Agree blondie, we will cut it back as well. Problem is if you get rid of it you will cop the loading if you join again after 31, catch 22.
Bit annoyed, its only day 2 of the sale and they are almost sold out?? surely they would be prepared!

Key - supermodel, lol I don't think so! I will stick with it and see what happens and what the Dr says after 4 weeks. That is a GWOSE story, I hope you have good neighbors!

Cassi - Thankfully the neighbours are very understanding. I think she thought it was funny and was feeling a bit sorry for K as he was in so much trouble!

hello all i have been reading this morning but didnt get a chance to post.

PHI we have private hospital and extras. DH wears glasses so that is handy, and handy for when i go to physio. Private cover has been very helpful for us with DD's ops.

key can i just ask, sorry to bring up again, but if it was the one from ten years ago, what would they have removed instead??
Oh dear on the dog poo in the pool!

cassi you go girlfriend! your pants will be falling off you soon. well done.
bad luck on the sheets. I have 1000 count sheets too. from when they've been 50% off. couldn't have any less thread count now! lol. love them.

sharon thats great about the trundle bed. so will it go under ella's bed?
i hope the weekend isn't too hard for you. can you catch up with your paretns or your sister that lives with them?

budgets does anyone do an acutal budget? ie follow a formula or online budget? we sat down and did ours last night (and the stupid thing didn't save after hrs of doing it!) and it is sooooooooooooooooooooooo depressing how little money we have. I know though i can't complain cos i choose to stay home, butmy goodness something has to change somehow. cut down on something.

Ali - The only one I can not remember seeing when it was removed was the first one, on that day the old one was supposed to be taken out and the new one put in. That time was the only time there was no incision made that required stiches, so I think there has been wires crossed there and he thought I merely wanted one put in. As they are only supposed to be useful as a contraceptive for 3 years that would give me a reason to have been able to fall pregnant with it there, but it has still been leaching. I was pregnant with K 5 years after the first one was inserted.

We don't do an actual budget just careful with spending and have saving goals. My DH wears glasses too but is almost blind so prescription is high +11 and they have to be made in singapore, at $800 a pair PIH does not cover much.

Ali - yep have a budget, we don't follow religiously but we know if our heads are above water and can see where to cut back if we need to. It only gets updated periodically though. DH spent hours developing a spreadsheet that everything goes into and it calculates it all weekly, fortnightly, monthly and annually, calculates tax rates and everything.

well the bloody budget we spent hrs on last night didnt save to the computer! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr

We have a sort of budget, DH has the most complicated spreadsheet system on earth (I reckon he was an accountant in another life ) with mortgage, income, tax, saving, approximate expenditure on certain categories each year. Lots of graphs and pie charts too, I don't have anything to do with it. He does track how much we spend on certain things, but we don't say we can only spend a certain amount on groceries or anything like that. Our method is just to be tight arses on most things, if there's a cheap way of doing things we try to do it. I'm sure he'd love a wife who is like him but I'm so not . He hasn't bought a single item of clothing since we moved back from the US two years ago because he thinks clothes are too expensive here, and he reckons he can last another year. That is no way to live as far as I'm concerned.

lara do you use your bread maker much? do you think it saves money?

yes girls as you can see i am frantically trying to work out how to save.
thanks for the budget info.
we don't have excel on this computer. anything else i can use? DH said something about downloading something through google. not sure though.

Google has their own set of office products that are similar to the Microsoft programs and I think they are free to download. They don't have quite as many features as the Microsoft versions but adequate for what you want. Are you sure that is just hasn't saved somewhere else??

If anyone wants to be completely grossed out check out my thread in Venting. Stay away if you are in the throes of morning sickness. I am so over motherhood today.

CLAUDIA THAT IS GWOSE!!!!!!!!!!!

Gwose doesn't even begin to cover it this time!

I did think of some swear words to go in front of the gwose.

Blondie I don't really know what to say.. I couldn't pick just one..

Oh dear Claudia.....! you should have taken a photo for bribery later on.... I also felt really sick changing nappies early on in my PG, I feel really sorry for you with that clean up

budget - we have nothing. zip. nada. we have no spreadsheet (which actually sounds like a good idea, but neither me nor DH has the computer skills for it). We have a mortgage etc but dont really do much about saving etc. In fact, I hardly think about money. I spose we are a little tight, but I think that is natural for us

off to eat some more cake before dinner!

BLONDIE : Dear Lordy CLaudia Be careful child or your mum will sell you on Ebay this week cheap!

KEY: So sorry you have had another bad week, I feel the pain for your arm as they couldn't get mine out eitther an to'dig' for an hour and i have a scar. big hugs and a better week to come.

Ho everyone sorry had a really bad day yesterday and felt ourtright angry/depressed with life
I had doctors visit on Thursday. Blodd tests to check Thyroid/THS/Calcium/Iron as I was anemic 12 weeks ago and also needed my thyroxine medication upped 50g per day which was strange in the doctors book as it had been stable for nearly 18mths and I had lost alot of weight which would mean it should be being decreased.
Anyhoo I am feeling shattered, exhausted, DH thought I may have slight depression, and constipated (I thought from iron tablets) and also weight gain or no change no matter my diet efforts BUT my levels have gone haywire. The doctors suppress my levels so that the brain thinks I have too much thyroxine in my system and does not stimulate thyroid tissue so that I don't get more cancers so it runs at 0.02 - 0.20 normally.
My levels came back at 5.95 which is HUGELY high. It means my brain/adrenal system is thinking the opposite and stimulating thyroid tissue or if I had a thyroid(been removed) I would be diagnosed with Graves Disease. This is the exact symptoms I am having too which matches my blood work.
So WTF is going on???
My iron levels were 62 the highest they have been in ages and my Calcium which had not been working since opperation have all of a sudden risen to 'normal range' out of no where (I have been taking calcium for 18mths and had made no difference until this week

So doc has increase thyroid tables by 100g to 250g per day and hope in 2 weeks I will have improvement then retest in 6 weeks as it takes that long to stabalise.
It may mean another cancer or growth or I have pituitary/hormaonal issues.
So scarred

Ok have to get dinner but I will catch up with personals in the morning.
I have a 'date' with TV and relaxing tonight with DH

Sarina that sounds just awful.. I hope the upped dose works well. Try and have a relaxing night on the couch

sarina oh i'm sorry to hear that. I hope everything is ok. Try and relax this weekend if you can.

blondie GWOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cassi nope unfort it hasn't saved somewhere else, we did it on an gov website and it is supposed to save to your computer and you can check it, add to it etc. but nada, its gone. DH said we would have had to do a real proper one anyway but just a pain as we could have transferred the info over. now we have to go through bills again.

Oh Blondie!! That is truly disgusting! What was her reaction? Did she say 'yuck' or 'gwose'? Yucko...making me feel ill.

I am over motherhood this afternoon, I tell ya! We did not make it to ballet...not even close. Ella was sooooo naughty - all afternoon. Got a big smack and then she cried, we had a big fight, and then I cried out of guilt from giving her a smack. I am doing the best I can!

Those with all younger ones...DO NOT be in a hurry for them to grow up. They have attitude, say things to hurt your feelings and answer back, (&cover their ears when you are talking to them!!) ggggrrrrr

Sarina - oh I hope there is no more cancer! You poor thing you. Big hugs. Wish there was something I could say to make it all go away.

Off to have a soup bowl glass of wine!!!! If I have to drive to the hospital tonight, I will just call the ambo~!

Sarina so sorry to hear of your health troubles, hope you get to the bottom of things soon.

Key same thing - that whole digging-object-out-of-arm thing sounded awful, thank God that's behind you now.

I was coming in to whinge about my sore belly button (umbilical hernia) but it kind of pales in comparison...

Blondie what to say... Claudia is developing into an interesting child! I guess all that rapid development brings with it some ... um...curiosity about things. DH called me into the bath the othernight, Ivy was sitting there in the bath with a little poo curling up between her legs like a puppy dog's tail. We managed to scoop both her and the intact poo out of the bath before things got too messy. She wasn't playing with it or anything, just staring at it in a shocked way...

Ali we don't budget as such but we follow a rough savings rule of saving around 30% of what we earn. This mean that whenever the moolah comes in, we throw 30% of it straight into the savings account. It's as if we never saw it... but it's open season on the rest! I find that as long as you have your savings taken care of, how you divvy up the rest doesn't matter too much as long as you can stretch it over all your expenses. Your savings target might be 5/10/15/20% - we're reaching for 30% as we will soon get a mortgage and want to borrow as little as possible. My best budgeting tip is to do meal planning and shop with a list and don't impulse shop (or if you must, give yourself a strict $10 limit). Eating out less would also be a good thing, not that many of us are eating out much after having kids. Also stick to free/cheap things like libraries and $2 DVD days. My biggest headaches at the moment are petrol (I'm clocking up $50+ per week just doodling around town - DH uses a work car) and phone (combined phone/net around $180/month). Also thinking of adding some private health insurance to the mix ... still undecided.

Meljas re PHI check Peoplecare, all of their limits were more generous than MBF (but only just). Premium slightly dearer but benefits noticably more generous. I think that over time we would get our money's worth out of eg dental, optical and (for me) WeightWatchers. WW alone would be around $60/m I think.

ELLANGEL: Just wanted to say Ditto! We nearly didn't make it to Ballet due to DD 'attitude' (&and covering of ears as well) I was so made with her she got a smack too and I called DH and cried as I felt bad So I feel your pain. She is driving me insane with bad attitude behaviour, I am at my wits end I tell you.
I have nothing that is working and I even got a tounge poked out at me today to go with the covering of ears and eyes.

Hang in there

oh that is good! You know what I mean.
She is becoming so painful. I even gave her tuckshop today as a reward for being pretty good all week. She told me she did not like tuckshop. So I said "oh, you would prefer mummy's yummy surprise lunches I make then?' She replied, 'no, I dont like eating, thats all' ....an answer for everything.

Would not talk to DH on the phone so I put him on speaker...then she covered her ears and ran away.

Give me an 18 month old anyday. Holli is such a doll right now.

Maybe I will just have a wine every 2 hours tomorrow and then I wont give a sh*t? LOL

Hi All!

Gosh its been so long since I have been in here...I feel like a stranger! I do read and try and catch up every now an then, but you lot are such a chatty bunch I can never keep up!

Niamh is doing well - growing every day - She's a tall one and sitting somewhere around the 12kg mark - a heavyweight compared to some of the littlies in here! Still in some size 0 must mostly in size 1's cause everything is so short on her!

She has been sleeping terribly for the last 3 months and I am at my wits end. I am more tired now than when she was a newborn. I think she has outgrown the cot, so I have jumped in the deep end and put her in a big bed tonight. So far she is doing well. She has moved around the bed heaps, so hopefully this should be the answer.

Congratulations to all of you expecting new bubba's - it such an exciting time for you all!! I am still deciding whether no. 2 is on the card yet...we'll see.

Very sorry to hear about those with health issues, I couldn't believe that such hard times have fallen on this little group. I hope it gets better for all of you.

I will try to pop in from time to time, but there's no way I can keep up....a new challenge perhaps!

Sharon and Sarina - After the poo over the fence issue this morning K painted the toy room floor - So I am with you with being the mother of a little turd today! I like the wine idea!

Sarina - Hopefully the lab has just stuffed up. Hoping for good news.

Leprechaun - Hope you continue to get sleep from the big bed It is so difficult to function with broken sleep.

Blondie - I shall have to go check out the venting. Glad someone has beaten my kids efforts!

I managed to get the house clean in between 4 year old dramas proud of myself Right back to study!

Key, Sarina, Ellangel What is it with these 4yo's this week, I'm so glad I'm not the only one struggling with the attitude. Mummies just can't get anything right at the moment.

Ali We don't have a budget either, just try to spend carefully. Every now and again we go through the card statements - usually when we are due to visit the financial advisor.

Blondie, oh dear!

Bellygood We have been very grateful that we kept our private health cover. DH has well and truly made use of it recently. His treatment could have been done through a public hospital, but would be less flexible, further away and possibly delayed. We're with GMHBA and they have been really good to deal with, another one I've heard is good is Goldfields medical. I was up late the other night, but as I'm in WA it's not quite as bad as it looks - "only" 12.15 now! I need some time to myself these days and the only time I get it is after everyone else is asleep.

Sarina What a scary time, I hope all your levels normalise and there is nothing to worry about. My first thought was like Keys, hope it's a lab stuff up.

Leprechaun Great to hear Niamh is doing well. Hope her sleeping improves for you.

Ellangel, hope your weekend is better, sounds like you could use some time out.

I'm exhausted, way too much sitting around this week. Mum has gone home, DH has another week of treatment out of the way, and we just have to hope the increase in anti-nausea drugs get him through the weekend. I was hoping we'd know whether he has just one more cycle or two by now, but the Dr didn't come and see him on the ward, and he didn't phone him - as I pointed out, it is one of the few things I can't do for him, but one of the side effects of chemo is a lethargy, and general "can't be bothered" attitude - so frustrating when we need to make plans.

Lucas has been so good for Granny, but tonight he was really really tired after a long and busy afternoon, he went to bed fine, but woke up about 10pm absolutely beside himself, crying and shouting Mummy, even when I was cuddling him. No idea whether it was dreams, teeth or something physical, but he ended up with a dose of panadol, a breastfeed and eventually he went back to sleep. Fingers crossed he sleeps well for the rest of the night as tomorrow is another busy day. Tennis for DS1 at 8.30, birthday party at HJ's for all of them at 11.30, and afternoon sleeps for the whole family!

Sarina - wow sounds like everything is out of whack for you at the moment . I will keep my fingers crossed that the increased thyroid tablets will help. Hope you enjoyed your night with DH last night.

Ellangel - aw, you poor thing, you might need to change your username to Elladevil!

Bellygood - Your method of saving is a good one, particularly preparing for a mortgage. Phone and internet gets very expensive doesn't it? I have a very basic mobile plan and combined home phone and internet and still pay $120/month total for both, fortunately DH gets his mobile from work.

Leprechaun - nice to hear an update on you and Niamh! Hopefully the big bed will solve all her sleep problems.

Beagle - situations like yours are why I keep reminding DH we need to keep our PHI. DH gets so blase about his health because he has never really been ill since he was a baby, but as you know too well anything can happen. I hope Lucas did stay asleep for you last night, I know Claudia sometimes when she is overstimulated and overtired from a big day will wake up overnight.

I have a big study day ahead. I've told DH I need one full uninterrupted day to get cracking on my Screen Analysis assignment that is due the day after Easter Monday. Got invited to a playdate this morning but said no, very unlike me! DH and Claudia are at swimming at the moment and I'm enjoying the peace.

Hi all

just quickly on the health insurance, it is good for non-urgent operations.

My brother needed a knee replacement and on the public list he would have waited a year, even though he was on crutches! so Dad paid for him to go private.

I suppose you could just save the money instead and pay up if you wanted to jump the waiting lists on one particular thing - my brother's knee was years ago, but it was one reason I got private health.

Jasper was up between 5 and 6 this morning again - he is only just waking again now.

have a great weekend all!!!!

hi there gang

beagle i know i say it all the time but i really can't imagine what you're going through. so stressful. maybe once this is all over you and DH could get away by yourselves for the weekend? (of course needing babysitting.) or maybe you could all go over to act, leave the kids with yhour parents and you two could go to Bateman's bay or something. (i have rellies in canberra and they always seem to go to batemans bay..)

belly your plan sounds great. unfortunately the % for savings can't happen in this house at the moment. too many expenses (and yep PHI and life insurance takes up a huge amount). although we do put a bit of money away each quarter for the kids education. but other than that, we're running a very tight ship financially. and our mortgage isn't even that big. but i guess when i've been a SAHM mum for a couple of years now (well i did work one day a week inbetween DD and DS for about 7mths or so) it takes its toll financially. anyway we will get there one day. we are very fortunate that we built when we did and have a nice size house (ok backyard on the small side) but we are happy here and i guess i'll be going back to work once the kiddies are in school.
you know how i was planning on going back to WW after this baby, well at $60 a month i don't think i'll be able to! which is sad as i've always gone back to ww after kids. oh well. might look at the online option, although that is still $$ we don't have.
I really need to do something i can do from home, but what. ???? i looked into those online surveys and you get about $2 a survey and they take half an hour. (and you're not even eligible for each survey so not guaranteed to get X amount a day)

sharon and sarina lord the 4yr old business sounds awful!! i have another year.....

littlemumma how are you going? Forgot to tell you i got two new charms for my pandora the other day. I had money from the IL's for my bday and then i had enough money spent to get a free $30 one. so that was good! I ended up getting a little pram as my free one. at first i wasnt sure if it would look too 'clunky' and not fit in with the beads i've got, but i really like it on. I will get another bead to represent this child when its born, and then i want a nice one for our 5yr wedd ann next feb. I was looking in my book for the oe that you got from the boys but couldnt see it. I have the 2009 pandora booklet.

lep hello! urgh, sorry to hear about the non sleeping issues! yuck. hope that improves.

WEll we have the carpet cleaning man here right now. thank goodness. the carpets are filthy! we were getting them done twice a year but since Oliver has been running around time has got away from us. so its prob been a year since last time they were cleaned infact i think it was either feb or march last year. i remember being outside while he was doing it and i was trying to get Oliver to sleep in the pram.
Its good that he does it on a sat, cos DH can occupy the kids. I thoguht he only did it weekdays which is why i had put it off for so long. too hard to occupy the kids on my own with a big noisy carpet cleaning machine.

Well it seems Ella MAY have had a good excuse for her feralness. She woke several times last night all sniffly and had to give panadol at 4am as she was burning up!

Off to swimming for Holli and then maybe to the library but I will be back later, after we all have an arvo nap!

Well BAD MUMMY here
Faith was a nightmare yesterday I am not a violent person and all I wanted to do was give her a big smack (she did get a little pat on the bottom at one point) ELLANGEL /KEY /BEAGLE everything I did was wrong, everything ended in hands over eyes or ears, poking out tounge or yelling NO at me. I really hater her yesterday and that is a terrible thing to say
Well last night 30mins after she was asleep woke up screaming blue murder and the ouse down crying. 'her ear' I think (no I know) she has an ear infection possibly even perforated her ear drum last night from the pain she was in. Gave her painstop night time and I keep ear antibiotics on hand so dosed her and we need to get int the doctor today urgently.
So everything has a reasone I guess it was sore yesterday building up and hence the bad mood SHe said after Ballet her throat was sore and her ear but when I quizzed her when we got home she said she was fine and didn't mention it again all day
KIDS!

BEAGLE: So sorry again things are still so bad. I just hope you are nearly at the end and you can all start to heal and see the light at the end of the tunnel

KEY: I would have killed faith if she had done half of that. You would have heard me screaming at your house I hope it all came off?

BLONDIE: Good luck with the study today, don't get distracted around the house (I always do)

ALI: I guess you are stuck outside now for a few hours?
BILLS/PHI: On budgets we are tight atm due to a huge amount of bills.
Electricity is killing me at $450 each bill $300 for groceries and we pay about $110 for house phone, $90 for my mobile and $60 for internet
PHI just got a letter saying increasing $60 per quarter again, but can't live without it. Over $3000 a year we pay now for top hospital and standard extra ancilleries (sp?)

ok off to clean have a good weekend all

Morning,
quick one, @ swimming and on my phone but had to come share.

I couldn't help myself, weighed this morning. Mini goal 1 reached! now almost 3kgs down going to get a new bag.

Getting some portraits done of N this afternoon.

BBL

Afternoon ladies

I haven't been able to get on the net for a couple of days so I've just skimmed the posts really...

This morning Kai has done a swimming lesson and we've done the food shopping, washing is part on the line and thenext thing I need to do is tackle this disgusting durty, messy house, its out of control.

Max's CD player just decided to die as I put him down for a sleep so I have put the radio on white noise, I hope he sleeps, I can't hear anything....

Sarina - I hope in a couple of weeks everything comes up all clear, how awful for you. Poor Faith, often they do play up when they are getting sick, I know Kai does the same and ear infections are awful. Don't feel bad, you didn't know she wasn't well, you were just reacting to her behaviour and you have had a hard week, its all good.

Sharon - sounds like you definitely need a day of wine and I would LOVE to join you. If I were near you, you know I would I hope Ella is ok today and she isn't getting too sick. Don't worry luv, you are doing it all on your own, its hard work and the kiddies know how to push the boundaries when we are feeling it I think.

Ali - I've seen the pram charm, so cute. What other charms have you got? I also got another two charms off my BIL and SIL for my bday...one was a happy budda or something (quite cute) and the other was a little easter chick coming out of the nest. The I love you one I got is square and it says I love you (one word on each square and then the last square has a gold love heart on it. Maybe its a new one, not sure.

Budgeting - my DH soundsl ike Blondie's....tight!! My DH has always said its not the amount of money you earn its what you do with it. We don't have spreadsheets or anything but we just don't spend much money. We really only spend money on groceries and bills and the kids clothes and a holiday once a year and any pressies we have to buy. Clothes and things for us, well we only buy when get money for xmas or birthdays.

blondi - can't believe Miss Claudia, that really was gwose!! I hope you get your essay done today.

cassi - well done on the weight loss, you go girl.

beagle - I'm with Ali, a nice holiday for you and DH is what you'll need when all this is over.

lepre - so nice to hear from you. Hope Niamh did well in her big bed.

I had a pretty crappy day yesterday. My ex-best friend decided that after 12 months of us not speaking that she would send me an email as to why we don't speak anymore (basically had her say)....so I wrote back and had my say to which she said "I don't want to get into a debate about it"...ummmmmmmmmmm so its ok for her to have her say but no me, so typical.....to which she then had another page of writing to have her say...honestly we got nowhere. It all comes down to me not going to her 30th which was just after Max was born....I couldn't go, I was feeding, he was a newborn and it was in Sydney...Max couldn't even travel 10 minutes in the car without cracking it. I did at the time offer to take her out for lunch or similar to which she just ignored and now she is saying that I did nothing for her. Hello, I tried but you didn't want a bar of it....anyway, I am still so angry about it! We have very different lives, she is single, lives in QLD and I am a mum of two....I don't see this as a problem though as you can still be friends and do things together but i think she sees it as a problem. Anyway enough of that I won't go on, its just a vent really.

better get back to this disgraceful house.

My I go MIA for a bit and so much has happened

Key, Sarina -

PHI - We have top hospital cover and extras and for the last two years we have got back more than we paid. This year it doesn't look like we will as there have been no hospital visits (yet - touch wood). Extras really help with the Chiro that J and I go to every two weeks, optical and dental although you get so littl eback fro that.

Savings - We don't have a savings plan as such but whenever we can we move money onto the mortgage redraw facility as it saves us more in interest than we would earn in a savings account and is just as accessible.

Life here has been manic but I can't even think what we have been doing! I've doen something funny to my right wrist which means everything from lifting Jasmine to using the pc hurts. I have been to see the doc (who said they can't do anything!) and the Chiro who is working on it but it is making life very difficult.

Blondie - sorry I haven't go in touch don't know what is going on this month but I can't seem to find time to blow my nose. Hope it will calm down after Easter and we will be able to catch up. I will PM you.

gtg cake in the oven and it smells divine

Seepi that was an early start you poor thing! Claudia was up at 6:20 today and that is too early for me even though I was in bed asleep by 10. I'm still finding my m/s is worse the earlier I am woken up.

Ali - we are so bad, we haven't had our carpets cleaned since we moved in about 21 months ago . They are absolutely disgusting, Claudia tipping milk on them almost every day and now weeing somewhere almost every day too. I've told DH we have to have them done before #2 arrives, I don't care what it costs. We have kept putting it off because we are slowly tearing up all the carpets and replacing them with floorboards, but we will be leaving carpet in the loungeroom until we get past baby crawling stage. Oh on those online surveys - I have been using Pure Profile for a few weeks and so far have made $8.35 .

Ellangel & Sarina - even though your poor girls had some excuse for their rattiness, you are both still more than entitled to get annoyed with them! Don't feel bad.

Littlemumma - very sad what's happened with your friend, but sometimes we just have to let friendships go. As you will probably remember I have not spoken to my former best friend since she had her baby in June last year . I still get upset about it sometimes but remind myself that I have other friends who are there for me unconditionally and I can't waste time worrying about someone who doesn't value my friendship.

Homework going OK so far. I'm writing my Narrative Report on Rear Window, which is a fantastic movie, but it's hard work, and as normal I read what other students are discussing on the Discussion Board and feel like I'm not smart enough or doing the right things. I really have to get over my insecurity as I've already proved to myself that I can do well if I put my mind to it.

Well girls my financial spring clean continues!

Still undecided about PHI but if anything it will be extras cover only. I have just figured out that we don't have to pay that 1% medicare surcharge - we did once, back in the day when I earned a full wage, but now we fall under the $146k threshold so at the mo we just pay the standard 1.5% medicare surcharge. Given the lack of choice we have in a regional area eg one hospital, it doesn't really make sense to have hospy cover...

Now the phone bill is in my sights. I think what we need is OptusNet fusion Net + homephone bundling at about $90/month - as opposed to the same thing thru Telstra for $160! Question is: how 'locked in' are we with Telstra! Plus need to get DH's attn to look into details of Net side - all I can see is that the phone is equivalent but he needs to look into the fineprint of the net.

AND I have dug around and found out that we are in fact pretty well insured for death/TBD and even income protection through our super funds. If one of us has to die, best that it be DH as he has the best cover! But even my cover would pay out most of our future mortgage.

BBL for personals

belly good - It might be worth you taking out further life insurace on you as if you were to die (god forbid) then DH would have to pay someone to look after the kids, clean the house etc etc etc. If you work out what a nanny would cost and what a cleaner would cost the remaining partner would be in really trouble. My life insurance cover is more than DH at the moment but when I go back to work three days we will be increasing his as well.

Ooh how morbid - sorry

With the phone bill, how much do you use your landline? We found getting rid of our landline completely best and now we have mobile internet (which is great as it is one price and we can use it anywhere) and using skype for our international calls and our mobiles for other calls. It has worked out to save us about $39 a month in line rental and calls. The In laws got a bit annoyed as my MIL likes to ring on the phone but we told them we couldn't afford it but if they wanted to pay opur phone bill we would reconsider that shut her up.

Cake is yummy but texture is a bit odd, re read the recipe and I used baking powder instead of bicarb soda - it is an american recipe so calls for baking soda and I got confused. Oh well know for next time.

Just woke from my hours sleep. That is better and the arvo wont drag now. Both girls still asleep.

Holli had a high all in one pony tail in today and got told by a lady at swimming that she resembled the OLSEN twins!! hahah...how I laughed!

Blondie - you can hire the carpet cleaners from Woolworths etc for a weekend and do it yourself if someone can take C off your hands and money is tight. Our loungeroom carpet is not the best but I have big mats everywhere and it is nice to have carpet when you have littlies.

Jotsmum - hi! Hope your wrist gets better.

Littlem - what CD does Max listen to when he goes to bed? Does he have a favourite? Is it on repeat/all the time? My friends would put Shannon noels on repeat...same song the entire night! Biggest L song 'I know your'e hurting' LOL
Sorry your friend has upset you. You would think she wanted to have a chat about this if she emailed you.

Cassi - yay yay yay!! This is a brilliant result! Good on you my love. You CAN do it!!

Sarina - aw poor Faith. Makes you feel bad hey? Hope she is ok. Ella has been nice and quiet today as she is not well. LIKE LIKE LIKE!!

Jots - no worries, I have been so busy too. Hopefully after Easter we will both have more time for a catchup! LOL at your recipe, I guess I have spent too much time in America as my brain thinks 'baking soda' not 'bicarb soda' even though I know they are the same thing.

Bellygood - we don't have any life insurance outside what DH has through super. It's one of those things where we weigh up what the insurance would cost with the likelihood of me suddenly dying and don't feel it's worth it. I think DH figures the money he would save from me not spending his money would be enough to pay for a nanny anyway .

life insurance - I don't think we have it, pretty sure...

Sharon - Max listens to 'white noise', he has done since he was about 3 months old...its on a CD on repeat...all night long but on very low.

blondi - tks for what you wrote about friends, totally makes sense to me, I think I will move on from her.

Had too many wines with the neighbours this arvo, whoops.

nite

Jots DH suggested we drop the landline and use Skype as well. We got online together to see if we could get a Skype In number like our home number, only to find that Qld Skype numbers are 075xxx xxxx, which is nothing like the numbers in our area. It's one of the options we are considering though the few types I've 'Skyped' I've been disappointed eg delays, dropouts, crackling... Then again, I'm pretty disappointed getting my phone bill each month, too!

Here is Mary kate/ Ashley Olsen from today! LOL

How much wine did you drink LittleM?? You are allowed to ...it is your birthday week

Gosh, some of you are are so good with your budgets. DP and I are bit vague. We are erratic I suppose. I buy a lot of clothes (dunno why - I live in the same stuff all the time, but when I see a bargain I can't help it.). I am quite frugal with the groceries though - we don't much red meat anymore. and our bills are erratic too -= our electicity is around 250.00 in summer, and 800.00 in winter! I wanted to get a gas heater put on to save a bit, but it was 3000.00 which just seems too much for one heater.

I can't believe PHI is 3000.00 I wonder what ours is. Especially since we will be under the medicare levy now too. Hmmm.

blondi we haven't steam cleaned our carpet in 2 years either. We only have it in the loungeroom though, and we don't eat or drink in here. (Well DD sometimes gets toast and tv by the couch, but we don't let the kids roam around the room with food/drinks.). We do eat in here when we have guests around though. the carpet is doing ok. Helped out by the fact the room is not that well lit!!!

DP's family are the worst. Last visit they brought beetroot dip, to eat in the lounge. Also they never finish their cups of tea, and then they leave them sitting around on the floor, with an inch of cold tea in there - who does that?? None has yet tipped over, but it is bound to happen. I hadn't thought of one of those woolies steam cleaners = last time DP and I got one of those we nearly killed each other arguing about it. Hard work as I remember! Still = we only have one room to do in this house. I usually just wait for a good deal on the shopper dockets.

Working full time is really quite hard. It means weekends are quite hectic too. Today i literally did loads of washing back to back all day, and there is still more to do. And tomorrow I am out most of the day, so I don't see it getting done...DP did some groceries today, but not a huge shop = we are sort of living day to day at the moment! He did the lawns and some urgent pruning too (shrubs getting up towards the power lines), but we seem to be chasing our tails pretty much at the moment.

Two more weeks of work. I just cannot wait to get a week or two to myself at home.

Ali = you asked about baby kicks ages ago. I never get that many. I've never had a kick that stopped me in my tracks. I just get little nudges mostly. I was concerned with baby 1, not to feel more, but I'm used to it by now.

I think I have preggy brain this time though...I dont' feel like I do, but then I try to remember what I was thinking about 2 minutes ago, and it has gone from my head.

Key, Sarina and Beagle - I wish I could do something to help you guys! I really hope things start looking up for everyone pronto!

night all.

Ellangel - Holli is just so cute!

PHI - We have intermediate cover for hospital and full extras. We pretty much get our money back on the extras cover. Between chiro visits (DH & I), dentist (DH & I) and optical (me). I personally think that hospital cover is very important.

Life insurance - We have it through our supers. Although mine does need tweaking.

Cassi - Great result. How exciting and must give you the incentive to continue on.

Sarina - I hope your medication gets sorted out soon. Sounds very scary though.

Key - yes I can understand wanting to move on and put the whole incident behind you. I am so glad though it has all been sorted and that your health (and mental health) get back on track really soon.

Anyway I'm going to head to bed. Been feeling really down and in a rut. DH is working most of the weekend. Will be away most of next week and looks like will be away for Good Friday and Easter Saturday. It just feels so constant and I really would like just 1 hour to myself to actually go and get my haircut.

Maybe not to bed another party in our streethas just started. SIGH. Last night some idiots had a party and thought it was ok to ride a motorcycle up and down the street at 1am,3am and finally at 5am.

Just popped in to say hi, I've been having a break I have skimmed 4 pages and missed several threads no doubt LOL

good to see you are all as chatty as ever!

Beagle, hope you get some answers re the treatment, MIL didn't seem to get many either, but she's all done now thankfully. Still suffering terribly with radiation burns nasty stuff. Am trying to get over to see her more often with Kayla as K barely knows her

Key- hope all is better now

sarina- hope you are doing better also

Tweedy- saw T's clothes but wasn't quick enough LOL

we have no budget, are living day to day atm, all depends on dh having a good day at work. Hoping to do our tax on Monday then all going well can get a refund, FTB etc, pay some bills. we have no PHI either

really supposed to be working so better get off hehe.

catch you all again soon

Ah a day at work Very little naughty behaviour there!

I got all the paint out of the carpet! I bought a new vaccum one that also washes the carpet the other vaccum is old and spends more time being fixed than working!

We decided aganist Life insurance in this house and instead got income protection insurance, that gives me a payout in the event of DH death and covers us from the time of illness until age 65 if DH is unable to work. It cost $500pa and as we have had numerous friends dropping with cancer around us I see the value!

Triny - I do not have the energy to hold a grudge! And I like to see the good in life rather than dwell on the bad!

Elliesmum - Thanks for your thoughts I am feeling better in that there was a reason for all the problems. But the high dose oestrogen to fix the prob is giving me shocking migraines and illness I guess a trial run for another pregnancy as I reckon it is close to morning sickness. Good luck with the tax I have not claimed any FTB ever I got the forms the other day might one day find the time to fill them in!

Ali - We were very lucky when we built. We got in just before things went silly in WA house prices here are terrible I live about 30km from the city but the cost of living here is about 4 times more than when we purchased the land. I worry about how my kids are ever going to get a good start in life.

Sharon - Holli is just beautiful I am sure that Ella is too just learning social ettique at the moment! My mum tells me if you get a horrible preteen you get a great teen as you have to kick so much butt when they are little! I was a shocking youngster, sister was great but I was a good teenager she was terrible!

Sarina - You don't hate Faith you hate what she is doing you are not a bad mummy. I had to put Kaidyn in his room for 15 mins yesterday as I needed time out. I told him looking at him was making me mad. God I wish he would have arvo sleep! He wakes at 5am and is up until 7 at night.

Beagle - You are doing so well holdin up with everything going on. I understand why you are so tired. I spent 6 hours in the chemo suite getting that infusion the other day and I was shattered after it. Once again if you need anything let me know.

Cassi - That is amazing weight loss so happy for you that all the hard work is paying off

Littlemumma - I am the tight one in this house DH hates it! My dad reckons I was a squirrel in past life! Wine gods gift to mums! I have had two glasses this evening lovely!

Right off to bed!

All this insurance talk would have our financial advisor in a spin!! She is very passionate about it all and as a result we are very well covered, which has been a blessing with DH's illness, he has made a critical illness cover claim. My life insurance is through my super fund, even though I'm not contributing at the moment the premiums can still come out of there - definitely worth everyone checking on as it doesn't cost you anything now - just loss of future retirement savings!

Sarina, poor Faith, wouldn't it be so much easier if they could just stop and tell us what is wrong.

Key, Lucky for Kaidyn that the paint came out! I know the feeling of having to send them away because you're just too cross all too well.

Elliesmum, get stuck into that tax! That is your money that the govt is sitting on!

Triny, hope that party has finished! Our neighbours have some loud parties, but they are only teenagers and still listen when their parents make them turn it down at midnight. Sorry to hear your DH is going to be away so much again. No wonder we all spend so much time on here - it's our sanity!!

Ellangel, Holli is way cuter than an Olsen twin - but probably is nearly as big and as smart!! Wish she had their bank balance though.

Bellygood, I haven't been that happy with Skype either, probably because we can't get ADSL2 so our connection is a bit slow. We're on a basic plan with Telstra and phone bills are probably $45 a month, internet is iinet at $40 a month and I use a prepaid mobile, calls are expensive but I'm usually just calling DH so I ring and hang up and he calls me back using his work mobile!! Power prices are set to go up ridiculously here so we're about to put up another 10 solar panels, we're hoping our approval for the interest free green loan went through in time - it's yet another botched green project by the govt.

I need to get to bed, but first must fill and turn on the dishwasher, the dishwasher fairy seems to have left with my Mum and it is no longer magically filling, washing and emptying itself.

Just quickly as I am off to see Wicked today, woohooo.

Sharon - OMG Holli does look like an Olsen Twin in that photo, she really does, so cute. Wine...think I had about 3 big glasses, was def feeling it, ah well had a good sleep and ready for a good day today.

I must ask DH about the life insurance and income protection insurance...he is in the police force and I can't remember if there is just something there that comes with his work, can't believe that I'm not sure....deary me.

Beagle check the fine print in your super as mine says if funds are insufficient to pay the insurance premium OR if no contribution has been made for 12 months then the policy is void. Neither apply to me, one client employs me as a 'casual' with small super contributions, so there is some money trickling in. Needless to say, all of the cover in the super expires when we turn 65. I told DH I'd be poisoning his tea when he turns 64 and 364 days... BTW where are you again? Are these power increases just in your area? Why?

ETA ladies with (biggish) bumps: are your 'kicks' really low? Mine are frequent and reasonably strong, but very low - really in my pelvic area, not in my belly. Also during 20w scan the radiographer had to dig down into my pelvis to find bub (not very comfortable!). Anyone else experiencing this?

Seepi you have SO earned some maternity leave! Hope these two weeks fly by...

Triny sounds like the first trimester blahs to me, all so overwhelming when you are 'sick and tired' from PG! Hope you feel better soon... and that the bogans in your street decided on a quiet night in watching The Departed (see below) instead of partying.

Ellangel Holly is as cute as a button!

Key I thought of you last night watching 'The Departed'. Not that I'm suggesting that ALL Irish immigrants lead the life of crime! I saw it on a plane once and just didn't get it thru my fog of tiredness, background noise and fact that plot is so convuluted. Last night I finally got it: Matt Damon is the BAD GUY! And I could just eat Leonardo di Caprio up, yum! He is a great actor to boot. Few too many brains spraying around for me though. And they pulled this stunt, a Deus ex Machina (Blondie? Sound familiar?), with the 2nd 'inside man' who appears and shoots Leo out of the blue RIGHT BEFORE Leo is about to kick Matt's a*s to the kerb. Bah!

Just had my morning java mmmm read teh Sunday paper (boring... is the Qld Sunday Mail good for anything except lining the budgie cage???) and figured out that Mon-Fri I have FOUR hours to myself each day, all going well: 6-8am and 8-10pm (basically while the others are sleeping...). I am going to put this time to good use. Doing... I don't know what! Useful things! For two months at least, last month of PG is a wild card and first three months of baby will be a haze...

Hi ladies. I am feeling sicker every day, do we think that's a good thing? Completely off food which is so unlike me. I'm forcing myself to eat because it does make me feel better temporarily if I get something down.

Ellangel - Now we just need a new version of Full House so Holli can be the star! She's adorable, reminds me of a My Child doll.

Seepi - glad it's not just me who doesn't clean the carpet regularly. No wonder you have preggie brain, you have so much you need to fit in there isn't room!

Triny - sorry you're feeling down . How are you feeling health wise? I can't remember if you've told us what you're doing for pregnancy care, have you made any appointments yet? I know what you mean about wanting a haircut, I haven't had one in 6 months and am finally going on Thursday, I'm going to the ballet Thursday night with Mum and it's my sister's engagement party on Saturday so figured it would be a good time to get myself looking purty.

Elliesmum - how are you? Still busy with all your beautiful crafty stuff?

Key - well done getting the carpet clean and on buying a new vaccum. I would so love a Dyson, but not sure if DH will ever let me spend that much!

Beagle - LOL at the dishwasher fairy. I'm wondering where my kitchen cleaning fairy is today.

ETA Bellygood - The Departed is a great movie. Apparently the original version from Hong Kong is even better. I'm currently in the middle of my 3rd viewing of Rear Window, writing a segmentation and analysing its formal systems.

DH and I just had a huge fight . For the second day in a row, when put down for a nap, instead of going to sleep Claudia removed her pants and nappy and weed all over the bed. Problem today is, that when she did it yesterday afternoon, I took all the sheets and the mattress protector off and washed them and they were still on the line. We only have one mattress protector and I hadn't put it back on yet so today the mattress got soaked. Of course DH decided to blame and yell at me for not putting it back on today, conveniently forgetting that I'd said to him last night "I hope Claudia doesn't wee again tonight because the mattress protector is on the line". Gotta love that male selective memory. Mattress is now outside drying in the sun and I won't be able to try again to put C down for nap until it is dry. These toilet issues have me at my wit's end. It doesn't matter what we put on her, she can remove it and seems to think it's some kind of game to wee and poo all over the house!!!