Ok so my husband thinks this is really disgusting but I love to eat Nutella straight out of the jar. On a spoon. Straight.  Don't put it on bread or anything else.  To me its just like chocolate that has gone soft in the sun. So I went and did a bit of research on how Nutella was invented, and here are some of the things I found out.

• Nutella was invented in the 1940's in Italy, due to a shortage of cocoa during the Second World War. It was used to extend the supply of chocolate.

• It was invented by Mr Ferrero (as in Ferrero Roche).

• It was originally sold in a loaf that could be sliced and put onto bread, but it was quickly noted that the children were just eating the Nutella on its own without the bread.  So it was changed into a spread.

• It was first sold in the USA in 1983.  It is now marketed in over 75 countries.

• It is usually stocked with peanut butter in the supermarket.

And this is the best fact - It outsells all brands of peanut butter combined worldwide!

So at the moment I am a bit addicted to the Smallville television series.  And Superman is "hot hot hot"! Don't get me wrong I really like the series as well, but mmmm mmmmm he is a bit spunky.  Maybe I have a thing for tall, dark and handsome and the whole knight in shining armor complex. What is it with girls and movie stars characters / stars?  Who do you love at the moment?  Drop me a comment and let me know.

I am sending a thank you prayer / message to the T.V angels for helping me get miss almost 2 back into the bath. Little miss has been going through a phase of not wanting to wash. NO bath, NO shower. The only way we have been able to wash her is to get her in the splash pool with lots of bubbles or sponge her down.  Not an ideal situation for the middle of winter if this continues... It has been a really strange phase because she use to love the bath. And I mean really love it. In actual fact she loves water period. Swimming in the pool is a must when we go to Nan and Pops. She "normally" cries and throws a tantrum when it's time to get out of the bath not in.  So as you can imagine this has left us quite baffled. We have tried everything to get her back in, new bath toys (like she needed any more, she's happy with a couple of small bowls to pour with), mummy playing with the toys in the bath, bribing her with a new book if she has a bath, having a bath in the morning instead of before bed - you name it we tried it. Anyway to make a really long story short, miss almost 2 is a bit obsessed with Madagascar (the movie) at the moment.  Any lion is now an exclamation of of Madagascar where it use to be "roar".  Now we have these cute bath foam things that stick to the tiles and bathtub when wet.  These bath thingo's happen to be a lion, a giraffe, a zebra, a crocodile, a koala and a rhino.  The main characters in the movie. On Tuesday night I decided to try the mummy is having a bath to see if we could get her in the bathroom for a sponge down.  Enter bolt of lightning to mummy's brain and I start playing with the foam thingo's with each animal repeating lines from the movie (when you have seen it 1 million times you pretty much know them all), anyway... This had miss almost 2 quite excited about Madagascar being in the bath with mummy.  So mummy says would you like to stand up in the bath and play with them?  And we got a yes! Oh my god it was working.  Lets not push it here we say so she stands up in the bath and plays. When it came time to get her out we had tears.  Oh the joy of seeing her in the bath what a miracle.  This hasn't been a one off either, we tried the same trick last night and it worked again. So while I am not a fan of letting miss almost 2 watch too much T.V all I can say is thank you angels for the Madagascar film as it has gotten us through one of the toddler phases!

For those of you that don't know me very well, I am known as a bit of a book addict.  I LOOOOOVVVEE to read (you can read about it and other random facts about me here).  Not too fussy on the genre (don't do horror or sci-fi, hmmmm don't do horror or sci-fi movies either for that matter, bit of a theme running there I think)... anyway I digress. I love to read, I will pick books based on the author (have a few authors that I pre-order their new books how nerdy is that), the blurb, the cover and sometimes even the price.  I picked up my latest read by Maggie Alderson for just $4 from Borders. Borders by the way is a massive book shop in town, that I affectionately refer to as my own island paradise. It has books and international magazines, it has stationary, it has dvd's and music, plus comfy chairs and a Gloria Jeans inside.  What more could a book addict ask for.  I guess Borders is like Barnes and Noble in the USA, god I still remember how I felt when my friends took me to Barnes and Noble for the first time - like a kid in a lolly shop! Thanks Holly, Wade and Dang T. Anyway back to the topic, I enjoy reading chic lit (same as a chic flick just its a book), and my new book made me realize the real reason I like chic lit.  I am jealous of the heroine in the stories.  They always live in a major city like New York, London or Sydney, are on their chosen career path and seem to be quite successful at it, or getting there depending on the story.  They are terrible with their money (aren't we all) but always seem to be out socialising and soooo fashionable, and know how to shop of course. And this is where the jealously comes in. Take for instance an expensive pair of jeans (say $300 plus) and then team it with a $10 top from the local chain store, add some sexy shoes and trendy jewellery and ta da you have the heroine. I do not in any way have a good eye for style.  I can either get it right or sometimes really really wrong, but mostly I just stick with the basics.  I don't know how to work the fashion pieces for the season, but these characters seem to do it so well (think Sex and the City). The style envy mixed with the fact that I moved straight out of home with my boyfriend (mind you I was 26 when that happened), I just never did the "living with your bestie" thing and I sometimes feel like I might have missed out on something there. Team all of that with the fact that I didn't really know what I wanted to be when I grew up until I moved out of home I think adds to my love of chic lit. You should try it some time and see what I mean, live the fabulous life of some fictional character and experience all the things you wanted to for the small sum of $4! and the best bit is you can do it when ever and where ever you like time and time again!

Off I trot to the hairdresser the other night to get my 6 weekly mummy time.  We were having one of our usual chit chats about life and we got onto the topic of money (as you do).  I said that I would be heading back to work after my maternity leave finished as I like getting my hair cut very regularly and my other girly obsession of going to the beautician.  And then I realised it... I am a totally girly girl and its all my mum's fault!  My mum has always had nice hair and a good beauty regime, nice clothes and shoes (oh my mum and shoes, she won't admit its an addiction but it is), and I am exactly the same. I love going to the hairdressers and coming home with a new "do" to compliments from my husband.  I love looking at and owning handbags and shoes and jewellery (note to husband a girl can never have enough jewellery), anything shiny really. What does that mean for my little miss?  She loves the bling no doubt about that one and I am already teaching her its ok to buy her own bling (you earn it you can own it policy) but she isn't really a girly girl - well not yet anyway. Not so keen on wearing a dress, she prefers shorts and t-shirts and flip flops.  Doesn't really like having her hair done, although she is getting better.  But on the up side she told me my hair looked pretty when I got home the other night which made it all worth while. Will she end up like a girly girl like her mummy, nanna and grand nanna?  only time will tell.

So I have copied the thousands of other people out there in internet land by blogging about the exciting and mundane occurrences in my life. As you can tell this is my very first post, I guess its going to take a bit of getting use to... we will see, I am pretty good at dribbling random nothingness especially after a glass of red wine or two (my university assignments are proof to that!) Here are a few random facts about myself: 1. I am a shopaholic.  Any excuse is a good excuse to shop! 2. I love to read a good book. I can totally ignore the whole world when reading, although this is becoming more difficult with Miss almost 2 and Master almost 2 months! 3.  I am a t.v show junkie, but I hate watching them on free to air t.v (who needs commercials! I am an excellent shopper with out mass marketing).  At the moment its an addiction to Smallville.  I have just caught up on all the DVD seasons of NCIS and am now waiting for the latest season to be released.  Also did Gilmore Girls and Bones. 4. I love to write lists. I have to do lists, shopping lists, activity lists for Miss almost 2, the list is endless! hahahaha 5. I love chocolate but I am totally fussy about what chocolate I will eat.  It MUST be milk chocolate and the preference is for either Cadbury or Margaret River Chocolate Factory.  Do not try and persuade me with Lint or any of the other fancy stuff.  Give me good old regular Cadbury and I am one happy lady. 6. I have excellent intentions when it comes to things in my life (those last 5kg I am going to loose, scrapbooking my daughter's first year etc..) Hopefully this blog will be a bit different and I will be dedicated to it!