I Can’t Think Of Something Funny With Arse In It

I’ve just been nominated by Stacey over at Living Lionheart for this kick arse award.  Thank you Stacey for thinking of me, I honestly thought that all the cool people of the blog world didn’t know that I even existed – so please excuse me if I act like a bit of teenage girl that’s just seen Justin Bieber.

I’m working on trying to get out of working on anything.  It’s not going very well.  This work week is going to be crazy busy trying to hire new admin staff (shoot me now) and catching up on mountains of emails that I have left unanswered over the weekend.  Also wrapping the last bits of “10 Days Of Giveaways” which was fun.

Where did the idea for 3 Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House come from?

I am totally useless at printing pictures or physically writing down any of our family memories, which wasn’t a problem until we had our first baby.  At that stage I was the only pregnant one in our group of friends so this was an outlet to connect with other moms out there as well.  When we started in 2009, we were originally just the Alfino Blog, but that was a little lame.  So, a couple of years later when I was taking the whole blogging thing a bit more seriously, we looked around and realised that we had 3 kids in 3 years, 2 dogs and a house that really needed some major renovations.  It kind of encompassed everything that we wanted to capture about our lives together (family, fun and a little home reno DIY) and it just kind of stuck.

What does your typical day look like?

Waking up is difficult for me, but I am generally woken by Seth who is already almost out the door with Knox, leaving me with the girls (so I have to get up).  I do breakfast, bags, break up a fight, clothes, hair, threaten the naughty chair, teeth, my make up, more threatening and then we’re finally all ready to leave – ideally at 7.45 but usually closer to 8.  I take the girls to school and then fight my way to work in the traffic.  I work like a demon until 2 when I get to leave and look after my littles – best, but most tiring part of the day.

How do you bring ideas to life?

It usually takes me a while to really convince myself that it really is a good idea.  Then I chat it over with Seth and then do what needs to be done in order for it to get done properly.  If I am fully into it, I can be a fairly persistent.  I don’t often have great ideas that affect more than just our little house/my work place/this blog, but for the first time ever, I have something brewing with a friend that could end up being super cool – so maybe I’ll get back to you on this one.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

I am loving this hipster trend that Seth is into – say what you want about hipsters, but what I love is that they put in effort and they look great!  I’m also loving that people are really putting effort into making their homes their own, Shabby Chic is rocking my world right now.  Also recycling – it’s never been so “cool/green/uber trendy” to recycle and I can’t imagine a better trend in our world right now.

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

I’ve only ever had 3 jobs (working in Spar’s bakery, waitressing and then an admin job that turned into awesomeness).  Spar was probably the worst though, I had to wear a hair net and serve some of my class mates at school – at 16 that was probably the most embarrassing thing ever!  I had to work crap hours and miss out on a lot of social events too.

But it taught me the meaning of hard work and putting in the long hours, committing to something and then properly carrying it out gets you somewhere in life.  Things don’t always just fall into your lap.  It also taught me how to deal with ridiculously difficult people – man, I didn’t even know people could be so passionate about baked goods!

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Hmmm, it’s a hard one.  There’s that whole “if I didn’t go through it I wouldn’t be the person I am today” stuff, which is kind of true.  My change would just be to enjoy those childfree years and not wish them away – I was far too broody for my own good and also learn earlier to not sweat the small stuff.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and how would you go about it?

The rape and abuse of women and children.  It makes me sick to the stomach and I wish I could personally murder every single *insert expletive here* one of the men that even consider this.  Bringing the death penalty back would be way to kind to those people, especially considering what I have conjured up in my head for them.  Let’s just say I’m a pretty huge Dexter fan and leave it at that.

Tell us a secret.

I picture my life ending in a similar way to the Notebook – I will slowly lose every bit of my memory and not know who anyone is anymore.  I’m not even kidding, I am seriously worried about my mind and how often I forget things.  The only thing I know is that I doubt very much that Seth will come and read this blog to me every day.

What are your three favourite online tools or resources and what do you love about them?

I can’t get enough of Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.  Instagram helps me to capture all of my daily memories and make them look awesome with only a few words.  Pinterest fuels my mind for so many ideas that I will hardly ever use but spend hours thinking about and Facebook was there from the beginning, it’s just something that I can’t shake – no matter how bored I get of it.

What is the one book that you recommend people should read and why?

I haven’t read a book in forevs.  Which is probably why I say words like forevs.  So I am going to say some that just come to mind because I truly did enjoy them – Harry Potter, Hunger Games and Twilight…  Actually maybe this is why I say things like forves – I am secretly a teenager in a saggy body.

Which three people should we follow on Twitter and why?

I really just can’t get into Twitter.  I’m trying.  But I just can’t.  I would say follow friends and people with similar interests and people that make you laugh – nothing better than laughing!

When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?

A couple of hours ago when Seth told me that the car that Riya wanted for Christmas was in fact R1500!

Who is your hero?

My Mom.  Definitely my Mom.  She has taught me how to be a great Mom, an awesome friend and a loving wife – all through her example.

Bloggers who you would like to take part?

Liz from Clay Jar People

I can’t think of any off hand that haven’t already been nominated by everyone else?