Sunrise Sunset

Have some sunshine:

The sun's splitting the stones here today and I've a few sunny snippets but not much inclination to write a big missive today as I would rather be out in my miserable scratch of yard getting some sunshine.

Until tomorrow, enjoy the summer in March.

Handwriting

Well to be fair it's holding Tony Abbott back a wee bit, he's Leader of the Opposition, not Prime Minister of Australia. His handwriting still sucks though.

I do not like Gross Kids and Ham

I've a bit of a shameful secret, in that it's not really a secret and I'm not really ashamed. I never used to like kids, I'm not terribly fond of dogs either but I would never be mean to them, but when I was in my teens (late teens can't even blame it on early youth) I would make a point of trying to trip up any screaming, obnoxious kid running wild in a supermarket.

I was a middle child with four and five and half years on either side of me, I was the first out of my friends to have a baby (and get married, divorced and remarried for that matter) and my older sister was raising her children a few states away. Therefore I had no experience with kids, things that I would let slide today, just bugged me. Mind, even saying that it's not quite true, for even though I would love to believe I am cool, hippy-dippy, super-chilled Mum, the truth is my kids are driving me nuts, pestering me as I try and type this.

With all that said, I love being a Mum now, my kids have amazing personalities and Miss Five is without a doubt one of the most unintentionally funny people I have ever met in my life. I had my eldest three days before I turned twenty, so I was technically a teen mum and at seventeen I am amazed at the person he is becoming. I look at him and think, "Didn't do too badly, there is hope for the other three." When he was born, I was in shock and so without a clue, I wasn't sure which way was up.

When he was four and I was heavily pregnant with his brother, and I had explained that "Mummy has a fat tummy as she's growing the baby in there." When we were next out for a walk we were behind a clinically obese woman and he shouts out in his pipingly loud voice "MUM! That woman has pregnant fat on her arms, on her legs and everywhere!" Yep, kids will get you hung.

And they can be gross and obnoxious, loud and little pests who don't give you a moment's peace. Wouldn't change it for the world? Please, I would change it in a heartbeat, especially if I could skip that crippling post natal depression that I had with the first two. I love them dearly but I was no natural earth mother, to be honest I've never met anyone who was, closest is my husband and he's so laid back he's horizontal and even he wants time off for good behaviour now and again.

Gadgetry

I've a love affair with retro/vintage looking objects that work with the clarity of modern equipment inside. Hence, I am super fond of steampunk in all it's glory. It's nice to know where things came from though:

Being in my late thirties I am also of the age that only had a black and white portable tv with wire coat hangar aerial as the spare and  remember when video recorders were warring between betamax and VCR for dominance, I played King's Quest on a Commodore 64 and a walkman was considered hi-tech if it had am/fm radio as well as tape play functions. I should be pitied really, as should my friends of the same Generation X.

What Blue really played.

BTW The Copperclockmaker makes some amazing gadgetry art/furniture.



Naming Kids

One of my besties is pregnant at the moment, so what better time to discuss kid's names? Now our children's names aren't totally the norm but they're not completely *out* there, unlike Brick in snippet one:

I may have just finished reading Wicked:

And when I was pregnant with our daughter Ripley, we were watching Alien trilogy a lot:

(PS This is why we named our ginger tabby cat Jonesy).

Pokémon Gym

After nearly a decade and a half of subtle and blatant brainwashing, whenever anyone talks about going to the gym, I automatically want to ask if it's Vermilion City or what badge are we going for today?

Car Wars

I am incredibly fond of my car, it is an elderly (for a car) Mitsubishi model that although not the prettiest is in pretty good shape. Because it is old and Japanese I've taken to referring to it as Mr Miyagi and it seems to be developing an anthropomorphic characteristics especially when I am washing it. Wipe on, wipe off.

I am not the only person with a car with a personality though and none of the cars I've owned have ever tried to kill me.

Christine:





It's obligatory to take a photo when you get a new vehicle.

Occasionally our feline friends sense the personality of our cars too.



Potty Training

I'm really not into too much of the potty discussions but I am impressed with the way Pink  does the old tannoy alert, making me feel there should be a cleanup in aisle 9.

For overshares on a grand scale click here.

The next snippet took place during a match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur

where Spurs were kicking Lavender's teams arse.

Siblings

Siblings, can't beat them, illegal to commit fratricide/sororicide. Some know our darker secrets from childhood, others we inherit when we marry or we gain new ones when our parents remarry. If you're lucky you will be blessed with at least one or more awesome sibling, step-sibling, sibling in law. If you're unlucky you'll avoid any contact apart from weddings, funerals, royal succession and/or bequeathing of the family silver.

Really Blue? £1.78 that's all Pink is worth? That's $2.82USD by today's exchange rates (2.13euro, $2.71AUD) and that was it? You couldn't have even afforded to buy her a Big Mac with £1.78 what on earth did you buy her? Some penny sweets? I didn't even think they sold them singly anymore. You can't even get cherry lipgloss for less than £2 so I don't know whether I am in awe of your spendthriftness or just in shock that was all you spent.



OU and You

I am in the process of studying towards a degree with the Open University. One of my very good friends trailblazed and is a year ahead of me. Different faculty but she's a great person to compare notes with. Prior to my module beginning I received the course materials, it was a little daunting so I was trying to put off going through them all.

Of course this is how my ironing pile is normally to be found:





Sex Change

I spent two hours this morning trying to find a hilarious recruitment video for SW:TOR which I forgot to save when I first watched it in December. I still haven't found it via Google, YouTube or realm forums, although the search has been paused while I write this. Of course today would be the day that a friend would turn up unexpectedly at the door for a quick cuppa, while I am in my jammies trying to find a recruitment video.

So I give you a (brief) post from another guild recruitment forum and run off to try find this bloody thing and maybe get dressed.

Tim Tam Slam

For the one or two random readers of this blog who don't know me personally and aren't therefore obligated to at least pretend to read daily, a little background knowledge about myself:

1. I am an Australian, living abroad in Ireland for quite a long time.
2. Because I am Australian I have eclectic tastebuds that enjoy such fine delicacies as Asian fusian, fresh produce, tropical fruits and engine degreaser (aka Vegemite).
3. I have several online companies whose websites are stored in my favourites browser where I buy, at over the odds prices, my delicacies unavailable from local supermarkets as my family rarely send me care packages (my birthday is in September if anyone wishes to pool their resources).

But my all time favourites are Tim Tams:

And the best way to serve is with a Tim Tam Slam:





Death by Haiku

I drew a bit of a blank today, I have a bulging folder titled "Blog Pics" where I keep snipped conversations, memes and other random things that take my fancy. Most days, I have a general notion of what I intend to write about or if it's an occasion day that will give me a nice framework, or the aftermath of an occasion day, such as the drunken ramblings of an Irishman abroad on St Patrick's Day. Nothing seemed appropriate, not even the pre-written saved posts, I usually keep one or two, for days when I am short of time or inspiration (like today).

I could have chosen to write about unexpected mortality, two aquaintances I know are dealing with confronting their own time at a relatively young age. My husband lost his mother at a youngish age, yesterday was Mother's Day, I could have touched on that. A bit maudlin but nonetheless.

I could have chosen to write about the cats, the way I opened the back door last night to a decapitated bunny and a grinning Jonesy psychically enthusing about her latest offering. Or the fact that I was woken this morning with one staring at me until I opened my eyes.

I could have shared some short stories, poems or comics I have written/drawn but you'll have to wait for them as I plan to publish them one day. Or I could do a post that encompasses both mortality and my poetry; don't criticise it was written off the cuff and my first attempt at haiku.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day today, I woke to a beautiful arrangement of faux flowers made by my eldest daughter with her Rainbow Guides troop. There were two mini chocolate hearts at the bottom of the vase, that I saw the two wee girls eyeing off. "Alright, you can have one each" I said benevolently, whispering to my husband, "As long as they're not strawberry creams, my favourite."

Next thing all I hear is, "Mmmm, strawberry." Oh well, I guess it's the thought that counts.

Can't have Mother's Day without a little Mompetition.



St Patrick's Day

From Red in Ireland

Revisiting Twishite

Sorry we're back with Twishite for today's post, I can't help it, I have caches of disdain dripped quotes in relation to that arsewater. It won't be the first time and I doubt it will be the last that we visit Bella and Edward. The extra insult is when I found out that one of the characters is named Rosalie Cullen, which is extremely close to my youngest daughters name. It's like it's taunting me!

M-O-O-N, that spells Tom Cullen and that's about the only person who gives a rats arse about Edward Cullen and the rest of his sparkly family.

Rosalie, the song she was named for.

Gallows Humour

A polite way to say GTFO.

(Gallows Humour)

I r 1337 riter

Spelling and grammar, I hate to get them wrong. It irritates me to the bottom of my pedantic sole*

I'll just leave this here, shall I?

*Soul

Middle Children

Yes because middle children never crave attention. Right? Right!

Poor Jan!

Buddha Gnomes

Under the blue circle is an expression of rapturous deep thought.

“In the worlds before Monkey, primal chaos reigned. Heaven sought order, but the phoenix can fly only when it's feathers are grown. The four worlds formed again and yet again, As endless aeons wheeled and passed. Time and the pure essences of Heaven, the moistures of the Earth,and the powers of the Sun and the Moon all worked upon a certain rock - old as creation, and it magically became fertile... Elemental forces caused the egg to hatch. From it then came a stone monkey... The nature of Monkey was irrepressible! (Monkey - Great Sage, Equal of Heaven)

Apparently in German folklore it's traditional to have a mini animal statue inside a gnome. (Come to this blog, learn something new!)

But it would seem there is a market for meditating garden gnomes (aka Oms) already Yellow!