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#blog5daysAustenese random scribblings

Let the countdown begin…

Okay, so I chickened out just a little and gave myself (and those who were game enough to include themselves in the challenge!!!) another week of ‘preparation’. Another 7 days of reading Jane Austen’s work, immersing in her style, ready to blog in Austenese next Monday. For 5 days. Because 5 days will probably be long enough! Just blog what you would normally blog, but in her style, and tweet your creations with #blog5daysAustenese – it should be rather an interesting week!

Those game enough to enter, to date (oh – and any and all are accepted, if you feel like joining us!) are:

@jobeaz, blogging at Macaronic

@Girlwithshoess, blogging at Justgirlwithshoes

@kalgrl, blogging at Feral Librarian Tales

@jzgarnett, blogging at Randomly Yours, Julia

Hopefully I haven’t missed any! Sorry if I have; it’s been so hot here my brain’s not working properly…?! If I have, or if you’re game enough for the challenge, comment below to join in the fun!

Anyway, I thought I’d spend this week’s blog posts on *my* take on Austen.

I first encountered Pride and Prejudice in mid-High School, as I had been on a William Makepeace Thackery bent, and wanted something different. From Vanity Fair to P&P wasn’t a huge stretch, and I carried on “charmingly, when once I had made a beginning”. From P&P to Emma, to Sense and Sensibility. I left Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park til I was in Uni, and Persuasion later still. But it wasn’t until I purchased the Penguin “Complete novels of…”, a decade later again, that I encountered Lady Susan, which quickly became my favourite.

So early in December 2011, after a particularly trying day, I re-watched the Keira Knightly version of P&P. And decided to re-read my Penguin tome again, in order from first to last, watching the DVD (if I had it) immediately prior. Sense and Sensibility took me through to mid-December, followed by P&P by Christmas. And then it was the turn of my least-favourite, Mansfield Park. Apparently it was Austen’s favourite. It’s not mine. I always find it a slog. But I finished it last night, so am looking forward to watching Gwyneth Paltrow sometime in the near future.

Sense and Sensibility struck me anew with its wide array of characters, having just watched the Emma Thompson / Hugh Grant version (I really do NOT like his acting, but I guess he does play the part quite well) and being quite a fan of Gregory House, I do enjoy seeing his droll version of Mr Palmer. Best of all was Alan Rickman though, with nary a shade of Die Hard in evidence. I would have liked to have seen the “Willoughby coming to see Marianne during her illness” scene in the film, but can understand why it was cut, and the ‘intelligence’ he brought with him regarding his motives, left to Colonel Brandon to give. But all in all, an enjoyable film, and an entertaining read.

Final thought:

It’s truly amazing, the things you can learn from Librarians! Apparently the following exists: “Pride and Prejudice and zombies”; “Sense and Sensibility and sea monsters”; and the twitter version of Austen. Who would have thought?!!

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What a weekend!

It’s 8.40pm and I’ve finally put down my tome. It’s taken several days, but I’ve finally finished Austen’s Mansfield Park. Apparently her favourite work, it is the one I find most difficult, the hardest slog to get through. But enough of that, I wanted to blog about my weekend.

My mother had asked, earlier in the week, if she could have my three cherubs from Saturday midday through to Sunday midday. Happy to oblige, I booked Hubby and myself into the Mecure Brisbane for the night, using my complimentary night’s accommodation courtesy membership in Accor Advantage Plus.
So Hubby’s surf Saturday morning was followed by my dropping off the kidlets, then a unhurried journey to the Mercure and after Hubby’s dip in the pool (water far too cool for my tastes!) we headed to Cafe Mondial, our latest favourite Brisbane restaurant.
Their chef does a gorgeous Veal Medallion, and what better way to complement this than to see Sherlock – A Game of Shadows, chased down with a Caramel Belgian Waffle.
We then discussed, but decided to avoid (studiously on my part!) the Casino, choosing instead to visit the sculptures outside Brisbane Square Library. And then called it a night.
So I was wide awake by 1am. I guess my body’s not used to so many hour’s sleep, all in a row! But the bed was so comfy, it didn’t take long before I was in the land of zzzzz’s again. And this pattern repeated itself until 6.
We talked during our buffet breakfast this morning about the luxury of a good mattress, as we had both slept so well. So we checked out, drove back to the Coast, and went and bought a new mattress. With an hour to kill before our freedom disappeared, we ended up under a pandanus tree at Alexandra Heads, sitting, relaxing, talking, and me tweeting about the #blog5daysAustenese challenge, with Hubby laughing at me for spending more time on my iHone HootSuite app than talking to him!
We collected our gorgeous three, and spent a relaxing afternoon and evening at home, me slogging my way through Mansfield Park.
So now it’s time to hit ‘publish’ and go watch Big Bang Theory. Til tomorrow, dear readers!

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An indictment on me?

Mr 2. A deep thinker. A ponderer. A puzzle solver. As Hubby likes to call him, “our ‘semi-reverse-engineer'”, because of his fondness for taking things apart, and then attempting (but usually failing) to put them back together.
A man of few words, our Mr 2. Six words, to be precise. Well, up until today. “No” and “yes” were pretty early successes, followed by “Daddy” then “Mummy”. “Please” and “thank you” soon followed. And so today sees word number 7.
What a proud Mummy he made me… I think… when he looked at me, pointed to what he wanted, and asked, “iPod?”

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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…!)

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#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!!!

 

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#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)

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#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!

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#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.

 

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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!

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#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)