Friday, April 11, 2008

The List

I find lists to be very motivating. I'm a list junkie, I *love* lists. I usually write a couple of lists every day. And when I'm very, very stressed I have been known to write lists of my lists. Cause that's what I need when I'm stressed, detailed cross referencing of all the things I haven't yet achieved :)

Anyhoo, back to the big list that matters. I've been quietly working my way through the list and I'm pretty chuffed about that.

I can tick off 4, 26 and 28. I've made good progress on 5, 7, 8, 10, 18, 20, 27, 35 and 41. Hooray.

It might be a while before I make progress with 16 and 17 because I damaged my camera today. Actually I dropped it and the glass (over the lens) broke. I don't know if I can just get the glass replaced or if I need to buy a whole new lens. *sigh* Maybe I need to write a list of things I can sell so I can justify buying a new lens.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

"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

Thursday, March 27, 2008

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

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

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

Monday, March 24, 2008

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. :)

Sunday, March 02, 2008

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.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

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*

Saturday, February 23, 2008

42 things to do before I'm 43

1. see a platypus in the wild - this is something I've wanted to do for a very long time. It's been on my "must do" list forever. This is the year. I might go to Tasmania.
2. run for 6kms without stopping and without collapsing - I can do this, I know I can.
3. lose 6 kgs - I've made a start. I've lost 2kgs since I wrote the list. Hooray for me.
4. re-read "The Art of Happiness" - to help me re-focus. Thanks to Ruth for making think about this book again.
5. learn about Catholic religious practices so I understand what Ruby's doing at school - in just a couple of weeks, she's already learned so much by being thrust in to Lent at the start of the year
6. help with reading in Ruby's class for a morning every 6 weeks or so - I can do this, just need to book some dates in.
7. write a card or a letter each week - they'll be written on a train or a plane for sure, so forgive the scrawl when I write to you
8. sew my own skirts. I'm feeling motivated to sew and of course I have tonnes of fabric.
9. take Ruby and Max to Canberra.
10. read 5 new authors.
11. order Moo cards. I do love them and I want some.
12. make a pavlova. I feel like I can't really live too many more years saying "oh no, I've never made a pav". This might be the year it gets done.
13. have a holiday in Sydney - the kids are old enough to really love Sydney now. Ruby often pretends that she lives in an apartment at the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. :)
14. hire a kayak every now and then. I love kayaking but don't do it often enough. Actually, it happens pretty bloody rarely these days and I want that to change.
15. buy a Max ring. It's a long story. But basically Max wants me to have a "Max" ring to celebrate his birth because I have a "Ruby" ring. Max has started putting money in his piggy bank but it could be a while before I get one if I wait for the coins to accumulate.
16. do a photo session every month
17. learn how to use the different functions on my camera properly
18. use the treadmill at least 4x every week. I'm on track for this.
19. ride my bike!
20. organise play dates for Ruby and Max
21. print all of Ruby and Max's baby photos. I can't believe I haven't done this.
22. buy a new suit. I'll get another one in winter.
23. have a pedicure. I love them and it's been a long while since I had one.
24. reconnect with Rod and Donna. I miss them.
25. take a Pilates class.
26. learn how to use CUBA. It's a work thing.
27. take Ruby and Max bushwalking. So many beautiful places to go and I'm pretty sure they could both walk for a few k's now without shouting to be carried.
28. read the newspaper. More than just on the weekends that is.
29. subscribe to Crikey. I've got a lot of value out of the free trial.
30. blog at least once a week. I'll try harder I promise.
31. practice compassion everyday. I'm doing OK with this I think.
32. write to Souerng often. Souerng is our 5 year old sponsor child who lives in Cambodia. Ruby and Max tell people she's their sister.
33. stretch every day. I want more strength and less pain.
34. download fave songs/albums from the internet.
35. make time to escape every month or so. There are so many good places to run away to.
36. write my "I believe" manifesto.
37. back up my digital photos. I can't believe I haven't done this very well. I have saved some photos to CD, but I'm not very conscientious with this. And I have got an external hard drive sitting right here beside me.
38. surprise Mark.
39. replant the front garden. We need to do this soon or our neighbours will force us out of the street.
40. stick with natural medicines to improve my health.
41. spend a day with Mark every month or so. We've had 2 days together without kids so far this year. It's a very good thing.
42. buy some gorgeous new perfume. It's been a long time since I last bought myself perfume that I loved/must have.

I'll try my best to do these things before my birthday.
So what's on your list?

Monday, February 11, 2008

and then my heart melts just a little bit more

Tonight, this boy, the boy that pooed and weed his way through 4 pairs of undies and countless pullups yesterday, melted my heart just a little bit more.

Every night there are endless declarations of love. Tonight he called me his "scrummy honey". Many, many times. I love that. I love his very intense affection. Sometimes it can be a wee bit suffocating, but mostly it is very, very precious.

peace and love
xxxx

this photo was taken on Max's first day of being an "upstairs boy" at kindy. "Upstairs" is the big kids room at kindy, it's a big deal. He didn't want to go.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

School photos and some news

Here she is - the smallest, and without doubt the cutest, child in class P/1M:

with the biggest backpack ever carried by a 4 year old child (surely it is, it's huge):
and here's the big schoolie with her crazy mumma and nearly hysterical baby brother Max:


* Ruby's religious education has begun in earnest. She understands that baby Jesus was born at Christmas but is convinced that *baby* Jesus will be dying in a few weeks time just after he delivers chocolate across the world. This story hasn't changed for a couple of years now, but I was hoping a Catholic education might be able to set her straight.


* Ruby has learned a new prayer: "in the end of the Father, the Son and the Holy syrup (!). Thankyou God for this new day. Thankyou God for the games we play. God is the King of the Jungle (roar!), God is the King of the Sea (bubble, bubble), God is the King of the Universe and God is the King of me". It's beautiful and it has actions. Very very precious. We asked her to say it about 12 times tonight and she was very gracious to say it over and over and over. I did record it but it's dark and fuzzy, so will need to ask her to perform again.


* I missed the first ever information session at school tonight. I completely forgot about it and was just leaving work when it was starting. Oops. That "Mother of the Year" nomination is looking more unlikely every day.


* Our new house cleaner started yesterday. We came home last evening to a sparklingly clean and lovely house. Heaven. We spent at least 20 minutes admiring Donna's work. I talked to Ruby and Max about how we have to keep the house neat now that it's clean because Donna will be coming every week. Ruby asked "are people coming to stay". I said "no" and she said "so why did Donna clean our house?". I explained that it's nice to have a clean house all the time and she said "yeah, like everyone else's house". *sigh* Anyway, I'm looking forward to Donna's weekly visit.


Yesterday was a calm day. Today has been chaotic. As "C" appears to be the letter of the week, I'm hoping tomorrow is cool and composed and not cantankerous and challenging.

peace and love
xxxx

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Beautiful fairies in our home


1. Wear beautiful fairy dresses (not ever to be called princess dresses).
2. Carry a beautiful fairy wand (not ever to be called a swirly straw)
3. Fill a basket with fairy dust (not ever to be called confetti)
4. Cast beautiful spells on mummy - who so far has been an angel, a frog, a swimming pool (!), a butterfly, a piggy and Barbie.

A beautiful morning.

Walk on a rainbow trail...


"Walk on a rainbow trail; walk on a trail of song, and all about you will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow trail." Virginia Woolf

Feeling calmer today. Thank heavens for rainbows, there have been a few about this morning after some really heavy rain.
Thanks too for your calls and kind thoughts and wishes this week, I never ceased to be amazed by the generosity of spirit of many people we know. I'm grateful for that.
I'll post some'first day of school' photos later today. :) It's been a BIG week.
peace and love
xxxx
rainbow pic is from Wikipedia



Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Random questions

  • Why am I trying to pretend that I'm not in a whole lot of pain? What's that about? Why can't I just say to people "yeah dammit my back IS really really sore". nb. I was in a pretty awful car accident on the Freeway in Melbourne last week.
  • Why are taxi drivers freakin' lunatics? With the exception of my special cab guy (Carl), why is it that cab drivers everywhere sense that I'm a nervous passenger and try their best to terrify me with their erratic and reckless driving behaviour?
  • Why can't work be straightforward and predictable for a week? Why can't there be more calm and less chaos just for one week? Surely that's possible.
  • Why is Max so dead set against making friends with boys? *sigh*
  • Why doesn't Max want to be a "big boy"? Why does he fight so hard against going to the toilet, giving up his dummy and today - moving up to the big kids room at kindy?
  • Will Ruby always stutter in times of big stress? I'm hoping the answer is 'no'.
  • Will Ruby thrive at school? Will she love it? Will I be happy or sad tomorrow when she starts?
  • How many more years do we have to be on a car lease? And is it possible to do 10,000kms in 64 days without going completely mental?
  • Will our house ever be presentable every day? Will Ruby, Max AND Mark ever learn to pick up after themselves? AND will Donna (who starts next Monday) be the perfect house cleaner? I hope so.
  • Why am I blogging when I'm in a cranky mood? I know the answer to this one - because life's not always perfect and I don't ever want to fool myself into pretending that it is.

This is the thunderstorm, I'm waiting for the rainbow.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

We believe

It's important to *believe* in something, to state it boldly and throw your beliefs out into the world.

I love Jonathon's manifesto. I think I'll start working on my own manifesto.



I'm having fun with "believe". :)

xxxx
image is from jonathon adler's website

Monday, January 14, 2008

'There are 3 billion women...

who don't look like supermodels and only eight who do.'

In 1998, The Body Shop debuted a self-esteem campaign, featuring a generously proportioned, rubenesque, doll called "Ruby." I fell in love with Ruby when I saw her in a Body Shop store. She's beautiful. The message, and of course the name, stuck with me.



I want my Ruby to grow up confident, believing she's as beautiful and fabulous as she is. The recent mini drama about Jennifer Love Hewitt being "fat" was ridiculous and infuriating. I wish there was more reality and less hype in the world.

"I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul" Savage Garden

peace and love
xxxx

Thursday, January 03, 2008

1, 2, 3 days of photos!

I've taken some more photos today. Amazing.

Here are some pics from today: crazy bucket boy and then some little mini books I created while we were at Noosa. They're just waiting for me to get photos printed now. I'll try to do that this weekend.




peace and love to you today

xxxx

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

What happened on Christmas Day?
















It was a big day. Fun, funny, calm, chaotic, peaceful, panicked, relaxing, relentless. Good times. It was a good day.
xxxx

Hooray!

Hooray for taking photos 2 days in a row. Here are some random pics from around the house this evening. I'm not sure if I can take pics every day for 365 days straigth but I'm feeling pretty chuffed I managed it for 2 consecutive days. :)







Hooray for a Christmas present from Auntie Julie and Uncle Paul arriving today.
Hooray for leftovers.
Hooray for Fifth Leg Chardonnay on sale at Jim Murphy's.
Hooray for the return of my blogging mojo.
Hooray for a reasonably quiet day at work.

About believe: "Success means having the courage, the determination and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be". George Sheehan. Thanks George

peace and love
k xxxx

ps there will be Christmas photos soon, I promise. Although you could check them out on my Flickr page - they're up already. xxxx

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

New Year blessings and new beginnings

Peace be with you.

May 2008 bring you more calm than chaos. More laughter than lassitude. And more love. Lots more love.

I'm feeling quite positive about 2008. I usually feel quite sad and reflective at New Year's but this year feels different. I feel a buzz. A change is coming.

During 2007, my 'one word' was peace. After considerable dithering, my word for 2008 is 'believe'. It's a compelling word for me right now, so I think it will be a good fit. Other contenders were 'challenge', 'dare' and 'leap'.

I'm not sure that I'm quite ready to abandon 'peace' yet though. Perhaps I can just collect words each year, progressively adding one at a time, without ever actually letting any go. Sounds like a good plan.

We talked about our 'one word' over dinner tonight. Ruby quickly settled on 'learn' - which is a good choice given she starts school in 29 short days time. fingers in ears la-la-la. Mark is not decided yet but his one word may be either 'contemplate' or 'productive'. Or possibly both. Max suggested that his could be 'not being naughty'. Ha! Like that would ever happen. So we talked about positive framing yada yada and he's thinking about 'good' or 'try' or maybe even 'toilet'. I should admit that Max was heavily influenced by the rest of us.

I discovered this site earlier today and fell in love with it. I always want to take more photos but am too lazy to lug the camera around with me. But this site has inspired me. I love the photo a day idea. I'll give it a try. Maybe I should just keep the small cam in my bag.

I took a couple of photos today.


a Bangladeshi toran I bought in Eumundi :)

my kitchen word. :) it used to be H-O-M-E, but I've revamped for a new year.

Enjoy 2008. Know that - "there are years that ask questions and years that answer. " - Zora Neale Hurston. Which will it be for you?

peace and love
xxxx