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I just wanted to wish each and every one of readers a very happy and safe Christmas break. Take care of yourselves and enjoy the time with your family and friends.
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Thank you for your support over the past 8 months; you have all been an incredible inspiration to me and I love that so many of you are now interacting more and I feel like I’m getting to know you all so much better. You are all wonderful! Thank you.
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I am taking a few days off to spend with the family over Christmas but I will back New Year Eve. You will probably still find me updating the facebook page so feel free to leave comments, questions, messages as I will still read and respond to them during this time.
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Don’t forget to enter the new giveaway on the blog – the winner will receive their choice of Air Protect car seat from the website!! Valued anywhere between $200 – $500.
TAKE IT EASY & ENJOY YOURSELF!
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So here is how my journey in Canada went besides well you know, the hindrance of woe is me! After my last trip to Calgary, Canada I was a little unsure of how it was going to feel to be back there after the incident. I didn’t know whether the fear would hit me like a brick in the face as soon as we landed, got off the plane or while we were sight-seeing.
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| Chuck Wagon Racing |
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| This flew over while everyone stood and sang the national anthem |
To my surprise it didn’t happen, I wonder whether that was because I was constantly thinking about my boys back here in Australia. What was I thinking going half way around the world without them? After getting over the shock of not being afraid (ok well I was but not like I expected to be) we went sightseeing and went to the 100th Calgary Stampede. It was amazing.
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| A very unique and crafty idea. Take a close look! -Yes I took a pic of the man in front of us. |
I had been to all the touristy places already but my husband and his family hadn’t so now I have 2 sets of pictures. One when I am young, childless and skinny and one from now 8 years on, 2 kids later and many kilos heavier. Guess which ones I like better?
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| Kickin’ it old school! |
We went to museums and nearly got kicked out; who would have thought you couldn’t take photos of the artwork? We went to historical villages and dressed up as Mounties. We wined and dined SO much and shopped. Good golly did we shop!
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| I’m a Mountie! Watch out bitches. |
We got into the spirit and dressed as cowboys, mind you I had to buy myself some boots. Well I couldn’t not! We went to an Aussie shop over there and I swear nothing in there was Aussie, the owner even thought we were from the UK. The koalas and kangaroos looked nothing like they should! Got to love how everyone thinks we have these native animals as pets. So much happened that it makes it hard to fit it all into one post so I’m sure down the track there will be more but for today this will do.
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| My gorgeous husband and I playing dress up! |
Overall we had a pretty good time, it was nice to get away however next time I think we will just stick to ‘our’ family going away.
Where have you gone recently out of the ordinary?
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As you know I recently returned from a trip to Canada. My husband and I went with his sister and mother. Let me just say that never again will we ever (and I mean ever) go away with them again. Believe it or not my mother in law was not the problem.
I don’t know how one person can have so much but still think they have nothing. Someone who has a mother, father and brother who are always there for her even after she shits on them time and time again and yet still think she has no one who cares. I just don’t get it. I can understand having a moment, day or even a week of woe is me but this has been going on for as long as I have known her. That’s 10 years!
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A decade of ‘poor me everyone else gets everything’ can get beyond tiring. You would think that for 2 weeks whilst on holiday you would or could be happy. Guess what – she couldn’t. It was a very long 2 weeks of complaining; because it turns out we all intruded on her holiday. We were all invited mind you but that’s beside the point. It would have been more enjoyable getting my teeth ripped out one by one without anaesthetic. Ok maybe it wasn’t that bad but I think you get my point.
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The attitude had started before we even got through customs. We should have known then what the trip would entail. We did however get to have a few good days, actually great days! I will share more in the coming week of what we got up to. I have so many pictures to go through and decide what to write about.
Have you ever had to endure a holiday from hell? Maybe it was the place or maybe it was the people.
I would love to hear them all!
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When getting home from a holiday what is the first thing you generally want to do? Have a shower? Unpack? Make a coffee?
We would have loved to all the above! Life had other plans. As we pulled into the driveway we opened the garage door and drove on in. We grabbed the few bags of groceries we had purchased on our way home with contents for dinner. That is when it occurred to us the door was locked and neither of us had the key.
Yes that’s right we were away for 2 weeks and neither one of us had bought the house keys with us. We were locked out, it was late Saturday afternoon so there was no calling the real estate to get the spare set (not that it would have helped anyway, they are 3 hours away from us). We search the windows but to no avail. They along with all the doors were locked. We had no option left but to smash a window.
So my husband smashed the laundry window, it was the smallest and we could unlock the doors by reaching through. We were inside, finally! Fuck now there is glass everywhere and I mean everywhere!!
While I dragged all the bags, luggage and shopping inside my darling man decided to clean up all the glass when it occurred to him there was water on the floor, mixed in with the glass. Where could that be from you ask?
Well our house is pretty dodgy when it comes to most things, electrical is no different. So before we went on our trip my husband turned off the TV points, the kitchen appliances, washing machine and dryer and anything that may have been sharing the power point like oh yeah, how could I forget…..
The Chest Freezer that was full of food!!
My husband opened the freezer to check – BIG MISTAKE!
The smell was deadly, it had us all dry reaching and the kids and I were at the other end of the house. That is how bad it was but you would expect that for 2 week old defrosted meat, chicken, prawns, etc. Anything that can be frozen was in there.
The afternoon was spent cleaning, bleaching, disinfecting and trying to get rid of the awful smell. The laundry door has to stay open or the smell seems to return like it was never gone. The freezer I have achieved getting it to smell something like vanilla – thank goodness for vanilla!!
So that is 2 evils in the matter of 5 minutes, what else could possibly happen?
They say bad things come in 3’s and they weren’t wrong. While we away a family of ducks have decided to call our yard home. They have shit EVERYWHERE!! They are loud and they don’t want to leave. Vacate notice ignored….
WELCOME HOME!!
Have you been welcomed home with any disasters? I would love to hear them. If you haven’t make one up so I don’t feel as bad. PLEASE!!
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As you all know I have been overseas for the past couple of weeks.
During this time a few things have been going on at and for Mad Mummas Sweet Randoms blog.
I have had a few fantastic ladies share their experiences with you readers by guest posting here and I cannot describe how grateful I am to them. Just to recap and give another shout out in case you missed them here they are.
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The lovely Lisa from Mummy’s Undeserved Blessings with her post Not So Stereotypical…….
Lisa is a mum to three beautiful girls, under four years old. She blogs about her struggles and successes as a mum, her passion for cooking and whatever else is on her mind.
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The hilariously honest Leigh from Six By The Sea with her post Welcome to the’hood’.
Leigh is a happily married mum to four boys, a nurse who is considering a future in midwifery and a lover of life and all of its future adventures. Leigh’s ultimate dream is to have a regular gig writing a column.
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The very informative Chrissie from Me and My Munchkin with her post The Top 10 Tips for Surviving Co-Parenting.
Chrissie is a stay at home single mum to a toddler, with a total handbag addiction. Her blog shares the ups and downs of doing the parenting thing alone.
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I also won 2 awards while I was away!! YAY ME.
I received the Versatile Blogger award from One Too Many and my second Liebster Award from Cassie at The Flying Drunken Monkey.
I will have posts dedicated to these coming soon.
Winners for giveaways will be announced shortly as well!! Thank you to everyone who entered.
Appreciation goes to everyone mentioned above and all the lovely readers who share and read my blog regularly.
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A Journey Sure to Test!
This story begins with a young, vibrant 18 year old woman. She was full of life and optimism, not a care in the world! That is until the moment her night ended abruptly in an emergency room. Yes this story is about me.
As my plane landed from its long international flight from Australia to Canada I was so excited. It was my first ever trip overseas and I planned to travel for just shy of a month. I was going it alone! Taking on the world! I saw some absolutely amazing and breathtaking views, snow for the first time, the ballet and so much more! This was the trip of a life time; or so I thought. Well one thing is for sure, I will never forget it!
One night as I was waiting out the front of a restaurant I was dragged to an alley and severely beaten. I will not go into detail as it’s not something I really like to think about let alone put it into writing. I have accepted what happened a long time ago (7 years ago this happened) but it still brings shudders when I think about it. I was extremely lucky that a very kind and I must say heroic man came to my rescue. If it weren’t for this man I probably wouldn’t be here now.
Anyway, I am basking on another journey to the exact city that this unfortunate incident happened to me in exactly 15 days! This time I am going with my husband and sister in law to see the 100 year anniversary of the Calgary Stampede. I know this time it will be different, I am smarter, wiser, physically stronger and I won’t be alone but I am so nervous, frightened and basically scared shitless. Not that it will happen again, not really about what could happen but about what did happen. I can’t explain it in a way that anyone but me can understand (not really sure I do at this point) and so when I was asked if I wanted to go I said yes. I knew my husband was really keen on going and he had the excited puppy look. I couldn’t say no.
When my 18 year old self went to Calgary, I wanted to see the stampede but I missed it by a couple of weeks. Yes I should have done more research! I want this trip to be memorable for all the right reasons. I want to have fun and enjoy myself, we are even lucky enough to have my father in law babysit. Yep that’s right we are going without the kids overseas! Yes I am a bit nervous about this too. Please don’t confuse my hesitation and fear with being ungrateful, I am extremely lucky to be able to go on an overseas holiday and spend some time with my husband all alone. It’s been so long since that has happened.
In the spirit of being brave and facing my fears, I want to embrace this with all the strength and fight I have inside me. I am going to need to find other amazing things to do in Calgary also to keep me busy.
Have you been? Do you live there? What fun, exciting, touristy attractions are there? Any great places to eat? I want to know everything anyone has to offer. Also if anyone knows how to stand up and so no to being scared please let me know.
Sincerely,
Your scared fighter
Kell
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