I love my kids dearly and wouldn't trade them for the world (o.k. the odd day might pass where I think I could - but never WOULD!)
Here is a little insight into my life with 3 boys:
Crazy 1 has the nicknames - Rizman, Rizzle, Riz my Siz
Crazy 2 - Rubix, Reubzy, Rubix cube
Dad - Mickey, Schmichael, Mishschool, Dadio
Mum - Mummasaurous!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know whether to laugh or cry!!!
Last weekend when Mr W and I were talking about our recent car sale, Mr W decided he would like to upgrade his current car and pointed out a super flash one that he wanted. Me being the sensible one (for a change) said he didn't need a flash one just to go to and from work. Then old Crazy 1 pipes up and declares 'Mum you NEED to let Dad get the flash car!'
ALSO, whenever we are out in the car or walking a cyclist or kid on a bike goes by they call out 'hey Mum, Dads got two bikes, I've got two bikes, he (brother) has two bikes, and how many have you got Mum - UM NONE!!!'. This is quickly followed by 'Dads got a scooter, I've got a scooter, he's got a scooter, and how many have you got Mum???? - UM NONE!!!!!'
Honestly - MEN. Can't live with them, but you certainly can't live without them either.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Homemaker Worth $96k per year...........
, On Tuesday 17 January 2012, 7:23 NZDT
The life of a homemaker is one that includes an endless amount of demands and to-dos. Depending on the size of the home and family, the position of homemaker can go well beyond the usual nine to five. We examined some of the tasks that a homemaker might do to find out how much his or her services would net as individual professional careers. We only take into consideration tasks which have monetary values and use the lowest value for each calculation.
Private Chef
Meal preparation is one of the major tasks of most homemakers. From breakfast to dinner, there is plenty of meal planning and cooking to be done. The American Personal Chef Association reports that its personal chefs make $200 to $500 a day. Grocery shopping is another chore that needs to be factored in. A homemaker must drive to the supermarket, purchase the food and deliver it to the home. Grocery delivery services charge a delivery fee of $5 to $10.
Total cost for services: $1,005 per five day work week x 52 weeks = $52,260 per year.
House Cleaner
A clean and tidy home is the foundation of an efficient household. Typical cleaning duties include vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, scrubbing sinks as well as loading the dishwasher and making beds. Professional maids or house cleaning service providers will charge by the hour, number of rooms or square footage of the home. For example, bi-weekly cleaning of a 900-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment with five rooms, costs $59-$124 . A 1,300 square-foot, single-story home with seven rooms runs $79-$150 . A 2,200 two-story, three-bedroom home with nine rooms averages $104-$180 . Additional tasks such as oven or refrigerator cleaning and dusting mini blinds can run an extra $20-$25.
Total cost for services: $118 per week X 52 Weeks = $6,136 per year.
Child Care
Homemakers provide full-time, live-in child care. This type of service from a professional provider would usually come with a host of perks including health insurance, paid vacation and sick days, federal holidays off, dental and vision coverage, and bonuses. The International Nanny Association's 2011 survey found that nannies make $600 to $950 per week in gross wages, on average.
Total cost for services: $600 a week plus perks/benefits x 52 Weeks = $31,200 per year.
Driver
A private car service might seem like a high-end luxury to most, but the beneficiaries of a homemaker get this service on a daily basis. Companies like Red Cap, which provides personal drivers that use the client's own car as the means of transportation, offer a glimpse into the cost of this homemaker task. An elite membership which includes 365 days of unlimited, round-trip service is $1,000 a year plus 33 cents - $2.03 per minute.
Total cost for services: $1,000 per year + [(estimated miles driven 8000 miles / 50 MPH) x 60 min/hr x $0.33 per minute] = $4,168 total per year.
Laundry Service
Clean clothes come at a cost when you have to pay for the service that most homemakers do for free. Professional laundry services charge by the pound. For instance, Susie's Suds Home Laundry Service, Inc. in Texas charges 90 cents to $1.00 a pound to wash, dry, fold, hang and steam your clothes. Items that take longer to dry such as comforters, blankets, rugs and winter clothes are assessed at a price of $12-$15 each.
Total cost for services: $0.90 per pound x 4 pounds of clothes per day x 5 days per weeks x 52 weeks = $936 total per year.
Lawn MaintenanceBasic maintenance of the exterior property is a less common, but possible duty of a homemaker. This could include things such as mowing, debris removal, edging and trimming the lawn. These services cost about $30 a week on average.
Total cost for services: $30 per week x 52 weeks = $1,560 total per year.
The Bottom Line
Total for a year of all services is: $52,260 + $6,137 + $31,200 + $4,168 + $936 + $1,560 = $96,261 per year.
The daily work of a homemaker can sometimes be taken for granted by his or her family members. However, these services could earn a homemaker a considerable wage if he or she took those skills to the marketplace. Homemakers in general contribute a lot more to the home in addition to these tasks, and no amount of money can fill those needs.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Homemade Flowing Soap
I have just turned a bar of Sunlight soap into flowing soap for our dispenser. I am quite excited.
I followed this recipe and am trying to patiently wait for it to go through the 'gel' process. I am hoping it won't turn out like some of the comment stories. So far so good though.
Check it out! It is a great way to use up the tiny bits at the end that no one want to use.
I followed this recipe and am trying to patiently wait for it to go through the 'gel' process. I am hoping it won't turn out like some of the comment stories. So far so good though.
Check it out! It is a great way to use up the tiny bits at the end that no one want to use.
Summer holidays - YA
Last Sunday we packed up our car in the pouring rain to head away camping for the week to Papamoa. Our phone rang like a hotline from about 7.30-9.30am while we tried to decide if we were going to go - you see no only was it pouring down outside, the weather report didn't look at all flash for going on holiday let alone living in a tent for a week.
A friend rang to offer their cabin at the same camping ground so we packed up and headed off.
We went through the usual ritual of making sure everyone had been to the loo, nappy change and house locked up. This was exciting!!!
Hiccup #1 - we made it to Napier (all 10mins away) and Crazy 1 announces he needs to go to the toilet! He had just been at home.
Back in the car with a box of lollies each, we were on our way again.
Hiccup #2 - The Napier-Taupo road - we didn't realise before going that our boys haven't experienced ears popping when going up and down big hills as we have always holidayed south, so were a little bit surprised when they kept complaining that the radio was too loud. When I turned around both of them had their hands over their ears with a pained look on their faces. Thankfully they got used to it and there weren't too many tears over that one.
Hiccup #3 - We didn't realise that Crazy 2 was sitting in his seat with one leg bent up underneath the other. Bet you can guess what happened??? His foot went to sleep - boy oh boy was there a hully gully going on while we tried to get him to keep his legs out straight but knowing that painful feeling of doing the same thing. The tears over this lasted probably 1/4 of the way.
Hiccup #4 - Mr W and I both had a Berrocca before we left. Now I don't know if this happens to everyone but it does us. You need to pee every 5 mins it feels, so of course half way to Taupo we both needed the loo.
Hiccup #5 - Mr W started to get bad cramp in his leg, so on the flat/straight bit just out of Taupo we pulled over for a walk around/toilet stop.
Hiccup #6 - After getting Crazy 2 out of the car for all of 2 seconds (it was blowing a gale) I was strapping him back into his car seat when next thing I knew my thin/flimsy top had blown up around my neck!!!!! Just a bit of entertainment for the hundreds of passing cars!!!!!!!!!!!
Right we are off AGAIN - nothing will stop us now. Rotorua was our meeting point with friends for McD's lunch. Perfect! Tired kids can be fed, burn off some energy in the playground and we can carry on.
Hiccup #7 - McD's playground is closed! SERIOUSLY! Who closes the playground at a fast food joint! Clearly someone who doesn't have kids!
Thankfully the drive from Rotorua to Papamoa goes really quick as there are a lot of small townships on the way.
We finally arrive at Pacific Park Christian Holiday Park . It was quite a nice feeling to think we didn't then have to put up a tent and unpack seeing as we were going straight for the cabin (the one I had seen on their site). We were given our cabin keys and shown where to go.
Hiccup #8 - our cabin wasn't the one on their website, it was a box on wheels that they move in for the seasonal workers. I got the giggles! And when I say box, I mean box. It was approx the same size as our office with a set of bunks filling the far wall, and another set of bunks down another wall. It was so tight that we had to turn side on to get passed each other. Ummmmm HELLO!!!!!! Not gonna happen!
Thankfully the desk man gave us our original tent site and we raced around setting it up before any rain set in.
The bad weather through the day that was forecast didn't eventuate. In fact it was stinking hot and humid through the day and rained at night.
It was just peachy!
Then after all of the above on day 3 Crazy 2 broke out in Chicken Pox!!!! Our other friends that were there told us to just stay as the kids he was playing with were theirs and they had all had it, so we stuck it out for two days, but by day 3 he was like this - hot and bothered and SUPER itchy.
So we cut our holiday short by two days and came home to our air con, comfy beds and calamine lotion.
Certainly an adventure that will go down in our family history book!
A friend rang to offer their cabin at the same camping ground so we packed up and headed off.
We went through the usual ritual of making sure everyone had been to the loo, nappy change and house locked up. This was exciting!!!
Hiccup #1 - we made it to Napier (all 10mins away) and Crazy 1 announces he needs to go to the toilet! He had just been at home.
Back in the car with a box of lollies each, we were on our way again.
 |
| Packed high in the back and SO summery outside |
 |
| Forwards Dad! |
Hiccup #3 - We didn't realise that Crazy 2 was sitting in his seat with one leg bent up underneath the other. Bet you can guess what happened??? His foot went to sleep - boy oh boy was there a hully gully going on while we tried to get him to keep his legs out straight but knowing that painful feeling of doing the same thing. The tears over this lasted probably 1/4 of the way.
Hiccup #4 - Mr W and I both had a Berrocca before we left. Now I don't know if this happens to everyone but it does us. You need to pee every 5 mins it feels, so of course half way to Taupo we both needed the loo.
Hiccup #5 - Mr W started to get bad cramp in his leg, so on the flat/straight bit just out of Taupo we pulled over for a walk around/toilet stop.
Hiccup #6 - After getting Crazy 2 out of the car for all of 2 seconds (it was blowing a gale) I was strapping him back into his car seat when next thing I knew my thin/flimsy top had blown up around my neck!!!!! Just a bit of entertainment for the hundreds of passing cars!!!!!!!!!!!
Right we are off AGAIN - nothing will stop us now. Rotorua was our meeting point with friends for McD's lunch. Perfect! Tired kids can be fed, burn off some energy in the playground and we can carry on.
Hiccup #7 - McD's playground is closed! SERIOUSLY! Who closes the playground at a fast food joint! Clearly someone who doesn't have kids!
Thankfully the drive from Rotorua to Papamoa goes really quick as there are a lot of small townships on the way.
We finally arrive at Pacific Park Christian Holiday Park . It was quite a nice feeling to think we didn't then have to put up a tent and unpack seeing as we were going straight for the cabin (the one I had seen on their site). We were given our cabin keys and shown where to go.
Hiccup #8 - our cabin wasn't the one on their website, it was a box on wheels that they move in for the seasonal workers. I got the giggles! And when I say box, I mean box. It was approx the same size as our office with a set of bunks filling the far wall, and another set of bunks down another wall. It was so tight that we had to turn side on to get passed each other. Ummmmm HELLO!!!!!! Not gonna happen!
Thankfully the desk man gave us our original tent site and we raced around setting it up before any rain set in.
The bad weather through the day that was forecast didn't eventuate. In fact it was stinking hot and humid through the day and rained at night.
It was just peachy!
 |
| Campsite all set up |
 |
| After all of the above there was no way I was cooking |
 |
| Off to the beach. "Dad, I carry it myself!" |
 |
| Sandcastles - but they didn't last long as it was more fun squashing them |
 |
| Soccer time |
 |
| Having a sleep with/on Dad |
 |
| Playing Go Fish |
 |
| Chilling |
Then after all of the above on day 3 Crazy 2 broke out in Chicken Pox!!!! Our other friends that were there told us to just stay as the kids he was playing with were theirs and they had all had it, so we stuck it out for two days, but by day 3 he was like this - hot and bothered and SUPER itchy.
So we cut our holiday short by two days and came home to our air con, comfy beds and calamine lotion.
Certainly an adventure that will go down in our family history book!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
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