Parallelalives

It's funny, the parallels you can draw when you read about the daily lives of others. I'm sure I was similtaneously squeezing chin zits with a certain someone the other morning, except I only entertained the thought of smearing toothpaste on mine. No joke, I looked down at that tube of toothpaste after being completely unsatisfied with the lack of pus I tried so hard to force out and thought "I wonder where the idea of putting toothpaste on zits came from, maybe it's got astringent properties. Should I try it? Nah." Then the next day as she was burning biscuits, I was being sidetracked in the yard with Anakin, leaving my energy slice cooking for about twice as long as recommended. Somehow my mixture turned out more moist and I'd packed it into the baking tray thicker than normal so when I finally remembered it, instead of the charcoal I thought I'd be left with it actually turned out all right. Thankfully, coz with all the nuts and dried fruit that go in it and with the price of eggs lately there was like bloody 20 bucks worth of ingredients in it! White tea wouldn't have soothed me if I had have wrecked that slice, takes forever to make, I woulda needed some behaviour meds for that shit.

I reckon I was watching The Factory Girl the same time my Favourite Femme Storyteller was right over the other side of the world too. We both enjoyed it. I've been a fan of Lou Reed so I knew a bit about Edie. Later I found this image of her and I think it's so, so sad. She looks completely lost.

It makes me feel like singing that Velvet Underground song that's so sweet and sad I just cry:

Jesus, Jesus,
Help me find my proper place,
Help me in my weakness,
Coz I'm falling out of grace...

Maybe it was written about her

Oh man since the tennis finished I've had nothing at all to watch on telly. But Wednesday night's going to be my night on the couch starting 9pm. There's a real funny new Aussie show on the ABC called Stupid, Stupid Man, with Bert Newton's son and the chick from playschool and then Cashmere Mafia's got me sucked in and it's all because of the BEAUTIFUL clothes they wear! Especially Lucy Lui's character. I'd cut sick in her wardrobe. Did you see the outfit with the volumous white puffy sleeves and the regimental looking tunic thing she had over the top - oh my God, that was so stunning and her hair was all moulded and kind of flapper. I wish I could find an image to show you.

I had a visit from my little brother today. It was so nice having him hanging out in my kitchen while I cooked up some chili con carne for tea. He told me about the party he had on Saturday and the volcano-effect that occurred when they took the radiator cap off his mates car after tearing up the paddock doing doughies in it. And how crystal clear the creek is at the moment down at our old swimming hole behind Uncle Mick's. He also told me how he actually feared for his safety (not when he was doing donuts in an out of control vehicle but) when the blonde girl he woke up next to the other morning started rambling that in her opinion the Japanese have every right to slaughter as many whales as they like. We agreed that was the most bizzare way to start a getting-to-know-you-conversation and he's going to vow off unsatisfactory sex with random girls and stop drinking so much. Good news - he thinks it's dangerous.

Man I gotta go to bed. Look at the time.

Pay Back.

As you may have noticed that rooster of ours was doing my head in on a regular basis. Yesterday, my friends, was the last straw.

After crowing continually all night and almost giving me a nervous breakdown thinking of our poor suffering neighbours, come morning, I let it out for a roam to try to help shut the thing up!! You know what it did as gratitude? It stalked Anakin from behind as he was happily trotting down the yard and fly kicked him right in the middle of the back! No jokes that thing went in the crockpot and Anakin was eating it about 6 hours later. MWA HA HA HA!! PAY BACK!!!

I'm going to have to change my profile blurb to "I had a chicken in my laundry that turned into a rooster and gave everybody grief on a daily basis and ended up in mah BELLEH!" Who woulda thought I'd go all cave-girl on ya?

Why I Blog?

The question has been thrown out there and handballed over to me by NotGoth so I better just sit here and think about it...

Mmmm well for one thing I favour written communication, it allows me to cogitate on things a little longer (I'm a bit slow witted..). Since the pot-smoking days are long over I'm not much into introspection, but I do enjoy the retelling of personal events and the funny things that happen around here. You know that movie "What Women Want"? Well I'd hate for other people to overhear my internal dialogue -blogging affords me the challenge of trying to take a little of the load of nonsensical dribble that is my inner voice and sorting it into a neat succinct little paragraph that is fairly easy to understand. Like doing a puzzle really, and a reminder that I'm not completely retarded.

Another thing is that I like to think that I'm understood by at least a handful of people. Clearly I'm not one of those cool girls with 3 thousand friends listed on Facebook but I love that I have a little audience who find my life interesting enough to come back and visit over again. That puts a big smile on my face everytime.

Lastly a blog is very satisfying to my aesthetic sensibililities. It all just looks so neat and tidy. Actually I've been trying to change my colour scheme and header background for a while but I just can't do it. I love checking out other peoples layouts, borders, lists and links. It's just so nice, like a glossy coffee table book. Don't you agree?

For this blogging challenge I would like to tag the more frequent Aussie bloggers in my blogroll: Elemental, Vanilla and Kim. I think the rules are that you link to the person that has tagged you and povide links to those three new people you tag. Something like that. Oh and of course LIST 3 REASONS WHY YOU BLOG. Join in if you like, no drama if you don't. ;)

Flashback to July '06

July 18th, 06

A few days later. What a relief!!

Mondaze

Well I haven't done a Monday survey question in a while so here's one. "Fess up. Do you save pictures of blog buddies into a picture folder on your computer?

Yesterday started off typically with a trip to the markets for mangoes, longans, eggs, sticky rice, passionfruit, honey... and then I mixed it up a little bit by meeting with an old school friend who sadly developed delusional schizophrenia after reaching purberty and has suffered socially as a result. We had a good laugh over some lunch. (I think I'm the only one who gets away with teasing her about her phantom pregnancy and setting her straight about facts like sperm only being able to live for a few days, not eight years. And I think she might be the only one I know of to get away with telling people they look haggard from too much sex, with no actual evidence to base her insinuations - not even a bit haggard looking! Ha Ha) We were coincidently joined by two other great old school mates, who were celebrating 13 years of marriage!! So it turned out to be a little high-school reunion. It was good. We were suppose to go for a hit of tennis afterwards but the courts were taken, so we had to take a raincheck.

Izzy's having the day off school as he's got a gnarly cough. Poor boy. Keeping him away from the dairy products is always difficult though. He's a huge milk and cheese fan. He's got dairy farming in his Murgon bloodline, where the babies went straight onto the cows tit.

Went to a Teppanyaki night over at the neighbours on Saturday. I made a cobloaf with a yummy bacon and onion, creamed corn, sourcream, cheese filling. It was toasty and tasty. Others made garlic and chilli prawns, fried rice, fish, an eggplant dish, various kebabs, pullaparts etc. The drinks were a'flowing and we all took turns at donning the apron. It was fun. I love it when big groups of people get together to eat.

Last Wednesday was a bit less traumatising with the schoolkids. Probably because I knew what I was in for! I'm doing a theme on "Colours" with them for ScienceslashTechnologyslashArt. So last week I made up three big tubs of butter icing in each of the primary colours and everybody got to mix up the three secondary colours on top of biscuits and munch them down while filling in their colour wheels. This week they will be looking at printed images through magnifying glasses, discussing Pointillism and giving it a go. Should be good, but they'll probably go "Miss are we going to get fed this lesson? Bring on the food." Our kids have a fruitbreak mid-morning so I'm usually rocking up with a big bagfull of bananas or some coconut for the little poorphan kids anyway.

Better finish for now but will be back at some stage with a pic of Anakin cute as a button in his dancing tutu.

As promised

This is how I do it. All day long. Actually today I'm a bit frantic, I've run out of Green Tea with a wisp of Jasmine and have had to settle for some strange tasting Australian Lemon Myrtle that Greg's Mum brought back from "Vincenzo's" at the "Big Apple" (like the Big Pineapple in Gympie but I think the Big Apple might be in Tazzie? I suppose I should have asked her.) And instead of the dates and brazil nuts today it's a big slab of sweet potato, chicken, capsicum, mozzarella and pine nut pizza I whipped up for a mid morning snack. So much for no cooked food in the morning! The stainless steel teapot is one I picked up at the markets, doesn't look real pretty but keeps the tea nice and hot, and the teacup and saucers is part of a set that my lovely neighbour gave me from her huge inheritance of crockery, silver and glass ware. I even take all this to school when I go! I'm a tea buff. So how do you do it? And no cheating with google images please!!

And this is Anakin's play ground (minus the ladder to get into the cubby which is holding up my minature climbing rose at the moment and his comfy chairs which the boys had put to use up on the mezzanine floor), where he spends not quite so much time as he does in Greg's shed.

Well we're pretty slack with buying Valentines Day gifts around here but I gave Greg something real good that should keep him smiling for at least a couple of days I think... God, I must have been ovulating or something yesterday... I'll spare you..

Anakin's latest skill is throwing and catching a volley ball. He's deadly. And such a bossy boots lately. He throws our shoes down at our feet and sings out: "Come!" He points at which chair he wants you in and yells "Sit!". He sounds like a bloody dog trainer. Except he's gotten a bit too tricky for himself and when he doesn't want to lie down for bed at night he insists he needs a poo and says "Potty. Potty." And it's hard to know whether he's serious or not coz half the time he does and half the time he just wants to run around the house with no pants on for a while longer. Last night we were up and down so much in the end I told him "I don't care if you need a poo or not, you can bloody well do it in your pants!"

Sorry

Spoken at last by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australian.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have changed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country.

Ba-Gark!!

I meant to tell you before now that we picked up some freebie chickens the other day as our one crazy rooster and one lonely chick were just not doing Greg's spacious chicken coop justice. Well we didn't want to be too fussy at the time, coz the bloke was giving them to us for free and all, but I tell ya we ended up with the three fugliest looking chickens around! Chickens do go through this awkward adolescent stage - but nuh, these ones are just plain ugly. And just as these gorky-looking ones came along and made me appreciate my one cute red chubby speckly little henny penny she goes missing!! Greg went to check on them on Saturday night and came back up to the house announcing "It's back". I was like "Oh good!" Thinking he meant the chicken. But this is what he meant:


That big bulge in the snakes guts is where my chicken ended up. And not only are those other ones ugly but they're stupid too! Look at them snuggling up with that snake! Greg had to wake them up and shush them away!!

PS - That's not Greg's spacious chicken coop - that's just the guinea pig cage we are using so the chicks have got somewhere to escape the horny rooster. Greg sacrificed a pair of thongs to the inside of the coop which are permanently being made use of, but we were still worried about those poor young things.

Rip it up me if you like.

I suppose I've alientated all my readers at one stage or another - yesterday it was all the Mums with schoolkids turn ;) Today it's all those people that write things like "I'm ever so excited to..." or "I too know how it feels to blah blah blah" C'MON!! Who talks like that??

Anakin caught on to singing out "C'MON" while we were watching the Australian Open Tennis except it comes out "TONG-TONG". That's one of our favourite saying around here now.

It's occurred to us lately that Anakin tries to say so many things and repeats us all the time but he has never attempted to say his own name. Never. Not once. When we try to get him to say it, he just thinks it's funny and laughs. Last night he was fondly patting us back and forth saying "Mummy", "Dad" and we said "and what about you? Who are you? What's your name?" Well he reckons it's "Chipsss" and he's sticking to that fact, even today. Fair enough. Funny little boy.

You know if he's wandering around in the nudey, which is a pretty common ocurance in this heat he even does his wees in the potty now. He'll toddle off to the toilet drag his potty into a good spot and sit on it for his wee. All on his own. What a smart baby!

I just finished doing some mowing. It made me very happy. I was sitting there thinking "Shit. I own a ride-on. I'm cutting my very own grass. I have 4 and a half acres of land in my name. I think I might be a grown-up. What-d'ya-know?" And then I ploughed under the leaves of a fruit tree and came out the other side with a huge stick insect crawling around my shoulders and collar! I thought it was a golden orb spider and I jumped off the mower and screamed the place down. I reckon they would've heard me about a kilometre away. I've never screamed like that before. I had to laugh at myself.

School Daze

I had my first day with the class on Wednesday and now I'm going to sign up at Woolies. I swear I'll be the best check-out chick they've ever seen! Seriously though despite all the beautiful reward charts and resources I prepared it alternated between being constructive and rewarding and a living hell! I lost the post where I was raving and using descriptive words like freaks and mongrels so I thought that might of been a sign for me to just shut-up. Izzy thinks I need to advise the naughty ones that my oldest son knows the Ninja Turtles personally and he's going to ask them to come and kick their arses if they play up in class. He reckons that'll work for sure.

Got more to write but I'll have to save it for tomorrow - my man awaits me.

Pims in the pool

Had lime and frangelica followed by a couple of pims 'round my lovely neighbour's pool this arve. (Don't worry...the fellas were looking after the kids.) I've hardly seen her lately and realise I've missed her company. She's good value. (Nick has been staying up at Mum's with her kids lately so I've just been scooting up there for a visit when I feel like seeing someone for a cuppa.) We ended up going for a big powerwalk around the neighbourhood afterwards. That was nice too.

Exercise needs to become a more regular factor in my life, I'm starting to go like custard! She feels the same way and is going to devote her time to fitness, now that her youngest is in Kindy 3 days a week. She's started swimming training and is going a couple nights a week. I'd like to give it a go, but I've never been much of a swimmer (I get the giggles in the water and nearly drown myself), I can see myself getting exhausted after the 5th or 6th lap (with about 100 to go) and having to haul myself back over the side for a spew.

I've got the opportunity to buy a great treadmill that's been used for about 2 hours in total, off a friend of mine. But then why bother when I can just go outdoors with the best rolling hills, rainforest and views to die for? I actually like the satisfaction of refraining from buying things. It's good. (Just wait, I'll probably be telling you about my new treadmill next...) Besides, I'm yet to get good use out of the Spinner I bought a couple years back..

We went down to the school for a hit of tennis yesterday arve. Greg's still living down the slaughtering I gave him. Ha ha. He's dying to get back there to redeam himself but he kinda split his side trying to get an ace past me. I told you he was injury prone. And Izzy's improved all of a sudden. He puts it down to his "Grade 7 instinct" kicking in. The bloke that keeps the grounds at that school is so fabulous. It's immaculate and the lawns feel like golf greens. There were a heap of walabies hanging around so Bub was well entertained too.

Watched "Juno" the other night and loved it. Two thumbs up from me.

(Some time later) I'm so glad I didn't miss Ruth's post. With all those reminders of the benefits and beauty of walking meditation and hiking through nature who could buy a treadmill?!