Have Sponsor, Will Blog - Plus Giveaway!!

So you remember how I begged for sponsorship to go to the Aussie Blogger’s Conference on the other side of the world in Sydney in March? Straight after posing it I had two lovely donations, one from Aunty Penny (possibly trying to get me to go away so she could babysit) and one from the fabulous Mum In Search - thank you both so very much.

Then, less than 24 hours after posting, I was contacted by a company - I nearly fainted. I had to read the email about 18 times before I could believe it and then, whilst still shaking, I forwarded it on to Map Guy and Aunty Penny with a subject line of "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH OMG OMG OMG" - you know, cos I'm so mature. So after a few emails, some phone calls and a proper snail mail letter (oh I love receiving snail mail so much!) drum roll please... I am now officially sponsored! Yaaaaay! High five! I’m going to Sydney, baby.

So I’d like to introduce you to my sponsor, a fab company that is based right here in WA – HealthyChart! 

Look what I get to put on the sidebar!

HealthyChart is a magnetic incentive chart for kids aged 4-11 that promotes eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water and getting enough exercise each day. The chart tells you how many servings of each food group you’re meant to have each day and as you eat them (or before if you’re planning your meals) you add a food tile to each section.

A quick glance will let a busy parent know exactly how their child is doing for the day. Plus it's funky and colourful and looks way better on your fridge than a bunch of tatty petrol discount coupons or tip vouchers.

The Fussy Eater pointing out she just ate an apple - aint she a cutie!?

I was sent a HealthyChart to check out and since Tricky is too young to be using it (unless we could get some Boobie Juice tiles made?) I've started using it myself, albeit with slightly different recommended servings per day. It's helped me realize just how unhealthy I am because there is no 'Half A Block Of Chocolate' tile and definitely no 'Sit On Your Ass Blogging All Day' tile. So not only am I being sponsored, but I'm becoming healthier as well - how groovy is that?!

The HealthyChart website is full of great healthy lifestyle resources and even has a downloadable ‘Taste Test Challenge’ to encourage kids to try new foods - which would have come in really handy for my Mum when trying to get a 3 year old Aunty Penny to try rice (she would only eat it after being convinced they were 'Baby Potatoes') and this continued til she was, oh I don't know, 19 I think.

So that's two cool things! Sponsorship to go to Sydney and I got a HealthyChart, hooray! But because three is my favourite number I need one more amazing thing... so how about a HealthyChart GIVEAWAY!!! High five!

As with all giveaways you just have to do a few little things:

1. 'Follow Where's My Glow?
2. 'Like' Where's My Glow? on Facebook
3. Check out the HealthyChart website and 'Like' the Facebook page
4. Leave a comment telling me what you love about HealthyChart

You can grab some bonus entries too:
You'll get one bonus entry if you Tweet this giveaway, and one bonus entry if you share it on Facebook (just lemme know in your comment).

Easy peasey nice and squeezy! But please oh please log in to comment so you can be contacted when you win. If I can't contact you then there is no way I can find out your address to post out the prize. Entry is only open to Australian residents and entries close at midnight AWST on the 13th of December. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and the prize should reach you in time for Christmas!

The Blind Leading The Blind

Recently Aunty Penny has been dipping her toe in the dating pool... actually dive-bombing in to the deep end is probably a better metaphor.

Because she is much stupider braver than I am, she's even gone on a few blind dates.

I don't even know how blind dates work. Is it like the movies where the man carries a folded newspaper and the woman wears a yellow ribbon in her hair? I must remember to ask Aunty Penny if she has ribbons.

So each time one of these blessed events have occurred, for safety, Aunty Penny has emailed me the information of the bloke she's about to meet. You know, so I can point the police in the right direction if she goes missing. And always, at the bottom of the email is "Use my bridesmaid photo".

Yes, we have arranged what photo to give to the media in case she goes missing.

This isn't a new thing. Oh no, not at all. We've discussed this for years. In the event of one of us going missing the best, most prettiest photo of us will be used - under the belief that the amount of effort put in to searching for someone is directly proportional to how attractive they are.

This idiosyncrasy, this quirk, is just us. We are a little bit strange.

But I don't think it's bad to talk about things like this, and the pretty photo instructions are just a nice way of lightening the mood when you're talking about awful things like going missing.

We are very open when it comes to our family policies. Some people would say it's morbid that we have a prearranged "Switch Me Off" policy if one of us is ever on life support and we already know that at my Mum's funeral the main song will be "I Still Call Australia Home" by Peter Allan and the rest of the songs will all be John Farnham numbers - if the group isn't up and bopping by the end of it, then a little bit of Cher should fix that.

But I like it. I find comfort in the ability to control one tiny little bit of the uncontrollable.

Does your family have any policies? Or am I the only weird one?

The Sound of Silence

This post isn't going to be funny. Not even slightly. But I'd still like you to read it.

Today Aunty Penny and I attended the 20th Annual Silent Domestic Violence Memorial March at the Stirling Gardens in Perth city. It was dedicated to all those who have lost their lives as a result of domestic homicide in Western Australia in the previous year... 15 people. 15 too many.


On the ground in front of the stage there were 15 white coffins displayed.

13 of the 15 coffins

There were two smaller coffins for children.

And right in the middle there were two tiny coffins.

Some of you may remember, because of the giant media circus at the time, that those coffins represent seven month old babies. Twins. Lachlan and Sophie.

I sat on the grass, in front of the tiny coffins, playing with Tricky's feet while he smiled and babbled away, unaware of the somber mood of the crowd. I had a massive lump in my throat. I was consumed with thoughts of Tricky - almost the same age as the twins... but I could not even imagine what it would be like if he were gone. My mind simply cannot process it. So seeing those tiny coffins, knowing that someone had murdered those innocent babies... I could not contain my sadness.

My chest was on fire and my stomach ached... and I wept.

I felt embarrassed - I was, after all, crying over people I had never met before. But when I looked around, there were a lot of other people crying too.

The few hundred people gathered then walked the streets of Perth in silence. Men, women, children. Gay, straight. Christian, atheist, Muslim. Black, white and every shade in between. All were represented because all are touched by this horrific crime.

Police blocked traffic and we walked the streets in silence

Today's march was silent. But if you, or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence then don't be silent any more. For a list of resources in your state, visit ReachOut Australia.

Muppet Baby

What do you think of when you hear the word Muppet?

This?

Or maybe this?

Perhaps some of you even think of this?

So Muppets (or any puppet for that matter) can't smile. Not really, anyway. To show they're happy they just open their mouth as wide as it can go. Well they don't, the puppeteer does, but you know what I mean. 

Scroll back up and look, I'll wait right here while you do.

See, just a really big open mouth but we know it's a smile, right?

I had no idea that same thing happens when babies are really happy. It goes beyond a curl of the sides of the mouth and turns in to something like this:

My Muppet Baby

And for those of you who are disappointed that Tricky was the Muppet Baby, I give you this:

Woah, '80's flashback.

Muppet Babies was one of my favourite cartoons as a kid (not THE favourite, cos let's face it, nothing could beat Shera, Princess of Power). I even remember when Hungry Jacks had a kid's meal where you could get little Muppet Baby figurines. Aunty Penny and I got them all and they became our Barbies' toys - cos even Barbie likes Muppet Babies.

Let's continue the flashback - did you have a favourite cartoon as a kid? And please, please, please don't say Pokemon or I'll feel really old.

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I Am So Blogging This

My Mum knows me so well. Check out the funky singlet she bought me, modeled by the delightful Tricky:

She actually bought it for my birthday next month, but then I told her how I'm desperately trying to go to the Aussie Blogger's Conference and she grabbed it and said "You HAVE to wear this if you go!"

But there might be a problem... Sarah from Just Me, who will be there, has one too!

We all know that the only time you can dress identically to someone is if you're a bridesmaid, and I'm pretty sure no one is getting married at the conference.

Then when I told her I was going to try to blog it this weekend too...

It's ON! It's on like Donkey Kong.

What? Me, competitive? Nah!

So here we have it... and I WON! 

Update: Hot on my heels, Sarah posted about her shirt - you can read it here. 
Update: We've started a trend, Tina has one and now so does Dannie