One Word

Edie over at Rich Gifts is playing a cute game that I thought I would join. You have to answer each of the questions with one word. It's harder than you would think! I'm a person of many words, restricting myself to one is not easy!

I'm not going to tag anyone but if you want to play along let me know so I can come over and read your answers.

Where is your cell phone? Desk

Your hair? Short

Your father? Dependable

Your mother? Reliable

Your favourite thing? Singing

Your dream last night? Dreamless

Your favourite drink? Pepsi

Your dream/goal? Travel

The room you are in? Office

Your fear? Judgement

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Winnebago

Muffins? Savoury

One of your wish list items? Car

Where you grew up? Queensland

The last thing you did? Coffee

What are you wearing? T-Shirt

Your TV? Old

Your computer? Unreliable

Your mood? Frazzled

Missing someone? Mum

Your car? Rattley

Favourite store? Books

Your summer? Hectic

Favourite colour? Yellow

Someone who emails me? Boss

A favourite food? Chocolate

Place I'd rather be right now. Shopping

So there you go! Feel free to join in, I really had fun with this, a bit of light heartedness is just what I needed.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I really don't like teenagers

Sometimes I just want my teenagers to go away.... and come back when they have turned into reasonable adults. But then I wonder if they would ever come back, because I'm not all that confident that they are capable of turning into reasonable adults.

Last night on the way home Steph was telling me about a girl at school (who I know quite well, and I know her parents also) who has been spreading rumours about her. My advice was to just let it go, you can't spend your entire life behaving like the girls on "Mean Girls", at some stage you have to get past this cat fighting stage, because it doesn't solve anything. Of course she went on to justify her behaviour, telling me all the reasons she should retaliate, and that she is of course right.

After listening for a while and trying to reason with her I'm afraid I lost my cool. What I meant to say was that getting involved in altercations with girls like this is not a good idea. Stephanie always loses. She is just not that good at being a "you know what" and in the end she is always the one who gets hurt. That's not quite how it came out. What I actually said was "Grow up and get over it, I'm sick and tired of this rubbish, you always lose, get hurt and then look to me to pick up the pieces"

That was yesterday afternoon. She still hasn't spoken to me.

My first instinct was to apologise, but having given it some thought I've decided not to. She knows I love her, but at some point she needs to start taking responsibilty for her decisions and not expect me to fix everything for her. And I really am sick of it. That's the first time I've ever pointed out to her how her behaviour effects me, and I think (well, to be honest, Kym pointed this out) it's about time she heard it.

The other teenager in my house has turned into a sullen, obnoxious, smelly beast. I do take some comfort in the feedback I'm getting from other people. His school bus driver stopped me in the street the other day to tell me what a lovely, polite young man he is. My first instinct was to check that we were talking about the same person! But it is nice to know that he is being pleasant in public, if not to his family.

In a few years they will be gone... and then I will blog complaining about that!

Dear Lord, please watch over Steph and Scott today. Please help Steph to move on from this stage in her life, to learn to settle disputes amicably without being so confrontational. Please help her to learn to forgive, and to not hold a grudge. Please watch over Scott while he is at school today. Help him to learn, listen and enjoy his studies. Also watch over Steph as she has her second day of work placement for her traineeship. Pray that she can forget about her issues and enjoy the day, and start taking those steps toward being a mature young woman.

Out of my depth

I'm feeling a bit apprehensive at the moment.

I have joined the ministry team for our church. I was extremely honoured to have been asked and while I'm looking forward to being a more active member of our congregation I'm more than a little bit stressed about it.

I'm no stranger to meetings, or taking minutes, or committees in general, that's not what is bothering me.

I feel that this committee is more important than anything I've ever been a part of before. And I have to say I'm feeling a bit out of my depth.

Every single member of this team is wonderful, wise, spiritual and I feel they are all my spiritual senior.

I don't want to get it wrong.

I hate getting it wrong.

Really really hate getting it wrong.

Our first meeting is tonight. I'm looking forward to it but I'm apprehensive. Like, what if they find me out? I'm really not a very good Christian. I'm not sure I deserve to be in on the decision making process for our congregation.

So there you have it, I've gotten my insecurities off my chest and I do feel a little better for it. So thanks!

Ten things

Naomi has tagged me to dig up some dirt on myself and post ten things about me...

So, here goes...

1) I like lists, and notebooks, notebooks with lists. And boxes. I like to pack things up neatly in boxes and label them.

2) I worry. All the time. About everything and everyone. Mostly about my kids.

3) I love chick flicks. They make me cry, but in a good way.

4) Sometimes I am not a very nice person. I can be blunt, and abrupt, and just plain grumpy.

5) I have a terrible memory. Which means I can't hold a grudge, because I can't remember why I was angry.

6) I love my church, and I feel unworthy of being there most of the time. I have this dreadful fear that they will find me out for the fraud that I am and kick me out.

7) I love to sing. Especially for the joy of the Lord. Nothing makes my heart more glad than singing a beautiful, meaningful worship song.

8) I have struggled with being overweight all my life. I've never been really really overweight but just not comfortable in my own skin.

9) I am a cat person. Most of you are probably well aware of this by now!

10) I struggle to tell the people I care about that I care about them. I can write it down, email it, but I can't SHOW it. I even struggle with this with my husband. Often I will come home from work to find he's done something wonderful like cooking dinner, or doing the dishes or the washing and for some reason I struggle to even say thank you. What's with that?

So there you go. I'm not going to tag anyone but if you want to join in let me know and I'll pop over and read up on you!

I TOLD you it was hot!

I received an email from a friend this morning and just had to share. These pictures were taken in the Port Lincoln National Park which is just south of the city of Port Lincoln.

You know it's hot when the wildlife take to the beach for a swim....and just in case you are wondering, this is not normal behaviour for a kangaroo!
A bit of trivia for you...kangaroos don't have sweat glands, they cool themselves by licking their forearms and letting the breeze do the rest. Obviously this poor lass was sick of licking her arms and decided to think outside the square!

Isn't she beautiful?

The design stages...

The project has begun....

I've scanned Steph's design so you can see what she has in mind. We were able to find a pattern similar but without the lace underlay which Melissa assures me is really easy. The dress will be white satin, the bits with the little flowers is a silver lace overlay. Steph originally designed the bow to be at the front but now she's decided she wants it at the back, and of course that could change again.

We were really lucky yesterday with the fabric. Melissa was on her favourite fabric website and found that they were having a 50% off sale on all dress fabric. That means that we have purchased the satin, tulle for petticoat, lace, boning, zipper and even the cotton for just over $100! Now that's a bargain in anyone's language.

Like I said. We are so blessed to have Melissa.

Pray or our neighbours

In our neighbouring state of Victoria they have been having a hellish few days. So far more than 170 people have been killed in this, Australia's worst ever, bushfire. Of course the two week long heat wave hasn't helped.

The thing that belies belief is that most of the fires were deliberately lit. And many were re-ignited after being brought under control.

So many people have lost their homes, their lives, their livestock and their pets.

There have been many harrowing stories already, and I'm sure there are more to come. These are good country people, in communities just like mine. Whole towns have been devastated by this fire.

A friend of mine has family in Victoria. They have been lucky. Their house, livestock and property have been saved. I thought I would share some photo's of what they have lived through in the past two days.

The photo above is the fire coming toward their property. The post on the left is their front gate. It was at this stage that they decided to stay and fight. A decision that I hope I never have to make. They were well prepared with a good water supply and generators to power their pumps.

I'm not sure I would be taking photos with the fire this close! But it's a great shot nonetheless.

And here is Elvis, the water bomber. We love Elvis here in Australia. We have had our fair share of horrific bushfires and Elvis always comes to the rescue. This was taken out of the kitchen window of the people who stayed to try and save their home.

And what's left. The fenceline in front of the white car is the border to the property, so this family was very very lucky.

Please pray for all who have lost homes, family members, friends. Pray for the donations and support (which has been amazing) to continue and to find it's way to the people who need it.

Dress Shopping

On Saturday we went to Whyalla with a wonderful friend who is going to make Stephanie's Debutante Ball dress.

The idea was for Steph to try on lots of different styles to make sure that the dress she has designed will suit her. Of course everything suited her.

Saturday in Whyalla was 48 degrees. I kid you not. It was definately NOT formal dress trying on weather, but it was the only day we had free so we had to do it then.

After confirming that the style she thought she wanted was indeed the style she wanted we went to Spotlight for the pattern and fabric. I should have said patterns. It turns out to make the skirt that Steph wants Melissa is going to combine three different patterns and pretty much make the rest up. Melissa is amazing. We love Melissa! After working out what patterns were required we went to choose the fabric, which is the fun part. I'm so glad that debutante dresses are white. If we had to have chosen a colour it would have been just too hard. There were enough choices in white! The skirt of Stephanie's dress has an underlayer of lace so we had to choose that too.

Melissa decided to first make the dress out of calico so that she can work out all the pattern changes and not take any risks with cutting expensive fabric. I am in awe of her. This is so much work and she is so happy to do it for us. I'm pretty sure this is above and beyond the call of duty for the average God Parent!

I will take photos and keep you posted on the big dress making venture.

First week success!

Hello everyone.

I had my weigh in today after just under a week on my new weight loss program.....

Drum roll please.....

I lost 1.5kg! Yay! (3.3 pounds). That's such an excellent result. I was hoping for maybe one kilogram.

So far the new eating plan has been really easy. I've even been out shopping and managed to stick to it with no real dramas.

I think the key here is where my head is at at the moment. I really want to do it. I'm actually excited about it. I've tried losing weight often enough to know that there is just no point unless you are in the right headspace. You have to be ready to committ to it.

So I shall be moving my lady bug today!
Yay!