A blog by any other name

Last year, when I started this blog I knew very little about the whole blogging world. I just got an account, picked a name and started writing. Along the way, I have met a lot of people and learnt a whole lot about this blogging caper. Little did I know there were quite a few blogs out there with variations of A Day in the Life. 

I picked the name A Day in the Life for two reasons – it fitted what I was going to write about (ie - each post was a snippet from a day in my life) and it was also one of my favourite Beatle songs. The Beatles have long been a soundtrack to my life, I even walked down the aisle at my wedding to In My Life. The thing I love about the song A Day in the Life is how the Lennon/McCartney lyrics have meshed together, essentially two separate songs that work brilliantly together. It's mournful, chipper and whimsical all at the same time, and then, of course, is that grand crescendo and final chord. It's like a big mixing bowl of life – strange, beautiful and brilliant. 

I was reminded of the song this morning when it was announced on the radio that Lennon's handwritten lyrics were being auctioned off in New York next month. Bids will start as a nifty USD$700,000. Hmmm that might be stretching the grocery budget just a little. Wouldn't it be incredible to own a little bit of history?



Beatles - A Day in the life
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Tina sparkle

Is there anything better than being a three-year-old girl? You can walk out of the house in an ensemble of fairy wings, sparkly gum boots and striped leggings and people think you look gorgeous.

For my three-year-old, everything must be sparkly at the moment. I have to say I'm happy to indulge her, cause she's at an age when you can were sequins to the park and people won't bat an eyelid. Plus I can live vicariously through her!

She has a pair of silver sequined ballet flats which she has worn to almost death and they're only three weeks old! So, today we went on a mission to buy her some sneakers – you know something sensible to climb with at the playground. She spotted a pair of sequinned Dunlop Volleys and it was love. Gorgeous? Yes! Sensible? No. But, who was I to deny her? If they had sequined Dunlop Volleys when I was three I would have begged and pleaded too. Another woman in the shop exclaimed: "Oh, if I only I could get away with wearing those!" and I had to agree.

I remember when I was three I desperately wanted a Wonder Woman suit, I vowed that I'd get one when I was old enough. Alas, what happened? The black widow look hit me in my teens, which I teamed with Doc Martin boots. Now, how I wished I had that Wonder Woman suit.

So, this is why Lil-lil will sparkle at the park in her sequins. At least until she hits 14 and decides to trade them in for a pair of cherry 12-hole Doc Martins.

The simple life

Why is it that the simplest things can often bring you the most joy.

Like a piece of bread with lashings of butter:

An unexpected kiss from a loved one:

Hearing a favourite song on the radio:

Or when kids sleep peacefully until break of dawn:

What are your simple pleasures?

Time machine at the Sydney Entertainment Centre

Last night, I was transported back a couple of decades as I saw Tears for Fears and Spandau Ballet in concert. It was a helluva lot of fun (despite all the older ladies who'd had a few too many chadonnays and insisted on some crazy dance moves).

So on this lazy public holiday, kick back and check out this film clip. It's one of my faves.


Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels
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ANZAC day

Growing up I had a little picture book about Gallipoli, I just loved it. I read and re-read it, fascinated about the tales of the landing, Simpson and his donkey and the ANZACs tricky escape.

As I got older the fascination remained. I watched the movie Gallipoli, The Lighthorsemen, the ANZACs mini-series. I read anything I could get my hands on about it. One day I hope to travel to Gallipoli and see the historic peninsula for myself.

I've enjoyed commemorating ANZAC day in many ways over the years  – attending the dawn service in Martin Place; playing two-up; watching the march in lots of little country towns; drinking beers at the RSL with returned servicemen and listening to their tales. This year we'll probably just make a batch of ANZAC bikkies and take a moment to remember.

As the girls get older, I'm sure we'll take them to the dawn service and tell them about their great grandfathers who fought on the Kokoda Track, in the Pacific and France. I want to help them develop understanding and respect for the day.

Lest we forget.

 

Click the picture to make these yummy bikkies.

Win!

Well, I just discovered I won this week's Blog This challenge with this post. It seems my freaky life is just freakish enough to entertain blogland.

Thanks to everyone who voted!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

10 in 2010 update

Well I thought it was about time I should revisit my 10 in 2010 and see how I'm going.

1) Eat healthy and drink less (or not at all). I'm not eating super healthy (though I generally do eat pretty well anyway), a little bit too much chocolate is recent weeks. I haven't had a drop of alcohol in three weeks, so that's pretty good.

2) I want exercise to be a regular part of my day (yawn... I know, I know all very boring stuff but necessary). I've been extremely slack when it comes to exercise. Definitely need a kick in the bum.

3) I want to pamper myself more - take more time out for just me; buy myself clothes; do my nails; spoil myself with a pretty bauble now and again; get my hair done regularly. Hmm have probably done better at this than this time last year, but still a lot of room for improvement.

4) Take some singing/music classes. I have been wanting to do this for so long, but now I want to find a way to make it happen. Again, have been slack. I need to find something I can afford to do. It's all a bit out of my price range.

5) Have a beach holiday with my family. I can tick this one off. We had a wonderful 10 days away up on the north coast.

6) Start a long-term saving/investment plan. Still in progress, but plans are being made.

7) Finish my backyard (it's been a project in progress for two years!) and make it a lovely place to be. This one can almost be ticked off too. My yard should be done by early next week. Hurrah!!

8) Plan an overseas holiday for 2011 - either New York or France (or both!). Hmmm this is looking pretty unlikely. I don't think it will be achieved.

9) Cook a sensational three-course French meal for Skip (doesn't really go with number 1, I know). Have been stealing wonderful ideas from Pink Patent Mary Janes. See her lemon tart here .

10) Find a wonderful dream to chase and start chasing it. This one is coming to fruition too. Definitely a few steps further on number 10, which was the most important of all the resolutions.

This is the incentive I need to get a move on the others. How are your resolutions going? Have they been long forgotten? Or already achieved?

Image: www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Looking for answers

My three-year-old is at the stage of asking questions – lots of them, incessantly. I know this stage drives a lot of parents crazy and I can understand why, but I actually like it. I love how their little minds are trying to process the big world. I love how their questions reveal their perspective. I love the naivity, the purity, the curiosity.

Skip would probably say it's because I'm quite a curious person myself. He's always laughing at me as I can't let things rest until I find out how they work. I need to know what, why, where, who and how. I have to admit that I love the fact that my iPhone lets me Google things on the go.

Anyway, back to Lil-lil's questions, there have been some that I've loved explaining the answers in great details. Others I've wondered about where they've come from in her little brain. A few that have left me scratching my head. Some of the corkers that have come out in recent days include: Why do tears come out of your eyes when you're sad? Where does water come from? And my current fave: What sound do zebras make?


If anyone knows the answer to that last question, please let me know! Even Google doesn't have an answer that will satisfy a three-year-old.

Point & shoot

Saturday, 17 April, 2010 - 6.10am

Here is a pic of my littlest waking up on Saturday morning. I was actually trying to snap her asleep with her little bum in the air, but she turned and stretched as I took it. I think I love it more as a stretch and you can still see the dreamy look on her face.

Delightful dahlias

Our family is adopting a new ritual. Most Saturday mornings we go to a farmers' market somewhere and stock up on jams, relishes, free-range pork and whatever yummies take our fancy. The girls love to look at the flower stands and smell each and every posie, so we've started letting them pick out a bunch to take home.

The house looks brighter and it definitely lifts our mood. The dahlias are just gorgeous at the moment and this weekend we got a divine bunch of pink ones for our mantlepiece. Sigh.

Doing it for the kids

Like a lot of kids, my two received a ton of Easter eggs this year. After gorging on Easter Sunday, they've only been allowed to have some now and again.

Often Lil-lil will have one while Goosey is having a nap, so poor old Goosey only has one now and again, now and again. For the sake of their health Skip and I have been helping them get through their stash after they go to bed at night. I must admit that sometimes I help them out during the day too. For the sake of their health, you know. I wouldn't do it otherwise.

After talking to some other mums it seems I'm not the only one concerned about their kids over-indulging in chocolate. Of course it would be wasteful to throw it away, as parents it is our duty to do consume it. You know, for the sake of the kids...

Fabulous Friday

As well as being FlogYoBlog Friday over at Brenda's Mummy Time! , it's also my favourite day of the week. I love the excitement and anticipation that Friday holds. Even if I have nothing exciting planned, there is always some relaxing, eating and pottering to do, which is well worth a bit of excitement.

This Friday, my plans for the weekend include some of this tonight:

Possibly one of these tomorrow night:

Watch my girls do this and smile:

And hopefully do some of this:

What are you plans for the weekend? Enjoy this fabulous Friday.

Decision time

I have one terrible flaw – well one among many if the truth be told. But this one flaw I'm speaking of is really being tested at the moment.

I'm totally hopeless at making decisions. I mean really hopeless. Give me a menu and I'll stare at it for hours, unable to decide what to eat. Ask me if I want tea or coffee and I'll ummm and ahhh and usually say: "Tea. I mean coffee. No, tea. Ohhh whatever is easiest to make." Ask me what I want to do today and I'll reply with: "I dunno. What do you want to do?" It drives everyone around me batty, especially poor Skip.

At the moment, I have a few large men in my backyard digging and lugging heavy stuff and banging and crashing. They are creating my wonderful new garden oasis. The problem? I'm constantly being asked questions. Do I want a curved or straight garden bed? Flat or raised edge? What type of plants? Usually these questions are answered with: "Ummmm what do you think?"

I'm dreading coming home at the moment as I know I'll be bombarded with new decisions to make.

Making decisions is something I've always been terrible at. As a kid I used to read 'Choose your own adventure' books and get myself in such a muddle as I'd try and read both choices at the same time. Suffice to say it didn't work, I would have to make a decision in the end.

Maybe this is why I'm a terrible shopper, just another activity the involves decision making. Perhaps this is why I enjoy degustation and alternate menus - decisions are all made for you.

Hmmmm maybe I should have had a career in the army, where I could have been told what to do everyday.

Do you relish making decisions? Or are you more like me and dread it?

Blog love

The lovely Chantelle from fatmumslim is an uber-blogger who has featured me on her site today. What a thrill!

Go on, check it out: fatmumslim

Weird and freaky coincidences? That's me!

When I saw the latest Blog This challenge about weird coincidence and freaky events, I couldn't help but give it a go. My whole life has been a muddle of coincindences and freaky happenings all connected by six-degrees of separation.

I could tell you about the time when I was a youngster of about 5 at my brothers birthday party on the beach, frantically digging in the sand telling everyone I needed to find the $10 note. About 15 minutes later my brother's mate came in from the sea holding a soggy, slimy $10 note he found floating on the water. I was most put out when he wouldn't give it to me.

I could tell you about the time when over breakfast my mum told me of a terrible earthquake she'd heard about on the early morning news while snoozing in bed. She told me the number of casualties and where it occurred. When I looked on the news later there was nothing. I forgot about it until a couple of weeks later there was an earthquake in the location she mentioned with the same number of casualties...

Or I could tell you about the time I happened to meet a Brazilian girl in a club and said "I knew someone from Brazil once, of course being a bazillion people in Brazil you wouldn't know her, but her name was Aly XYZ." She gasped and said: "Not Aly XYZ with a brother Toby XYZ?? They used to live next door to me while I was growing up." The only Brazilian people I have ever met just happened to live next door to each other.

Or I could tell you about how after years of being together, Skip and I discovered there were many nights out when we were at the same places, talking to the same people but never met each other.

For me, the weirdest coincindence of the past 12 months has been meeting a new friend. We met while at Tresillian. During our stay (on which we both arrived on the same day) we chatted and got on well and spent most of our time saying: "Me too!" to each other. It turned out we'd both been in Tresillian the same number of times; both had two daughters; our daughters had the same first and middle names; we'd both recently been on holiday to the same place; we both got married in the Blue Mountains on the first weekend of April just because we thought it would be nice to have a wedding weekend away; the list went on and on. As our friendship has grown the list of coincidences has continued to grow and spook us.  It's weird to have met this person who has basically been living the same life as me. It has been the most freakishly wonderful thing.

Image: speedy2/sxc.hu

It's a laugh, innit?

I've been feeling a little flat lately. Lost the sparkle, the zip or something. I hadn't been able to put my finger on it, until yesterday. I realised I haven't really had a good laugh in a long time.

I love to laugh. I love to make other laugh (though I'm not always good at it). Sure in recent weeks I've chuckled, I've giggled, I've even guffawed, but I haven't had a good throw you head back, let the tears rolls down, shuddered till it hurts kind of laugh. You know the kind of laugh you have with your oldest friends or family? When you laugh so much you think you're going to stop breathing.

I'm missing that buzz that you feel when you've spent time with people you love and just laughed. Top of my to do list is to rectify that or at least plan something to rectify it.

Tea

Is there anything better in this world than a good cup of tea? A good cup of tea can be a moment of peace and meditation. A good cup of tea can be the catalyst to a wonderful conversation. A good cup of tea can refresh the soul and warm the body.

Like a lot of people, I was introduced to tea by my grandmother. I think she used to drink about a million cups of the stuff a day. Always made in the pot, with a cosy, the proper way. Sitting and drinking tea with her started my love affair with the stuff. Served at her table with scones, biscuits or cakes, it was always wonderful. I love coffee and often drink it more than tea, but to me, tea is a lot more special.

I often drink tea while I write or work. It makes me more productive for some reason. I also love a hot cup of tea on a really hot day, it's super refreshing. When Skip and I travelled around Australia and lived in a tent for around a year, we drank tea every morning (as it's damn near impossible to get good coffee in the outback) and it was a fab start to the day.

My most poignant tea memory is making a pot of tea for myself at my  Grandma's house. She was dying of osphegeal cancer and wasn't eating or drinking much. She hadn't had tea for a while and people had stopped asking her. I felt sad because it was such a ritual for her (and for my time with her). I asked if she would like a cup, she perked up and said 'Yes'. She savoured every drop and for the first time during my stay with her, seemed a little contented. For the rest of her life I think she lived on tea, with her pain medication being slipped into as well as she refused to take it otherwise.

Tea is a common denominator. No matter where you go in the world you can find some variation on tea, which I love. No matter how different we are, we all love tea. No wonder wars have been fought over the stuff. Cheers!

An egg-cellent start to the day

Yesterday morning, the four of us were lying in bed rejoicing in the fact that it was Saturday morning. Skip was headed to the races, Lil-lil and I had a date at the movies planned and Goosey was to spend quality time with Grandma.

Skip commented on how it would be nice to have eggs for breakfast. Soon after Lil-lil slipped out to the lounge room followed by her shadow Goosey. Skip and I had a strange conversation about whose DNA had more farming ability which was interrupted by Goosey standing at the door with something in her hand. In the 6am light, it looked a little like a half-eaten Easter egg. 'Oh no' I thought, they've got into the Easter stash and they'll be chocolate everywhere.

On closer inspection, Goosey was indeed grasping an egg – a real chicken's egg. Cracked shell with the white and yolk running over her hands.

We went out to the kitchen where Lil-lil was proudly standing with breakfast for her dad. A green plate with an egg she'd 'scrambled' with a fork. Shame it was still raw. "I made a special breakfast for Daddy, all by myself. I cracked the egg and mixed it with a fork." I have never seen her so proud of herself.

Skip declared it the best breakfast that anyone had ever made him, and I had to agree with him. It was such a lovely moment and gesture. It was worth every moment spent mopping up raw egg off the floor, to see father and daughter so happy with each other. It makes you realise that you must be doing something right to have a little girl who is so thoughtful.

Hope you all have an egg-cellent weekend too.

If it ain't broke...

I have had a strange week, feeling a little out of the groove after Easter. After a busy time having fun, socialising and being out in the workforce recently, I decided to tackle things around the home - fixing the ceiling fan that broke (and kept us up many night sweating), finally getting a start on landscaping our back 'yard' (it's so small I'm not sure if it qualifies as a yard), getting the house painted and other domesticities. I've been looking forward to crossing things off the to-do list.

First thing Tuesday, after the long weekend, was the time scheduled to fix the fan. This broke a few weeks ago and we had a few sticky nights since where we couldn't sleep in our hot bedroom. In fact, there was a lot of yelling at said fan one particular night. I was so excited about the fan being fixed, even though the weather has gotten decidedly cool. The fan man was booked in and I was told he would arrived between 8am - 12pm – a tactic that I'm sure is employed purely to make you crazy with gratitude when the finally turn up. At 11.30am he arrived, he took one look at it and in seconds had it whirring. He turned and grunted to me "Duracell make the best batteries," and left. It seems the only thing wrong with the fan was a dead battery in the remote control... whoops!

This morning had me at our local tyre guy. We had found a screw in our tyre, so I took it off to get repaired. After dropping it off and taking the kids to a local park for an hour while he repaired it, I returned to hear "There was no puncture, I just took the screw out and it was fine. Took just a couple of minutes." There goes another morning!

I'm hoping that next week I may be able to fix some things that are actually broken.

Splutter, splutter, splutter

I feel like the petrol tank is empty at the moment and I'm just running on fumes.

I think the time has come to take some time for myself, fill up the tank and then hopefully I can start running a bit better again. If not I may be on the side of the road unable to move anywhere.

The biggest problem is finding the right petrol station and then working out what is the best fuel to use.

How do you recharge your batteries? Get yourself running efficiently?

Bush magic

Over the Easter weekend, Skip and I went to a good friend's wedding. It was such a lovely wedding, everything went off without a hitch and the happiness in the room was sparkling. A wonderful little bonus was that as the nuptials were out of town, Skip and I got a night away in the bush.

Spending the night in a little cottage on the edge of a national park was amazing. It was so cozy, plus the fresh air and the peaceful quiet began to wash away life's stress in a matter of minutes. After a deep sleep (with no call outs from little people), we breakfasted on the verandah as parrots chirped away and wallabies hopped past.
We spent just 12 hours there but it felt like much longer.

We drove off feeling like a little magic wand had been waved over us. It's amazing how a change of scenery and a touch of nature can make such a difference.

Exciting news

Well I have just received some very exciting news, but you need to keep it quiet? Can you do that?

OK, well I just received an email from a lovely man from a west African country. It seems that he made a lot of money in oil in South America. His business partner Mr Belly died after battling heart cancer for many years and he had deposited all of their money in a bank in western Africa. The man is afraid of the government taking all the money but he needs somewhere safe for it to go internationally. If I let the man transfer the USD$40 million to my bank account he'll let me keep 40 per cent! All I have to do is send all my personal details and a photograph and the money will be mine!

Finally my ship has come in and I can buy my holiday house in Port Douglas. So I may not have a lot of time to blog from now on – what with all the new purchases and money counting I'll be doing. :P
Image: www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Five years ago

Five years ago today, it was a lovely, gorgeous sunny autumn day – not unlike it is today. I was up in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, staying at the magnificent Carrington Hotel. As a child, my mum and I often stayed at this heritage hotel and it always held a special place in my heart.

At this exact time five years ago, I was staying in the Lord Carrington Suite, putting on a gorgeous gown made by a close friend and getting ready to walk downstairs to marry my sweetheart. Being in such magnificent surroundings on such a stunning day with all of my favourite people was one of the best days of my life. That fact that I was marrying the love of my life made it the most magical, out-of-this-world day.

Five years on and we not only have each other, but we also have two amazing daughters.

Skip, you have blessed me so much over the past 5 years (well, 12 years really). I feel proud and privileged to be your wife. Most of all, I love you, always, 100%.