our beautiful niece

How cute is she?

tawny widemouth

After spending some time at my in-laws before Christmas we then spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day in Newcastle. We had a lovely time with SP's family.. I hope you all had a great Christmas yourselves..

When we got home yesterday SP was in our spare room and he shouted to me to come in. There on our window sill was a funny looking thing. At first I thought it was an owl but SP told me it was a Tawny Frogmouth, a native Australian bird. I had never seen one before and couldn't believe it was just sitting there on our window sill.. When I got close to it it opened up it's mouth so I could see right inside his bright yellow mouth. I grabbed the camera and took far too many photos!

He stayed there for most of the afternoon and then a little later flew up into the big tree outside our spare room and kitchen, I took heaps more of photos of him. Last night he was gone! Probably looking for food.

But now as I type this I can see him in that same tree - I think he lives there..

Apparently they stay really still so that they think you can't see them, this is what the 'Sydney Wildlife' website says:

"During the day they may adopt a sedentary position on a branch or fence where they will remain until evening. When disturbed they raise their heads and streamline their body shape to simulate the appearance of a branch."

He was doing that while on our window sill - BUT I don't think he realised he was in a very obvious spot where I COULD see him! Nice try though!

I love living where we live where you can hear and see birds!

just read and currently reading.....

1. "God Smuggler" by Brother Andrew. This is the guy who started up the Christian organisation 'Open Doors'. What an inspiring story!

2. "Soul Surfer" by Bethany Hamilton. I was given this to read a while ago. It's about the Christian surfer girl who lost her arm in a shark attack in Hawaii. Also inspiring, an easy read, not all that deep but a fun story written by a young girl who wants to share God's love and providence with people through her experience.

ps she is still a world class surfer with one arm and was back in the water 3 weeks after the attack - can you believe it!

Currently reading... "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan. I have only just started it, it's a 1928 edition of the book - so it's all old and special. I have obviously heard about this book many times but only now getting to read it. I am looking forward to it!

my only two christmas decorations....

..... but aren't they cute!



I was given a really little tree by our neighbours, so I popped these two gorgeous decorations on it. It's looking a bit bare but hopefully I can get a few more to put on.

See I am getting in the Christmassy mood ;)

happy 13th wedding anniversary to AB and Ruth

I just wanted to say Happy 13th Wedding Anniversary to AB and Ruth.

We love you guys heaps and think that you as a great example of what a godly husband and wife look like, you are individually great, great as a married couple and great parents to your beautiful kids.

We have watched you in your marriage and with your kids over the last 3 1/2 years and both SP and I have learnt a lot. I know many people have benefited from your ministry and friendship. You Guys Rock Socks ;)

Congratulation on 13 years of marriage, I pray you might have many more fantastice years together and I look forward to spending many years of hanging out with you all. May God grow you both in your understanding of each other and may your beautiful kids grow up to be men and women of God.

bah, humbug!

I am sorry but I find Christmas in Australia not like Christmas AT ALL!

It's not cold, it's hot, it's not the same as England, it's just not right! I want to feel Christmasy but I just don't!

Ultimately I know that Christmas is not about whether it is cold out side or whether they play cheesy carols in shops. BUT, there is that feeling of excitement that Christmas time brings that I miss here in Australia. The familiarity of Christmas in England is just not here. BUT it's kind of good it doesn't feel like Christmas because then I don't feel as sad or miss my family as much as I would if it felt Christmasy and I was so far away from them!

I know Christmas not about the feelings and the weather it's actually ALL about Jesus the son of God becoming man to save his people from their sins.

Jesus gave up his place on the throne to die the death, death on a cross so that we might be reconciled to God, that is the best gift that we could ever receive - no matter where in the world we are we all need this gift..

In the midst of the 'busy-ness'* this season brings let's not forget to remember the gracious and precious gift of Christ. This universal message of salvation is the same whether celebrating Christmas in England, Australia, Indian, America, Indonesia or China!

* how do you spell 'busy-ness', is it the same as business?

foot in mouth awards

Ex England manager Steve McClaren won the award for this statement about the brilliant footballer Wayne Rooney:

"He is inexperienced but he's experienced in terms of what he's been through."

Check out more beauties here and here at the Plain English Awards!

These were a few of my favourites:

George Bush
"All I can tell you is that when the governor calls, I answer his phone."

Fastway Couriers (T&Cs on their website)
The Carrier shall not be liable for injury or damage to or destruction or loss of the Goods or any other property arising out of or incidental to or in connection with or occurring during the provision of the Services or for the mis-delivery or nondelivery of the Goods and whether or not caused or contributed to by the default (including negligence) of the Carrier or any agent, servant or officer of the Carrier or any other person entitled to the benefit of these conditions.

Virgin Trains (response to Web User magazine about problems booking online)
Moving forwards, we as Virgin Trains are looking to take ownership of the flow in question to apply our pricing structure, thus resulting in this journey search appearing in the new category-matrix format. The pricing of this particular flow is an issue going back to 1996 and it is not something that we can change until 2008 at the earliest. I hope this makes the situation clear.

'E' giggling - she is too cute!

You will have to excuse my baby talk - babies seem to love it! Anyway it's not about me, it's about 'E' ;)

our last sunday at church with pics

Last Sunday was our last night at our current church, we had a picnic during the day along with a few other people who also left on Sunday. It was a nice afternoon of chatting, eating, boiling in the hot weather and remembering how much God has taught us and grown us.

I will miss my church and church family but I know there are many people that I will continue to have great friendships with, who I will continue to see regularly.

I was a little sad during the last song, knowing that that was the last time I would be singing together as a member of that church but I am excited to see what God has in store at our new church, how he is going to grow us, use us and shape us to be more like his son.

pet hate....

.....maybe I will say 'pet-dislike' instead, as 'hate' maybe a strong word but man does it bug me.

What bugs Nixter that much you may ask... well a few things but this one in particular gets me annoyed very quickly.

(rant begins)
Bad customer service....... It frustrates me, makes me lose my patience quickly and also causes me to wonder how some of these people get jobs?!?!?!

I have had a few situations lately where I have been into a shop with what I think is a fairly simple request and it has turned into me waiting and waiting getting passed to 2 or 3 different people to be told an answer they could have told me within a few seconds or for the person to not really know the answer at all... Grrrrrrrrr.

I know working in customer services is not easy, I started working in customer service when I was 16 and worked my way up to management all in a retail environment and it can be hard work but really I do wonder sometimes...

It is easy to say a simple thank-you at the end of serving someone but at our local supermarket that seems to be a problem...

I suppose you never really know what kind of a day someone is having but still, to say please and thank you is not too much to ask is it?
(rant ends!)

What are your pet 'dislikes'?

america's got talent

This guy is awesome!

man flu - friday funny

blogger comments - help?!?

Is anyone else not receiving emails notifications when they get comments?!?!?

I have had a few comments and not received an email to tell me?

a beckham beauty

compassion

I have sponsored a Compassion child for about 3 years or so now, and I love it!

I receive pictures, drawings, letters from 'Joko' who is in Indonesian. A group at church chose to sponsor 10 children from the same village with the hope of maybe one day going to visit our sponsor children. I also get a new 'official compassion' picture and update each year, I just received mine in the mail a few days again. Joko is getting so big, he looks so little in the first picture we have of him...

Compassion is a great idea and a real opportunity to help our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in countries not as privileged as ours. The thing I love most about Compassion is that it is 'Christ-centred, Child-focused and Church-based, these kids regular attend Sunday school, they run vocational bible school in the holidays which Joko attends and he tells me about it in letters. They seem to get together a lot at the 'project' where they get to do Christian activities and games, all of these things are linked with the local church in the community that Joko and his family live. Click here to find out more about what Compassion do.

Friends of mine have sponsored children for their own children, what a great way to teach your children to care and love others, they also write each others letters and draw each other pictures. I think I would like to do this for our niece when she gets a little bit older..

I really recommend this program, it's a joy to receive letters and pictures from Joko and to also write to him, it's a privilege to be able to contribute to a family in need, but most of all it's amazing to know that through this program this little boy and his family are finding out more about our Lord and Saviour, not only are their physical needs being met but most importantly their spiritual needs are also being met.

I pray that Joko grows up to be a man of God, to know, love and fear the Lord with all his heart, mind, body and soul...

free coffee at starbucks @ wynyard between 10am and 12pm today!

Thought I would spread the good news :)

If you hate Starbucks - please ignore!

beowulf

SP and I saw this movie on Saturday night and can I say - it wasn't my cup of tea... I mean it's hardly a 'chick flick' but I found it very unusual and don't tell anyone, but I was a little bit scared in parts. I also found it a very grotesque, guys you may be alright with this but ladies - I don't recommend it to you unless you really like that kind of thing... SP wasn't a fan either... To be fair we didn't really know anything of this story before we went - sorry Beowulf fans, but I have since looked up a little bit about it's origin etc....

The 'digitally enhanced live action' (I had to look this up on the internet as I wasn't sure what the correct term was!) was amazing and at times I found it hard to believe that it wasn't actually Anthony Hopkins... Ray Winston lends his voice to Beowulf, I love Ray Winston and think he is an awesome 'cockney' actor...

So they did an amazing job of the 'digitally enhanced live-action' and the actors are great but the movie itself = strange! That could just be me and I am sure there are many a folk out there who will love it, let me know what you think if you have seen it or if you go and see it!

so you think you can dance?

bend it like beckham

Last night SP and I went to see the game - it was pretty good and full of action. Eight goals were scored in all which doesn't happen very often in football, it made the game exciting and interesting.

There was of course a Beckham special, a free kick from 25m bent right into the top left hand corner of the net = special indeed!

Sydney FC played well, knocking three goals in in the first half, Beckham scoring the first goal for the Galaxy a minute before half time. The second half had more goals, a few rough and tumbles, a sending off and for some reason only nine men playing for the Galaxy at the end instead of ten, I couldn't quite work that out, as they only had one sending off?!?!? Anyone else know the answer to that one?

Two more goals for Sydney and one more goal for Galaxy leaving Sydney with a comfortable win!

Our seats weren't too bad to watch the action but we were not close enough to get great pictures - I had my 300m lens on so managed to get some - I will post these up later as we didn't get home until midnight...

Australian Idol singer Natalie Gauchi sang her new single 'Here I Am' too which was a nice surprise.

All in all it was a top night with just over 80,000 people out to see the big game! What a crowd! I think this has done great things for the sport over here in Oz!

is chivalry dead or do people just not appreciate it anymore?

I wrote a post several weeks ago about how I appreciate seeing men give up their seats on the bus for women and how I actually think it should be the men who do it! A few people commented on how women sometimes chastise men for offering to open the door or for giving up their seat and also mentioned how there is a fine line in knowing who exactly should you give your seat up for. eg does that person look older than they actually are and might not want you to stand up for them? Saying that I am not old but I would appreciate it?!?!?!

In regards to the chastising, yesterday I experienced that that can most certainly be the case. I was waiting for a lift (the kind that take you 'up and down' not the 'pick you up in the car' kind) when two men came to wait for said same lift. One of the men gestured to let me on first and I said "Oh thank-you" and he replied, "Wow, you said thank-you, most women just give me a look." I am assuming by 'look' he means the 'how dare you look' not the 'oh how simply lovely of you look'. He seemed taken aback that I had actually said "Thank-you"*, I responded with, "Well, I appreciate that kind of thing."

How funny - that he was so shocked by a simple thank-you for letting me on the lift first. Maybe it isn't about chivalry at all, maybe some people just don't have great manners?

* I am not suggesting that I am the politest person on the planet or anything like that, I was just shocked by how much a little thank-you was responded too, as if it just doesn't happen very often.

did you say red hammer?

You just thought about a red hammer, didn't you?

"98% of people would answer a red hammer while doing this exercise.

If this is not your answer, you are among 2% of people who have a different, if not abnormal, minds."

I realise a few of you, like me have a different or should I say 'abnormal' mind as the email I received called it. I thought of a 'purple spanner' and I was looking at a white email when I picked purple - I think a couple of you could have been influenced by my purple blog!.

Unfortunately in my little experiment here on my blog it appears that there are more than 2% of abnormal people that read my blog, it's more like 45%, BUT don't get me wrong, I love that I am not alone and that abnormal people read my blog - please keep reading. You 'normal' people out there you keep reading too!

This isn't really all that exciting so I hope you didn't lose any sleep last night at the excitment of the results! I thought I would get a lot more people saying red hammer - then it would have been cool.

la galaxy v sydney fc tonight

So tonight is the night, I booked tickets months ago and it is finally here - I get to go and see Beckham do what he does best - play football (it's not soccer!) and look good.

LA Galaxy V Sydney FC - but who do I go for?

Sydney FC - as that is where I now live?

LA Galaxy - I am not American but I have some family who is (when I was little I thought that made me a teeny bit American, but it didn't). Beckham plays for England, I am English and therefore support England, (although given they just got knocked out of Euro 08 I am a little hesitant in admitting it?)

Anyhoo, I can't wait it will be my first ever big football match, unless you count all the games I use to go to when my Dad played - he was a pretty good player, but I don't know that he was as good as my Gan-Gan (Grand-dad for normal people!) He played and tried out for Charlton Athletic and also got a game for them, but that was when the game was lot different to what it is now..

I have my super zoom lens at the ready so providing we are not in the nose bleed stands, I might get a few good pics!

are you 98% or 2%?

Are you in the 98% or 2% of the population?

At the end of this message, you are asked a question. Answer it immediately. Don't stop to think about it. Just say the first thing that pops into your mind.

This is a fun "test"... Give it a try and write your answer in the comments box, I will give you the answer later! Now, just follow the instructions as quickly as possible.

Do not go to the next calculation before you have finished the previous one. You do not ever need to write the answers, just do it using your mind. You'll be surprised.

How much is:

15 + 6

3 + 56

89 + 2

12 + 53

75 + 26

25 + 52

63 + 32

I know! Calculations are hard work, but it's nearly over. Come on, one more!

123 + 5

QUICK! THINK ABOUT A COLOUR AND A TOOL!

What did you think of?

happy thanksgiving - better late than never

photography course

For the past 5 weeks SP and I have been doing a basic SLR photography course on Monday nights for two hours at a local community college. It has been really helpful in understanding our camera more and how to use certain settings and how to get certain effects.

This week is our 6th week out of the 8 week course, our homework this week was to take some portrait pictures of each other, I love taking photo's but don't really like getting my picture taken! Anyhoo, it was really helpful in understanding light and shadows. Doing the homework set each week can be a bit of an effort to try and find the correct things to take pictures of but I have found it really beneficial in practically understanding the lessons and how different functions on our camera work.

I will try and post some of the pictures up that we have taken soon. I think my favourite assignment so far was the water one.... We had to take 3 different pictures of water - we took pictures of a water fountain, we had to take them at different shutter speeds. In the first 'slower shutter speed' photo the water is really blurry and in the last photo on a 'faster shutter speed' you can see the droplets of water - very awesome!

Anyhoo, I will post pics soon.

why go to church?

I read this this morning and liked it!

A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now, " he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married to my wife for 37 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritual dead today!"

friday funny - river dancing monkeys

leaving church

Some of you may or may not know that we are leaving church in a few weeks. It has been a hard decision but a decision we have been thinking and praying about for over a year now and we have decided the time is now right. We decided at the beginning of this year to leave but had a few commitments including Bible Study that we wanted to continue with until the end of this year. We love our Bible Study and have so enjoyed these past couple of years learning more about God with them.

I have really enjoyed my time at CIM and I have learnt so much about ministry, God has grown me in so many ways for which I am enormously thankful and CIM has given me the opportunities to do so many new things that I would have never tried before.

It hasn't been an easy decision, I have been going to church there since I arrived in Australia over 3 1/2 years ago and SP joined me about 8 months after that. Most of my friends go to CIM and although I know leaving churches doesn't stop the friendships I know it will change some of them a little so it will mean really making the effort to catch up and hang out, which we are very keen to do. I will miss seeing everyone so much each Sunday.

There are a few different reasons why we are leaving, one of which is we are keen to go to a morning church closer to home. We have checked a couple of churches out over the past few months and are swaying towards one church in particular but we haven't totally made up our mind as yet. Both of the churches we have tried have been amazingly welcoming and the word of God was preached clearly and with conviction, we also felt looked after, but we can only go to one.

Please pray for wisdom as we think through what church we go to next, we want to be godly in our decision, we want to go to a church that is community/outward focused where we can use the new skills and gifts God has given us to build and grow God's kingdom and of course we want a church that preaches Christ crucified.

I am going to try and organise a little get together before we leave so keep posted and I will let you now about it when I have the details.

unbelievable

These are chalk drawings from Julian Beever, he is an English (Yeha) artist who is famous for his art on the pavements of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium. Beever give his drawings this amazing 3D effect. Enjoy...

thank you

I just wanted to say how thankful I am to all of you that have commented on my post below and also to those of you who have been praying for us. The power of prayer is amazing and we have really felt your prayers during this time. God has given me the strength and the attitude to get through this past week and a half and I really am thankful to him for that.

The last 10 days have been interesting and full of varying emotions from - 'totally lost it I can't speak' to 'calm, collected, at peace with God and his will for us' (praise God that this one has been the one I have experienced most).

This whole situation has taught us a few good but hard lessons. Thanks for praying for SP too as I think it can be so hard for the husband as the experience of early pregnancy - where you can't see or feel anything and you don't go through any of the physical changes the wife goes through - makes it not very tangible. He also had such a tough week at work last week and has been so stressed - he needs prayers for this too.

This week is going well and I am feeling pretty good, church prayed for us on Sunday night - we weren't there but we have since received emails, text messages and phone calls from our lovely church family sending love, prayers and support. This has been so nice, we feel very much loved and taken care of by our church.

If you get a minute here are a few prayer points:

- That God might be glorified through this whole experience.
- That we might continue to trust God and his will for us.
- Praise God that my body seems to be getting back to normal.
- That God may bless us with a healthy pregnancy and baby next time around and that it wouldn't be too long before that happens.

Thanks again to all of you for being so great!

sad news but trusting God

The reason I have not really been writing much or commenting lately is due to a very sad time in our little family. The reason I really want to share this is so that as brothers/sisters in Christ you might pray for us but also as my friends I want you to know about this important yet sad time in our lives, it's important to share the good and the hard with each other, to build each other up and to encourage each other in God's word.

We found out about 5 weeks ago we were pregnant! We were very excited at first but when I reached 6 weeks I started spotting, I felt really uneasy about this and it didn't sit very well with me. Pregnancy + bleeding = bad news to me!

Anyhow, the doctor requested I go for a 8 week scan which was last Monday. For a whole week and a half I had stopped being excited and was actually preparing myself for bad news. I guess a glimmer of hope always remains but as a women I think God has most definitely given us an intuition and I just knew in the bottom of my heart that things didn't look good.

Monday was a really tough day, we went early for the ultrasound. I had two ultrasounds but no fetal heartbeat could be found, the sac and fetus were only measuring 6 weeks and I should have been 8 weeks. I was very certain of my dates and also with the spotting starting at around 6 weeks I just knew what the outcome would be. There were many tears and I felt sick in my tummy at the prospect of the results.

An hour later and I collected my results and it was confirmed that it was a nonviable pregnancy. I felt awful and I cried a lot on Monday, seeing that everything was there but not growing was tough - you try not to get too excited especially knowing that 1 in 4 women miscarry but there is a part of you that can't help but think through having a baby and what that might look like...

Then the process of the miscarriage started all by itself, it was like my body was given permission to do what it needed to do, the news having been confirmed.

Although I have had a few really bad days and today being my first day back at work I feel a little fragile I want to say that through all of this - I have felt God's peace and his comfort at this time. He is in control and the reason this has happened is because he wants what is best for SP and I, even though at times it might be hard to understand - right here right now I trust him and his will for us!

I know God is already teaching me so much and I am sure once we get through to the other side there will be even more he has taught us... God wants us to lean on him, to trust him, to follow him. When things are going well and when life is good it can be easy to forget our need for God. It is when something like this happens where we are totally out of control that we seem to cling to God more than ever. I guess ironically we need God for the very breath we breath each day - it can just be easy to forget!

I see this as an opportunity to glorify God, to show friends and family that we trust God even through the hard times, that even through the hard times we believe that God is in control of everything... Maybe I will also have other opportunities to speak to other women who have been though the same thing, that I might be able to encourage, love and speak to them about this experience.

Please pray for us as we grieve this loss, as my body does what it needs to do and as we think ahead to the future. It has been so stressful and the thought of going through this again freaks me out - please pray that God might be gracious in granting us a healthy pregnancy and baby in the near future.

I hope you don't mind me sharing, it's good to write it all down when it is fresh so I can look back at how God has been working and is working in my life right now.

human tetris - japanese game show

my beautiful friend from england arrives today

One of my best buddies arrives today from England, well actually from Thailand as they went there for a little stop over.

They are coming for Paul and Christine's Wedding, infact Matt is Paul's brother and he is married to my ex-house mate, she was one of my bridesmaids and I was one of hers..

I can't wait to see them, the last time was when we stayed with them in London in December, we didn't get to see them much as we were both busy busy but this time I have next week off and hope to hang out with them...

Anyhoo - I am very excited!!!!

do you fear being attacked?

Then this is the answer - disguise yourself as a vending machine!

Check out how they work here.

But make sure you tuck your feet in - or else you might give yourself away!

iron chef shenanigans

So yesterday I was running around like a headless chook (what the aussies call chickens) as I had to do all the things I normally do on my Thursday off. Housework, Washing, Shopping but I also had to get all the ingredients for last nights Iron Chef, get to church early with all ingredients an cooking instruments!

I got to the shops and amazingly managed to get most things - I had to go to a few stores to get everything but that's all good. The pressure was on though, I mean if I forgot anything that would be a nightmare wouldn't it!

I also needed to bring in all our electrical appliances so we could make sure that there wouldn't be a massive blow out = no more iron chef.... So I had to get all the ingredients and also about 5 bags worth of utensils, cooking bits and bobs, electric wok (it was all electric cooking baby - no oven or stove), our rice cooker and electric fry pan.. I carted all this stuff downstairs along with the food - I was exhausted before I even left the house...

I put everything in the car and as I pulled out of the garage I thought to myself - 'Self - should you maybe just get out of the car and check that you haven't left anything in the garage as you do have a lots of bags and you don't want to leave anything behind, you do live a long way away and it will be busy peak hour traffic?' - I told Self - 'Naaaaaaaa I am sure I have everything'. I drove away.. I picked up my lovely husband and we drove over to church - peak hour, over the Harbour Bridge, 35 minutes away...

We arrived at church, laid all our cooking stuff out on the 'Yellow Table' - we were the 'Yellow Team' - we had our secret ingredient - 'Coconut' (just for you Holly)! All was good. Or was it!

Our recipes were:

Starter: PRAWNS coated in Coconut and shallow fried with honey/soy/lime sauce on Spinach.
Main: Baltese FISH in a spicy coconut sauce.
Dessert: Pancakes with ICECREAM, Desiccated Coconut and Chocolate Sauce.

Then I looked and couldn't see the pink bag, the pink bag with all the fresh ingredients in - the FISH, the PRAWNS and all the the fresh produce.

PANICK! This was at 6.30pm - the evening started with pot luck dinner at 7pm and then the cook-off at 7.30pm - it was peak hour traffic = bad when you live where we live. SP said he would drive, he would not normally be able to make it back to our house and back to church in time - I felt awful, I am such a scatter brain... He might not even make it back in time for the cook-off let alone dinner - the poor thing.

I had left it in the garage. SELF WHY DIDN"T YOU GET OUT OF THE CAR TO CHECK!!!

Anyway my husband was very lovely, I had sent him a text message to tell him I was really sorry, he sent me a message saying 'you did great today, don't worry, I will be back soon' - how nice is he, I should marry him, Oh I already did.

Amazingly he arrived back AT 7.15pm - thankyou God, he reminded me I didn't have eggs (which he picked up) or ICECREAM (which I picked up at a local shop). He made it back in time to have something to eat and in time to start the cook-off.

Anyhoo, we made our dishes - the first time we had made any of the dishes ever, it was videoed true Iron Chef style and we had fun. We didn't win but we had fun!!! One of the other teams had full on practiced all of there dishes on the weekend - not us!!!! The Blue Team won and all in all it was a good night!

Happy Weekend to you all!

ps that was a bloomin long story!!

forget 'skippy' meet 'lucky'

annandale iron chef

Tonight at church we have 'Iron Chef' Annandale and our bible study is part of the action - we are the 'Yellow Team'.

We have been given a 'secret' ingredient that we are not allowed to tell anyone, and we have 45 mins to cook as many dishes as we like and at the end of it we get judged by 3 judges...

It should be fun, last night at our bible study 'social' we finally decided what we were going to cook, nothing like leavingittothelastminute.co.uk! As I am off today I am going to buy all the ingredients. I hope it all turns out OK as we haven't made any of the dishes before. I hope we don't have any food poisoning on our hands!!!! At the end of the day it's all about the participation - that's what I keep telling myself. We probably should have planned a little more in advance but I am a 'fly by the seat of my pants' girl - so let's see what happens!

Anyhoo, I must go, I have to work on my lip-syncing.

magpie photos

I am normally not a big fan of magpies BUT a few weekends ago when we were at my in-laws place there were these little baby magpies just outside the window. The parents kept coming over to feed them and when they did their little bodies jumped up, they opened their mouths and they started squawking - they were so cute. I took these photos of them - you gotta love the 75-300mm lens for zooming!

whack a poll

Click here to play!

It's not very nice is it! But I enjoyed hitting John Howard on the head a few times ;)

happy birthday little sis

It's my littlest sisters birthday today. She is 6.

Happy Birthday Madison!

I love you ;)

my fav idol knocked out

I am very disappointed as is Ruth, that our favourite Australian Idol contestant, Ben got knocked out of the competition last night. Two of the most popular guys were in the bottom two and I have no idea why.

There is no rhyme or reason to the Australian vote and I do sometimes wonder who is voting.

Both Ben and Matt are so good and to be honst I would have preferred to see Matt go - oh well, Australia has voted and Ben has gone...

Now I have to decide who to go for, I think it might be Carl.

viva la angleterre

So England are through to the Rugby World Cup Finals after beating 'Le Bleu' this morning.. They will play either South Africa or Argentina depending on who wins Monday morning, I think it might be Argentina...

Well done boys! Come on England!

my movie of the bogong moths

come on england

Well we did it, we are through to the semi finals after beating Australia on Saturday night. I started watching the game with only a glimmer of hope as Australia were the odds on favourites to win..

I was pleasantly surprised at how well England played and that they seemed to really rattle the Australian's with their game plan..

I guess what was an even bigger shock this weekend was New Zealand losing to France, another big surprise..

Anyway, I will say no more here ;) But I am very excited to see the England v France semi final on the weekend, we beat them in 2003, we could beat them again if we keep improving as we have...

Come on England!

moths in the city

I am soooooooo annoyed with all of the moths at the moment.. Apparently they are migrating and have lost their way, I hope they hurry up and figure out where they need to be going. They are driving me nuts, I really dislike them flying around, getting into our apartment and getting in my face!

On Wednesday morning while I was on the bus on my way to work I had my bag on my lap and put my hand in it to get something out and felt this flapping of wings.. IT WAS A MOTH! I quickly pulled my hand out, managing not to make any loud squeally noises as to draw attention to myself.. What was I to do next??

I couldn't let it out as it would have been flying all over the bus so I waited until I got to the city and took all the rubbish (I mean items of utter most importance) out of my bag to let the little critter out....

A girl who works in our office told me that yesterday she went to try on some shoes to discover there was a moth in one of them - EWWWWW.

BEWARE MOTHS CAN BE ANYWHERE!!!

call me old fashioned but......

.....when all the seats on the bus are taken and a more 'mature' person gets on the bus - I believe that a man should be the one to get up to let that person sit down... Or even school kids/teenagers with young legs.

Don't get me wrong I am happy to give up my seat for someone older or someone disabled but for some reason I like to see a man offer up his seat first, as I said call me old fashioned....

Instead of Sexy - Bring Chivalry Back ;)

another dove video

h/t David check out the scary stats on David's blog

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SP

Happy Birthday to my lovely husband ;)

the weekend

It has been hot hot hot here these last few days and it is apparently going to hit 34 degrees today - it's not even Summer yet - it's Spring!!!

So heaps happened on the weekend but I haven't got to write about it and even if it is a little bit of old news I am going to write anyway ;)

- Friday night we had our lovely friends, Mr and Mrs Lairdy over for dinner, I brought some scrummy cheeses for starters, cooked roast beef and veggies for dinner and then I had made a lemon cake for dessert - it was a fantastic night with fantastic friends and to top it off my gorgeous friend had brought me some shoes - purple shoes, they are very very cute and I love them!

- Saturday I got up early to watch England in the Rugby World Cup - WE WON!!! Which means we play Australia on Saturday night in the Quarter Finals, we have to win otherwise we are out... I really hope England wins.. After the rugby we went for a run and then we went to a friend's wedding - it was a long day but beautiful, the weather was gorgeous, my little goddaughter was there (I got many cuddles) and I got to see one of my good friends marry a lovely man...

- Sunday I had to work. The Challenge Conferences that we run for MTS have been on the last 3 weekends and so I went up to do some interviews with people who were attending - these will eventually go on a new DVD we are doing which explains what MTS is etc, it will be shown in churches but also to people who are considering an apprenticeship. I interviewed Ministers, people doing an apprenticeship, people thinking about doing an apprenticeship, people at theological college and the wives of those at college too (I think it's important to find out what it means to them too). It was really fun and being the 'shy' girl that I am I just loved chatting and asking my prepared questions... I didn't realise that I was going to be filmed but it all worked out OK and I wasn't too nervous once I got going. I will let you know when it comes out, we will probably put it on you tube too..

- Monday was a holiday. Again the weather was glorious, we chilled out went for a nice lunch near the beach. Then in the evening we went to watch 'Stardust'.. It was OK but not as good as I had hoped, it's a bit cute and some of the special effects were great but it was also a little cheesy.

Anyhoo, that's what I have been up too.. Happy Wednesday Hump Day.

i personally believe miss 'such as' hit the mtv awards

my beautiful God daughter

I got quite a few cuddles on Saturday from this beautiful girl ;)

a new addition

On Saturday we went to a wedding of a good friend of ours, on all the tables at the wedding reception there was a fish in a glass bowl. I went to my seat and found a note telling me I was now the proud owner of the fish on table 11.

The fish (our first pet together - ahhhhhhhhhhh) is a Siamese Fighting Fish and has been named 'Dory' though I keep referring to her as a him?!?!?! I have named him after 'Dory' for a couple of reasons:

1. Finding Nemo has to be one of my favourite movies.
2. In England a very common nickname for me was 'Dory', if you know me - it is really self explanatory and if you haven't met me yet you will get it once you do..

So we are now the responsible owners of a fish.... We got little Dory a plant, some food (always good to feed your pets) and some water cleaner stuff. So far so good.

My past history with fish is not all that good, I killed about 5 or 6 in the first 18 months of being in Australia, my favourite of which was 'Shark-Bait Ooh Ha Ha' - another Finding Nemo name. Let's hope I am a little better with this one.

see you in the quater finals Australia

So here we are again, not in the actual finals but in the quarter finals, England v Australia.

Sorry to my Aussie readers but being an English lass I will be supporting my home team England.

I am looking forward to the game.. Go England!

woman gives birth to 17lb (7.75kg) baby

Oh my goodness. They grow em big in Russia..

Check this and this out!

dove advertising campaigns

I love what Dove are doing with their advertising campaigns - there is a real appreciation for REAL women, old and young, thin and curvaceous.

Their new campaign is 'pro-age' - appreciating the older woman. Real women, real bodies, not photo shopped, not digitally enhanced - just REAL, lumps, curves, wrinkles and all.

A lot of advertising companies could learn a lot from Dove - they really are paving the way..

The new ad does have nudity (tastefully done), but still the women are naked but you don't see anything rude...

Dove I commend you!

my documentary on the new zealand kiwi

Yes I obviously had a lot of time on my hands!!!! Watch out David Attenborough! This isn't the best quality video, I didn't realise that I could increase the quality.



Stay tuned for more videos..

glorifying anorexia?

This is one of two new posters from a new campaign for No-l-ita - the photographs were taken by the guy behind a lot of controversial Benetton billboards!!! Find out more here. I know what they are trying to do but to me it is distasteful and almost glorifying anorexia by making this lady a pin up on billboards! I am NOT a fan!

why their are so many sheep in NZ - the truth!

So..... as we all know - or if you didn't know there are a LOT of sheep in New Zealand. While I was there I decided to take it upon myself to find out WHY! (well not really the driver on a day trip we did told us - but that doesn't sounds as exciting does it!)

So did you know that in NZ they breed the sheep to have twins ...... It is the norm for sheep to have twin lambs and the exception for sheep to have one lamb!!!

Well I never! - you can now all sleep at night now you know why their are so many sheep in New Zealand.

The End!

fun with ruth and the fam

Last night SP, Kym and I all went to Ruth and AB's house for dinner. Ruth, Kym and I all got together a bit earlier for coffee, milkshakes and banana bread which was lovely (I think it is going to become a tradition - even though we have only done it twice). I took my camera and got some great shots of our little god-daughter and the gorgeous boys. See below. I so love hanging out with Ruth, AB and their family - they are a real joy and I will miss them when they move. But we will plan on seeing them very regularly! It was also fun to catch up with Kym - our fellow god-parent!

Some of the photos below with me and the boys were taken by the boy that you can't see in the picture, they all wanted to try - they are cute and they did a good job - I think we have a couple of budding photographers in our midst.

SP and I love you guys heaps!

holidays = fantastic! God = good!

I have a list of things to write about but I just haven't had the time to write down everything buzzing in my head.

Firstly though I would thoroughly like to recommend holidays. I feel refreshed and it feels good. Before I left everything was an effort, everything was hard, my fuse was shorter than it normally would be, I didn't have the energy or desire to do things that I would normally love to do, SP and I were 'existing', I didn't have many interesting things to write about and I was finding prayer and reading God's word hard.

It is amazing what a holiday can do! We won't be leaving it that long between holidays again = lesson learnt.

I feel totaly different - Nixter has reentered the building! Not to say I was a totally different person but my energy levels and desires were overtaken with tiredness... I have been praying more and God has rekindled a joy in my heart. There have been certain things that have been on my heart to pray for and if I wake up in the night I start to pray or when I am going to sleep I pray - I love that!

SP and I are having more fun and have had the opportunity and time on our holidays to reconnect and just hang out.

Bible Study was great on Thursday (Rev 8-11), I know if you read it you might wonder how I get the word 'great' from this passage, but really God is a merciful God who loves us and has chosen us for himself. Even though there are horrendous things we see in this world and even though life can be really hard at times - the fact that God has sent his son to save us who don't deserve saving is AMAZING! He has spared us!

There are many things I want to say here but I have just got to work so I it will have to wait until later or the weekend.

Praise God for holidays and his mercy!

Have a great Friday.

i think he is still my fav.....

..... but I kinda like Carl and Matt too!

a little taster

As we arrived back fairly late on Sunday night and had to wash clothes, go shopping etc I haven't had time to really sort out my pics or fix up the ones with dust marks on, BUT here are a few to check out until I get my rear into gear (that rhymes!)

If you click on them you can see them in a bigger format. Enjoy!