Categories
Random thoughts

Blogging in Austenese…

A throw-away tweet I wrote this morning became a recurring thought of mine today. In pre-6am conversation with @jobeaz regarding the sheer amount of reading she’s been doing over her holidays, I laughingly wrote that I’m mid-way through Mansfield Park, and have found it difficult to not write in Austenese.

To this, both she and @Girlwithshoes encouraged me to do exactly that – to blog in Austenese. And the thought has stayed with me.

I’d like to issue a challenge though, as I’d like to not blog alone. To that end… who’s up for #blog5daysAustenese ? Seeing as #blog12daysxmas has just finished, this might be as good a time as any…? I’m thinking that if we do Monday through Friday of next week, that’ll give any and all participants time over the weekend to get immersed in the style.

So… who’s in? (And if I’m alone, then so be it, I shan’t mind…!)

Categories
#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts teaching Technology

Oh, the joys!

On New Year’s Day, hubby and I took the kids to Bribie Island for the day, with some good friends and their three children. Afterwards, we ate at their place, and Miss 3 found Wall-E, a v-tech toy that belonged to the other family’s Mr 7. He was more than happy for her to borrow it for a little while, so for the past five days we’ve been regaled with all the sounds that accompany the dozen-odd educational games he plays.

I also instituted a new house *rule* recently, as I was completely and utterly OVER the wastage of food by my own three gorgeous cuties, at meal time. Miss 6 and Miss 3 currently earn pocket money (Mr 2 will start this as well, when he becomes Mr 3 in a couple of months) and they love spending it on whatever takes their fancy. But now, to teach them the value of food, if they leave any food – for example, crusts on their plate after their morning toast – then they *pay* me whatever amount equates to the amount that is left. Sometimes it’s 5 cents, sometimes 10 cents – and boy they learned to not eat a huge morning tea the day that they both left half their lunch, and had to pay back 25 cents each! Some might be horrified at me for my ruthlessness, but boy! it’s working! There’s a LOT less food wastage since they’ve learned that food costs money!

The thing is though, I’ve started paying them pocket money in 5 cent pieces, instead of 10 cent pieces. Which is no real biggie to Miss 6, but is quite the novelty to Miss 3. And her interest in all things ‘money’ led her to pretend that Wall-E was a short, kid’s version, of an ATM.

Long story sort, my friend’s Mr 7’s expensive v-tech Wall-E now has several 5 cent pieces floating around his insides.

Whoops!!!

 

Categories
#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

I’m thinking it’s Day 11, but I might be wrong…!

Okay, so I’ve mentioned several (hundred?!!) times on this blog that my Maths leaves a lot to be desired. But even I think that I’ve reached a new low point. Seriously – being unable to count to 12?!! But that’s the situation I find myself in when constructing a title for this post. Cos I looked back, and on New Year’s Eve I wrote that it was Day 7. Which means that today is Day 11. But according to my twitterfeed, others also in #blog12daysxmas are only on Day 10. So what’s up with me?!! (Edit – I’ve just had a thought. Back on Boxing Day, I read a number of tweets from people who were confused about exactly which day to start. So maybe that explains it…?!)

So today was a lovely day. I spent some time just hanging with a truly lovely lady and her three gorgeous kids, and then got stuck into more Bloxham Marketing stuff. (It was good to remember to remove the 2011 Church worship times from the St James website, too!) I also found time to watch a couple of taped episodes of the Big Bang Theory!

All in all, a good day. The best bit – spending time at Max’s grave. And smiling over the memories.

See you tomorrow for Day 12! (Or is it 11?!! LOL)

Categories
#blog12daysxmas Work

Day “the number after that” of #blog12daysxmas

That’s abbreviated from Tigger. When he’s counting for Hide and Seek, he says “1, 2, the number after two…” And although I probably should go back and check what number #blogdays12xmas we’re up to, I honestly don’t have the energy. Please forgive me! But I’m pretty sure that we’re not up to (or past!) 12 yet, so I think I’m pretty safe. And I’ll check the number for tomorrow. I promise!

So today’s first thought was about Max, my Labrador who Hubby and I buried yesterday morning. But tweets from friends helped – and then it was straight into work before I even knew what was happening! And there, I’ve finally gotten off my rear end and set up a twitter account and facebook page for Bloxham Marketing. So now I’m feeling more “official” – and more able to look my clients in the eye when I talk about digital marketing. (I’ve been doing it for my clients, burt not for my own business! D’Oh!)

Today was also all about planning for the year ahead. The months ahead. The weeks ahead. The days this week. 

Boy, it’s good to get the ball rolling!

Categories
#blog12daysxmas momentous events

A sad day…

Max has been a faithful companion for 12 years. A black labrador, he was best friends with Hubby’s German Shepherd “Storm” until her sudden death on Good Friday, 2009. He since played father to “Aksel”, Storm’s replacement; a very exhausting German Shepherd pup.

Max with Storm, late 2009.

We buried Max today, in a grave next to Storm. She would have liked that. He had broken his foot, and was in incredible pain. It was good to give him release from that pain. It was also good to see how much support I felt from others through how hard today was. Hubby – a tower of strength; my children, all trying to make me smile; friends on facebook with their condolences and messages of support.

But what surprised me the most were the instantaneous tweets from people I’ve never met IRL. People who I “follow”, and with whom I have communicated via twitter, sending me messages with (hugs), <<hugs>>, *hugs*, many *hugs*, big hugs, and hugs and tissues for me and my whole family. Absolutely incredible. I feel SOOOOOOOOOOO blessed. Thank you, my friends! I am so honoured to *know* you all!

One of my resolutions this year was to intentionally be more positive. So today’s photo of Max is accompanied by other memories of today that make me smile: Miss 3 building a tower out of Garlic bread crusts, and Miss 6’s eggs that she scrambled herself, while saying “These look like vomit, Mummy. Lucky they taste nice…” Just wanted to share these lovely memories with you, too.

Thanks, dear readers.

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Happy new year!

Today was perfect. A full day on the beach at Bribie with friends, a lovely evening meal in excellent company, and now we’re headed home.
What a great day. What a fantastic start to the New Year.
Happy 2012 everyone!

20120101-194145.jpg

Categories
#blog12daysxmas momentous events

Day 7 and the year is ending…

Today started with a song. I sincerely hope that means that it won’t end, in a few short hours, in tears! But in the style of @fionawb, I’m going to quote some lyrics here. They were the first thought past my brain this morning…

“The morning sunlight moves gently ‘cross our bed / the sound of distant traffic floats into my head”

and it had me thinking about how wonderful it is to have a large sliding door on the wall at the foot of our bed, with a gorgeously landscaped fishpond almost immediately in front. (We have a HUGE amount of privacy – I wouldn’t recommend this to just anyone!) But with the curtains open, the sunlight on water reflects onto the ceiling of our bedroom. It’s so incredibly peaceful, just watching the reflection move slowly. And listening to the distant traffic on the Bruce Highway, warring with (but thankfully mostly drowned out by) birdcalls is pretty magical.

Today I got busy. Cleaned out the house (even managed to push the vacuum around a bit!) and tackled Miss 6’s bed, as it’s been bugging me for ages. Silly me, when Miss 3 was big enough to move up out of her cot, chose expedience and bought two single doona covers. Was proud of myself, as I had managed to score prints that the kids would like (Miss 6 was into dinosaurs, and the other -for Mr 2- was blue and soccer-themed) but this quickly changed when I got them home and out of their packets. The extremely thin material (can’t remember the name of it now) was also absolutely PATHETIC at assisting the doona to hold its shape, so every morning Miss 6 wrestled with a very twisted doona, inside its thin, slippery cover. A difficult situation, when you’re trying to make your bed up on a top bunk anyway! (Mr 2’s wasn’t as bad, as not only does he not writhe around so much at night, but being on a normal single bed, there isn’t the height problem to deal with.)

So I finally talked myself into making another one. The first I had made (Nemo on one side, and Pooh Bear and friends on the other) had been Miss 6’s, but Miss 3 inherited it when Miss 6 got the dinosaurs. I’m not the best seamstress in the world (I just tried typing ‘sew-er’, but without the hyphen it looks COMPLETELY different!!!) so this was  a rather unusual occurence for me. But I got it done – and a pillowcase to match. Pretty pleased with myself.

Yes, it’s plain. Red. No, not her favourite colour, but just some material I had to hand. Still, it’s SOOOOOO much better than the twisted dinosaur one! Oh – and in case you’re wondering… here in our part of the world, we’re close enough to the water to get cool breezes pretty much year-round. So while the rest of the Sunshine Coast is in summer pj’s, we’re still under doonas! LOL!

That, and relaxing with hubby this afternoon while the kids enjoyed Madagascar on the PS2 (Christmas present) was my day. A very enjoyable one. Lots of reflection (not just the water! But thoughtful reflection on the year that’s passed) and sone tentative musings on possible New Year resolutions. And a conversation with Miss 6 about the *possibility* of waking her up to see the fireworks at midnight. And that was it.

All in all, it’s been a wonderful year. NEVER would have thought, twelve months ago, that today I would be a self-employed marketer. NEVER could have dreamed that I would be THIS happy. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with so darn much! And help me to appreciate it far more than I do.

So I’m looking forward to 2012 with excitement… some apprehension (that’s the control-freak part of me talking)… and a sense that everything – at this moment in time – is ‘right with the world’. Maybe sometime in the next few hours I’ll muse those resolutions into a more solidified form. Maybe not. Either way, it’ll be great to see what happens!

Happy New Year, all! May you all have wonderful – and safe! – celebrations tonight, and may your 2012’s contain everything you wish for them, and more.

Til next year!

(oh, and the song was ‘Hold me in your arms” by the Southern Sons)

Categories
#blog12daysxmas places to visit Random thoughts

On the sixth day of Christmas…

I’m getting a little confused. Travel at odd hours, lack of sleep, sleeping at strange times in weird positions, tends to do that to me, I find.

So from what I can work out, it’s now December 30, the sixth day of Christmas. Friday. I’m back at home, and in spite of Hubby’s best efforts to secure last minute accommodation for this weekend on Fraser, it looks as though we’ll be spending New Years at home. Which is good, in a way. I need to get my head straight again!

Not that it’s been bad – I’ve had a blast! Once hubby finished his Gold Coast conference on Dec 10, we left Dec 11 for Goondiwindi on our way to Dubbo. A few days there, exploring the Western Plains Zoo in absolutely GORGEOUS weather (although it was a pity we had to drive through a hailstorm to get there) was then followed by an allnighter trip to Ballina, where we again spent a wonderful few days. New South Wales. LOVE the jumping pillows (never been introduced to the concept before) but found the fact that while driving I was *forced* to restrain my lead foot rather frustrating. Twas good to be back in QLD where the cameras are fewer and far between – not so good to cope with the roadworks and traffic again. Ho hum.

(Jumping pillow. Struggling to insert image, as for some reason Ow.ly doesn’t want to play nice with me at the moment. ow.ly/i/nBhg )

A few days back at home, with time for Speech Therapy appointments (that nodule on my right vocal cord seems to be getting smaller – yay!); a hospital visit to remove the glittery purple cast on Miss 3’s arm, and the wires that were holding her elbow together; and a family Christmas get-together, then it was off to Hervey Bay, minus hubby who was keen to tackle the big surf. (It’s so rare here on the Sunshine Coast, and he misses it now he works such long hours.) So it was me and three young ‘uns headed north amidst the rain. Luckily the weather cleared, so by the time hubby joined us, it was perfect.

What wasn’t so great was the phone call from our neighbour on Wednesday afternoon, telling us that one of our dogs had died. Max. 11 y.o. black lab, whose health has been declining rapidly over the last year or so. He was underneath the Pajero (a favourite sleeping spot) but he apparently wasn’t breathing. So hubby decided to go home early. And take the children, so I could pack / clean / lock up in peace.

The kids’ clothes / bedroom etc was all packed in into the car when our neighbour texted. Max was up and about; it had been a false alarm. But we didn’t really want to unpack the kids’ stuff again, so we fed them dinner and then they all left, Miss 3 screaming all the while. She’s the clingy-est.

So I packed. I cleaned. I locked up, and left around 3.30am. Missed my family too much. But the long hours were more draining than I had anticipated, so I had to pull over at the Arbor Ten intersection and power-nap. Which worked, but boy did it hurt my neck! (I’m pretty sure I’d never slept with my head in quite THAT position before! But I made it home by 6.30 – perfect timing to surprise hubby and delight my children before breakfast. Which was great.

So now it’s Friday. The bags are unpacked, the clothes are washed, and we’re headed to Nambour Hospital this afternoon for (hopefully!) the final time for Miss 3’s elbow – bandage removal.

And we’re not going to Fraser tomorrow morning. Hmmm… maybe we’ll try for New Year’s on Bribie instead? (Ha! Stay still? Me? Not likely!!!)

Til tomorrow, readers!

Categories
Uncategorized

To bed to bed

Long story, but I spent the entirety of last night packing, cleaning, and driving. Consequently, I find myself now, at 9.07pm, rather weary.
Will explain more in my next entry.
Night all.

Categories
#blog12daysxmas Random thoughts

Strait-laced

Okay, so there’s one hour to go on this, the fourth day of Christmas. So I’m not too late for posting today’s entry – day 4 of the #blog12daysxmas challenge. Woohoo!

As mentioned in my last post, this was to be one about the concept “strait-laced” (I spelled it incorrectly, as I have since found out!)

A search among the weird and wonderful world of the web revealed (as expected) rather diverse opinions. However, a source that seemed rather trustworthy (in spite of sporting the name “Take Our Word For It”) stated this response to an email in general circulation (email at top, their response immediately following):

Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace[d] garment, worn by a proper and dignified lady, gave birth to the term “straight laced.”

First, it is spelled strait-laced.  Second, its original meaning was “tightly laced” (regarding a bodice or similar piece of clothing), but it is not because proper ladies wore tightly-laced corsets that we have the term strait-laced meaning “prudish” today.  Instead, if the bodice were tightly laced, it would be somewhat rigid, especially if it contained stays.  This notion of rigidity was transferred to strait-laced when applied to human conduct, and eventually the “rigid” sense changed to “prudish”.  The term (with these meanings) first appears in the mid-16th century.

Any woman could wear a strait-laced bodice, not just proper or dignified ladies.

So there you go. Nothing whatsoever to do with my sneakers, and / or my father’s way of teaching me to tie them. Huh!