Captain Jack the Sparrow

I just wanted to take this opportunity to introduce "Captain Jack" the sparrow to you all. He is our resident pergola pooper. I feel quite sorry for him as this has been his home for at least as long as this home has been ours. He obviously doesn't have a "wife and kids" - though I'm thankful that he doesn't - at least in his current residence.

mmm... vegies

Growing a vegie patch is essential to my core. I have attempted to grow one at nearly every house I have lived at since I moved out of home some 8 years ago... at last count, that's 11 houses! My current abode has been my home for nearly 3 years - that's a record by 2 years (not counting my parent's house, which I was born into, and they still live in!). One of the first things I did upon arrival to this latest home, even before all the boxes were unpacked, ok, there are still some unpacked boxes... ANWAY, one of the first things I did was rip up the old chicken coop and make a vegie patch. My yield of tomatoes that year was impressive to say the least, but has been declining each year since then. Tragic.

Every year, I have major renovations within the confines of my 3m x 3m patch, usually to keep out the hopping variety of pests or trying to beat the mid-summer sun or just laying down some excellent compost/mulch. All with the vain hope that "this year will be the year". Last Summer was the worst, ending with me pulling everything out in disgust in late January and leaving it until Winter vegie time.

I have theories as to why my crop has dwindled. None of which are the simple explanation that we are in a long drought.

Whatever the case, I am giving my patch a rest until October... except for a small patch within the patch where I have some broccoli, cauliflour, lettuce and peas. All is going well though I didn't know until I planted them that I had inadvertantly bought "minature cauliflour"... what does that mean? I have yet to find out... except to note that tiny seedling sized plants are sprouting white heads... they are high achievers!


Here's to next Summer! Because this year will be the year...

The Queen of Procrastination

Its Sunday, 4.25pm. I should be on my way to church but I'm not. Andy is, and thankfully, he took Mr E too. Why am I not? Well, I am running a training session tomorrow in my house. While I am thoroughly familiar with the content, I really need to go though it and print out relevant workbooks etc. Plus there is the state of my house... I have been sick for the last few days and I feel like I have not only watched the dust fall, but also settle nicely on the surrounding furniture.

UGH...

While Mr E is out of the house, I really should go through his and Miss N's clothes and sort out what doesn't fit them anymore. Trying to do that while he is here is impossible because he likes to "help"... not very helpful...

I have no need to watch Gilmore Girls... I never have and never really intend to become a fan yet that is what is on TV... begging me to watch. I sift through people's profiles on Facebook for no apparent reason, strike up conversations on IM and make longs to-do lists.

So any minute now, I'm going to look up at the clock and say... "Is that the time???"

Boys will be boys

We subscribe to Zazz. What is it? I hear you ask... Its an online company that sells a different "thingy" everyday. The items have been bought in bulk and are sold off really cheaply. They are usually to do with computer stuff, though occassionally, it's some random, dare I say, piece of crap. Some of our purchases have included various sizes of USB sticks, SD cards, external hard drives, an indoor and outdoor thermometer, and most recently, this remote control car.

I bought it... for Mr E... for Christmas... Andy found it... Need I say more?

Having been married to Andy now for over 4 years and after the purchase of many tools ("not toys, Eli"), I have never seen Andy's face light up like is has every time he remembers that we are now the proud owners of a remote control car.

I guess I need to find Me E something else for Christmas...

Subscribe to Zazz at www.zazz.com.au... if nothing else, it provides you with a daily email to make you feel loved and popular.

One of "those" weekends

Started with the purchase of a deficient Bible. Of course I didn't know it was deficient at the time and only found out by chance the next day when I randomly needed to find a Psalm 8... not there... gone... THEN I found that half of Psalms has been duplicated! Good thing the glitch didn't happen in Revelation... there's warnings about deleting and adding bits!

Ended with being stuck on the side of road in a car with steam billowing out of the bonnet. On our way to my G'ma's 87th birthday party. Freezing out, screaming kids in. Car was serviced 3 days earlier... I think he missed something...

The reintroduction to children's television

My new role in life has led me to experience children's television again. Despite my best attempts, my 2 yr old son has never taken much interest in television... until now...

Depending on the readers of this blog, you may or may not have of heard of a particular show on ABC Kids called "In the Night Garden". Another monstrosity produced by those that inflicted the "Teletubbies" on us in the 1990s. Thankfully, I was largely able to avoid watching that one, except for my one-day-a-week nannying job where the young child I minded required a daily viewing... *sigh*


I feel I need to share "In the Night Garden" with those of you who (thankfully) don't have a reason to view this show. The creatures have names such as Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, and Makka Pakka. There are the Tombliboos, Pontipines, Wottingers, Hahoos and Tittifers and they get around in a train called the Ninky Nonk and an airship called the Pinky Ponk. As usual for "Ragdoll Productions" there is no coherent dialogue between the characters and only thanks to the narrator, we may just get the gist of what is going on.

It is wierd.

I think the creators are on drugs.

Nevertheless, Mr E is mesmorised... from beginning to end. As one review said "It is designed to delight young children and scare the living daylights out of adults". If this is the intention of the creators, then they get 10 out of 10 for achieving their goal. Until wiriting this blog and doing further "research" I assumed that Mr E was only into the colour and activity and, like me, he knew nothing of what was actually going on. However, while I was surfing the site (http://www.inthenightgarden.co.uk/) to find out their names, Mr E came over and diligently pointed out all of the creatures and named them! So I stand corrected... there is something in it other than sharing ones drug induced stupors because they have the money to buy the time slot on ABC!

Thankfully Sesame Street comes before this programme and Play School comes after... which are far more familiar and, shall we say, lucid.

If you want to experience it for yourself, its in ABC1 at 9.00am.

For those of you who are interested in kids TV, I can HIGHLY recommend "Shaun the Sheep" which airs at 4.00pm on ABC1. Another Aardman creation that is as entertaining as the well known "Wallace and Gromit" episodes. Thankfully, there are still good things coming out of the UK!

It begins

To blog or not to blog... that is the question. I feel I have given far too much thought to the idea. Who would be interested? Am I conceited to think that anyone would want to read this? Would I even want people to read the musings of my existence? I must admit, I often find the odd occurances of my life somewhat amusing and I do love to tell a story - often despite the interest level of the audince. At least this way, I can ramble till my heart's content. I have high hopes that engaging in blogging will help me to embrace the budding domestic goddess (to coin a phrase) that I am, give me something else that "must be done" in my day and if at all possible, allow me to share the things that make me smile, frown, sigh and cry. Subscribe if you please.