I Need Another Baby

Just found these pics of nurserys.

Are they too gorgeous for words or what? I snagged these pics from pewter + sage . So makes me want to have another baby. I guess I'll be waiting for grandkiddies but since my oldest is only 16 I'm kind of hoping I'll have a long wait. But when that day finally comes that kid is going to be spoilt rotten!! I just don't know which look to choose....

Monogram Madness

Living in Australia is great. It is a really nice place to live and I've always felt fortunate to be born here. We have a pretty good health system and welfare system and a pretty decent standard of living. It has its low points but on the whole I'd rather live here than Iraq.

But I have (not so) secretly been harbouring an obsession with all things American my whole life. The introduction of this thing called the Internet has only served to deepen my addiction. Now I don't just have TV to get information from. But reading other peoples blogs has led me into a whole new territory.

Before I started reading blogs I didn't even know what a preppy was. Gossip Girl is sending my head into a spin. Do people really live like that? I'm coveting head bands, park avenue apartments, anything J Crew. FAO Schwarz, Central Park, dorm rooms, pep rallys are making me salivate. How did I ever get by without having anything monogrammed?

These kind of things just don't really exist here in Australia. I'm sure somewhere in Aus someone has a headband. But its just not the same. I was sitting here wondering if the sale of a kidney would get me a plane ticket over there then it struck me like a brick in the head. We live in the Internet age. We live in an age where we can order anything from anywhere! Yes I know I'm a little slow but better late than never right?

Then I saw it. Jen from A Girl in Pearls and a Boy with Toys has posted a pic of a tote bag from L.L. Bean that her soon-to-be-husband had bought her.

This is it. So I ordered it! I got it with the black trim and I had it monogrammed!!! My first monogrammed item. I feel like I'm going to cry....

I'm so excited even though it will take 2-4 weeks to get here but when it does I will post a pic of it with my very own initials on it.

In the meantime I am going to monogram everything I own.

Jen also got these as a gift from her bridesmaids.

Aren't they too too adorable? I guess I'll be needing a cute passport cover soon too because I'm going to get to America or die trying. You can live on one kidney right?

Photoshop will be the Death of Me

Am I the only one in the world who finds it hard to use Photoshop? I thought I would put some pics of our trip to Granite Island on here but I wanted to blur the kids faces first. I think I'm going to have a stroke just trying to figure it out. Any tips would be great!

Sincere apologies

I'd like to apologise for any bad behaviour I may have exhibited in the last few days. I didn't get any more than 3 hours of sleep a night for the last week and I think I went a little crazy. If I offended anyone by my rantings and ravings I sincerely apologise.



I like nice. It's why I read blogs. If everyone turned mean and nasty I wouldn't come here anymore. I just don't want anyone to have to pretend their own opinions don't exist just to make everyone else happy. It stems from my insecurities of constantly letting people treat me like a doormat.



15 years ago I was in a check out line in a grocery store. This woman came up, stood right in front of me and started putting groceries on the conveyor belt. In these situations I never say anything but it always makes me mad and I stew about it for days so at this particular time I decided to be assertive and not let her get away with it. So I very politely said 'Excuse me, I think I was here first'. She turned around and very snappily said 'Well actually I was here first. This is my stuff'. She pointed at some items that were on the end of the belt that I hadn't even noticed. I was absolutely mortified. I embarrassingly apologised and stood there red faced hoping the world would open up and swallow me whole. I have not said a single word to anyone who I think has pushed in front of me since, even those who I know for absolute sure weren't there before me. In 15 years! I know, I'm a total coward.



My sister is worse though. She has way more friends than me. I know this because she is constantly rubbing it in my face as though this little fact somehow makes her better than me. But the reason she has more friends is that she has 'Please walk all over me' tattooed on her forehead (figuratively not literally although sometimes I wonder).



I am a good friend. I will listen to you cry about your latest break up. I will help you move even if its from the middle of nowhere to a 5th floor apartment. I will babysit your kids. I will invite you to all my parties and not ever expect a gift. I will lend you money. I will pick you up when your car has broken down or run out of petrol. I will do all these things for you but if you are never there for me when I need you, I will cut you from my life. I have better things to do than constantly be running around after selfish ungrateful prats who don't appreciate me.



My sister is the exact opposite. Her 'friends' are a bunch of users but she will never stop being friends with these people because she wants (needs!) the friend count on her Face Book page to be a higher number than mine. She has one friend who invites her shopping all the time....but only when she needs to purchase a large item (my sister owns a van and she does not). She has another friend who has moved houses 5 times in the last 2 years. Of course my sister has done all the heavy lifting each time but her friend was unavailable to help her out when she moved last year. She looks after the children of another friend on a regular basis but has never had the favour returned. Another of her friends invites her to all her parties...the ones where you have to buy something that is. Tupperware parties, lingerie parties, kids birthday parties, yes. New Years Eve parties and dinner parties, no.



And how do I know all this? Because everytime I see her she bitches and moans about the latest hurtful thing they've done. I'm not sure if she enjoys being a doormat or if she just likes to whinge. Maybe her need to be surrounded by people is greater than her need for a nice stress free life. Who knows? But these people have been invited over to dinner numerous times. I've never been invited once. She makes time to go out and do things with these people. I've never received an invitation although I've been rejected many times. She'll buy things for their kids, never mine. I think I might have some more cutting to do :)

It's Done!

Well I did it! I spent 5 hours last night and 4 hours tonight going through the backlog of blogs that I had not read yet and I am finally caught up. You people have to stop writing such amazing stuff. I can't keep up!

But it did get me thinking about replying to comments on my posts. My followers, being the absolutely brilliant and thought provoking writers that they are, often leave comments that I would like to reply to purely because they made me think. But I wasn't sure how I should go about it. I noticed that some people reply to their comments in their own comments section but I thought I have so much trouble keeping up with the original posts, I never go back and check to see if the blog owner actually wrote a reply to my comment so I'm guessing most of you don't either so then you wouldn't see it. Then I thought about posting a reply on your actual blog pages but it seems silly to reply to a comment you made on my blog by putting a comment on your blog about my post. Nobody would understand what I was talking about. So I am just going to write any comments I feel I need to share at the end of my actual posts. I figure you must be receiving my posts to be able to comment in the first place so then you'll actually see my replies.

Did any of that make sense to you at all? I'm sorry, I haven't been sleeping much lately and I'm not even making sense to myself.

Erin - I love you too! Don't get me started on the religious stuff. People act like I'm some sort of freak because I'm not religious. It matters not that I don't look down on them for being religious but they seem to think its ok to condemn me for my beliefs. Must be that good old Christian attitude I hear so much about. Be religious, don't be religious, its all good to me. I don't condemn although apparently I'm going to this thing they call hell. I just don't feel very religious when everyday I see children dying, suffering, being physically and sexually abused, being kept for 18 years in a backyard within a backyard (what the??) Thats just me.

4evernite - I was actually quite flattered when you said I was above you in higher education and self dependence because that is everything I crave to be. I let things hold me back too though. I hold on to certain horrible things from my past which causes me to live in fear in certain situations. Its not good and I'm trying to overcome it. I recently bought a book called The Essential Laws of Fearless Living but I'm too afraid to read it. Ha ha. That last part was actually a joke, I just haven't got around to reading it because I've been reading all these fabulous blogs!

There's No-One Like Me....Or Is There?

I feel very out of place where I live. I bought a house here because my husband and I were just starting out and it was very cheap. The plan was to buy this house, fix it up then move on. Eighteen months later we were divorced and I was stuck with a house that I am unable to renovate because when I agreed to fix up the house I really expected that he would do the work and I would stand around holding things. With the way house prices have gone up in the last 7 years and with the way things around here have deteriorated (pool collapsed, rumpus room burnt down etc) I am now stuck here with a dodgy hammer and some You Tube vids trying not to kill myself while dangling from a ladder with a chainsaw (that actually happened...I'm not even kidding).

But I digress...

While those are all stories in themselves (quite a few actually), I actually wanted to talk about why I feel out of place here.

I haved lived here (or in areas surrounding here) for 14 years now and I am still yet to meet anyone who is even vaguely like me. For starters there are an awful lot of elderly people. There seems to be a new old age home being built every day. All the women want to do is talk about their medical ailments and put their pensions into the pokie (slot) machines. All the elderly men spend their day in the pub, drinking beer and putting their pensions into the pokies. I don't drink or gamble and I like to keep my medical problems to myself so score 0 for having anything in common with them.

Then we have the bogans whose uniform is tight black jeans, flannelette shirt and of course, your standard goatee. While flannelette shirts are comfy in bed at night, I can't grow enough facial hair for a small moustache let alone a full blown goatee. I also don't like car parts on my lawn or sitting on a ratty old sofa on my front porch making lewd comments to everyone who walks past wearing a skirt. I also have all of my own teeth. So score 0 on the compatibility scale.

Then we have the young mums. Now of course not all young mums are the same. I'm sure plenty work or go to school and they look after their children just fine. I just haven't seen any around here. Now we do have kids in common. Unfortunately I'm not too fond of dropping my kids off to anyone who will take them while I dress like a whore and go clubbing and cracking onto other people's boyfriends. Its just not me. Compatibility score : 0

We also have a lot of single mums around here. I am a single mum. You would think this would be the perfect category for me. And believe me I have tried to get along with this crowd. But all they want to do is talk about their kids and smoke. 'So read any good books lately?' 'No but little Johnny read his first book the other day. The Little Engine That Could. Isn't that just precious?' ** Puff puff ** How about movies? 'No but we were approached by a talent scout the other day that said Little Johnny was just born to be in the movies. He gets his looks from me. Isn't he adorable?' ** Puff puff ** Any prospect of anything exciting happening to you at all in the foreseeable future? 'No, its all about Little Johnny and what Little Johnny wants. I have absolutely no bloody identity of my own!!!!' ** Puff puff ** Grrrr.... I love my kids like crazy but I also like when they are at school and I have hobbies and other interests to fill up my life. And I don't want to bore other people with the little things that my kids do that are too adorable to me but aren't really of any interest to other people. And I don't smoke so there's another zero.

Lastly, we have the mothers of my kids friends. My kids go to private school in the next suburb over and most of the mothers live there. For some reason they think their suburb is Beverly Hills and my suburb is Beirut. The houses there are only around $50,000 more than mine but they don't have any back yards. They are all squished in there on top of each other. I like my big backyard even though I am often too busy to mow the lawn. My kids like the big backyard too. They earn about the same as me but I don't spend my money on big flashy things. I don't have a credit card, I don't hire purchase anything. I like to go to sleep at night feeling good that I am not in debt. They are in it up to their eyeballs with the house and the school and the new cars and their kids walking around with the latest mobile phones. It's all a big charade...I know it, they know it. One of them loses their job and they lose the lot. But they look down their nose at me because my car isn't as new as theirs or I didn't go as far away on my last holiday. One of these woman (that I know of, there are probably more) has her 9 and 10 year old daughters walk home by themselves everyday to an empty house. How do I know this? Because they make it known to everyone within earshot. One actually rang me yesterday and asked if she could come to my house after school because she was going to be alone in the house and was scared. She did this on a mobile phone in front of the school with untold amounts of people walking past her. I only hope that a paedophile doesn't walk within earshot and follow her home one day. I might not have a fancy car or a house in their suburb but I pick my kids up from school everyday and I'm able to answer the phone without screening for debt collectors. So obviously I have nothing in common with them either.

I used to think that there was no-one like me. Until I started reading blogs. I no longer feel alone. There are several blogs that I read that make me think 'why are you writing about my life/the way I feel/what happened to me/what I think and believe?' I hope that I can meet some of them in person one day so I'll finally get to know what it feels like to understand someone and have them understand me. I just hope that if I do meet them, I don't end up disliking them because they're too much like me. What would that say about me????

How Rude!

I received a rather interesting e-mail today which took me aback somewhat. I wanted to talk about it here so I could get someone else's opinion about which one of us was being rude. Feel free to let me know even if you think it was me.

Here's the story:

I e-mailed a few football teams to see if they had a cheerleading squad. All I wrote was 'Hi. I'm wondering if your team has a cheerleading squad'. I don't know if that's rude or not but I believe in keeping it short and simple. Nobody seemed to mind. They just gave me a simple answer to my simple question, either saying yes or no. Some said no and asked if I was interested in starting one up. Everyone was polite and friendly as I would expect them to be. After all, they have published their e-mail addresses on the internet for the sole purpose of being contacted.

Then I received a reply this afternoon that was a little different. This is it:

While I applaud the concise structure of your email, it does not lend itself to being particularly informative. I have no doubts there will be countless other recipients that you have approached who may be able to assist you in your endevours, but will ultimately baulk at the idea of volunteering relevant information to an unknown party who is unwilling to share their own.At very least, can I suggest the addition of information to your email that addresses the obvious question of:-Are you a cheerleader looking to join a squad, or part of a cheerleading squad looking for a team? What exactly are you offering/asking of us? In any case, whilst we have a number of teams in our club, I do not believe we are currently looking for a cheerleading squad. Our supporters are a very entertaining and vocal crowd, and are sufficient for our present needs as far as I am aware. While a simple "yes" or "no" response would have been an easier method of fielding your query, I hope my taking the time to reply to this email and providing you with some constructive criticism has been helpful, and not in vain.

What??? For starters I'm not offering him anything nor asking anything of him other than the simple question of whether or not his team has a cheerleading squad. But instead of just answering the question (like everyone else did) he felt the need to take time out of his busy schedule to give me some 'constructive criticism'. I am so glad that he felt the need to analyse my e-mail writing skills and pass on his sage wisdom to me.

And exactly what information was he expecting me to give him? I pretty much summed up what I wanted to know in the one sentence. I wasn't asking him for his tax returns or his medical records. I didn't realise that the information regarding the existence or non-existence of a cheerleading squad was so confidential that I would have to provide all my details so he would know exactly who he was divulging this secret information to.

Maybe he was trying to be helpful. Maybe I'm just reading it wrong and I'm totally out of line for my rant. Maybe I'm just PMS-ing and overreacting. What do you think? Am I over reacting or is this guy a pompous jackass?

Skank update

I really enjoyed reading your comments about the definition of a skank and it made me think about how many times I say it without meaning to be malicious. Skank is my word to use when I am not quite being nasty. Think about it as opposed to the word slut. 'She's such a skank'. 'She's such a slut'. Slut sounds way worse to me than skank. And sometimes I say skank in a playful way like 'Oh you're such a skank' or when I start to get too many split ends and am way over due for a haircut I'll say 'Oh my hair is getting so skanky'. I guess it's all in the tone....

So why am I bringing this all up again? Because there was another article about it today. Apparently the blogger called the model a "psychotic, lying, whoring ... skank" which is much worse than what I had been lead to believe. But now the blogger is suing Google for releasing her name! Google was forced to by the courts but, as 4evernite says, why have the anonymous option if the anonymity part of it doesn't work?

I thought the Blogger put forward some very good points but my favourite part was when the model's lawyers said 'If we had thought for a minute that the Google case would have brought more attention to the anonymous blogger's site, we never would have started it.' Yeah right.....

A Skank By Any Other Name

Most of you have probably already heard about the model who sued Google for the right to know the identity of an anonymous blogger who called her a skank...and won!

Read the article here

She wants to know the bloggers name so she can sue them. This got me thinking....

First I tried to remember how many people I have called a skank either in my posts or in comments on other people's posts. Did I name names? Was it an individual or did I refer to a group of people as skanks? If it was a group of people, could they possibly start a class action against me????

Then I started to think about what this means for bloggers in general. Obviously you're anonymity cannot be guaranteed for a start. What exactly can we and can we not say? If calling someone a skank is crossing the line, what isn't? Isn't skankiness in the eye of the beholder? Or is there an actual definition for it?

Then I started to think about what the court case would actually be like. The blogger would have to prove that the model is a skank. I would love to be in that courtroom for that argument. Dictionary.com defines skank as:

1. A rhythmic dance performed to reggae or ska music, characterized by bending forward, raising the knees, and extending the hands.
2. Disgusting or vulgar matter; filth.
3. One who is disgustingly foul or filthy and often considered sexually promiscuous. Used especially of a woman or girl.//-->

So according to this definition, they have to prove she is either a filthy slut or a dance!

I think we all have our own definition as to what a skank really is. I, for one, think it's pretty skanky when someone flirts outrageously with someone else's boyfriend/husband right in front of them. Other people would not reconcile this with skankiness.

What is your definition of skankiness? And do you ever worry that you're crossing the line with your posts?

What Customer Service?

Whatever happened to customer service? I've noticed the steady decline of professionalism for a while now but today really confirmed what I already knew.

First we went to the fabric store. They have set this thing up where the line for the checkout kind of wraps around the two checkouts and nobody is ever sure where to go. The check out furthest away had a girl serving someone else and the check out closest to me had a sales assistant yakking on the phone (surprise!). I didn't want to go around and stand by the one furthest away in case the one closest stopped talking on the phone and served the person behind me so I stood by the sign and waited to see which one would want to take my money first. Not surprisingly, the one who wasn't on the phone opened up first. She yelled across the room at me to go around to the end of her counter in a crabby tone that suggested maybe I was the one with the lower IQ. She scanned my items while constantly scanning the room for more interesting people. So busy was she looking for people who were not me, she didn't even notice when I handed her my money. I just stood there wondering how long it would take for her to notice. I got the feeling that I would have warranted more attention if I'd had a penis. Don't you just love women like that?

Then it was off to the bank. First I went to the teller who told me I'd have to go to the desk to do my transaction. So off to the desk I go to be told I would have to put money into my debit card account in order to complete the transaction. So back to the teller I go, put my money in and return to the desk. Oops, the debit card isn't working; can I go back to the teller, get my money out of the debit card account and into my chequing account? Sure, why not? I only have a life to live, what is that worth these days anyway? So off to the teller again and back to the desk again. Ah relief, it is finally done.

Then to the hardware store where once again it seems as though nobody wants to take my money. Of course only one check out is open and the person in front needs a price check. Can't these people check that there are tags on the product before schlepping it down to the front??? But wait, what is that over there? Is it a check out complete with sales assistant who doesn't seem to be doing anything? No, it's not because this sales assistant is actually doing something....she is gossiping very loudly with another sales assistant who is also not doing anything besides gossiping about her weekend. Given the choice between being served and going home or hearing about some teenagers drunken slutty weekend, I think I'll pick the former. Especially since I've been towing all 4 kids around with me this entire time and they are starting to grate on my nerves. And they also don't want to hear how the sales assistant spent the weekend with her legs wrapped around her head, puking into her own hair...nor do I want them to hear it.

But wait, there's more. I had to pick up a parcel from the post office. I walked in and it was totally empty. I can't tell you what a rare occurence this is. I am beaming from ear to ear at the thought of being served straight away. But then I spot them. The gaggle of hens laughing it up out the back. One looks at me and all of a sudden her face turns into a haggard scowl. I have obviously ruined her whole life by my very existence in that room at that moment. She drags her feet (and her knuckles) over to me, chomping hard on her chewing gum as though they have just sent her down the Green Mile. I politely ask for my parcel and she gives it to me as though she has just done the biggest favour in the world for me and I might have to give her a kidney one day in order to repay her.

I then do the best thing I could have done and go home. Whatever happened to a smile? Whatever happened to helpfulness? Whatever happened to taking pride in your work? I don't know but I miss it and I wish it would come back. Or else I might have to start running errands with hand grenades....

Gross!

Mr 6 is constantly trying to get out of eating his dinner. He has room for lollies, chips and cake but develops allergies when it comes to vegetables. Every night it's a different excuse - from 'the potato is too lumpy/smooth' to 'I don't like green'. But tonight's excuse take's the cake.

Mr 6 : I'm really sorry I couldn't eat all my dinner tonight but Miss 9 farted.

Charming....

Highs Of The Day

relaxing

looking at property in New York City that I'll never be able to afford

Lows of the Day

my shift button not working properly

looking at property in New York City that I'll never be able to afford

Photo source

Highs & Lows

Highs of the Day

beautiful weather

beef and black bean stir fry for dinner

clothes shopping with my girls

singing until I lost my voice

Lows of the Day

Miss 11 thinking I am too inept to take a bath without supervision

the cost of the shopping trip

Idiot of the Day

today's award goes to *drumroll* ME! Our state banned plastic bags at the start of May and I still forget to take bags with me to the store. I refuse to keep buying them so I have to pile all my groceries back into the trolley then put them loose into the boot then take it all out again when i get home....stupid!

Wild Weather

Today has been such a crazy day. It was the first warm day in quite a while. It was 26 degrees after a lot of 16's and 17's. I was loving it. The car windows were down, warm breezes were blowing my hair in my face...the smell of spring was in the air. And now, just a few hours later, I am lying in bed listening to the wind and the rain rage on outside. Such extremes. Oh well, spring will come sooner or later so I think I'll enjoy the rain while its here. I just hope the roof doesn't blow off the shed :)

On a different note, I discovered what my daughter really thinks of me today when she became hysterical after I wouldn't answer her through the bathroom door. She thought I was still in the bath but I had snuck into my bedroom for some peace and quiet. When she called out to me and I didn't answer she became convinced I had fallen asleep in the tub and drowned. Yes, my daughter thinks I am so old and tired that I am unable to keep myself from accidently drowning. How nice...

Pig of a Day

Deep down I knew this was going to happen. I have kept myself in total denial and convinced myself that this was something that wasn't going to come anywhere near my family. But today it happened. My kids came home with a note from school informing us that a 5 year old child had come down with swine flu! Being the total hypochondriac that I am, I have already convinced myself that my throat feels scratchy and my son's head feels clammy. I am kicking myself that I haven't started treating my body better like I keep saying I'm going to. The way I am right now, if I were to get swine flu I will surely die. My body is just not healthy enough to take on such an illness. And what about my poor babies??? I am a nervous wreck.

There's been quite a few deaths from swine flu in this state. Everytime someone dies they say they had underlying health issues. Who doesn't have an underlying health issue? You can say that about anyone really. What if I had an infection from an ingrown toenail? The news could say that was an underlying health issue. Mild asthma? Scoliosis? They don't ever say what the actual underlying health issue was. It could be something mild for all I know.

I don't know who the child is but I'll keep my fingers crossed that they only get a mild case...and that they don't have an underlying health issue!

Lost In Translation

I try so hard to like cooking. I really want to be a good cook. But I'm lousy at it, I can't make anything decent and the other day I actually felt rage brewing inside me when I realised I'd have to make dinner (I know, I know, I need help...any information on self help groups for people with kitchen rage would be greatly appreciated).



Photo source


The thing I hate most about it is when I can't figure out what the ingredients are. This is usually because its an American recipe and we Australians have different words for different things.





Summer from Sublime Happiness (a very cute and funny blog that you should definitely check out) wrote about buying a bacon and egg biscuit from Macca's. In Australia, a biscuit is a cookie like thing, like an Oreo (an Oreo is the only cookie I can think of that American's would know). I can't imagine sticking bacon, egg and cheese in between 2 cookies so I'm thinking that a biscuit means something else over there. I've also heard in an American TV show before about sopping up gravy with biscuits and at the time I thought it sounded really disgusting.





So I asked Summer to explain what it was. She told me and it sounded yummy so I looked on the internet for recipes thinking I could try to make my own. I was going to brave the kitchen, make these biscuit things that nobody I know has ever eaten before and I was going to take lots of pictures to put on this blog so everybody would be really proud that I managed to bake such good looking and delicious biscuits. Of course by now you have probably realised that it didn't quite work out that way since I am obviously being sarcastic.





The first step in the recipe says to sift all the dry ingredients together. That doesn't sound at all hard except they don't tell you what the dry ingredients are!





Next it says to add the shortening. WTH? If we have shortening here, I have never heard of it. I don't know if we call it something else or if it is called shortening here and I've just been walking past it in the supermarket every week for my entire life, totally oblivious to its existence.





The next step is to add the buttermilk. Yes I have heard of buttermilk I'm just not sure where to get it from. Is it with the normal milk? Is this another item that has not crossed my radar?

This is just all too hard. The kitchen will not be getting a visit from me today...

COAO???

I still can't think of what COAO could possibly mean. Usually when I forget something it would have popped back into my head by now but this one hasn't. I can't for the life of me figure out what it stands for and its driving me nuts. Does anyone have any guesses?

P.S The pic has nothing to do with this post. It just pleases me to look at it ;P

Photo source

Conversations With A 6 Year Old

Last night Mr 6 came and jumped on my bed.

Mr 6: I think I have eczema

Me : You don't have eczema

Mr 6: But B has eczema

Me : That's because B's dad has eczema. Your parents don't have eczema.

Mr 6 : Well what do you have then?

Me : I don't have anything. I'm perfectly fine.

Mr 6 : Then what caused your brain damage?

I sincerely hope he was talking about my recent spate of headaches :)

Early Onset Alzheimers

I thought I would never ever run out of things to blog about. My mind is constantly running, I am always hearing about new and wonderful things on the tv and in other blogs, I get flashbacks of things that have happened to me....lots of stuff to talk about right? I think of so many things that I started to write ideas in my PDA so that when it came time to actually sit in front of the computer I would remember them and be able to regale you all with my witty anecdotes.

Here is a sample of my list of ideas:

books - classic
editing comments
people mumbling
naughty kids (COAO)

What the??? I don't know what any of this means. Why do I write these things down and assume I'll remember what they were about? I know I have no memory left. Just another reason to pine for the good old days when I still had half a brain....aahhh good times. I guess I'll have to be more specific in the future :)

Highs of the Day

being able to listen to music again without my head hurting

pizza from Bonanza...yum

vienetta ice cream for dessert

a warm heater on a cold day

Miss 9 losing her football game but having fun anyway

Lows of the Day

there are none, I had a very nice day, boring but nice

Idiot of the Day

Today's award goes to another 4wd (SUV) driver. Yes you, man with the shaggy beard who went to turn left onto a huge divided road only to turn right at the last minute, cutting off several frightened and bewildered motorists.

I can only imagine that seeing the cops pulled over on the side of the road on your left is what caused you to quickly take off to the right. I don't know if you have outstanding warrants or if you just had something naughty in your car but what you did was extremely dangerous and freaked people out therefore you are my Idiot of the Day!

Need Your Help

I was having a conversation today and I had one of those moments when you know what you're thinking but can't really think of the proper words (duh!) so I was hoping you could help.

What would you call a woman who was smart, funny, beautiful, giving, had a great personality, job, basically someone who has it all. I can't think of the word.

Stress is a 4 letter word

I am feeling so much better today and I think I have all of your kind words to thank for it. So thank you all for curing me :)

I think it did probably have a lot to do with stress. Most people think that stress is caused by having too many things to do but it can even be caused by not having enough to do or by the gap between how your life is and how you want it to be. I'm constantly walking around with my jaw clenched so its not surprising that my body said 'enough!' So this morning I tried to meditate...

I've never been into meditation because it is of my understanding that you are supposed to be able to clear your mind of everything. This seems an impossible task as my mind is constantly racing even when I'm asleep. However, for the good of my mental health, I decided to give it a shot.

I decided to do it outside because I wanted to be at one with nature and there were no kids there. Unfortunately the first thing I had to do was go back inside and get a blanket because there wasn't one dry spot to sit. So then I sat on my blanket, crossed my legs, closed my eyes and began thinking peaceful thoughts. Or tried to. 'Where did I put the keys when I got home? I have to remember to ring those rip off merchants at the bank. Mr 16 better be at school. What is that smell? I don't think I have anything for dinner tonight. Did that bastard next door just hit my fence with his whipper snipper?????' Then I thought that maybe this was what all that ohmming was supposed to be about. Maybe it helped to drown out the racing thoughts. So I started ohmming my little heart out. Ohmmm ohmmm ohmmm, its raining! And the wet grass has seeped through the blanket and my butt is wet. So much for peaceful meditation.

So I came inside, lay on my bed and decided to try a relaxation technique that I read about in a time management book a few years ago. You're supposed to take deep breaths and imagine blue air going into your mouth and down into your belly. I imagine pink because its my favourite colour. I think blue is supposed to calm you but my mind does what it wants. Anyway, then when you're feeling calm you're supposed to imagine getting into an elevator and pushing the button to go down. You count backwards from 10 and when you get to 1 the door opens to your happy place. You're supposed to take care of your problems while you're there, get back into the elevator, count back up and open your eyes when the door opens. However I tend to linger in my happy place. When my elevator doors open, I am in my dream house (that I will build one day!). The floor to ceiling windows are open (don't ask me how, they just are) and a beautiful breeze is blowing the white sheer curtains in a sexy music video clip kind of way. Its 21 degrees (celcius for you American readers, I am not freezing in my happy place :) The room is empty except for a black recliner in the middle of the room and Kiefer Sutherland is sitting in it. Hmmmmm! Now that beats meditating in soggy grass anyday...

Where is your imaginary happy place?

Reasons I Love Bloggers

They cheer you up when you're feeling down

You know you're never alone because no matter what crazy thing is happening to you, its happened to at least one other blogger

I get to find out about products, movies, websites etc that I may never have known about had I not clicked on a link from their blog

They make me laugh (and cry!)

I get to see how other people live

I get to see other parts of the world

Reasons I Hate Bloggers

They are always showing yummy food and recipes that are just too tempting for someone who is supposed to be shedding a few kilo's

They make me feel guilty by jamming so much into their days when I can hardly muster the motivation to get out of bed some days

Idiot Of The Day

The idiot of the day award goes to the woman in the grey Pajero with the dyed blonde hair who not only thought that it was a great idea to double park out the front of the school but also thought it would be just super to let her kids get out of the car on the road side. Its not a good idea to let your kids get out on the road side as it is but to do it while you're already covering half the road is just downright dangerous so congratulations....you're a bloody idiot!

Hit with a Brick!

I truly believe that the universe is constantly pointing us in the right direction with gentle taps on the shoulder. I also believe if you don't listen to the gentle taps, it will hit you in the head with a brick!

I have been incredibly lazy! No beating around the bush here. No excuses. I have been just plain lazy. I have a to do list a mile long but lately I have not had the motivation to even look at it. The universe gently tapped me on the shoulder; scales were creeping up, to do list was getting longer, kids were yelling at me because I didn't fill out a form for after school activities, skin was getting spotty from too many take aways and not enough home cooking. But did I listen to these subtle signs? Of course not! I waited for the brick...

The brick hit me on Monday. I had the worst headache I've ever had in my life. Tuesday was the same, stayed in bed with the light and the tv off. Wednesday didn't get any better. Thursday I went to the doctor who told me to stay in bed with the lights off...duh! When it wasn't gone on Friday, I did the same thing...surely it had to go away soon right?

By Saturday morning I had had enough! I still had the headache but I wasn't staying in bed anymore. I read everyone else's blogs and they were all out having a good time, living life, making memories and I couldn't stand it anymore. That is what I should've been doing before I got hit with the brick. So that's what I'm going to do now, headache or no headache.

I am going to pay attention to the universe and listen to what it is telling me because I don't want to know what it will hit me with next!

So what about you? Are you ignoring the gentle taps or have you already been hit with the brick? And has anyone ever had a headache with stabbing pains for this long? Any advice on how to get rid of it would be greatly appreciated...

Everything Turns Out OK In The End

As you may remember Mr 16 and I were butting heads about his grades and his educational future. After reading a post from Kim (who has a fantastic blog that I would encourage you all to read) I realised that maybe he just wasn't a university person. Not everybody is of course so last night I sat down with him and we talked about what he really wanted. We came up with several options including staying where he was and improving his grades, going to TAFE, changing to a different school altogether or leaving school and getting a job. He chose leaving school and getting a job. This was upsetting to me but I had told him I would support him in any decision and I meant it.

One of the rules of that option was that he couldn't leave school until he got a job first. So today he went to school. His class went to a Science & Engineering Careers Expo (which I believe is the only reason he even went to school). Something must have happened there because he came home and told me he wanted to stay at school and he wanted to improve his grades! I am extremely pleased. I guess everything works out in the end.

I'm Back

Sorry for my absence. I have spent the last week in bed with the weirdest, most horrible migraine I have ever had. Deep throbbing pain with sharp stabbing pains as well. Ouch! It was extremely painful. I managed to comment on a few people's blogs before the computer screen caused me too much pain but I couldn't bring myself to write my own. I took a painkiller this morning and slept all day and now I feel much better. I am so glad my kids all go to school!

They are real sweethearts when I am unwell. They give me lots of hugs and kisses and my daughters send me 'I love you so much' text messages.

There's not much to blog about when you've just been asleep all day so I'll leave you with this:

Highs of the Day

Sweet text messages from Miss 11 and Miss 9

Cuddles from Mr 6

Mr 16 deciding he wants to stay in school

Lows of the Day

Pain (of course)

Not being able to read or watch TV

Nausea

Miss 9 and Miss 11 are sitting outside the pizza place waiting for our order to be ready. I am sitting in the car watching them so they are safe. They are so adorable in their cute jeans and cuter t-shirts. They are laughing. I can't hear them laughing but I can see that they are and I have heard their laughter so many times that it rings in my ears anyway. They are comfortable and happy, the way I always wanted them to be. To others they are beautiful young future-woman. To me they are 2 and 4. They have chubby cheeks, mischievious grins and they waddle when they walk. They need me to hold their hand while they cross the road and wipe off their milk moustaches before they run off to play. I love who these girls are now and I look forward to knowing the women they will become...but I miss my babies.

Highs of the Day

Bonanza Pizza for dinner...yum!

Harper's Island (even though it doesn't start until 12:15am and Channel 10 thought they should take a break from the show so close to the finale...shame on you channel 10!)

The Office (you're forgiven channel 10)

Gorgeous weather

Realising that my girls are growing up

Lows of the Day

Tripping over everything I come across

My Samsung printer

Shrink wrap (I will rid the world of this horrible product, mark my words!)

The absence of 24 for the second week in a row (Get with the program channel 7)

Realising that my girls are growing up

Fun in the Park

Today I spent 2 hours in the park with a bunch of cheerleaders playing team building and bonding games. They are all aged between 8 and 12 and it was more fun than I thought it was going to be. What lovely children! I took a heap of lovely photos of them all which I would love to put on here but won't for privacy reasons.

They were so well behaved and got along like a house on fire. I am so proud of them..

Highs of the Day

the park

milky way's

a much needed afternoon nap

watching Gilmore Girls

taking photos

Lows of the Day

not being able to find milky way's anywhere

tripping over the computer cord

getting the football stuck in the tree