I'm sorry I have been very quiet recently. Life has been a whirlwind since we got back from Japan. I got sick on the airplane home, then my son split his head open (don't even ask about that!) and picked up a lovely virus from the hospital. It's now gone through everyone except me, and I am not looking forward to it. So I am sorry things have been slow. I am hoping to start putting up my previous lunches to catch up and also to share the new lunches I will make for term 3. I also have some bento goodies to sell soon! If you would like anything in particular let me know!

Lots of love to all my wonderful readers! I appreciate the time you take to read my little part of the web.

x Neko Mama

Hi there lovely friends, I have been nutting away getting my website all sparkly and new! I have still been bento-ing and have lots to share very soon! www.nekomama.com.au is now integrated alongside my blog and if you look closely you'll see my store in the making! Please note everything is just testers, so unless you would like to send me donations, please don't use the cart system just yet!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter holiday! We enjoyed our time together as a family, and thankfully avoided the chocolate overload. Im ashamed to admit I am one of the very few women who doesn't love chocolate! We all enjoyed BBQ's and gummy lollies instead! I've also shared up a very yummy chocolate chip cheesecake that I made for my husbands birthday, so have a sneaky peek! I'll also have to back date Miss A's Pony Party and the fun food we made including jelly oranges and rainbow fruit kabobs. The pictures aren't overly wonderful, but they are documented non-the-less! Oh and I will have to share the marshmallow fondant I made for her birthday cake! First time making fondant and honestly, was so much easier than I had thought. I expected hours upon hours of work and mess, when in reality it was pretty simple!

So lots to look forward to, the future is always bright! Take care friends and you'll see me around soon!

Im separating this into 2 parts, personal and bento. So skip to the next part for write up on Little Miss' lunch. 

So when did this happen? It seems like only yesterday I had my ultrasound photo and video of this squirming little baby growing so contently inside me. Now, she is this compete little human being, complete with giggles, curls and non-stop chattering. She loves and laughs, cries and demand comfort, creates stories with her toys and loves to paint and draw. I'm so proud, as any parent should be, of this little girl. We have tried our hardest to nurture and encourage her behaviors, and life skills at home, getting her ready for the next stage in her life. I hope we have done enough to prepare her. 

Lunch Box Raid.... I think we have a winner!
After relentless searching I am going to go with the ECO Lunchbox sets! I found a local company in Ormiston that sells them too, so no wasted packaging on my eco friendly lunch boxes!
Why did I choose these ones? The stainless steel, the open-ness of the boxes that allowed me to create bentos that some of the others inhibited. The second set is stackable! And the clips look pretty easy for a toddler. (Plus if i get lazy, or if requested, I can fit a whole sandwich!)

I am still going to go and touchy feel the boxes to make doubly sure it is what I want. The planetbox and Goodbyn were tempting but it is all too seperated! It just would be too difficult to fill some days I think. I am planning on getting both sets, mainly because you need flexibility and options. One lunch box isn't enough, you need a few to play around with. I am a little sad she can't use her cute strawberry bento box, but she'll be old enough to use it soon.

http://ecolunchboxes.com/product_boxoval.html
http://ecolunchboxes.com/product_boxsquare.html

Aren't they cool? Mr N was very unsure about the boxes, mainly because they are 'industrial' looking and are very 'plain and dull'. So I also got to searching and am going to buy some vinyl decals to decorate the lid. Yay! I just won't put the lid in the dishwasher and hand wash the base of the lid.

I'm feeling very pleased with myself. One down, lots to go!

xx Neko Mama

Nya! =(^_^)= いってらしゃい！

I just wanted to share the few photos of the romantic evening we set for ourselves. We both had to work, so we couldn't go away or go out for dinner. We did our usual Thursday night tradition of husband bringing me dinner at work (i work until late). We sat in the lunch room and had tonkotsu ramen with chicken. It was simple, but we had eachother.

For a surprise I had used a whole post it note bundle hiding 'love notes' all around the house, and left our bedroom covered in them. He really liked the surprise. He surprised me with an eternity ring. For dessert we ate some of our wedding cake and shared a bottle of wine. It wasn't the fanciest anniversary, but it we made it special and memorable.

Here are a few photos. We had a lovely day.

Well today is my first wedding anniversary! My husband and I will be together for 5 years come April next year. It's cliche, but it feels like just yesterday we were married, this year has gone so very fast.

After all this time together, we are still learning and growing as a couple. We've had a few really rough patches though, Christmas time last year my husband was diagnosed with meningitis. We went to hospital early December as my husband had a migraine for almost a week. He was vomiting and could barely eat or drink. I decided I'd had enough watching him suffer and urged him to hospital. After a full day of waiting and testing (including a rather painful lumbar puncture), he was diagnosed with meningitis. They were still undecided whether it was bacterial or viral so they just put him on all the antibiotics just to be on the safe side. I remember seeing him so helpless and lethargic and worried myself sick about him. I had a dr and head nurse warn me that I'd it was bacterial they'd have to quarantine the whole family in hospital for at least 2 weeks (over Christmas). I was set in panic and fear that my husband would die as bacterial meningitis can be fatal. They escalated the situation and quarantined him, making visitors wear face masks, gloves, hairnets, foot covers and aprons. They were worried he might get ill from outside germs which could make him even worse.

Thankfully, this story has a very happy ending. After almost 2 weeks in hospital my husband came home. He was quite weak for the first few days, but managed to make a full recovery. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas gift. A healthy husband, and our family together again.

Then we fast forward to June, where I was told I needed surgery. I had been struggling with back and muscle issues since my gorgeous babies literally destroyed my core. I had been fine working with physio's and plotting along, until I was pulled aside and told things were getting worse. So bad that if I stayed on the course I'd be in a wheelchair or need serious walking aide within 5-10 years. I'd not be able to hold my children, run in the park or function normally. This really shook us all up, and I was in denial for quite a while. I finally agreed to see the surgeon and he urged me to consider a tummy tuck and breast reduction and assured me it would make things a lot easier. This didn't come cheap, even after private health insurance and also Australia's Medicare plan. We had to have surgery, so we had to come up with the money. Thankfully we had fantastic family support and were able to go ahead.

Fast forward to the day of the operation.... I don't think I could've gone through with it if my husband wasn't by my side. He was all the support I needed getting into the surgery. And when I woke up he was there, whatever time of day or night, he was there to listen. He waited on my hand and foot when I got home. Never got frustrated with my whining, never complained about cooking and cleaning. Just simply did anything he could do to make me feel comfortable. And he has been so supportive since then too. I am only around 10 weeks post op now, so things are still hard. But he is always there, with a listening ear and a kind encouraging word, to keep me on the positive path.

My husband has been by my side, through good and bad, sickness and health, through fat and thin. I couldn't ask for anyone else, there isn't anyone who could ever replace him. He is my soul mate, my best friend and I am so proud to be his wife.

Happy Anniversary my Love!

Hello to any readers out there! Just wanted to let you know I've added an 'Email Update' option if you wanted to receive email updates. If you have a Google+ account you can 'follow'.

Remember to let me know if your reading. Send a comment, tick a box or share a post! I want to hear if I'm being helpful, or if I am missing the mark. Your feedback is important!

Thank you all!

Nya! =(^_^)= いってらしゃい！

Hi Again,
Well as I was trying to avoid this post, at least it isn't in the FIRST post right? =(^.^)=
Why am I blogging? Well, I had this wonderful idea to start up Neko Mama when I just simply couldn't get a little tune out of my head. I'm also very aware of several other blogs which made me think, "I should do that!" I think I have something to share with the world, and if this is where I start, than so be it!
I love to cook, so I want to share recipes, creations, Bento, Charaben (kyaraben) and anything else food related.
I love Lolita fashion, so I wanted to share (more specifically for Australians) my 'off-brand' loli finds and hopefully in the not-too-far-off future, maybe even tutorials and patterns to make your own things!
I love my children, so I wanted to share activities, crafts, nifty hints and tips to make being a mother more fun! Because lets face it, being a mother is very hard work!
I love my husband! But I don't know how I can translate that to helping you all out. Maybe I could share some bedroom techniques? (Oooooooops.... maybe too naughty for here!) Maybe I can share my housework and organisational techniques?
I love Japan, so lets share our learning Japanese experience. I have a few tools to help me learn the language I want to share and give a review about.
I love Technology, Games and Anime! I can share my recent anime series, what i'm playing, what we're playing (my husband and I love to game together!). You know, fun things like that.

So, I feel I have just cause to open a successful blog. Hopefully my ramblings amuse somebody, as I enjoy reading other peoples point of view and unique aspect on the world.

Again, let me know if your out there!

Nya! =(^_^)=   いってらしゃい！

I always find these first posts on blogs very, tedious. Because you see, it is hard to know if anyone in that entire webspace of ours will actually read it. You spend a very large amount of time planning out your brand new blog, choosing your templates, colors, fonts, favicons even. Then you have to actually use the thing.
So, the inevitable and unavoidable first post comes about. Mostly in my previous blogs i've set out a very long and drawn out, "Welcome to my blog, I hope to do XYZ. I'm excited..." you get the picture. And then after a while, even a few more posts in, you realise that nobody ever goes back to that first post to read it. Nobody looks at the first post to get your introduction.

So this time, I'm not welcoming anyone, i'm not introducing myself. It's just going to be here. As the first post. And, if you happen to read this, let me know. Doesn't have to be anything intelligent or quirky. Just a "Hey! I read your first post!" would suffice.


Well I'll let this post end. And contemplate what I'm going to do with this new blog of mine...

Nya! =(^_^)=   いってらしゃい！