"smile, breathe and go slowly"

I found this quote (or is it a mantra?) on one of my fave websites today: Zen Habits

As my word for the year, 'believe' doesn't seem to be working out too well. I'm not sure why because I know it's a word I need to focus on. But 'breathe' seems to resonate more. SO, I've decided to have 2 words this year. Breathe and believe.

I'm off to "smile, breathe and go slowly" while I frantically tear around the house tidying up and getting ready to go out tonight for our celebration of 11 years of marriage.

Here are some old pics of that happy day in 1997:

xxxx

What does 'meme' mean anyway?

I've been tagged for a 'meme' by a few lovely friends - Em, Sharon and Maria. I don't really know what 'meme' means, so I'll just follow the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My life is sometimes random and sometimes weird, so this should be easy'ish....even if a bit boring for you. Sorry about that.

1. I think I'm becoming addicted to Berocca. I *need* to have one every morning. Has to be the red one, I don't like the others.

2. I sometimes have panic attacks for crazy little things, even though I can deal with big dramas pretty easily. Or maybe I'm delusional and I don't deal very well with anything. Don't give me feedback about this, it's probably best.

3. I don't like driving across bridges or low level crossings - they make me anxious.

4. I bought a pattern for a skirt today - I want to sew it this weekend.

5. I took my first (and probably only) sickie in 1989. I spent the day in the Sydney Botanic Gardens with a new boyfriend. It was Spring. The very next day our photo was in the Sydney morning paper with a story about getting outdoors in the glorious Spring weather. Good grief!

6. I wish I worked part-time.

7. The pile of books on the floor on my side of the bed is about 2 feet high. I've read most of the books and just couldn't be bothered putting them away.

I'm not going to do rules 3+4, but if you have read this far and feel like sharing seven random things about yourself on your blog, knock yourself out. I'd love to read them. xxxx

What's new?

I didn't go to Adelaide today. I'd be very happy about that if I didn't feel so unwell.

The latest from the land of Thompson:

* we went to Nanny and Poppy's a couple of weeks ago to celebrate Ruby's birthday with extended family. There was a party, with cake and bubbles and pass the parcel and lots of cousins to hang out with - good fun.

* Ruby turned 5 - it was Crazy Hair Day at school, mumma baked a bazillion sparkly pink cupcakes for a birthday celebration at school and we had Chinese takeaway for dinner as a special treat.

* Easter Bunny found us out an Nanny and Poppy's place - much to Max's surprise. Mummy expertly fielded many questions about how Easter Bunny carries eggs, where he rests on Easter Sunday, how many eggs he leaves for every child, why he doesn't like to come inside, why he feels compelled to hide eggs and more...... Max was very competitive on the egg hunt. Scarily competitive. He kept checking how many eggs Ruby had. And he was convinced that Easter Bunny was still around, most likely leaving more eggs - ha! So he was always on the lookout for him.

* Ruby - for the second year in a row - defied all logic and refused to eat a single chocolate. She just doesn't seem to like chocolate. Crazy but true. Next year we might have to ask EB for some candy eggs or meringue eggs or maybe even cheese eggs!

* Ruby has learned a lot about Easter and has been happy to describe Jesus' death and resurrection to anyone who might be interested. Today she came home all pumped up with stories about "new life". I love her enthusiasm for this new aspect of her life - it's a joy

* We've just about done the 25,000kms we need to do for the the car lease. Only 350kms to do in this last week - easy peasy, we'll go for an adventure on the weekend.

* I'm feeling very old. Today is my 20 year anniversary of working in Government. I remember the day I started as a base grade recruit in Veterans Affairs' Sydney office. Feels like it was many lifetimes ago. I'm not celebrating this anniversary because it just makes me feel like a dinosaur!

* It's our wedding anniversary this weekend - we're trying to decide what to do/where to go on our child-free night out.

Hope your little corner of the world is happy, sunlit and enjoying "new life". :)

xxxx

Easter blessings from us to you

We've had a happy Easter. We hope you did too.

Lots has been happening around here the last few weeks. I'll post some stories and pics when I get back from Adelaide later this week.

For now, here's a pic of our 'beautiful and now 5 years old' girl. There was some very serious puppy lovin' happening yesterday. Coming home from our weekend away today she asked me if I thought Lily (our 14 year old) cat might still be alive when we got home. She knows there'll be no dogs in this house while Lily is here. :O

peace and love,

k, m, r, m

edited to add: this is NOT our new puppy. Ruby just pretended that he belonged to her for a day. :)

There'll be an explosion of Max's in the world

We did our best to give our kids names that are not too common and not too weird. We thought we'd done OK with Ruby and Max. Good solid everyday names but maybe not as everyday as Kathryn and Mark. :)

But in the last few weeks, Christina Aguilera (is that how you spell it?) and Jennifer Lopez have both named their new baby boys: Max. Oh dear. I reckon there'll be more Max's than Jack's and Lachlan's before the year is out. Sorry Maxie. We did try.

Beautiful bohemian Bangalow

Last Sunday we went to Bangalow (North Coast NSW) for a day out. It's a beautiful little town. We specifically went for the markets, but all we bought (other than lunch and snacks) was Bungee balls - balloons (kind of like yo-yo's) filled with rice attached to a long piece of elastic and made to look like things. Ruby chose a butterfly, Max got a fish and Mark and I got Santa Bungee balls cause they were free!

We pottered and snacked and laughed and watched buskers and ate icecreams and sat under big shady trees watching the world go by.

Highlights of our day out:

organic chicken hot dogs - delish

face painting

by Amber and Heather - 2 of the rainbow fairies. Of course Ruby told them all about "Ruby the red fairy", "Amber the orange fairy" and "Heather the violet fairy" because they had no idea about their fame or magical powers. This is Amber:

Ruby's butterfly face painting was spectacular.

Max asked for a piggy. Heather masterfully painted her first ever piggy face. Before he got off the chair Max whispered to me to "take it off". So Heather happily (??) washed off her first ever face painting.

afternoon tea

We had afternoon tea at a funky little cafe in the main street. Good coffee,brilliant cakes - yum.

Hope you can find a calm and beautiful spot this weekend.

peace and love

xxxx

Note to self: stop cursing in front of Max

Thursday evening:

We walk in the back door to see a bazillion ants traipsing through our kitchen. Max rushes in. And says:

"where the bloody hell did those bloody ants come from?"

Mark says to me: "where did Max get that from? And what are you going to do about it?

I say: "bloody hell. I'll probably do nuthin' "

*sigh*