Putting Alice back Together

11/04/2012 Leave a Comment

Wow, it has been a while since my last post!!!!! We’ve been battling the gastro bug in the family, it started with my son & it looks like it ended with me! Ontop of that my 6 month old BRAND NEW (pfft) Acer Laptop’s harddrive decided to die on me, so Im typing this post from the local library while the kids are choosing books to borrow.

I use to love sitting on the couch or tucked in bed reading a good novel, but since becoming a mum of 3, I found myself too busy or tired to read & of course family comes first resulting in no “me-time” . So when asked to read & write a review on Putting Alice Back Together by Carol Marinelli, I could not refuse!!! I miss reading and this would be the perfect way not only to find interest in reading again but have some personal time as an adult and not a mum lol…you know what im talking about.

A little info before we begin

Putting Alice Back Together by Carol Marinelli follows the charmingly imperfect protagonist Alice on her whirlwind journey of self-discovery and recovery. While it affectionately tackles the issues of a single woman living in Melbourne with a touch of humour reminiscent of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones Diary – that’s where the similarities end. This novel isn’t afraid to address confronting and downright confusing issues that we so often wish we could sweep under the rug and hide in a tidy drawer.

Dealing with Finance (Hiding credit card bills under the bed)

Career confusion (Alice’s job was great..10 years ago)

Smiling depression** and anxiety (Anxiety attack shrugged off as allergic reaction)

Substance and alcohol abuse (too much red wine and valium)

Dealing with a BIG secret. (We can’t tell you..you’ll have to read to find out)

My thoughts

I connected with the Alice who tried perfectly to hide her depression from the world around her, always the entertainer of parties & not the highlight, always there for others but never for herself & always wearing the smile without owning it.

Reading Putting Alice Back Together is more like an insight to her mind or a personal diary, with some comedy, slight language & ofcourse the big secret, Alice did give me personally a reality check that depression doesnt need to be hidden & there is light at the end of the tunnel (& of course some romance lol).

Between chapters it does go back in to the past, but the present is set in todays time with emails (woohoo), friendship & coming back to it a great big secret!!! I read it over the weekend, so all mums dont be put off by the size of the book as I was when I first received it, I thought “I have no time to read such a huge book” but once I started I literally could not stop – plus I had to find out the big secret.

Just wanted to say Carol Marinelli is also a ‘mummy blogger’ (I know most mums who blog dont like being called that), at time where Ive neglected my blog & failing to balance family with work, Carol has given me not only inspiration but more importantly motivation to continue blogging but at my own pace.

I saw Putting Alice Back Together at Target today, the price check scanners were down but there was a ‘sale’ tag on the shelf or you can read a brief sampler online here

Please note I was not paid for this review but was given a complimentary copy of Putting Alice Back Together to write a honest review based on my own opinions.

Filed Under: Putting Alice Back Together

Country style – Season’s Greetings

06/12/2011 Leave a Comment

My background doesn’t celebrate Christmas but that doesnt mean I cant love this time of the year – the carols, Santa in malls, decorations and everywhere you look its Christmas including this months Country Style cover page.

I can’t believe it’s been since my feature about Country Styles Harvest Table competition and now winners of best School Harvest and garden journal have been announced.

Its funny I’m so use to my 5 & 7 year olds drawings that when I saw the entries detailed drawings I was impressed and surprised- you’ll know why.

One thing I love how Country Style is different compared to other magazines I occasionally read, flicking through the pages you can help falling in love with the calm & peaceful countryside – I always say it but if I was 1/2 as confident as the families who move from city to country, I would pack my bags and never look back.

As someone who can only eat small meals thanks to my weightloss surgery, when it comes to cooking for my self im very lazy but this month in tradition with Christmas & seafood Im thinking maybe its time I did something for me and attempt the ‘trout salad’ – hey its high in protein that should give me the butt kicking I need.

Dont forget to follow Country Style on Facebook and ofcourse grab your own copy.

Filed Under: Country Style, Harvest Table Competition, Living with Obesity

Vege Chips Twists – a healthy kids snack ….

27/11/2011 Leave a Comment

With parents who grew up on poverty, you can understand why they didnt care much nor knew about good & bad foods – as long as we all had something to eat when we needed too we were regarded fortunate.

Obviously, my obesity childhood story and the fact im more educated than my parents were mean there is no way my (fussy) eaters are allowed to eat 1/2 the junk I use to eat nor are they allowed to have any of the ‘snacks’ they wish to find in their lunch boxes.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted to try a new gluten free Vege Chips made by an Aussie company promoting healthy eating within our communities.

Little info from Vege Chips

Features:

Like the original Vege Chip, the Vege Twists are the perfect alternative to other salty snacks.

All Vege Chip’s products contain no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives.

Vege Twists have 40% less fat and 80% less saturated fat than regular potato chips.

Vege Chips are made from cassava, a tropical root vegetable that is a low glycemic rated food and is high in calcium and vitamin C.

The Vege Chip Co’s products are made in QLD, from ethically sourced local and international ingredients.

Our Review

We received 3 packets of cheese twists – a huge relief as my testers werent really fond of the idea of sharing..

Im sure everyone has had atleast one stale tasteless chip in their lifetime, and I thought this is how Vege chips would be. You can blame me for being my usual sceptic self and assuming there was no way my kids would enjoy a ‘healthier’ packet of chips.

The Vege Chips was a similar shape to Twisties, but the colouring and texture was much lighter. I didnt have excess cheese all over my fingers and the cheese taste wasnt over powering either – the kids really enjoyed every twist.

My 7 year old who seems to dislike cheese for what ever reason said ” there is alittle bit of cheese & another taste that makes it delish !” (Im thinking the other taste is the vege taste – compared to other salty chips.)

My other two arent as fussy but did ask for another packet……umm no I dont think so !

I would have liked to see them in larger packets instead of the convenient mini packs – lol .

Vege Twists are available in Coles (from October 17^th) and Woolworths (from October 31^st).

For more info about healthy living have a look at Vege Chips blog or their website Vege Chips.

Filed Under: Vege Chips Twists

Mums united Project

12/11/2011 Leave a Comment

Recently I was asked if I would be interested in participating in the Heart Foundation ‘Mums United Project’, by gathering a group of friends or family and discussing the difference we can make as a group for a healthier nation.

As a person who has struggled obesity all my life and recently undergone weightloss surgery I was excited to participate not just for myself but as a mum who is forever encouraging my kids to make better food choices.

The main purpose of Mums United project is to educate & encourage a person at a time to make small healthier changes, and become more active for themselves & their families.

The ‘Mums United Project’ pack was received and our little gathering of 8 friends & my sisters was booked!

Before I start, I would like to apologise for not having any photos to show you, my little ‘angel’ son some how removed the SD card and its been missing since…!

Using my Woolworths $15 gift cards I purchased Bega So Extra Light grated Cheese & using my trusty Taste recipe made a batch of Cheese & Salami (replaced bacon with Helal Salami) scrolls.

We were provided ’myth-busting’ quiz cards to help the conversation get started but we didnt need them, everyone was too busy complementing ME on my huge weightloss not to mention how good I looked and ofcourse the topic kicked off from there.

Everyone was participating, exchanging their healthier choices and then it was time to confess exactly how much exercise we were doing per day.

Unfortunately while everyone knew exercise was important not one person in that room was active and while Im not active either I was surprised as I assumed atleast one friend who follows her diet religiously would also exercise.

Before our little meeting I did do some research online about ‘Mums United Project’ so I was better informed & prepared.

According to the Health Foundation we only need to make the smallest change in our diet to feel & see the results.

Swap full fat dairy foods for reduced fat dairy foods for all family members above two years old. Since my weightloss surgery Ive replaced full cream with reduced fat milk for my self only, I was thought kids need the extra fat in full cream milk. This small change will remove 4kgs of saturated fat from our diet in one year…..wooooow
Swapping butter which contains 50% saturated fat with canola, sunflower or olive oil margarine spreads which contains 14% fat removes 2.85 kg of saturated fat from our diet per year….another wooooooow

To encourage families to become more active, the Health Foundation run free walking groups across Australia, we jumped online and searched our own postcodes on Walking groups. There are groups running in our local area except for two so they were planning to email Health Foundation to either start their own group or request one to be started.

We were also given a Family walking chart for kids to colour in a footstep each time one goes for a walk. Because we all have kids we were planning to reward our kids with a trip to the local pools, beach or indoor playcentre.

Our ‘Mums United ‘ meeting has come to an end.

We finished our meeting pledging never to purchase butter again, we all live in different suburbs so we’ll be having weekly FAMILY including hubby walks at random local parks.

I personally will be taking the kids to the park after school instead of racing home, this way im giving myself and the kids time to calm down, kids and I will be active and there wont be unhealthy afternoon snacking.

Every Saturday I declare it my cleaning day instead im going to break up my cleaning through out the week giving me more time and energy to become more active with and for my kids.

What other small changes can you recommend for us? I would love to become more active but need inspiration to get off the couch, any suggestions would be appreciated.

For more information about Health Foundation ‘Mums United Project’ or to participate in their free walks head over to facebook.com/wearemumsunited - see you all there….~

Filed Under: Living with Obesity, Mums United Project

The Entertain ‘mook’ + giveaway

11/11/2011 3 Comments

I seem to ask this often but where did the time go? Theres only what something like 41 sleeps to go til Christmas, then New Years eve, and before we know we’re hitting the beach or having an Australia day backyard party.

If your any where as unorganised as I am, your probably starting to panic about all the gifts, organisation, entertaining and the unavoidable clean up.

To take the stress out of entertaining this year, Australian Good Taste magazine released the Entertain! mook – nope no typo its a mook as in a magazine book….cute!

Almost all organised mums around the world take time for their weekly menu plan, to save money & take the stress out of deciding what to cook.

Using Australian Good Taste magazine’s icons, Entertain! is the party host’s ultimate must have yummy entertaining menu plan.

I like to think myself as a ~~chef~~ good cook, while I dont always follow the instructions its not that often I have to throw the food / bad cooked evidence away. Looking through the Entertain! I realised I dont have any excuse to not follow the step-by-step instructions, with small photos detailing exactly what or how it needs to be done, how could my cooking fail?…….

You can get your very own copy of Entertain! in any Woolworths across Australia for $9.95. Or you can meet the team behind Entertain! at Australian Good Taste facebook page .

Giveaway

One lucky reader will receive their own copy of Entertain! to help them organise and enjoy their next party, all you have to do is leave a comment here or on Facebook – it could be a simple HIIIII!!! LOL…..The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Friday, 25th November 2011. Winners will also be notified by email and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

Open to Australian residents only.

Filed Under: Entertain! mook, Entertain! mook giveaway

Table of Plenty Mini Rice Cakes

29/09/2011 Leave a Comment

As you know I had to prepare my body for gastric sleeve surgery and was put on a low calorie diet to reduce the size and the excess fat around my liver. About the same time I received a huge box full of Table of Plenty Mini Rice Cakes to road-test and ~~enjoy~~ review.

Heres alittle info from Table of Plenty

“Our Mini Rice Cakes are inspired by the need for a tasty and healthy snack for big and little kids. Crunchy wholegrain rice cakes are paired with creamy layer of Belgian chocolate made with pure cocoa butter – NO vegetable oil. They are all natural with no preservatives, colours or flavours and also Gluten Free.”

Image Credits: Table of Plenty

OMG what was I to do? Im on a strict Low calorie diet and here I have a box full of milk chocolate, dark chocolate and triple berry yoghurt mini cakes sitting on my kitchen bench.

I decided 1 mini cake per flavour cant really affect my diet – now could it???? While I was eating my triple berry yoghurt mini cake, I was shocked when I read the mini cakes only contain 15 calories each.

Image Credits: Table of Plenty

The mini rice cakes are wholegrain but the toppings are wickedly rich and the taste was just umm divine - they weren’t too sweet or plain boring. Which brings to me to why Table of Plenty would think they were only “kids” lunch box snacks…..

To give you an idea about how delicious these mini cakes were, the kids and I finished the whole box in one sitting. That is 6 packets of mini cakes, a total of 15 calories per rice cake and we ate them so fast that I didn’t even consider or have time to take any photos.

Image Credit Table of Plenty

Now lets get back back to my liver, despite eating all those milk chocolates, dark chocolates and berry mini cakes my liver was in perfect size and according to my surgeon there was no fat around it either.

More info

To purchase Mini Rice Cakes or if your after more info head over to Table of Plenty.

Please note: I received a complimentary sample of Mini Rice Cakes to try and write a honest review.
I was not paid nor offered any money to write this review.

Filed Under: Table of Plenty Mini Rice Cakes

Spellodrome & Mathletics review plus membership GIVEAWAY!

06/09/2011 2 Comments

At Deals for Mum, mum’s the word. Irresistible deals sourced by mums, for mums. Easy for mum, fun for all the family!

I was recently offered a 6 month subscription to not only Mathletics but Spellodrome too by Deals for Mum . My daughter has had a Mathletics account through her school since last year – her teacher sets weekly tasks and not surprisingly she loves it – she gets her 15 minutes on my laptop “playing a computer game”, plus shes learning but that doesnt seem as important for her.

Mathletics

“Mathletics and Spellodrome are Australia’s most used online educational resources. They excite and engage 1.3 million students from 4,500 schools in Australia alone as key numeracy and spelling resources, inspiring students to achieve more. We hear it time and time again – kids love it!”

As my eldest already has a Mathletics account, I decided to activate it for my 5 year old – who hasnt started Kindy yet and like her sister LOVES & ADORES my laptop…….(what can I say they have their mummy’s genes….lol)

Once we activated her account, it was time to design her avatar with hair, eyes, skin & accessory options. I knew she would love this bit, she was forever changing ‘her’ hair colour lol.

It may look a little overwhelming when you first land on the home page, but it didnt take too long for my little princess to work around and select her first activity.

WARNING : Proud mummy bit

My daughter has never shown interest in learning and we’re fine with that – im no longer trying to encourage her to trace letters or count to 20 but since using Mathletics Ive seen a huge change in her. I always knew she was a smart cookie but never realised just how much knowledge this little pumpkin had (another one of mummies genes???).

She was alittle anxious when it was ‘test ‘ time, im not sure if its the word that worried her or if it was the ‘failure’ so her older sister stepped in and helped her with the test bits.

Each successfully completed task earns you credits to purchase items from the store to dress up your avatar. This is great, it gives the child a sense of responsibility and also encourages them to save more credits to purchase more expensive & decorative items.

The Gold Bar status displays the progress of your child – my baby completed her first task and received a PERFECT! gold bar.

As she played her way through each task, sometimes getting a PERFECT bar while other times she received a red bar – she continued earning points regardless of her result. Once she achieves the set amount of points, she receives her award – we are hoping for one later this week.

Spelldrome

Spellodrome isnt as busy (i think thats the best way to describe it) as Mathletics, theres only 5 options plus your result section.

We’ve never used Spellodrome so its all new and very exciting for my girls and me.

Spellodrome is more like an interactive online gaming site rather than an educational game- Hip didnt even notice she was learning. I guess she was too busy trying to solve “words in Pieces” puzzle, she loved the find-a-word – but she prefers it printed it rather than onscreen…(shes alittle picky)

Theres also ‘Writing Fun” section which encourages kids to write letters and with samples to follow – this is great as email takes over snail mail my kids are really curious how mail go from red boxes in the shopping centre to our letter box.

GIVEAWAY

Now the good bit – The wonderful people at Deals for Mum are offering a 6 month subscription to both Mathletics & Spellodrome for one lucky reader.

To enter all you have to do is answer what a hundred plus two hundred minus three equals to - either leave a comment here or on Facebook.

Please use a contactable email address and winners will be selected using random.org on 16th September 2011 and announced on Hip Chic & Tot blog and Facebook page.

Winners must reply within 48 hours of receiving their winning notification or a new winner will be selected. Open to Australian residents only.

Please note all prizes will be sent directly from Deals for Mum and not myself.I will not be held responsible for postage or handing.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary 6 months subscription to Mathletics & Spellodrome to trial and base my review on.
All reviews are based on my honest opinions and experiences, I was not offered any money or paid to write this review.
and I did receive a sample for this review.

Filed Under: Mathletics & Spellodrome

The Baby & Toddler Show

01/09/2011 24 Comments

Im not sure if there was a Toddler & Baby Show 8 years ago when I was pregnant, but I kbow if I had attended one I wouldnt have purchased 1/2 the ~~crap~~ things I did.

Back then (now im sounding alittle old) there was this ”genius” Baby Bonus scheme and being my first bub I wanted everything.

Unfortunately I spent way too much money, I went off with what the lady serving us recommended and 6 months after my bub was born I started to hate my pram, cot & baby bath.

The Baby & Toddler show is one of Australia’s largest baby & parenting shows, just think of it as new mums, mums to be or in my case clucky mums heaven!

This is the bag of goodies I received from some of the major brands showcasing their MUST HAVES and not just must want products.

The Baby and Toddler Show will be on at Melbourne this weekend and I have a free tickets. If your interested comment or email me so I can give you the redemption code to use at the door.

If it wasnt for my surgery the week prior, I would have loved to attend Sydney Baby & Toddler show between 30 September & 02 October. Hubby would freak thinking its me wanting bub # 4 but really its more as a family fun weekend.

Some for the kids with singing and dancing with children’s TV (Shrek & Fiona and New McDonalds Farm). Or perhaps they prefer to romp in the spectacular Fisher-Price Playground. Plus there is face painting, balloon animals, meet & greet My Little Pony, Thomas The Tank Engine Rids and more. Best of all: it is free for all kids (under 14)!

I have 8 free tickets to the Sydney show, im not going to hold a giveaway instead im going to offer it to first in best dressed.

You can find more info on their website www.babyandtoddlershow.com.au including dates, brands and even competition details.

Filed Under: Baby and Toddler Show

Winner Announced

31/08/2011 1 Comment

Im so behind and so sorry but this month has been a little crazy and slow for me lol.

To make if fair, entries were placed in time order then selected using Random.org

Winners have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be selected using Random.org.

Congratulations to the following Euky Bearub winners ;

shellie drysdale

Jen Darby

Jasmine from Nothing to Fancy

Filed Under: Euky Bearub & giveaway

its time to talk turkey!

25/08/2011 Leave a Comment

Recently I was asked to try a kilo of Ingham’s turkey mince and create my own burger. I’ve never tried turkey meat before, I didnt even know there was turkey mince – yes I have been living under some rock!

As Ive never tasted turkey, I also didnt consider it as protein – which is perfect with my up coming pre-op WLS diet. Even better turkey nutrients also keeps the blood cholesterol down, protect against birth defects, cancer and heart disease.

Im going to skip Ingham’s background info as we all know who they are and how much they support the community.

Lets skip straight through too, Ingham’s Turkey Super Burger-off competition they currently have running. The prize is a family trip to the USA!

Create your own award-winning burger and score a trip to the USA.

Simply buy a packet of specially labelled Ingham’s Turkey mince.

Go to the Submit Your Burger page and upload your recipe and a photo of your burger.

Share with your friends on Twitter and Facebook to get more votes.

The top 5 voted burgers are cooked and judged and the overall winner is announced.

Heres my “Turkish Turkey Koftgers” entry, can you PLEASE take a moment to vote and you will go into the running to win a $100 Woolworths Wish cards.

I think my fussy eater enjoyed turkey not only because of the taste but they loved the appearence. Unlike beef, turkey didnt turn brown when cooked but either way my fussy eaters had 4 full koftes!

For more info head over to Inghams …..

Filed Under: Ingham turkey burger, Kids in the Kitchen