I don't really do spontaneity - at least not now with two little kids and a farm full of animals. But it is being thrust upon me. As of two minutes ago we had to pick a resort to spend the next two nights as we "have" to do a trip (long story). Its been a really stressful couple of weeks, I have barely seen Jase with the amount of work trips he has had, the kids are being particularly challenging and I had some major deadlines at work this week, which I nailed yay, so all in all, a family holiday away from the chores of the farm will do us well. So on top of a sale I need to hit tomorrow - poor Bronte has no warm clothes and the vet appointment I have for my horse (swollen lymph gland, minor lameness), I get to pack a million clothes, toys, food and head up the coast with the rest of SE Qld heading off on school holidays (arrgh!).

All I keep thinking about are all the things I needed to get done this weekend but I am doing my best to push all that away.

Holidaying with kids is not really relaxing as such but hey a change of location will be nice!

Starting the week off solo parenting and this made me smile which is always needed on those days. Any scientist will tell you that labs always have the obligatory cupboard on display of "old equipment" and generally an old black and white picture of old-school scientists working away. Nice but also a little cliche after awhile.

So this is gold - I would love to have this on the wall in my lab.


Rest of pics here thanks to catscientists.tumblr.com

I love cooking with my girls on the weekend. And today we still found time amongst the groceries, voting, dentist trips, mowing, craft projects, horse training and BBQs to cook a delicious cake for our dessert

We made a rosewater chocolate coconut cake. The base recipe is here and I used rosewater essence instead of coconut essence. Oh and we had to have bright green buttercream instead of chocolate buttercream... of course! I definitely recommend it - quick and easy, even with a Miss Almost-Two and Miss Almost-Four helping out.


We are smack bang in the middle of the craziness that is school term-work deadlines-house projects-horse competing but god I love it. I just love the buzz of not having a spare moment, of running on adrenaline and always planning and organising. Just the way I roll. Life is never dull and full of so much fun and surprises. And even better, wine tastes so much better on a Friday evening, I sleep wonderfully and I always manage to lose weight just from burning off calories from sheer exhaustion.

I am still adapting to being a school mum though - I have fridays off and I do drop Elka off and pick her up in "normal" school hours. But I stand out - the other mums all know each other from the daily school run (I see no one at 7.15am or 5.20pm on the other days so there is no one to meet) although to be honest, I don't have the inclination to hang around the classroom making small talk with mums that have all the time in the world on my one precious day off filled with errands and plans, or collar the teacher for literally hours discussing how to expand my child's phonics learning outside the classroom. They send home notes and expect you to cook/make/provide god knows what on two days notice. Not easy when you work late/travel interstate or just have no spare time that doesn't involve sacrificing your five meager hours of sleep. Elka is the only child in her class that hasn't got some elaborate "life story" document made yet for their display. I got photos printed the other day, so I am on my way. I guess I will get there....

I stressed and agonised today over making an Easter Bonnet for Elka's Easter parade. The note specifically asks you to make the bonnet. Damn, I had planned to cheat and buy something from the dress up section. I loathe craft and I just don't do creativity if it involves paper or glue and 3D structures like a hat made from a flat sheet of cardboard. I wont lie, I came close to just shoving the cardboard in the cupboard and sulking, but I persevered and despite Bronte managing to eat a paper mache egg on the sly, we all had fun and a bonnet was made. Everyone is banned from touching it as I have fears it won't last until Wednesday and I couldn't bare to have to do it again..

But I did it. There is hope for me yet!

Really sometimes you have to laugh rather than cry. I have had a rotten day. Reading an article that a fellow lovely working mother happened to share on facebook today really hit the spot and I have laughed (and eaten chocolate!)

The following article is from www.momswhoneedwine.com - find it here.

Let Me Tell You About the Life of a Working Mother

Though I think today my thoughts were even more hectic than this! A sample of my chaos today was having to work out at 6am how to stop my incontinent old cat going through liver failure from weeing on Bronte's bed constantly, arriving at work feeling relaxed and then after struggling through way too many emails remembering I had a stupid number of big deadlines at work and should be feeling anything but relaxed,  feeling rather put out about being gently ticked off for a frustrated email I sent, wondering why I stayed up until nearly midnight on Thursday night writing a work document when I then forgot to email it to work so I didn't have it for Monday anyway, discovering a document I had produced in response to an urgent request on my day off had been distributed with a major typo because I had been trying to convince a teething toddler to sleep whilst typing on my laptop trying to get it sent, trying to work out if my horses swollen lymph node is connected to his lameness in his hoof and if that is all from an abscess he had a couple of weeks ago and feeling bad that I only can check him at 5.30am or 6pm in the dark either way, reminding myself to book the horse float in for a roadworthy test and then worrying what will happen if it doesn't pass, trying to find a dentist that is actually open on a Friday after school to take Elka and organising how to get to Elka's school cross country, still drop Bronte off and then to the other side of the city to give a work presentation, pick up Jase's car and get back to work in enough time to reach all my deadlines. Oh and then finding out that the raincoat I finally found for Elka for school, after specifically checking with the uniform shop to determine that she could have any style, is apparently the wrong colour and I have to return to walking the shops to find blue or yellow, not the purple I bought. UUUURRGH.

If I hadn't drunk wine for the last three nights in a row, tonight would be a good candidate for pouring a glass or three.

Cheers to anyone who has had one of those types of Mondays!

you honestly have no idea what city he is in. Yep, he travels so much and I am so hectic with the kids, farm amd my job that we don't get to talk much, besides the frantic husband-wife dialogue of "Tomorrow is show and share day for Elka, Bronte needs new batteries for her hearing aids, can you pick up Elka next Tuesday...?", which translates to me often telling the girls "Daddy is on a work trip in.... um (insert a guessed city that I have heard mentioned in the last week)". Hmm wife fail.

Not only that but I struggle to recall what time his flights get in, but then there are so often delays that it wouldn't matter anyway, or so I have discovered.

But it all just works. We get everywhere, get the kids picked up,  get to school events, get to work dinners, night lectures and so on, and the place normally looks mowed and tidy. I would feel pretty damn organised, if friends didn't ask me where Jase is and I look blank and they look surprised!

This is my theme song at the moment  - it makes me feel alright about being alright about the craziness :)

Two of my beautiful babies

My gorgeous new young horse hates my float. Not good for a competition horse that needs to be floated most weekends. In my previous life, I would have had this sorted out by now. But finding the time to do the groundwork and repetition on my overplanned and over filled weekends, just isn't happening.

So for the first time ever, I have given my horse to someone else to train. I dropped him off today - all of about four properties up the road away (that whole not being able to float him kind of restricted my choices!). I am excited to see how he responds to some "proper" natural horsemanship training (as opposed to my self learnt efforts). I get to be involved on my days off work.

I am missing him - he is so young and sweet. But my other horse is missing him worse, poor fella.

But it will all be worth it.

Just an update on life in my world.

My injured finger has finally been freed from nearly 3 months in a brace. It is still sore and hard to bend but apparently this will improve with time. Such an amazing amount of pain and rehabilitation for such a small aea of injury! I am impatiently waiting to see if the swelling will go down in the middle joint (supposedly a result of being splinted and immobilised for so long) as I cannot fit any of my beautiful rings on it :( including my eternity ring. I am missing not being able to wear them and am worried the joint may never reduce in size so they fit. Still I have use of the finger and can still horseride which was my biggest fear when I realised how severe my injury really was.
I have nearly finished with hospital appointments and have high hopes that I might not be subjected to any more x-rays for a long long time.
Extra incentive to keep my bum firmly in the saddle when showjumping from now on!

Otherwise, I have just returned from a work trip to Sydney. I don't travel as much as my dear husband but I do enough work trips that the shine has most definitely worn off them. Nothing glamorous about airports, taxis, delays and getting home at nearly midnight.
But the trip did really reinforce just how much I have achieved in the last year of being back at work and in charge of my laboratory. I now have a four member team plus research students, where once it was just me and I have not only expanded our capabilities and brought in a lot of grant funding but also built us a strong name as a research laboratory. I am tired thinking of all that still need to achieve but then I remind myself how far we have come. I love my job and I am damn proud that I can be a good mummy with happy healthy confident kids and have a great career. Sure I sacrifice sleep and I don't know what it is like to sit on my own lounge and watch tv but its all so worth it.

My biggest tip for mums with careers? Don't buy into mother guilt. So many mums talk about it - they perpetuate it. Don't let it exist. Live your life to your own priorities, don't apologise for them. Remind yourself that your kids are hugged, kissed, free of pain and abuse, clothed, spoiled, played with and know exactly where you are when you aren't with them and that you are coming back to pick them up.As long as you live your life true to what it important to you and what makes you happy then all is perfect.

And for god sakes, don't put your life priorities onto another mother. I NEVER judge - we are all different. Life would be so boring if we were all working mothers or all stay at home mums. I love the variety - it takes all types.

ahem rant over.

And because this is my post - I will leave you with a pic of my new Nine West shoes. I just bought a lovely burnt orange and black patterned dress that will be perfect with these. LOVE autumn dressing (and yes there is even a chill in the air in qld! Although its still like 30 degrees in the middle of the day so I am sure a few people are laughing at me right now!)

Ever since we decorated our new master bedroom, we have had a lot of empty spaces due to a spacious layout requiring more furniture than our old master bedroom did.

Jase and I have both really wanted a lovely padded chair - something decadent and comfy for not only looking at but putting our shoes on etc on the way out from the walk in robe.

Well shopping yesterday for Bronte's big girl bed (will post that too soon!) we discovered the perfect chair at the perfect price. Most chairs we have liked have been well over $600, which was a bit steep for a little luxury piece with no real need.

But this one ticked all the boxes. I smile everytime I walk into the room and see it. Now to get a lovely artwork to hang above it... (it never ends does it!)