pick one : jenny/jenga/jentle/jengi/itchy/jk

spammy spam spam

oh how i wish spam was non-existent.

it is giving me the irrites at present. mucho. so i am having a whinge.

i wonder how hard the anti-spam download goes. i couldn't be bothered reading the smh article.

jo and pat

i'm looking forward to jo's wedding on saturday. i reckon it'll be lovely. and i love seeing my cousins. they are such an important part of my childhood, my upbringing, my life. i'm so thankful for them. they are a gift. and i reckon too that it will just be joy surrounding this wedding. i'm particularly excited about that.

god bless new zealand

we found out today that we may potentially have a place for two years from July, rent free! still to talk through it with the lovely people who have offered it to us, and for their move to be set in concrete, but how amazing would that be!

and it's only a 10 minute walk to a station.

for tamara

would you believe me if i said...
that we are the ones who can make the change
in the world today...
would you believe me if i said...
that all of your dreams in your heart
can come true... today...
would you believe me if i said...
that life could be all that you want it to be... today...

just live your life.. with God inside
you wont regret one moment of it
and give all that you can for God... for God

Hillsong United Live "Free"

cheers

ben you are a good comment-er. well done.

feel good

i was reading an article yesterday about colour your world. there was a quote about how everything (in the context of the conference as well as the church) is geared towards making you feel good about yourself:

"Maddox says the church (Hillsong) also consistently plays down the negative side of the Christian faith that is so often prevalent in more traditional churches. 'They don't talk about sin' she says. 'They don't say anything that might make you feel bad. It's all about making people feel good"

now i'm not saying yay or nay about that comment in reference to hillsong, colour or the 'more traditional' churches. just quoting.

but i did enjoy going to church last night and one of the first things neil says is this isn't going to be a feel good message. this one isn't about warm fuzzies. and i appreciated that. not that it was doom and gloom and fire and brimstone, but we were talking about the lordship of Christ, and about taking that seriously in our (my) lives.

it seems so often much easier to say/live Jesus is Saviour, rather than Jesus is Lord.

setting up house

we picked up the projector and screen today. we also bought a home phone, which was on sale - just the way i like it. howie suggested today we should have a big neon Panasonic sign hanging on our house. it's only fair with all the gear of theirs we own.

it's kinda fun thinking about setting up a house. especially because it's with the boy i love. and because i've never done it before. so it's an adventure. i think i'm writing this so that when it gets stressful i can re-read this and remind myself of the novelty.

busy feet

i'm not very good and sitting down and doing one thing for hours on end. i tend to combine a bunch of things, and flit between them all constantly.

when i watch a DVD i'll get up and move through the house doing various other jobs

when reading a book i'll read a chapter or so and then check my emails

and writing wedding invitations is fun, but also quite long and tedious. and i'm not getting through them very quickly because i keep getting distracted. i must have an overactive chip in my brain. yep. it's the only cause i can think of.

now back to it!!

woop-paaaaaaaah

junkets

off to rooty hill today for work. last week it was prospect, and the week before, wilberforce. ah the perks of my job.

more excitement

oh yeh! wireless internet at home! woohoooooo!

buzz is such a fun game.

and now i am sleepy. tis beddy byes, good night world.

new car smell

debsy got her new car today. it looks like this.

although that's a pretty poor photo. it's all shiny and new, and it smells like a new car. yay for debbie.

splurge

i don't know why, but i just feel better about life when i buy stuff from oxfam's online shop.

it's stress relieving.

i must be an emotional shopper after all.

no rhodes

today was long. we spent five hours at the hospital for a 10 minute procedure. poor howie. the staff shouldn't tell you that it's only a 10-15min thing. coz then that's what you expect. they should say it's a 10-15min thing, in the middle of a five hour thing. yes. maybe even tell you it's a 20min thing in the middle of a 10 hour thing. then it would be exciting when they get it done in half the quoted time.

but the kiosk across the road has $1 chips and $1 cans.

so by the time it got to 4pm, and howie had sore bits, we thought better of going to rhodes. instead we are home. and sleepy. and howie is having a nap as i type.

lights, camera...

howie's cystoscopy is today. so we head over to concord hospital. that might mean going to rhodes afterwards - what a shame!

meanwhile, not enjoying unnerving dreams. that was a bit strange.

my da vinci ramble

sam and i went and saw the da vinci code last night - cheapo tuesday! oh yeh! anyways, we both liked the book, because of the pace and structure and weaving. we're both big matthew reilly fans, and i'm a tom clancy fan, and dan brown's book was in a similar vein.

in any case, all the hoo ha about the book and christianity and the church - i can understand where people are coming from, wanting to refute it and run services around it, 'decoding' it. i understand that it might spark peoples curiousity into christianity. i can also understand that people might use this book/movie to support their negative view of the church.

there is cynicism either way.

i choose to read the book as fiction. i choose to believe what the Bible tells me about Jesus and God. i choose to believe in his deity. and i still chose to pay my $8.50 (plus $1.00 booking fee) to go and see the film.

yes, sam and i liked the film. it was good i think more coz we had read the book too. i wouldn't say it was a thriller really. one bit made me jump. and i guess having read the book, you kind of expect the ending. but it was a good tale. and it wasn't too bad on the big screen. in fact, i liked it.

i don't understand all the fuss about tom hanks.

snackies

oooh yum!

this and that

i am extremely tired. my eyes are so heavy. and i don't know why. i didn't have the world's best sleep but it wasn't overly dodgy. i wasn't up early. or being very strenous today. so it is a mystery.

but we have started writing out invitations which is fun. for the overseas people at the moment.

today howie and i looked after phoebe for a bit at work. that was fun. we played all sorts of games. she was happy and bubbly and playful. it's been a while since we looked after her.

i wonder if preservatives are evil.

multipass

we made the first use of the npws sticker and had a picnic lunch at appletree bay. that was fun. we at salad and tuna, and iced animal biscuits, and apple mentos. yum. it's fun watching boats come in and out.

today

took xander to the vet this morning, having noticed a weeping wound in his 'armpit' last night after he hissed the roof down as i picked him up. spent 1.5 hours at the vet - long wait with lots of dogs, which xander wasn't heaps happy about. couldn't find the puncture mark, but he had a temperature and so the vet injected some antibiotics which hopefully stave off all nasties. so he's all quiet and weird since we got back home. poor bubba.

then off to the florist with debs and cathy to check out bridesmaids bouquets. was good. and now all sorted for that. semi-sorted out buttonholes and church flowers too. yay for things coming together.

then off to prospect for a work thing. almost got lost, but didn't. which was good. finished on time, early even, which was excellent.

now back home again, before the four of us (debs, me, howie and sam) head off to the swans game tonight. yay swans. go team!

and that, my friends, is my day.

yay for

~ fun gap
~ lachy's shaved head
~ new toys
~ that buzz game
~ hankies
~ sleep ins
~ gobstoppers
~ futurama
~ invites back from the printer
~ the weekend!
~ warm clothes
~ cheques

and much much more

visibility

i like a good fog.

this sunday night!

don't miss it - i sure won't.

8:30pm Sunday night on SBS

punderful

i wonder if someone is employed fulltime at the Advocate to come up with the 'clever' headlines.

furthermore

the rumours are true!

purchasing

it kinda fun buying things to set up a home. we have such great people around us helping us out. it's crazy!

less than four months to go! here's hoping that we find somewhere good quickly.

yay for

celebratory skittles!

ramble

it's been a long time since i woke up in the morning feeling rested or refreshed.

i'm trying very hard these days to not sit with my legs crossed. i've fallen into the habit of crossing right over left when i'm sitting at the computer. i don't want varicose veins.

it's difficult finding a hairdresser for us girls for the wedding, because, besides getting my hair coloured last year, i haven't been to a hairdresser since i had boy hair - which was 5 or 6 years ago. so i don't have an established relationship with anyone to know i can trust them. i should get more proactive though.

i'm glad "normal" gap is back this friday. it's been so long, and it'll be good to finally be able to talk to people again and have fun in the greenhouse.

and here concludeth my morning thoughts.

throb

i've had this weird headache most of today. it ain't that fun. so far i've resisted the urge to take anything for it - but i think i will now succomb to panadol.

i'm pretty sure my mum doesn't read my blog

but in any case - happy mother's day!

i actually hope she doesn't read it - at least until after tomorrow because of what i'm about to say.

i'm really pleased about the presents debbie and i are giving her this year - for mother's day and for her birthday tomorrow. we've already 'given' her dinner with dad at sydney tower (why is it not called centrepoint tower anymore?!) this friday night. but what she doesn't know is tomorrow we're giving her a night in some 5-star hotel with dad on friday night too - complete with full buffet breakfast. go team! i reckon it's probably cost as much as all the presents we've ever given her combined.

we're such good daughters.

fun

walkie talkies are so fun! joshy and i had a lot of fun with howie's today until the battery died. yay for fun kiddies. yay for good weather. YAY for two days of sleep ins coming my way!! oh yeh!

workies!

today we have a trip ourt to wilberforce. i hope it's fun. and not too cold!!

food and sleep

yay for dinner last night with liberachi. it is alawys much fun to catch up with her, and we ate so many vegetables and fruits.

meanwhile, it's fortunate i am awake. the power must have gone out sometime overnight, so of course my alarm clock is not working. i'm a little behind my morning schedule, but thats ok.

hellas

i'm not quite sure the greece plan is going to happen this year. which is sucky.

catch 22

i tried to log into MSN at home today - no deal! it says:

'a new version is available. you must install the newer version in order to continue. would you like to do this now? yes/no'

that's all well and good, slightly annoying, but hey.

so i say yes, and it starts to install, but then tells me that my computer can't run the program because it's too old a version of windows or something.

so i can't run MSN because it tells me to upgrade, but my computer isn't smart enough to.

bummer!

do not worry

is it too big an ask these days to live by Matthew 6:25-34? just quietly, i am a bit worried about the 'have' and the 'have not' in my own life in the next few years - stepping out into the uncertainty of what the future holds, and our ability to afford it.

i am concerned about the 'have' and the 'have not' of our society, our country. about the 'have' and the 'have not' in this world. it's all relative i suppose - living below the poverty line, whether in sydney, in rural australia, in india, in africa. but how does not worrying about things like food, water, clothes work for those who don't have them, and have little hope of receiving them?

sure, it's true that worrying won't add a single hour to your life, it'd probably take hours from it. but that doesn't stop me!

i don't ever expect answers. that's just how the world is. how it works. i'd like to know what changes it. what difference can i be making.

sales

last night howie and i went to domayne at north ryde because it was open til midnight. if things are open to midnight, you have to go to them. the funnest thing was the escalators that went really really slow until someone stepped on them and they sped up - i've never seen escalators like that before. so that made my night. that and the fun underground parking.

we didn't buy anything coz it wasn't really much of a sale. but we did go to the mothership (aka super shell) afterwards for mcflurries. and then we watched an episode of futurama at home. ah what a night.

and to top it all off... today is DAY OFF!! yay!!

updated

we've made a few additions recently to our wedding website. feel free to go have a look. it's a bit of fun.

body

everyone should just be healthy. yep. full stop.

nitty gritty

starting to think about the finer points of the wedding. things like ties and flowers and ceremony set up and jewellery. things keep ticking over, which is good.

today debs, cathy and snow joined me in a lazy saturday drive to south wentworthville to try on bridesmaids dresses. and they got to take the home too. we'll have some altering to do before the 'big day' but noone was swimming or struggling to fit in their dresses. thats a weight off my mind i tells ya.

i'm sure you're all very excited to read this post.

today howie and i went to pie in the sky. good old cowan. plus we got to see sam, yumi, juicy and tootie at westfield. all in all a good day.

damn tired though.

pardon?

you know the saying 'if it's too loud, you're too old'. i must be damn old then.

shiner

my grandma has the best black eye. she woke up with it on sunday, and the doctor said a blood vessel burst on her eyelid. the bruise extends up over the eyelid, down around her eye, onto the side of her nose and past the top of her cheek bones to about half way down her cheek - and it is black as. so impressive.

far out those 'less young' people, even the fit and healthy ones, injure easily.

tense

sometimes i am such a stressbucket. like right now.

the greek ones

we paid for kostas and eleni's flights the other day. they're really coming!! yay!

makes you wanna scream!

for whenever you feel the urge to go insane from frustration:

parking perfection 2

edit: plus i just found
parking perfection as well.

parking

many funs is that howie bought me/us/duckie an annual pass for NPWS. so we can go all fun places for "free", except kosciusko. i'm sure duckie will be excited about his new tattoo.

i got a parking ticket today. i completely forgot about my car. so that's a bit of a poo.

maybe the next fun sticker we can get is a disability pass for all the free parking we can park.

was that statement 'abilitiest'? i mean not to offend.

stationery

it's fun working on things like invites, RSVP cards, order of service booklets, and the like. i might not think the same when i have to stuff a couple hundred envelopes, or put together a few hundred OOS booklets, but thats ok. it's all part of the fun. 129 days to go.

worm

good thing i like reading coz who knows how long howie's IVP will go for - certainly not he or i. i'm taking matthew reilly's 'contest' with me. i've never been in concord hospital before. i wonder if they'll be filming any 'all saints'.

inability

i have this problem that when i sniff milk to see if it's off, i can't actually tell the difference between normal milk and off milk. it makes life quite difficult. the only tell tale sign for me is lumpiness.