Check it out, and please vote. I could win munny:
(YES! It's supposed to look like a broken link. Just click it!)
Friday, November 16, 2007
Missing Link tshirt
I designed and added a tshirt to Threadless.com to see what would happen. My design passed through to selection and is now up for voting.
Check it out, and please vote. I could win munny:
(YES! It's supposed to look like a broken link. Just click it!)
Check it out, and please vote. I could win munny:
(YES! It's supposed to look like a broken link. Just click it!)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Eli's Homework Sentence #1
I've decided to pick out the odd sentence that Eli does in his homework book, because quite often his crazy, over-imaginative brain comes up with some doosies. Here's one from this week:
Word: Summer
Well done Eli, I agree!
Word: Summer
People say that Summer sucks, and it does.
Well done Eli, I agree!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Flashback #1
Horrible things I did...
Now and then I remember things I did as a child - the worst of them during my teenage years. One just resurfaced in my memory, and thinking back, I really wince when I consider how horrible it was.
Of course, in our de-sensitised society, those are the stories people love to hear. So I'll retell it here, rather than 100 times elsewhere. (Keep in mind, I'm NOT very proud of this).
So....
One day while exploring a large vacant lot of ground in the town of Narromine (where I was quietly going about the business of growing up), I came upon the corpse of a domestic cat in the long, dead grass.
The cat wasn't overly decayed, though it had been dead long enough to maintain it's curved death pose when picked up by one paw and held horizontally.
Incidentally, I don't know if it's true or not, but I've heard that cats don't seem to be as readily infested with maggots and such (thus getting bloated and smelly) like other animals are. Can anyone confirm?
So back to the story. I gather it was mid or late December, because there in the vacant lot I had the most brilliant idea for a prank, and almost wet my pants as I entertained my active mind, playing out the script.
I put the cat in a bag and took it home. Luckily mum and dad trusted me during the school holidays, and knew that I wouldn't get up to mischief... so there was no guardian to oversee what I was doing that day.
Once home, I raided the cupboards and wrapped the dear creature up in Christmas paper. I also wrote out a pleasant card and attached it to the 'gift'.
I returned to the area I found it, and knowing that the house next to the vacant block was the abode of some neighbourhood children (of the Santa-believing age), I dropped the gift at the door and made haste for the long grass, then home.
The best I could do from there was lie on my bed and giggle at what might happen. For when those children found that gift (or hopefully their folks found it first), the would've discovered a lovely Christmas gift with a little card, reading:
Now and then I remember things I did as a child - the worst of them during my teenage years. One just resurfaced in my memory, and thinking back, I really wince when I consider how horrible it was.
Of course, in our de-sensitised society, those are the stories people love to hear. So I'll retell it here, rather than 100 times elsewhere. (Keep in mind, I'm NOT very proud of this).
So....
One day while exploring a large vacant lot of ground in the town of Narromine (where I was quietly going about the business of growing up), I came upon the corpse of a domestic cat in the long, dead grass.
The cat wasn't overly decayed, though it had been dead long enough to maintain it's curved death pose when picked up by one paw and held horizontally.
Incidentally, I don't know if it's true or not, but I've heard that cats don't seem to be as readily infested with maggots and such (thus getting bloated and smelly) like other animals are. Can anyone confirm?
So back to the story. I gather it was mid or late December, because there in the vacant lot I had the most brilliant idea for a prank, and almost wet my pants as I entertained my active mind, playing out the script.
I put the cat in a bag and took it home. Luckily mum and dad trusted me during the school holidays, and knew that I wouldn't get up to mischief... so there was no guardian to oversee what I was doing that day.
Once home, I raided the cupboards and wrapped the dear creature up in Christmas paper. I also wrote out a pleasant card and attached it to the 'gift'.
I returned to the area I found it, and knowing that the house next to the vacant block was the abode of some neighbourhood children (of the Santa-believing age), I dropped the gift at the door and made haste for the long grass, then home.
The best I could do from there was lie on my bed and giggle at what might happen. For when those children found that gift (or hopefully their folks found it first), the would've discovered a lovely Christmas gift with a little card, reading:
Dear Children,
Do not open until Christmas!
Have a happy Christmas,
Love Santa.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Clayton Wisdom
Clayton says...
We were all sitting at the table last week some time having Eagle Boys pizza. Eli announced
Clayton then glared sideways at Eli, and in slow, condescending tones, informed him:
We were all sitting at the table last week some time having Eagle Boys pizza. Eli announced
"I've had four pieces, and this piece counts"(referring to the piece he was currently eating).
Clayton then glared sideways at Eli, and in slow, condescending tones, informed him:
"Eli... Pizza can't count."So true!
Eli's Nightmares
Like clockwork...
Eli is having nightmares every night. I'm trying to discover what it is that's causing them!
A hint came the other night when, around the same time as most nights (9'ish), Eli comes staggering out of his bedroom with a fearful expression and babbling some nonsense such as "Please, shhh. No... dad, please just... Ssshhh".
I sat him down and asked him what was going on (expecting a cryptic response, seeing he was still mostly asleep). He muttered something about ground walkers and men running away.
The next day I had a game of Rise of Legends, which Eli had played the day before. Lo and behold... what units do we find there? "Ground walkers".
However, based on his other nightmare experiences, I doubt the game is to blame. It's more that whatever held his attention during the day becomes the theme of his nightmare that night.
Hopefully he'll grow out of this. It's getting annoying!
Eli is having nightmares every night. I'm trying to discover what it is that's causing them!
A hint came the other night when, around the same time as most nights (9'ish), Eli comes staggering out of his bedroom with a fearful expression and babbling some nonsense such as "Please, shhh. No... dad, please just... Ssshhh".
I sat him down and asked him what was going on (expecting a cryptic response, seeing he was still mostly asleep). He muttered something about ground walkers and men running away.
The next day I had a game of Rise of Legends, which Eli had played the day before. Lo and behold... what units do we find there? "Ground walkers".
However, based on his other nightmare experiences, I doubt the game is to blame. It's more that whatever held his attention during the day becomes the theme of his nightmare that night.
Hopefully he'll grow out of this. It's getting annoying!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Awakening from Blog Slumber
Yeah yeah, I know it's not the first time my blog has suffered a lengthy stretch of neglect. Things (and babies) happen, OK?
But I'm making it up now with a quick update. Time to brief you on the most major event of the previous 4 months:
WHITE HOLIDAY!
Howlong to Albury?
You gotta love the white stuff! We've been planning this holiday for some time and we stuck to the plan! That's quite an achievement in itself.
We headed for Albury on Friday 6th July, stopping frequently (like I said... babies!) along the way for various reasons. We were greeted finally with rain in Albury, and I didn't care.
Staying in a comfy motel in Howlong (yes, it's a place name), we soon made our own fun. Most memorable was the sock fight which resulted in an amazing discovery -- socks magically clug to the brick wall! We have the photos to prove it.
General Eva Burrows
Saturday morning we attended a breakfast at the Howlong Golf Club with special guest retired General Eva Burrows. What a lovely woman of God. She has some fun and inspiring stories to tell, and overall I can describe her best as a good old Aussie grandma. Very down to earth and fun.
We went shopping in Albury, and bought a few items for our forthcoming white adventure.
On Sunday morning we attended the Albury Salvation Army Corps where Eva was speaking. She spoke on the Holy Spirit with the main question posed being "You m ay have the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have YOU?" Think about it.
Crickennis
Eli and I invented a game in the motel tennis court. We named it Crickennis. Ball is bowled from one half of the court OVER the net to the batter (wielding a cricket bat). The batter needs to hit it back OVER the net to score - which makes being caught out a real threat.
The batter doesn't have to run, but scores points according to where the ball is hit to. Hitting the side fences of the court in the bowler's half = 2 points. OVER the side fences on the bowler's half = 4 points. Hitting the back fence behind the bowler = 4 points, OVER the back fence = 6 points. Just hitting it over the net and not hitting a fence = 1 point.
Eli "won". He can remember the exact score.
The White near Bright
We loaded up the car on Monday morning, had a nice cosy breakfast with Ralph and Gwen Brown at their little cottage house, then made for Bright, Victora, via Beechworth.
We checked out the Ned Kelly museum in Beechworth, and had a yummy lunch at the bakery there. I've never seen such a busy bakery in my LIFE! I'd guess they served 100 people while we were there.
Back in the car and we headed for our destination, that lovely little town in the valley between all the large, snow-capped mountains.
Tuesday we gathered the things we needed, hired toboggans and snow chains, got dressed in our snow gear and headed for Mt Buffalo.
The trip UP the mountain was extremely edgey - literally! Our nerves were on edge because our car was on edge. We could seen a sheer drop on our right side, with no barrier between us and a quick trip to Heaven. It became kinda scarier once the sides of the road began to ice up. When a large coach suddenly appeared around a sharp corner, we were at the height of our nervousness.
Remarkably we survived :-) The exciting part of the journey was when we first started seeing patches of snow, then little mounds of it... and finally big walls of snow next to the road. For the kids and Janene, who'd never seen real snow before, it was just brilliant.
We geared up completely at the top in the car park, then we spent about 3 hours tobogganing and smashing large slabs of snow over each other's heads. We were limited to what we could do as a family since Layna was so small, but overall we had a marvelous time, and I do believe I am the best tobogganer in the Southern Hemisphere.
The day was fun, but we decided it was enough. The memories were there... next time we'll have a crack at skiing when the kids are bigger. So the remainder of the holiday we spent visiting other touristy things, such as the huge hedge maze at Wandiligong and pretty little towns like Harrietville.
We headed home on Friday 13th, and apart from Clayton spewing up for the first 2 hours, the journey was smooth sailing. However, it was lovely to be home, greeted by our ecstatic dog Molly.
I did say though, I'd live in Victoria. If only I had a good enough reason :-)
But I'm making it up now with a quick update. Time to brief you on the most major event of the previous 4 months:
WHITE HOLIDAY!
Howlong to Albury?
You gotta love the white stuff! We've been planning this holiday for some time and we stuck to the plan! That's quite an achievement in itself.
We headed for Albury on Friday 6th July, stopping frequently (like I said... babies!) along the way for various reasons. We were greeted finally with rain in Albury, and I didn't care.
Staying in a comfy motel in Howlong (yes, it's a place name), we soon made our own fun. Most memorable was the sock fight which resulted in an amazing discovery -- socks magically clug to the brick wall! We have the photos to prove it.
General Eva Burrows
Saturday morning we attended a breakfast at the Howlong Golf Club with special guest retired General Eva Burrows. What a lovely woman of God. She has some fun and inspiring stories to tell, and overall I can describe her best as a good old Aussie grandma. Very down to earth and fun.
We went shopping in Albury, and bought a few items for our forthcoming white adventure.
On Sunday morning we attended the Albury Salvation Army Corps where Eva was speaking. She spoke on the Holy Spirit with the main question posed being "You m ay have the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have YOU?" Think about it.
Crickennis
Eli and I invented a game in the motel tennis court. We named it Crickennis. Ball is bowled from one half of the court OVER the net to the batter (wielding a cricket bat). The batter needs to hit it back OVER the net to score - which makes being caught out a real threat.
The batter doesn't have to run, but scores points according to where the ball is hit to. Hitting the side fences of the court in the bowler's half = 2 points. OVER the side fences on the bowler's half = 4 points. Hitting the back fence behind the bowler = 4 points, OVER the back fence = 6 points. Just hitting it over the net and not hitting a fence = 1 point.
Eli "won". He can remember the exact score.
The White near Bright
We loaded up the car on Monday morning, had a nice cosy breakfast with Ralph and Gwen Brown at their little cottage house, then made for Bright, Victora, via Beechworth.
We checked out the Ned Kelly museum in Beechworth, and had a yummy lunch at the bakery there. I've never seen such a busy bakery in my LIFE! I'd guess they served 100 people while we were there.
Back in the car and we headed for our destination, that lovely little town in the valley between all the large, snow-capped mountains.
Tuesday we gathered the things we needed, hired toboggans and snow chains, got dressed in our snow gear and headed for Mt Buffalo.
The trip UP the mountain was extremely edgey - literally! Our nerves were on edge because our car was on edge. We could seen a sheer drop on our right side, with no barrier between us and a quick trip to Heaven. It became kinda scarier once the sides of the road began to ice up. When a large coach suddenly appeared around a sharp corner, we were at the height of our nervousness.
Remarkably we survived :-) The exciting part of the journey was when we first started seeing patches of snow, then little mounds of it... and finally big walls of snow next to the road. For the kids and Janene, who'd never seen real snow before, it was just brilliant.
We geared up completely at the top in the car park, then we spent about 3 hours tobogganing and smashing large slabs of snow over each other's heads. We were limited to what we could do as a family since Layna was so small, but overall we had a marvelous time, and I do believe I am the best tobogganer in the Southern Hemisphere.
The day was fun, but we decided it was enough. The memories were there... next time we'll have a crack at skiing when the kids are bigger. So the remainder of the holiday we spent visiting other touristy things, such as the huge hedge maze at Wandiligong and pretty little towns like Harrietville.
We headed home on Friday 13th, and apart from Clayton spewing up for the first 2 hours, the journey was smooth sailing. However, it was lovely to be home, greeted by our ecstatic dog Molly.
I did say though, I'd live in Victoria. If only I had a good enough reason :-)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Things of note
There have been a lot of things worth remembering over the last few weeks. Mostly to do with my kids.
Eli's adult teeth.
One morning Eli was brushing his teeth in the bathroom. I was busy doing my own teeth or whatever... Suddenly Eli finishes his teeth, rinses, but then loads his brush up again with MY toothpaste (his is for "milk teeth").
Then he proceeds to scrub his two bottom teeth for a few seconds until I say "What are you doing?". He replies "I'm cleaning my adult teeth...".
I masked my amusement as I realised he thought he needed different toothpaste to clean his new bottom teeth.
Audition time!
In an effort to channel Eli's creative energies, he auditioned tonight (Tues 3rd April 2007) for the part of Oliver in the upcoming DATS (Dubbo Amateur Theatrical Society) production of Oliver Twist.
I helped Eli learn the segment of the song that was required for the audition, and tried to help him keep it all in tune. He did fairly well at home in practice... and apparently it worked well in the audition because he got a "call back" to come and do an extra audition on Thursday night.
I'm looking forward to hearing how he goes. At least he'll be guaranteed a part in Fagan's gang or something.
MAD POWER!
One morning while attending to his little sister (i.e. putting her dummy back in), Clayton suddenly caught sight of a fountain of milky spew errupting from Layna's mouth. On seeing that he dove backwards as though he'd trodden on a land mine. Then after recollecting his senses he exclaimed "That's a mad power Layna!"
In Clayton and Eli's fantasy world, everybody has a super power, whether it's lava, ice, electricity or.... spew.
more to come... (as I remember them)
Eli's adult teeth.
One morning Eli was brushing his teeth in the bathroom. I was busy doing my own teeth or whatever... Suddenly Eli finishes his teeth, rinses, but then loads his brush up again with MY toothpaste (his is for "milk teeth").
Then he proceeds to scrub his two bottom teeth for a few seconds until I say "What are you doing?". He replies "I'm cleaning my adult teeth...".
I masked my amusement as I realised he thought he needed different toothpaste to clean his new bottom teeth.
Audition time!
In an effort to channel Eli's creative energies, he auditioned tonight (Tues 3rd April 2007) for the part of Oliver in the upcoming DATS (Dubbo Amateur Theatrical Society) production of Oliver Twist.
I helped Eli learn the segment of the song that was required for the audition, and tried to help him keep it all in tune. He did fairly well at home in practice... and apparently it worked well in the audition because he got a "call back" to come and do an extra audition on Thursday night.
I'm looking forward to hearing how he goes. At least he'll be guaranteed a part in Fagan's gang or something.
MAD POWER!
One morning while attending to his little sister (i.e. putting her dummy back in), Clayton suddenly caught sight of a fountain of milky spew errupting from Layna's mouth. On seeing that he dove backwards as though he'd trodden on a land mine. Then after recollecting his senses he exclaimed "That's a mad power Layna!"
In Clayton and Eli's fantasy world, everybody has a super power, whether it's lava, ice, electricity or.... spew.
more to come... (as I remember them)
Friday, February 16, 2007
Clayton the strong-willed child
That's our Claytie...
I came home for a quick lunch today and while I was eating, Clayton climbed up on the chair next to me and wrapped himself around my arm, hugging it very tightly.
Fishing for some extra reassurance I asked him "Aww, do you love me?!".
In typical Clayton fashion, he replied "Nah... I'm just tryin' to break ya arm".
--
We've decided Clayton must be what Dr James Dobson refers to as the "Strong-Willed Child". He presents a whole new set of challenges when disciplining a young boy - ones we haven't experienced while raising Eli. We bought Dr Dobson's book and Janene has set about reading it to hopefully learn some tricks for dealing with kids like Clayton.
He's the funniest kid, but becomes very dark when he's upset. He doesn't express affection that often, but is mostly a gentle boy.
That's just Clayton for ya!
I came home for a quick lunch today and while I was eating, Clayton climbed up on the chair next to me and wrapped himself around my arm, hugging it very tightly.
Fishing for some extra reassurance I asked him "Aww, do you love me?!".
In typical Clayton fashion, he replied "Nah... I'm just tryin' to break ya arm".
--
We've decided Clayton must be what Dr James Dobson refers to as the "Strong-Willed Child". He presents a whole new set of challenges when disciplining a young boy - ones we haven't experienced while raising Eli. We bought Dr Dobson's book and Janene has set about reading it to hopefully learn some tricks for dealing with kids like Clayton.
He's the funniest kid, but becomes very dark when he's upset. He doesn't express affection that often, but is mostly a gentle boy.
That's just Clayton for ya!
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