just plodding along

it might be crazy, but in all seriousness... good night.

i would just like to say that debbie gower is the bomb. and 'ha' to everyone else coz she's MY sister! and i get to keep her forever.

i'm sure i'll get in about a million troubles plus seven for posting this pic. but she'll be fine. oh, it's debbie by the way. am i allowed to say what a hottie. i think so. (sorry to embarrass you debs).

well i lasted six hours of orbit. that's a bit sad. but after a couple hours convo with debbie it was decided it best that i come home. so i drove home at about 12:15am. good thing too coz as i attempted to sleep last night i felt my throat get sorer and sorer. so yeh. it's a bit of a bummer. being sick and tired.

i had a fun car trip there with lachy, will and jas. funny boys. and fun was me and lachy in the same group. and fun was the convos with deb, lachie, lachy and jas. and it was so good talking to debbie. i really like my sister. she's good value.

this weekend will now consist of unpacking, cleaning my room and the general laziness of DVD viewing.

but orbit sounds like it will be awesome. i hope everyone there has a jolly good time.

orbit orbit orbit... its all good fun.

so i must bid you adieu for a few days.... 1000 visitors in a month will be fun. hoorah you.

oh, and i love howie. very much.

thats all.

as i was down on my hands and knees scrubbing a shower recess this morning, struggling to get up from that position each time i wanted to rinse the spongey thing, because of my dodgy knee, i thought to myself "this is what it's like to be an old woman". i'm 23, and i'm already an old woman. tops.

i lost my little wallet dooby that holds all my movie ticket stubs since 1996... that's sad. but it's ok, at least i didn't lose my wallet. that's never fun.

oh so clever

i drink lite white milk. full cream milk is too creamy. i refuse to ever drink it. if it's all that's on offer i'll have dry cereal. skim milk is too watery. like shape. it's like milk flavoured water. the rest of my family is also quite picky with milk varieties.

so home comes mumma with a 1 litre woolworths skim milk cartoon. she announces that we'll try that because it's cheaper and the same. debbie and i have our doubts. i don't plan on drinking it.

yesterday morning, breakfast as usual. bowl of fibre plus (i'm a grandma) with lite white. water and two vitamin tablets.

last night mum asks me how breafast was. i said fine, a little curious at the question. a big smile comes across her face. my brain ticks over for a second. i say "you didn't". but she had. she'd waited for the lite white to finish and then refilled the bottle with the woolworths milk. the crafty woman. she knows her children well. and her trickiness paid off. from now on it's woolies milk.

bravo mother.

now tell me howie and lachy - what kind of sensation does a mintie give you when shoved up your nose?

some people make me quite the worried.

wholesale lolly shopping is fun. no doubt about it. skittles are fun. cola bottles are fun. sugar is fun.

this weekend is orbit. big youth camp for 12-30 year olds. i'm sure it'll be huge. i'm not motivated yet. it's a different kind of 'community' experience to the one i just had. meh, i'm sure it'll be tops. but i would like to take my own bed with me.

a sore throat isn't a positive thing. ah well.

this morning's little devotional dooby...

"For you have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love." Galatians 5:13

The more you devote yourself to obeying God, the more freedom you'll find. This is one of many intriguing paradoxes in the Bible.

it is quite strange how it all works. foolish to this world you could say. freedom through obedience. loving through serving.

i must admit i find myself, not so much following, but aware of Prince Frederik and Princess Mary's story. i have the impression that they are lovely. and i am happy for them expecting a baby in october. that certainly takes the pressure off them. coz surely that's a big deal, bearing heirs. my oh my there are many different lives and lifestyles throughout this world. what a crazy place.

getting up this morning was not an easy task

good girl

home at 9pm on a school night. howie and i went to manly. it was very nice to walk around. but i was much tired.

meanwhile, funny story. i'm going to divulge a fairly gross habit. ever since highschool, when i started chewing gum, if i came home from anywhere with gum still in my mouth, i would spit it into the bushes as i walked up our stairs. i don't know why. maybe i was too lazy to use the bin inside. so anyway, it's developed into a habit over the years. i do think it's not the most pleasant thing to do but hey. i was told and shown today a consequence of this habit. my cat had sat on a piece of gum in the garden, and had got some leaves stuck to him, and mum couldn't get the gum off, so they cut his fur! so my cat has a little bald patch on his butt coz i spit gum into the garden. poor xander.

there are a number of things having a little float around my head at present. not in an overwhelming way... which is nice. they're just there. i am predicting stressballness. but i would like to not be.

doh, i just got bumped in the shower queue this morning.

i will post a photo soon - my blog is so boring looking

i am thankful for those who gave their lives so i can be living a free life. i cannot imagine what it is to be a part of that. but i am thankful for those who were. i shouldn't take it for granted. people throughout the world still give their lives in such a way. others give their lives for much less.

lest we forget.

oh i love my grandma. just caught up with her on the phone. she is so cute. i could talk (listen) to her for hours.

welcome matty! i love matty - he's tops. hoorah.

my skin has gone to the dogs

there was fun to be had last night. and so fun we had. i did hit my head on a metal pole pretty hard and got bark chips all through my pants (as explained to in lachy's account of the evening). but all in all a pleasant evening with pleasant people.

today is lazy morning, this arvo me and howie will see joshy (yay!) and then afl tonight with debs and howie. fun fun.

if i was a man, i'd be worried about the amount of hair that falls out of my head each day. good thing i'm not a man.

i had one clean tshirt left that i didn't know was in my bag! i could have had one more clean and fresh day than i did have! oh well. i can wear it today.

if someone said "uluru", there's no way i would say 'been there, done that'. although i might have been there and in some ways done that, i reckon there's still heaps to learn. what an awesome couple of weeks. what a tops bunch of people. i am so glad to have met each one, and for those i already knew, to know them better. everyone pulled together really well and i reckon there would not be one person who didn't have a significant experience. sure there were "moments". but on the whole, it was good. i hate using the word good. it says absolutely nothing.

strange to be home. but completely not at the same time. as we we driving through the city back to hornsby it felt normal to be back in the city. i was happy enough to see tall buildings. but i don't want to forget the land and what 'passed through us' out in woop woop. we did over 7500km. not too shabby over 13 days.

anyway. i haven't really spoken to my family much. i just got up before (what a sleep in!). i'm looking forward to developing photos. not that it's about taking photos. but i like photos. i took 35 piccies in the space of 10mins when we got back to hornsby. just to finish the film.

i dunno what else to say. kemp tells the story well. i like that i'm back to my own home bed, fridge, toilet and bathroom. that i don't have to take my toiletries bag, towel and clothes into the shower and put them on a little bench. and i don't have to wear thongs anymore in the shower! all good things.

oooh, and i can drink milk again!

that's all.

and whoever rang my phone at 8:20am this morning is a dead man... dave!! (nah i think it was my aunt. but pranks and missed calls are funny)

well we're at Uluru... have been for a couple nights. yesterday we actually experienced the rock... pretty amazing just to be still and let feelings rise. today was kata tjuta. again amazing just to be still. i struggle with having a more scientific mind and having to push that stuff aside to look at the beauty and connect with what i'm seeing and feeling.

but the "trip" (it's not a trip it's a pilgrimage) has been amazing so far. pushed through disechantment. am quite the tired. but good. it's all a lot of fun and lots of loud laughing. awesome sense of community. i am enjoying much.

mega fun was talking to debbie gower for 20 mins this morning. i love my sister and so does everyone else on this trip... hehehe.

well that'll do for now. we leave tomorrow morning at some ungodly hour which sees my getting up at 4:30am. although i've been waking up at about that time everyday anyway. woohoo.

okies. bubye.

hello peoples... surprise blogpost coming your way from yunta in south australia... my first time ever in south australia. how fun. we've stayed in nyngan and broken hill. it's been good fun this little adventure of ours. lots of fun. pretty tired. but it's all good.

i just wanted to say hi.

and wahoo the swans winning by a goal.. so i hear.

sam also says hi.

oop...

.. one last post.

i am such a bad packer. i'm such a girl when it comes to packing. 'oh but i need 7 different shirts and 2 different pairs of jeans as well as two other pairs of pants and maybe three different jumpers'. pfft. i need to learn to be a good traveller. a light traveller. oh well. i'll learn next time. i dunno how i'm gonna go at re-packing my bag every morning. oh it's gonna suck.

my alarm is set for 4:50am. i am so tired. imagine 4:50am. phoaw.

ok. that'll do. goodbye peoples!

today has been long. sort of. but fun. in many parts.

i'm still at work. i'm meant to go to GAP sometime - we'll see how that goes (i miss GAP).

tomorrow i board a bus. it's a long trip. 13 days in fact. it will be tiring. it will be fun. it will be frustrating. it will be good. i haven't packed yet. i'm sure it'll be fine. i will sleep. if i will it, it will happen. 13 days is a long time in a bus with the same people. going to greece was a bit of the same sort of thing - the same people in your face for three weeks. i'm looking forward to it in lots of ways. and not so much in a few other ways. but God will sustain me.

so this is perhaps bubye for a little while. and i was so excited that april was gonna be biggest month for webstat for me. but ba baow. mawww... "i'll be fine"

i'm sure tonight will be one of those 'lay in bed for a few hours remembering things you've forgotten and brain not shutting up' nights.

footboot is back. that is fun. i will hopefully post later this arvo. but we go to Uluru tomorrow. crazy. it's in like two minutes. i'm tired. but that's ok. i'm taking valerian tablets at night. maybe i'll sleep better. i got a fun howie's halfpipe shirt made by howie. phoebe is beautiful. my grandma is sick but getting better after some stents and angiograms and blood transfusions. i'm addicted to summer rolls. i haven't really seen my family in a few weeks. i'm wearing bandaids on my thumbs so i don't hurt them. i love howie. and that's all.

welcome lyndal. lyndal is lovely. she says she has blog fever. we shall see.

i like my new sunglasses. so does erin. and sam. so that's good enough for me.

i'm wondering when it could possibly be my next chance to go to england. i don't know that some opportunity will just arise out of nothingness. but you never know.

i'm sorry, i'm too much of a wuss bag. no jo = no sam = no jenny

but really, i just want to go back to IKEA! i'm sure that's weird.

i was thinking today about people dying - not in a morbid way. but just coz my grandma is in hospital (not that she's dying - i hope), and coz i saw a bit of arrival at sydney airport of the nine people killed in the navy helicopter crash on tv, and with the pope. i guess i was just reflecting on those people in my life whose death would impact me most... and i guess you just never know. there's obvious people. but i don't know if i even know who means the most to me. that would be a pretty intense way of finding out. but yeh. i dunno. i was just thinking. i'll be quiet now.

maybe i'll put a moat around my bed. that'll stop xander sleeping on my bed. cats don't like water.

day of fun

i had good chats with debsy this morning

i came to office and had fun with steve and colin

i went to westfield with howie

howie and i went to rhodes shopping centre. how many funs is the foodcourt - i had sushi. i like vege rolls. and how many million funs is IKEA. the largest IKEA in the southern hemisphere. it's so much hugeness! it was fun! there was fun stuff to look at and play with and sit on. we found the best couch - only $1195. and fun futon seats - only $229 each. and a nice dining room table - only $389. and some chairs for that too - only $79 each. much fun. i bought tamara a birthday present.

and then we went to macquarie centre - we went dicksmith and borders. and franklins. we bought skittles. don't tell greater union. coz then saw "hitch". it was alright. some bits made me laugh. i always laugh at people falling over in movies.

now we're at office for meeting. but we've got a pizza from around the corner for dinner. we're getting icecream after the meeting. i like days off. i like howie.

oh what could have been...

this is right up my professional alley. that's a lot of people and a lot of significant issues - welfare, environment, health, planning, transport, housing, employment etc etc.

the people of tcbc are good chaps. we raised about $700 from the BBQ last night - more than double what's normally raised by a bbq. so good job. it's not $20 000 but it's a good effort.

i love Christian people being all humble and slipping money into your pockets. i think it's a beautiful thing. i probably mentioned it happened when i went to greece too.

i also had to talk up the front. i don't know why i said i would. my goodness i hate doing that. really really do. the complete nervousness and nauseousness beforehand... the shaky hands and voice. blerk. i hope i said good and helpful things. yay for the boys getting up there too. mum reckoned us getting up the front would have raised more money than if we hadn't. i think i agree. so i'm glad we did it.

my sleeping hasn't improved much. i might see my doctor about some sleeping tablets. coz it's not much fun.

and i got bitten by something last night. my left index finger is now a bit of a chubbster. not as much as tom's thumb, but a good effort nonetheless.

today is my day off! i'm going into work at 10am though. and have a two hour meeting tonight. but that's ok. it's a day off!

i have to go buy 160 sausages. that's a lot of sausage.

oooh i love waking up at 2am. it's ok, i fell back asleep. but then i love looking at the clock every 10mins for an hour or so from 4am. it's gonna be a good day.

Psalm 20:3-4

"May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed."

steve sent me this this morning or last night... whenever, i got it this morning. i found it helpful. but i know also, i don't sacrifice enough. i'm not willing to let go of so much stuff. i want to be like david and not sacrifice that which costs me nothing.

today was incredibly fun, incredibly messy, incredibly slimey, incredibly tiring, incredibly funny, incredibly incredible. it happened. it worked. it was God. and i love young people. i had awesome convos with natalie tsai on the way back. she is a top chick. i had funny convos with joel on the way there. we were both so tired. steve is the bomb. dave hammond is awesome. volunteers are the most wonderful people. hoorah for volunteers. they need their praises sung more. yep.

and with that, good night (that is most likely a lie and i will watch some mindless television or something then shower and sleep).

alright. i'm ready. let's go. i had the worst night's sleep. i feel like a zombie. actually that's not true, it wasn't the worst sleep ever. there have been and will be worser sleeps ever. actually, i'm fine. it's all about adrenalin.

can an injured possum travel 3km in less than 45 mins? coz i swear that the possum i saw limping down my street on my way to GAP was the same limping possum i stopped for just after pearce's corner on my way home from work so it could finish crossing the road.

i must be overtired. when i visited GAP i was so overexcited and chatterboxy and hyperactive. i need sleep. up at 6am tomorrow. i should go to bed soon.

bring on the trip i say. i'm sure it'll be fine.

i'd just like to say that my mumma is the bestest mumma around. i'm allowed to have that opinion. you don't necessarily have to agree with me.

1. thanks lachy for the sheriffs badge (even if the spurs are way cooler)

2. i promise i will leave the office soon, but i'll be back in 12 hours

3. i miss GAP

4. sometimes i am such an idiot

5. i'm tired

6. please let tomorrow be good God

7. i'm sure i've forgotten a million and four things

8. hoorah joeliolio being my set up buddy

9. happy birthday lyndal

and no ten, coz nine is my favourite number so it's a good one to end on.

apparently i wasn't allowed to get howie for april fools day. i wasn't planning to. but not being allowed made me want to. but i didn't. and wouldn't. and couldn't.

i hope everyone has survived this morning relatively unscathed.

sometimes waking up sucks. like today. i'm tired. i just want to sleep. waaaaa.