Ask me a question. Today Strawberry Net

I thought it would be nice to have a question and answer section. You ask me a question and I will attempt to find you an answer. It can be about anything, because if you ask my husband he will tell you that I think I know everything!

Our first question comes from a lovely lady called Emma, who lives in Perth Western Australia. (yeah ok- thats me).She writes

Hi Emma
I notice that you buy things from Strawberry Net. While I like the idea of cheaper prices for cosmetics I really don't understand if I am buy fake products or the real deal.  
Thanks
Emma

Hi Emma
Great question and it is something I have often wondered myself.  Well here is the official answer. Strawberry Net is a online cosmetic company based in Hong Kong that offers makeup, skincare etc from top brands at cheaper prices. The answer is in the "based in Hong Kong" bit. You see Strawberry Net are whats called Parallel Importers. What they do is import the products from places that sell them cheaper i.e. China,and then sell them off to people in countries like Australia who pay heftier prices due to things such as the high luxury tax that is placed on these kinds of products. Parallel Imports are also known as grey product, because they are not being bought on the black market, but are not bought directly from the company either, but the process is completely legal. You might notice that things you bought on sites such as "catch of the day", or from cheap discount stores sometime come from different countries. Chances are these are "grey product"as well.
So enjoy you Strawberry Net products knowing that they are the real deal.
Hope that helps Emma and happy online shopping!

Here is the link for those of you who haven't used the site before

http://au.strawberrynet.com/main.aspx

Problems faced by people who are always hungry.

On the back of my first world problem of always being tired, I thought today I would address my second first world problem- The problem with always being hungry.

1. You get really sad when you are down to your last bite of food.
2. You get major food envy when someone has something yummier than you.
3. Every major life event and place you visit is remembered by food. For example my best holiday ever was when I was about 6 and I went to Albany with my Grandparents. It was the first time I was introduced to Crumbed Chicken and Cheese sausages. My life was never the same again.
4. You plan weekends down south so you can stop at your favourite servo and get a crumbed chicken and cheese sausage. Now I am aware you can get them in Perth, but if I let myself do that I will end up the size of a house.
5. You get just as excited about getting plane food as you do about going on a holiday. That rattle of the food trolley, and those cute little packets of cheese and jatz crackers. YUM.
6. You start thinking about lunch before you have finished breakfast. 
7. You look at someone with total disbelief when someone says "OMG I am full." What is this full of which they speak? No really... what do you mean full?
8. You get panicky if you think there is a slight chance you are going somewhere with no food. Hence the reason I could never go on Survivor.
9. You think going without food for any longer than 3 hours counts as fasting.
10. You would rather give away your Louis Vuitton handbag than do the 40Hour Famine. 
11. You only drink sugar free or zero calorie drinks (except for wine of course) because why would you waste calories on drinks?
12. You really don't understand shake diets. Why drink a shake when you can eat the same calories in food?
13. You are prepared to wake up at 5am every morning if it means you can eat a bit more.
14. One of your favourite things to do in a foreign country is to go to a Supermarket to check out the snack foods.
15. You get really, really upset when you go out and it is only nibblies. Whilst nibblies are fine as a pre dinner snack, (or an after dinner snack for that matter) it does not constitute a meal. 

1. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Ten problems faced by the permanently tired.

Today I read an article about problems faced by people who are permanently tired. This made me chuckle because I am always tired. In fact the other day my mum said " Let me guess you are tired." (I am also permanently hungry but that is a whole other post). Except of course when I actually go to bed at night time and I am not even sleepy. Not even a teeny, tiny bit.

In fairness to me I do get up at 4:50am most mornings ( boxing mornings are a sleep in- 5:30am)  to get my morning exercise in, which means that by the time that most people get up in the morning I am ready for a nap. And because of the problem that I mentioned before that I can't sleep at night time and don't usually go to sleep until 10:30pm, throw into the mix a couple of visits to the toilet, having to kick my husband 5 times to stop snoring and having to move the dog off my pillow because I need a little bit of space you can see that my sleep is definitely in deficit.

So here is my list of ten ways you know you are permanently tired.

1. You have never seen the end of a movie. Hell, who am I trying to kid, I have very rarely seen halfway through a movie.
2. You never lie down or sit down after work if you have anything else to do because you know you will fall asleep.
3. You have Red Bulls on hand for a 9am pick up.
4. You have Red Bulls on hand for the 3pm pick up.
5. You either have no wine or you have to have more than one glass, because if you only have one wine you know that your permanent tired state +wine tired= sleep.
6. You have to ignore the signs that say "Don't drive tired." Because you would never be able to drive anywhere.

But how am I meant to get anywhere????

7.You love your bed, pillow and doona more than you love life itself.
8. You take up meditation and hypnotherapy because it is a way to get a nap in at anytime of the day and no one will judge you.
9. You become a morning person because you know you have a 4 hour window between waking up and fatigue hitting to get things done.
10. You go through concealer and YSL Touche Eclat like most people go through water because something has to hide those dark circles.

You will notice that I have not included inhale sugar like it is air. That is because I am told it is bad for you. Unlike Red Bulls- because I choose the sugar free version. I'm sure all those chemicals are way better for me than calories. (I am being sarcastic there).

Where can I get me one of these????

Here's to a good night's sleep

I think I might be a hoarder.

A neat hoarder, well neat on the surface hoarder (because if you open those cupboard stuff is going to fall out all over you).

This realisation hit me this morning when I was looking for my marriage certificate and I found my daughters TEE exam timetable. My daughter is now in her final year of nursing. Funnily enough this is also the piece of paper we couldn't find on the morning of her first exam. For the record the blue file in the office- just in case you ever need it again - I didn't throw it out.

I then went into the kitchen to get a lemon and had to sort through the letters to get to them. One was asking me to send my sponsor child in Ethiopia a birthday present for his birthday in May. Last year. Sorry Emmanual. Poor kid is probably still standing at the letter box waiting for the card with the little pictures of koalas and kangaroos. 

I then went to find my shoes, which were lodged under three pairs of ugg boots (from the last three years),5 pairs of running shoes and my cardigan was wedged between a dress that I loved in 2002 and my Year 12 Blazer. From 1988.

My junk drawer has grown from a drawer to 4 cupboards and two drawers. There is so much 'paperwork" in those cupboards that I need to find somewhere else for the plates. Don't even start me on the lack of space for the mugs. There is a lunch order sheet in the drawer from my elder kids primary school. Both of the children are now in University.

I then had an argument with a student who swore on their life that they had handed in an assignment- to which I said " Trust me- if you gave it to me I would have it." Seeing as I have students work in my store room from 2006. 

I blame fashion. They say that if you keep it for long enough it will come back into fashion. I also blame my fear of not being able to find something. Because I can tell you the day will come when I will need the receipt for the contact lenses I bought 2 years ago, and let me tell you,  when I am asked to produce the receipt from that pair of stocking I bought in London

3 years ago- I will know exactly where to go.  And you might never know when you might need the "Welcome to Pre Primary handbook" from your daughters primary school, even though she is now is in Grade 4. And of course I have all the Barney the dinosaur videos. Even though we have not had a video recorder since forever.

I know it might seem like I have a bit of a problem but I think it is not because I like to think of myself as a collector. A collector of bloody everything.  And collecting is a hobby..right?

Job interviews are a funny thing..

I have found myself in two strange situations lately- the situation of the job interview. This is unusual because I think I have had two interviews in the last 10 years. They are weird because after spending most of your life NOT talking yourself up, you spend 30 minutes, well, talking your self up.

My two interviews have been interesting because they have both been essentially for the same job at two different places. One where I work and another at a place I obviously don't work. The jury is still out on whether or not it is easier to be interviewed by people who know you or people who don't. In one situation you have to pretend you don't know them, and in the other situation you have to pretend that you DO know them so you don't get to nervous.

So in the case of the most recent interview obviously the first things that came to mind were
1. What should I wear  and
2. My hair really needs doing and my hairdresser is away (look away now Dawnie- but I bought a colour from the supermarket and got my friends to pop it in after a few wines).

So as my interview day fell right in the middle of my camping trip I realised I would have to come home early. So I left the comfort of my single bed air mattress in a tent (for the record the only way to sleep in one of those when it is cold is like a mummy- an Egyptian one, not a mummy mummy, that is why if you see me I am walking with hunched up shoulders) and decided to go home and have a good nights sleep and a shower in a place where I don't have to wear thongs. Or fight two 12 years olds who are straightening their hair, for the mirror. In case you are interested after they did their hair they did bog laps around the caravan park. Like 4 bog laps, looking like baby prostitutes, or Ariana Grande. 


I spent the night before studying for the interview. Well ok I spent the night before the interview binge watching the Real Housewives of everywhere, drinking wine- to calm my nerves obviously- and then doing some study. Ask me all about the ATSIL standards, I have the app on my phone. (feel free to disown me now). For the record these are the standards that teachers should reach to be a good teacher. We have standards now- who knew!!!

I woke up in the morning and decided that I didn't want a new job at all and didn't want to go. Then I slapped myself and told myself to pull myself together. And then I took a great big swig of Bach's Rescue Remedy. 

This stuff is the bomb. It is like meditation in a bottle.

I took my puppies for a walk, had a coffee and a chat with my friend, came home, kept telling myself I could do this, had some more rescue remedy, put on my grown up dress and shoes and popped on my red lippy and off I went.

This is my grown up dress. It is from Witchery.

                                                 
I got there early, of course, and sat in the car trying to tell myself to be cool. I checked the email to see that I had the day and time right. 6 times. I checked the name of the person I had to find. 6 times. I checked the time on my car clock, my phone and my watch. They were all different. I decided to go with the iphone- Apple couldn't be wrong.  I worked out how long it would take me to walk to the front door (30 seconds), I double checked what the target attainment rate for the school was,(seriously) I came up with two questions (because I never have a question to ask them and I feel I should), I checked my teeth for lipstick, drank some more rescue remedy, popped in a mint (but NOT a mintie,

 no one needs a dental emergency before an interview), waited for my iphone to pop over to 9:59 and 30 seconds, (my interview was at 10:05 you always have to be early) told myself one last time to be cool, opened the car door and then I walked towards the admin building. Halfway to the door I had to pull my knickers out of my butt, and my then my heel got stuck in the pavement. At this stage all I can hope is that the room I am being interviewed in does not overlook the entrance.

I took a deep breath, told myself one more time that I can do this,remembered my mantra "Be Brave"and open the door........