My Messy Life

I'm sick...again

2008-11-19T16:57:00.002+11:00

I can't believe it. Within 10 weeks, I've been off school for 8 days... and counting (and there's been 2 weeks of holidays in there!). I went to the doctor yesterday, hoping she'd say that I had a garden variety cold but it was not to be. She gave me the rest of the week off! So I'm at home, snoozing, coughing, watching daytime TV and, because I have become so accustomed to going through the motions of a virus, I pretty much have spent the afternoon waiting to vomit and am feeling much better for the time being having finally succumbed. Now I just have to wait for the next wave.

Sorry, too much information.

I'm just SO over being unwell, and I really don't have the time for it at the moment (probably the reason I got sick in the first place). I have Year 11 and Year 10 exams to mark and reports to start writing. And just as I start to wallow in the self-pity of it all, I'm reminded of the sermon I heard on Sunday morning, which was essentially about letting God rule in your circumstance rather than letting circumstance rule your life. It was a good sermon.

Of course, being sick means that the housework doesn't really get done. Not that Tom doesn't do as much as he can, it's just that housework is generally quite a lot for one person to do.

'My messy life' is once again an apt description of my life.

Love is in the Air...

2008-10-22T16:06:00.005+11:00

It's Spring.

I'm still at work trying very hard to motivate myself to do some marking. (My Year 10s just completed a test this afternoon on Romeo and Juliet). Everybody else has left the English office as there's the Year 12 Valedictory Dinner on tonight so they all made a quick getaway. So I'm sitting in the office in my little corner, listening to... hang on a second, what IS that noise? It sounds like a quiet "whoop whoop" noise.

So I'm looking out the window and I see nothing.

Maybe it's Tony's shitipoo that I just met "Wiki". How adorable (and tiny) is this?

No, I don't think it's the dog.

I look outside again, and then I see it.

It's Spring.

The pidgins in the courtyard are looking for a mate. Or more specifically the male pidgins are chasing the female pidgins around the courtyard with their little tail feathers fanned out while they make that soft "whoop whoop" noise.

Mystery solved.

I should get onto that Year 10 marking.

A Peachy Video

2008-10-02T11:09:00.003+10:00

While our house getting burgled was a complete nuisance, we did end up with a sweet computer that allows me to make videos. This was something I composed last holidays, it's not the most exciting video in the world but it only goes for 48 seconds, so you'll cope. Plus, it was made by me!

A long absence

2008-10-01T10:42:00.007+10:00

Ok, so there really is no excuse for my long absence from blogging, but i've been inspired by the writers on www.bloggingaussie.blogspot.com, so it's time to get back into it and there's no time like the present. (Except that when I decided that last week we ran out of internet money and so then I had to wait to get full access again!).

Hopefully I will post interesting things about the following:

1) Our puppy Peach, I am a doting parent and seriously, it's pathetic, I mean, she's a dog!

2) Our house, there's lots going on and I would like some feedback too, we are gardening (or ripping things out and not planting other things, but it feels like gardening) and thinking of what to plant. We are also testing some paint colours this weekend, so it really is all happening on the house front.

3) I teach a subject called English Language and I'm keen to share some of the fascinating things that I've found out since I started teaching it earlier this year (as well as things I'm continuing to find out).

And because no post is all that interesting without pictures, here's some of Peach's latest:

Featuring today are a number of Peach's unusual sleeping positions, this is a cushion that she has precariously placed herself on, under a chair, under the dining table.

This is Peach on 'her' couch, rather than just sit on the base of the chair she's perched herself on the cushion on the chair, crazy dog.

Lastly, the ultimate sleeping position. On her back, head off to the side somewhere. This is the position she gets herself into when she's exhausted or when she's been sleeping for a while, who would have thought this was even remotely comfortable!

Another Peach Video

2008-04-01T10:47:00.005+11:00

This video gives a better indication of Peach's size, she is playing with my size 9 thong (or flip-flop for the Americans!). Sorry that she doesn't do much for a while, this whole photographing animals thing can be challenging!

On other Peach news (think that perhaps the blog might need renaming) I had to take her to the vet this morning after she slipped trying to run away from me up the stairs. Chasey is one of her most favourite games, unfortunately though, she seems to think that running away up the stairs to the deck is her best escape route, where she promptly realises that she can't get back down! Anyway, the grass was wet this morning and so she slipped on the bottom step and was then limping around the house. As Tom had taken the car to work this morning, I had to walk her up to the nearest vet who gave her an anti-inflamatory injection. She seems to be ok, no fractures or anything, so we'll just have to wait and see...

Until next time and more of Peach's puppy adventures!

Peach at Play!

2008-03-31T18:47:00.003+11:00

Cute Puppy Photos

2008-03-31T18:14:00.003+11:00

This is our new puppy 'Peach'. She is a spoodle (or for the Americans, a cockapoo) and is currently 8 and a half weeks old. She is certainly bringing much joy to our lives with her utter devotion to us and her playfulness.This first picture gives you an idea of how small she is - she gets in and out of everything.
The picture above is her snoozing away on the couch, I was with her originally but needed to get some housework done and didn't want to wake her! The picture below is her trying to get underneath the coffee table!

This box is her 'box of fun' it was the box that we used to bring her home in and was sitting at the front door. On Friday night, she dragged this box into the loungroom and then proceeded to gather all her toys from around the house and place them in her box! As you can imagine, it was hilarious to watch as well as surprising. Now whenever she finds something interesting on the floor she places it in the box - it certainly keeps us on our toes to ensure that nothing we're not happy to find a new home is left on the floor!

One of her favoured sleeping positions!

Melbourne

2007-07-26T18:42:00.001+10:00

Had the pleasure of taking Juli into Melbourne city a couple of weeks ago, and thankfully Melbourne's weather decided to be kind (considering that it's the middle of winter!).

The day started with coffee on Southbank and enjoying the peacefulness until a seagull rocked up and stole the bacon from the plate of a poor man enjoying breakfast out a few tables down - the nerve of seagulls! We also took some touristy pics of Southbank, for all those of you who can't enjoy it's beauty.

We then decided we better go up the Rialto tower before the weather turned bad (it can happen at any moment!) where we saw some beautiful views of Melbourne.

The rest of the day was spent eating (Chinatown) and shopping (DFO Swanston St, worth visiting if you haven't yet done so, and you live in Australia!) - sorry no photos!

Marysville Under Snow

2007-07-26T18:27:00.000+10:00

Well, the adventures of Tom, Glenda and Juli continue...

Last week we had Christian Union's mid-year conference Summit, it is held in Marysville, a 90km drive from Melbourne. Keep driving another 50kms and you reach Lake Mountain, one of Victoria's smaller ski areas, with only cross country skiing and snow play activities. Why do I tell you all this? Because, it is only supposed to snow in snow areas (like Lake Mountain), not in Marysville! However in Melbourne, we are experiencing a very cold winter and so, to the great delight of all the Aussie students, it snowed while we were in Marysville!

Here's some snapps of the happy occation!The Stevenson Falls, floodlight at night.

Me, Zac and Juli (one of the least impressed by snow, but thankfully was made up for by the beauty of the waterfall!)

There is something so beautiful about things covered in snow. To wake up on the Wednesday morning finding out that it had snowed, was something I had never expected in a non snowfield area of Australia and somehow, everything looked so much brighter (hmmm, probably because it was - snow, white, reflects sun, makes sense really)!

For Eliane

2007-07-10T19:14:00.000+10:00

Ok, so I have kind of fallen into a blogger land abyss of late. There's been much going on in our lives, which I'll blog more of as it becomes less raw with time. For the moment, we are enjoying being distracted from the freneticness (ok, so I don't think that it really is a word, but it'll do!) of the last month with our new housemate, Juli.

Juli is from Germany and is staying with us for a total of 6 weeks, although one has already passed at lightning speed. Tom and I have really enjoyed this pleasant distraction which has allowed us to go out for more dinners, coffee and shopping than usual! For example, the tops that you can see us wearing in this photo were bought when we popped into Tom's work last Friday, they were on special and the two of us just couldn't resist!

It has been really great to see Juli's knowledge and ability of the English language grow each day. Every day we can see that she understands a little more and has more confidence to use English. It also helps me with my sketchy knowledge of German, the other day when we were out shopping I tried to speak German while Juli spoke English, I still have a lot to learn!

We are looking forward over the coming weeks to show Juli her first surf beach in the flesh, and also some of Australia's crazy's animals. Every day we try to surprise her with something new, generally food, as Tom and I seem to eat of lot of it!! We've also needed to give Juli a few more warm clothes, we think that Australia gets too good a wrap overseas and there's a perception that it never really gets cold here - let me assure you, as we are heading for a minimum of four degrees tonight - it is COLD!! Australian houses were not built to cope with this weather.

Well, that's all from me for today, hopefully I will be able to post more information soon of the great adventures of Glenda, Tom and Juli. xox

Tom's Brush with Fame

2007-05-30T12:44:00.000+10:00

Know who this is? No worries if you don't, I wouldn't either. But last week Tom got to meet one of his all-time hero's, Dennis Lillee.

Here's a grab from an article I found on him (from mcg.org.au):

"Dennis Lillee was the most accomplished and consistently hostile fast bowler of his time. At his peak no one was faster, more competitive, more menacing or resourceful. By his career's conclusion Dennis had claimed a world record 355 test wickets and had become an Australian sporting legend. There is strong support among senior cricket officials, players and the media for the contention that he was the greatest Australian pace bowler of any era."

Pretty high praise huh? Tom had the pleasure of asking him whether he thought that Tate and Watson would make a good opening bowling line-up for Australia in the future (he did) and even got an autographed card saying "To Tom, keep enjoying your cricket, Dennis Lillee".

Sorry to those of you who still have no idea about what I've just said. But it's a funny thing isn't it? The idea of meeting one of your all-time hero's. Somebody who has so impressed you with their sporting ability or writing or singing or acting or who knows what else that when you meet them you want to immortalise that moment. Tom had been thinking about what he wanted to ask Dennis about the future of Australian cricket, but haven't we all thought at some stage, I'd love to know what this person thinks of that idea, and yet so few of us get to actually do it. On the other hand, what must it be like to be the person who influences others to that extent? But then again, don't we all? It's a sobering reminder again for me, as I think about my role as a staff member and leader/mentor for students at Melbourne Uni of how much influencing I'm probably doing and yet not realising that I'm doing it. I thank God that it is he who is working through me to enable me, because if I were doing it without Him, I'd probably so often choose what suits me best and brings me glory, rather than God.

Who are your heroes?

Happy Birthday Dad!

2007-05-19T19:14:00.000+10:00

Aren't Dads great? Mine sent me a beautiful email a couple of days ago, was filled with warm words and much encouragement. Made me miss him all the more (but then, if he were here, I wouldn't get the emails!).

Dad is great. He's very handy around the house, a bit of a tinkler, that is, he'll play with something until he gets it just right! He likes to do things properly. We'll never let him live down the day that he sat down to eat tacos with a knife and fork! He's expressive, he's not afraid to shed a tear when one is due and indeed if he does, there's no way that I could not shed one too!

Even though you are thousands of kilometers away dad, I still love that we can talk like you're here next to me. Thanks for being such a great dad. I love you. Happy Birthday.

Brentwood Secondary's Debutante Ball

2007-05-09T09:44:00.000+10:00

Last Friday night I went along to "The Deb" as it is fondly called. There were a few reasons why I decided to go:

1. This year level has caused me too much pain to miss an opportunity to watch them behave like adults for (almost) an entire evening.

2. It was a good opportunity to support my friend Katharine, who was a key organiser of the event.

3. I get to make myself up and put on a pretty dress and

4. I'd never been to one before.

And let me tell you, it's a pretty funny event. Each couple is presented on their own and have things read out about where they work and what they want to do in the future and there's in excess of 20 couples, so this takes a while...

Then they perform set dances, some of the facial expressions were hilarious as obviously some boys were convinced that this was a good idea by someone else (normally a pretty girl) and were yet to won over to the idea. The picture below is of their "fun dance" and the boys all gave the girls their jackets to wear for the song.

And of course, it was a great opportunity to catch up with some of my teacher friends in a relaxed setting and have a bit of a dance.
This from L-R is Katharine, Me, Monique

This is me and Robyn.

An Engagement Party - Bollywood Style!

2007-05-05T10:23:00.000+10:00

Flew to Adelaide last weekend for my friend Kristen's engagement party. Was a great opportunity to catch up with other friends as well. I stayed with family friends (also my old piano teacher) and enjoyed being doted on like a daughter for a few days (ie. having coffees made for me, being taken out for lunch - twice!) and of course, playing Mary's grand piano, very therapeutic!

Was taken out for lunch (again) by my friends Phili and Dan. Was great to see them again after their surprise trip to Melbourne in March. Must say though, we probably spent 20% of the time going "I can't believe this rain". Yes it rained and poured while I was there. I'd forgotten what it was like for it to rain that much. Unfortunately back here in Melbourne, we got a couple of bursts but nothing like the 2 and a half days of near-constant rain in Adelaide. We wait in hope.

Anyway, to the purpose for the visit: Kristen and Michael's engagement party. Somehow my invite was lost in the post so when I messaged Kristen to find out the details on Thursday morning (before leaving Fri morn) she replied with the venue, time and "Bollywood theme - wear something colourful" BOLLYWOOD?? Could have told me earlier! So I messaged Phili to see if she or her sister Ali had anything that might do the job. Thankfully Ali came through with the goods and here was the end result:

The punjabi (sp.?) and necklace were Ali's. The oversized earings and large bangle were Mary's and the shawl and Indian bangles were mine. A good team effort! Kristen was dressed in a gorgeous sari:

One that she bought in India when she holidayed there with Michael and his family. Here's one of them on the dance floor:

I was really struck by the whole "men dancing" thing. Such a different culture where you'll get men dancing together in syncronised moves. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me when it was happening but this photo's pretty cool:

Needless to say, it was a fun night of eating (his family's Indian, hers is Polish - need I say more?), drinking and dancing. And even though I only knew about 5 people, I arrived at 4pm and left at 10pm and so made quite an evening of it!

Next post: the Brentwood Secondary Debutante Ball...

Lest We Forget

2007-04-25T15:09:00.000+10:00

Today is ANZAC day. The day we remember all the soliders who have fought for us. I thought it would be a fitting day to post the photos that Tom and I took when we visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra last year.

This photo shows the remains of the HMAS Sydney. Tom's Gran's brother died on this Ship. The ship was lost off the coast of WA and sank without a trace. This exhibit shows it's only remains, a lifeboat and a life-vest.

The poppy up the top is the one that we put in for Gran's brother.

This next photo is of the HMAS Australia. My Grandad Bob's brother Jack died on the HMAS Australia. What I found out from this exhibit was that the men who died on this ship were killed by the kamakazie pilots who attacked the ship.

Here is a picture of me pointing out the poppy that we placed for Uncle Jack Annear.

Despite the smiling faces it was a very sombre reminder of the price that was paid by our relatives so we could have the freedom we now enjoy.

Lest we forget.

Look Mum, I Grew a Pumpkin!

2007-04-24T21:33:00.000+10:00

Okay, so it was kind of accidental, but I managed not to kill it (unlike the rest of the plant)! Made pumpkin soup on Sunday night, had some in a funny vegie thing I made for tonight and are going to put some more in a pumpkin korma curry for Thursday night. Yum!

A Quiet Night In?

2007-04-21T10:30:00.000+10:00

Picture this: I'm all psyched up for an evening in, Kaitrin's coming for dinner to share photos of her recent Liberia/UK trip and to catch up, I've set the menu: a roast followed by Butterscotch self-saucing Pudding.

Then she calls me. "Do you want the good news, or the bad news? I can't come for dinner, but we're going instead to Bjorn Again at Crown!"

Requires a bit of a change of mindset, don't you think?

Anyway, it was a fabulous night out, with lots of singing along and getting up and dancing, and once again I amazed myself with how many Abba lyrics are sitting uselessly in my brain for a rainy day (or Bjorn Again concert)! They really are a very talented outfit and have really paid attention to detail - including very outdated choreography. We had all the hits Dancing Queen, Fernando, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Money, Money, Money, The Winner Takes it All, to name but a few.

And that was it... my quiet night in with a friend.

Time out at the Howqua Valley

2007-04-19T08:53:00.000+10:00

Well after my last blog I have sucessfully managed to take some time out with friends, and to relax a little. It was great over the Easter break to be able to 'go bush' for 4 days camping. I'm not a huge camping person so the first night was kept awake by 1) the birds, 2) the sound of the river flowing 3) a horse neighing at 1am and 4) the cold. Thankfully I managed to overcome these obstacles to sleep quite well the other nights!

Tom's dad has a 4wd which he loves to take off road so I enjoyed the opportunity to see him in his element and to see some of the countryside in the area that was ravaged by bushfires earlier this year. It's difficult to take a photo that shows how extensive the damage is but here's one that worked well.

In the foreground is Fry's Hut, built in 1930. There are a number of these huts which were built for the cattlemen to rest in when they were driving their cattle up to the plains in summer. In the middle of the picture you can see the green trees of Fry's flat, a camping area, and in the background are trees that were burnt in the fires (I know it looks a little like Autumn).

Behind Fry's Hut lies the Howqua river, to canoe from this point of the river to where we were camping would probably take around half a day. This is me by the river.

And of course it's all about the food when you go camping (with the Hanslow's and Boyd's anyway!). We had a magnificent roast which was buried in a pile of hot coals for 3 hours. This one's a bit of a story by pictures:

And then 3 hours later you dig it out of the dirt and eat it (it's in a pot). And it was magnificent! There's lots of other great pictures, it's just that I don't have them on my camera. It was a great relaxing time out, with weather you wouldn't think possible in early April, blue skies and 25degrees. Apparently, I won't be really tested in my camping abilities until it's raining... not sure if I'm too keen on that one, one step at a time.

Words I Hate

2007-03-29T08:07:00.000+10:00

There are some words in the English language I just don't like to hear. Swear words are one group, but there are a few others that are almost just as jarring to my ears, words like "Stress" and "Busy". I remember having a conversation with a friend who is a dentist some time ago and he said that 5 years ago whenever he asked a patient how they were they would say "stressed", now whenever he asks a patient how they are, they say "busy".

I am somewhat scarred by the word "busy", when I had my accident 3 years ago, I had a few friends who never came to visit me at home. When they saw me at church they'd say "I'm so sorry I haven't been to see you, I've just been so busy". And all I could think was "I nearly died, what more will it take for you to make some time for me?" I promised to myself then, that I would never be so busy as to not make time for my friends and for people. John Piper has a great quote in his book "Don't Waste Your Life" that goes 'No man has ever lamented on his dying bed, "I wish I had spent more time at the office"' But now I look at my lifestyle over the last month and feel like it's out of control. I love what I'm doing but I'm so ... you know the word. In fact I've been so ... that I forgot a dear friend's birthday! I don't want to be that person, I promised myself I wouldn't become that person - Lord, help me to keep my life in balance, that I may remember to appreciate the small things, that sometimes look insignificant but help us to appreciate all the goodness that you have given us. Amen.

A Tearful Reunion

2007-02-25T18:34:00.000+11:00

As I get older (about to turn the ripe old age of 25 - so this is said seriously but also can't help be a little tounge-in-cheek) I'm starting to reflect more on the relationships that have helped to form me as a person, and the people who have had an influence on me without me even really realising their importance.

On Saturday I had the joy of seeing one of my many other "Mums", Mary Lewis. Mary is the mother of my good friend Phili, (whose Blog you can check out on the right of the page) and therefore, by default also became another "Mum" to me as during my high school years in Adelaide it was often the case that if I wasn't at home, I was at Phili's and that often meant enjoying Mary's company as well.

I ran into Mary, quite to my surprise (and her's) on Saturday at a "Ridley Women" (as in the Bible College) Mentoring Day, after not having seen her for quite a number of years. At morning tea I tapped her on the shoulder and (after she figured out it was me - it can be hard with a married name!) gave each other a warm mother/daughterly embrace! What a joy it was to see this amazing woman of God again and to see the way in which God brought us together at that exact moment when I needed a motherly embrace from someone who has seen me grow up all through my adolecence (and it's been almost 12 months from my own Mum). I was taken aback by the strong affection and connection I felt with Mary after such a long time of separation, for, as I said at the beginning of my post, it hasn't been until the last couple of days since seeing her that I have reflected as an adult on the impact she had on my life. So thanks Mary, for being one of my special "Mums" (and thanks Phili - for sharing her with me while she's in Melbourne!)

And because I knew Mum would love a photo:

An Extrovert Living an Introvert's Lifestyle

2007-02-21T21:29:00.000+11:00

My apologies for a severe lack of blogging of late. No excuse really as I've been at home more than I would usually be with uni only going back next week. I've been spending large amounts of time at home working on my own as Tom has been working his second job binding books at Swinburne Uni. I've been thinking about what it was that was sobering my mood of late and came up with the title for this blog "An extrovert living an introvert's lifestyle". You see, I would not normally choose to spend 8 hours on my own, let alone more than once a month! So the past few weeks have left me like a fish out of water - kind of limp!

But tomorrow marks O-Week, a full day of on campus work. Chalking, meeting new people, catching up with old people and a general happy extroverty kind of vibe. (And a free lunch because there's a CU BBQ!) So hopefully this will wake me up from my dazy time of trying to live like an introvert, ie. reading books, sending emails and generally enjoying space, give me people and lots of them in all their fullness, then maybe I'll wake up enough to start blogging again (what an introverted thing to do!)

A Yarra Valley Day Out

2007-02-07T08:50:00.000+11:00

Had a very fun weekend with Josh (my cousin) and Jayne (his girlfriend) down from Sydney for work but also to hang out with us for the weekend - lucky us! Tom and I had been planning the day out for some time as Jayne mentioned she had been to Melbourne a few times but not really seen much of Victoria! Unfortunately I don't have too many photos but the day started out at the Yalley Valley Dairy (mmmm, cheese...) where Tom, Jayne and I tried out their taste-tester selection of cheeses (the tastes were a little too strong for Josh).

We then drove on to the Yering Farm winery, where we were able to taste both wines and jams and then we had a coffee together overlooking the beautiful (if not so green) countryside.

We then drove on to the famous Healesville Pub for lunch, and then, because the day was not yet old enough, we drove them through the Black Spur to Marysville, where we stopped once again for coffee, cakes and to see the lolly shop.

And because it made for a good photo...

Thanks Josh and Jayne for a chance to take you out for the day. And to all our other friends interstate... we'd do it for you too if you came to visit us!

Tom's Birthday Celebrations

2007-01-22T21:43:00.000+11:00

Well Tom turned the ripe old age of 24 on Friday and so his parents put on a bit of a party for some of his old mates, so I thought I'd give you an idea in pictures of how the night went.

This is some of the boys playing a strange version of cricket in the pool.

This is a nice photo of myself with Katie (L) and Krystal.

This is me trying to take a snazzy shot with the night vision on the camera, as you can see, I need a tripod.

This is Heather's magnificent trifle, she has to put it in a lasagne dish and three times the recipe! YUM!

And because trifle with ice-cream wasn't enough, there was a gingerbread house (made by Christy) for afters.

Yet through all this I didn't seem to get a picture of Tom, so here's one I took tonight! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Holidays

2007-01-08T12:46:00.000+11:00

We are currently enjoying holidays in Newcastle which have been very relaxing so far including trips to the beach and long talks with our cousins and aunt and uncle. Josh and his girlfriend Jayne picked us up from the airport and we went out for a beautiful breakfast in Stockton, it was the first time we had met Jayne and she was every bit as gorgeous as Josh had described. We have also been watching lots of DVD's including "You, Me and Dupree", "Bridget Jones's Diary", "Robin Hood, Men in Tights". Tom has also promised Uncle Dave that he'll watch "The Sting" with him before we leave on Thursday. Went to the 20/twenty match at Newcastle yesterday and it was packed. A fairly close game coming down to the last two overs. NSW kind of stuffed it by letting one of the Rugby players into their team as he wasn't very good. I enjoyed it because it was a faster game of cricket!

Only two trips to the beach so far, the weather here hasn't been perfect beach weather and the water on Saturday was 15 degrees, I mean, if we wanted to swim in water that cold we could have stayed in Melbourne!

Anyway, the food has been great (as one always gets with Aunty Sue) so much so that we will be doing some serious trips to the gym this month! Anna leaves to go back to London tomorrow, but we have enjoyed spending more time with her this year as she was already there when we came last year. It has been freaking us out how similar Anna is to Jocelyn and Uncle Dave is to my Dad, like, REALLY FREAKING US OUT. It's also nice to get a taste of familiarity though with Mum and Dad overseas. It's amazing how similar familes can be even when they don't see each other very often!

A Teppenyaki Treat!

2007-01-03T18:12:00.000+11:00

Tom and I have never dined out to Teppenyaki before but with Entertainment books in hand and a cousin over from Perth with her husband, Connor, Tim and Amy, Heidi and Adrian and Tom and I thought it might be fun to take them out somewhere fun. So we ended up at Southbank at a Teppenyaki restaurant.

From L-R: Eloise, Heidi, Amy, Me, Tom, Tim, Connor, Adrian.

And now for the food:

Yum!

For Phili (who loves irises)

2007-01-01T14:22:00.000+11:00

It's so lovely to have a garden, but I have been quite concerned about the beautiful white irises on the path to our door. This is why...

They just didn't seem to be flowering. Anyway, we got a bit of rain on Sunday morning and when we arrived home they looked like this...

I have no idea why they decided to start flowering or how they did it in a few short hours, but I will enjoy them all the same. Isn't creation great?

A Tour of My House

2006-12-27T12:04:00.000+11:00

Well the Optus man has come and done a double deal for us! I was only expecting to get the home phone connected but he's done the cable Internet as well! I'm thrilled and glad to get back to blogging as I have so much to share and many pictures to show. I'll start with our beautiful house!

The house with the driveway and our car (so you actually know that it's ours!!)

This is the path to our door - isn't it cute?! You can also see the rose bushes at the fence line. Only 3 at the moment but when the drought breaks I hope to put in 4 more.

This is the entry hall with Howard's beautiful painting. And the roses are from my garden!

This is our master bedroom, it's kind of long and skinny.

This is MY study, I can't show you the picture of Tom's study/guest room cause it's too messy at the moment.

This is the lounge, I couldn't really take a photo that does it justice. It's a great room to sit in and the lilac walls have really grown on me. I bought some new cushions for the couches yesterday - 4 for $20, I thought that was a bargan. I put the colourful cushions on our new cane chairs we got for Christmas that sit on our deck - they look great there!

Then there's the dining room:

The kitchen:

...and the deck:

And I think that will do! I hope that you enjoyed the pictorial tour of our new house - please do come and see it for real sometime!

New Home

2006-12-21T16:14:00.000+11:00

Well much has happened since my last blog and with no current Internet access at home (currently at the in-laws) blogging is rather difficult, the unfortunate thing being that I have so much to blog!

Here's a quick run-down of what we've been up to...

Went to Canberra for National Conference but stopped at the War Memorial beforehand to pay tribute to Tom's gran's brother and my grandfather's brother. Photos to come (one day...).

Had National Conference, was crazy, complete with fire evacuation at 1am on the last night - NOT HAPPY!

Packed up and moved out of old house, looked much cleaner and more spacious without all our stuff in it! Funny that.

Moved into NEW HOUSE (before settlement I might add - long story will fill in when I have more time). It's just beautiful and I can't wait to post HEAPS of photos but can't yet as I don't have the camera on me (and haven't actually taken the photos yet). Moving day was relatively straight forward and we were very quickly unpacked and settled. Have even taken our first trip to Bunnings to buy "things for the new place" can tell this is going to be very dangerous.

Christmas shopping today with Tom and Christy, was very straightforward and have a beautiful new dress (thanks Mum!) the shop assistant almost convinced me to buy two and I was oh so tempted but managed to resist - bring on the post Christmas sales with Tom at the Cricket for (at least) 3 days!

Okey doke, must get going, time to go home to our beautiful house. It's very hot today so we might even have to try out the cooling!!

Muscle Work

2006-11-21T22:22:00.000+11:00

While I know that going to the gym this past 8 or so months has been very helpful in giving me some beautiful definition in my arms (no picture, shouldn't boast too much!) I think I've found something that's just as good for all round toning and definition of those arm muscles that seem built by God to be flabby.

It's called "Moving House"! Weekly routine could involve:
- packing and moving boxes
- vacuuming those "hard to reach" corners
- scrubbing the floor with disinfectant
- reaching for those cobwebs in far corners
- getting into the grouting in the shower (my personal fave)

So girls! If you want to get some definition, just move house! It does wonders for the muscles.

(Ok so there may be a note of sarcasm in my tone here, just in case you didn't pick it up. But the house is starting to look cleaner and emptier and moving date is fast approaching!)

All girls love to dress up! (Don't they?)

2006-11-12T17:38:00.000+11:00

Was at a wedding (Kirk McKenzie to Renee Downie) on the weekend so I had to take the opportunity to put the photos on the Blog.

Here's one of me and Amy (who was a bridesmaid):

And me and Tom (Mum, please note that Tom has lost lots of weight, we can't stand the thought of you remembering us as podgy! - And yes, he's getting his hair cut on Tuesday.)

And I suppose I should put one in of the wedding party!

It was a very relaxed wedding, the only traditional thing about it was that the dress was white. I don't think I've ever laughed so much during a wedding actually. It suited them very much!

And then there were two...

2006-10-25T09:25:00.000+10:00

You may remember some time back that I mentioned our fish. Well, one of them died some time back, which was quite sad and it had appeared to have been bullied by the other three fish. Wouldn't you know it, now another has died of a similar fate! And not only that, but when we found it dead, it's tail was missing - ugh! Even fish canibalism makes me squeamish.

So now it's a battle between the remaining two fish, both of similar size. I must say that now I know what they get up to when we're not around, I'm not all that keen on getting many more fish, their calculated coldness to consistently bully another fish to death and then eat it's remains doesn't exactly float my boat. UGH!

And we thought fish were such nice simple creatures.

Bad Habits

2006-10-20T17:27:00.000+10:00

I'm happy for you to disagree but in my opinion drinking beer could be classified as a bad habit (no offence Dad!). But I suppose perhaps you just need to start early enough to get the taste of it. I was flicking through some photos on the computer today and came across this very cute one of my goddaughter Jemima. I'm thinking that she will probably be a big beer drinker when she gets older! It's a Boag's draft for those of you who are interested. Maybe she could become a Boag's tester reserve?

Greenthumb

2006-10-15T21:24:00.000+10:00

Actually, I've never been much of a greenthumb myself but now that we're moving out I figure the small courtyard area we actually have should be kind of tidy! So on holidays a couple of weeks ago I was out there with the weed spray and went CRAZY! Hmmm, not sure if that's really called "gardening" more like "weedocide" (like genocide but with weeds). So this weekend has been the weed killing aftermath. I've uprooted all the weeds along the path, the paved area, the rocks and the soil area and while I did kind of kill the few plants that once lived there, I'm hoping that the weeds won't come back too strong before we move out so that my greenthumb days can begin in our new place that actually has a nice garden. In fact, I've already got a Japanese Maple tree all ready to plant when we arrive. (If you go to the picture a few blogs back, I want to put it near where that bushy thing is near the window on the right.)
A successful weekend had by all - except for the weeds (and the snails - I have it in for them too!).

Cricket

2006-10-10T20:56:00.000+10:00

For those of you about to tune out because even the word cricket puts you to sleep - WAKE UP! Tom's parents recently returned from a trip to Europe that included a trip to the famous cricket ground of Lords in London and brought me back a tea towel that generously explained the rules of cricket - for those uninitiated, like me, I thought it would be helpful to share the tea towel's words of wisdom...

The quietness of mornings

2006-09-29T09:28:00.000+10:00

Ok, ok, so it's actually 9:22am precisely, but I'm on holidays and Tom has been sleeping poorly so I've left him to sleep away and got my breakfast and so am now sitting at the computer in my dressing gown with my toast (with nutella - thanks Joce) and juice. So anyway, as I'm sitting here listening to the hum of fish tank water filter, I've been pondering on the beautiful quietness and solitute of mornings that are not filled with the insanity of constantly needing to do stuff. I rarly get up these days and get time to be still and reflective, it's always up and out the door. So even though our house does need to be both cleared of junk and cleaned at the moment, I'm just enjoying this morning that I can be thankful for all the mornings that God gives so graciously to us (and the fact that it's currently cloudy but I live in Melbourne so by midday I should be able to get some washing done when the sun eventually decides it's time to shine). Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (that's the water filter)

Our House

2006-09-26T22:17:00.000+10:00

Well, it's quite unbelieveable really, but Tom and I bought ourselves a house yesterday! We are still pinching ourselves as we continue to call friends and family to let them know, so sorry if this is how you've heard... I thought it might be a good idea to have a picture so here it is!
Isn't it cute? It's more than we ever dreamed of being able to get and we are so looking forward to putting our own mark on the place and welcoming lots of family and friends. If you live in the near vincinity or are planning a holiday, we are having a Australia Day Housewarming Party in January (the 26th if you didn't know) and can't wait to show it off, hope you can make it!

A Ball!

2006-09-04T21:21:00.000+10:00

I only went to 2 Uni Balls in my time as a student but now being a student worker, these things tend to pop up again and again and on Saturday was the 2nd Annual Christian Union Ball. I must say, as a girl it's always fun to be able to dress up for times like these. Tom on the other hand finds them very tedious. Needless to say it was a very fun night. Here's a photo of me and Holly (a girl that I meet with).
Christy (my sister in-law), kindly curled my hair for the evening and put it up for me!
Tom and I also did quite well out of the evening and went home with a cut of beef that would have been at least 30cms by 20cms (you would have been proud Mum!) and today we cut it up and distributed it amoungst the melbourne uni staff team, we had to get rid of it before the smell was going to take over the fridge so much that we'd never get it out! It was overpowering this morning when I got out the milk for breakfast and I can't say that I enjoy being able to smell half a cooked cow at breakfast time!

A timely reminder

2006-08-30T13:16:00.000+10:00

Was talking to Mum on Skype last night and she told me off for not having updated my blog, so seeing I'm currently on my lunch break (but working from home), I thought I should use the time productively (rather than playing spider solitaire that is!).
So, after my last blog was our mid-year conference, which was an absolute hit. We didn't get quite as many students as we hoped but all who were there had a throughly enjoyable time and the speakers were excellent.
However, I feel that all that hard work is starting to catch up with me as we are currently in week 6 of semester and my whole brain and body feel like they want to grind to a halt! I think the gym and all my running is catching up on me too as today my calf muscles feel like they were cramping all night, ouch!
Anyway, I promise I will try and become a regular blogger again so you can keep up with all the news and my constant ramblings!

A quick note

2006-07-08T10:48:00.000+10:00

We leave for our week long mid year conference today. It starts with a leaders camp for two nights and then the rest join us on Monday morning. I'm excited because I know that it will be a really great time, but also scared because as organisers there is so much to think about and there's a part of me that thinks there should be no way possible that we could pull this off. Organising the music has been a mixed blessing. It's been more time consuming this week than I anticipated and yet we have a group that are really passionate about worship and are good musicians. This makes the world of difference when practicing, but again there's the little voice inside my head telling me "you can't possibly pull this off" and yet, by God's grace, we will. I better run, we have a car to pack and some long-term food to buy for the fish! Thanks for reading my inner thoughts ;-)

New additions to the family

2006-07-02T13:25:00.000+10:00

Well, for some time, Tom and I have been thinking that it's time to increase the size of our little family, and seeing that our rental agreement does not allow pets - we have bought some fish! We've had them for a week now, there's four, and they're tropical freshwater fish (which means the tank needs to be heated), their proper name is serpae tetra and they're black and orange and transperent. There's one who is a bit larger than the rest and he seems to chase the others around the tank quite a lot. Anyway, must put up some photos on the blog soon, I should say that I find them quite distracting when I'm working as I can just look up from the computer and there they are! That big one really is a bully! We hope to get some other kinds of fish to add to the tank, hopefully we'll eventually have around 15 in total.

School

2006-06-14T18:32:00.000+10:00

We're on holidays from CU this week and next week, so I've taken the liberty to go back to Brentwood where I was teaching last year and do some relief teaching, much to my surprise I've enjoyed it way more than I thought I would, now that I no-longer work there full time it's giving me an oppotunity to get out of the house and earn some good money and I've loved catching up with my old teacher friends and even some ex-students. It's also helped me to realise a number of things about why teaching is so rediculously stressful and how nice teaching can be without all that stress such as:
- Not needing to prepare for classes (or think of something on the spot because you've been doing report writing/proof-reading/collating).
- No marking
- No reports
- No meetings
- No need to follow up student discipline all the time
I feel like I'm hardly working at all and yet I'm getting paid for it - it's lovely!
I've been amazed at the number of students who both remember me and want to say hello and seem genuinely glad to see me, while I do love student work, I did invest a lot of time in some of these students over my two years of teaching and I feel like (much to my surprise) that I really did make some sort of impact (because you're so busy and stressed, you rarely get to either ponder on or reflect on the difference you might be making).

Relief work is giving me a whole new perspective on teaching, or perhaps confirming the perspectives I already had - it's hard, it's stressful, the hours are long and some of my friends look like they need 6 weeks to recover from the 12 week term, not that other professions aren't hard but I realised even more that when I thought I was going crazy last year, I probably was.

Thank God for teachers and good ones at that!

Remodelling

2006-06-03T13:27:00.000+10:00

Tom and I have spent the better part of the last 3 weekends remodelling our home. It was either that or move and moving is too expensive so we decided to swap our study with our master bedroom in order to give us more working space, seeing we are at home all day everyday at the moment, space is vital to keeping us both sane.

Speaking of sane, we are babysitting Ruby, Matilda and Jemima this afternoon, hopefully we'll have plenty to do with them so that we can stay busy, it includes bath time and dinner! A real test for the two of us, but we should be right for 3 hours! It's Jemima's 1st birthday this week! Tom and I are very excited as her godparents!

Tom's cooked nacos for lunch - yum!

Going to the Theatre

2006-05-28T16:29:00.000+10:00

When was the last time you went to the theatre? Yesterday I went to see Romeo and Juliet with my friend Katharine from Brentwood. The performance was by the Bell Shakespeare Company who always put on energetic performances with modern flair and this play was no exception. It was great to see the whole of Romeo and Juliet performed live on stage although it was hard to watch at times without comparing it to Luhrman's movie. It made me realise again how easy it is to understand Shakespeare when it's performed and when the actors know how to interpret the text.

The biggest shock came when the "Finish" guy from the Masterfoods sauces adds came out as Friar Lawrence. Katharine and I were sitting there with our shoulders moving up and down and we restrained our laughter. He was quite good too!

Anyway, it was nice to be sophisticated for an afternoon and go to the theatre - I highly recommend it.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2006-05-21T18:23:00.000+10:00

A picture so typically DAD! Bow-tie, powt, it has it all! And Mum looking at him so adoringly (cool photo huh?)

Sorry the blog isn't actually on your birthday but I hope that you had a really great day! I have a feeling that the next year for you will bring many challenges but lots of excitement and fun as well! You've been a great dad and even though you are now half a world away, I have heaps of good memories of all the fun times we had together living at home (playing "guess the composer" with Tom doesn't really feel like real competition) and I look forward to hearing about all the amazing things you will do in Basel! Lots of love, Glenda
Disclaimer:
To those who are not my parents I apologise for all the recent blogs regarding them, but seeing that they are in Germany and I am in Australia I need to make sure I say these things loud and proud!

30th Anniversary Congratulations

2006-05-15T18:22:00.000+10:00

To my darling parents... Do you remember when I used to ask you to promise me that you would never divorce? I think I was about 8 at the time, you would never promise and I used to get so annoyed. I think I understand now - life is always full of surprises, good and bad. But I've loved the priviledge of growing up in a stable family home, with parents who love and adore one another. Now you have come to the 30th anniversary of your marriage and I think (though it's a bit werid to say) that you are back to the "honeymoon period". No children to worry about! (Well, that's the theory anyway...)

Congratulations, what an amazing feat - may God enable you to stay married and happy for another 30 years!

Work on the Weekend

2006-05-14T18:16:00.000+10:00

I'm waiting for our slow computer to print out my bible study for Tuesday afternoon (Mark 16 if you're interested) and thought it had been so long since my last post that I should update while I wait! There's nothing more annoying than doing work on the weekend, but I do it every weekend anyway, so I don't know why I'd bother getting annoyed!

Mondays are so often a hectic day for us that it's almost impossible to get away with not doing work on a Sunday. I still have to finish reading the chapter on "Knowing God" I said I'd do to report back to staff meeting tomorrow - arg! It's about propitiation and gee it just gets my head in a muddle, despite that however, I also know how important it is to get my head around it all and be able to grapple with the issues involved. Six years ago I used to get so frustrated with Christians sitting around talking about the deep issues - now I understand that if I'm not forcing my faith to push forward beyond my simple regions of understanding then my faith won't grow, and I always want to be able to believe bigger things of God - even to the extend that he'll grow my brain to help me understand the tough issues!

All that aside,

Happy Mother's Day Mum!

I love you loads and wish I were able to sit down and share a coffee with you this afternoon, maybe even some cake too! You are a magnificent mother, even from afar. Your never-ending love and support for us is amazing. I love that we are such good friends and thank God for the last few happy years we spent "hanging out" at home when I was at uni. You are and always will be an inspiration in my life - I love you, your daughty xox

Facials and Pampering!

2006-05-05T17:17:00.000+10:00

Oh I love Ella Bache. Hmmmmm. Today I went for a facial - my first ever. It was a kind of birthday present. My auntie had sent me some money for my birthday "to pamper myself" and because I'm on the Ella Bache mailing list I also received a $20 voucher for a facial there. Put the combination together and you have one hour of bliss. It is so nice to be pampered! I almost missed the date for the voucher (considering my birthday's in March and it's now May!) but I got a letter from my auntie this week saying "enjoy that facial" so I thought I should comply, being the dutiful niece that I am.

So I'm feeling beautifully relaxed this afternoon as I look outside at the wet and contemplate the fact that Tom and I are going to the football tonight! I suppose that Mud baths are a form of pampering, right? Oh well, it should be a laugh - if we win! GO CATS!

Blogging Frustrations!

2006-05-04T17:09:00.000+10:00

So I'm starting to set up my own blog right and I wanted to display a picture of me on the block, no rocket science huh? But no, first the URL name is too long, then the file is too big, grrrrrrr. Don't you just hate computers sometimes!

On a nicer note, I'm sitting here writing my blog while Tom is making us dinner... I have such a great husband! Though no thanks to you mum, not being able to send the recipie and all! It's alright we found one on the Internet (curried sausages for your information, Dad would be so glad he's missing out on it).

Oh well, there's a gym to go to and we haven't been in a while as we've both been unwell, in Sydney, in Adelaide ect. Aren't we the young jetsetting couple!

Welcome to My Blog

2006-05-03T11:40:00.000+10:00

Ok, so I really should be doing work, but I'm rewarding myself after two absolutely hectic days by creating my own blog, how's that for logic?!

Anyway, welcome to my blog, I hope that you find it interesting and decide to visit here occationally, I have no idea whether I'll acually be able to keep up with the posts but I'll give it a shot.

I should really get back to work now,
Cheers xo