This Perth Life

Smell the Eucalypts

Eucalypts Lake Gregory S30317
Originally uploaded by yaruman5.

I've just got back from driving round trying to get youngest son off to sleep.

He's at that age where you fear that he may be outgrowing daytime naps (please God he goes on till at least his 3rd Birthday!) on odd days but today wasn't one of those. He went to get his blanket and settled himself in his Thomas The Tank Engine paddling pool that is currently full of play balls in the family room (don't ask). As his neck was at rather peculiar angle I decided not to let him fall asleep in there but hoisted him out, blanket and 3 cuddly toys and all, and popped him in the car. 

It's been raining a little this morning (tra la la Little April Showers I hum to myself) and to get him off to sleep I've been driving in the country. It's only 5 minutes from our suburb to the country (how long this will last is anybody's guess at the rate of houses going up) and I love the fact that I can trawl down country lanes and find new ways of getting here, there and "oh that's where we've ended up".

Because of the rain though, the air was completely pungent with the scent of eucalypts, my window was down and I breathed in a day spa worth of natural scents. Bliss.  

Heating On?

The temperatures have recently taken a down turn and nowhere in our house is this more marked than in youngest son's room.

He has two large windows, one at the side of the house facing the boundary fence about a metre away that doesn't get much sun but does get any wind coming from the south and another at the back of the house that faces west. So with the sun setting earlier, his room at the moment doesn't get much heat from the sun and won't until the end of October really.

It's a definite difference in his room compared to his brothers just next door and with only one window facing west. That extra window must let so much heat out.

So he's the first one in the family to get a heater plugged into his room and switched on low all through the night just to keep the chill off.

Now it's a toss up between eldest son and us as to who's the next lucky bedroom to get a heater!

Time Out with Yoga

Now this sounds like a little bit of heaven.

Monkey Bars, that wonderful child play place in Canning Vale, have now got Yoga sessions going on where they will look after your kids whilst you have a yoga class. How lovely and relaxing must that be?

They have two different sessions, one for Mums to be with Antenatal Yoga and one Just for Mums with the aformentioned child care thrown in.

If you fancy having a yoga session take a look at www.monkeybars.com.au so far the mums are looooving it.

How to Get the Better of the Flies

Housefly
Originally uploaded by Raju P.T..

One thing that I think is essential in the house is a fly swat.

I have been know to break fly swats with the sheer strength of my swatting but they're still the best thing for getting rid of the pesky critters.

Today, youngest son was outside on his slide and I happened to leave the fly screen open for about 5 minutes. Of course in fly some flies and zoom all around the house so I left for the school pick up and thought I'll get them later.

Conveniently, when I got home, there they all were on one window so I got my trusty yellow fly swat out and bang, bang, bang, bang! There they all were splatted on the window. Nice mess to clean up.

And that's the only problem with a fly swat, if only it would clean up after itself!

I did buy husband a fly gun from Australian Geographic a couple of Christmases ago as a silly present. Turned out to be a good present and quite fun! Better fun than my ordinary fly swat anyway, and everyone wanted a go, even the mother-in-law! But you had to clear up after that one too.

So can someone make a flyswatter that either doesn't make a mess of the fly in the first place OR will get rid of the mess?

Please?

ISelect? I Don't Select!

Husband had to go to the Doctors yesterday which reminded me that our family private health policy was due to run out and I'd better get a move on in finding another.

Which made me go to iSelect as a one stop shops for this kind of thing is always a bonus I think.

Only problem is that there are so many different types of policies; should we have an excess, should we have hydrotherapy as an extra, should I add on major dental care or just ordinary dental care and the list goes on.

I soon found a snag. You cannot possibly compare apples with apples (as my old boss used to say, he was also very fond of the saying "singing off the same hymnsheet") on a site like this, there are just too many variables and choices that you have to make.

I think that if we were wanting a policy just to get round the tax thingy then this would be great as they are all going to be the bog standard policies with absolutely no extras but if you want more out of your policy then I think you're going to have to do a little more digging around and maybe use Iselect as a springboard for information.

I sorted out our policy in the end but it took about an hour of hopping around different websites to get the best price. Not so much one stop shop as multi shopping!

It's Official - Aussies ARE the Worst Polluters

Drax Power Station
Originally uploaded by Roger B..

Australians have been found to be the world's worst polluters per capita, producing five times as much CO2 from generating power as China in a new study of the world's power stations.

They study has found that whilst the US power plants emit the most CO2, releasing 2.5bn tonnes into the atmosphere each year, it's the Australian power stations which are the least efficient on a per capita basis, with emissions of 10 tonnes, compared with the US's 8.2 tonnes.

You can read the article in full by clicking here and see how the rest of the world fares.

It's Time To Sponsor a Mo!

World Moustache Beard Championship 2007
Originally uploaded by srinivas.kuruganti.

Men are notorious for not talking about their problems and also for not going to the Doctor when they know they really have to.

It's for that reason that "Movember" started off. It's all about growing a moustache and/or beard from scratch (and scratchy I'm assured it is!) in the month of November for charity.

The beneficiaries of Movember are Beyond Blue who are a depression charity and Prostate Cancer. In Australia, the same amount of men die each year of prostate cancer as women do from breast cancer.

My husband Nick is currently "growin a mo" to support these charities so if you haven't been approached already for sponsorship and you would like to sponsor him (any amount you like) then please click here and enter his registration number which is 118571 and your credit card details. You don't have to live in Australia to donate.

Many thanks.

PS Please be assured that the man in the picture isn't Nick, although he does still have two weeks to go...!

Comparing Private Health Insurance

If you want to compare policies and prices on Private Health Insurance in Australia, then check out the iSelect website.

You just pop in your age and gender and then you can compare a range of policies from participating health funds.

Pregnancy Diary - Weeks 33 to 40

Pregnant Belly
Originally uploaded by kellyandapril.

Still looking like I have a ball shoved up my T Shirt only now it's starting to look like a rather large beach ball rather than the compact football of a few weeks ago!

A new arrival in Perth

Just a quick note to say that Claire and Nick are parents for the second time, after the arrival of Joel at 6.44am Perth time.

Mum and baby are doing fine and are likely to spend a couple of days in hospital, but are expected to be home soon.