spilling the beans..

i'm quitting

2006-03-31T07:58:00.000+11:00

Move along people, nothing to see here...nothing to see. Just a crazy soon to be nicotine deprived host gave up smoking a little while ago - 8am 31 March to be exact - you can see how long since with the counter at top underneath the poll.

So I am now officially (self control allowing!) a NON-SMOKER.Wish me luck!

Seeing as how there's nothing much to see here, unless you haven't read the last few posts which is a distinct possibility cos at this point there are NO comments, why don't you go and visit my renter, 3T, I promise you won't be disappointed!

Or, you can tell me something. Why do you use the nickname or persona you do when your online? Mine, as you are probably aware, is DEBAMBAM, and the answer to why I use it can be found elsewhere on debambam.com So fill up the comments and share with me the story of how you came to choose the alias you gave yourself in an attempt to keep some anonimity as you explore you way around cyber space.

As for me, I am off to do my good deed for the day (lord knows I need the brownie points after stirring my mother!) and can be found at the school canteen...then later today or possibly over the weekend I have some books to cover for the library...damn I'm a good mummy aren't I? Raffle tickets, class helper, canteen chick, library assistant blah blah blah...

why I am the way I am

2006-03-30T17:11:00.000+11:00

Me and my mum were just chatting about how much i'll be paying for therapy for Zoe when she gets older because she is so much like me when I was little. I'm here to tell you that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.....and that WE reflect that which we watched as we were growing up.

I offer this page as suggested reading material.

The fourth comment down, last line. MY OWN MOTHER wants me to lose my intestines. And I very nearly did.

But you know what? It's ok, cos I got all that extra skin to fill the gaps with hey mum!! (you'll have to ask her about it cos i'm not telling!)

Love ya mum, if I wasn't shit stirring you'd be wondering which aliens abducted your daughter.

revenge will be sweet...

2006-03-30T12:14:00.000+11:00

Well it seems as though my wordless wed pic appears to have been a bit of a hit. You guys crack me up you know?? hehehehe I'm just glad you enjoyed it...and hope the nightmares subside real soon!

As you've probably noticed i've redecorated AGAIN...hope you like it, I do. There is also a new poll up there as well which was prompted by this post from THE MULE. I can see this turning into a war of words you know..watchout babe, i'm coming to get you! You can see the results from last weeks one down in the sidebar there, appropriately filed under the heading of 'polls - past results'. Thats clever of me isn't it???

I've also been messing around with some coding for editing my comments, if you take a look at any of the last 3 or so posts, you'll see I have responded to your comments IN your comment. Bit tricky isn't it? For those of you with Blogger blogs, I am writing a post at the moment to explain how I did it. I could simply send you the THREE different sites I had to go to to find ALL the info needed, but it's just too damn confusing..so i'm doing the laymans version for those of us who don't eat, breathe and sleep coding.

On that note, i'm outta here..going to have some noodles for lunch..yummo!

Oh by the way, wanted to ask you all something. Have you ever got up in the morning, thrown the crumpled clothes on the floor beside the bed on as you realise your running about 5 days late to get the kiddies off to schoool, got said kiddies all piled up in car whilst wondering why your pants seems a little snugger than usual on your left side, proceeded to wander through school yard distributing kiddies to correct rooms, gone to get back in the car when you notice a large bump on your rear which upon investigation turns out to be yesterdays undies still in your pants poking out like a damn boil the size of your fist??? No??? Me either....but just thought i'd check! Have a good one people

Oh bugger, nearly forgot - Sorry 3T!! You HAVE to go and check out this weeks renter...she is great. Kind of person I'd love to sit down and have a coffee with actually! Anyway, take some choccies or flowers with you cos they are having some rough times at the moment...tell em I sent you and be sure to have a look at the archives (if you got a spare couple of hours that is!)

wordless wednesday V

2006-03-29T00:26:00.003+11:00

Extra services now provided by your local telco technician free of charge..
what do think this one is? (highlight line below for my guess)
moneyboxes!!!

where are you all hiding??

2006-03-28T20:07:00.001+11:00

Ok, looks as though some of you have gotten lost since the big move to the domain name...either that or your totally dissing me cos you think I now have tickets on myself as a result of my new cyber real estate purchase! My stats are telling me theres about half the visitors, there are only 20 votes on the latest poll and my comments are dwindling and becoming rarer....while I have your attention NOT ONE OF YOU COMMENTED ON MY BIG BLOODY POST!! Whats going on?? You could have just humored me and pretended you gave a shit you know?? Ok...that didn't mean to sound nasty, sorry! I just meant to say, speak up people, if your new here, all comments will be responded either on here or with a reply email and I don't bite unless provoked. If your a regular, and i'm boring your lately, then let me know. Do I need to rant more? Want more of my theories? Want half naked pictures? (Be careful what your wish for!!! See tomorrows post...)

You know i've just read the title of this postand realise how dumb it is. Because if your reading it, then you are obviously here, and if your not, then your the ones i'm talking too....ok, shutting up now.

Well it's been a busy couple of days in the house, we have new phone/isdn/fax liney thingys in the house for the business. Zoe's had freakin NITS and a day home from school yesterday with mummy as the teacher....and we had a picnic of fish and chips (that were delivered!) for tea tonight. Ok so that last one didn't really keep us busy but anyway.....thought you might like to know that we find the simple things in life the best!

Tomorrow is Wordless Wednesday as you know, so watch out....it's going to be a CRACKER of a pic - oh man you are only going to get how funny that is when you see the pic! Ok, i'm off to reply to those of you who HAVE commented recently, thanks for doing so by the way, I love them you know, I really do!

Cheers,
Kelly

internal spell checker?

2006-03-26T22:30:00.003+11:00

I've been typing for what seems like FOREVER - I don't mean right now, I just mean in general. I feel like I have been using computers and typewriters for longer than I haven't. Anway I was typing up something the other day when I noticed that I always make the same spelling mistakes...I mean EVERY TIME with some words. Thats not the weird bit. The weird bit is I have deleted it and corrected it as soon as the last letter is typed, like my very own spellchecker. So far I have noticed the following words are consistently typed incorrectly:

An - 90% of the time I write AND instead..especially in comments....
Thier - instead of their
Update: HIME instead of HIM - i've just caught myself doing it three times in about the same number of minutes!

You know what? I can't for the life of me think what the other bloody ones are! I'll be typing something tomorrow and remember or come across one of the words, whats the bet? I'll keep a notepad by the laptop and write it down when I do it....cos I know I will at some stage.

The thing that gets me is, I KNOW how to spell these words, like I said, i'm deleting and correcting before I even hit the space bar ready for the next word. And when writing as opposed to typing, I don't write them wrong. So can someone explain to me WHY it's only when typing? Why certain words too? Is it some mysterious look deep into my psyche? Or is it just my finger muscles messing with me? Is it an internal spell checker that just needs to justify it existence? I dont think it's this last one because if it was I would like to think my brain is smart enough to pick different words all the time to avoid detection....ok this is starting to get weird, so i'm stopping. RIght now. No more theories.

Start taking notice of how you type, do any of you have similar experiences? Or am I just a freak???! Ok, don't answer that last question..nighty night peoples.

P.S Yes i've been a little absent the last couple of days. Yesterday was Zoe day....and today was cleaning day. Oh and RAFFLE TICKET DAY - spent 3 hours doing raffle tickets for the school easter raffle....oh the joys of BABE volunteering HIS time....which of course ends up being mostly mine!

feel good friday

2006-03-24T22:20:00.000+11:00

It's friday, I'm feelin good..It must be time for FEEL GOOD FRIDAY:

Firstly, the domain name thing...i'm loving it...but you are probably over it, so i'm going to shut up about it now!
Secondly, we went to watch Zoe's school assembly today. Nothing makes you feel better than watching your five year old on stage singing about full grown women running around town half dressed and ladies dying in bed!! (see this post for explanation)
When I got up this morning, babe had been up for two hours and was in the process of stamping 1500 raffle tickets with Zoe's school name. No big deal you might think, except for two things. One, babe NEVER gets up before 9, and I mean never so for him to have been up since 6 was HUGE. Second, its a boring thankless task that as a general rule you would not catch him even thinking about. What made me feel good? He did this because he's Zoe's dad. And that's her school. And someone needed to do it.
The homemade chip sandwich that is still sitting in my tummy as a glob of saturated fat and bread tasted SO yummo, and yummo always makes me feel good.

All in all it's been a great day..we did lots for the school's easter raffle, watched Zoe being adorable and I got to sleep in while babe did a shitty job! Thanks for not waking me baby, after all there was only one stamp :)

So what made you feel good today?

bugger bugger blogger!

2006-03-23T23:00:00.000+11:00

ok guys, in all of the excitement when I was doing that post below...I forgot that once I moved the blog then all the links to the post would change :) sooooo that means that the tag cloud won't work properly until I fix it, and also the links to my fav posts won't either until I fix them..which quite frankly won't be until the weekend i'd say! I'm heading to bed right now and we have a full day planned for tomorrow so until then hang five ok?

Thanks you guys are the greatest.

ok, correction, it looks like for the time being my old posts are still there!! so browse away!!

party time!!

2006-03-23T19:03:00.000+11:00

Well folks, today is a celebatory one here at spilling the beans for two reasons. Firstly

debambam.com

is live and active....how quick was that! Less than 24 hours after putting in an order for it, i'm ftp'ing my files...very cool. I'm so bloody excited..my first piece of real estate!!! So go ahead peoples, type that into your addy bar and go take a look...it's the same as that the old address, but i'm no longer a freeloader in a caravan park with a bunch of other people using the same address, not that there is anything wrong with that, but let's face it...this is better! I can upload this blog to it, and in fact have already done so...hehehehe. Will change the banner up the top to link to that one rather than this. So if you have me bookmarked/blogrolled/in your sidebar etc etc....get to changing that addy will ya! New one is http://debambam.com/blog Does anyone know how to do the redirect thing?? If so, please enlighten me!
Secondly, this is my 100th post here at Spilling the Beans. I never thought i'd make it past two weeks let alone nearly 3 months. Looks like I may actually stick this one out hey?

Anyway, I thought I might point to you some of my favorite posts, or posts that i'm particularly fond of. This was an idea from vic over at rosevibe who was one of the first blogs I read when I entered this blogiverse..thanks Vic, it's been great reading your posts.you'll get the hang of that clutch before long, I just know it.. So lets get to it!

A mothers musings
This one would have to still be one of my favs...just because when reading it I realise just how much being a mother is the experience of a lifetime, and one that I wouldn't swap for anything on this earth. It's hard, thankless and demanding, but at the same time has the ability to turn you into a person you never thought possible...Zoe I love you sweetie and I thank you for choosing me for your mummy. It's an honor.
Penis Extensions
What can I say? Readers loved this, I loved telling the world about my theories on men and remote controls and some of the comments are simply classical. I think my fav was Evans...I love rendering a man speechless!
Gifted Children....and a witch
This third one was a toughie, there are a few that I could have picked, but in the end it was the reaction I got from readers that prompted this choice. Few of my posts before or since this one have evoked such a response from you guys! It also emcompasses all the things I wished for this blog to be. It tells of my parenting experiences, it was a vent of anger and frustration, as well as being a little intellectual and articulate. When I set my mind to it I can actually WRITE. I just don't have the time, inclination or imagination to do more of it!

So those are just some of the posts I love, and you guys liked some others aswell, so if your so inclined go take a peek by picking a tag over there in the sidebar and browse to your hearts content! There have been some memorable moments for me since starting this blog, here's a quick rundown:

Evan making me spit my coffee, on more than one occasion - you owe me a bottle of spray and wipe for my screen and mum needs a new blotter she tells me! She's been reading some of your posts today....
Being so damn helpless when a friend went through a rough spot...I love this net and the people it puts me in touch with, but hate the physical distance that is actually between us. A hug just isn't the same when you type it is it?

You know I could do this all day, but will stop now, afterall it's only a hundred bloody posts right? Not like i've been here for 10 years!! I'm probably more excited about than you are so i'll just shut up before you decide to REMOVE my link rather than alter it......
Have fun kiddies, and you know where you can find me right??? I've give you a clue:

DEBAMBAM.COM

P.s There is a new poll up there, this one is giving me the sh$%s already though...hehehehe

Top Ten

2006-03-23T09:59:00.000+11:00

Top Ten things I would love to hear a pollie say:

You know what? We f#$%^ it up, got it wrong.
I can't believe you elected me, I wouldn't elect me.
No we CANNOT keep all of you happy at the same time, SOMEONE is going to miss out.
You know I think they are doing a great job at the moment. (From the opposition)
I fart in bed and dribble while snoring.
I woke up this morning and didn't want to go to work.
OMG that has got to be the ugliest baby ever, and you CAN'T make me kiss it.
I DID inhale, and ENJOYED it.
I don't have a clue about that..ask someone else.
You've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a shit.

I tell you I would vote for any pollie who had the guts to say it like it really is and be damned with the consequences. Like the premier of QLD as quoted here;

Mr Beattie said the tragedy boiled down to parental responsibility.
"Railway lines are really dangerous and we need to ensure that parents and everybody take those matters very seriously," he said.
"There needs to be very heavy parental responsibility on these things ... I know that is not a very pleasant thing to say, but someone has got to tell the truth about this."

I wish I was in QLD so I could show my support for a guy who isn't scared of being human and talking straight. Mr Beattie, do us all a favor and jump ship to Federal Politics....

Tags: politicians, truth, top ten, spilling the beans

happy birthday to me!!

2006-03-22T20:35:00.000+11:00

Isn't this the coolest pressie ever???

Certificate of Registration of Domain Name

This is to certify that:

debambam.com

was on 22-03-2006 registered to Kelly B

for a period of 24 months, subject to the terms and conditions of the domain
name licence.

Issued by TPP Domains Pty Ltd ABN 42 088 656 544 on 22-03-2006

So now I have to organise hosting and email addys and all that jazz, but DEBAMBAM HAS ARRIVED!! I will keep you all posted as to when the move happens ok???? Wish me luck!!

wordless wednesday IV

2006-03-22T09:58:00.000+11:00

mmmm whose birthday is it though! Have a good one people, I know I will..

just a quickie

2006-03-21T08:08:00.000+11:00

Morning all, this is just a quickie to say hi!
I'm off this morning to be parent helper in Zoe's class. Will be interesting to see how she goes with me in there, will she act any different??? Did I tell you the teacher offered a 'counsellor referral' over the scissors incident!!! I declined, thought it best to wait and see if she starts killing small animals before we take it too seriously....

Anyway, two thing will be happening tomorrow..one is to do with the blog - and one isnt. See if you can guess! And no it's NOT a new template for spilling the beans...I actually like this one and it matches my recently refurbished website which you can go and take a look at instead of reading some witty post that fell out of my head this morning......anyway mum - you know one of them so you can't do this one, wouldn't be really fair seeing as how you have an insiders advantage, but the blog one you can take a guess!!

Have fun kiddies and i'll be back this afternoon.

p.s thanks for all the well wishes about my family, mum left a message for you all in the comments of previous post. Thank goodness they are all ok, and it wasn't quite as bad as it could have been in their neck of the woods.

welcome and be safe

2006-03-19T21:42:00.000+11:00

Firstly, i'd like to you to welcome the newest blog of the week, most of you have probably seen this great site already, but if you haven't then get your little tushi over there! Stephanie is great, her blog is great, and her products look great too, so your sure to have a GREAT time!! Enjoy your stay Stephanie, your cooking brekkie on Tuesday morning ok??!

Secondly can you please send all your stay safe vibes/prayers/thoughts and wishes to my mum, stepdad, sister and nephew who are all up in far north Queensland which is battering down the hatches getting ready for Cyclone Larry (hope he bought the leisuresuit)...Anyway they've done everything they can, but this is a type 4 - pretty bad - and some towns have already been evacuated. State Premier has declared a disaster situation to allow police and emergency personnel the right to forcibly remove anyone who refuses to evacuate..he loves his constituents and would rather argue with them over loss of civil rights than attend their funeral!

Lets just hope that EVERYONE stays safe, not just my family - but if you could focus your thoughts on them it would be appreciated :)

zoe the hairdresser

2006-03-19T13:33:00.000+11:00

Remember how I was so bloody tired yesterday? Well here's PART of the reason. While I was trying to catch up on some sleep, Zoe decided to give herself, her school uniform and her favorite dress a haircut. Can you see the big chunks out of it there? You can't really see what's been done to the back, how she reached it I dont know...You can also see the pile of hair I made trying to get some sort of order back into the chaos, as well as the finished result....i'm going to be grey before she's bloody 10! This is the SECOND time we've had the home haircut.

The hair I can handle, it'll grow back. Although playing with scissors in such a manner has meant they are now removed from the premises and all the cutting she's been doing will now cease for the time being. The uniform and her favorite dress are another matter. An obvious immediate and appropriate response was for the fav dress to go straight into the bin, and for the next two weeks there will be no keyboard, computer games or lunch orders at school. The computer one was her idea, I asked what she thought a good punishment should be, she said no comp for a month. I thought that was a bit long, but it was good of her to think of it
.
So there you go, the reason mothers drink and hairdye companies are making a fortune from people who shouldn't be covering up grey hairs at such early ages....

p.s I know the back is all dodgy, but thats the chunks she took out of it you can't see in the other pic, I did what I could!

I'm tired

2006-03-18T21:39:00.000+11:00

i'm so tired, really tired.

I'm tired of not getting enough sleep
I'm tired of everything falling to pieces when I do try to get some
I'm tired of people not listening
I'm tired of having to repeat myself
I'm tired of being only a mum for much of my time
I'm tired of being the bad guy
I'm tired of feeling like i'm living alone
I'm tired of having a half headache
I'm tired of cleaning up other peoples messes
I'm tired of not seeing my friends enough
I'm tired of having to do everything for myself
I'm tired of always helping everyone else
I'm tired of so much
I'm just so tired

feel good friday

2006-03-17T08:13:00.000+11:00

Well it's friday, again. I can't beleive how fast time is going these days.

Anyway I thought I would start with what WOULD make me feel good today, then come back and add what DID make me feel good.

A massage from a Jamaican man who was handing me scotch
Seeing our Prime Minister talking to the Queen about TRUCKING FEES and have a spoonerism moment.....
The cat would NOT jump on my desk and then the keyboard while i'm trying to type
Another block of chocoalte

I'm off to get ready for school, i'm on canteen duty today, that's sure to make me feel good isn't it?
Have fun, i'll be back with the real story later today.

it's all happening here at kell's place!

2006-03-16T10:57:00.000+11:00

(you really have to read the title in your best Richie Benaud voice to appreciate it..oh and I guess that means being an aussie cricket fan - which right now means NO-ONE cos we lost and we all know how much aussies hate watching losing aussies...)

As the title suggests, there is a lot going on around here at the moment....so here's a rundown:

The Commonwealth Games opening ceremony was on last night. I have to say, i'm not interested, but, Zoe's class is doing some stuff on it so we jumped online last night and did a little research. I summed it all up for her in one sentence that I've told her to tell anyone who asks what she knows about the games - "Aussie's kick BUTT!" Ten bucks says she won't say it though, she's such a little goody two shoes at school, poor kid's going to be beat up sooner or later I just know it :(
I did find a webdesign program to my liking, although I can't alter css but can add customised html. I'll figure it out eventually I suppose. In the meantime you can take a look at what i've been working on so far as I learn how it all works...this is the work one right here and this is a test run with what might become my personal page if I can be bothered shifting 47 pages of content into the new layout..only so much cutting and pasting a girl can do at once you know! But it does look a bit snazzier don't you think?! BTW this is being hosted at a temp domain till main one is all sorted, so ignore the ridiculous url ok!
Do you remember singing little ditties back at school? Well you'll never guess what Zoe is learning at school, & in the CLASSROOM no less.
"Mrs Brown, went into town, with her knickers hanging down!"- yeah thanks for the visions... NOT
"Mrs Red, went to bed, in the morning she was dead!" - great to be laughing about death isn't it?
"Mrs Black, took the sack, said she wasn't coming back!" - fails to mention she has 5 kids and 3 goats to look after, total abandomnent stuff happening here.
I'll see if I can get a voice recording of her doing those first two lines, it's a pissa, it really is, and you don't even have to be a biased mummy to see that.
Looking at my bloglines page i'd say I have around 14 straight hours of reading to do to catch up on all my fav bloggers! I promise I will get there though, maybe late, but I will get there...
There is a new poll up there. The last one proved interesting, half of you love the cape and flying thing, After my comments re the outerwear, hardly anyone voted for that option, mmm coincidence? I think not....Anyway you can see the results here and a link will be over in sidebar for future reference - you know, like when looking for scientifically accurate data for your thesis and tlife altering research!
For those of you who dropped by and tried to guess my wordless wednesday pic, you all got it wrong, correct answer will be posted later today, technically it's still wednesday in parts of the world so i'll give them a chance! Having said that, if you've read AND comprehended ALL of this post you will be aware of a way to find the answer.....oh would you look at that, look how fast your scroll button works hehehehe
Babe has FINALLY stopped downloading his new OS which means it doesn't take 12 hours to send a 5kb email. We have a 512k adsl line and I kid you not, he was using 510k. I had to ask him to pause it while I was uploading websites...grrr But it's all down now and I have a little speed back! Well actually - A LOT!!!
I'm off for canteen duty tomorrow at the school, yay! Zoe is so excited. Apparently having a mum who helps at the school is a cool thing....for now....won't last long will it? Then it will be "mum just drop me at the corner and DON'T come in where people can see you" It's at that point I figure i'll be a fully fledged mum, when i've reached embarrassment factor 1 million!!

Ok, I think that will do for the time being, there is of course plenty more happening, but you actually have a life to get back to don't you? So i'm outta here...you can find me chillin at my bloglines feed page!

wordless wednesday

2006-03-15T15:42:00.000+11:00

What COULD the RSR stand for? Be creative peoples..
(This is our business logo - which i've been staring at for 2 days on the website!)

p.s. I will link fellow WW participants tomorrow.

once upon a time..

2006-03-14T23:37:00.000+11:00

there was a brain dead, frustrated little girl who was simply attempting to set up a website. But of course nothing ever goes easy does it? All she wanted was a lovely program that would do all the hard work for her but allow her to tweak the bleeping code...do you think she could find one? No...not under the bed, not in the desk, not even online! As the hours dragged by it became apparent that it wouldn't matter because the big bear who she shared a house with was stealing all the damn bandwidth anyway so what's the bloody point?? This is NOT the end...will keep you updated, by pic, tomorrow is wordless wednesday!

While I have your attention, do any of you know of a freeware or open source program that will allow me to work with a master page like in serif page plus 6 BUT allow me to alter css and html aswell?? Or if anyone knows a way I can do so, please let me know. I find I have layout issues with this program but the best thing about it is the ability to change all 47 pages on my website (not blog) by changing the master page...it's wonderful. I really need a wysiwyg style thingy but with the code editing an option, i'm still pretty much a beginner really :) just leave a comment with your suggestions...thanks!!! Did I tell you lately that you guys are the greatest? I didn't? Well you are.

Cheers, Kelly
p.s For all of my fav bloggers, I promise i'll be by in the next few days to catch up on whats happening in your world ok?? And I promise to leave LOTS of comments, I know I always enjoy them....nudge nudge, wink, wink!

be right back...

2006-03-13T20:19:00.000+11:00

...in a few days. I've just got the details for hosting the work website so figured it's about time I got off my butt and finished it off. Of course now I have somewhere to upload it even better! Still waiting for the domain name to be finalised, but we have a temp domain till then.

Anyway, long story short, this is where my energies will be spent over the next few days. So why not take the opportunity to have a look through the archives, check out my other places, read a few of the great reads on my blogroll and just generally have a good look around! Here's a question for you...just to see how much of a look around you take. What time was Zoe born at?

Have fun, you prob won't even notice i'm gone will you??? Well you will when it starts smelling around here....

freaky visitors

2006-03-12T22:09:00.000+11:00

I've decided since running my polls for the last three weeks, that I have some FREAKY READERS!! And the weird thing is? I think I like it....

To the three of you who decided that the pizza delivery guy was the person you would most likely to shoot, go see a doctor - or change pizza shops. To the three who decided that their other halves would make a more suitable target - HELLO!! What are you thinking? Seriously, I want to know what you are thinking, so if you are one of these three, PLEASE TELL ME WHY!!!

But its the latest one that I'm enjoying....so far 38% of you like the idea of the cape and flying, that's pretty standard i'd say, I mean who doesn't want to fly right? But the one that gets me is 26.5% of you who think that wearing undies on head/outside would be the best thing about being a superhero!! ROFLMAO!! Are we living in a society of closet undie lovers? Would a quarter of society like to make fashion statements with their underwear suddenly becoming outerwear?

I know that a blogs reader base is a very loose reflection the author, I mean there has to be at least something in common for there to be enough of a connection for the reader to keep returning right? Should I be scared about the 6 readers who would like to shoot the next door neighbour then? What if one of them is mine?? What about the person who keeps coming back through a search engine wanting to know about BUM FLUFF? Mate, give it up! I don't have what your looking for!!! And if I do, I don't want to know about it ok?

Lastly, to the person on friday evening who spent their time looking for 'cleaning my bellybutton tips' - GET A LIFE!!!!

science at it's best

2006-03-11T20:15:00.000+11:00

Recently a bunch of students grew some plants that when placed under certain types of light, would indicate they were stressed due to dehydration.

My question is, if we feed these plants to our kiddies would the effect be carried over to them? Would our kids start glowing in the dark when mum busts them doing something they shouldn't be in the middle of the night??? Now considering I can think of at least 3 activities teenagers engage in that would cause dehydration or 'apparent' thirstiness, I think there's a big enough market out there to justify someone trying to answer my question, don't you??!!

love this blog..

2006-03-11T16:41:00.000+11:00

..right here

It's totally unrecognisable now, but if you take a look here you will see the origins of new background image. Here's a look at the full pic, not the one hidden behind the posts and sidebar.

Proper post on it's way later this evening, I promise!

feel good friday

2006-03-10T19:38:00.000+11:00

Well it's that time of the week again, FEEL GOOD FRIDAY...where no matter how much of a crappy day i've had I will find SOMETHING that made me feel good. Today there was little to choose from and in fact this posting would have been 5 feet long if I only titled it FEEL F$%^ED FRIDAY instead. But anyway, onto what made me feel good today:

I'm NOT suicidal, homicidal or bloated even though i'm doing what only women can do. If you've been here before you may recall a past experience and will understand why this makes me feel good!
My new email program - pegasus. I've been having some probs of late with thunderbird, which bugs me because I love the program, so went looking for something else. I HATE outlook and IE ...so i'm feeling good about the new program and the pretty signature i've made for it :)
The homemade chips that I can smell cooking away in the oven WILL make me feel good when I eat them..with gravy maybe..or even sweet chilli sauce..oops need to do some drool wiping, BRB
Ok, back now, keyboard is drool free! And of course that makes me feel good too.

What made you feel good today?

life with zoe part 2

2006-03-09T19:22:00.000+11:00

I've decided to use a new method when responding to Zoe's frequent misinterpretation of my seemingly 'complex' requests of her. I'm sure if your a parent you'll know what I mean.

me - "Zoe can you please get changed out of your uniform"
zoe - " Yes mum" as she proceeds to get a book and begin reading in middle of hallway.

or

me - "Zoe can you please get ready for bed"
zoe - "ok" then promptly starts composing something or other on the keyboard

Recently the phrase "Can't you understand me?" was used by someone I was conversing with as it became clear there had been a miscommunication between us. I was simply NOT getting the point. It struck me that it's a phrase that could be utilised when dealing with Zoe's apparent hearing problems and figured why not? Anything is worth a shot right? I mean I hate the arguments and discussions that arise from a simple request on my part....it's mentally and emotionally exhausting let me tell you.

And the source of this wonderfully delightful comment??

ZOE.......

You have no idea how much I had to stop from laughing right in her face when she ever so seriously quizzed me on my comprehension skills. Aren't kids the best??!!

I'm off to catch up on all my fav bloggers, one of whom happens to be my current tenant, Jade. Some of you will already know her, and if you don't, make a point of getting over to her place and checking it out. Theres some new decor and the humor and perceptions are some of the funniest i've had the pleasure of reading. You guys have fun while your there and tell her I said hi!

wordless wednesday

2006-03-08T08:17:00.000+11:00

New poll!
Other WW entries:
wendy
in a big way
mar
kdubs
barbara
tnchick
mama b
the martins
yellow rose
(let me know in the comments if participating this week)

just a few words before bedtime

2006-03-08T00:03:00.000+11:00

Okay, as promised here is a pic of Zoe's seedlings. It's called a 'cottage garden' mix so not sure what exactly we are growing, but as you can see, all the things on Zoe's list seem to be working so far!

We had an interesting day around here. Babe went up to the school for his millions of meetings, I went and caught up with a preggie friend (it's a weekly ritual where I dispense my tidbits of useless info!) and we had an information/family bbq evening at the school which was both surprising (number of people who bothered to show up) and informative.

Babe and myself have a bit of work ahead of us as we endeavor to change the publics perception of both the P&C and the school. Personally I think a lot of the trouble stems from LACK OF INFORMATION. So its been decided as PR officer babe will write up a letter to be sent to all families explaining WHAT the P&C is, what is has acclomplished thus far and what the plans are for the future. Local media will also be approached about doing some news items on the new principal, as well as utilising the community notice boards a lot of them have to advertise fundraising activities. All in all we have signed up for some exciting stuff! I'm off to local TAFE/UNI to see about getting a certificate which will allow me to teach the Food Safety Handling Certificate to those who volunteer in the canteen as well as offering my time at least once a week and in case of emergencies for canteen duty. It's an exciting time at the school at the moment as a changing of the guard is slowly occurring which in turn brings new enthusiasm and attitudes to the school community as a whole. Wish us luck!

We also got to meet one of the teachers whose been working with Zoe, she does the assessments. She is just lovely and gave us some insight into what she has been doing, and it appears that it's a heck of a lot more than we realised! For nearly everything except craft and play, Zoe has her own work to do that is completely seperate to the rest of the class. They are working to bring up some skills so she will be ready for enrichment/extension work in other classes next term. The more I see of this school and it's programs, the more i'm impressed....we've done well in our choice I think.

On another note, i'd like to share with you a recent email I received from people who shall remain anonymum, oops I mean anonymous. As you may recall I spent a great part of one day last week sleeping. I informed said emailer of this. Now the person in question is usually very switched on, so you can imagine my surprise upon entering inbox to see an email containing the following line:

You still sleeping? And no smart comments thank you…

Ok. No smart comment needed. Bulldust, thats EXACTLY what is needed, no, not needed - MANDATORY!!! However in the interest of not upsetting said emailer, I will leave this one up to you guys, my avid and witty readers! What do you think my response should have been? Feel free to post more than one, lets face it, the possibilites are ENDLESS! Knock yourself out.....

and what a fine morning it is..

2006-03-07T08:09:00.000+11:00

Good morning everyone.

Well the school had the P&C AGM last night. Babe went along and is now the fundraising dude, the PR officer and stand in on a few other committees they have! He's off this morning to have a meeting with the principal about the PR stuff and i'm off to see canteen lady and librarian about offering my time when needed too so we have a busy morning ahead of us. One thing we've both always wanted is to be a part of the school community, and active in Zoe's education. The school has approx 240 students and the percentage of parents who actively take part is very small. One thing that needs to change is the prevailing attitude that being involved is hugely time consuming or expensive. It doesn't need to be either, but can be if you want! Anyway will keep you posted...right now it's time for me to get us all ready for school..have a good one and don't forget to go visit faerilicous if you haven't already and vote in the poll above. I have a new one all ready to go up - probably tomorrow. Enjoy the new scenery! I like this one...may keep it for more than a week.....what do you think my chances are??!!

smile!

2006-03-06T20:55:00.000+11:00

I know, I only just changed the theme, and some of you even really liked the other one, but guess what? I'm just not the girly pinky kind, so it HAD TO GO. Now Miss Zoe has decided that since she learnt how to 'grow seeds' at school, that she would start some at home. So she wrote a list on her blackboard, and we planted some seeds in potting mix and watered like crazy! That was two days ago and we now have some shoots already...gotta love the mixed seeds, you can always count on at least one sort to help you out! Anyway here's the list that explains how to look after plants and tomorrow i'll take a pic of the seedlings....

can anytone tell me?

2006-03-06T09:16:00.000+11:00

Can anyone tell me why the threat of a speeding fine will slow people down in the school zones, but NOT the possibility of KILLING A CHILD?? It always amazes me that when the police setup their speed cameras, everyone slows down to what they should be doing. Yet on those mornings when they aren't there, trucks, buses, even a lot of cars I KNOW are parents pay no heed to it at all! I just don't get it. Do they on some level hold a few dollars more dear than the life of a child, possibly their own child?

While i'm up on my little soapbox, can anyone tell me why drink driving and excessive speeding DON'T incur attempted murder charges in this country? I mean drivers cannot claim ignorance, we are very well educated on the possibile outcomes of both situations. So if you are drunk, and get behind the wheel of a car, knowing FULL well what COULD happen as a result of your lack of co-ordination, impaired judgement and superman attitude, why DON'T the laws see that as an attempt to hurt someone?? I just don't get it....and don't think I ever will.

Ok just one more for you to ponder while you are in a thinking frame of mind(or not!) - can anyone tell me why my sister can grow californian poppy's by the thousands, yet my attempts inevitably end in pathetic little seedlings that struggle to survive?

Have a good one, hope your weekend was great!

finally all caught up..

2006-03-05T11:13:00.000+11:00

..on emails and catching up on all my fav reads...sorry if I missed something or someone! Heres hoping that my sleep patterns are back to normal now. Although I must say that even after sleeping for 12 hours I could quite happily go back to bed.

If you haven't already, vote in the poll above. So far it's proving really interesting. To the person who wishes to shoot his/her pizza delivery guy, can I ask WHY????!!! I put that one in there for a giggle, never imagined the the guy who brings pizza to your door would evoke more reaction than anyone else on the list. Oh well, it takes all sorts I suppose! Seems that the polls are proving quite popular with more votes than comments.

I received this in my email box yesterday courtesy of my mother, be warned, it's rude - read at your own discretion. I do not want any emails/comments going crook at me....you have been warned ok?Just imagine sitting in traffic on your way to work and hearing this:
Many Sydney folks DID hear this on the FOX FM morning show in Sydney. The DJs play a game where they award winners great prizes. The game is called "Mate Match". The DJs call someone at work and ask if they are married or seriously involved with someone. If the contestant answers "yes", he or she is then asked 3 random yet highly personal questions. The Person is also asked to divulge the name of their partner (with phone number) for verification. If their partner answers those same three questions correctly, they both win the prize.

One particular game, however, several months ago made the Harbour City Drop to its knees with laughter and is possibly the funniest thing you've heard yet. Anyway, here's how it all went down:
DJ: "Hey! This is Ed on FOX-FM. Have you ever heard of 'Mate Match'?"
Contestant: (laughing) "Yes, I have.
DJ: "Great! Then you know we're giving away a trip to the Gold Coast if you win. What is your name? First only please."
Contestant: "Brian."
DJ: "Brian, are you married or what?"
Brian: (laughing nervously) "Yes, I am married."
DJ: "Thank you. Now, what is your wife's name? First only please."
Brian: "Sara."
DJ: "Is Sara at work, Brian?"
Brian: "She is gonna kill me."
DJ: "Stay with me here, Brian! Is she at work?"
Brian: (laughing) "Yes, she's at work."
DJ: "Okay, first question - when was the last time you had sex?"
Brian: "About 8 o'clock this morning."
DJ: "Atta boy, Brian."
Brian: (laughing sheepishly) "Well..."
DJ: "Question #2 - How long did it last?"
Brian: "About 10 minutes."
DJ: "Wow! You really want that trip, huh? No one would ever have said that if a trip wasn't at stake."
Brian: "Yeah, that trip sure would be nice."
DJ: "Okay. Final question. Where did you have sex at 8 o'clock this morning?
Brian: (laughing hard) "I, ummm, I, well..."
DJ: "This sounds good, Brian. Where was it at?"
Brian: "Not that it was all that great, but her mum is staying with us for a couple of weeks..."
DJ: "Uh huh..."
Brian: "...and the Mother-In-Law was in the shower at the time."
DJ: "Atta boy, Brian."
Brian: "On the kitchen table."
DJ: "Not that great?? That is more adventure than the previous hundred time I've done it. Okay folks, I will put Brian on hold, get This wife's work number and call her up. You listen to this."
3 minutes of commercials follow. ]
DJ: "Okay audience; let's call Sarah, shall we?" (Touch tones.....ringing....)
Clerk: "Kinkos."
DJ: "Hey, is Sarah around there somewhere?"
Clerk: "This is she."
DJ: "Sarah, this is Ed with FOX-FM. We are live on the air right now and I've been talking with Brian for a couple of hours now."
Sarah: (laughing) "A couple of hours?"
DJ: "Well, a while now. He is on the line with us. Brian knows not to give any\answers away or you'll lose. Sooooooo... do you know the Rules of 'Mate Match'?"
Sarah: "No."
DJ: "Good!"
Brian: (laughing)
Sarah: (laughing) "Brian, what the hell are you up to?"
Brian: (laughing) "Just answer his questions honestly, okay? Be completely honest."
DJ: "Yeah yeah yeah. Sure. Now, I will ask you 3 questions, Sarah. If your answers match Brian's answers, then the both of you will be off to the Gold Coast for 5 days on us.
Sarah: (laughing) "Yes."
DJ: "Alright. When did you last have sex, Sarah?"
Sarah: "Oh God, Brian....uh, this morning before Brian went to work."
DJ: "What time?"
Sarah: "Around 8 this morning."
DJ: "Very good. Next question. How long did it last?"
Sarah: "12, 15 minutes maybe."
DJ: "Hmmmm. That's close enough. I am sure she is trying to protect his
manhood. We've got one last question, Sarah. You are one question away from a trip to the Gold Coast. Are you ready?"
Sarah: (laughing) "Yes."
DJ: "Where did you have it?"
Sarah: "OH MY GOD, BRIAN!! You didn't tell them that did you?"
Brian: "Just tell him, honey."
DJ: "What is bothering you so much, Sarah?"
Sarah: "Well..."
DJ: Come on Sarah.....where did you have it?
Sarah: "Up the arse....."

After a long pause, the DJ said, "Folks, we need to take a station break" And the drivers of Sydney almost crashed their cars laughing!

On that note, i'm outta here to go have some fun! I noticed NONE of you have tried to make me spit my coffee, it looks like Evan is going to get those credits...in fact I may just give them to him anyway!

what happened to feel good friday you ask?

2006-03-04T13:39:00.000+11:00

Well I was feeling good. In bed. Sleeping.

I'm still not 100% awake, so i'll be off to read all my favs and catch up on comments tomorrow ok???

Have fun....

blogmad competition

2006-03-03T04:22:00.000+11:00

Ok, this is one for all you blogmad people. I need help, and rather than ask in the forums I thought I would see just how many of you read the site your on when surfing! I also won the lottery so i'm feeling a little generous. I need help with the textlinks. The first person who can help me add the php code to my sidebar for them (or explain in a manner I can understand why I CAN'T do it) will get 100 credits. Let me know in the comments, or if you prefer, you can e-mail me. Obviously you'll need to let me know your blogmad name so I can give you the credits, so leave that too ok? Have fun kiddies...

UPDATE: ok I figured it out....it's done....and seeing as how Jade was the only one who responded she can have the credits! (are you with Blogmad girly? If not, WHY NOT? Want an invite?) But I guess thats not fair on those of you who were sleeping while this was going on. How about I change the rules. The first person who can make me spit my coffee at the screen gets the credits - but 50, not 100. Obviously you need to be a member to receive the credits, but don't let stop you from trying! And remember, I can always invite you......

being an Aussie means...

2006-03-02T23:02:00.000+11:00

...so much more than simply LIVING IN AUSTRALIA. It's an attitude, a way of life. Not all Australians are Aussies, and not all Aussie's live in Australia...these reasons are only a fraction of the simple yet complex creature known as the AUSSIE.

Being as Aussie means knowing that the term 'mate' has more meanings than a duck has feathers. It can be used in a friendly manner, as a term of endearment, sarcastically, with or without humor. It can be used as a general title for people you don't know, or your nearest and dearest. It such a part of our culture that when security staff at our Parliament House were banned from using the term, the uproar was so great the directive was rescinded almost immediately. It united the country as it hasn't been united on a single issue for as long as I can remember.

Being an Aussie means that when Steven Bradbury won the gold medal for speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics, you couldn't stop laughing for a bloody week, or been any prouder than if he were your own son. He won fair and square and anyone who says he didn't WIN, that everyone else LOST, is likely to end up with a shiner blacker than the ace of spades! Here's a guy who was happy to sit back and HOPE that everyone else stuffed up because he figured he had no other chance of winning. Winning by simply being the last man standing is perfectly acceptable, and in this case just so damn funny to watch...hehehe

Being an Aussie means knowing that vegemite is NOT meant to be smeared on as thick as your favorite strawberry jam! Less is more. A true blue aussie also knows never to eat vegemite when suffering mouth ulcers.

Being an Aussie means respecting the land on which we live. It will kill you in a heartbeat. Aussies understand and respect water. It can give life, and take it away just as quick. Considering the majority of Australians live near the coast is it any wonder than we have perfected lifesaving and are teaching the rest of the world? Yet we have more desert on this continent than not, and it will kill you within hours if you aren't prepared. Australia, a country of extremes.

Being an Aussie means helping out ANYONE who needs it. Even the next door neighbour whose dog barks all night long, and throws empty stubbies over the fence every Friday night. One day your threatening to key his '74 hotted up HJ, then the next, his house burns down and your offering him a beer and your couch to crash on if he needs it. When it comes to a crisis, aussies will be the first one to offer you the shirt of their backs.

Being an Aussie means laughing at pretty much anything, particularly ourselves. In fact laughing is a must, if you don't have a sense of humor, then you can't really call yourself an Aussie. We laugh at our own pollies, but then how easy is that to when they are real life caricatures? One of the most awarded shows ever to be heard on Australian radio was one called "How Green was my Cactus?" You can see a sample here.

Being an Aussie means taking an interest in ANY sport in which we are WINNING. We don't want to know about losers, they suck. When Australia won the America Cup, nobody knew what it was, until we won! And to really show just how much sport is a part of our blood, the then Prime Minister, Mr Bob Hawke, said on national telly that any boss who sacked a worker who didn't show up to work the next day is a 'bloody mug.' Kind of says it all doesn't it?

Being an Aussie means knowing the power of the understatement. Terms like "gee, you think?" and "Not Happy Jan" convey so much more than anything else you could possibly say. (In fact it was my recent use of the latter that prompted this post. The article I referenced when explaining this term to a reader mentions it and I thought about it and realised how bloody true it is!)

Being an Aussie means living in 'flats', knowing that a good dollop of 'dead horse' will fix any sort of food, never throwing a shrimp on the barbie (theres not enough what with all the snags), knowing that not all 'fruit loops' are meant to be eaten and drinking a 'long neck' doesn't require decapitation...

I'm proud to be an Aussie, proud of what this country can do when we put our minds to it, and realise that the above goes not even close to giving you an understanding as to just what us Aussies are all about. Have a good one.

new stuff..

2006-03-02T16:41:00.000+11:00

Well if you've been here before you'll notice there is a new poll and a new blog of the week! Before the night is out there will be a new theme and probably another new post as well..are you excited?

You can see the results of last weeks poll here if your interested. I'm pleased to say that nobody seems to mind me changing this all the time, but then again, too bad if you did because this is MY blog, MY way! This weeks poll was inspired by Mr Cheney's recent outing.

While you're here, be sure to go and look at the beautiful site that is Faerilicous. Well worth a look just for the lovely theme and layout...and some great reads in the archives, so please explore.

I'm off to go and play with this template a bit. Blogmad is down and my email is playing up so I thought I might as well...

Have fun kiddies.

P.S. Mum, munchkin says hi! I'll get her to send you an email once it stops buggerising around.

wordless wednesday

2006-03-01T10:42:00.000+11:00

name that herb...

it's alive, ALIVE!

2006-03-01T08:09:00.000+11:00

oops, that should be LIVE, i'm talking about blogmad...so if your one of the smarties who signed up already, go ahead, get your bum in there!!!

UPDATE: Blogmad is now invitation only, and seeing as how I'm a member, I can give you one! Just leave a comment for this post (be sure to leave your e-mail) and i'll send you one..not sure how many we get to give, but I suppose i'll find out if hordes of you ask for one won't I?

another reason to homeschool

2006-02-28T19:28:00.000+11:00

Zoe and I were discussing something she wanted to eat, that I didn't want her to eat earlier. After I told her NO for the 3rd time..you know what she said to me???

"Well I'll just have to PUNCH you then!"

I couldn't believe it...this from the girl who goes into hysterics when someone else is hurt, will declare that the world has ended because she stubbed her toe and has NEVER been a hitter. I sent her straight to her room with 'that' tone and by god she knew that it's "not okay to say something like that to ANYONE" as told to her retreating back. I calmed down, went in there 5 mins later to ask where it had come from. I'm not saying Zoe is a saint, because she isn't, but that statement was most DEFINATELY not her own. She tells me one of the kids in her class said it to her after recess this morning. I'm off to have a chat to the teacher in the morning....NOT HAPPY JAN! (only aussies will understand that comment!)

On a completely different note, Starmama tagged me for a 7 things meme...take a look at my answers here, and see if your next! I'm off to see about finding that damn elusive scotch...

i've learnt

2006-02-27T23:16:00.000+11:00

Things I'VE learnt since Zoe began school:

Jellyfish can SHRINK if there isn't enough food for them...
Astronauts have fun going to the toilet - with their feet in straps
A baby meerkat is called a PUP
I CAN fill in my days afterall!

On that note, i'm off to bed. Have a good one people...

something to lighten the mood

2006-02-27T13:27:00.000+11:00

Wow, nothing on Sunday then two bloody essays before lunch on Monday! Time to lighten it up around here a bit.

Firstly, if you haven't already, GET OFF YOUR BUTT & GO SIGN UP FOR BLOGMAD!! As of 1st March, it's invite only, so get over there while you can....for those of you who haven't heard about it, WHERE THE HELL YA BEEN??! Its a great new blog traffic exchange site unlike any other you've seen. And the reason I can be so sure now you ask? Because yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in their bug day! They opened up the doors to anyone who read about it in the forums and sent us off to a test site for the day. Let me just say it's clean, sleek, FUN and original. Of course now i've had a taste I can't wait for it to go live! The games are fun, the blogs are GREAT, the ratio is ONE to ONE (yes you read that right)and the guys running it are so committed to making if stay that way...so jump on over, sign up, then head to the forums to stay abreast of what's happening...GO, NOW!!

While your clicking away, be sure to click over there on the blog of the week. Her time here is nearly up and not nearly enough of you have had the intelligence to take a peek! Trust me, I used to be a doctor :)

Now for something completely different...go do this. I guarantee you will feel better. I did. It's great. Should be made mandatory for at least 5 mins a day - GLOBALLY.

Enjoy!!

things i'm thinking about

2006-02-27T12:26:00.000+11:00

This old blogiverse is wonderous, enchanting and at times just like high school! Since stumbling into this crazy, tripped out alternate reality i've discovered it's not really that different to life. You meet people (read blogs). Some you like, some you dont. Some you agree with, some you don't. Some you even gather into a little circle about yourself and you talk about (comment) stuff you have in common. You visit each other's houses (blogs) regularly, and tell the world they are your friends (blogrolls.)

There is no real definition of a blog that rang true to me except one: A webpage with regular dated entries. So simple. No rules, no regulations, no right, NO WRONG. It doesn't really capture the uniqueness of every blog out there, or the bloggers behind them.

Just like in real life, there are the popular ones, the nerds and geeks, the slackers, the intelligent, the funny, the good looking, the ugly, the fat, the bald etc etc etc. There are those that think they are better than everyone else, those that can and do, those that can and don't, those that just can't and those that try no matter what. There are those that do what they think others want them to do, and those that are true to themselves, those that are trying to find themselves and those that are trying to hide themselves. And just like in real life, and be honest here, how many of us 'judge' a blog based entirely on the first 5 second impression? Kind of still sounds like highschool doesn't it?

Lately i've come across posts, comments and even articles about this whole strange subculture that is growing on an hourly basis. Take a look at this blog entry here for just one example. It's a corker, Sass, your the greatest. Michael over at smoke and mirrors has recently shared his thoughts on the lack of acknowledgement by some bloggers when linking. I also recently found myself reacting in a very high school like manner when Michael wondered if I'd been to a popular site and then had blogged about the same topic. I didn't, and was quite distressed at the idea that he thought I hadn't thought of it on my own! It got me to thinking about just how much I hated high school and it's cliques, and bitchiness and how much so many blogs I see are just like that. I have one blogger who recently shared some personal info on her blog but hasn't done it in the past for fear of backlash as received by a blogger friend of hers because a VERY popular blogger suffers from the same affliction. How sad is it that someone doesn't feel like they can be or talk about themselves because of possible hate e-mails (as received by her friend)?

I for one try and treat my fellow bloggers as I would a new person I met face to face. If they say hello, I say hello back. If they take the time to find out about me, then i'll do the same in return. Common courtesy should be as prevalent on this medium as it should be in any other. As should be the acceptance that each person and therefore blog is unique, individual and worthwhile. If you don't like a blog, don't visit it. Don't leave nasty hurtful comments. Would you do that to someone face to face? Probably not. Why do people treat others so differently just because they are on the screen and not in your face? Why do people feel the need to judge and try and define that what a "blog" should be and what makes a "good" one?

And we wonder why war seems to be on of our favorite pasttime. People have forgotten how to be nice to each other.

live here and be australian

2006-02-27T09:42:00.000+11:00

Mr Howard finally came out recently and said something worthwhile. It seems he does remember that we are a country with our own set of values, beliefs and ideals. As does Mr Costello. One wonders at the seemingly sudden united front these two are putting forth...

He raises some interesting points, in particular the idea that when you CHOOSE to come to this country, you also choose to live by our laws, society, freedom and embrace acceptance. That acceptance however, goes both ways. We will let you have your beliefs, even allow you to live by them. Let us do the same in return. Recent remarks have been directed mainly at Muslims, but the principal applies to all immigrants.

Once again the outspoken Pauline Hanson has come out with a gem of an idea that speaks plainly of what most Australians think but never have the guts to say. As quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald when commenting on Mr Costello's remarks "he needs to throw these people out of this country who do not embrace Australia."

Immigrants who embrace our mulitculural lifestyle have enriched this country immeasurably. Those that see it as simply a place to live that is safer than their home countries really need to decide why they are here. Is it simply somewhere to be until 'home' is worth living in again? Is Australia and all it stands for something that you can teach your children alongside their own heritage? Have you HONESTLY given learning to speak English a bloody good go? If not, then go home. We are not a stop-gap, we are not a bus stop while you wait for something better to come along, and we are not going to tolerate you deciding you like our welfare system but not the laws that allow someone to say, write, or DRAW something that is offensive to your personal beliefs.

When I was living in Sydney, the saddest thing I ever saw was a local council who had to write Bi-laws that meant local shops MUST display prices in ENGLISH. There are some communities that simply do not wish to, nor even attempt to become part of a wider community. That's not what being Australian means. If you can't see that, go HOME, because this wonderful country will never be a home to you until you can embrace diversity, freedom and mateship.

Stepping off soapbox now...if you'd like to step up, feel free!

Stay tuned for part 2 - What it MEANS to be Australian

oh yeah, another gimmick!

2006-02-25T14:17:00.000+11:00

I love firefox. Correction. I love firefox extensions! I've just installed greasemonkey.
Now I have no real understanding what the heck this does, but when combined with this it means I can add technorati tags to all my posts! Without having to do all the coding crap myself, which I get bored with unless it's the theme of this little ol blog o mine. I love little things that make blogging a little more fun and interesting don't you? I search blogs on technorati using tags, I figured why not add them to my own? What is it about weekends that turns me into a net geek?? I think I should go find a cause, or news item to rant and rave about, I mean those are the posts you guys seem to like. Bugger it, it's my blog, and i'll rant when I want to! And right now I don't want to...have fun!

P.S That rain shit is still falling from the sky, it's quite eerie actually...

OMG!

2006-02-25T10:53:00.000+11:00

We have this strange weather sensation happening outside at the moment, it's familiar, I know i've seen it before, but so long ago! After doing a bit of research on google and the like, its apparently RAIN. Can you believe it? And we didn't even wash the car :)

Anyway seeing as how it's raining, and I can't go and do some replanting like I wanted to, I thought I'd do a meme i've been tagged for by the absolutely fabulous kdubs over at reflections of a not so ordinary mom. This lovely young specimen of humanity is also responsible for the new sidebar item over there called "Wordless Wednesday." Anyway you can check out my response over here, and if your so inclined, consider yourself tagged! Leave a comment if you do this one..

Well i'm leaving it at that for the time being, i'm not feeling very talkative...this rain stuff is messing with my head!

feel good friday

2006-02-24T19:02:00.000+11:00

Well it's Friday, so here's "feel good friday" as promised last week. Feel free to start your own, or not....

Today I spent a pleasant afternoon at Zoe's school while grades K-2 had a 'wet n wild' day. They had some wet activities set up, split the kids into 5 groups and they rotated around to each activity after lunch until hometime. It really just goes to show that kids are (like me!) easily amused. There was nothing elaborate, just some water, dirt, kids, teachers and bunch of parents...great fun was had by all! And all the big kids were jealous, but they had their swimming carnival on Wednesday so they missed out..
You've probably noticed the poll I have going up the top of the page there. I'm going to do a new one each week and this week thought I would scope out your reaction to the ongoing evolutionary process that is my blog theme. I am ALWAYS changing it..and will probably keep doing so! But that's not why I feel good..I feel good because some of you (ok, once again, 2!) LIKE the fact that I do this! I don't care if the final numbers still say only 2, i'll always have those 2...so thanks guys.
I made Evan's day with the post below, and that made me feel REALLY good...it's nice to make someone who has made you smile and laugh feel good isn't it?
The rest of the world will now see the REAL aussie spirit that is still so prevalent despite recent evidence to the contrary in a new advertising campaign. I think it's great. However this story did get one thing wrong. 'Bloody' is not a CURSE word, and anyone who says so just doesn't get it!!

So what made you feel good today?

things to do..

2006-02-23T16:34:00.000+11:00

I simply cannot be bothered writing much today, at least not about life. I think it's the heat, it's melted my brain! So instead i'm going to send you off to some other blogs to take a look at and read their stuff..ok? Hang on, why am I asking you, this is MY blog!

First stop: Blog of the Week (aka someone who gave me BE credits to show them off on my site!)
'My corner of the web' is a great site by a women on a mission, in fact 101 of them, all to be completed within 1001 days. I love the idea. Of course if it was me my first goal would be to actually do the list, which poses the question does your time start from when you start writing the list? Or when you finish writing it??

Second stop: My mate Evan
Evan is a teacher trying to survive life in Sydney...I know what that's like, been there but had the sense to get out! For some reason he's a fan of my blog (my guess is mental instability...JK Evan!!) and pops over on a regular basis. Now you pop on over there and THANK him for teaching our youth - who are our future leaders - and giving a shit about what kind of job he does. This guy recently went on a year 12 camp and sang spiritual songs with a group that included someone who had NEVER seen a scone before...so give him some encouragement that the rest of the world is appreciative of the lengths he will go to to ensure the next generation has a decent education..i'll know if you don't, my stats counter tells me what you click, so CLICK! Oh and make sure you take a wig with you. I hear a rumor that he does some sort of trick with them.. (I told you flattery will get you everywhere Evan!)

Third stop: Library Thing
This is cool. We all read books, and like those blogrolls we've all got, our choice of reading materials tell the world a little more about us. You can see what i'm currently reading/have recently read (or re-read!) over there in the sidebar. So go ahead, sign up and add your books as your reading them, review them, manually add them if they aren't in a list anyway, search from a tonne of different libraries, see who is reading the same books as you blah blah blah! I've got one for Zoe too, thought it might actually prove a little useful to see how many and what kind of books she reads in this, her first year of school..besides i'm a sucker for recording things about her! But i'm allowed to...cos I'M THE MOTHER!!

Fourth Stop: Blogmad
I've said if before, i'll say it again. If you want somewhere friendly, fun and way stylish to earn traffic AND see some great blogs, sign up now before it goes live, which isn't too far away now...aren't you getting excited! Take a look here if your not familiar with the whole thing yet..

Gee for someone who didnt want to write much I've certainly gone to town haven't I! Like I said, i'll know what you've clicked and what you haven't, I have a bet with babe about which link will be most popular so give me something to work with here ok?? Have fun.....

me?? mature??

2006-02-22T19:59:00.000+11:00

Oh i've just wet myself laughing. You see I went over to my Johari page to see if anyone has bothered to add their thoughts of me. Well two have, thanks Jade, and someone who didn't want to tell me who they are! Was that you mum?? What cracked me up though was the following statement:

"100% of people think that debambam is Mature"

What a pissa! Now I know that statistically 2 people is nowhere near enough to accurately depict your perceptions of me. I laughed out loud for one reason, and one reason only. I am probably the least mature person I know!

For example, did you know I have tattoo of BAMMBAMM on my right booby??
Did you know that when I was teaching Zoe animal sounds I taught her how to say them all like usual, a cow says moo, a dog says woof etc etc. But you know what I taught her for pig? Not oink oink as you would assume. I taught her the whole lift your nose, squish your mouth up GRUNT GRUNT!! Why? Because sometimes the only way to stay sane when your a single mum so sleep deprived you think everyday is WEDNESDAY for a month is to amuse yourself with your child. And anyone who ever saw Zoe tell you what noise a pig made will tell you it was bloody hysterical!!
Did you know that I still giggle when someone uses the term "pop off" to describe air escaping the sphincter?
Did you know that I love having a child because it gives me an excuse to express my inner child and it's socially acceptable?
Did you know that I have on my mobile phone a recording of Zoe saying "the fatconcontroller" and I still wet myself laughing everytime I hear it? (say this as one word really fast and imagine a child doing it - ask my mother, it's the funniest thing in the world!)
Did you know that I nearly went into labor while watching an interview between ELMO and Rove I was laughing so hard??

Of course you didnt know any of this, how could you? But now you do, and now you're part of the way to understanding why I almost went into convulsions when I read the sentence above...

UPDATE: I've managed to change the sound files off my phone to MP3 and uploaded them. You can listen to the fatconcontroller one here and Zoe telling you she's a dingdong here. They may not seem as funny to you, but you have to see the face, and imagine you heard this for the first time from another room!! I think they are both so darn funny and cute and I will not tolerate comments to the contrary - as is my right as THE MOTHER!!!

Life sucks so bad sometimes

2006-02-22T00:25:00.000+11:00

One of my fav net people has just lost her baby, very early into the pregnancy. And I feel like shit. Why? Because i've come to care for this lovely person, even though we've never met, and are not likely to anytime soon, and there's not a damn thing I can do to help her! This internet thing is great, it's made the world feel so much more like a global community, a little smaller. But it's time like this that I wish i'd never set foot upon it. It's time like this that your reminded that no matter how close a computer can bring us to another person, it simply cannot erase the miles between us. I hate this feeling of helplessness, I hate that I can't even just give her a hug cos lord knows there's nothing I can say to help - I know, i've been where she is, and it JUST SUCKS. You feel so totally and utterly alone, and nothing helps, except time, and even then all it does is dull the pain, it never goes away. For all of you reading this, please send your thoughts out to everywomen who has ever gone through this, and in particular my friend......

lazy coupla days

2006-02-21T23:37:00.000+11:00

I know, I didn't post anything yesterday, so shoot me! You probably didn't even notice :(
Anyway I've had an interesting couple of days, albeit fairly lazy ones ! I need to do the dishes, there is a pile of laundry to be done, BUT i've read 10 books with Zoe! I 'd say I spent my time wisely wouldn't you?

Because of the rest day last week, and the change in library roster, Zoe missed out on changing her book. So we went to school early yesterday and got another one. Its called "Princess Pam fell into the Jam" and is great, she's read it 3 times already. We also got one of the "Book a night" grab bags. It has 7 books in it, you have it for a week (hence the name!) and seem to have themes. All these books are about, or have, animal characters. I have to say, there has been some thought put into the selections! Some great themes, ideas and stories amongst them. And we've read all of them..and will keep doing so over the next week i'm sure. She's loving it. We read one in the morning while i'm brushing her hair, another one after school (or 3!) and then another one before bed. I'm amazed at just how many words she knows. Also amazed at her correctly spelling out complicated words but her getting some smaller ones wrong! But you know what? She's only 5, she's allowed to :)

We went to see the school counselor yesterday afternoon. It was interesting. I asked about pros/cons of testing her. She admits that she would like to, but not until next term because she feels she wouldn't get an accurate result. She also admits that as she only at the school 2 days a week, she does have more urgent tests to do with some other children. Which is fine. It's not really a priority for me until I feel she isn't getting what she needs. Having said that, like babe and the counselor said, we aren't really sure of WHAT she may actually need until testing is done. The plus side is it will be at the school's expense, and they are all for it, at least I know they will support us and Zoe no matter what. If it turns out she ISN'T gifted, but its bright and in a great learning environment, it won't affect how the school is giving her the extra like they are now. If it shows she IS, then a more detailed program will be structured aimed at her strengths/weakness'. All in all, a good outcome from my point of view. I'm still a little unsure, but feel more secure in knowing that the school will help guide and support us throughout.

The other issue I wanted to talk to her about was dealing with her emotional outburts. She gave me a book to read through, and affirmed what i've always knowsn, but probably denied for fear of not catering to special needs if Zoe is gifted! Firstly, 'gifted' children are 'Children first, gifted children second.' Secondly, WE are the adults, and even if we do have to deal with things differently because Zoe's mind works differently to other children, WE are in control and in charge of teaching Zoe about life. Whilst it's great that we aren't belittling her emotions in all their intensity, we need to focus on teaching her ways to deal with them and express them in a manner other than tears and feet stamping! She gave me a couple of ideas, and was pleased with some of the tactics i've been taking lately. So now we'll just see how we go. I do feel better knowing that we are on the right track....

Other than that, i've been sleeping a bit! Slept on Zoe's bed for a few hours yesterday arvo after reading some books, had to get out once it was her time for bed though! Then this morning I caught up with a friend for coffee, felt like absolute crap when I got home though so once we'd picked Zoe up I came home and crashed!

Hope all is well in your world, right now it's time for me to go read about what some of you have all been up to, and in the morning do a post for my new tenant! Take a look, she's over there in the top of the sidebar, well worth a look..it was tough choice between bidders let me tell you! Take it easy...

del.icio.us tag cloud

2006-02-19T19:51:00.000+11:00

Thanks to the wonder that is del.icio.us if you take a look over in the sidebar, you'll see a tag cloud. I've just starting adding ALL of my posts to a seperate account at del.icio.us and begun tagging them. So if you want to see all the posts i've done on something in particular, click a tag and it will take you to a page showing all those posts! I'm not all done yet, so not all posts are there, but I do hope to have them done tonight...i'm on a mission...while your waiting for me to finish, head over to this page and tell me how you would describe me..i've got this over in the sidebar too..hehehe i'm being a bit of a net geek today aren't i??!

UPDATE - All done!

blog for sale!

2006-02-19T18:26:00.000+11:00

Maybe I should sell this little blog here....LMAO!!!

My blog is worth $5,080.86.
How much is your blog worth?

What about yours?

getting to know your fellow bloggers

2006-02-18T23:43:00.000+11:00

I've just spent some time at my fav blogs over there on my blogroll. I try and get to each and every one at least once every couple of days. There are a few that I go to everyday, but i'm not singling them out..they know who they are!!

I find it interesting to take a look at their blogrolls too. A lot can be learned about someone by checking out what they like reading. Kind of like taking a look on their bookshelves I suppose! You should try it. Pick one of your favs, and go take a look at EVERY one of their fav links. I can just about guarantee you'll learn something new about them, and read some interesting stuff along the way.

The other thing I find interesting is to take note of what people DON'T write about. Like mum's who don't write much about their children, or people who ONLY write about work. Makes you wonder if the bits of their lives they leave out are not as good as what they would like them to be, or if they find it just too personal to share. Perhaps it's because their blog is a way of escaping some part of their lives that just takes over. As a mum I can relate to that. I love my daughter to pieces, don't get me wrong. But i'm not just a mum. I'm a lover, a friend, a person with ideas and passion and goals - all things that I would still have or be if I wasn't a mum...I don't write much about babe, or our relationship, not because it's not great, but because I believe it's very personal and I know HE wouldn't be comfortable with it, and I respect that.

What about those that simply compile a bunch of links to news items or websites throwing in the occassional comment or two? Do they honestly think their own lives would not make good content? Is it a lack of selfworth? Maybe it's their own way of sharing with the world: "This is what I find interesting." I suppose in a way that's a form of self expression.. Who knows. I don't, but do find it interesting to wonder about....

p.s - if you haven't already, go take a look at this weeks tenant, eccentric man. He's currently showcasing some lovely BBW - Big Beatiful Women.

i'll be back, maybe

2006-02-18T17:44:00.000+11:00

Hi all, i've been having a few comp issues of late, so i'm going to convert one the drives to the same file system as the others. So if the comp really spits it, it'll take me a couple of days to get back, wish me luck!

UPDATE: back and so far with no rotten side effects, here's hoping that it helps fix those yucky little issues!

feel good friday

2006-02-17T20:43:00.000+11:00

Well after feeling sorry for myself yesterday and being miserable with a runny nose and fever, today has ended up being pretty good! So anyway, in the hopes of starting a weekly ritual, here are some reasons today has been a 'feel good friday':

Firstly, our pollies actually did something worthwhile and voted in the Bill that strips the Health Minister's right to veto RU-486. I'm not going to get into the whole debate again, that will just ruin my mood i'm sure! If this is your first visit tyou can see my previous posts here and here.
Secondly, we had our air con replaced today - yay for us! No more melting, which is fun when you got a fever anyway....
And last but certainly not least (saving the best for last in fact) Zoe recieved her first merit award at school today! Her name was called out at assembly, she went up on stage and then stood with the other students who also received awards. She got hers for "great story-writing and reading" incase you can't read it below! The teacher who presented it also made a point of telling the whole school that "even though this girl is small, I hear a rumor she's reading pretty big books already." I tell you I sat there with my chest puffed up so far it looked like I had suddenly grown 3 cup sizes! And to hear the parents behind me all commenting on how cute she was (WELL DUH!) and wasn't she just so small made me want to stand up and yell out, that's my girl! But we'll leave the embarrassing mummy stunts till a time when they would actually embarrass her...hehehe

So that was my day...come back next week to see me talk about another feel good friday, even if it's the crappiest day EVER, i'm going to find something that made me feel good...what made you feel good today?

bloody bugs

2006-02-15T23:29:00.000+11:00

Well the inevitable has happened. I have my first cold. In the middle of bloody summer. Less than two days after Zoe started with the sniffles. And less than two weeks since she started SCHOOL....and so the never ending phenomenom known as "germ rotation" begins. Would it be a bad thing to consider homeschooling SOLEY to avoid the endless supply of ailments that breed in apparently healthy school yards?? Would depriving Zoe of a social life of any kind be selfish simply so I don't get a runny nose??!!! (For those of you that don't know me, this comment is not to be taken seriously..don't go calling welfare on me, and mum, forwarding this onto them and DELETING this sentence so I look like a bad mummy will NOT work!)

I'm off to take my get well supplies which consists of Demazin, Executive Herbal Stress Formula Vit B tab, Vicks Vapor Rub, a hot cup of tea then it's into bed for me...

love you babe

2006-02-14T17:29:00.000+11:00

Happy valentines day babe..I love you for a lot of reasons, and in spite of everything else! But one of the biggest reasons is this....the way you love Zoe, the way you sit behind her, supporting her and there just in case she falls. I know its been a hard journey for you, and a long one, but your still taking one step at a time without ever looking back. Thankyou for everything you've given to both of us, and I don't mean the material ones.....

immortality

2006-02-14T00:01:00.000+11:00

I've got a question for you.

If you had the chance to become immortal - would you?

I'm in two minds about this.

On the one hand, wouldn't it be great to have enough time to totally master a skill, to be able to say, I have nothing more to learn about that. I'm the best I can be.
But on the flipside I can't imagine being able to cope with the constant loss of loved ones. I wonder if eventually you would simply not feel as much emotion as a self defense mechanism. If you don't feel as intensely, you can't be hurt as intensely. That would be really sad, to lose the capacity to love for fear of the hurt that it would inevitably bring.

On that note, i'm heading to bed....have a good one people.

Zoe's first homework..

2006-02-13T20:29:00.000+11:00

Zoe recieved her first lot of homework from school today along with her first 2 home readers. The homework is a book of writing sheets, each one for a different letter of the alphabet. This week it's S. The problem both myself and her teacher can see is, each sheet is for one week, Zoe is going to want to do them all in one go! So in addition to doing the sheet, she can write a story focusing on the letter on the back of each one. We have to concentrate on getting her to correctly form the letters. She does them in the weirdest ways sometimes and her teacher remarked on her motor skills lacking a little in comparision to her language skills! Nothing wrong with that, just something that I can focus on with her.

The two books are great. One is called "Shugg's Pet Octopus" and has a reading level of 26, ages 7+ according to the site. We read some tonight and she was so excited to learn about "chapters" and the "glossary" at the back. The second one is "Grandpa's Bright Ideas" and is level 25. Both contain new words and themes to explore which is great. Both also contain parents notes with tips and ideas to help your child learn as much as possible from the book. A bit of thought has gone into the choice. The home readers can be changed whenever she likes and I found out today that her name is down for one of the "grab bags" from the library. She can also go to the library any day before school or at lunchtime to change her borrowed book too. So we basically have a never ending supply of books at her disposal...yay for us! The grab bags contain 7 books, one for each day of the week, and can also contain books for us parents. Great idea and the bags are made up for the kids according to interests and reading levels.

No word as yet on more tests for miss Zoe, but I have no doubts her teacher is doing what she can at the moment. I'm happy so far with the books and grab bag and while I want the best for Zoe's education, I think one step at a time will suit her. She has a slight cold at the moment poor bugger, first of what i'm sure will be many bugs picked up at school, thats just how it goes. Not bad enough to keep her home, but enough to make her tire easily. We walked home tonight so that kind of wore her out a little too, but then we didn't have the bung fight when she got home about getting changed! No energy left to fight and argue with mummy.....hmm Zoe, maybe mummy does know a few tricks after all hehehehehe.

bum fluff

2006-02-12T21:23:00.000+11:00

Do any of you live with the species known as the "channel hopper"? You know the one I mean. The one who will flick through every channel so fast you can't read the damn title, claim theres nothing on then continue to surf and keep control of power of universe to exclusion of all others. When they do stay on a channel long enough to hear more than one sentence, they will at times piss themselves laughing, and then change the damn channel again! Funny, I thought laughter meant enjoyment, must have been mistaken. Or theres the 'lets watch 3 things at once' nights. They are my favorites. Gives my brain a real workout as I try to keep the 3 storylines, 16 different characters and 80 subplots all seperate and in their own place. Said channel hopper then also claims to have "seen" EVERYTHING that's on. I'd like to know how staying on a channel just long enough to establish whether it's a movie, doco or cartoon constitutes actually watching the program. Unfortunately I also live with the type who tries to draw you into their twisted little journey of nothingness by intermittently callihg out "babe, quick look at this!" even though it's yet another bloody doco about how brilliant the roman's WERE (note the past tense??) Nevermind that for the last 2 years said channel hopper has been made perfectly aware of my "couldn't care less how many times a day Ceasar had a crap" attitude. Why on earth try and interest me in a topic that you KNOW damn well I don't give a rats ass about when your only going to CHANGE THE DAMN CHANNEL AS SOON AS I LOOK LIKE I MIGHT WANT TO WATCH ANYWAY!!!!

Ever wondered why I blog? Now you know.....

UPDATE: love you babe, thanks for the power of the universe...i'll have it back in accordance with custody agreement at exactly 2300 hours...

parenting responsibilities

2006-02-11T11:38:00.000+11:00

Recently our esteemed Prime Minister came out and said that television played a part in this countries lack of good manners. He did mention that parents are responsible too. GEE - YOU THINK!!!

There are so many people and associations out there willing to blame everyone and everything for our children's problems, attitudes, level of health, behavior etc etc. Hello??? Where are the parents? And why won't society accept that parents are responsible for their children? Come to think of it, why won't a lot of bloody parents accept it?

If Zoe ends up obese, I'm not going to blame the school canteen, advertising, McDonalds happy meals or lack of local sporting groups for that. I'M the one who decides what she eats and the level of physical activity she participates in. If Zoe is disrespectful and has a bad attitude, I'm going to take full responsibility for that too. I try and lead by example. Nothing worse than the double standard parenting - you know what I mean. The parents that scream at their kids "DON'T YELL!" So I treat her with respect and speak to her way I would like to be spoken too. And she responds well, I always notice an increase in attitude when I'm a bit cranky myself. But there will come a time too when she becomes responsible for herself. I can only hope I'll have given her the right tools by then.

So Mr. Prime Minister, I ask you to give parents more than an afterthought when discussing issues in our society. Don't blame the programs on TV, blame those that ALLOW the children to watch so much of that TV. You may want to take a look at your own backyard too Mr Howard. Have you ever watched yourself with all your playmates in a sitting of parliament? You are all so busy hunting for and flinging mud at each other that i'm sure you forget how to actually run the country in a timely manner. I challenge you to walk into any school playground and find children being so mean, vicious and childish to each other as you people are.

Maybe your right after all, watching TV shows - like Question time in our parliament - certainly wouldn't be helping this society learn how to be NICE to each other.

help the mummy

2006-02-11T01:55:00.000+11:00

This is one of Zoe's maze's that she drew on her blackboard.

But I don't want you to help the pirate find the treasure, I want you help the mummy find the scotch...

Have a good one all, I am too bloody tired and frustrated to write anything coherant or even worth reading

Senate votes to change RU486 control - Yahoo! Australia

2006-02-09T17:44:00.000+11:00

Read the story here

WOOHOO! At least we are PART way to having the right people make the decision. As you probably gathered from my previous post, I have very intense feelings about all this.
The thing with this debate is it should NEVER have been about abortion itself, it was always about who had the power to decide whether it should be available or not in this country. Well now it's one step closer to being in the right hands. Fingers crossed that the house of reps does the right thing too...

education - today vs yesterday

2006-02-08T17:56:00.000+11:00

A chance encounter with Zoe's teacher in the carpark this afternoon led to an interesting conversation with her, and then one with my mum via email. Zoe had a rest day today and we headed up to the office to pick up some paperwork for the P&C - looks like babe will be the next president while I help out in the background. As we were leaving, Zoe's teacher was coming out in her car.

She's been thinking about Zoe for the last couple of days and how they are going to accommodate her obvious abilities. She thinks she's almost at independent reading level - not bad for someone who started school last week hey! Anyway they are going to give her a couple of tests over the next few days and see exactly where she is at. While she is academically very much beyond her peers, she is still 5 years old socially. So for the time being regardless of what testing shows, she will stay in current class (combined Kindergarten and Grade 1) till at least the end of the current term with curriculum appropriate to her levels offered. Obviously grade acceleration has been discussed or at least considered, or she wouldn't have mentioned it, but the general consensus is it isn't an option until she has settled in to school socially.

Me and mum were discussing this and I'm in two minds. If it's the only way Zoe's academic abilities and hunger can be satisfied, then I'm all for it. But what happens socially? I know that some recent studies have shown no adverse affects, that gifted children benefit from being with their academic rather than age peers - long term. But ask almost anyone who has seen it happen and who has been through it and they'll tell you a different story. The question I have is what happens when the grade acceleration happens early in life, and then the kids hit puberty? How do you explain to a girl why her friends now look and act differently than she does? Or because it happened early will she understand the age and physical differences and simply accept it? I guess there is no point in worrying until such time as it's an option. But it does worry me. I think for the best integration grade skipping should happen early. But the emotional side of things is just as important as the academic. No point in having a young adult who has been educated to the best of their potential if they can't function properly in society as a result of psychological scars. It's going to be a tough call if it turns out to be a real option.

I think another important factor in all of this is our involvement as parents. I wonder if Zoe would be receiving these tests so early on if I hadn't seen the counselor last year, or mentioned the gifted and talented workshop I attended to her first steps teacher - thereby introducing them to the idea that Zoe was smarter than the average bear. I wonder too if she would be getting the best options offered if me and her dad weren't taking such an active role in her education and the school itself. Either way I suppose it doesn't matter as long she is getting what she needs!

Anyway, that wasn't what I was originally going to write about, so let me get back on track a little. Today's education system - at least here in NSW, Aus. is much more geared towards individual needs rather than a set standard. There is much more choice, variety and resources available to both students and teachers than when I was at school. The school Zoe is attending is lucky enough to have two teachers specifically trained for gifted and talented children, a subject acceleration policy and a few specialised enrichment groups along with a new principal who is looking to raise the bar on overall performance; which means even more funding and programs designed to help students reach their full potential. At all levels. When we were at school the way to help a kid who struggled was to keep him/her down a year, and if you were brilliant, well you breezed through school never learning that sometimes the things you have to work at are the most rewarding.

Looking back, my sisters and I all showed signs of giftedness in one area or another, as well as behaviors now considered almost standard indicators. My youngest sister is one of the smartest people I know, the connections her brain can make with no apparent effort are unbelievable. She could have been an astronaut if she wanted, but the education system we grew up with was not equipped nor willing to help bring out that full potential. While the great ideas are there in today's system with individual programs encouraged and better informed schools and teachers, not all schools are making use of them. Some are struggling just to stay open because they can't meet basic academic requirements. We've been extremely lucky to have fallen on our feet with our choice of school for Zoe. She would never have been able to receive the education she is going to need (and want, she LOVES learning) in the system of 25 years ago (or thereabouts!) when I went through it.

For those of you with children, think about the system you went through in comparison to the one your kids are. How different do you think you would have experienced school and the opportunities that follow if you had the chance to do it today? My mind boggles at the possibilities. Don't get me wrong, I loved school for the most part, some of my fondest memories are from those times and at the end of it I was indeed 'educated' enough to get into university. But I sat and wondered this afternoon if my life would be different had the education system back then realised that every student is different and as such had an education catered a little more to my needs rather than the average needs as decided by a bureaucrat reading graphs and statistics. Having said all that, yesterdays system had some distinct advantages over today's....but that's a whole other post now isn't it?

blogging things

2006-02-08T09:14:00.000+11:00

COCOMMENT
Can't remember which blog I was on, but read about this new service that's in beta so I went to check it out. It's called coComment and basically it helps keep track of comments you leave on other blogs, and all in one place rather than searching through your history or revisiting every blog you've been to in order to find a response to your comments! If you take a look down under my blogroll in the sidebar it also allows for you to share the comments you've left at other blogs on your own. Also have the option with this to show only your comments, or related ones too. Pretty nifty hey? I signed up yesterday and received the invitation email this morning. Now the biggest prob I can see with it so far is the fact that it doesn't work with popup windows. Anyway if you leave comments all over the place and would like to keep track of them, check it out.

Incase you missed the previous pimping post I did about blogmad, check it out here. If you haven't already done so, get your bum over there and sign up NOW! The day it's going live is getting closer and closer and beta testing is in full swing at the moment.

Have fun kiddies!

penis extensions

2006-02-06T19:44:00.000+11:00

For all of you who found your way here by way of a search engine looking for a little something extra in your life, or pants, there are better ways of enhancing yourself - LEARN HOW TO KNIT. I hear it's all the rage.

And now for my regular readers....
Did I ever tell you about my theory on men's obsession with remote controls and mobile phones? It's really very simple .

They are penis extensions.

You see it's socially unacceptable for men to play with themselves in public, so they've designed substitutes. This is the real reason behind advances in technology you know. The drive to find the BEST penis extension there is.

Remote controls (also affectionally called 'power of the universe' in our house) can be constantly fondled, caressed and kept out in the open upon ones lap without fear of being arrested. Men must have control of the remote at all times and will reluctantly release control to the women for brief periods of time only to keep her happy, which men want. When women are happy they will help you play with the remote, and we all know that while playing with the remote on your own is fun, it's much more interesting with a second party...

Mobile phones on the other hand are simply for showing off. They say out loud to the world - this is my equipment, see it has more functions than yours, I can do more with it! Have you ever noticed the smaller they are, the more functions they have? It's like they are saying 'Just because i'm small, doesn't mean I won't satisfy your needs.' The small ones also have those handy, remind me of something else, flip screens. One size one minute, then FLIP, and they are BIGGER and more fun to play with.

Men need to know where there penis extenstions are at all times. Just like they know where the real thing is. Maybe. Lets face it, they tend to poke and prod and adjust all day long, maybe all that is to simply check that it's still actually there? Who knows. I don't. I'm just a crazy mum trying to keep her brain alive by making up dumbass theories about little pieces of plastic, metal and batteries that when lost can cause a man to run hysterically through the house like he's lost an essential body part.....

we are what we do

2006-02-05T19:05:00.000+11:00

I was checking out one of my many neglected blogmarks when I rediscovered Pewari's Prattle. The topmost post was a small one, but it led me to a great site called "we are what we do". Go take a look, sign up, do one small thing today, and another tomorrow and then the next day. Come back in a month and let me know how many you've done...

my favorite posts

2006-02-05T15:14:00.000+11:00

Vic over at Rosevibes couldn't be bothered writing a post one day so asked her readers to review their own blogs and write a post about their 3 favorite posts. I promised her I would, so here I am, doing just that! I know I haven't been writing this thing for very long, but I did actually start one in May of last year so there are a couple more to choose from...anyway here we go:

A mother's musings.
I like this one because I don't often get into philosohical moods at a time when i'm able to put it down on paper (so to speak). It always happens in the strangest places, like the chocolate aisle in the supermarket where there isn't a keyboard to be found...When I resurrected this blog idea, I re-read this one and actually laughed. I figured if something I wrote could make me laugh, it may be an ok bit of writing. Then again I could just be dilussional...you know how it is, mummy brain.
Abortion & RU-486 in Australia
I'm including this one because I guess it's my first real rant. This is a touchy subject for some people so read at your own discretion....I felt so much better after doing this one though!
Dealing with PMS
I like this one because it was my first attempt at being a little funny....you decide whether it worked or not!!

So there you go, my favorite posts thus far. Might do this again in another 3 months once I've got a bit more to choose from! After you've finished laughing at my inane attempts to amuse or educate you, take a look at these blogs and check out their fav posts too. t really is a great way to read something you may not have read about a blogger that you may not have visited before. Thanks for dropping by.

Let me know in the comments if you do this one too and i'll add you to the list....

god is shaking in his boots now..

2006-02-04T14:36:00.000+11:00

A couple of days ago over at oddly enough news on good old yahoo, there was this story. I'll give you a moment to take a look at it....1,2,3 ok you should be done by now.

What a bloody joke! Surely this isn't the first time this has happened in history? I personally have probably done it a thousand times myself even though I'm what is technically termed 'agnostic'. (sounds like a bloody disease doesn't it? maybe it is....)

But the thing that makes me laugh is this: Is this the best news the author could come up? Surely this is the work of a first year journalist cadet who was practising using his/her editing program, they hit the wrong button and it landed on the wrong desktop? I've decided that if this can be classified as "news", even "odd" news, I should change careers..heres a couple of headlines for some recent happenings in our part of the world. I'm sure they'll make the grade, what do you think?

"Colony of ants make it to the top of porch"
"Washing is dry in record time"
"Kindergarten student makes it through day WITHOUT tantrum"
"Photo frame miraculously stays on wall for a whole year"
"Purple Pancakes - A world gone mad"
"Mother suspicious over daughters unusual ability to speak fluent English"
"Cloud forms shape of distorted butterfly wings"

So tell me distinguished ladies and gentlemen, what headlines would make the grade from your world?

friday fun

2006-02-03T15:49:00.000+11:00

Well hello there! I hope you day has been great...here's a quick update before we begin the fun:

re "I've been plagiarised" I'm happy to report that all bar one uncredited or simply STOLEN publishings of the poem in question have been REMOVED!!! Two without any response at all - BLOODY CHICKENS - one claim of "it was a page of my favorites" - WITH NO AUTHOR DETAILS and title my poems!!- and another now has a name against it. hehehehehe, maybe I should intimidate via email more often!
Zoe and good strong mummy have survived first week (ok, 3 days!) of school, in one piece, and with both of us even learning a thing or two in the process.
I've moved to sidebar to the right, should stop the pain in the ass delayed page loads while waiting for something off another site that is currently under maintenance. Like counters...
4 people have seen the light and signed up for BLOGMAD, if you haven't seen it yet, read the post here
I have a new tenant! Take a look at Jeremy C. Shipp's place over in the sidebar there, I promise you won't be disappointed!

Ok in the absence of anything I have worth telling you, I've decided to play a little game. Hence the name fun friday! Keep you busy over the weekend too. What I want you to do is find a picture...that's all. I'll post a comment with something for you to find. Then when you've found it, post in a comment the URL and something for the next person to find. Next person comes along and finds it, posts URL and something for the NEXT person...ok? If you don't understand the concept, you might aswell leave this page now because I will often use words with more than two syllables and you may just get confused...

p.s any guesses on what the pic is of?

i need to lighten up!

2006-02-01T23:19:00.000+11:00

I needed a pick me up (see two previous posts!) so headed off to one of my fav sites of ALL TIME.

Click me! Click me!

This is simply a classic.....

important phonecall

2006-02-01T23:10:00.000+11:00

Zoe's first day at school didn't make me cry, but I was sad.
This phonecall she's on made me cry, but not sad, in fact I was ecstatic.
Some of you will know why, some won't, and some of you will now want to know why,some don't give a rats arse. If you really need to know - email me. If you don't have my e-mail, I guess your outta luck hey!
I'm hoping this is a day Zoe will treasure, and remember the rest of her life because she found something that I thought was lost.
Go give your kids a kiss and a hug and tell them you love them....

I didn't cry!

2006-02-01T17:16:00.000+11:00

Aren't you proud of me?! I did come close, but she was so damn excited I was too happy for her to let my big bad selfish mummy come to the forefront. She had a great first day at school but you can read about that after tonight when I get her to write in her blog!

Stu asked me why was it any different to when she went to daycare or preschool. And you know what my answer was?
I'M NOT IN CONTROL.
I don't know why I said it, but as soon as I did, I knew I was right. For the last 5 years, any time i've spent away from Zoe has been because I decided it was going to happen. Even at preschool and daycare, if I wanted to pick her up early, or drop her off late, I could. But now I can't. Not only that but for a 1/4 of the day, someone else is responsible for her learning, her behaviour, her safety and her welfare. I'm trusting another person who has no emotional ties to look after my daughter. That's not an easy thing to do. I'm not saying that someone else can't do it, just that's when parents say it hard to let go, this is what they are talking about. CONTROL.

I'll be off for now before I get even more philosophical and start crying as I think about how i'm going to wake up tomorrow and my baby will be graduating from Uni....

me - South Park style

2006-01-31T12:04:00.000+11:00

I can see into the future, can you?

<---me about 10 mins after dropping the munchkin at school....hehehe

thanks to South Park Studio which I found at Pixies place.
I Quite like this, I was thinking of making it my avatar, what do you think? And those that know me in the flesh will probably tell you it's a fair likeness at times!!

one more sleep..

2006-01-31T08:14:00.000+11:00

"Mum I can't BELIEVE i'm going to school tomorrow!"

This was how Zoe greeted me this morning as I went and got her out of bed. How on earth can I be anything but excited for her. I just have to put aside the selfish inner mummy who wants her "baby back" so bad I can almost smell that newborn smell when I close my eyes. I've got a plan to help me deal with tomorrow. Let me know if you've got any better ideas.

Stay up all night so that my body and mind are so tired i'm numb in the morning - no feeling, no crying
7:30am - Be good strong mummy who helps Miss Zoe get ready for -gulp- school
9am - Drop Zoe at that place that i'm sure is secretly using our children in scientific experiments (this is why attraction to school wanes over the years you see). No crying, clutching or running after her screaming "You don't need to go to school, I can teach you everything!"
9:01am - Start drinking
10am (Ok I don't drink much these days!)Fall down as blubbering mess sobbing that "I want my baby back"
10:30am - Climb into bed and pass out
2:30pm - Get up and put on my "Happy for Zoe" face, prepare stink bomb to throw at new teachers car
3pm - Greet Zoe as she RUNS out of the door to her new classroom screaming "I don't want to go back!"

Of course thats not the REAL plan...but I can't tell you what it is as i'm sure that a few laws (and possibly buildings) will be broken and I wouldn't want anyone to think i'd premeditated anything....have a good one!

i've been plagiarised!

2006-01-29T21:15:00.000+11:00

Verb 1. plagiarise - take without referencing from someone else's writing or speech; of intellectual property

A visitor to my website got there through a search. So I hit the link and was astonished to find a poem that I published here on about 4 other bloody sites! I've had one taken down, and sent some rather nasty emails to those who claimed THEY wrote it, still waiting to hear back from the original hosting site the date on which I submitted so if needs be I can contact hosting and ask them to remove.

I'M SO BLOODY MAD!!!

I don't give a shit who posts or copies my crap onto their own site, but at least acknowledge that I wrote it. Don't even care about a linkback, although common courtesy would suggest it would be polite.

BUT IF I WROTE IT DON'T CLAIM YOU DID!

GGGRRRRRRRRR....

On the funny side of it, it turns out that some folks at prisontalk.com think it's ok...nice to think my thoughts have an effect on those whose loved ones are in JAIL! Not making fun of them, just not the context in which it was written so therefore I nearly choked when I saw it there!!! Hope your all having a nice day!

blogmad - site of the month

2006-01-29T12:29:00.000+11:00

Well I have to tell you, this is a shamless shameless plug!! As it should be. There aren't many sites or products out there that impress me enough to write a post just for them. But Blogmad is one of them. If you are a member of Blogexplosion, then this site will appeal; the more the merrier right! Are you looking for more traffic at your blog? Want to see some first class blogs for your own reading pleasure? Want to do it a site that LISTENS to your ideas and suggestions? Well this is it!

Blogmad is going beta at the start of February, then public in March. Sign up now (thousands have already) and check out what is happening, as it happens, over at the forums. Some great guys run the site, and apart from having exceptional coding skills, are just like you and me. They like writing and reading great blogs. Enjoy and tell them I sent ya!

There, i've done it...i've pimped out my blog...hehehehehe

blogs - gifted and talented children

2006-01-29T11:31:00.000+11:00

I'm trying to find some more content for my website, you know, something OTHER than me and Zoe. Now I know Zoe is a great topic and she will keep filling up those pages as the years go by, but I would like to offer something more aswell. Anyway I was thinking of getting together some resources for parents of gifted children, particularly here in Australia. I tell you it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack looking for them!

Like when I was pregnant, I find myself turning to OTHER parents of late, and have found them the most useful when looking for information, ideas and support. Lets fact it, in todays web society that means reading blogs! Or web communities. Either way, they are both made up of a collection of people who either have the expertise or experience in pretty much any area of humanity that you could wish for. For myself i've come across a couple of great reads that have proven invaluable, if only to remind me that everyone is unique yet at the same time so much alike. Particularly when it comes to our children.

Ok, I guess the point of this is this: If you know of any blog or web community that may not neccesarily come up on search engines or blog directories that would be helpful to parents of gifted or possibly gifted children, please let me know!

it's my first time, will it hurt??

2006-01-28T21:09:00.000+11:00

Matt over at Blogzilla 'tagged' me so i'm it...thanks Matt, like you it's my first time! Will it hurt? Promise you'll be gentle ok??!! Anyway, take a look over at my stuff for my answers, and to see if your next!

Must be the day for first, I won my first BOTB today....1 out of 5 aint bad! So i'm quitting while i'm ahead...hehehehehehe.

life with Zoe Pt 1

2006-01-28T16:42:00.000+11:00

From the time they can talk, gifted children are constantly asking questions and often challenge authority. "Do it because I said so" doesn't work with these children." - Kids Source

Oh how bloody true is this. The other problem with Zoe is she really listens to what we say, and tends to take it literally, WHEN it suits her (she is still only 5 after all!)....here are a few examples from my house.

Case 1)
me - "Zoe please don't jump or play games when we are walking in the carpark"
zoe - "Why mum?"
me - "Because you might fall over and a car can come along and hurt you"
zoe - "Okay mum" (begins skipping)
me - "Zoe what did I just say?"
zoe - "You didn't say anything about skipping mum"

Zoe - 1, Mum - 0

Case 2)
me - (after fighting with her all day about tidying up her room) "Zoe i'm giving you another 20 minutes to do what i've asked you please. I would like your room tidy so that I can vacuum in there. Whatever is on the floor in 20 mins I'm going to put in the bin because i'll assume you no longer want it. Ok?"
zoe - "Okay mum"
me - (20 mins later, floor still full of stuff, some having been pulled back OUT of the cupboard) "Ok Zoe i'm going to put all these toys in the bin now like I said I would"
zoe - "Okay mum"
me - "What do you mean ok? If you don't want them, you know where the bin is, put them in there!"
zoe - "Why? You said YOU would."

Zoe - 2, Mum-0

Stay tuned for more snippets of life with Zoe...

pancake & cake recipe

2006-01-27T18:08:00.000+11:00

Remember those pancakes and cake I was talking about yesterday? Well i've added the recipes in my stuff.

The BEST pancakes ever

The YUMMIEST cake ever

Enjoy...these two are great BASE recipes so feel free to post your own variations in the comments section of each one! Don't forget the food dye.....

You'll also find "what my perfect major" is there aswell, thanks to Michael over at smoke and mirrors.

green pancakes and nutella

2006-01-26T18:31:00.000+11:00

This was what we had for lunch today. I'm telling you i've found the BESTEST pancake recipe ever. The photo doesn't really show up the green too well, you'll just have to believe me!

So why green pancakes and nutella I hear you ask? Well because pancakes can be very boring when your out of strawberry jam and because 4 drops of food dye make food 500% more appealing to kiddies for some reason! As for the nutella, I love it, we had no jam, thought i'd try it and was yummy!

It reminded me of when we lived at a place called Carrajung Sth back when I was in grade 5/6. We (my sisters and I) used to make green or blue coconut macaroons...and even though the colors don't change the taste at all, they were always much more enjoyable because they weren't "normal"!! I wonder why though? I honestly have no idea what on earth prompted us turn normal little treats into what I'm sure we called martian food. But I do remember how much fun we had eating them. In fact we had a lot of fun at that place full stop, but thats one of those "that's a whole other post" things!

To top off the whole Australia day theme, Zoe urged me to put yellow into the cake I made; which by the way was from one of the BESTEST cake recipes i've ever found..woohoo for me, two great finds in one day!. Couldn't explain to her that it was going to be yellow anyway...not that I would have tried real hard. Again, for the sake of a couple of drops out of a little bottle that cost me a whole $4 for 4, why NOT jazz it up a bit? It's worth it just to see her face light up as she proudly shows off her green pancake to her friend, who was SOOOOO jealous.

I'm off for now, may just post those two recipes I found over in my Stuff...will let you know if I do. Hope you all had a GREAT day.

happy Australia Day

2006-01-26T00:17:00.000+11:00

Today is Australia day, you can find out why we have it and all the history blah blah blah by clicking HERE. I've long since forgotten...or never learned, one or the other! JK. I do know, but want you to find out for yourself. There'll be a quiz so be sure to click that link!!

For today's true blue aussie it usually means taking a 4 day long weekend and either spending it with your family; or; getting drunk and watching local council fireworks with your mates, preferably both! The BBQ is an essential, I doubt there'll be a shrimp in sight, not enough room in the eskie for anything other than some snags, a loaf of bread and good old tomato sauce. To find out how us aussies REALLY celebrate, take a look at this. This is well done and VERY funny..

Actually there may be more in the eskie than just snags. I noticed the other day Coles are now selling kangaroo meat. I think it's great. Whats the best way to ensure a species survival? Start using it for food. This way it gets farmed and the chances of a farmed animal becoming endangered is?? Buckleys and none! Personally I can't eat the stuff. I just don't like the taste. Have no issues about eating something that the rest of world thinks we keep for pets and hops around the streets of our cities. I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who do though!

Anyway i'm off to bed now, don't have anything planned at all for tomorrow other than calling my big sis cos it's her birthday. If it's not too hot we'll try and take Zoe to the park. Poor bugger is STILL waiting for school and it's killing her. Don't know what the rush is. She's got 13 years at least ahead of her. I may just record her enthusiasm and play it to her in years to come when she doesn't want to go! Once more my mind is running in a different direction to where it started so i'll just shut up now.

Have yourself a great Australia day, have a drink for me and toast this bloody fantastic country we live in. God bless the convicts that made it all possible. You are my heroes (and ancenstors!!)

Celena's Zoo

2006-01-25T19:14:00.000+11:00

Celena's Zoo: My Thoughts On Some Sticky Issues.

Another interesting POV on the below topic. Thanks Celena

RU-486 & Abortion in Australia

2006-01-25T15:43:00.000+11:00

What a topic hey? Do we allow this pill to be used in Australia or don't we? Well "we" (being us the commoners) don't really get a say. The idiots we've got pretending to run the country do. And that scares the hell out of me, but that's a whole other post.

I have very strong opinions on not only this drug, but abortion in general. Well to be more accurate, I have ONE opinion.

WOMEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOICE.

Whilst I would never personally consider an abortion, I realise their may be circumstances where I may. And should I ever find myself in that position, I want the option. I would also never begrudge another human being the right to choose for herself either. I may not like the reasons some people have them, I may even be horrified and disgusted by some of those reasons. But they have the right to choose, for right or wrong.

Two letters in the local rag today offered conflicting opinions on the whole debate. The pro-lifer was basically saying that an MP was wrong in saying that the debate on RU-486 was NOT a debate on abortion. The MP was saying that it's a health debate since it's about offering an alternative to the current practises. I have to agree with the MP. This isn't, nor should be about abortion. Abortion is legal in this country, you can't change that by being against a bloody pill. Get over it. It's about offering women an alternative option to consider when making a decision. Much the same as having a variety of contraceptives to choose from. So I say bring on RU-486 and the debate on it's safety as a drug which is essentially what this should be.

As for the abortion debate itself, pro-lifers disgust me in much the same way as "bible bashers" do. How dare ANYONE tell me how I should be living, what I should be believing in or life choices I should be making. I'm not hurting people, i'm not making this word a worse place to live in. I respect your right to do what works for YOU, at least give me the common courtesy of that in return. So don't come knocking on my door sprouting that i'm living in sin, and don't tell me that I don't have a choice when it comes to my body.

Now if you know me at all, you know I am NOT sexist. Please keep this in mind when reading the following. Again this is about CHOICE, not gender.

For all you pro-life blokes out there who have an opinion on what women should and shouldn't do with their own bodies, how about this. How about I go talk to my local MP to start a debate on laws for COMPULSORY CIRCUMCISION. What's that I hear you say? How dare I try and make a decision about YOUR body when I don't even have one of those things? How could I POSSIBLY understand what that would be like? mmmm thats what I thought. Now before you jump on the comments link down there and tear me a new one for not taking into account "what about me, i'm the father, I have a say", you are dead right. Of course you have a say. BUT, thats something that only two people can sort out, you...and the mother. You have the choice of sticking by her if she makes a decision that you don't agree with because you love her and understand she has to do whats right for her; or; you can let it eat your insides and walk away because she is obviously not the one for you. Again, it's about choice. And that one is yours, and you have it.

You know something? I could go on forever, but won't...i've already digressed from my original point! Suffice to say i'll be following this debate and decision making process with interest because it would be a travisty if this debate on RU-486 turned into simply an abortion debate and the facts got lost in the confusion. If you feel the need to comment, remember, manners are good, name calling isn't. This is my blog after all and if you strongly disagree with what i'm saying, then you've had the CHOICE to leave this page a long time ago.

My name's Kelly and I'm PRO-CHOICE.

parenting licenses

2006-01-24T22:27:00.000+11:00

Can you tell me why it is that you need a license to drive a car, go fishing, own a gun, sell alcohol and a miriad other things, yet ANY IDIOT can reproduce with no controls whatsoever??? By the time the "authorities" are involved in some cases the damage is done and someone's life is ruined forever.

Now, before you slam me with all the very valid points against the idea ie: civil liberties and human rights etc etc. think really hard. I'm sure you know or have seen an example of someone who should NEVER be responsible for another human being, let alone bring a brand new one into the world.

My point is simply this, some people should never have kids and it amazes me there is not a damn thing we can do about it until it's too late....and at the end of the day who suffers? The innocent...

wanted: funny e-mail - Power of suggestion

2006-01-23T23:49:00.000+11:00

UPDATE: I found it! Take a look here. Offer of free plugs now closed...

Ages and ages (at least 12 months) ago I saw an e-mail that had me, my boss, and my dad rolling around the floor laughing so hard we thought we'd pee. I cannot find the damn thing anywhere and my dad reminds me about everytime I see him, you see I promised i'd forward to him from work and never did..don't work there anymore so kind of hard to get it!!! I'm hoping that someone passing through can help me.

It was a video of an older couple driving along a road with a flash car coming up beside them. The women leans down and picks up a steering wheel and starts pretending to drive with it. She's looking directly at the guy driving beside them when she wrenches the wheel hard to the right, the guy beside her automatically thinks she's actually driving and swerves off the road....ok I know that doesn't sound funny but I swear to god that if you've seen it, you'll know which one I mean.

PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME! If you know of somewhere I can get it, or have it, please leave a comment and let me know.

To the first person who can help me: I'll put a link to your blog in EVERY post and in the sidebar for the next bloody month!!!!!

**growing plants v's having children

2006-01-22T23:01:00.000+11:00

As I was watering my herb seedlings this evening it occurred to me there are many similarities (and differences) between growing a plant and having a child...

Both are forms of life
Both rely on you less and less as they grow up
Both change and evolve from a single seed into something unique
Both require your attention and nurturing to reach their full potential

So let's now examine the advantages of growing a plant...

It listens intently to everything you say without ever talking back
It won't try and sneak out of the house at 1 in the morning to see that boy you've banned from the house
Not a single poopy nappy....ever...notta one
Education expenses are non existent
If it gets hurt, YOU won't bleed deep inside you
It can reproduce without ever giving you mental images that will send you into therapy
You will never have complete strangers give you the DEATH look when it throws a tantrum in the supermarket

And now the pro's of having a child instead...

They can throw their arms around your neck at random moments and proclaim "I love you sooooo much mummy"

Well it's quite simply no contest at all is it? And if you DON'T know what i'm talking about then go straight to the doctors and have yourself sterilised....

spilling the beans..

2006-01-22T10:43:00.000+11:00

Those of you who visit regularly - hi mum - will notice a name change. Kind of going with the pics more than anything. For those of you with mental illnesses that meant you have blogrolled me....change your link, dont change your link, i don't mind either way! The new one is smaller..

update: I changed the theme a bit too....let me know what your thoughts are..I love purple, but not everyone does! I think this is a little easier on the eyes though....

Bare bottom and a sexist attitude

2006-01-21T15:23:00.001+11:00

I promised myself and my loyal readers (hi mum) that this would never degenerate into one of those pages that simply link to other pages or news items...hence my amazement that i'm actually linking to one here..but I just had to! And at least I'm going to comment on it right??!

Click the post title to take a look at a recent news item on Yahoo!'s Oddly Enough.

It's a funny little story about shenanigans at a presidential palace. That wasn't enough to prompt me to write about it. It was the following :

"He was not completely naked," said presidential spokeswoman Kaidi Aher. "And it was a boy not a girl. That (a naked girl) would be completely different."

Can I ask what the freakin difference would be?? Would it be less, or more, scandalous due to the naked person being a different gender? How sexist can you get!! I never have, and never will understand the thinking behind some peoples/Countries beliefs. I'm still having a blonde day I suppose (see earlier post and my innane questions) because I JUST DON'T GET IT.

Please enlighten me if you think you know just "WHAT" the difference would be,

"4 things"

2006-01-21T12:59:00.000+11:00

I've just completed my first "meme", check it out here if your interested, if not then i've saved you the trouble of reading crap about me that you never really wanted to know!!!

While I have your attention, maybe you could answer a question or two for me - Why the hell are they called MEME's??? Ok, call be dumb, call me blonde, i've been called worse before, but I cannot for the life of me figure it out! Raises lotsa questions actually....what was the first ever one? created by whom? how many different ones are there? would it be bad if I made up one of my own? am I asking too many ridiculous questions? should I just shut the #$%^ up now?!!

gifted children....and a witch

2006-01-20T19:38:00.000+11:00

Recently one of the groups that i'm a member of (Parents of gifted Children) turned into a bung fight thanks to one judgemental, heartless "I know it all and you don't" witch who now freely admits that she was there to do research. I wanna strangle her. One new member asked for advice , which is what the group is for, only to have said witch attack her parenting skills. Well needless to say all hell broke loose. This site prides itself on being a safe haven for parents of gifted/suspected gifted kids and to have someone come in and do that to another member is just not on. The moderator was away and has since begun moderating the witches messages.

I won't go into details about exactly what was said, my point is this. Being the parent of any child is hard enough. Try being the parent of a child who is "different" from all the other kids. I'm at a stage with Zoe where i'm unsure about whether she is "gifted" or "bright." I do know she's reading and she hasn't started school yet. I don't like the idea of her being labeled, but do want to make sure her potential isn't left behind in a school system that is quite often appropriate for the "average". I have doubts, get negative, almost laughing responses from those who hear me say she might be gifted and it makes it unbelievabley hard to find support through fear of rejection and ridicule. Hence my membership to this particular group.

The witch also made a passing comment about Zoe's pics being average so therefore she is obviously not gifted. Bloody cow, if she'd bothered reading ALL the posts i've sent in rather than making an assumption based on one quick glimpse at Zoe's art, she would know that Zoe's strengths are elsewhere. It shits me to tears when people make assumptions based on one freakin sentence. The poor women who was originally attacked must be sitting there not only questioning her parenting skills but also the talents of her child, which could result in her NOT looking for an appropriate schooling program. I only hope she hung around long enough to see the aftermath and support she received. All members are parents who obviously value their child's education beyond belief and even if one isn't what is technically known as "gifted" then so bloody what? These kids are lucky to have parents taking such an active role in their children's lives.

Hmmmph. Okay, thats enough for now, I feel better for having got that off my chest...I can't stand people who ASSUME and GENERALISE. It's important to take the time to find out individual circumstances and people before jumping to conclusions you are probably not entitled to. Opinions are one thing, but even then, find out ALL the facts first and DON'T JUDGE. Nobody has that right.

To the offending person, if you ever happen to be reading this, watch out. If you cross my path again, all hell is coming after you, I been doing a little research of my own and you are NOT what you claim to be..

"Some things just don't belong on your ass"

2006-01-19T09:48:00.000+11:00

This was the comment I read over at Bobbi Jo's Online yesterday.....it totally cracked me up for some reason. I couldn't even talk properly when I left a comment....

I think she has a point. Don't you? Some things don't belong on your butt. I have my thoughts on what those things are, let me know yours...just to clarify, we are talking about tattoos here!!

On another note i've just added some tips on dealing with PMS in "My wisdom" blog. This one is very much NOT to be taken seriously, and if anyone does then I suggest you see a shrink!..

blog of the week

2006-01-19T09:38:00.000+11:00

Drop by the effervescent Jade's while your here, it's much more interesting than my little place I can assure you. I had 7 bids on that tiny little place down in the sidebar...is it false advertising when all your hits are your own??LMAO!! Just kidding Jade, my mum's in there too! Make sure you take some chicken soup (or coffee) with you when you knock on her door......she's been a little under the weather, get better soon Jade!

where the hell is my baby girl?

2006-01-18T13:07:00.000+11:00

Well me and Zoe have just been shopping and she tried on some school uniforms, and got a haircut. She now has a little fringe which looks totally adorable! The uniforms are having some alterations done so i'll pick them up this afternoon.

BOTH ladies that we dealt with today said the same thing i've been saying for the last week - "But she's too little to go to school!" - So there, now I have other opinions...she is far too little. Ready, but too little. She'll get pushed over, knocked down and bullied by other kids all because they can't see her or think she's a 3 year old. Then i'm going to have to kill them, then i'll be put in jail, and thats no good for such a little girl, to have her mother in jail. So the obvious solution to me is i'll just keep her home till next year (which technically I can do!), teach her boxing and karate, sprinkle steroids on her rice bubbles so she beefs up, THEN maybe she'll be ok for school..thats her taken care of, now howto deal with the total irrationality of my mind that still can only see the 2550g scrap of humanity that I bought home from the hospital......

moving house..

2006-01-16T21:09:00.000+11:00

is always a hassle, but not so for blogs! i've just moved my main one to here at blogspot cos I had a bit more control and no bloody ad at the top of the page....i think this looks heaps better, but of course i'm a little biased. A couple of advantages to using this service:

Anyone can add comments here rather than only members..
I get to have my blogroll and it WORKS!
I can use different image for background in posts..

Here is the old one, let me know if you think i've moved to better digs or not!

if it feels good, do it

calling all women

2006-01-16T18:48:00.000+11:00

God I hate being a women right now...all you girls out there reading this right now probably know exactly what i'm talking about. All you blokes have probably exited the page by now thinking oh shit another women with PMS who's making it all up, i'd better run, run as fast as I can in case i'm the next target....Well your right. You'd better run, cos i'm looking for something to stab really hard with this butchers knife that keep appearing in my hand....hehehehe

I went back on the pill to help with pains and other crap I don't really need to go into right now. And it's helped...i'm only in agony for 2 days instead of a week before and after now. But this messing with my head is really starting to bug the heck out of me. What the hell do they put in those little things that can do so much to a normally half sane and rational mind? I'm grumpy, fragile, snappy and all those little things that bug me are now enough to drive me to blue murder! I can't stand it!

The thing that get's me is I never used to go through this. I never got cramps, never got the psychosis! Since having Zoe it's been a whole other story. I know that having a baby changes you, but this is one of those things that they don't warn you about...just how much...When I went to the doctors a while ago to figure out what the heck was going on, she said, "Oh yeah well having a baby can do it" This is one of those things that should go on that list of other snippets of wisdom they don't tell you about. Like how bad baby poop REALLY smells, or how FREAKY it is when your boobs leak.....and besides all that, she was born 5 years ago!

Well I don't really need to go on and on and on, you either understand where i'm coming from or you dont. If you do, i'm begging you - send me a magic cure, a frontal labotomy voucher, a sharper butchers knife and an effigy of Zeus, ANYTHING! Or even just a sympathetic tip on how to deal with my second personality...she's really getting on my nerves...

(originally posted 15/1/06)

why do we keep blogs??

2006-01-16T18:44:00.000+11:00

I was thinking about this last night as I lay in bed with my head thumping and trying to read a book...which I failed miserably at!

I keep one mainly to keep family in the loop and, i'll be honest, leave my mark on this world in some poor pathetic way. Let's face it, MOST (notice I didn't say all, I don't generalise) people - me included - write on the world wide web rather than a diary at home with one of those pathetic little padlocks a blind granny could open so OTHER PEOPLE READ IT!!

What does it say about us that we simply want acknowledgement from complete and utter strangers that our thoughts and ideas have some impact on them negative or not. I was totally stoked when someone voted in my poll that "I suck"!!! Why? Because at least they had taken the time to visit and the hours of effort i've put in had an affect on them!

Some don't write at all, they simply collect info from other sources and put it all in one place and then call it their own. I suppose in a way it is because it's a reflection on what is interesting to them. But please people, do you have an original thought of your own? Spit it out! I promise it won't hurt you.

Maybe we keep our own blogs because it kind of justifies the voyeurism of ourselves wanting to read other peoples. It's ok for me to read about you cos you can read about me. Maybe it's some psychological need in all of us to seek "approval", you know, like apparently we do from mum and dad our entire lives...

I guess each person has their own reason for wanting to keep a public blog...for me, I have no idea what REALLY drives me to do this. I do know that I love getting hits, comments, votes in my polls and guestbook entries. This is kind of an extension to my webpage too which is mainly for my daughter. I also like looking back at previous entries and laughing at my own ineptness at setting down my thoughts! Might actually be able to do that more in the future if I REGULARLY write entries rather than get bored with it in a month like last time.

In the meantime, have a think about it - you've got this far into the entry so I obviously have your interest - and leave a comment sharing your reasons with the rest of us!

Have a great day and i'll see you around.

(originally posted 14/1/06)

my brain hurts...

2006-01-16T18:40:00.000+11:00

Well, i've finally done it..finally put together my survival tips for new mums. I remember thinking that the best advice I ever got while pregnant and a new mother wasn't from doctors or even books, it was from other mum's. The one's who understand that all you need to make you feel better sometimes is knowing someone out there UNDERSTANDS. The advice was always real, practical and given with the great attitude of "take what you will and throw the rest away!" Which is exactly how I give all of the entries in my wisdom.

(originally posted 12/1/06)

the wiggles are silly...

2006-01-16T18:37:00.000+11:00

The world according to Zoe:

"The wiggles are silly because they have a house with a talking door. And because it's just music."

Well there you go!

(originally posted 11/1/06)