momfamilychild-help

we've become an online magazine or two!

Hi loyal readers!

our exciting news is that 'momfamilychild-help' has now become an 'online magazine for mums'.

For great connections with other mums, resources, info, contests & much more, sign up for free at one of our fab 'mum magazines' below:

for Australian & New Zealand Mums ONLY,

click here for 'connect2mums online magazine':

the online magazine where aussie & kiwi mums meet 2 stay connected!

 

 

for all other Moms around the World,

click here for 'sassymamas online magazine':

the online magazine for global women of influence,  mumfluence, & blogfluence!

re: CUTE KIDZ CONTEST PRIZE WINNERS!

CUTE KIDZ PRIZE WINNERS GRAND PRIZE WINNER-CALLIE (Ruth)

1ST RUNNER-UP-BRODIE (Usborne4Canada)

2ND RUNNER-UP-ABBY (Colleen)

PUBLIC 'FAV CUTE KID' -BRAYDEN (Dore)

Many thanks to our generous PRIZE SPONSORS: www.imaginabox.com www.vitalearthtraditions.com www.LabelLighthouse.com www.sittercity.com http://www.woodspoon.com/ http://scraplesspress.com/ www.paintedlaydies.com http://www.eenamaria.com/ Full Cute Kidz Contest Prize List

Yoghurt & Avocado Nourishing Mask (Natural Beauty Kit)

Yoghurt & Avocado Nourishing Mask  (Natural Beauty Kit)

YUMMY! This one is definitely safe to eat!

For: all skin types

What Will It Do:  Leave your skin feeling soft, fresh & nourished

From Your Fridge:

1 ripe avocado

1 ripe banana

3 tablespoons plain yoghurt

1/4 teaspoon vitamin E oil

3 tablespoons aloe vera juice

Directions:

1. Mash the avocado and banana to make  a paste.

2. Add the yoghurt and vitamin E oil and mix well.

3. Massage the mask gently into your skin, covering your face & throat areas. Avoid your eye area.

4. Soak a piece of gauze in the aloe vera juice

5. Place the gauze over the mask to infuse the ingredients

6. Leave for 10-20 minutes

7. Rinse off

8. Tone & moisturise as normal.

Introducing 'sassymamas' new Beauty Editor, April Jones

Sassy Beauty Editor, April Jones has 18 years experience as a qualified beauty therapist, beauty & spa director and international spa trainer and now assists small and large beauty & spa industry clients in creating their unique web presence and business voice. She has created beauty content for clients such as Cosmopolitan, Salon City, Shiesido and Lancome, and numerous web based projects for spas and salons worldwide. April is also the director of Spa Fresh, a boutique website design and copy company specialising in the spa, beauty and hair industry, www.spafresh.com.au . That’s sassy!

                                                                                    

                                                                                                   

 

How to Eat Your Way to Beautiful Skin

By April Jones , Beauty Editor, sassymamas                                    

Whoever it was that once said ‘you are what you eat’ could never imagine the horror it would instill in women everywhere. If this truly was the case then I am 90% champagne and chocolate, my best friend a calorie loaded combination of cream cheese and Pop Tarts and my next door neighbor one gigantic blueberry muffin and cappuccino with extra sprinkles. In our collective attempts to fight off our favorite foods and maintain a semblance of sanity when clothes shopping we trail to the gym religiously to step, lunge and pump away the calories. The battle against input and output has always been a serious and time consuming pre occupation for women, but now we are being bombarded by new information and research that the food we eat not only has an effect on our weight, but also on how our skin appears and ages.

Skin Food for Thought Anti aging skin foods have long since been coveted in cultures around the world, with powerful anti oxidant ingredients such as chilli and green tea attributed to the seemingly ageless skins of Indian and Japanese women alike. The average lifestyle of a Japanese woman is around 5 years longer than that of its Western counterparts, with a diet based solely upon large quantities of fresh foods including root vegetables, raw fish and brown rice. Long before skin creams, serums and local beauty salons Japanese women understood the connection between the ingredients in their food and the effect it has on health, long life and beautiful skin.

Ingredients in our Skin Care For years skin care companies have been coveted for their latest skin beautifying ingredients, with everything from synthetic collagen to animal derived ingredients added to their products to deliver the promise of beautiful skin. The startling admission that these skin care ingredients could actually be creating more harm than good has been met with a level of concern. The dangerous levels of chemicals and preservatives.......contd at sassy Beauty with April Jones, at sassymamas.com

Who's on the Line? (Guest Post: Australian Mothers Online)

 

 By now, even parents who have never logged onto a computer in their lives have heard of social networking sites like Facebook, My Space, Bebo etc – sites where kids (and sometimes parents) go to share messages, information about themselves, pictures etc. There is a lot of noise coming out of the US about how sites like these are a haven for sexual predators who “groom” our children online. Hands up if you are a parent whose stomach dropped when you young teen asked could they set up a My Space page? Or worse still, you found out they already had one! If you have not had this pleasure yet, don’t worry, it will inevitably come from which time there will a constant source of angst from the worry over who they are chatting with all hours into the night.

I like the way one mum friend of mine handled the moment when her 14 year-old daughter (thankfully) asked permission to set up a profile on My Space. She replied that, yes she could, provided the mother had the log-in information and that the daughter knew she would log-in from time to time to see who she was friends with/chatting to/sharing comments with. This situation was agreed upon and so now the mother can see for herself that nothing untoward is going on with her daughter online. (She also discovered that several of her friends’ children had pages unbeknownst to their mothers!)

 

Here are a couple more tips for regaining a little control over their online socialising:

 

• Inform them of the dangers of predators online and keep talking with them about this, asking regular questions about who they are chatting with and whether they have had any weird or unwanted contact from anyone.
• Join up on Facebook or create a My Space page yourself and befriend them! It gives you the chance to keep track of their friends and messages and, who knows, they might secretly think you are pretty cool for doing this?
• Don’t leave computers in your teens bedroom. Bring it out to a more central area like an office or the family room. You can see how much time they are spending online and they are probably much less likely to be doing anything inappropriate with a PIR! (See below for explanation.)

Lastly, here is a list of some of the red-flag lingo your kids may be using online… it was current last time I checked.

 

ASL – Age/Sex/Location

KOTL – Kiss on the lips

LMIRL – Let’s meet in real life

MorF – Male or Female

PIR – Parent in room

POS – Parent over shoulder

SorG – Straight or Gay

TDTM – Talk dirty to me

WYCM – Will you call me

 

So parents – if you spot any of the above chat coming from, or being sent to your teen, you might want to pull your sofa over just a little closer to that computer to be a POS rather than just a PIR!

 

 

Michelle of blog site, Australian Mothers Online, is a happily-married mother of two wonderful boys, ages 3 & 1, and is filled with inspiration now that she has kicked off her great site site and is able to mesh her love for her children, her love for writing and her experiences in finance and parenting to hopefully create something interesting at least… brilliant at best! Michelle is valued member of our 'sassy 16' at sassymamas, where women of influence, blogfuence & momfluence, work & play!

Michelle has written a great piece entitle 'Predatory Creatures of Habit' which no parent should miss! Visit Michelle's site to view this piece! Thanks for Guest Posting whilst I am in hospital, Michelle!  www.australianmothersonline.com.au

Mardi' s story

 

 

.....as you know we are supporting 'The Purple Boot Brigade' campaign to get the 'be Breast Aware' message out amongst our fellow sistas......

.....I found Mardi and her inspirational story at 'The Purple Boot Brigade' website and without a seconds hesitation she agreed to let us publish her story & photos here, saying, "Im only to happy to share my story in the hope that is is of benefit to someone else."

This is Mardi, and her story........

"...I was recently very spoilt with a pair of the most gorgeous purple boots.... they came with a very special message attached....and I wear them to work with great pride.

I was diagnosed just 12 months ago..... so last Christmas was spent VERY ANXIOUSLY awaiting surgery...results...and a prognosis. In January this year I had a mastectomy.... followed by 6 months of chemotherapy... and Im still undergoing Herceptin treatment until the mid of next year.

Throughout my huge year......I have managed to work full-time... even though it was tough to keep pushing myself at times (and yes...I did exhaust every scrap of sick and annual leave in that time ).... I was determined to continue my life as normal as possible.

This was only possible due to my amazing team at work....and my employers SA Ambulance Service....who went above and beyond to accomodate all my needs at this time.....they gave up their days off to drive me the 6 hour round trip to Adelaide each week for my chemo.... and when I had exhausted my leave they even worked some of my shifts so that I was able to be paid.
They have treated me no differently.... they have listened when I need to talk....and left me alone when I need space.... they have really been the most incredible support....I feel so lucky.

So....although purple boots are not officially part of our uniform....Im wearing them!
I get comments about my beautiful boots...each and every day.....and Im extremely proud to be a part of the purple boot brigade..... spreading the message here in my part of SA.

Im also looking forward to Christmas this year more than ever..... Im just so happy to be feeling well.... appreciating every moment..."

Many thanks Mardi for sharing such a personal journey with us. Please leave your personal messages of support for Mardi below.

I'm 'breast aware'-are you? (daily health bulletin)

well, my PURPLE BOOTS are ordered and stomping their way to me as I type! I'm excited to get them and excited about what they represent-'THE PURPLE BOOT BRIGADE,' of which I am a member, and YOU CAN BE TOO!

 

 

 

'The Purple Boot Brigade 'is a fundraising initiative of Ness Bradshaw & her Team at the Breast Cancer Foundation Of Western Australia. $30 from every pair of PURPLE BOOTS bought goes directly to Breast Cancer research, which I think is amazing. Being a marketing maven I love the whole 'purpleness' of the concept and the 'boot stompin out breast cancer' plus I have experienced my own breast cancer scares in the past, so this cause is very close to my heart......I can't even begin to imagine how these women feel as I only had a small peek into the nightmare of their world.....and I don't wish to ever be there again.

'Be Breast Aware', is the message! Are You? Their site has fantastic factual information so that you can be fully informed and in charge of your health and future wellbeing...let me ask you this.....if you won't do this for yourself, then what about for your children? Early detection of breast cancer makes successful treatment more likely.

So what can you do to be part of this great purple campaign:

1. 'BE BREAST AWARE'...take charge of your future wellbeing as a woman

2. Join for free as a supporting member at www.purpleboots.com.au

3.Buy a pair of 'purple boots form www.purpleboots.com.au

4.Go to http://www.sassy-mamas.com/ & join our 'sassypurple lipstick crew' for free

5.Grab our 'sassy be breast aware button' from my sidebar and present it to 5 women friends telling them 'why they are sassy' to raise their awareness

6. www.purpleboots.com.au also have a promotion running with a special 'Test your Breast iQ' quiz. Find out how breast aware you really are before 31st March 2009 and you could win great weekly prizes. If you live in Oz you also go into the draw for your chance to win a trip for 2 to Thaliand with $1000 spending money.

I'm BREAST AWARE! ARE YOU? Comment below to let me know......

Join Sassys 'Be Breast Aware Award'!

                                                                   

So u noticed that  sassymamas site is looking a bit purple this month? join our campaign to raise 'breast awareness', as part of the Breast Cancer Foundation of Western Australia's 'The Purple Boot Brigade'! 

Please COME AND JOIN our SASSY PURPLE LIPSTICK CREW!

sassymamapaulak is proud to support 'The Purple Boot Brigade' Campaign, an initiative of the Breast Cancer Foundation of Western Australia.

To personally support the 'be breast aware' campaign you can:

1. Get the 'sassy breast aware' button from our sassymamas Main Page & place it on your Blog
2. Award it to 5 friends with blogs & tell them 'why they are so SASSY'
3. Blog about our 'sassy purple lipstick crew' campaign


4. add your name to our support campaign list at sassymamas....let's show Ness from the Breast Cancer Foundation of Western Australia's 'The Purple Boot Brigade', the strength & support of OUR sassy mamas!!!!

                                                               

I would personally like to present this purple 'sassy be BREAST AWARE' award to:

1.   www.ofmiceandramen.com    Veronica you are 'so sassy' because you are 'extremely loyal'!

2.  www.mommynotguilty.com     Keonte' you are 'sascha sassy' because you 'give 100%' to all that you undertake!    www.keaianaregettingmarried.com

3. www.colleenstearns.com    Colleen you are 'so sassy' because you 'show true strength & leadership'!

4. www.mommosttraveled.com  CC you are 'heart sassy' because you are so 'compassionate & always thinking of others'!

5. www.threeprincedesigns.com  M you are 'tres sassy' because you have the ability to 'step up to the plate & get the job done'-I appreciate you!

sassy mamas, please collect your award code from my side bar and pass this Award onto 5 sassy bloggers who also deserve it...you will make them feel 'sassy special ' PLUS raise 'BE BREAST AWARE'!!!

LET'S GET 'sassy purple' AND 'BE BREAST AWARE' mamas!!! xoxo

angelina jolie lips anyone? (Daily Health Bulletin)

well, I survived another back procedure and I live to tell the tale....overly dramatic....yes, I tell myself, a little....that is until I actually step, yes, step from the hospital bed up onto the operating table in the operating room in the cardiac unit in the hospital. Then I tell myself, uh, no...this is the REAL DEAL....you're about to go under!  the whole procedure is VERY different to anything I have experienced before. However, I am reassured as I wait my turn because the patients before me who enter the same operating room, actually exit alive! yay! BREATHE as Mr K says!

FotoSource

Once I'm up on the table then the humor begins...gotta love 'surgeon humour'! they ask me everytime if  i'm 'allergic' to anything and i run thru the usual (long) list of offenders...as usual when I get to 'ammonia' they yell "right clear all ammonia out of theatre!" and we all laugh (at first i wasn't sure i should laugh-shouldn't we be using our 'operating theatre quiet voices'?).

This time one of the nurses asks 'so what does garlic do to you'?...

oh so glad you asked, I say....'well within about 20 mins of eating it I get these 'angelina jolie lips, which is attractive for about 5 mins and then they just keep swelling until they look like they'll burst!' 

all theatre staff intrigued by now and listening, so anaesthetist declares, 'garlic into the IV immediately!' and we all shriek with laughter! seriously, this doesn't happen on 'House', does it?

then I start to go under and I tell 'Kiwi surgeon' that I'm not impressed with weather and we didn't move to australia to be followed by bad NZ weather, did we??! he agrees and other doc chimes in with 'are you a Kiwi too?' 

so, in my whacked out drowsy state, I declare, 'excuse, only the best are here (meaning me and kiwiw doc), I was Miss NZ 19xx ...' !!

oh, where oh where did that come from??...that is sooo not fair, i soo never say that, EVER!!! so then, they all STOP! wait, don't put her under (or words to that affect or did i make that up??)...

...and i say, 'oh I meant Miss NZ 19XX', ...taking 10 years off the original date!!

amazing isn't it, how the brain works....even as my mind was sinking into unconsciousness, my subconscious was still trying to take 10 years off my age...why is that?...I mean there I was lying 'bare ass up' on an operating table and I was worried about my age, vanity & angelina jolie lips! go figure!

Anyone care to comment on any funny hospital experiences?