Tuesday 30 September 2008

Friday 26 September 2008

Confessions from the rubber room

Sat 6th August @ Multiple MUM

There are many things I don’t understand about human nature. One of the main ones is the intense desire to judge other people.

So judging others ...It seems as though its been going forever so history tells us. Now sometimes it isn't just limited to real life and it is in the virtual world.A dear friend of mine, Tiff @ Three Ring Circus has been blogging about her family of seven beautiful children. One of them Ivy, a gorgeous two year old has been sick for a long time and they fought a battle to get her special treatment. A lot of bloggers helped out by signing a petition. I missed it all because we were away.

Now Tiff is plagued by trolls who want to bring her down. She is much loved and I suppose some people don't like it.They judge her and harshly criticize her blogging about her life as she honestly tells it and Ivy's treatment or lack of it. I don't understand it.

The trolls that is.They also probably don't understand or bother to look deeper ... like knowing the devastation and anguish Tiff and her family suffered watching their 5 day old son,and baby brother die in their arms only 4 years ago.

Do they know that Ivy gets extremely sick very quickly and though she doesn't have something much worse (who is to judge anyway) she has suffered so much in her short life since her birth @ 30 weeks. Ivy has been in hospital again for 5 days -imagine that stress and disruption to a family of seven children - 5 at school, one of them with special needs and a toddler (missing his twin and Mum) , and missing your wedding anniversary ... so to all those trolls who sit in judgement I wish you could understand how much more it is.

In real life too the need to make sure you are on par with everyone else and perhaps a bit above. The need to make sure if someone is different than you, that you are still 'good enough'…and maybe even a bit better? I don’t know why! Why can't we just accept each other for what we are ?

I personally know its hurtful when you are on the other side, but I also know that subconsciously I even do it too. Can it be ... it can be, rather than just focusing on their weaknesses or faults we focus on something else. I might not agree with and like everyone I meet but with a little understanding I can accept they want the same things in life that I do. We are just a little different.

So what if I decide to continue breastfeeding at 2 or if another friend lets her child have a bottle still ...what difference can you tell between the kids in kindergarten which one gave up their dummy or bottle or breast at 12 months or 3 yrs ?. So what !

There are also two sides to every story and even every person has a side they they might not show to others or a reason they do what they do. Leave them be.

The desire to live in a community is intense too. People want to live or rather be around other people, to be able to have a friend to ring (or email) when they are feeling down or have some good news to share, to be able to stop for a cuppa and chat or share some chow every now and then.

It is what people want to be able to do and do it everyday. I see the blogging community as an extension of our real life community. Some of us are too busy especially mums with small or sick children. We can't get out everyday so these friends are our sanity.

I am in awe of the support the blogging community has given to Tiff and even to me at times.

When people get too busy, to connect, they start to feel isolated, even though they are going from work to kids activities or thing to thing. When we aren’t able to stop and connect with others in a meaningful way we get 'down'.

I feel a little like that at the moment. I hate it being about me and I would rather not say it. However, I know so many others are hurting this same way. I have friends (real and blogging ones)I haven't connected with in ages and I feel bad about it. I am sorry to anyone I have missed!
OK, so I’ve been on a brief hiatus from serious 'blogging'. It is partly because of some people who read my blog that I would rather NOT and I made a decision that my children and family are more important. I used to do a lot of reading ,writing, commenting and a lot of stuff on the internet. Then I stopped. I sort of lost contact with a lot of people in the cyber world and even in real life.

That little “write a post today” voice starts popping back up in my head or I wonder how 'X''Y'& 'Z' is but I just don't have enough hours in the day. Still I do have a lot to say ...there is plenty of time as soon as I get more organised.

Lastly I got this by email recently

It said that every 60 seconds you spend angry, upset or mad is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Today's Message of the Day is: Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. Life may not by the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance.


... It's my uncle's 50th Birthday today so we are off to a party . Then it is my Mum's birthday tomorrow and my dear Friend's -be sure to mark it in your diary and go her some lovin' Monday.


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Thursday 25 September 2008

Thursday Thirteen and I won a prize !


Computer Shortcuts ...
  1. Take you to the start of that line - Home
  2. Take you to the start of the document - Ctrl (control) + Home
  3. Take you to the end of that line - End
  4. Take you to the end of the document - Ctrl + End
  5. Create a new document - Ctrl + N
  6. Insert a page break - Ctrl + Enter
  7. Decrease font size - Ctrl + Shift + <
  8. Increase font size - Ctrl + Shift + >
  9. To change lowercase text to ALL CAPS - Ctrl + Shift + A
  10. To insert a date field - Alt + Shift + D
  11. Delete the word before the cursor - Ctrl + Backspace
  12. Delete the word after the cursor - Ctrl + Del
  13. Double-click to highlight the word the cursor is in
One more because I am superstitious and I like even numbers
14.Triple-click to highlight the paragraph the cursor is in

PS I stole borrowed the idea for this from  Sally Ann.She is one of the brilliant organising girls @ A Good sort ...she got the idea from Donna-Marie at Small Business Diva.

I knew a few of these but I always forget the basics.To make a line like this type hr then add these < > remove the spaces  ! 

I also won this set of Drawer Organisers from Sally Ann  & Tricia @A Good sort.
Though my camera refuses to let me download the pictures right now!!!
Now  ... if I just have  a few minutes to reorganise my drawers. 


Sunday 21 September 2008

Weekly Winners


September 14th - 20th

Sorry I haven't been around much .We have been at the farm again for three days over the weekend helping to drench the cattle. These are the only photos that were any good I got to take.

Is it this key Dad ?






Dangling Boots
Little Boy blue is getting sleepyShadow twin
Dusty Boots


Sorry, I can't think of many captions ...I am exhausted running after my little buddies who LOVE keys, hanging round the farm and driving all the cars/mower/tractors and bikes plus Grandpa's TV & DVD player anything electronic , wol wol's lollies, biscuits and everything two year olds are not allowed to touch.
Lotus @ Sarcastic Mom is the host of Weekly Winners please go visit other entries.Anyone can come join in the fun.

Wednesday 17 September 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Joy rider

You're doing it wrong 




Okay, so what if it is Wordless Wednesday- I break the rulez all the time.

Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth. ~Author Unknown

A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after. ~Peter De Vries

Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer. ~Author Unknown

Hug your kids at home, but belt them in the car. ~Author Unknown

Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly. ~Author Unknown

Stupidity is not a disability. Park elsewhere! ~Author unknown

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Tuesday 16 September 2008

Screwup Tuesday

Mistress Bettina posted the most delicious Chocolate dream bar recipe last week on Menu plan Monday
I am also posting this for HEADS & TAILS - the theme is HEADS :Recipe
This recipe is too good not to share

Chocolate Dream Bars

110 grams Butte/ Margarine

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg

2 tbsp Cocoa

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup Self Raising Flour

1/4 cup cocount or chopped nuts (or both)

To make - melt butter, mix in Brown Sugar, add Egg and Cocoa, beat till smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix through. Press/pour into slice tray and cook in medium oven for 20/25 minutes.

Spread with chocolate icing mixture while still warm.

Allow to cool and cut into slices.



not to be confused with this type of chocolate bar
Anyway ... last week I made them and they were delicious beyond measure.

Tonight, I decided to use the oven after I finished cooking my roast chicken .I was still cooking the rest of our dinner. I set the oven timer and then changed my mind and used it for another dish.

So I screwed up

oops ...instead of soft chewy and moist ...they are extra crispy and crunchy. Still edible but not as near nice as before. A shade of burnt...lucky for me I eat anything and hate waste.

Bettina is also the host of screwup Tuesday so go see how others screwed up and have a few laughs.

Ps The pecans I used were still lovely in it and when you dip in in your tea in softens it a bit.


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Sunday 14 September 2008

Weekly Winners


September 7th - 13th
It has been a while since I have had time to join in Weekly Winners
Lotus @ Sarcastic Mom is the host of Weekly Winners please go visit others.I took most of these on the farm last weekend and Monday.

I wonder if this is one of their calves
or this one on the right
or even this Cutie
This is a newborn having their first nurse !

Follow Me ..
Hide
Seek
Found


You can see the cows from here

Every which way and foot loose

Beware of Barbed wire !

Homeward bound after a few adventures


Asleep
'Womb' mates

My favourite time of day ... bedtime !

Friday 12 September 2008

Secrets ...

I saw this on The Butterfly Effect.

It is really inspiring and worth watching till then end.



I have written about Postsecret before Here
...about the guy who received a strange post card in the mail.

Of course I have lots of secrets to tell but I can't tell them here. I am glad I have good friends to share secrets with though.

Sadly ...not all secrets are good and I know I don't need to tell you why.



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Tuesday 9 September 2008

Heads and Tails

I know it has been a week since my last confession post ...oops wrong place and that's another day.

I can't believe a whole week has almost passed.

I was thinking about
the Tuesday meme today .My post isn't technically a heads and tails one - but they do have heads and tails so it counts.

Todays H o T theme is HEADS - Box

Therefore - I am thinking outside the box and about the tucker box. Most of us keep meat in our freezers which is a box. I won't be talking about my freezer though ... boring unless it is full of gourmet food. Mine is not. I am going to talk about

I digress ...anyway back to my post ... where was I ? Never mind I have been busy working -spring cleaning and business stuff. We also went to my Father-in-law's farm 4 hours away for 3 days. I played the Pioneer woman, while the Toolman slashed the paddocks and the teen bashed the paddocks in the old cars and motorbikes.

There was lots of long dry grass like this that needs to be slashed so the cows can eat the new growth.

The farm had 60mm of rain in a few days and that is good news. It means the grass will start to grow and the cows will have grass to feed on instead of having to be hand fed.


The Brothers' loved the farm . We got to pat a newborn calf as it got separated from it's mother when the cows stampeded to the other paddock. It was so adorable. We had to put it in the back of the ute and take it back to it's mother who ran far away with the rest of the herd. We knew we had found her when we saw it feeding.


I saw another cow kick the poor little thing away, but it wasn't it's mother.

I am going to worry about it now ...yesterday we saw it sitting by the fence no mother in sight. Although quite a few of the calves were alone and mothers were off grazing.

Last month a set (or two) of twin calves were born and my Father-in law has given them to S & J - hopefully they are heifers and not steers (as all the little boys got marked on Sunday).

To market to market - go the steers but the heifers have calves and they will get to keep the profits when they get sold...forever Girls rule ! They can have calves for a few years too.

So the boys rounded up all the cows and moved them in the cattle crush .We counted the cows,calves,heifers, steers & bulls (2)-altogether there were 106 cows - including 27 calves and #28 born after the counting and tagging.Plus the previous seasons calves heifers (female cows who haven't had a calf but will ) and BBQer's steers ...almost ready to take to market.


The 'twins' were black/dark brown calves - their breed is Angus.The Black bull has been a busy fellow because there were a lot of black/brown calves and we didn't know which ones belonged to which cow when we had them in cattle pens. Then the rest of the day they were all skittish so we didn't get to see them feeding.

So unfortunately we don't yet know whether S & J's twins are steers or heifers yet.We will have to go back soon and look for the twins feeding and check out the number on the tag. We marked the list as steers (they castrated all the little boys) and heifers. So we can match them up eventually.

It will be exciting to follow them through... all the way to tucker box or to see how many calves their cows have.
S & J can't wait to learn how to drive the tractor.


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