person I know, at one point not long after she was 3, I sat down and wrote a list of everything that she would eat and liked. There was a scary trend towards all things white. So much so, when we cook a spaghetti bolognaise, in Miss T's bowl is spaghetti and nothing else, no sauce just the plain old boring spaghetti.

I spoke to a doctor once upon a time and he assured me she was healthy but seriously what nutritional value is she gaining from just eating pasta. Over the years I have attempted to coax, reward and I'm sad to say lose my temper and yell at her to eat or even just try her dinner. Then there are the other times when I just gave up, went with the flow and gave her what she wanted, at least she was eating that way.

The star chart has been used before in this house, with a sticker loving daughter it's always going to be an initial hit, I do believe at that time she was too young to understand the concept beyond, YAY I get to put a sticker on this piece of pink card, which unfortunately meant we lost interest and the meaning was long gone.

Fast forward to last weekend, with Miss T turning 5 next week, I figure she's old enough to well and truly get the concept and understand that for her action their will be a reward at the end. So we had a chat, talked about having to try our dinner, not pushing eating the whole thing yet, that can be the next one, and if we did it every day of the week then she could get a reward. Miss T chose her reward, she wanted a new barbie doll, she had picked out and knew exactly which one she wanted. So I explained to her, on her new quickly devisied star chart (which was recycled on the back of the old one) that she needed to get a sticker for everyday of the week for trying everything one her plate, if she got 7 stickers then we could go get her reward, if she didn't get a sticker for one of the days then she would have to wait until the next week.

Well how do you think she went? The first day went off without a hitch, although she may not have eaten everything on her plate, she did try it all, including the vegies, a few days during the week I believe her motivation to the cause waned and I needed to remind her that if she didn't get a sticker than we wouldn't be going shopping for her barbie doll, a little more coaxing on those days and the food on the plate was tasted.

Rounding out the end of week was yesterday, and I cooked a quick an easy dinner of tortiallas, four bean mix and corn with a small bit of sweet chilli sauce all mixed together and cheese toasted inside the tortillas. It may sound odd but I assure it tastes mighty fine. And as you will see Miss T was quickly demolishing hers. Miss T this week has tried brocoli, corn on the cob, fish, tomato lasagne and beef stroganoff, amongst other things.

I think as much to my surprise as to hers, she has been able to get a sticker for every day this week, even with coaxing and extended dinner times to allow her the courage to try the food on her plate, and she did it, and I couldn't be more proud of her. I know it's just eating but in just one week she is trying things she would have blatantly refused the week before, amazing what a little incentive can do. Here she is, pleased as punch beside her fully stickered chart.
Only thing left for us do, is to go shopping for her reward, this was the exciting bit, she knew exactly where she needed to go in the shop and by the time I made it to the toy section, I have a habit of doing the lap of the shop and the toys are in the back far corner, she was bursting at the seams, she ran straight in grabbed her barbie doll and I don't think her grin could have been any wider, especially when she handed it over to the sales lady for mummy to purchase it.

Here she is proudly showing off her new barbie, which also happens to go alongside Miss T and my current obsession of Paris, we'll get their one day hunny. So with this week done and dusted, Miss T and I sat down and talked about what she would like as a reward for this week, hopefully with seven more stickers on that chart the girls and I will be going to the movies.

Wish us luck, hoping that by the end of the chart I will have a little girl who not only eats her dinner but will try everything that is put in front of her, I know it may take more than the 7 or 8 weeks worth of stickers on my chart but hoping like all hope we get there one day.

The weigh in

I've joined the gym, I don't really have a plan with my gym use, the incentive in the start was it was cheaper to go to Zumba as a member then paying $20 a session, seriously high way robbery would be an understatement.

Ultimately I should have a goal.

So here in lies my weigh in.

My starting weight is:

Ideally I would like to be 10 kilos lighter, although the giant white chocolate freckle I'm currently munching on might be my undoing. Need to find some will power to step away from the giant freckle.

My desire would be, to be back down to 70 kg without the big fat jelly bits in the middle as seen in the below very scary starting photos.

No turning back, it's out there, you, my readers are all my witnesses and will be the voice in my head keeping me honest and on track.

See you back here in a month, hopefully I little bit lighter and a lot fitter. Or at the very least slightly more coordinated with my Zumba moves.