if on a winter's night a traveler

Tattoos of Memories

2010-08-23T19:22:00.001+10:00

In case you hadn't noticed, I haven't blogged since May.

That's because I've left the Blogosphere.

I haven't even opened Google Reader since sometime in early June.

I've just popped back in here to say goodbye, because I don't think I'll be coming back. I spend too much time in front of my computer, and am cutting back.

I've got a few things left to achieve in 2010, considering I gave up my jogging pursuits, have continued procrastinating my book, we went to New Zealand and my not spending too much plans went out the window, and the only edible thing I've grown all year has been the five passionfruits hanging on the vine.

But I do have a few things sewn to sell on Etsy (just not enough to open a store yet) and have played the piano a little more (just not as much as I would like).

And, God-willing, there will be a baby to cuddle in about ten weeks from now.

So, put your arms around each other and sway as you sing "All My Loving". Or, (if you are too young to know what on earth I'm talking about), substitute the lines about remembering I'll always be true with something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.

I'll apologise for getting either of those songs stuck in your head, and head in for the Final Countdown.

forgot

2010-05-06T10:29:00.000+10:00

When we got married, we wanted a simple wedding. And we had a fairly simple wedding. It probably would have been even simpler if I'd realised that you didn't have to do things just because everyone else did them. (Ironic, considering that, in general, things I do are because I want to do them, not because it's what everyone else does.) And if we didn't have family spread all over two states - we decided a proper sit down meal was more fitting for people who'd travelled a long way.

Mostly it was everything we wanted. We just wanted to get married. We would have taken the opportunity to get married immediately after the 30 days notice required by law, but that would have been unfair on a few people that did actually matter to us.

But two things I forgot that I had really wanted on my wedding day, was to incorporate two songs into the day: The Beatles' 'When I'm Sixty-Four' and 'The Luckiest' by Ben Folds. Whenever I hear either song I think 'Oh, I wish I'd remembered!'

But in the end it doesn't matter, because no matter what we had or didn't have at our wedding, I am the luckiest, because I did marry the man who will still love me when I'm sixty-four. And I'm very happy about that.

pink

2010-05-06T09:42:00.000+10:00

Despite being female, pink is not my favourite colour.

In fact, I'd probably choose most colours over pink. I particularly like shades of purple, the richer and darker the better (think aubergine, plum) and shades of brown, again, rich and dark (think coffee, latte, chocolate).

I get irked enough at Mother's Day catalogues. We're force fed this idea that all mum's love fluffy slippers, toasters, mugs and teddy bears that say 'I Love Mum', diamantes and All Things Pink.

I hate to say this, but I'm a mum and I don't really dig any of those things.

The Officeworks catalogue I skimmed through this morning took the cake. Officeworks isn't really the first place you think of when you think Mother's Day gifts. Or maybe it is, I don't know. I don't really get into the whole Mother's Day thing. But there on page 9 of the Officeworks catalogue is a Dell Netbook with a pink case. It is advertised as 'Perfect colour for Mum'.

I don't know when the marketing push started that girls only like pink and boys get the run of the rest of the colour spectrum. My guess is that it is well and truly within the last 30 years, judging by the fact that in my baby pictures I'm pretty much never wearing pink. (Mind you, if I had a daughter, she might make that some judgment looking at her baby pictures.) But if you visit the baby clothes section of your local Kmart or Target you'll notice a predominance of pink in the girls section. In fact, boys and girls clothing is so gendered that I think I will be hard pressed using any of Ralph's baby clothes on a girl.

And it continues as the children grow up. There are Things For Boys and Things For Girls and never shall either gender use something intended for the other. Though occasionally something that would ordinarily be for a boy - you know, a microscope, or a Nintendo DS - is made just for girls. You can tell it is for girls because it is pink. Pink. Come on. What about other funky colours like purple, or lime green, or periwinkle. Or just a range of colours for either boys or girls. Or toys that are genuinely neutral will be made in two colours - pink for the girls, and something else for the boys (though probably not purple, that's pushing the gender boundaries a little too far).

And so now we end up as grown ups, and men like black or blue and women like pink. Or so the catalogues would have as believe at Father's Day, Mother's Day, and Christmas.

I'm all for gender distinctions. Girls are girls and boys are boys. God made us the different for a reason. But those difference should be demonstrated through the way we relate to each other, not through colours.

2010-04-29T13:40:00.000+10:00

This story in our local paper today made me cranky.

It started like this:

A TOWNSVILLE woman was devastated after she miscarried her unborn baby just hours after having the swine flu, or Panvax H1N1, vaccine last month.

A lady is blaming the swine flu vaccine for causing a miscarriage. She discovered by ultrasound at 13 weeks that her baby was measuring only 8 weeks with no heartbeat, and at 8 weeks pregnant she had the swine flu vaccine. More than that, she's had five children and has never had a miscarriage before, so obviously it was the vaccine.

Two things annoyed me about this article. The first was a misunderstanding about miscarriage. Chances of miscarriage aren't related to to how many children you've had. Well, actually, they kind of are. There is thought that the more children you have the more likely you are to miscarry, but that could also have to do with age, as the older you are the more likely you are to miscarry. The other misunderstanding was that the baby measured 8 weeks, therefore that's when it died. It isn't necessarily that case, because the foetus usually disintegrates after it has died.

But what annoyed me particularly was the sensationalist nature of the article, and, despite the clarification towards the end that the spate of bad reactions to flu vaccine was related to seasonal flu not swine flu, plenty of people, especially pregnant women, are going to not be vaccinated now because they are scared of the risk. From what I understand, swine flu is considered particularly dangerous for pregnant women and their unborn babies.

Weekly newspaper rant over.

Review: Reading Magic

2010-04-20T20:42:00.000+10:00

I finished Reading Magic by Mem Fox this week. I say finished because I bought the book and read half of it three years ago, so this week I skimmed over the first part and read the rest.

I had to put it aside because her style was a little overwhelming for me. Actually, the whole book was a bit overwhelming.

I'm undecided if I like Mem Fox or not. I'm not in love with her books, though I do love that Ralph can recognise the word 'fox' in most contexts because he's read so many books by Mem Fox! (Or the same few lots of times over.)

I'm more divided over this book. I finished the book feeling a failure as a parent because my son is already three-and-a-half and he can't read yet, despite the overwhelming number of books we have read to him. We probably read an average of 4-5 books a day to Ralph between us. There are too many anecdotes in the book about parents starting to read to their children and the children being able to read within a few weeks, and about all the children who were reading at two and three and four years old because Mum and Dad read to them since they were born. Reading to your kids will speed up the process, but it isn't necessarily as straight forward as she makes out. Kids will learn to read when it all clicks together for them, but no-one should feel bad if their kid arrives at school unable to read: well prepared is more than good enough.

But our failing was we didn't start reading to him until he was about 18 months old. I know, it's a travesty. We did make some effort, but he wasn't really interested. Then all of a sudden he could not get enough of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Cecil the Lost Sheep. We knew them both by heart, and he did too, but was lacking the language skills to recite it. According to Mem Fox we started at least 18 months too late. We have probably robbed him of reaching his full academic potential.

But, on the whole I agree with what she says. Read to your kids. Every day. Kids will find learning to read so much easier if they are already familiar with books. To be able to read a book you need to know that the words on the page mean something, you need to know what words look like, you need to know to move left to right through the book and across the page. Make books fun, interesting, exciting.

Maybe I'm biased because of my past as an English teacher, but I believe literacy one of the most important skills anyone can have. One of the big differences between developed and developing nations is the literacy rates. To succeed in our society you must be able to read and understand what you are reading. I remember one of my lecturers at uni pointing out that without literacy you can't even order a burger from Mcdonalds. Being able to read earlier means getting a head start on learning everything else.

I also agreed with her that a phonics approach isn't the best to teach reading - that is teaching all the sounds that letters and combinations of letters make. It's currently in vogue as the method for teaching reading in schools, and I don't think it's all bad. I think it's great to complement a whole language approach (learning to read words by seeing them over and over), especially to develop good spelling strategies. But, I'm not an expert on early literacy, so I could be missing something really important in comparing the two approaches.

The one thing I think Fox didn't focus enough on was the benefit of speech. That's something I have done. I have spoken to Ralph from the day he was born. Just talked to him. I've told him about what I'm doing, where we're going, what this is, what that is. It's like reading; you can't learn to speak if no-one speaks to you. Good vocabulary matters so much because to read you need to know what the words are. A great example was when I was listening to Papua New Guinean prep students read from simple readers, most of the guessing the word from the picture on the page, and a large number of children saying 'mausgras' for 'moustache' because they had only ever heard the Tok Pisin word. I still talk to Ralph all day. If I see something interesting we talk about it, if he asks me a question I give as best answer as I can for him to understand. The more words you know, the better you can read.

And remember that print is every. Ralph can recognise countless logos because I've said the name of the store as we've gone inside. He's pointed out plenty of logos that I haven't shown him: he recognises all the major airline logos because we went on a plane one day and he saw them all over the airport, he knows several different bank logos. But it's a start because he knows that the logo means something. We've moved on now to needing to know what all the road signs mean, but he recognised ONE WAY today on a sign he'd never seen before, so I was tickled pink.

If you are looking for a book on encouraging kids to read, I'd recommend Paul Jenning's Reading Magic over this book. Or pick up Hairy McLary From Donaldson's Dairy, Don't Forget the Bacon, Green Eggs and Ham and John Brown, Rose, and the Midnight Cat and get reading.

exhausted

2010-04-19T10:28:00.000+10:00

If you tell me how great it is that my son is so enthusiastic, and talkative, and full of excitement, and never stops, I will agree with you.

But please believe me when I say that it is exhausting.

That's all.

sunrise, sunset

2010-04-18T13:25:00.000+10:00

If there was a referendum held today on whether Queensland should have daylight saving, I would vote no. I'm not vehemently opposed to daylight saving, but I am in the 'rather not have it, thanks' camp. And, not I'm not concerned about my curtains fading, or the effort to change the clocks. I'd probably vote no to the idea of separate time zones in Queensland, and I would definitely not support the creation of a new state over the issue of daylight saving.

Here's my thoughts on the topic:

It's hot where I live. Especially in summer. When you see the maximum temperature on the weather report you can be fairly sure that it has been that maximum from 8:30am, and will probably still be that maximum at 8:30pm, well after the sun has gone down.
Schedules don't change because the clocks change. Well, maybe they do for some people, but they wouldn't for us. If there was daylight saving, school would still start at 8:45am and finish at 3pm, we would still eat dinner around 6pm so that Ralph could be in bed around 7pm. Home and Away is still on at 7pm, and The Biggest Loser/Masterchef/Australian Idol/So You Think You Can Dance/Channel 10s next big thing is still on at 7:30 (not that I watch any of those, but I wanted to demonstrate it's not just about me.) The supermarkets still open at 8am, the rest of the stores at 9, then they close up at 9pm and 5pm respectively. I'd love to know how many people would actually make use of the extra hour of daylight at the end of the day.
The sun is hot where I live. Over summer, we are on UV alert from about 8am, until just after 4pm. Shifting that from 9am to 5pm means it's just a bit trickier staying out of the sun in the afternoons.
Sunrise and sunset aren't that different in time between summer and winter. The isn't much daylight before we get up in summer; not enough to say we are wasting daylight hours by sleeping through them.
Having a separate state of North Queensland, or two time zones, will only delay the issue of daylight saving. Eventually, people will be saying we need to catch up with the rest of the country.
There is something insulting about the Centre of the Universe SE QLD needing to be on the same time zone as NSW and VIC, but not as the remainder of their own state.
WA, SA and NT all manage to be on different time zones to Sydney and Melbourne (who this is all about anyway). Maybe it would be fairer to have the whole country on a single time zone all year, rather than the way it is now. Not necessarily easy to implement (with similar issues, including my own, to daylight saving), but possibly fairer and logical.

See, my arguments are almost petty. Most likely, I've even contradicted myself. Like I said, I'm in the 'rather not' camp, not the 'daylight saving is the work of the devil' camp. I'd put up with it if I had to, but I suspect it would be more inconvenient than beneficial for me and my family. I can see why some people really want it. But I also think maybe they could learn to wake up earlier in the morning if doing things in the cool of the day is that important to them.

What about you? Are you itching to try out daylight saving, or hoping it never happens?

past essentials

2010-04-16T20:23:00.002+10:00

I know I've already shared with you my current five wardrobe essentials.

But, me being the over analytical type, I've been reflecting on how my clothing style has reflected my stage of life.

I'm not a slave to fashion. Or I am. I love this quote from The Devil Wears Prada

Miranda Priestly: This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

I love that quote because it is true. When I pick up a skirt in Target, it probably won't fit because it has been designed for the body shape that the fashion industry has declared 'ideal'. It will be a particular colour, style, fabric and length because the fashion industry chose that. When I want a cream shirt because white doesn't suit me, I will struggle to find one if white is the 'in' colour this season. When I walk through the local shopping centre, I will see the same two or three colour palettes in all of the clothing stores.

But I refuse to be a slave to fashion. I don't actively rebel against the current trends (unless it is an outfit that I would have dressed my Barbie in in 1986). I don't actively try and wear what is currently fashionable. I just wear what I want to wear. If everyone is wearing pencil skirts, I will wear a-line skirts. If everyone is wearing skirts to their mid thigh, I will wear knee length skirts. If everyone is wearing a-line skirts, I will wear a-line skirts. If everyone is wearing knee length skirts, I will wear knee length skirts. If all the skirts are hot pink, I'll go home and sew a black one. (That's if I've already got the fabric: Spotlight is not immune from the fashion industry.)

My five essentials have changed considerably as my life has changed. In high school, and the year or two after, I mainly wore t-shirts (increasingly smaller as the 90s wore on), denim shorts and skirts, and wrap skirts.

When I was at uni I was expressing my creativity through my clothes. I sewed a lot, and wore a lot of unusual accessories (such as tinsel or pink hair). My top five were:
1. Green doc martens and a pair of those leather sandals you find at hippy stores
2. A lot a black
3. t-shirts with pictures on them - mostly the Beatles, Star Wars, and Peanuts characters
4. Ankle length skirts
5. anything genuinely from the 60s/70s I could get my hands on. I've still got some great pieces in my wardrobe.

When I was teaching, I lived in a conservative town and taught in a conservative school, so had to tone everything down 50 shades. I remember one day walking down the main street wearing a red and white striped shirt and someone yelling from a passing car "There's Wally!" My top five then were:
1. a pair of comfortable shoes that I could stand up in all day
2. 3/4 sleeve button up shirts
3. simple calf length skirts
4. Bonds t-shirts (so comfortable, and great undershirts during winter)
5. My black wool and cashmere coat (it was cold in Gympie!)

Then we went to a mining town in remote Papua New Guinea where it rained a lot:
1. Rubber thongs
2. Umbrella
3. Clothes that wouldn't make me stand out like a sore thumb amongst the relatively poor Papua New Guineans when I went to the supermarket and the bank.
4. Something that wouldn't make me stand out like a sore thumb when I went out with the rich expats.
5. Umbrella

Just before we left Gympie I decided that I needed to shake off my uni student look. It was probably to do with being newly married and getting to my mid-20s. That's when I decided I actually wanted to wear heels and dresses and tops that were a little more interesting than what I'd been wearing. I bought my first proper pair of high heels when I was 25 and 8 months pregnant. I think most normal people are buying their last pair of heels when they are at that stage of life...

I'm curious. How has your style changed as your life has changed?

Meme: Five things in my wardrobe that I wouldn't be without.

2010-04-16T12:34:00.000+10:00

So, Robyn tagged me in a meme.

Five things I wouldn't be without... hmmm... I have far too many things in my wardrobe. What wouldn't I be without?

I know that I'm a young mum therefore I'm 'supposed' to wear shorts and t-shirts and comfortable shoes, but, hey, I'm Queen Stuss and I love to express myself through what I wear. And I don't look very good in shorts.

This is probably my current 'must-haves':

1. A-line skirts. I have hips. Very wide hips. (Though my husband assures me regularly they aren't as wide as I think they are.) I wear A-line skirts. Almost every day. I also sew most of them myself so they will fit. Surely I'm not the only woman in the world with decent child-bearing hips. Why doesn't anyone make clothing that fits us?

2. Flat comfy shoes for grocery shopping and going to the park and funky heels for other occasions. In more than one colour. If I didn't have wide feet and a limited budget I would have a room full of funky shoes.

3. Chunky necklaces and funky earrings. 80% of my wardrobe is black, brown or blue. Occasionally I mix it up a bit with a bit of purple or olive green, or maybe another colour if I'm feeling adventurous. But I dress everything up with necklaces and earrings in funky colours.

4. Something I don't have to iron for those days when I'm a bit behind in the ironing. At the moment it's a dress or two (which I had to sew myself - see item 1), and a-line skirt and a couple of plain t-shirts (in black, purple and brown - see item 3).

5. Sleeveless shirts. I live in the Land of Perpetual Summer. Need I say more?

I'm going to tag Mummy McTavish and Leah.

two years

2010-04-14T21:15:00.000+10:00

On this day two years ago, we began our sad and lonely journey into recurrent miscarriage and inherited chromosomal abnormalities, when our little girl was born at 18 weeks.

Sad, because we have said goodbye to three of our children in the last two years, as well as one before Ralph was born.

Lonely, because so few people know or understand about miscarriage.

I've learnt a lot about miscarriage in the last two years. About 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. I can't find a figure for how many women miscarry, just the number of pregnancies. 1% of women have recurrent miscarriages (3 or more, usually in a row, but not necessarily, depending on the doctor diagnosing). Half of couples with recurrent miscarriage find a reason, half don't. Fortunately, a lot of those problems are solvable: a thyroid problem, problems absorbing folate, clotting disorders, low progesterone. Some people, like us, have got a genetic luck-of-the-draw problem.

Two challenging things for us have been not knowing when we will have another baby, and watching other people have babies. A lot of babies. In our church alone, in the last 18 months, ten babies have been born. Adding in the other people I know who have had babies, or who are pregnant, the number is around 20. In recent months that has become the hardest thing. Hearing someone announce they are pregnant is hard. Being around pregnant women is hard. Going to baby showers is hard. Seeing newborn babies is hard. It has all become harder as the time has gone on. I've heard a few pregnancy announcements recently and my heart has sunk a little each time. Not just mine, but Rick's too. I'm not the only one who suffers.

But, this I know:

Saying goodbye to my babies is only temporary. Someday we will be reunited; they are waiting for me with Jesus.

There are other problems that we could have that would be much harder than what we are going through. It doesn't deny our pain, but I recognise that we haven't got the worst problem ever.

And God knows when we will have more children. He knows why we have miscarried so many times, and I'm not privy to that knowledge. God is God, and God is good.

fair

2010-04-08T16:30:00.000+10:00

I took advantage of the school holidays this morning and left Rick to do the kindy drop off and pick up, and I went to the craft expo.

This may have been a very good thing, or a very bad thing, depending on how you look at it.

I spent a lot of money this morning, buying something that has only been in my dreams for quite some time. I bought the Lutterloh System. It is basically a book of patterns, and you draft the pattern up using their instructions and your measurements, and they give you some advice how to adjust bits and pieces to fit things like 'unusual' waist to hip ratios. Theoretically, combining this with all my other patterns I have means I shouldn't ever need to buy another pattern for myself, unless I decide to by their seasonal supplements. I have 280 patterns in this book which I can even mix and match to create whole new patterns, which is something I tend to do already but it should work even better with this entire streamlined system. A bodice from here, a sleeve from there. I'm really hoping it turns out to be as great a purchase as I think it will be.

I was also, once again, inspired by fantastic quilts. But there is only so much craft one can do in a lifetime, so fantastic quilts are on hold for now. Though there is so much gorgeous quilting fabric available, especially the Japanese prints.

I've come home with a pile of business cards to remind me to look at websites, lots of ideas, new inspiration to get back into card making and scrapbooking, and a gorgeous cross stitch of musical instruments to think about maybe one day doing. Ha!

hindsight

2010-03-20T19:26:00.000+10:00

I think it's interesting, and occasionally amusing, reading technology predictions or social commentary suggesting how life will be in x years. Much like watching movies set in a future which is now in the past.

Sometimes they get it wrong.

This guy got it wrong in 1995, when he suggested that the Internet would be a passing fad. Really, who books flights or makes restaurant reservations or buys stuff online? He certainly didn't think anyone would be doing that in the future.

And this guy who, in 2004, didn't think that Apple would ever enter the world of telecommunications, but if they did he had a guess as to what the 'hiPod phone' would look like.

envy?

2010-03-18T09:44:00.000+10:00

I've been reading with amusement bits and pieces about the North Queensland Fury's financial woes. Well, not about their woes, per se. More about other's reactions to their woes.

This piece was in the local rag this morning. It seems the boss of the Cowboys isn't so keen on the Fury being helped out financially because there is too much sport going on in Townsville already and the whole sporting scene is going to collapse if it continues this way. Or something like that. (Personally, I'd like to see the whole NRL collapse, but that's another story.)

But much of what I've heard people say, including Mayor Les Tyrell, has an undertone of 'well the Cowboys are doing great on their own, the Fury just aren't going to make it if they can't do it themselves'.

What I find particularly amusing is two things:

1. We seem to have forgotten a time when the Cowboys were the joke of the league, and spent many years at the bottom of the ladder. It took a long time for them to be taken seriously. I get the impression that the Fury are only a joke to Townsville, not the rest of the country.
2. Two teams - the Fury and the Cowboys - who bear the name 'North Queensland' have suddenly become 'Townsville teams'. Maybe a key to a support issue is to extend further into North Queensland. I remember years back when two Cowboys home games were played in Cairns each season. Maybe someone who follows the Rugby League could tell me if that still happens. (My guess, from living in the no-parking-on-game-day zone surrounding the stadium, is that it isn't the case!) As far as I'm aware, the Fury didn't play any home games outside of Townsville this season. As far as the NRL and A-league go, I have no idea how they work on regional development. It's a big part of the AFL, with plenty of games in the pre-season cup and the regular season games being played in cities without a team in the league.

So, Cowboys supporters. Get over the fact that some people don't like rugby league, and indeed might even like Football. Even here in Townsville. The Fury probably need to be given the same chance as the Cowboys were given.

why i love the sunday mail

2010-03-15T15:36:00.000+10:00

Headline: Tears at bedtime key to happiness. (Sorry, can't find a link.)

Surprisingly enough, the story following didn't suggest that children grow up happier if their parents let them cry themselves to sleep, or even that parents are happier if they use the controlled crying method, like the headline did. Instead, the story was about a recent study showing no negative long term effects from controlled crying, but it also cut maternal depression rates by 40 percent.

Grrr. I read the Sunday Mail because my husband buys it, and I can't resist something in print. I have the same relationship with the Sunday Mail as I do with the Channel Ten news. Skim through it, laugh at the poor grammar, yell at the sensationalism, and get frustrated by the assumption that anyone who lives in Queensland thinks that Brisbane is the centre of the universe.

As an aside, on the topic of controlled crying, we started to try it with Ralph but I refused to continue after it took me half an hour to settle him after he'd been alone in his cot for a few minutes. We tried more than once, and it didn't work. I don't care how well it works for other people: it didn't work for us. I get frustrated reading things that suggest that controlled crying is the only way to teach your child to sleep and that it will work for everyone and solve all your problems. I'm not a bad parent because my son didn't learn to put himself to sleep, and stay asleep all night, until after his second birthday.
The other thing that frustrates me is when articles say that controlled crying is good but don't add any explanation as to what it is. Controlled crying isn't just leaving the baby in his cot to cry and coming back to get him in the morning. It involves a lot of coming and going to assure him that mum and dad will come back, even if he goes to sleep. It's just one method. It's not the only method, and certainly not a necessity, depending on your situation. That is all.

Stocked up

2010-03-13T19:18:00.001+10:00

I made chicken and corn soup tonight. It was Delicious.

It was extra delicious because I made my own stock. Fresh stock both tastes better than powdered stock, and makes me feel awesome. And smells better too. I want to eat fresh chicken stock. I want to wear a mask when I use powdered chicken stock.

I'd never considered making my own stock in the past, but had opportunity to once and realised it wasn't actually that difficult. The only problem is what to do with all that stock. I don't have the room in my freezer to keep it, and I often use small amounts of stock. Then I read/heard someone say that no-one should ever buy vegetable stock because it is so easy to make. Carrot, celery, an onion, a few herbs, salt maybe a couple of mushrooms and a leek. So, I've now vowed to keep stock powder on hand for when I need a small amount of stock, and make my own stock for whenever I need a larger amount, like for soup or risotto.

My stock tonight consisted of a litre and a half of water, four chicken legs with most of the meat removed (and kept aside for the soup), a stick of celery, a carrot, a bay leaf, a few peppercorns and some salt, all boiled together for 20 minutes.

Ordinarily, to make this soup I would have used two chicken breast, so instead I bought one breast and four legs. It worked out as about the same amount of meat for about the same price per kilo of meat. (Chicken legs are cheaper than chicken meat because of the bone content.) I prefer chicken breast over any other part of chicken, but the rest of my family isn't as fussy as me.

So, it worked out at the cost of a stick of celery and a carrot, plus the negligible cost of the other ingredients for my litre and a half of stock, plus the extra electricity. And I know exactly what went into my stock, and it was all real food, not things to imitate the taste of chicken stock for the cheapest price. Even 'real stock' that you buy is made of more things than I used to make my stock tonight.

I would say, for a similar price to powdered stock, and cheaper than bought liquid stock, I made my own fresh chicken stock with little effort and a gazillion benefits.

elephants

2010-03-11T12:20:00.000+10:00

I feel somewhat amused, after all the experts talking about the baby elephant dying in utero at Taronga Zoo and claiming that elephants have high intelligence because they all knew the elephant had died and passed the message on to all the other elephants in the zoo, that the elephant was born alive and is doing fine.

(Just to clarify, I'm amused by the experts and their quick back-pedalling, rather than the elephant.)

invented

2010-03-08T15:34:00.000+10:00

Here's Time's 30 dumb inventions.

Two points:

1. Dumb inventions aren't necessarily dumb if they lead to a genuinely useful invention, or if they are useful in their historical and social context.
2. The person who put this slideshow together must be bitter that their significant other won't let them watch TV on their mobile phone. A miniature TV is just stupid anyway. Who'd want one of those.

on judgment

2010-02-27T18:54:00.000+10:00

We had a moment of very poor judgment this morning, when we thought the rain was clearing so I hung out the washing. It started raining again about ten minutes later and has been drizzling all day.

I had a lack of judgment sometime over two years ago when glad wrap was on a good special so I brought two 45m rolls, with one unfinished still at home. Before the unfinished one became finished, I read (somewhere online) a comment someone made about taking over a year to use a roll of glad wrap. I thought that was crazy, so when I started a new roll I wrote the date on it: 31/10/08. We finished that roll this morning. That included covering a heap of slices for my Mum's 50th birthday party, and covering a heap of leftovers this Christmas. I don't use much glad wrap. I've now taken to writing dates on a lot of things so I can get an idea of how quickly we do actually use them.

The problem is that I am the eldest of seven kids, so I've learnt to shop and cook for a lot of people, not just a few. I left home seven years ago, but still am learning that two people don't actually eat three packets of spaghetti each month. (Well, not us, anyway). I don't need to buy bulk of much at all. And I need to cook much smaller amounts of food.

cliche

2010-02-12T13:41:00.000+10:00

I don't watch the news on TV. I read the headlines online, then read more if it's something I should know more about.

This video shown on Sociological Images today illustrates beautifully why I don't. News reports are all the same. Oh, if only I hadn't studied literature and then become English teacher I might be able to enjoy the world with deconstructing everything! Fortunately, other people like to deconstruct and make funny videos for my enjoyment.

And speaking of news, it finally occurred to me this week why Mark Suleau (sp.) on the Channel Ten news always makes me giggle. It's because he reminds me of Travelling Matt from Fraggle Rock.

Thanks, ABC

2010-02-11T09:07:00.000+10:00

I wrote a complaint to the ABC a month or two ago, because I thought there was too much children's programming on the three ABC channels. ABC3 had just been launched, and ABC1 and taken off the educational programmes over the school holidays and put on more cartoons aimed at small people. When the news headlines comes on, Ralph knows to turn the TV off. When it's more kids shows, well, some days there's a tantrum. Actually, there is a tantrum for the first week of any programming change. If he knows which shows are on and what he's allowed to watch, he'll turn it off at the end without argument. Okay, occasional pleading to just what's on next, but mostly no trouble. He watches Play School, then 1-3 shows afterwards, depending on current offerings.

I think our house is possibly in the minority, only having the TV on for short periods during the day, which is why I am bothered by the copious amounts of shows on TV for kids. For a few hours each morning, and a few each afternoon, there are shows for children on all three ABC channels.

Someone from the ABC finally addressed my complaint. I nearly fell off my chair at the response. I've never written to an organisation and actually had my complaint addressed. Most places (especially government organisations) just parrot off policy, even when I'm saying I have a problem with it.

The ABC does realise that there is a disproportionate amount of children's television showing at present. The issue is that children's shows are a key component of the ABC's programming, but only half of Australians currently have access to digital television. So they are presently in a transitional stage of moving kids shows to ABC2 and ABC3, but can't do it all yet because then a large number of people would be missing out. A fourth ABC channel, dedicated to news coverage, is starting up later this year. Once the analogue channels are switched off, there should be a large reduction in children's content on ABC1.

Thanks, ABC. I knew I loved you for a reason.

simple

2010-02-09T20:27:00.000+10:00

I want to live a simpler life.
I don't need to become a minimalist, though I admire minimalists.
I am trying to get rid of things I don't need, but I'm not trying to cut down everything I own to be able to fit in a suitcase, though maybe my own personal stuff down to 100 things.
I just want to cut everything back to what is important.
I've decluttered and decluttered some more. My stuff, at least. And there's plenty more to declutter. Now I need to declutter the things I do.

thoughts

2010-02-02T21:03:00.000+10:00

It is disgustingly hot at the moment. I'm sitting in the middle of the floor of the lounge room, directly under a fan. Hooray for a laptop!

There are certain things I've wanted to do for a long time. You have probably got your own list. I've wanted to be a teacher since I was six. I've wanted to be a musician since about the same time (shame about the whole practice thing!). I've wanted to be a writer since I was 12. I have remained fairly consistent in wanting to do those things my whole life, except for brief excursions into other interests: Prime Minister (until I found out politics are REALLY boring), a marine biologist (you have to actually SWIM in the OCEAN), an accountant, a nutritionist, a librarian (actually, I'm still interested in the librarian idea).

When I was about 19 I wrote a list of things I wanted to do in my life. I'd learnt that to get a job in the music industry you need to know people in the music industry, and I didn't know anyone in the music industry. So, what did I want to do? I was now in my third year of an Arts degree, focusing more on English subjects than Music subjects. My list looked something like this:

1. get married and have children
2. become a teacher
3. have a book published
4. have a song published

So, fast forward ten years, I've completed the first two. I still want to complete the second two.

I've started an array of novels, and come up with a few non-fiction ideas. I've written a handful of songs. But I need to get down and get dirty to create something that's worthy of sharing with the masses.

The problem is, I am the mother of an only child who needs an extraordinary amount of attention and can't do something on his own for more than ten minutes, literally. No, that's not quite true. Play School goes for half an hour, with only one interruption when he asks for food. I thoroughly enjoy what I do, but sometimes it is exhausting listening to a small boy talk almost non-stop all day, and sitting on the floor next to him while he plays (he calls it 'play with me, mummy'), finding new crafts and games for him to do. My time, like everyone else's, is limited and precious. I am trying to simplify my life, and that means choosing what is most important to me and focussing on that.

And something has to give.

Over the past few weeks I'd become quite excited about blogging. Here was a way I could be a writer. I was looking forward to sharing with you all more of my views, and more about the things I'm learning about running a household, saving money, and keeping a three-year-old entertained and helping him develop. I even did a bit of cosmetic work on my blog over the weekend.

Then yesterday, I had a thought. A crazy thought. If I don't spend time writing a book, I'll never write a book.

But then, my thoughts went deeper. If I don't actually spend time at the piano writing songs, I'll never write any songs. If I continue my slack piano practice habits, I'll only get worse at the piano. If I don't keep up my music skills, I might forget them.

I remember one of my university lecturers saying once, 'if you want to be a composer you have to write music. You have to write some music and orchestrate it every day, even just a few phrases.'

I don't have time every day to practice everything I want to do. So I thought about what I really want to do. Do I really want to be a blogger at the expense of writing a book? Could I give up my dream of writing a book about church music history? Do I want to be a blogger at the expense of my musicianship? The answer to all of those questions was a resounding NO.

So presented myself with three options:

1. I forget about writing my book, and focus on becoming a blogger.
2. I delete my whole Google account: blogger, reader, picasa, the works. Then I focus on my book.
3. I hang on to my blog, and just use it when I want to write something that I want to share. I focus on my book. I can come back to blogging a bit down the track when I'm further along in my book project.

Straight away, I decided option one probably wouldn't work for me. I am not willing to give up on my book.

Which leaves two options.

A big part of my time problem is that I spend too much time online. Almost all of Ralph's TV watching time I spend online, plus a bit more, plus a lot of Sunday afternoon, a good chunk of Saturday, and some nights during the week. The Internet is incredibly addicted.

So tonight I've culled my subscriptions in Google Reader by over half. There are still a few that need to prove themselves worth reading.

Next I need to set myself limits on when I can check my email, check facebook, read blogs, and write my blog.

Then I need to use my daily writing time to research/write. I need to stop procrastinating, organise a library card for the uni library, borrow books and start work! I can write. I know I can write stuff that people want to read. I just need to believe in myself and write. And play the piano, and sew, and garden, and do all those IRL things that I want to do.

I'm sorry that this has ended up as a poorly written, rambling post, but I need to be honest with myself. I need to lose my online life and find my real life again.

Wish me luck.

Just so you know...

2010-01-28T11:07:00.003+10:00

'teacher-bashing' makes me quite upset.

Why is it that teachers are subject to so much public criticism, compared to those in most other professions?

Please don't tell me that teachers get paid too much, get too many holidays, and aren't doing a good enough job with our children's education until you have either been a teacher, or have lived with a teacher, or have at least had children at school for a few years.

Really, teachers are neither homogenous nor perfect. But they do an important job and deserve more respect than some are willing to give them.

I'm sure none of my readers are guilty, but I just needed to vent anyway.

patience

2010-01-27T13:26:00.004+10:00

Gardening involves a lot of patience. Somethings, like the nutgrass in my garden beds, grow very quickly. Too quickly!

Other things take time

A few weeks to get a capsicum this size,

And then longer for it to turn bright red.

I'm sure it took a year from a blossom to a bright yellow lemon.

Six months from this

to this

A year and a half for these flowers:

And evidently I need patience for a cup of coffee, when this bean has looked like this for over two months. At least there are a lot on the tree.

anthem

2010-01-26T18:31:00.003+10:00

Three questions always arise around Australia Day:

1. Should we change the date we celebrate Australia Day?

2. Should we change our flag?

3. Should we change our national anthem?

My answers to those questions are:

1. Yes, to something completely neutral. Preferably in term three.

2. Probably not.

3. Absolutely not if Waltzing Matilda and I Am Australian are our options!

If Australia was to adopt either of those as anthems I will be very glad that I never watch the Olympics because I would feel rather embarrassed that all the other countries have grand tunes for their anthems, and we have a campfire singalong.

But seriously, I am a bit perplexed as to why these are good options. I suspect it comes down to sentiment.

Waltzing Matilda is a song about a possibly homeless man who steals a sheep, then commits suicide rather than face the law. He wants to know who will come a-waltzing Matilda, leading a water-bag. A-waltzing Matilda? Leading a water-bag? Is it his wife who likes to dance with a hot water bottle, maybe? And people think 'our home is girt by sea' is hard to understand!

I think people love Waltzing Matilda because it represents an era of Australian history - a colonial era that is often viewed through a lense of nostalgia - filled with exciting stories of gold rushes and bushrangers and swagmen and Click Go The Shears. It's miles from the cosmopolitan Australia we live in today. It's an important part of our heritage, but a song from this era can't represent Australia as a modern nation.

I Am Australian is a modern song, but does that make it a worthy song for an anthem? I don't think it is. For a start, it has five verses and a chorus. Our current anthem has two, officially. The original song had more verses, but when it was adopted as the official anthem in 1984, the two most appropriate verses were chosen and modified slightly to best represent the nation. Usually, only the first of those verses is sung. Few people even know the words to the first verse, let alone the second verse. To choose the most important verses from I Am Australian someone's history needs to be ignored. Maybe that wouldn't be too hard, though, because non-convict immigrants aren't ever mentioned in the song, and there are a lot of those people in Australia. (I, for one, have no convict heritage, and am confident that I'm not in a notable minority. The number of convicts who were brought to Australia is surprisingly small, considering the emphasis put on our convict past.)

Again, I think people love this song because it feels good - it is nostalgic and sentimental, and includes Indigenous Australians to boot. It gives a glowing review of Australia's history, without really saying much about Australia as a nation.

I personally don't feel represented by the song, which is obviously not a valid reason to not have it as an anthem, but I do believe it doesn't actually represent all Australians like many people believe it does.

I say, let's stick with what we've got, at least until someone comes up with a sensible alternative. In my opinion, it represents what Australia is and what we aspire to be. I love Australia, I am a proud Australian, and want to see Australia become renowned throughout the lands (for the good things.)

Our anthem makes me proud when I hear it. It almost makes me watch the Olympics, just for the medal ceremonies.

Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea:
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page let every stage
Advance Australia fair,
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands,
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share,
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia fair.

observations from the junk mail

2010-01-24T15:42:00.003+10:00

KFC and Wendy's are both offering 'back to school' specials. Could someone explain that to me? It's similar to the 'back to work' specials that are in the catalogues at the moment. One word: bandwagon.

The other bandwagon that the major retailers have jumped on is Australia Day. Having taken a leaf from the two dollar store's book, you can buy almost every product emblazoned with the Australian flag. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Australia and am proud to be Australian (despite not watching cricket). I have worn my fair share of Australia Flag gear - initially as a protest to the post 9-11 rash of US flags on clothing in our stores.

A hat, a short, boardies, thongs and even a stubby holder seem a subtle enough statement. I see it a little like wearing supporters gear for your football team. The umbrella, underwear, Dunlop Volleys, wine glasses, sun shelter tent, and neck rest all featured in one retailers catalogue all seem to me a bit Pauline Hanson and Cronulla riots to me. One ladies' shirt I noticed in a store recently was printed with 'Australian Born and Bred'. I wonder if it's okay to wear that shirt if you are Australian-born of Vietnamese or Lebanese ethnicity? Non-caucasians are never used as models in the Australia Day merchandise pages. (Actually, the models in the catalogues in general are non-caucasian.)

Do you think I'm reading into it too much?

On the topic of Australia Day merchandise, there is a baby romper suit for sale at a major retailer that says '90% Australian, 10% perfect' on the front. Please explain?

profit

2010-01-21T20:17:00.002+10:00

I made another $30 on ebay this month, after fees and adjustments for postage. Is the time I put into listing and posting the items worth $30? Possibly not. But it's $30 I didn't have before, 14 items no longer cluttering my house, and I kind of enjoy doing it.

Why I stopped listening to Christian Music

2010-01-21T11:08:00.001+10:00

I’ll warn you right now that this is a long post, that I’ve been wanting to write for a while. This is my experience, not necessarily what I think everyone should think.

Firstly, you must understand that when I was in my late teens I was obsessed with Christian music. I couldn’t see how it could be possible to be a Christian and listen to anything else. Christian music took up hours of my time - listening to music, hunting down information on the Internet, reading magazines. I wanted to know every detail I could about the bands, the producers, the labels, the songs, the session musicians. It also took a lot of my money, buying CDs, magazines, videos: so much of which I don’t even have anymore.

But that has all changed. Here’s a few reasons why, not necessarily in order:

When I was about 18, I found Billy Joel and Beatles records in my parents’ record collections, and really liked them. A friend had also told me I should watch Recovery, where I saw and liked The Living End and The Whitlams. I increasingly struggled to reconcile liking non-Christian bands with only listening to Christian music.
I realised that I was judging other Christians for not listening to predominantly Christian music.
I learnt that ‘to worship’ didn’t exclusively mean ‘singing to God’. Worship is about devoting every aspect of your life to God, pursuing godliness. Romans 12:1 was a key text for me. Funnily enough, a pivotal book in my thinking was I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Josh Harris. The underlying message of his book was that we are to serve God in all we do, not just at Church. Around the turn of the decade, I think, there was a trend (that may will be continuing: I have no idea) for bands to put out a ‘worship album’. I couldn’t see how these worship albums were any different to any album the bands had previously put out - if they were all to the glory of God, they were all worshipful, weren’t they? Why couldn’t people who wanted to entertain through music do so on a ‘secular’ platform? Music is music: it is the lyrics that make it godly or ungodly.
As my music taste became more defined, I found less Christian music suited my taste. It didn’t help that it all sounded so American, and I was developing a palate for Australian music.
I was getting bored with the lyrics of songs. Really bored. The vast majority of what I was hearing was simplistic and unoriginal. Some of it was bad theology.
I was studying to be a music teacher. I was struggling to honestly answer the question ‘what music do you listen to?’ without halting the conversation with names of bands no-one had heard of.
I’d been to a couple of music events in Brisbane, and just about every gig in Townsville. I LOVED live music. I still do, but don’t get to much these days. In January 2001 I travelled down to Brisbane to got to the first Sonfest with my sister and her friend. A few other Townsville people were there too, plus a few friends from Brisbane. What an awesome three days! It was fantastic. Three full days of live music, camped in the school grounds of Boonah High with a hundreds other Christians.

But it opened my eyes a lot more to the pedestal people put these bands on. I couldn’t get over the queues to get autographs and photos with bands. My sister and her friend wanted a photo with one band, so I took it for them and captioned it ‘Tree 63 get a photo with D & N’.

The day’s music started in the morning, and the programme had local bands all day, with three (mostly international) big names each night. The mainstage area was fenced, and gated whenever bands weren’t playing, including in the late afternoon when nothing was on (I guess the organisers wanted to make sure people took time out to do important things, like eat). I laughed, and took a photo, on the first day when a massive crowd had gathered outside the gate to watch Audio Adrenaline do a sound check. Are they that important, really? Can’t you just wait an hour?

And then when the headline acts came on, and the lead singer would make a real thought provoking introduction to a song, maybe something that brought attention to the gospel, the crowd would work out what song it was and start to cheer the song - despite the inappropriateness of the cheer to the words being spoken. Are you not listening?

I went home thinking: am I no different to everyone else at that festival?

I did go to the Sonfest the next year, despite having quit the Christian music scene by that time, because it was a lot of fun and there were a few bands I was keen to see play. A much bigger group of us went that year.

I went to a third Sonfest just for a day, because it was only a couple of weeks after I’d moved to Gympie, so it was an opportunity to catch up with a few friends. I would have gone the following year too, to see Jars of Clay play, but we couldn’t get there realistically. I don’t think Sonfest still happens as the three day camping extravaganza anymore.

So one day, about a month before I turned 21, I switched the radio in my car from Live FM to Triple J. I still listen to some Christian music, but it is all music released before 2001, or later releases by bands that I still wanted to listen to. I’m gradually weeding out CDs from my CD collection too, especially when I play it and feel embarrassed by the cheesiness of the lyrics!

I do think I lost friends, contacts and opportunities as a musician. I burnt bridges as a music student listening only to Christian music, then burnt more bridges as I rejected Christian music and a shallow understanding of the Bible.

I can certainly see a place Christian music - music that overtly glorifies God and edifies his people. I don’t think the ghetto of CCM is that place. I do see a place for Christians in the music industry. Escaping the ‘sex, drugs and rock n roll’ culture shouldn’t mean cutting ourselves off from the world.

desk

2010-01-20T21:45:00.002+10:00

Because Amy tagged me in the desk meme that is currently doing the rounds, here is a close up of my tidy desk.
I'm really enjoying working at a tidy desk. I've been doing some planning to be more deliberate in my blogging, more deliberate in my parenting, and more deliberate in becoming a writer, so I really am working at my desk. It's great incentive to keep it tidy. I've slotted in an hour after lunch on weekdays, and one evening a week, just for writing. Those times are flexible, because I am primarily a wife and mother, but they are times, which is better than what I've had in the past.

I've gone for a more minimalist approach to my desk. I'm attempting to keep the bare essentials on my desk.

The tower of drawers has storage - one drawer is for nikko pens and little round sticker dots that need to remain hidden, one drawer is cables and chargers and things, one drawer is batteries so that I can explain very easily where batteries are when my husband needs one. Or two. When do you ever need one battery?
The magazine rack contains my planning books. I love to plan.
There are two Bibles on my desk. They look nice. One of them was a high school graduation gift.
I now have a single notepad on my desk. Do not take it off my desk.
Some thingos with basic stationery stuff. Things that Ralph is allowed access to. The highlighters may need to move yet.
The basket is actually my in tray. It needs to prove its usefulness.
The corded phone is for emergencies. Like if the phone rings in the lounge room and I'm in the office. Or if the power is out and I need to use the phone. Or no-one has returned the cordless phones to the chargers.
MacBook Pro. Do I need to say more?

Vast Improvement

2010-01-19T19:13:00.003+10:00

My study looks a lot better.

Now I need to work on maintaining it.

And work out what to do with all this, preferably before breakfast tomorrow.

Mess

2010-01-19T13:41:00.003+10:00

I'm not a tidy person. I'm a distractable hoarder. I have too much stuff and forget to put things away when I'm finished.

I've been working very hard over the last year or two to improve the state of my house, but I've got one room that I just can't get on top of. My study.

Okay, the third bedroom (my sewing room), and the garage are general storage areas for clutter I haven't got rid of yet, but they are at least generally tidy. My study is always messy. Probably because it tends to be a dumping ground for things that I don't know what to do with.

Despite an apparent temperaure of around thirty-six degrees, today I've pulled everything out of the room and I'm only putting back what belongs. My goal is to have a workspace for now, even though we don't need one now that we both have laptops and we have a very big dining table. When we need the third bedroom for another person, this room will probably become a sewing room.

The room has major limitations. It's too small to be anything other than an study (or a sewing space), but probably too big to be either, especially since it is an odd shape. A nook would have been better, and it would have made a more open living area. It has a window, but just outside the window is the only place to keep the wheelie bins. So we keep the window and blind closed all the time. We put a ceiling fan in recently, so it is at least bearable now. Before it was always hot, so we had to have a pedestal fan.

I mentioned I'm a hoarder. To add to that, I am a stationery addict. I used to be a music, English and SOSE teacher. My husband is a primary school teacher.

In the study today when I was cleaning out I found:

no less than ten each of the following: erasers, post-it notes (as in, whole notebooks), white-out pens, rulers, rolls of sticky tape, pencil sharpeners
six staplers and in excess of 10000 staples (three staplers didn't work, so I threw them away)
a large collection of bulldog clips
more glue sticks than I thought I had
quite a few pairs of scissors and rulers
two tuning forks (and I'm quite certain there are more around the house)
in excess of 25 64-page notebooks
a large pile of CDs, possibly blank, possibly with data on them.

This list doesn't include the box of empty folders, and the 100-odd manilla folders from the last time I tidied in there.

A lot of the contents of the room are still on the dining table and I have to work out yet what goes back in, and then work out how to stop putting stuff in there that doesn't belong.

automated

2010-01-19T08:47:00.002+10:00

I think I would like a system in my house by which when I walked into a room the fan turns on, and when I walk out the fan turns off. I can manage to turn lights off as I leave a room, but forget about fans.

green dishes

2010-01-19T08:00:00.002+10:00

I can't work out whether it is better for the environment to put my dishes in the dishwasher, or to wash them by hand.

When I read articles about 'going green', or lists of things 'you can do to help', some say dishwasher, others say wash by hand.

By my rough calculations, taking into account the water use of my dishwasher, compared to the volume of my sink and the number of times I need to fill it to wash the same number of dishes, my dishwasher probably just comes out in front.

I haven't worked out the electricity use - dishwasher that heats its own water compared to twenty litres of hot water. The sink would more likely win.

The time the dishwasher saves me in my hot kitchen? The dishwasher wins hands down. Now I have more time to hang my clothes on the line and compost my kitchen waste.

I'm going to keep using my dishwasher. It's modern and efficient. A twenty year old dishwasher might be more of a contrast.

roundabout

2010-01-18T15:39:00.002+10:00

When I got rid of my old desktop computer, I wanted to be responsible because I'm aware that you aren't supposed to dump electronic goods, because of the heavy metal content.

So I went to Recycling Near You, and they provided me with a number of Brisbane businesses where I could take my computer, probably for a fee.

So then I rang a local computer recycling company. Unfortunately, they didn't take computers from individuals, only businesses. He recommended selling it to Cash Converters, giving it to Salvos, or taking it to the Stuart Dump.

Before I went all the way over to the Stuart Dump, I thought I'd ring the Council and just make sure that I could do that, or if I could take it to the dump which is closer to my house.

The lady at the Council's waste department (or at least the lady who answered the phone) said that they don't have any facilities for e-waste: I should ring Visy Recycling.

I rang Visy. They told me that the local depot didn't take e-waste, I should ring my local Council.

So, instead, I put it on Facebook, and my brother came and took it off my hands to help a mate build a new computer. (I'll choose not to ask what happened to any remaining parts.)

why....

2010-01-18T14:39:00.002+10:00

I'm glad I live on my side of town and rarely need to venture into the CBD:

1. There are intersections that don't make sense. For example, the intersection at Walker and Stokes streets, where there are stop signs, but the traffic isn't visible from either direction.

2. Parking isn't easy. Not in my car that takes up a full parking space with little room for error, anyway.

3. The pavers in the mall are in such bad shape that I'm always worried about tripping over.

4. I can't work out how to cross the road properly from the centre parking. I think I technically jaywalk every time I park there because I'm too close to a crossing, but it's safer to just cross. Especially with a three year old.

I rarely need to venture into the CBD because there is rarely anything to venture in there for. Except for coffee, and fortunately I can do that at 8am and get a park just outside.

bags

2010-01-14T15:29:00.003+10:00

If you were wondering, Ralph's Kindy bag is made from the same pattern as my handbag (Simplicity 2380). It probably took 45 minutes to make, as an estimation, plus an emergency trip to the closest sewing store for a zip. Neither bag is exactly the same as the pattern.

I never buy zips, thread, buttons, elastic or trims until I've checked at home first to see if I've already got them in my box. I often buy those things marked down, and then I have them available when I need them. I also don't like to buy any notions, just in case I change my mind with what I'm sewing, because I can't guarantee fabric that I buy will become anything in the few days after I've bought it (or even a few months after). The problem is that I rarely have everything I need to sew. Unless it only needs black, white, red, cream, navy or brown thread and nothing else. I always have those colours on hand.

The fabric for Ralph's bag came from Grandma, who found it on the clearance rack at Spotlight. It's actually backed curtain fabric, so it's strong and somewhat waterproof. And probably won't let the sun in either.

And just to show off my very funky handbag...

It's a perfect size, and was so easy to sew, but next time I'll make wider handles.

ponies

2010-01-11T19:08:00.004+10:00

Did you play with My Little Pony when you were small?

Go check out this fantastic customisations of ponies.

I love the He-Man one - it's an 1980s girls and boys toy amalgamation.

context

2010-01-08T19:27:00.003+10:00

Okay, so I don't watch much television over summer because I don't really get into cricket. And there isn't a whole lot else on, except for tennis, and I don't really get into that either.

So I had completely missed the KFC ad that has got the rest of the world (read: America) in a furore, yet again, about how Australians are the most racist people on the planet.

When it came up in my Reader today from Sociological Images, a website who specialises in the Postmodern sport of discourse-bashing, I was not impressed. I mean, if your website is contexts.org, you should be able to read a text in context, shouldn't you?

This was their assessment of the ad:

So, first of all, feeling awkward because you’re the only person with your particular racial make up in a group is called white privilege. Most racial minorities find themselves the only or one of the only members of their group all of the time. Calling the situation “awkward” just suggests that white people are, or should be, uncomfortable around black people.

But, second, is it racist that the guy soothes the situation by sharing fried chicken? In the U.S., the idea that black people eat a lot of fried chicken is a stereotype (applied recently to Obama). But this is an Australian commercial and KFC is saying that there is no such association in Australia.

I had no idea about that stereotype. Funnily enough, a lot of commenters didn't know either. An equal number of commenters expected that everyone in the world should know about that stereotype. What the? I'm sure Americans are all experts in Australian culture the same way they expect us to be experts in their culture.

The author went on to say:

A Guardian article quotes a professor arguing that the U.S. has “…a tendency to think that their history is more important than that of other countries.”

Ouch. Does it hurt because it’s true?

I couldn't resist commenting on this one:

O.M.G. How arrogant! You think you can pull something completely out of context and apply your own judgements on it based on your own context? I was taught to always consider the context when reading any text.

To me, whether the stereotypes in this ad are good or bad are irrelevant at this point. What has annoyed me is that the writer of this post, amongst others, have not taken into consideration that

a) it’s about Cricket. Maybe you haven’t heard of that game – we play/worship it in Australia. Enough other people have said that it is quite obvious that this guy is at the cricket, surrounded by supporters of the other team. It could have been the Barmy Army. Or hang on, no it couldn’t have be. That wouldn’t make sense, considering my next point.

b) Australia has just played a test against the Windies. A team which (as a generalisation) Australians are favourable towards. It would be a whole different kettle of fish if it were supporters of the Indian cricket time, especially because of the recent events in Australia.

c) KFC is a major sponsor of the Australian cricket team.

d) this is part of a whole series of ads (that we’ve been putting up with for weeks) of awkward situations which can be resolved by offering people (even white people!) KFC.

e) Australia has their own sad history of poor racial relations and policies.

f) Australia is not America. Australia is Australia. We have our own culture and history. It’s not the same as yours. It’s just as valid as yours.

Fortunately enough, I have a husband who knows enough about cricket that I too, can sound like I know something about cricket. I do actually know who the Barmy Army and the Windies are, even if I've never ever watched a game of test cricket. I do however, know a little about being Australian, about the existence of cultural differences, and about reading texts in context.

The title of the post was 'Are They Racist or Are We Ethnocentric?' I sure hope the author got an answer to that one.

10 things

2010-01-08T19:18:00.002+10:00

... I'd like to achieve in 2010

1. be able to jog for 10 minutes without stopping.
2. demonstrate some diligence and actually do some work on my book
3. spend less
4. grow more food
5. listen to more music
6. play the piano more, and maybe even write a bit of music again
7. there's a new blog project in the pipeline, it just needs a name
8. read my Bible more diligently
9. open an Etsy store
10. have another baby. One that I can cuddle.

Actually, scrap that. Can I just have number ten?

value

2010-01-07T15:10:00.002+10:00

I bought three $2 bags of clearance stock at Spotlight this morning and came home with around $150 worth of Christmas products.

One packet of polystyrene shapes will go in the cupboard to decorate as pre-Christmas crafts next Christmas. The other four or five packets will go to school for Christmas craft. I just have to remember they are then, so that when King Rick comes home in the week before school finishes and tells me he needs a Christmas craft, I can remind him he has one!

The two Christmas stockings will go in the cupboard with my gift wrap.

The 26 gold baubles, and other random tree decorations will go in the box with the other tree decorations.

The two scrapbooking embellishments will go in my scrapbooking box.

Then there's just a bag full of weird silver, white and gold holly things that, well, I put in the cupboard to think about come Christmas.

3 reasons my husband maybe shouldn't choose movies

2010-01-06T13:44:00.002+10:00

Catch and Release

(in which a widow falls in love with her late fiance's creepy best friend)

Into the Wild

(in which a young man thinks that relationships just get in the way of happiness, and goes off alone in the Alaskan wilderness, only to learn he was wrong)

Inkheart

(some guy whose wife is stuck in a book and he has to get her out? I'm not sure, it was so slow moving that I lost the plot)

salt and water

2010-01-03T14:21:00.002+10:00

I read too much.

I try very hard not to believe everything I read, to take it all with a grain of salt. Sometimes, I'm not so good and forget to go and hunt out an opposing view. King Rick likes to remind me, regularly, that any view sounds good when it's the only one you've heard.

I read a lot about conspiracy theories - not the ones about how Princess Diana really died, but the ones about constructs of our understanding of the world from our consumption of media, advertising and Government initiatives, and about how those things are linked.

Sometimes its hard to read between the lines of the politics behind Climate Change, and sometimes I'm not sure whether to believe or not believe the proponets of an all-natural lifestyle without any toxins or chemicals.

This website, was a good reminder for me to take everything I read with a grain of salt, consider the motives behind what the author is presenting, and look at the other side of the story and find reality. Okay, it was more than a good reminder. It had me laughing very loudly.

Anything can be made to look fantastic, or lethal, depending on the words and images used.

And on the topic of reading with caution and of deconstruction, I don't agree with everything they say, but I've been enjoying this blog of late.

age

2010-01-02T13:16:00.002+10:00

I don't really belong to any generation.

Usually, Generation X is described as finishing in 1979, and Generation Y is usually described as starting in 1981. 1980 gets tossed back and forward between one generation and the other.

This week, I'm feeling on the old side. I realised that the Cabinet documents released next year will be in my lifetime. Not only that, but this decade has come to an end and I remember the beginning of it clearly. Not just a vague memory. An I-was-an-adult-and-remember-clearly-what-I-was-doing-at-the-start-of-this-decade sort of memory. I was at uni at the beginning of this decade.

Then, someone described me as being in my early-thirties. Which was okay, given who said it. Until today when it occurred to me that I'm turning thirty THIS YEAR.

And to top it all off, Nathan posted this today and there is a whole lot that makes no sense to me.

love

2009-12-23T21:19:00.002+10:00

Because I love my husband, I've just spent two hours driving around looking at Christmas lights.

2009-12-18T13:33:00.002+10:00

Another piece of confetti just fell out of a file while I was cleaning our my filing cabinet.

find

2009-12-17T19:12:00.002+10:00

After we got married, five and a half years ago, some 'friends' 'decorated' our house for us. The decorations involved a lot of toilet paper, a lot of sticky string, and a lot of confetti. A lot of confetti. They left no room unturned - there were things literally turned over and moved and rearranged. I was finding my spice jars in various places across the house for three days. There were avocados under our mattress.

Fast forward five and a half years. In this time we have moved house. Twice. Yet, we are still finding bits of confetti inside things. Inside books, inside drawers, inside boxes.

Today, I pulled out a box of envelopes, and out fell a pile of confetti. Five and half years later.

Though, that does probably suggest I don't use those envelopes very often.

supplied again

2009-12-15T15:19:00.001+10:00

Suncorp must read my blog. My calendar arrived today to go with the stickers.

supplied

2009-12-11T13:25:00.002+10:00

Today I got a letter from Suncorp:

We recently sent you a Suncorp Insurance 2010 'Must-have' Queensland calendar to thank you for being a Suncorp customer. Unfortunately our supplier omitted to include the stickers for you to mark important dates in your year. Please accept our apologies, these are now enclosed.

I'm tempted to write a letter back to them:

You recently sent me stickers to mark important dates on my Suncorp Insurance 2010 'Must-Have' Queensland calendar. Unfortunately, your supplier omitted to include the calendar on which to mark important dates.

Review: Australia

2009-12-05T15:28:00.002+10:00

We watched Australia on DVD last weekend.

It was the most boring movie I've ever seen. I didn't like the characters. They were like cardboard cutouts. The backdrops of too many scenes looked painted. The score sounded too much like Aaron Copland, or maybe a John Wayne movie, to feel like it was set in Australia.

We didn't finish watching it, so I can't review it in any further detail.

time

2009-12-04T17:17:00.000+10:00

Yesterday marked 4 years since we lost our first baby. I remember the day in great detail, and certainly haven't forgotten that baby. I remember having taken comfort in the fact that it was probably a one off and I would never have to go through it again. I hope sincerely that none of you, dear readers, ever have to experience a miscarriage. I hope that I've taken the statistical bullet for you all. (The general risk of miscarriage is one in five pregnancies, but my own personal experience has been in reverse.)

On a happier note, today is six years since King Rick proposed to me, at Sunshine Beach, the day school finished for the year. I do remember that day in great detail. I was caught off guard. After expecting for a couple of months that it was going to happen, I should have anticipated it would be that night because he had the whole night planned. He never plans anything.

Today also marks 21 years since my brother was born. I don't remember a whole lot about that, except that we had McDonalds for dinner one night while Mum was still in the hospital. McDonalds hadn't been open in Townsville for very long.

normal

2009-11-27T19:55:00.003+10:00

I love to sew. And I hate to sew. Sewing is a bit of a love hate relationship. Actually, it's not sewing. I love creating new things. It's patterns, and getting them to fit.

My body is not the same shape as Simplicity's standard. Nope, I'm not the same size top to bottom. I have size 8-10 shoulders, 10-12 bust, 12-14 waist and 14-16 hips. Which is why I originally took up sewing when I was about 18. I figured that if I couldn't buy skirts that fit, I should try sewing skirts. I keep telling myself that if I just lose a few kilos, then I wouldn't have any trouble buying clothes to fit, because pre-made clothing comes in a single size - you can't buy a top that is size 10 in one part and 12 in another. Theoretically, by sewing clothes, I can adjust them in the right places. Except it's not that straightforward. And only mildly less frustrating than trying on twelve outfits to find that none fit.

If only I could be normal. If only my proportions could be the same as Simplicity's, or the same as Target's. Then I would have no trouble buying clothes that fit well.

Or maybe I am normal.

review: Choosing Eden

2009-11-26T15:11:00.004+10:00

I picked up Choosing Eden, by Adrienne Langman, at the library recently when I saw it on a display on our way to the borrowing counter. I didn't get a chance to read the blurb, but was interested based on the single sentence summary I'd read in a gardening catalogue recently.

As it turned out, Choosing Eden wasn't just about a couple who had given up a luxurious city life to become self-sufficient. It was about a loony middle-aged couple who got into their heads that society is on the brink of collapse due to Peak Oil and they want to make sure that they and their family can still maintain their current standard of living.

I picked up the book because I'm interested in self-sufficiency. I don't want to be totally self-sufficient, but I would love to grow more of our own food. Home grown food tastes good, and I love the sense of accomplishment in having 'made' something myself. I also don't want to be totally self-sufficient because there are a whole heap of things that other people can do better than me. To be perfectly honest, I don't want to spend my time making my own flour. And I live too close to sea-level to grow decent coffee.

Sadly, the book wasn't really much about self-sufficiency at all. They didn't even get out to their farm until half way through the book. Really, it was about self-righteousness. Adrienne and Larry had become convinced that there will be a worldwide catastrophe when oil runs out, and only a fool wouldn't believe it. They had done the right thing, and they will be safe because they had left the convenience of the city to live in the 'country'. 'Country' being 15 minutes out of Coffs Harbour.

While I'm more than willing to accept that oil will eventually run out, I'm not so willing to accept that within thirty years we will be living in medieval conditions. I might talk more about that later. But, now, I wanted to point out a few what I perceive to be faults with Adrienne's plan.

For a start, while I appreciate her sentiment in wanting to look after her family in a crisis, I suspect that if she can't drive her car because there is no petrol, living on a farm might become quite isolating. I'm not convinced heading rural is necessarily the best option, but I don't know the area that well.

Secondly, there was no mention at all of less consumption. I think that's the key to the peak oil problem - and indeed the cause - that we in the West use too much. Everything made of plastic is made from oil. I could probably point out 50 things on my desk alone that contain plastic. Actually, the fact that I could point out 50 things on my desk is half the problem. We have so much stuff, we use so much stuff, we throw away so much stuff. If we use less we can use it for longer. When Adrienne and Larry moved out to the farm, they bought all new furniture for the spare bedrooms. Maybe they didn't have enough in the first place, but it wasn't the only time she had mentioned getting something new.

Thirdly, she made assumptions about people's capabilities that I don't believe are true. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't realise that eggs came from chickens. She was naive about where things come from, and thinks everyone else is too. I know I'm not the only person in Australia who knows how to make jam, sew a dress, and grows tomatoes in my backyard. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't eat out several nights a week, and doesn't get the rest of my food from a packet.

Do read a little about Peak Oil, but don't get scared and run for the hills. Do learn to grow some food. It tastes good. Really good. But don't read this book. It's not really about either peak oil or growing food. Just about one woman blowing her own trumpet.

I'll post some useful links later.

green start

2009-11-23T10:05:00.002+10:00

When I was about 8 or 9, I saw a display that the National Parks and Wildlife Service put on about whales. I was quite fascinated by all the little models different species of whales and thought that they were the most amazing and beautiful animals I'd ever seen, or well, not seen. I was also quite horrified to learn about the practise of whaling and that many species of whales were endangered. I continued to be quite fascinated by whales and did numerous school projects on whales, and was quite passionately opposed to whaling.

Then, when I was in grade seven, we learnt about the Greenhouse Effect, the hole in the ozone layer, CFCs, renewable and non-renewable resources. We learnt to reduce, reuse and recycle. (Obviously that unit impacted me an awful lot more than the next term's unit on Australian politics, because I've always been interested in environmental issues than politics.) My favourite song at the time was Saltwater by Julian Lennon.

Since I was a child, I've understood that if there is only a finite amount of a resource - be it whales, or coal, or oil, or clean water, or wood if forests aren't replenished quickly enough - then if we use it all there will be none left. It's not that difficult. I mean, if you buy a bottle of milk and use it all to make milkshakes, you won't have any for breakfast, will you?

I don't like to see things go to waste, and I feel strongly about sustainability, to use a current buzz word.

I'm not quite so passionately opposed to whaling anymore, and I've still never seen a whale in the flesh - other than a dolphins at Seaworld.

this week...

2009-11-22T19:55:00.002+10:00

I'm reading Choosing Eden. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but more on that later.

I'm growing...

From if on a winter's night a traveler

Coriander - my favourite herb.

From if on a winter's night a traveler

My Baeckea has flowered at last.

From if on a winter's night a traveler

And my Callistemon viminalis has finally flowered after I thought it had died.

I'm sewing...

From if on a winter's night a traveler

Christmas presents

And together we...

From if on a winter's night a traveler

Dressed as various Peter Pan characters to go to ex-potential brother-in-law's movie themed 21st birthday party.

film review: The Boys Are Back

2009-11-22T19:09:00.003+10:00

I don't watch many movies. I don't like violent movies, I don't like predictable movies, and I don't like happily-ever-after-because-love-conquers-everything movies.

I did enjoy The Boys are Back. It was one of the saddest, yet happiest movies I've seen. It had a sense of reality about it; it lacked the Hollywood gloss that I find displeasing. I guess that it is based on a true story, and that it is an Australian film and not a Hollywood flick are two factors in its favour.

Joe Carr, an English sportswriter living just outside of Adelaide, who is left to bring up his 6-year-old son, Artie, on his own when his second wife, Katie, dies somewhat unexpectedly. While they haphazardly try to work through their grief, Joe's son from his first marriage, Harry, comes over from England to stay a while.

Joe, not really knowing how to deal with his sudden state of single fatherhood, abandons all rules and routine, except that they must have fun and they must do what he says. Needless to say, it doesn't work.

The film explored the issue of fatherhood, and in particular fatherhood without a mother present. Joe has to somehow balance his family commitments with his job, which requires him to travel. But he will take little advice or help from others, quite confident that he knows what he is doing. Joe showed only half-hearted leadership and authority, and didn't set a good example for his boys. He desperately seeks advice from his dead wife as to how to deal with situations.

But, more so, it delved into the topic of death in an honest way. Joe and Artie, and also Katie's parents, are dealing with the loss of their wife, mother and daughter. This goes a long way to explain why Joe drinks so much, and why the house 'didn't look like this when Katie was around'. They were all expected to move on quickly after she died, which was portrayed well when Joe's boss told him he couldn't keep cutting him slack at work.

Finally, the film addressed the consequences of broken marriages, and the grief and heartache felt by Harry that his father had left him behind in England to move to Australia with his new wife. Harry is desperate to have a father - his father - and forsakes a lot to try and re-forge a relationship with him.

It was an honest film, that had me in tears for most of the film, but still had a happy ending, a hopeful ending. It was a story about different types of grief and moving on from the grief.

value

2009-11-12T14:19:00.002+10:00

I was horrified enough to comment on this post from Wise Bread today.

According to the writer, music lessons are far too expensive.

Piano lessons are $60 an hour, according to her article. In Australia, you can expect to pay somewhere between $20 and $30 for a half hour lesson with a qualified teacher. (I only charge $15 because I usually have a small person trying to share in the lesson, and I'm not a qualified piano teacher.) By the author's reckoning, that means a music teacher would earn $120000 a year. What she doesn't take into account is the fact that a piano lessons don't actually happen for 50 weeks of the year, the teacher would be hard pressed to fill and maintain forty hours worth of students even for the forty weeks of the school year! Given that most piano lessons would be happening after school hours, and most are only a half hour, to earn $60 an hour for forty hours would mean ten students every afternoon/evening during weekdays, and another thirty on the weekend. Eighty students, and no day off. And still having to practice during the day to maintain skills.

But what the author neglects to mention is the value of the music lessons themselves. Music education is valuable because:

1. music is valuable. Music is good because it is good.
2. there are known academic and social benefits that come with learning music.
3. music is a form of expression, like all of the arts. Being able to express yourself some way is important.
4. learning to appreciate and enjoy music means being able to appreciate and enjoy music for your whole life. It is good to appreciate and enjoy things of beauty.

Learning an instrument is valuable because:

1. it teaches patience and persistence.
2. it facilitates a way of expressing yourself by yourself and with others.
3. it is enjoyable.

Finding a great teacher is valuable because it means (if you practice enough) you become a better musician. A great teacher will teach technique and foster a lifelong love of music.

Music lessons are a big investment, but I believe one that pays off. It probably won't pay off monetarily. But neither will a haircut, which is what the author says she will have to give up for her kids to learn the piano. We shouldn't be placing dollar value on music education any more than we should on volunteer work, parenting, or under-8 soccer.

Intrinsic value is just as important as dollar value.

likeness

2009-11-08T12:06:00.002+10:00

My Mum showed Ralph this picture a few days ago. He was certain it was a picture of him.

It's not.

This is:

From if on a winter's night a traveler

Excuse the quality of the first photo, it is VERY old.

sympathy

2009-11-08T11:56:00.002+10:00

I had to share this with my husband today. He understands how this guy feels.

top five...

2009-11-02T09:54:00.003+10:00

...Tupperware items in my kitchen.

I like Tupperware. I'm not fanatical about Tupperware, but I do like a lot of their products. These are my favourite. I have bought more of all of these.

1. My silicon spatula gets everything out of the bowl. Seriously. I have two because often when I am baking I bake a whole lot at a time, so it's handy having a second one.
2. Modular Mates aid in keeping my pantry tidy.
3. Silicon baking sheets are great for cooking biscuits and pavlovas. I've heard they are also great for a mat for playdough. I haven't tried that yet, but I will.
4. Antarctica freezer containers stack neatly in my freezer, and are slightly flexible so it is easy to get the frozen food out.
5. Fridgesmart boxes keep my vegies lasting for a LONG time.

I also like their corkscrew, but obviously I only needed one of those, especially since so many wine bottles now have screw tops.

insured

2009-10-30T20:43:00.003+10:00

Our home, contents and car insurances are all up for renewal. I decided to compare the new premium to the old. Our insurer automatically increases the value of the house, so the premium is higher, and I'm kind of okay with that. It protects against being underinsured. So it's $100 or so more this year. That's fine.

But, my car, which as far as I know hasn't increased in value - Subarus are good, but not that good - costs $5 more to insure this year. I'd like to know how they justify that.

While looking for last year's certificate, I figured I may as well declutter that file. My whole filing cabinet desperately needs decluttering.

I think I'm safe to shred the insurance certificates for the house we sold nearly three years ago.

don't compute

2009-10-28T20:28:00.003+10:00

My computer needs updating. Well, replacing, more than updating. Replacing with something that won't randomly shut itself down or randomly decide it doesn't feel like booting up. And maybe something that doesn't make much noise. My computer has become very noisy. Ex-potential brother-in-law reinstalled everything on it for me a few months back after it froze up permanently, but it is starting to do the same things again.

I'm going with a laptop this time round, for various reasons. I'm currently using a Dell desktop that we bought about 5 years ago, with Pentium 4, 512mb RAM and and 80gb hard drive. My hard drive is nowhere near full. Other than the shutting down and non-turning on issues, my computer is still doing pretty much everything I need it to do

So, what do I buy?

I want a Mac.

As soon as I can be fully convinced that they really are worth the money I will go and buy one. And, I may still need to convince my husband that I genuinely want one, and not just because the majority of people don't and I don't like to be in the majority.

Here's my summary of why I should or shouldn't get a mac, according to the great resource that is the Internet:

Macs are stupid because they aren't the same as Windows. My response is that the guitar is stupid because it isn't the same as the piano.

Macs are for people who don't know how to use computers. I know how to use a computer. I think computers are stupid. Macs look simple and straightforward and well designed. Much like our fantastic new iPod touch. I love it. It's just clever. I like simple, straightforward and well designed. I don't care about being able to upgrade: I'm really not interested in the technical side of things, just in about using a computer to my advantage.

There aren't enough games for Macs. This seems to be the top thing against Macs everywhere I read. I don't play games on my computer. I don't care about games on my computer. I just want Internet access, a word processor, and Sibelius First.

According to Windows devotees, Mac users are dumb for believing the advertising.

According to Mac devotees, Windows users are dumb for not realising it is just advertising.

So, are they really worth the money? Or am I better off getting a $999 Dell?

balance

2009-10-24T11:08:00.002+10:00

Just to balance it out, ten things I really like about my house:

1. It's a great size. It's probably a little big for just the three of us, but we bought it expecting to have four of us by now and be considering a fifth person. I wouldn't want a house much bigger than what we have.

2. It has two separate toilets. That's great.

3. There is enough room to host a home group in my lounge room. That was one requirement when I was looking for a house.

4. There is a good wall for a piano. That was the other requirement when looking for a house.

5. I like the layout of the house. I'd rather the kitchen was slightly bigger, the bedrooms were slightly bigger, and the house was on the other side of the street (to solve the sun problems), but overall the layout of the house is great.

6. An internal laundry.

7. We get great breezes through the house. It's really pleasant. We don't have air-conditioning, and most of the time I don't even feel we need it.

8. The kitchen isn't shut away from the rest of the house, so I can have friends over and still be cooking dinner and talk to them.

9. We have a double garage. At them moment, half is being used as junk storage, but eventually we want to epoxy the floor and put my sewing tables out there. If we ever need the third bedroom for a person.

10. We can see the fireworks at Riverway or the football stadium from our backyard.

home

2009-10-24T10:30:00.002+10:00

Ten things that I don't like about my house:

1. It doesn't match. The walls, floor coverings, and kitchen don't match each other. The carpet kind of matches now, because we put in new carpet. The old carpet didn't match. The curtains that were hanging in the lounge when we moved in were like a technicolour vomit from the early 90s. The blind in our bedroom didn't work, was an inappropriate style, and didn't match.

2. The only place to keep the bins is outside the study window. We have to keep it closed, because they smell.

3. The backyard is impractical. It's not visible from the rest of the house, so I can't send Ralph outside to play by himself. And it is sunny all day.

4. The house is the wrong design for the block of land. The patio is squished into the side of the house and gets the summer sun and winter shade, the lounge bears the brunt of the afternoon sun.

5. The driveway is very awkward to get in and out of. I've only scraped the car on the garage twice while trying to get the car out and still stay on the driveway.

6. The linen cupboard is behind the laundry door, and has an awkward sliding door.

7. The kitchen is just a bit small for me.

8. It is too close to the neighbours. I get tired of looking at my neighbours' washing from my living area. It also means we don't have side access to the backyard that is big enough to fit a wheelbarrow through.

9. The ensuite is a bit small. If I was designing a house I would make the main bathroom a little smaller and the ensuite a bit bigger.

10. It's just a little too far to walk places. Actually, it's not too far to walk to places, just too far to walk home again.

Got it

2009-10-18T20:52:00.002+10:00

I'm happy to say that, despite closing in quickly on 30 and having far too many years out of the church music scene, I still have it. Today I got a phone call at 3pm asking if I could play tonight, then learnt a song I'd heard only once before and nothing but lyrics, chords and an iPod.
And then played the entire service with almost no foldback, and hence too many errors.

I like playing piano. I like playing in E major, especially without constraint of notes on the page with all those annoying sharps. I love E major, just not all its sharps.

guidelines

2009-10-13T11:51:00.003+10:00

I know this is yesterday's news, but sometimes I'm a day (or seven) behind.

Some people have been working on a report to deliver to the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon about kids. It's all about suggesting guidelines for what is and isn't good for growing healthy kids. The bit all over the news is that in the report, the doctors are recommending no tv for kids under two. I agree with this. I don't think television is beneficial for small children. I don't care if your baby watches TV, but I want to avoid it for my own kids.

I, as a parent, like the idea of being given guidelines to follow. Hey, the research suggests this is or isn't beneficial, I'll take it into mind when making decisions.

But reading the comments after the ABC's story, you would think that it had been announced that children would never be allowed to watch TV again! It doesn't help that the headline used the word ban - I thought that was inappropriate and misleading. And I'm guessing a lot of commenters read the headline and the first paragraph and then wrote a comment.

The government is not going to ban television. I'm all for 'prevention is better than cure' policy. Educate people in how not to get sick, and then we don't have to pick up the bill later. Everything in moderation - including television for children. Plenty of research is showing us that tv isn't so great for kids. As parents, we need to use the information we have to make the best decisions for our kids' wellbeing. I want the guidelines.

But the thing that really got my goat in the comments, was the number of people who simply went on anecdotal evidence - my kid watches tv/doesn't watch tv and he's alright. Hey, your kid might watch six hours of tv a day and be able to read Tolstoy and solve a quadratic equation before his third birthday, but that doesn't mean that tv is good for all kids. 'My child watches ABC Kids and he is quite advanced for his age.' Sorry, love, it's probably not the television that has made him quite advanced. Different kids learn things in different ways. TV isn't going to work for everyone - it will advance some and slow others down. There are lots of factors that contribute to intelligence - TV alone won't make you smart.

Personally, I monitor our tv viewing. If I think we're watching too much (me included) I cut back. If I think a show is proving beneficial for Ralph, I let him watch it. He knows the days of the week from watching Play School, but that doesn't make Play School essential viewing for all kids. I'm getting the feeling he is one to learn by watching, not doing.

I was just amazed at how many people missed the point, and assumed that the Government is planning to remove parents' rights to let their toddlers watch television. Hmmm.

gifted

2009-10-04T14:01:00.002+10:00

If you know me well, or at all, you are probably aware that I don't really get into Christmas or birthdays a whole lot. I enjoy them, and celebrate them, but I'm pretty mild.

I know my birthday must be soon, because I've noticed Christmas things coming into the shops.

Though, being the wonderful wife and mother that I am, I try and put a little bit of effort into making Christmas and birthdays a little bit special for my family.

This year I've made my own Christmas wrap to use again and again every year. And, I've made it reversible, so theoretically we can use it for birthdays too. I'm pretty impressed with my efforts.

From if on a winter's night a traveler

(Don't worry. That's not actually Christmas presents wrapped up already. They are just a few things on the table that were good shapes for a photo.)

more games

2009-09-17T10:46:00.000+10:00

I love Trivial Pursuit. I love the Beatles. I want this game.

Except, I'm not sure I could find anyone who would play with me.

puzzled

2009-09-10T14:09:00.001+10:00

"The world was devastated when the Beatles split up. But don’t worry, now you have a chance to put them back together, piece by piece!"

I'd quite enjoy putting the Beatles back together . I'm sure Ralph would enjoy helping me too. I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy Ralph's help.

monopoly

2009-09-10T14:07:00.001+10:00

I don't really get that much into Monopoly - there are other board games I prefer. But I think I would play all the time if I had this version.

celebration?

2009-09-06T14:00:00.003+10:00

Not everyone gets into father's day.

Like those who don't know their father, or would rather not know their father. Those whose father has let them down, or abandoned them. Or those who really want to be a father, but know they may never be, or have been waiting far longer than they'd expected. And those who used to be a father, but their child is no longer with them.

I'd like to remove father's day from the calendar. I don't really get into it at all.

lunch

2009-09-05T10:34:00.001+10:00

Why make a sandwich when you can make Funky Lunch?

delicious

2009-09-04T21:56:00.002+10:00

I haven't quite got the hang of it yet, but I've discovered delicious.

I'm playing the nappy hunt again . (Like I've got nothing better to do with my time! But I enjoy the challenge.) But delicious means I can bookmark the pages of things that I am interested in but don't need just yet, like this groovy little nappy and wipes container. So one day when (hopefully) it will come in handy, then I can find it easy. And won't have forgotten about it.

I'll start marking all those articles too that I want to read, but don't want to with a small boy on my lap asking if he can do typing now.

code

2009-09-01T18:58:00.002+10:00

I was thoroughly amused this morning to turn the tv during the sports report on Channel Ten's morning news and see a story about the Wallabies. (A rugby union team if you're not up on that sort of thing.) (At least, I think they are the rugby union team.)

The Wallabies have not been doing so good in the competition they play in. (Just to fill you in.)

The story on the news included a bit about how they were having some training sessions (or something?) with one of the A-league teams. (The A-league is the Football competition - soccer in the old money.)

Makes sense to me. If you're no good at one sport, just try another.

grevillea

2009-08-28T20:56:00.003+10:00

This is in flower in my backyard at the moment.

From if on a winter's night a traveler

I was pretty stoked to have a bird eating from it yesterday afternoon. I am also pretty satisfied that it is flowering and thriving, considering that I've had THREE grevilleas die in the last fortnight.

A pot of coffee

2009-08-28T20:53:00.002+10:00

This is my coffee bush.

From if on a winter's night a traveler

It needs a new home. At my house, not yours, sorry. I don't want it in this pot anymore. I want this pot to match it's partner, an easy-not-to-kill Zanzibar Gem.

From if on a winter's night a traveler

I'm just not sure where to move the coffee bush to. I don't expect you to be able to help, I just wanted an excuse to use the title. Tino used the phrase on Gardening Australia this week and I thought it was clever. I'm not that clever. I have to steal other people's cleverness.

crisis averted

2009-08-28T11:27:00.000+10:00

We nearly had to borrow a Hi-5 DVD from the library this morning. I managed to convince Ralph he wouldn't really like it. We have Fireman Sam instead.

sheet music

2009-08-27T19:22:00.003+10:00

I knew someone else would have already come up with my idea to digitalise music, and make page turning less of a hassle.

I'm currently in the process of spiral binding all my photocopied sheet music. It's actually quite a big job. I'm trying to do it mostly back to back, to make reading it easier, and so it takes up less space. I've had to sacrifice a few songs because I've my poor spatial ability (or forgetting which way to put the sheet in the copier), but they've been mostly Andrew Lloyd Weber so I'm not too concerned. I've also taken some books that only have a few songs in that I ever play and photocopied them so I can get rid of the book. I have a lot of second hand music, which means a lot of songs in old books that I don't even know. I find with pop music that it is much harder to play a song well when you don't know it. Or maybe that's just my lazy style of playing. I only read half the notes. When I take my music to actually get spiral bound, I'll probably have to sacrifice a few notes from a few songs. Hopefully they aren't the notes that I actually play.

lamb

2009-08-27T15:49:00.000+10:00

I couldn't be a vegetarian if it meant giving up lamb.

children's music

2009-08-27T10:00:00.004+10:00

Someone else thinks that children don't need things dumbed down, and the children's market is out of hand.

Simple is good for children. As in simple words and actions, not too many things to watch and think about at once. Simple, not dumbed down.

I like children's music that I don't mind listening to as well. If I can't stand listening to it, I don't expect Ralph to like it either. He can listen to my music.

blah

2009-08-24T16:53:00.001+10:00

I hate housework.

coming to terms

2009-08-24T09:59:00.001+10:00

The ABC news headlines come on after Play School.

The top news story today began like this:

Australians are coming to terms with losing the Ashes series.

No I'm not.

I don't care.

old books

2009-08-24T09:48:00.002+10:00

What should I do with old Bible study books? Especially all the ones from when I used to teach the high school Sunday School class? What about all the studies that I wrote?

I have quite a few of them. But not as many as I thought, because I discovered the box was close to overflowing because there was a piece of styrofoam in the bottom. Go figure.

I also found in the box our copies of the 40 Days of Purpose study - the one that goes along with Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life. I think I'll bin them both. I hated the book and the study. I hated it more and more every time I had to do it (first our homegroup, then the church our homegroup was associated with so our homegroup had to do it again, then our school staff, then our own church). Only our when our homegroup did it with the church did we actually follow the published study guide. If you've read the book and thought it took Bible passages out of context, then check out the study guide. It did it spectacularly when it used Luke 5:17-26 (printed from The Message in the booklet), when Jesus healed a paralytic and forgave him his sins, to demonstrate the 'four keys to fulfilling God's mission in the world'. The men who brought their friend to Jesus had compassion, faith, action and persistence. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure why I didn't bin the books as soon as the series was finished...

persuasion

2009-08-24T09:35:00.002+10:00

If a tract/article/book is trying to convince me of what the Bible says but uses exclamation marks, bold, or text sizes inappropriately, I don't bother with it.

In fact, I will probably just throw it away.

(I threw one away this morning about baptism, but it had just as much dodgy theology as it had exclamation marks.)

(mouth drops open)

2009-08-17T11:25:00.003+10:00

I just found the entire Beatles catalogue as MP3s on a disc in my study when I was cleaning out.

Everything, from 1963 to 1970, including songs from Yellow Submarine, plus a few pre-Beatles and post-Beatles singles.

Who knows where I got it from. Someone must have copied it for me when I didn't have a computer and so promptly forgot about it. It certainly wouldn't be King Rick's.

Billbergia nutans

2009-08-12T18:58:00.003+10:00

The most awesome flower I have ever seen.

Now showing on my patio. (Actually, I've moved it inside so I can look at it more.)

From if on a winter's night a traveler

pepper

2009-08-11T19:26:00.002+10:00

I think that my favourite album of all time would have to be Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

My favourite track is 'A Day in the Life'.

I've got a copy (somewhere at Mum's, I hope) of the original LP. Complete with the special psychedelic inner sleeve, and a newspaper cutout c. 1967 that my Dad had slipped into the outer sleever, that showed who everyone is on the cover.

It was supposed to be a concept album, about growing up in Liverpool, but forced early releases of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' messed that up a little.

The album has songs without the traditional rock and roll instruments, songs with less than traditional instruments, and whole orchestras playing avant garde arrangements. The production is outstanding, considering that it was all done on a four track recorder. The whole thing is very 1960s.

I personally think that was the Beatles peak, but I'm not familiar enough with the album previous (Revolver), or the following album (the white album) to make a definite statement.

And, just as an aside, I had wanted to include 'When I'm Sixty-Four' in my wedding somewhere, and forgot until it was much too late.

phone?

2009-08-03T14:59:00.001+10:00

If you haven't seen this, I think it's a clever piece of advertising.

special

2009-08-03T10:38:00.002+10:00

If the supermarkets really were 'cutting the cost of living' and 'saving you more every day', then their catalogues wouldn't be full of chocolates, lollies, snack foods and meal bases, with a single page for fruits and vegetables.

empty

2009-08-02T19:29:00.002+10:00

The other two bedrooms are almost empty, ready for new carpet in the morning. Pretty much everything has gone out to the garage, expect for a few things that I know will be going straight back into Ralph's room once the carpet is down, so that he didn't get too worried about where they were.

All that's remaining is the things either hanging in the cupboards, or on the top shelves. I think those things might all come down too, to sort out. Nothing that doesn't need to be in the rooms is going back in, so I've got a challenge of deciding whether to keep things, or get rid of them.

past

2009-07-31T20:13:00.004+10:00

In my pre-mummy days I was a teacher. I had wanted to be a teacher since I was about 7 or 8. I taught for the grand total of two years before I left the profession, and at that stage planned never to return. That was nearly five years ago, and I still have no intention of returning, but for different reasons.

I still love teaching, and probably would love to give it a go again. Probably. Not right now, but maybe one day.

My main reason for leaving was that we decided to go overseas, and there was no job for me. Well, there may have been a job for me but I didn't want to be a primary school classroom teacher. The money over there was good (mostly because we had accommodation provided), but I don't think any money would convince me to undertake that stress. I trained as a high school teacher, primary school is a whole different kettle of fish.

If we hadn't gone overseas, we would have gone to Bible college for a year. Otherwise we would have stayed in Gympie, and I would have only taught part time.

I was very glad that we ended up leaving, because I was really keen to get out of the school. Unfortunately, I have few good things to say about the school, and the longer I've been gone the less positive things I can remember.

It was a smallish Christian school, run by four churches in Gympie. I felt the school was very strict in a lot of areas, almost legalistic. I also felt they were too focussed on academics, and really lacked the sense of community that I'd known in the Christian school I'd attended in high school. Different sections of the school never interacted, and there was a focus on discipline and not love.

My problems began when I was accidentally given the wrong class. The grade eights had been divided into two classes of 13 (there should have been more, but numbers had dropped off dramatically). The year seven teacher the previous year had allocated the students, and given me, the first year teacher, what he thought would be the easier class, and the challenging class to a very experienced teacher. Unfortunately, he didn't realise that one of the boys in my class would hit puberty over the holidays, do a behaviour about face and then drag the rest of the boys down with him. Also, unfortunately, I had little to no support, and couldn't handle the class well. The only real support I got was from their teacher from the previous year, who I sat behind in the staff room, and eventually married.

On top of that, I was given too big a workload. For the two years I worked there, I had a middle school class for homeroom, English and SOSE, as well as P-10 music. Even for an experienced teacher, those things should have been done by two separate people who supplemented their timetables with other subjects. I couldn't do either thing well enough, and I know that I could have done a really good job on one or the other.

Towards the end of my first year teaching, enrolments weren't looking good and the school couldn't afford to keep all the staff. I was the least experienced and therefore the most dispensable and got called up to the principal's office one afternoon to be told that I would only be teaching music the next year, because they could only afford to have me on a half load. If it hadn't been for King Rick, I probably would have quit, moved back home and taught supply. But then a couple of weeks later another overworked teacher quit, and I was offered full time again. I was stupid enough to take it.

My second year of teaching was worse than my first. I had year sevens, and because I was overworked and didn't have the time to put in to good planning, I did a really poor job as a middle school teacher. I don't feel I eased my class into high school well at all. They were are really well behaved, hard working class, except for one boy who hated women, basically. I felt I had a good enough handle on him. That is until his parents became involved.

I nearly walked out and not returned to work for most days of my last semester. One day, I didn't come back to work the next day. The father of this student had told me that he believed his son's reports of his behaviour and not mine. I had been criticised for my classroom management, and for my teaching methods, and for the tasks I had set. All via this student telling me what his parents had said, or by being called up to the principal's office so he could pass it on. The principal was very supportive of me, but had to do his job.

I probably could have handled the situation a little better if the parents didn't both work on staff. They both wanted to have complete control over their sons, and they didn't like me, or my lack of experience, or my teaching methods. The mother ended up taking over as head of middle school the following year.

So, I actually left teaching because I was overworked, under-supported, and bullied. I'm quite satisfied sitting at home teaching my son to read and write and play piano.

tidy

2009-07-30T12:52:00.002+10:00

We have a number of plastic boxes in our garage containing 'stuff'. Fortunately, it is a decreasing number. Today, being the loving wife that I am, I have consolidated three boxes of King Rick's 'stuff' into one. I've removed a few things that I know can be thrown out or re-homed. And put back a few things that I thought he might enjoy finding in there when he sorts it out later. I had fun.

A few months ago, I consolidated some of my own boxes. The problem with teaching is that you can accumulate teaching resources, and then be reluctant to part with them because you don't want to have to reproduce them. The problem with leaving teaching and not knowing if or when you might return is that you don't know which things to keep. I had five boxes of teaching resources, and managed to throw away duplicates and bits and pieces of stuff that were for units I'd never taught anyway and probably never would. I got it down to three boxes, but still have another two boxes of non-teaching stuff in the garage, mostly Bible study materials and journals.

floor

2009-07-27T10:20:00.002+10:00

I have bits of bedroom all over my house. Some in Ralph's room. Some in my 'sewing room'. Some in the ensuite. Some in the other bathroom. The bed frame is on the back lawn, and the mattress leaned up against the dining table.

I've cleaned the dust from all the skirting boards, and the gecko poo and handprints from the walls.

And I'm getting new carpet in there this afternoon. It's fallen apart from several different leaks, and from the direct sunlight. We've tinted the window to stop the sun problem, and have about four months to sort out the water issue to make sure it doesn't happen again. It keeps coming through the closed door.

puzzled

2009-07-24T12:57:00.002+10:00

I'm looking for a piece of furniture in my house that has adjustable shelves, because I found a bag of lugs in a drawer. I found a cupboard they fit in, but it only has one shelf (in place in the cupboard), and I have 15 lugs. Very strange.

leave

2009-07-24T09:57:00.002+10:00

I get annoyed with the argument that if the government of a developing nation can offer one year's fully paid parental leave, then why can't Australia do the same.

Possibly because our government is using that money to pay for things like roads to drive on, hospitals to go to if you are sick, and to make sure people who have lost their job can still eat. And because when our government introduces paid parental leave, it will be a (somewhat) fair and equitable scheme available to all parents who require it.

stuff

2009-07-20T19:29:00.001+10:00

If you've never seen The Story of Stuff, you should. It's 20 minutes long, but worth a look at.

compost

2009-07-20T16:30:00.002+10:00

I love gardening. I really don't do enough of it, mostly because I am lazy and easily distracted. I'm getting pretty good at it, I think. Not so good at the ornamental stuff, but doing well at the edibles. I've learnt a few things over the last 2 1/2 years that I've had my own garden to make mistakes in.

Today I transferred some of the contents of my compost bin to a new garden bed, which will be a combination of ornamentals, herbs, and pretty edibles - things like lettuce and rocket.

It was beautiful compost. So dark and rich. My garden will enjoy it.

Good gardening is all about location, location, location. You have to grow the right plants for where you live, you have to have the right conditions in the garden, and your plants have to be in good soil. The key to good soil is to improve it with organic matter. That's compost and manure, not expensive meat and vegies.

Here's what I've learnt about making good compost.

1. You have to mix up what goes in there. It can't be all lawn clippings, or all paper, or even all vegie scraps. You need a mixture of things for it to break down right, and it's best if you mix it together.

2. It can take a while to teach husbands point one. Not the theory, the actually putting things in the bin.

3. Egg shells don't compost well, but they are good for the garden. So I think I need to break them up better.

4. Citrus skins don't compost at all.

5. Plastic doesn't compost at all. So no more envelopes with windows, and no more of those sheets of paper with the sides reinforced with a strip of plastic. How the seedling punnets and plastic bags got in the bin, I don't know.

smart

2009-07-18T13:25:00.002+10:00

We got climate smart recently. You pay $50, and get one water saving showerhead, and up to 15 CFL bulbs, as well as an audit of your energy use and an energy monitor to show you how much electricity you are using. My house seems to cost about 7c an hour to run.

It took several months between making the appointment and actually getting someone to come out and change my bulbs. I don't think the State Government actually puts as much value on this as their ads suggest, because, not only did it take that long, but the guy who did our place had come up from the Sunshine Coast. Surely if this service was important and valuable to the voters, the government would have more people doing the job in regional areas. (Or maybe they just aren't interested in the regional areas?)

Apparently, having this done can save up to $200 a year on our electricity bill. That's a 25% reduction for us, so I suspected there wasn't as big a saving in store for us. The guy did say that our electricity bill was the cheapest one he'd seen. I was pretty chuffed about that. The most expensive was around $2000. For one quarter! I took up this offer to get the rest of my lightbulbs replaced: we've already replaced some of our bulbs, so I figure the rest aren't too far from blowing and $50 to replace the rest of our lightbulbs has us coming off cheaply. Unfortunately, the reason those bulbs hadn't been replaced yet was because they don't get used as often as the lights in the other rooms.
But we also got a new showerhead, so hopefully that will cut a couple of dollars off each bill.

I've been trying to use the energy monitor a bit to work out where else to save electricity. Not many places, it seems. Turning everything off at the switch or the wall is supposed to save 10% on your power bill. Turning my microwave, kettle and tv off don't even register on the monitor. Though I haven't tried them all together. It's too much of a hassle to turn most things off at the wall or the switch, so if they don't actually save me any money, I won't bother.

I'm not expecting much of a change on my next bill. If anything, it will be more expensive because the cost of electricity has gone up.

hooked

2009-07-17T09:55:00.002+10:00

I have never ever watched more than half an episode of any show where people get voted off. I've seen bits and pieces of various voting-off shows because I am married to someone who likes them, but not enough to watch every day/week. I watched a bit of Dancing With the Stars when we were first in Tabubil and I had nothing to do, though I would have chosen a different channel to watch.

But I am hooked on Masterchef. Seriously, I'm watching it every night. Okay, we've been on holidays, so I've been able to, but I'm still watching it. I scoffed at it when the ads were first on before it started, because it was just another of those silly voting off shows.

But then I heard a bit about it, and watched a few episodes here and there. I like that people aren't voted off via SMS, or by each other. It means it's genuinely a skill competition, not a popularity competition. I like that no-one can form alliances with anyone else, or purposely make it easier or harder for someone to win. I like that the result is come to completely by three experts in their field. It's more like an Eisteddfod, really.

I also love the cooking, the food, the techniques. I'm a sucker for cooking shows. I love to cook, and to do it well. I get such a buzz out of people telling me something I've cooked tastes great. And while I can make food taste good, I'm not so crash hot at making it look pretty!

loss

2009-07-16T00:59:00.002+10:00

Around 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage.

80% of those happen before 13 weeks gestation.

The statistical likelihood of miscarrying after a heartbeat has been detected is around 3%.

1% of women will have recurrent miscarriages, usually defined as three early miscarriages, or two late miscarriages (after 13 weeks).

Miscarriage happens often, to a lot of women. Yet no-one really talks about it, and no-one really knows what to say to someone who has suffered the early loss of a baby. So often, we find out we are pregnant and then keep it a closely guarded secret until we reach the 'magic 13 weeks' and can safely announce it to the world.

I've been questioning lately why miscarriage is such a taboo subject in our culture, especially in the church. I've started blogging about it over here.

If you were wondering...

2009-07-14T13:31:00.001+10:00

I'm not watching the Ashes.