The Every Day

a fifo wife {fifo life: fashion 101: one scarf four ways}

Posted on by debbie / 0 Comment

I always feel like a fraud talking about anything fashion and beauty related because I know so little. I love it but know little. I buy ‘investment’ pieces because I know those will never go out of style and as a 5ft1 girl I’m never sure what suits me. I also buy a lot of my pieces from op shops. That’s where I pick up most of my dresses. So I’m a little on the classic’s side.

So when I find out hints on beauty and fashion I’m all over it and getting the scarf right is one thing I have just managed…sounds simple I know but your talking to a girl whose mother sent her to deportment/finishing school because she also knew nothing so its a genetic trait I believe..that deportment school taught me so much about manners, grace, make up not so much about fashion..it was the early ninty’s the fashion wasn’t much to write home about..but what I have learnt is that the scarf it can change the whole look of your well your look…

1. Hacking Knot

  1. Fold scarf in half widthways – one end of the scarf will now be folded, the other will be where the two ends of the scarf meet. Drape scarf around your neck.
  2. Insert the open end of the scarf through the loop made by the folded end.
  3. Pull tails through and position loop comfortably at your neck. Wear to the side or in the centre.

Looks best with a fitted tee.

2. The Ascot

  1. Drape scarf around neck and flip one length over the other into a knot.
  2. Fan out the top portion at the base of the knot so it looks puffy.
  3. Tuck ends away to show only the puffed part.

Looks best with a blouse and knit vest or long cardigan.

3. Faux bow

Drape scarf around your neck and tie a single loose knot under your chin.

  1. Fold both tails back and wrap them around your neck, then back over your shoulders to the front again.
  2. Insert one end through the knot (toward the opposite shoulder) and leave to hang. Repeat with the other side. Tighten comfortably.

Looks best with a tailored jacket.

4. The stole

  1. Drape a long scarf around your neck, even at each side, then smooth to flatten.
  2. Fasten a belt around your waist, on top of the scarf.
  3. Draw the two lengths together at your waist, then flair out over your hips, or keep the two tails parallel.

Looks best over a trench coat.

Images and scarfe tips from homelife.com.au

 

Have a great Tuesday lovelies,

xX Deb

 

The Every Day

a fifo wife {fifo life: bake it: smores}

Posted on by debbie / 0 Comment

This recipe if from taste.com.au

and had I followed it it probably would have worked but I tried to be traditional by that I mean roasting the marshmallow on a stick then creating a masterpiece of a sandwich..I tried to create ‘ambiance’ an a experience for my boys…that was silly. That resulted in burns and swearing and a foul smell in the air.

Do it this way its easier…

What you will need:

  • 16 digestive biscuits
  • 100g packet mini marshmallows
  • 150g block milk chocolate, cut into small pieces

How to:

    1. Cut eight 15cm foil squares. Sit a digestive biscuit on each square, top with some marshmallows, then some chocolate and another digestive biscuit.
    2. Wrap in foil and place in the embers of a fire (get an adult to help), or in the oven (preheated to 180°C). Bake for 5-6 minutes or until heated through. Serve with mugs of hot chocolate.

 

xx Deb

The Every Day

a fifo wife {fifo life: real life fifo: kids: camping indoors}

Posted on by debbie / 2 Comments

I’m a bit late today. My alarm went off willingly at 430am but I did not. I threw a pillow over my head and went back to sleep. You see we camped out last night. And whilst it wasn’t outside…bugger that it was 3 degrees last night..I did negotiate the lounge room which isn’t much warmer I must add. So the boys where ecstatic me not at all. I’m 35 year old woman sleeping on the floor of my lounge room with a sleeping bag when I have  a perfectly good comfortable mattress just meters from the cold, cold floor. But the things you do right? I even did smores (an American concept) in the fire place, a complete and utter disaster and after the sugar burns and impatient dance of come on mum the little buggers said in unison…I don’t like that..whats that black stuff…that black stuff boys is mummy trying to make this FUN.

So I say with a massive sigh the trickiest things perhaps I have discovered  about this FIFO gig I think is trying to do the blokey stuff father stuff with the boys right. I wasn’t blessed with girls and I’m rather thankful for that I think..I was a horrible child I think..but my boys are super hero wrestling run everywhere boy boys. Boy Boys and Im trying to give them that balance. I try to play with them just like dad does when dad is away. Its a hard feet I tell you. He is 6ft4 115kg me 5ft1 60kgs the weight bearing difference is painful when all three are on you at once trust me but I feel like I have to. Its a compensation thing that and really  I want to (shhh don’t tell anyone) It can be painful but fun and sometimes a little embarrassing when the neighbours catch me growling mid bear wrestle.

I’m pretty sure that I’m the only mother in the street who can be found most afternoons on the trampoline wrestling with her boys. I think I’m also the only mother in my street that does bush walking, red clawing, boxing and playing scooters also. I could be wrong but I dont think the grazes my neighbours have on her knees are from the falling off a power wing because she still hasn’t got the dismount right. I do however draw the line at football, rugby, league what ever the hell you call it. Cant stand it, don’t understand, don’t want to and just don’t like it. Fortunately neither does my husband…..well don’t tell his work mates that.

So this morning I’m nursing a kinked neck and I’m a wee bit tired and have that hung over feeling from lack of good sleep from trying to find a soft spot on the timber floor. Yes I did have a mattress…a yoga one…because well that’s what the boys say that real campers use…and because they have only been camping once in their life and that was in our very comfortable hand me down pop up that my parents gave us..I let them live in that illusion. And yes I have been real camping. Every second weekend and three solid months of the year until I was 16 years old (that’s when my parents brought a caravan and deemed school to important to miss) That’s where I learnt to gut a fish, light a fire, run from a crocodile (don’t run in a straight line its a zig zag motion to the nearest tree and climb climb), tie a mud crab, drive a boat, ride a horse and throw a throw net. Loved every minute of that childhood and what it taught me and its why I slept on the cold cold floor last night because its guilt. Guilt I cant give my boys that and that every second month daddy isn’t there to throw them six foot into the air..ahh there’s more of that guilt we are also good at…oh but look at that…the electricity is on and I have a house to go camping in..guilt what guilt..

So my question to you lovelies and its not about guilt god knows we suffer enough of that but do you camp? Have you ever camped in doors? or in the back yard? and more importantly the trick to not burning smores which even burnt are rather delicious.

Have a great Monday my lovelies,

xx Deb

 

The Every Day

a fifo wife {fifo life: real life fifo: loneliness how do you cope}

Posted on by debbie / 4 Comments

 

I get asked a lot about loneliness. A lot. The nights are and the weekends are probably the hardest parts but I will be honest those feelings of loneliness well they are few and far between. Perhaps its because well I enjoy my own compay (a result of being an only child), perhaps I have been doing this to long but I like to think its becasue I have learnt to enjoy the quiet, the stillness the nights and early mornings can bring. I enjoy the down time once the boys are in bed far too much. Just me and some trashy television. That is apparently a ‘choice of solitude: a feeling of restorative peaceful and creative’ (although I’m not sure how creative trashy tv is) which is different to loneliness which is draining, distracting and upsetting.

So I don’t usually allow myself to get lonely that leads to to many other problems and I don’t have time for that. By other problems I mean the blues then the blues turn to well the constant blues aka depression. See I just don’t have time for that. Depression and me just don’t work well together..I get all angry and stuff. Not good for anyone. But last night its was cold and well despite my really good trashy TV I think I was a little lonely. I usually combat the nights leaving the lights on and a radio constantly blares in the kitchen but even last night in the coldness it just wasn’t working.

Nights really are only my only issue. I learnt how to handle the lonely days when I was a ‘single girl’ dating husband following him all over the freaking country.  My first few weeks arriving in a new state where I knew absolutely no one were the worst. So on the days when I wasn’t job hunting which later then become the weekends I would pack up the car and take myself for a drive. I learnt the state of WA  and Qld off the back of my hand and so when he returned from deployment I took him to all my favorite haunts. Getting out and just talking to a petrol attendant or cafe waitress left me feeling less alone in the big cities.

I joined gyms and I kept my routines(there is that word routine AGAIN) from when I was living in Darwin. I foraged through markets on a Saturday and I scouted out galleries to attend on Sundays. During the week after work I would go to the gym, walk the dogs just got outside. It made that time between making connections with people less lonely. Now I have kids I do pretty much the same. If I feel abit lonely (which is a strange concept…your surrounded by people but your lonely…lol) I throw everyone in the car and go for a drive to a friends, a park or just to see something new. Just doing something or going somewhere is invigorating and keeps you sane. Again its all about choice people. What you do how you think how you feel is all about choice.

Yet if you are seriously battling loneliness all the time and its altering your lifestyle in a negative way its time to see someone. Now.

So what did I do last night to combat this odd fleeting moment of loneliness and perhaps even missing the FIFO husband on the cold cold night? Missing his ability to radiate a room with his hotness …lol.. Normally I work on my shop or my little blog but I didn’t want to and that’s how I knew I was a little well ‘off’ so  I went to bed. It was too cold not to and well the trashy TV just wasn’t doing it for me. So here I am now..fully charged after the best sleep another determining factor in keeping depression and loneliness at bay. Even getting up to that stupid beeping alarm at 330am this morning hasnt detered my love for a new day (singing birds start…now) and the impending weekend and we all know how much I love the weekends.

So what do you do lovelies? At night (or day) to keep loneliness at bay? How do you cope?

xX Deb

The Every Day

a fifo wife {kids reads: guess how much I love you}

Posted on by debbie / 0 Comment

“Guess how much I love you,” says Little Nutbrown Hare. Little Nutbrown Hare shows his daddy how much he loves him: as wide as he can reach and as far as he can hop. But Big Nutbrown Hare, who can reach farther and hop higher, loves him back just as much. Well then Little Nutbrown Hare loves him right up to the moon, but that’s just halfway to Big Nutbrown Hare’s love for him.

I brought this book for B1 when he was just a few weeks old. Its a book we read often and its a book that gets me every time. Meaning I cry. Crazy. Its short and sweet but oh so lovely. Available as pop ups, hard paged and paper backs it now also has its only cartoon series on the ABC.

Its available here, here or here.

xx Deb