Mummy Brags

Okay so I know this makes it three posts in one day, but I could not help it, yesterday Cameragirl went for an interview at Newcastle Uni, she has been wanting to get into Cert 4 for fashion designing for a while and when she sent in her application a while back she did not get in. She was so upset and then she applied for a smaller course to bide the time and this time they called her in. She made a dress that she designed herself just for the interview, dolled herself up and took it along where she thought she might have a good chance of getting in. They said they would let her know in a couple of days!



A couple of hours later they rang and offered her a spot in the original Cert 4 class! "But I did not get in to that" she said! "We know, we are squeezing you in anyway!" WOOHOO! See they know talent when they see it! Now why don't they do interviews all the time so the talented kids get a shot straight up! It would sure save on a lot of stress and disappointment and weed out all the time wasters as well.

She has some pictures posted over here at Light Renditions of the dress she made! TC is modeling for her. Today she is at the orientation for the course! Still majorly excited! Needless to say, her mama is extremely PROUD OF HER!

Even Mookie refrained from telling her off for once, to stop for a kiss!

An Award JUST for ME!

Check it out!!!!

(And its ALL mine, see it has my name on it!)

Oh I am feeling very loved this week! My friend Wendy from Plurkland has issued me with an award! One that she designed herself no less! I'm loving the outfit and all how cute! And here is what she has to say about me.......

"3. Goes to someone who amazes me with her calm when she’s surrounded by chaos, if it’s not the dog’s burning bum, it’s one of her daughters frying her hair but she maintains her composure (mostly). This one goes out to Karisma."

Note the No. 3, Wendy gave out not one but 12 personal awards, one to herself LOL, you should totally go and check them out over here.............. Wendishness, they are highly amusing and clever!

Thank you Wendy, you are too sweet (well at least when your not dealing with morons) and I am so glad you added "most of the time" to that comment because I do have my moments! Just ask the kids! He He!

Lamingtons - By Gameboy and Dinoboy.....

This week we have been learning about all things Australian! Yesterday we had fun designing Logo's for Australian products! Dinoboy drew a picture of a medi-evil knight's head and said that was his logo. Karisma said perhaps that was not very Australian but he said it as because he drew it and as he is Australian so is his logo! (Fair enough).

Gameboy drew a turtle (because he felt like it) and wrote Australian Made on the sides, therefore rendering it Australian! Then we decided we should make Lamingtons as they are very Australian. Karisma has never made lamingtons, (she is most grateful to Google who helped her with the recipe!).

We mixed, measured and poured, then baked the cake! After that we made icing and put it over some hot water to keep it runny! Then we dipped the cake portions,which we had already cut into pieces, into the icing! Mmmmm yummy chocolate........


Next, we rolled the cake in some shredded coconut................


We had quite the production line going...................


Dip, Dip,Dip some more........(No licking your fingers till its all finished!)


Next we placed them on a wire rack to set the chocolate and cool down..............


And walla, here is our finished result! They tasted really yummy! Better than the ones you buy in the shops! We would have liked to have some cream with them but we did not have any so we ate them as they were! Our sisters said that they were yummy too!


Not to be left out, Karisma made some Chilli, tomato and Fetta sandwiches, toasted of course!


We spent the afternoon playing, Dinoboy invented and built this vehicle! In typical Dinoboy fashion it is not very practical but a lot of fun! It drives as well as flies. It is built with K'nex which are lots of fun to play with!


We then went down to the beach and had a great time swimming, playing with our ball and body surfing! It was hot so it was great to cool down! When we came home we went out on our bikes and played with our friends. We were having so much fun we forgot to come home for our dinner! Cameragirl and Miko came and found us, we were busy riding and jumping up the bush! We had a great day! We did not get into trouble for being late. We ate our dinner and then watched a movie so got to stay up way past our bedtime. We were really tired when we went to bed!

Jo Beafoix interviews Karisma

The most lovely and ever so amusing Jo Beaufoix has taken the time to interview Karisma! I hope you enjoy this little peek into my life!




1. What was your favorite toy when you were a kid and do you still have it?

I did not really have a favourite toy as such. I do remember absolutely loving my roller skates though! And no I don't still have them. I got them for xmas along with the matching outfit! I thought I was just the bees knees at the time! A few years later when I had grown out of them and wanted a pair of speed skates, guess what I got? Another pair of these girlie ones! I promptly ripped off the stoppers and roughed them up a bit. What can I say, my skates were like second feet to me! The stoppers just got in the way!

Then there was Monkey Man, Im not sure how old I was when I got him (maybe 2?) but I did love him to death! As you can see from the photo's over the years he ended up with totally new arms and spare parts. You can see he pretty much got dragged around an awful lot with me by the state of him! Poor guy! No I don't still have him and Im not sure what happened to him. He possibly ended up getting eaten alive by my much younger siblings! Who knows???

2. If your dogs could talk, what would they tell you?

Well actually my dogs can talk, they just don't speak the same language as us, or each other for that matter!

Maxi:

Stop pushing those damn pills down my throat, I don't want them! Stop telling me what NOT to do and scratch my tummy! I WILL lick my butt in front of your visitors because I can and because I like to do it! I don't like this food you are feeding me! Where is the chocolate? I WILL slide around all over your fancy carpet and leave my hair all over it because its fun and I choose not to sit down nicely! I will not stay in this room you have allocated as I would rather go and jump on the beds and spread some more hair around! I would like to go for a walk everyday as long as someone carries me! I don't like you anymore, why did you have to go and get another annoying puppy? I will bite your puppy if it comes near me! I will growl at her everytime she walks past. Oh okay I will put up with her presense but keep her out of my way! I will not share attention at the same time!

Bella:

You are not kicking the ball right! Run faster! Geez mum don't you know how to play soccer? I totally had that toy first! Miko is a brat! Miko bit me! Miko bit me first! I wanna go to the beach! I want more dinner! Thats MY soccer ball! Zak stole it from me! I totally did NOT chew anything up! It was Miko! That was totally NOT me on the other end of the blanket when "Miko" was chewing it up! Daddy is telling stories! Mum, Mum, Maxi and Miko are picking on me! Mum they are looking out my window! (Sorry just thought I'd add that in to see if anyone was actually reading all this crap! It sounds just like the kids!)

Miko:

I love you mama! (She says that everyday by wrapping her arms around my neck and nibbling on my ear, followed closely by a big wet lick on the cheek!), I don't wanna go outside. Well I do wanna go outside but I wanna go out the front door not the back one! Why can't I go out the front door mama? Why can't I sleep in your bed? Why can't I have all the cuddles? Why can't I have ALL the food? Why can't I have Maxi's pill? She does not want it! Why can't I nip the kids? Why can't I go with the kids? Why can't I eat the neighbours cat? Why can't I play with the chickens? M A M A ....... I can't see out the window, can you pick me up????

Mookie:

(Shouts very loudly) Who cares about the damn dogs? Im the head pet around here and don't you forget it! Clearly, birds are more superior! Put the dogs outside! Quick someones at the door! Open the door! Is it dad? Is it dad? Oh, its just Cameragirl! (Get the hell away from me you underling! Don't touch me! Get your hand out of my cage! Oh you are feeding me, then hurry and then GET OUT!), Hey everyone, the neighbours have visitors! Hey mum, TC's got toast, make her give me some! Quick MUM! (Mookie shut up for gods sake, your killing our ears!) Okay then take me out and give me scratchies, but make sure you do it right or I will peck you! Yep I am clearly the boss around here!

Rupert:

ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!

NIM

Helllllloooooo Can somebody feed me Puleeeessssseeeeeee!!!!!!!
I am starving!

3. Your favourite film is Grease. Which character are you most like and why?

Hmmm, actually I prefer "Hairspray" to the original Grease, but I did love the movie in its day! Of course being the Aussie girl here I would have to say Sandy! I can totally relate to her character, yes I was a sweet and innocent (most of the time hehe) like her, then I went ahead and got cheeky in my old age. There is also the fact that I totally had the hots for John Travolta from the age of about 10. (Well hey, the beast is still a hottie, he seems to improve with age!) I can't claim that skinny little figure that Olivia has but one of these days SB reckons he is going to get me into a pair of those leather pants! Hmmm We'll see! Oh Yeah and I do know all the words to the songs, not claiming to be good at singing them but have been known to do so!

I even went ahead and got my ears pierced like she did, without asking permission. But in my case I had it done at a cheap markets NOT with a needle! Ouch

4. You're a mum to 5 gorgeous kids who all sound very individual and fabulous. Did you always want a large family?

Why yes I did! (Most of the time). I jokingly told my mother in law that I wanted 5 kids. I have absolutely no idea why 5, it just occurred to me that I would like that many! She thought I should just go ahead and have 6 to make it an even half dozen.

After TC was born, I had post natal depression. She was a sick baby and I also had two other kids under 4, so I kind of thought that I would not like any more kids afterall. I spent the next five years looking after other peoples kids to get my baby fix! Then surprise just as she was off to school we got a shock. A nice one but unplanned, I was terrified I would get depression again but thankfully I did not. He was only a little baby when, while breastfeeding him I once again fell pregnant. And there you go 5 kids already! Not exactly planned but all loved and wanted very much! Not that it really stops at 5, they are just our biological ones. We also have Ninjaboy and Barbie and then there is my BIL (SB's little brother) he lived with us for a long while as a kid so he is one of mine too. Then there are all the kids that come to visit and don't want to go home (I promise I am not corrupting them.....much). And lets not forget April my bloggy kid! Shes a real cutie!

Ok, it's me , you know there has to be a bit of a silly one, so here it comes...

5. If a squirrel and a duck billed platypus had a pillow fight, who would win and why?

Clearly the duck billed platypus would win. I have absolutely no grounds in supporting my theory except that he is Australian like me! As the Platypus would be hard put to actually pick up a pillow, we will go with the theory that whilst the Squirrel is busy trying to belt him up, he will counter attack by sweeping his tail round and knocking the squirrel into the water where he will drown under the weight of the soggy pillow!

Okay this question gave me a bit of a giggle, not because it was silly, because while we were away at xmas time, my friend Kel......Miss innocent here...."Who Me?"

(Note: That is not a bruise on her chin, all my holiday shots have that mark on them, Camera is due back from the Camera hospital today)

invited the boys to the zoo. They then informed me that they would be going to the zoo with Kel and I pointed out that they did not want to go to the zoo as they had refused to go with either SIL or me in the past couple of months. SIL went without us and the boys stayed home. So what has Kel got that we have not got I asked?

Well it turns out Kel has arranged a fight between a Polar Bear and a Red Kangaroo! Or so she says! They totally believe her, can't you tell? They spent much of their time at the dinner table discussing who they thought would win. So what do you think? If you could come and watch this amazing spectacle, who would you put your bet on?

Well thats it for today! If you enjoyed this little interview and would like me to interview you....

Here’s the directions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” (and your email address)

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Back to School - NOT

Well today we made a half arsed attempt to get back into school mode! DB got up early and took the dog for a rather long walk just to prolong the inevitable! We have these new books called "On this day too", which are a bit like diaries of special events or things that have happened in Australian history! There is a brief description and then an activity for the child to do on each day.

Today we did two days as it started from yesterday. The boys drew up a map on one page which was to design a new park for celebrations and label it. For the Australia day one, they had to answer this question....

"What has our country achieved that makes you proud to be an Australian?"

At first they both looked dumb founded and said I don't know! What do you think? I pointed out that it did not matter what I thought as the question was for them. We discussed a bit about things different Australians may have achieved and different Australian inventions etc. Barbie piped in with she was very proud of Vegemite. We also discussed the fact that in our country everyone has access to medical services and a choice as to whether or not they live below whats considered the poverty line. The majority of folks have a roof over their heads, food on the table and access to education, however they may choose to pursue it.

So Dinoboy what makes you proud to be an Australian??

I am proud that I live at the bush, Im happy because I have a good Motorbike! (Yep he totally gets it!)

How about you Gameboy, how would you answer this question? (Don't forget to be descriptive, I don't want to hear that the grass is just green, give it some character! And more than just a couple of sentences)

We have invented many things. Everyone can live a LIFE. I'm also proud to be an Australian because we have a huge history!

I like the grass because its so green and beautiful! (Smartarse! He had to throw that one in)


I'm just so proud to be an Australian! (Yes Im sure you are my son! You are so proud of your own sassiness I think!)

He also wrote as big as he could so as to take up more of the page and make it look like more than a couple of sentences! LOL!

So where are they now? They are off riding their bikes with the rest of the kids! Its a little hard to be playing schools when everyone else is outside playing! Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.....

Now you are all supposed to shout "OY, OY, OY!" Don't ask me why, its just something we do down here! (Its a bit like singing along to a song you happen to know the words to! You hear it and you just react! Shit I think we must all be brainwashed or something!)

So today is Australia day! The day we just celebrate the fact that we are Aussies! Why? Well, why not? Any excuse for a party or in this case a barbie! Today us Aussies are eating too much, drinking too much and just chilling, (this particular Aussie is about to go and hop back in that spa, she had a lovely time in there last night until rudely interupted by children (grown up ones, not the little ones who were tucked up in bed snoring!) wanting a ride home because their car won't start and weird people are trying to help them! Once they got mum and dad out of the spa, they worked out that said strangers were actually only trying to give them a helping hand! (That is the aussie way after all!).

So today we celebrated our aussieness by first getting up really early! Not a great idea after a night of drinking and spa-ing! Miss Miko decided that 7am was the right time for a walk. SB went surfing and let her inside, where she decided breakfast was not an option, but walking was. She barked at mama and then at the door, then at her lead, then at her mama, several time, then she climbed on mama and said "row, row, row" which translates to....Please take me outside for a walk mama!" As her mama is a pushover, she donned some clothes and made for the door, one puppy and two little boys on bikes in tow!

We went walking, off through the bush and ended up at Nana's house! We stayed for a while and then nana made us a nice breakfast! It must have smelled good because, SB, CG, TC, Bella and Maxi showed up just in time to join in! BIL and SIL turned up and we decided we would all go back to our house and have a bbq for the afternoon!

One funny thing about our walk home was Maxi, not quite making it up the hill! We took the long way back through the bush which is a little steep! Maxi got almost to the top when she decided she had had enough, thank you very much! TC picked her up and she promptly flopped backwards a huge smile on her face and closed her eyes! Oh the bliss of it all! The having a walk when you are not really walking! (By the time we got home TC was complaining that she was getting heavy!) SB had no such qualms with Bella and Miko who were dragging him up the street full speed ahead! I had to laugh as I thought a few wheels might have made for any easy walk for him!

So there you have it, our afternoon was spent hanging out with family, eating, drinking and just having a great time! It was a nice day! Very relaxed and laid back! Very Australian! Just the way we like it! NO fuss! It was a little hot today but not as bad as the past week has been.

Now I really am off to that spa! Have a great day everyone! Happy Australia Day!

Another year past....

OOOOOhhhhh! I just realised that today is our wedding anniversary! Twenty one years! I will have to convince my honey to take me out to dinner tonight! We are not big on worrying about anniversaries but any excuse to go out is good! Have a great day everyone!

Independence, new and old.....

This week Dinoboy has been reaching out and discovering his independence. You know wandering off with friends and not telling mum where he has gone, riding his bike and branching out a little further each day! Now thats all fine, I am coming to terms with that, not being a mama who generally has ever let her kids run the streets its been a little hard. I do however realise that he needs to go out and play and he needs a bit of freedom.

So anyway, this week he has also decided that he likes to walk the dogs! He started off with just Miko, she is still small enough for him to handle and after taking her up and down the street about three times one morning, he decided it would be good to take Bella for a walk too! Now in general Bella is a good dog. She listens (most of the time) but not really to the boys. However, when walking she is not so easy to handle, she is very strong and likes to be at the head of any posse so will pull quite hard if she wants to be somewhere! Hence the reason at first I denied letting him take her out on his own. I thought maybe she would pull him onto the road or try and go up the bush. In winter we walk the dogs in the bush but not in summer. There are too many snakes and ticks which can amount to very expensive and painful visits to the vet which we prefer to avoid, so the street it is.

Yesterday Cameragirl insisted I let him take Bella as he is a big boy now. So off they went, Bella took him for a nice drag up and down the street. Fast forward to this morning and I awake to DB's little friend (who I might add is half his size although the same age) banging at the door. Next thing I hear the two of them leaving with not one but all three dogs! My initial reaction was "Oh Shit" as the other boy had dropped Miko's lead and she was off! She is getting good at walking on the lead but she is still too little to be off it near the road!

I flew out of bed to see them being dragged up the street by Bella and thought "Great" I can't run out there in my nightie, I will just have to hope they survive the walk! Not long after I heard a bit of barking from the dogs up the road but as they all came back in one piece thought no more about it! Oh did I forget to mention? Around here every house has at least one to three dogs, not all our neighbours are responsible pet owners. Quite often the dogs are roaming the streets or sitting on the front lawn unrestrained! Not all dogs are friendly! You get the drift????

Now the people on the corner up the road have two very large Boxers, they bark a lot and carry on but are actually quite friendly if they get out! So DB was not concerned when they came running out to say hello to our dogs! They had apparently done this with Miko on several occasions! Yikes!

So I had to try and block my ears when I hear DB telling his brother about his walk this morning! It turns out the boxers came out to say hello and Maxi (who is the size of a large rat) decided she was not savvy with this at all and firmly attached herself to one of their necks! Thankfully they restrained from eating her! They could have snapped her in half with one bite!

Maxi is going a bit senile. She bit me the other night as well, when I tried to give her her medicine! She is getting a bit fed up with all the pills and as soon as she sees me will lie down and clamp her teeth shut! She does not tolerate other dogs well as she was attacked years ago by a big dog who's owner actually egged his dog on. At the time the girls were about the age of the boys now and they were walking her just in our street. It was quite traumatic for them so I did not let them walk her again on their own.

After that she has pretty much been wary of big dogs but will be agressive if they get too near. Also she witnessed Bella being attacked a couple of years ago when we were out walking and she became even more defensive! So you can understand my worry at letting the boy venture out with dogs in tow! I am going to speak to him about NOT taking Maxi out as she obviously will bring trouble upon him.

In hindsight I had to have a giggle at Maxi's attitude! You see when I was a little girl, I was very placid and friendly! I was however quite complacent when it came to bullies and not very nice people. I was not scared of them because most of them liked me, but there was this one time when I was out with a friend who was a year younger than me. She had somehow offended this older girl who was about twice our size and built like a man! She approached us and started harassing my friend. I did not know her at all but of course I stepped in and told her to get lost!

She chose not to and started to try and muscle in on my friend. I stepped in front of her and said "Why don't you go pick on someone your own size?" "Do you get a kick out picking on little girls?" "Oh you are so brave!" "You are totally impressing us!" It was about this time that she grabbed me by the hair and started to pull, she had me right down near the ground. I was quite small for my age (I think I was around 11 at the time), this girl had to be around 16 or so.

I bet you all think by now I was shitting myself and regretting my mouth! Wrong! Not me! I just kept right on having a go at her! My mouth has a mind of its own! It was not shutting up for the rest of my body, oh no! I think I must have shocked her or something as instead of beating me into a pulp she let me go! I don't know who was more shocked, her, me or my friend. But she stalked off swearing her head off at us as she left. I was about to yell out something else when my friend jumped on me and gagged me! "Shut up you idiot, she will come back and kill us!" (She obviously knew the feral girl, I did not! LOL) In hindsight I realise just how stupid I was, she could have easily picked me up by the hair and had me swinging she was so big!

I have to wonder too, why did she let me go? Who knows? Hopefully she grew up to be a nice person and got over her bullying ways. Its funny how we remember things from our childhood when something happens. Thinking of Maxi hanging off that huge dogs neck just made me think of this and have a giggle! Its great you have such Moxy Maxi, but please don't do it again!

The Facebook Phenomenon

I must admit, this week I have been playing around a little on Facebook! My sister joined me up a long long time ago and then I kind of did not use it at all! Lately though, I have managed to find a few people I know so have been enjoying it more! For instance I found this little gal.........


My niece Jazzy, she lives up in the Blue Mountains with her mama and we have not seen her for a while! I was excited to see this picture of her wearing the jumper and hat I knitted for her when she was too little to wear it!

Then I came across this picture of my brother teasing my children when they were little......

With junk food, no less! Norty boy!

Then I found that my mother had joined too and she has been posting pictures of us all left, right and centre!

ATTENTION KARISMAS MOTHER! ........If you do not stop posting embarrassing pictures of me on there I am going to have to find some of you! You know the ones without your teeth or something! Norty mummy!

So without further ado, Karisma is off to Facebook to upload some photo's hehehehehehee......

Well, well, well, looky here!

Yep, I got me another one of those awardy things! Yeah I know I got a few in between that I have forgotten to brag about! Many apologies to those who gave them to me! You do know you could always just send me hugs and I would be just as grateful, hey?

So who was it you ask? Well it just so happens that it comes from someone who I have happened to know for a lot of my life! This young lady, popped into my life when she was about 7 years old! We became fast and furious friends and then as life has it we lost contact for quite some time! We went through primary and highschool together and then as I was suddenly in love, working full time and somehow lost contact with ALL my school friends, did not see her for many many years! Then she went ahead and met her man, married (and moved to Woop Woop!) Well Kalgoorlie anyway, which could be considered as Woop Woop! For gods sake its in the middle of absolutely nowhere! So anyway, one day I was online and happened across her lovely scrap booking site. We got back in contact and Bobs your uncle! (Thats just a figure of speech, to those of you who are not savvy with it!) Then lo and behold we both jumped on the blog band wagon and contact was once more re-established! So there you have it! Jodene is one talented little crafty gal, even if I do say so myself! (Yeah we all know I am proud of my own! And she is one of my own even if I have not seen her physically for over 20 years!) I still love her and thats what counts!

Thank you, thank you my sweet, Jodi-dene! I wish I could squish you in the person! Its been far far too long! Big hugs and smoochies to you my sweet!

So without further ado, here is the award, which it turns out I must hand out to seven of you darling peoples.......

Well it just so happens to be Marie Antionette ( a blogging award!) and since I have absolutely no idea what the hell its for, we will just go with the whole, nice person thing, okay? So who should I pass it on to? Nice people, or annoying people that amuse me? Hmmmm! Let me see!

I hand this award onto............

(Now because its all girly and pretty, I thought I'd hand it onto a couple of guys first)

Willowtree..........who has thoroughly impressed me this week with his actual blogging skills, I mean really he dragged himself away from plurk on several occasions and actually wrote a post or two! Bravo! Well Done! Cough Cough! (I am also interested to see what he will do with it as he has been known to deface his awards in the past!)

Mal (The team Gherkin) ......because he felt the need to explain to me that he was Mal from Plurk when I joined up with him on Facebook, Yes dear I knew that already, I don't make a habit of picking up strange men online! And we all know my plurk skills are lacking, according to my karma I really suck at it! (Oh and thats right, you told me so! Nicely of course!)

AOTE: Coz she is one of my LL friends who just so happens to have started a blog last week! Go say hi! Any friend of mine is a friend of yours! Oh and for those of you who were fascinated with the no diaper thing in a previous post. Go visit her she explains it all so well! (There you go AOTE this must count as a bit of culture, poetry aside!)

April: My latest child, yes I adopt them regularly, she sings like an angel and is talented crafty wise as well, what can I say! She fits in well, in the spectrum of Karisma's kids.

Bobbie: From Bobbieland, yep, she is very amusing at the best of times! She also wants awards, so you should all go and give her one, she was feeling slightly neglected until recently when someone sent her an award. Bobbie my love, once they start coming they kind of lose their initial charm! Sweet, but not essential, you get the drift! You know we love you! What more do you need! Geez!

Kitten: Who I miss terribly, her computer is broken and she has been missing for ages and ages from the blogworld! Come back kitten! Come Back!

And last but not least, My dear friend Sarah, bloggily known as Hippymummy! Why? Because I like her, and she is a great mama! She has had a lot to deal with in the past few years and has managed to solider on and "Keep Looking Up!" despite being in a lot of pain and is still managing to raise six kids all by herself! You go girl! Mummy power rules!

Have a nice day everyone!

Fun Monday - Looking in your front door!

This week, Fun Monday is hosted by Julie from Another Chance Ranch, and she would like to take a peek inside our front door!

She says.....

I have decided to put a twist on the traditional Fun Monday. Instead of standing in your front door and taking a photo of what you see outside, let's turn around and take on of the inside. Maybe that will prompt some of us to pick up a tad (you know who you are).


Well I would have picked up Julie, but if I did, there would have been nothing but some white tiles to look at! So I restrained myself and left the mess right where it was! Really I am very obliging when it comes to NOT cleaning up!

So I went ahead and grabbed my "little" camera, the big one is still in the hospital (poor baby) and I walked to the front door and aimed it! And would you just look at whats sitting inside my front door for goodness sake. Up until recently there was a small shoe rack plonked right in this spot. SB asked me to get rid of it as it was too messy! I did and what happens, immediately someone puts something in its place!

Okay so it was not SB, it was Ninjaboy! He went out and got a loan to buy a car and as young boys do, instead of getting a decent new car he went ahead and got himself and old fix her upper! Complete with a spare door! Now this would have been fine if he happened to be the grease monkey kind of kid, but he is not and already a few days later he is thinking he does not want it afterall! Too much hard work maybe?

If we scan a little to the right there, not to be left out of the mess making debacle, certain little boys went for a sleepover at Nana's house the other night and this is as far as the bags got on the way back in! Well the bag that got home that is, one of them was lazy and left his bag behind at Nana's house! (She only lives a couple of streets away and they walked home!) On the floor there we have SB's bucket containing a wet suit and a bottle of water (kept there for washing sand off his feet when he gets in the car!) Not that it really stops the sand, our car is a bit like a beach away from the beach. The sand comes home with us all the time! Right in the back there is a lonely xmas present. Its for our niece Jazzy who we have not seen for a while, we hope to see her soon! Hopefully before said presents batteries die! It is one very noisy baby doll that laughs, cries and babbles etc.


And not to be left out of the mess making, Cameragirl has been sewing up a storm in the front room this weekend and "ahem" seems to have forgotten to put the ironing board away again!


She also left this book sitting on the table, well technically the table is just inside the front door so I guess it counts. She picked up this book at an op shop on the weekend, the lady who owns this shop has it as a business its not for charity. She has some great books there but I don't go there as I find her dishonest (she way overcharged me once and while she did it she was talking/gossiping very loudly about someone on the phone in front of all her customers! Not nice!) Anyway CG did not pay the $10 the woman was asking, she offered her a bag of stuff we were getting rid of and $4. The lady agreed so she was happy with the deal! The book is actually very good. It has lots of tips and sewing information.



Well thats about it for me, other than what you see here the rest of the room is full of bookcases and school stuff. Hence the reason the dining room is inside the front door. It doubles up as our schoolroom and is a nice bright and sunny room to work in! (Not that you can tell in these pics, I have the blinds shut!) Anyway have a great week everyone and don't forget to drop by Julies place and check out all the other Fun Monday participants this week!

Along with Busfires, it is also BBQ season down here....

B B Q RULES

We are now in the middle of BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity...............

When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine...

(1) The woman buys the food.

(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.

(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill - beer in hand.

(4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.

Here comes the important part:

(5) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine...

(6) The woman goes inside to organise the plates and cutlery.

(7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great.

He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat .

Important again:

(8) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.

More routine...

(9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.

(10) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:

(11) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.

(12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed 'her night off.' And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women.

Oh Oh.......

You know when its time to address your inner nerd when you are sitting in front of the air-conditioner opposite your daughter, both nursing lap tops and you are commenting on each others blogs, while still holding a seperate conversation. I mean really, its time to turn off this computer and get back to my knitting! Hope your days is long and lovely and nowhere near as HOT as ours! Sweet dreams and happy thoughts! See you tomorrow!

Warm and Cozy

So would you like a cup of tea? This week I actually managed to get in a little knitting, believe it or not! (In between all that shopping and going to the beach) Artemis-of-the-Eucalypts has recently discovered the lovely taste of Chai and was looking for a tea cozy to keep her pot warm! She put it out there that if anyone could knit or crochet she would be most grateful!

I of course had never made one before, but we all know me! I am the one who always jumps in the deep end and worries about it later! So I put my hand up, and grabbed my needles and this is what I came up with............


Not too bad for a first attempt! I had some mixed re-actions at home from those that just loved it to those who pulled sour faces! Of course I did not follow the pattern to the T. The pattern did not have the crochet at the bottom and the top in the pattern was far more elaborate and over the top. Cameragirl and I discussed it and came up with the flower as being a little less tacky! Mind you it caused some funny comments on the LL group! I will leave that to your imagination!

Today Im off to SIL's place for a long awaited sewing day! I am going to work on another tea cozy in a different design and maybe do some cross stitch! Have a lovely day everyone! And very big hugs to my friend Equoni, thinking of you today my sweet!

Fun Monday - Quirky business

Okay, thanks for putting up with my tardiness this week. So much to do so little time, you know how it is. So without further ado, welcome to Fun Monday

This weeks Fun Monday is hosted by Jan from The Prytz Family Blog and she says..........

What is the quirkiest thing in your home that you will never give away?

Lets define Quirky shall we?

quirky

adjective informal terms; strikingly unconventional [syn: far-out]

I must admit I had to sit and think about this one. I mean really I am probably the most unconventional thing in this house. And I guess I would not part with myself would I? Could I? Maybe when I die! But then I'd still be me, so no not really. Yes Im weird, we all know it, so why try and deny it?

Then I sat back and thought well what else is slightly unconventional in this house? What would I not part with? Hmmmm..........

My kids of course, they are all a bit quirky in their own ways.


Okay they are all a bit odd! But with me for their mother what can one expect? They are rather cute to look at though, don't you think?

Their father, I would not really call him quirky but he can be a bit weird sometimes, like when he decided to finally shave off that awful grub on his upper lip and beard at the end of November! He did it in stages and kept coming out to show us, apart from this little Mexican number he also came out as Hitler! Thank goodness he is once again clean shaven and cute.


My dog, yeah this one is actually MY pet and she is such a brat that everyone else keeps complaining about her manners. But she's so cute and she is the baby in the house right now. She is definately quirky! While the other dogs run and hide from water she runs straight into it and bites the jet as it comes out of the hose. She tries to tell me who is boss on a daily basis and when I tell her I am she sooks and tries to cuddle me instead. She does not really bark as such but sounds more like she is trying to talk, very much like a gremlin!

"Oh woe is me! TC is not sharing her toast!"

My Crystal balls for sure, this one is my large clear quartz ball, I also have a black one, obsidian which is smaller. And NO I do not use them to tell the future or anything like that, although I can see things in them and find it fascinating. I do not believe in telling futures etc as I do believe that if you tell someone something they will manifest it themselves. I don't think anyone should be telling others how to live their life or make their life choices for them.


Oh and I had to add this one in, found it in my inbox this morning from my friend Kel......turns out my quirky habits extend to my friends kids as well as my own........

You had to see this one… Indi APing the kitten in the baby sling! That’s your influence on her!

Who me? Wasn't me! Oh okay I have to admit, I did do this with my puppy when she was new! Well I could not leave her at home now could I?

Hope you enjoyed stepping into our quirky world! Please feel free to drop by any time! Happy Fun Monday all. And don't forget to stop by Jan's place and check out everyone elses quirky habits!

Love and Peace to all xxxxx

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You still here? Okay here is a bit more quirkdom for you or weirdness whatever you want to call it...........

One of my annoying traits is the fact that I dream a lot, I've mentioned it before but not necessarily told you about my dreams. I tend to dream more than the average Joe, and will have a lot of different dreams in one night, some extremely more vivid and lifelike than others. It's not like your average dreaming where you prance around doing whatever you like and wake up feeling happy and content. Its usually not very nice, sometimes downright awful and generally leaves me feeling like a train wreck victim the next day! A couple of years ago the dreams got even more intense and regular and I started to notice that things I dreamt about were happening elsewhere in the world, not necessarily to me. While that is also not very nice, it gave me a very small sense of being able to detach myself upon waking. Originally I always thought something was going to happen to someone I know or myself. A bit like watching TV which I stopped doing on days after dreaming, I really did not want to know.

Anyway contrary to Hippymummy sending me happy sleep thoughts last night, I must not have heard her in time. I dreamt I was sitting on a pier watching people swim, those closest to me were a girl and two men. The water was fairly clear and I saw a large shadow pass under them. I immediately jumped up and looked closer, there were actually three very large shadows and I remember trying to call out to the people to get out but they could not hear me.

The girl did manage to jump out when one of the large shadows (a huge shark) pulled one of the men under. I awoke at that point. (I always do at the worst parts of the dream, I think I've trained myself to do that as I don't like what Im seeing). Anyhow, when I watched the morning news, guess what? Three shark attacks in Australia yesterday, 2 men, one 13 year old girl (sadly she did not get out of the water in time like in my dream) all survived but were badly bitten. Strangely one man said that when it bit him he yelled for help and it was like no-one heard him or even saw a thing, there was no reaction from anyone. (Might I add all three were really big sharks not little ones!) It was like that in my dream too, one man just sat in the water watching and not reacting.

I have absolutely no idea why I dream this stuff and even reached for an explanation this morning. I immediately asked SB "Did you have the telly on all night? Was it on while I was sleeping?" He reckons no, he just turned it on a little while back which means the news just started so I did not hear it in my sleep. I also dreamt that SB could not sleep and he was telling me so in the dream. He did in fact awake at 4am and go upstairs to work while I slept. There was of course several more but enough for today.

So there you go, there is a little peek into my weirdness for you!

Fun Monday - Piker

I am feeling a bit tired tonight so after writing up half of my fun monday post today and not uploading the pictures, I have found that the day has run out and I am in need of bed. Please forgive me and come back tomorrow for my Fun Monday post!
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I am truly truly sorry but I spent morning doing housework (I know an alien possessed me or something), the afternoon at the beach with my kids, walking swimming and soaking up the sun, came home and cooked and fed everyone, played with the dogs, did some gardening. Tried to pop online while DB insisted I play Uno with him. (I did multi-task and I won twice). He caved finally and went to bed but not before invoking a fight with his very sleepy brother! You know how it is!

And now when they are finally all quiet, I want my bed! So sorry but see you tomorrow! Love to all!

Snuggly Bubby Time

Yesterday I finally got to go and hang out with my friend Anna for a bit, I have not seen her for a few weeks so it was lovely to just catch up and have a bit of bubby snuggle time. (We normally hang out several times a week so the miss factor was big!) I love newborns so much and its really nice that my friends seem to be obliging me by supplying them these days.

Little Erin was born just before Xmas and no body told her she should wait for the midwife to arrive before she made her entrance to the world. She just went ahead and jumped right out into her daddies arms! No fuss, no problems! What a clever little girl! All 6 pounds of her!

She is now four weeks old and doing great, she has it all sussed out and knows who her mama is or isn't.........

"Hey Aunty Karisma, you're okay to look at but wheres my milk?"

"Oh there you are mama! Put that down and give me some milk please!"

Erin had the most lovely manners where her Aunty Karisma was concerned. You see she waited until SIL was having a cuddle before she ejected her unwanted milk supplies (SIL was of course wearing a black shirt just for good measure) and she waited till her mama was holding her before she decided to pee. It was a very hot day and she was not wearing a nappy (diaper). Her mama is practicing Elimination Communication or what we call "pee catching" around here. She learns to read Erins signs and catches the pee accordingly! It saves on nappies thats for sure. Although in this case we were distracting mama a bit so she missed. Woops!

What are friends for?

Meet Blondie

Well here is The Book Fairies new look.......


Not too bad considering but very dry and in need of lots of TLC, she will also have the lovely regrowth to look forward to! Oh Joy!