I’ve been asked why mom bloggers seem to have a fascination with laundry? (What is the most polite way I can say this?) Because it’s a pain in the arse. (There ya go. Actually, that was easier than I thought it would be.) Just because we tweet/blog or otherwise about different detergents doesn’t mean we love laundry. (Exceptions are the psycho pretenders who say they love laundry... 

When Max leaped across from Sydney to join us for three weeks in January, we took lots of pictures. As mums do. I promised myself I’d get them organised, and create a nice montage. As mums do. Now we’re halfway through February, and the planned montage didn’t happen because other things got in the way. As they do. Max enjoying the view. I decided I was being too much of a perfectionist.... 

Today, January 26, is the day we celebrate our Aussie-ness. Our family will be celebrating, even though we’re miles away. (Insert song like I Still Call Australia Home or my favourite, Great Southern Land – oh what the heck, I will). I think a game of backyard cricket is in order along with reminiscing about football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holdens. So what does it mean to be Australian? Most... 

Moving to Denver meant we moved to the heart of Speed Stacking. We’d tried it out back in Australia, because you know, it’s freaky to watch so as soon as we saw the ad on tv we just had to give it a go. The sport hasn’t taken off in Australia like it has in other some places. But Denver is where it originated, and so here we are, equipped with cups, timers and mats. This sport is... 

I have four kids. I believe in Santa. This Christmas, we saw yet another moron decide it was a good idea to try and blow up a plane. At Christmas. Christmas is my favourite time of the year and I’ll be blasted (no pun intended) if anyone’s going to take that away from me. So I’ve decided that I’ll let the TSA in on some key things they could be doing to really make a difference... 

Sometimes something in your daily routine can remind you of how connected we can be. This semester I’ve caught the bus to campus on monday afternoons, on my way to my Human Computer Interaction class. When you catch the bus on a regular basis at a regular time, you’re quite often joined by a few others who have the same schedule. And so I was joined on Mondays by a beautiful young girl... 

This week I was happily invited to join some other Colorado-based bloggers for a few adult snacks, refreshments and the opportunity to build a basket of goodies to take home. It was a great evening, put on by Glade’s parent company, S. C. Johnson’s wonderful PR team from Edelman in Chicago, to promote their Sense & Spray product. This event demonstrated Edelman actively identifies... 

There’s something magical about arriving at the airport with all your luggage and just two of your kids for the upcoming 28 hours of travel between countries, and reaching the check-in counter to find out every bag comes in just under the 23kg weight limit. Score. And there’s something even more special about being handed your boarding passes and passports, turning around and seeing the... 

Sometimes I get reminded why I’m doing this. There’s so much going on right now. I’m exhausted a lot of the time. I have no idea how Jed keeps this relentless pace up. No wonder I’ve called him robot boy for so long. Today I managed to squeeze in coffee with my good friend, Mark (@soctechnologist) after my first meeting for the day, and before I came home to hit more screen... 

Running a startup isn’t easy on anyone. The glorious trails of successful entrepreneurs are littered with the scars of broken relationships and bitter resentment of cold dinners and missed birthday parties. It takes a special kind of relationship to weather the storms of startup life. At Darling Harbour, Sydney. It takes a special kind of kid too. A kid who will understand that daddy or mummy... 

I never dreamed I’d live anywhere other than Sydney, Australia. When you’ve got a good job, a house you’re constantly doing ’something’ to, kids, dogs, routine… the last thing you think of is moving. Anywhere. Least of all to a country you’ve never been to before. But then I came home from work one day and Jed told me his start-up dreams weren’t done... 

In Australia I spent a heck of a lot of money on educating my four fantastic children. It won’t surprise many that as an educator, and someone who got her post-secondary education ‘the freaking toughest way you’d ever decide to’, education is my priority. It’s what I do. It’s really my life. As a full-time teacher at Granville TAFE, my favourite times have been... 

Yesterday we took a road trip to Vail. It’s just two hours away. I found a great sledding area in Vail courtesy of a website which lets you locate good sledding runs (free) in your neighbourhood. We entered the address in the GPS, and off we went! The day cost us nothing apart from the car’s petrol and wonderful pizza we ate for dinner. We’ve discovered the following: a. I need... 

Halloween is officially over. The only candy left is the real crud that nobody will eat so I’m about to chuck it out. That’s not bad for an entire month! The other great thing was the jack-o-lanterns. We had heaps of fun carving them with our US friends and they decorated the outside of the house with their scariness for a while. And the kids even had a jack-o-lantern competition at school... 

Living in the USA is really similar to living in Australia. You know, there are schools, public transport, etc. But some things, little things, can make it seem really freaky. And that’s really fun. For example, the mail. In Australia you have a home letterbox where mail is delivered to monday to friday. If you want to send snail mail, you go to the post office. Rarely do you get stamps anywhere... 

We jumped. We are now in Colorado. The suitcases are in the cupboard under the stairs. The kids are at school and I am at the SJMC (School of Journalism and Mass Communication) at the Uni of Colorado at Boulder. I thought I’d take you through what was an extremely tiring and exciting 8 weeks to share the joy, and thank those who helped us get here. Step One – Getting Ready to Jump Packing... 

Yesterday was a big day. I was approved for the F-1 student visa, which will give me 3 years in the USA. Please note a visa in your passport doesn’t guarantee entry to the USA, that decision is made by immigration when you enter the country. But without the visa there’s no way you can get in for business or tourism beyond the 90 days which the current Waiver Programme appreciates. (In...