Saturday, August 13, 2011

Floss your Teeth!


On Tuesday, I went to the dentist. You're probably thinking, 'yeah, and....'. Well I'm ashamed to admit that it's been about 10 years since my last visit. Yes. TEN years. It's not because I have a fear of dentists as I spent like 3 wearing braces. No, it was because I couldn't afford private health insurance(dudes, I was so poor that I lived 4 months without electricity when I was 20). I couldn't afford PHI which means there was no way I could afford the full cost of visiting the dentist.

My perfect job has an incentive with a well known PHI company and offers a corporate discount of 8% for our entire family and gets deducted from my pay packet before I get paid. Now we are in the position to go see the dentist, etc for a low out of pocket cost and I asked the hubby to book me an appointment for this week. He loves me, he really really does. So much in fact that he booked my dental appointment for my BIRTHDAY. Thanks hun, I love you too.

Let me tell you, I was crapping myself all day Monday. How bad are my teeth? What if they need to be taken out - every last tooth in my head! Don't tell me I'm being silly because I know a woman who is younger than me who had this happen to her. What if he tells me off and makes me cry on my birthday of all days? I realise I will probably need some work, I've had 5 pregnancies with morning sickness each time. That stomach acid has got to do something awful to my teeth.

Before I even sat in the chair I blurted out, "It's my birthday, please don't tell me off!". He examined my teeth and I do have a bit of tartar build up which he cleaned off my front teeth. I'll have to go back in a few weeks to get the rest done. Other than that I have to get one, maybe 2 fillings and he's going to just fill some of my molars a bit and seal them to protect them. The BEST news of all is that I won't need to have all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled out like I thought I would have to. They have all completely ruptured and have come in straight with space to spare. Thank goodness for that!!

It wasn't so bad in the end(though he did lecture me about tartar and flossing because I admitted I don't floss...ever). Oh and he dropped his little mirror tool thingy on my face. Not cool Mr Dentist Man. I will go more regularly now and I will floss every day, I really would like to keep my teeth. My kids told me they were so proud of me and asked if I got a sticker and a colouring page and then proceeded to tell me that my Dentist sucks and I should go and see their school dentist to get the freebies!

Friday, August 12, 2011

What's your plan?

Home invasion. It is happening alot here at the moment. Basically every day this week I've heard it on the news of people being victims of home invasion. It is a massive, massive fear of mine. Especially being the wife of a night shift worker, meaning I am home alone at night, almost every night - with 5 kids.

Even the photo gives me the creeps when I know it's not real. I can't have the mindset that it won't happen to me. It might, it might not but I would rather be prepared to know what I can do than have it happen to me and not knowing how to protect my children.

First things first, I make sure that my doors are locked at ALL times. Including the deadbolt. I believe those chains that allow you to open the door partially are a load of crap. If you can have a peephole, USE it! Lock your fly screen door too if you have one. ALL THE TIME. Home invasions can happen at any time of the day! Having security screens on your windows is a good plus and if you have an alarm system, make sure the warning stickers are visible.

I sleep with my mobile phone under my pillow and I have important numbers on speed dial. I have a baseball bat down beside my bed. My eldest children know to try and escape the house without being seen and go to the neighbours(who are my in laws) and to be noisy outside their house to wake them up. My only fear is that they can't get out, all our bedrooms open into an open space, it's very hard to sneak anywhere. I thought that I could just get all the kids into one room and barricade ourselves in, but how do I do it with kids so young who don't understand why Mama is dragging them out of bed(plus I don't have enough hands to carry 3 sleeping toddlers).

It's not very nice to think about but every family should have a plan on what to do if this happens to you so that you can do your best to prevent any of your family member and yourself from getting hurt. My heart goes out to the victims of these home invasions and I have no idea how people can do this to others. They truly are evil beings.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

I'm 28!

Heeeey!!



I celebrated my 28th birthday on Tuesday. I spent the day....at work. My workmates are AMAZING and my desk was drowning in banners and balloons. It was so very cute and warmed my heart. In return, I baked some yummy lemon meringue and devil's food cupcakes for them all and it was very much appreciated by all. So much that I am baking more of my yummy cupcakes for Cupcake Day for the RSPCA.

Hubby took me out for dinner that night. Just the two of us(doesn't happen very often). It was fun and I'm glad we got some time alone out of the house, even though I was so sick(damn cold!) and could have just gone to bed at 5.30pm instead of going out.

So....28. Another year closer to....*gulp* 30. How the frickin' hell did that happen? 10 years ago I was pregnant and scared shitless. There were no career goals or anything like that because I was going to enter motherhood...five times over in less than 8 years. That was that. I never really gave my career a second thought. We had our business and I learnt alot, but we were still very focused on family.

Then we came back to Perth and in financial poo. It was time for me to get my career going. I was over the retail jobs, I am so not a shop assistant kind of person, but I also knew it would be a bit of a struggle to enter the corporate world - funnily enough I love paperwork and such and I craved a fancy desk job. Don't get me wrong, I have worked on and off in various jobs in between children, one of them being a PA role for about 8 months. We were struggling on one income, so I had to bite the bullet and I landed my current job when Tahnee was just shy of 12 months.


I love my job. Like reaaaaally love it. The people are great, my supervisor and I are always laughing about something. We all spoil each other with lovely morning tea every week. They are paying for me to get a formal qualification - my cert 4 in HR. Now I can actually complete not two but THREE qualifications in a year, cert 4 in Business and cert 4 in Frontline Management. Not just that, but the Director seems keen to keep me with the company and when I suggested that our OHS Manager trains to become a First Aid Trainer so we can do Senior First Aid in house for our staff(as she holds a cert 4 in Training and Assessment), he approached me and said he thought it was a great idea but he wanted ME to do it! So if all goes to plan, I will have 4 qualifications by the end of 2012. Wow. Someone up there is looking out for me. Suddenly my career goals are being fast tracked and now my opportunities are endless. After the shit year we had last year, I am feeling incredibly blessed this year.

I still get shocked looks from people when they find out that I am a mum of 5, I work full time and I study. They ask me how I do it. I dunno, I just do it. Yes, I am tired(it's 9.15pm peeps, and I could have gone to bed an hour ago - I was just catching up on my shows after the kids went to bed). The early bird stuff is not my thing because I have ALWAYS been a night owl. Alas, the perfect job comes with it's bad points and for me that is the 7am starts - but the 3pm finish is perfect for right now. My house is a mess, it rarely stays entirely clean for more than a day but I will touch on this a bit more another time.

On that note, I'm off to my empty bed to get some sleep while the hubby is working hard tonight with a bad back. *sigh* The things we do.