Apallingly Cute - A poll

Well, it's not really a poll, as I'm not fiddling around trying to create one. I would very much like your opinion, though.

Over at The Twinkies, Stacie is holding a Children's Photography contest. She wants us to elevate ourselves out of snapshot mode and into art, which is fine with me (it's a fine line but I'm not afraid to tread it) - but I have a problem with her other stipulation...only one photo to be entered.

As you know, I love taking photos of the wee man, and I therefore have a rather large collection of appallingly cute photographs to choose from. What is a mama to do?

So I'm asking for your help. I've reduced my favourites down to a dozen taken in the last 12 months (had to limit myself somehow!). Would you help me by telling me which is your favourite?

(I've got till December 31st to post my chosen photo.)

Thanks so much...I'll love you forever... :)


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Weekly Winners, Sunday Meme

On Friday morning, I was reflecting to myself how I hadn't picked up the camera all week...and what was I going to post on Sunday?! Well, the the camera has seen so much action since then that it's probably still red-hot.

Our Playgroup Christmas party was on Friday, complete with bouncy castle and an appearance from Santa (I'm the co-ordinator). It looked like it was going pear-shaped when we first got to the hall. The castle hire guy hadn't arrived (he'd confirmed he was on route 1 and 1/2 hours earlier - for a 40 minute drive!). The water had been cut off to the hall by nearby roadworks (and hence, electic urn could not be filled...Gasp! No coffee or tea for the mamas!?), and another school group was attempting to muscle in to the same space of the (very large) park despite the fact that we pay rent for the use of the hall 41 weeks of the year. I was beginning to see red, and it wasn't Santa! (Yeah, he was about to send an elf to say the sleigh had broken down...any minute now!)

Well, the show must go on, and it did. The castle guy turned up shortly after, one of the mums had a 12 litre water container in her car, and as the castle rose and more of our Playgroup arrived, the other group decided to move over to another section of the park. And before you think what a humbug I was not wanting to share the space or the entertainment - we were concerned about the impact of the bigger kid's behaviour so close to our little ones, some of whom were already a bit intimidated by the other group; and insurance and public liability being what it is these days, there was no way we could afford to be gracious and share the castle (which we budget and save for all year anyway.) We copped a few dark glances and muttered dissatisfactions to the castle operator (a few of their group approached him directly...huh?), but we were comfortable with our decision.

And we ended up having a great party. As you can see, Santa did arrive... And then last night we went into town and looked at the Christmas lights in the most-lit up street in town, these days a charity fund-raiser with another Santa in attendance. (The wee man is beginning to worry that Santa is too busy with all these appearances to get down to the serious business of making all the presents...lol)

Hmm, isn't this usually a wordless meme? I'll shut up now and let the pictures do the talking. Enjoy!

(Thanks again to our patron saint *snigger* of the Sunday meme, Sarcastic Mom aka Lotus.)















































A very Merry Australian Christmas to you all! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Where has she gone?

I just noticed that there isn't a lot of me in this blog this week. Oh, I'm here lurking around in the corners, but up-front and central have been the things that have caught my eye recently.

Part of the reason is time, or lack of it, to sit down at the computer for anything other than Christmas- or preschool-related activities.

But the greatest barrier has been a post I need to get off my chest, and I really need time (undisturbed time, that precious commodity) to devote to it. I've been thinking a great deal about what I want to say, and as is the nature of such things, have been stumbling in a synchronistic fashion upon various others who have been blogging along much the same lines.

I think those of you who have come to "know" me understand that I am, and aim to be, very honest about my feelings and opinions. I feel that there are things I need to say, but I am very conscious of the sensitivity required and I hope you'll bear with me as I gather my thoughts and sit down to talk to you... Soon...

rss Hugger - the next buzz for bloggers

Regular readers will know about my penchant for new thingies, widgets, ideas etc and how I've been intrigued by all I've learned in the world of blogging in the last few months.

Well, my friend baby~amore over at My Little Drummer Boys has tickled my fancy with a new website aimed at bringing bloggers and readers together through the neatest little bit of viral marketing I've seen. Through the rise of social networking sites and blogging, the power of word-of-mouth marketing is being recognised, and it's future is phenomenal.

rss Hugger is a website which takes the popular rss feed method of delivering online content to readers, and packages it in a way dedicated to bloggers and people who like to read blogs. It aims to bring together bloggers with readers who are interested in the type of content they blog about, thereby providing a service beneficial to both.

The service is free for readers and bloggers can choose to register for a ten year membership option: either pay $20 for registration on the site, or blog a review for free registration.

The premise is that as each blogger writes about rss Hugger, a portion of his/her blogging readers will look at the service and subscribe, too, therefore increasing the size of the site, the traffic and therefore number of readers for all. As I said, one of the neatest bits of viral marketing I've seen, and guaranteed to be a winner!

I've already found a few new blogs to add to my reader (as if I needed more...), and the follow-on reviews I've read from some who have been subscribed for a little while were positive, so I've jumped on board.

If you've had any experience with it, or have any feedback you'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you.

Women and vegetables

Hah!...Not what you were thinking!?

This morning in Australia, we woke up to a female Prime Minister. Okay, so Julia Gillard's only Acting Prime Minister, while Kevin flits off to Bali for some R&R (yes, I know, climate change conferences are a serious business - but you can't tell me he's not going to take the chance to pop down the Kuta main drag and get a bit of Christmas shopping done on the cheap...or not so cheap, these days?!), but still...a woman in the top job!

It's a first for Australia, so long a bastion for blokiness. Yes, I know we were one of the first countries in the world to give women the vote (just after Federation - most states were offically on-board by the second federal election in 1903, though women were not eligible to run for State Parliament until after the First World War and it was 42 years before a woman became a Federal politician)), but this country has a deeply macho core, which has long held itself apart from the idea of women in the top jobs. Only this year an online poll suggested that many people felt a female Prime Minister was still 15 years away! Glad they got that one wrong...

At the risk of inflaming the sensitivities of any blokes lurking around...as the crafty cat on my shelf says "The best man for the job is usually a woman"!

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And now for something completely different (as the Monty Python crew used to say)...

Think of these folks the next time you and the kids are chopping up the veges for the night's meal - could put a whole new meaning to "dinner music":

Weekly Winners, Sunday Meme

The camera didn't see a lot of action this week - too much else going on. A birthday party last Sunday and the village's annual Christmas panto yesterday, complete with face painter, BBQ, and bouncy castle, were the highlights of the week.



Thanks as always to Sarcastic Mom for this meme. :)













Here comes Santa, in his one-horse open...ah, carriage!






"No, I don't want to be a tiger this year...I want to be a monster!"

The Golden Compass

I'm excited! I've just discovered the website for "The Golden Compass", and I can't wait to see this film.

To further underline my part-time geek status, I am a lover of science-fiction and fantasy books and movies from waaayyyy back. I mean, I cut my reading teeth on the "The Magic Faraway Tree" by Enid Blyton and Charles Kingsley's "The Water Babies", and rapidly moved on to Tolkien's "Lord Of the Rings" cycle and Heinlein's "Stranger in Strange Land" (I read all of those before I was 10 - I was an early and precocious reader. Figures, huh!?). I continue to love fantasy, sci fi and spec fiction, though I read many different genre.

Same goes for movies - there are many I love (I'm hopeless at filling out Favourite Movies sections in profiles and forms...there are so many, and they change...), but stand-outs through my life include "Star Wars" (at 10, it was conceptually stunning!), "Total Recall", "The Fifth Element", "Gattaca", the "Lord of the Rings" films (of course), and I'm a sucker for the Harry Potter films, though the quality does vary.

So a movie that describes itself as "...an exciting fantasy adventure film, set in a parallel world where people's souls manifest themselves as small animals, talking bears fight wars, and children are mysteriously disappearing... " is bound to get my attention. Add Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig as the headline acts on a pretty fine cast, and a visually spectacular production, and you've got me!

I'm intrigued by the idea that in the parallel universe described in the film, people's souls manifest themselves externally as spirit animals called Daemons. On the website, you can answer a short questionaire and have your daemon revealed.

I love my tiger! I have had recurring dreams about tigers at significant points in my life, and have long considered them a personal totem animal. (I'm not ascribing any mystical significance or power to the selection tool or the website - just marvelling at the appropriateness for me.)

Now, off to my local movie guide, to see how long I have to wait before the movie gets to my part of the world...

Are you Blogger'd out?

Things have been a little quiet around here of late. Oh, I know that NahBloMe is over and Christmas is circling like a hawk, and all sorts of festive and not-so-festive activities are consuming our every waking hour...but still...

Even a neophyte blogger like myself has heard about the changes Google has wrought here on Blogger. Several incidental comments from some of my more dedicated readers have suggested there are real difficulties in posting comments on my blog and, from what I've read around and about the blogosphere, that is par for the course at the moment.

I'm really enjoying this blogging gig, and one of the abiding pleasures is the dialogues that develop with the readers and other bloggers. If you are unable to share your thoughts and comments with me, then I may as well just keep a digital diary.

So if you are one of my handful of subscribers ("Hi, thanks for coming...glad to see you again!" *waves*) perhaps reading this in a RSS reader or just a regular drop-in who ghosts on through because it is too hard to do anything else, or even a blogging friend with an opinion to share, would you consider taking the time to let me know - Is Blogger making it hard for you? Should I stay with Blogger or explore the options to move (onwards and upwards, I hope)?

Keep in mind that I am effectively tech-illiterate, so would still be seeking a reaaaaallly simple and completely inexpensive (to be frank, at the moment...free) option. I've been reading about Snoskred's (Life in the Country) platform offer, which sounds great, but even that is a financial commitment I can't make right now.

Or maybe I should just ride out the changes, and build my knowledge (and my finances) before I think about making any changes...?

Lily knows where Mongolia is

I'm not sure which I was more astonished at - the amazing geographical recall of the exceedingly cute 2 year old Lily in this clip I received through Dr Mercola's newsletter, or the fact that the good doctor claims that "80 percent of American families did not read or buy a book in 2006, and 70 percent of U.S. adults haven’t visited a bookstore in the last five years"?!?

It seems Lily's family have more than peeked inside the covers of the odd book, and while it's a bit of a party trick to have a child so young recall places when she may not even grasp the concept of "country", it's still a fine thing to develop memory and encourage learning outside the box. I found her habit of rolling her favourite place names around in her mouth, and giggling, totally endearing - the wee man has always enjoyed shaping new and unfamiliar words. In a world where many are reducing communications to gr8 nu wayz 2 say c u, it's nice to think there are still going to be those who appreciate the way words are formed, and seek to use them artfully.

Where does the time go?

Life has been a little hectic the last couple of days - I guess it's the same for us all right now, as we hurtle breathlessly towards the end of the year at the speed of light. Is is just me, or has this been the fastest year ever?

I've been hammering away at the keyboard while the wee man has been at preschool, knocking the preschool's enrolment package into shape for sending out to new and returning families for 2008. Even this initial foray into the world of schooling somehow requires 8 or 9 pages of information, forms and lists; I've tried to streamline and clarify the material as much as possible, remembering it being a bit much to take in on enrolment day this year. I was gobsmacked this morning when one of my playgroup committee colleagues told me that she just received a 30-page enrolment pack from the preschool she has chosen for her daughter!

I have felt rather guilty for not having time to post since Sunday. I hope I can get over that feeling - I have enough sources of unnecessary guilt in my life. Guilt for not being the mother I'd like to be (when I shriek and lose it, completely forgetting everything I read in "Buddhism for Mothers"); for not being the wife I promised to be (losing interest, losing patience); for not making the most of the abilities and talents I am given (blame my old friend Procrastination, if I dare); for not doing more about world peace and hunger and the people sleeping under bridges just down the road (I've added a button for Peace - click and help assuage my guilt - and your own). And I'm not even Catholic... ;)

I have an idea for a story lurking in the dark corners of my mind at the moment - actually it's a book-sized story. My timing really sucks. I should have had this idea a couple of months ago - then I could have beaten it into submission within the framework of NaNoWriMo, and I might have had 50,000 words to show for it. Now, the onus is on me to wrestle with my own demons, scoop some non-existent spare time out of my days, and see where this idea leads. Perhaps some of that discipline learned through my month of posts can be stretched to fit.

PS. It seems there may be another plan for the little shop already in place - my cafe dream must be re-shelved...for now.

PPS. That photo up there is me, aged about 2 1/2. Do you think the wee man looks just a bit like me? I always thought he looked more like his father, until I started looking at my own baby photos...

Weekly Winners, Sunday Meme

(Yes, I had the day off. It felt a bit strange, I must confess - but pleasant, at the same time.)

With thanks as ever to our "sponsor", Sarcastic Mom - my weekly winners (a late family picnic at Rocky Creek Dam; and at play with the wee man on our verandah):

The end of November

Today marks the end of 30 days of consecutive blogging for myself and thousands of other dedicated idiots bloggers around the world participating in NaBloPoMo 2007. Another group of idiots extremely dedicated writers aimed to complete a 50,000 word novel for NaNoWriMo. An extremist splinter group of masochists A few brave souls were attempting both and are probably looking around, recognising children grown a month older, and a winter pelt of hair on legs or face when they glance in the mirror (or both, if extremely unlucky or hormonally challenged). Whether they manage to re-integrate into mainstream society successfully remains to be seen, and may be the subject of a future Stanford University study...

I didn't manage (nor attempt) to write a novel this November, but I did a number of other things.

I wrote, every day. It's been a long time since I could say that, and I'm proud of it. My output wasn't prodigious, nor particularly brilliant or illuminating, but the creative part of my soul appreciates that the rest of me joined in and allowed me to be whole for a little while every day. I've been side-lining my creative side for too long.

I made new friends - I've banged this drum a few times already this month, so I won't labour it. You know who you are (at least I hope you do!). I hope we can keep reading, commenting, sharing and caring. It's been a great pleasure sharing the journey with you all.

I read some amazing blogs and personal stories. Really, some of you just knock my socks off. The power and resilience of the human spirit can be read through the cyber-pages of a sample of blogs I have read this month. What some of you have dealt with, and continue to deal with every single day, is awe-inspiring - and then you turn up and blog and laugh and worry about the next person. Good on you! Reading blogs restores my faith in the human spirit on a daily basis.

I have learnt so much about blogging, social net-working, online marketing, the Internet in general. More then I ever expected, and once again down to the incredible resource which is the blogging world. Computers always fascinated me by the way they shaped simple code to store vast amounts of information; the process was at once alien and fascinating. Bloggers are the human side of computing; they, too, offer vast amounts of information, but they offer it with a personal voice, an accent, a viewpoint, an opinion, a smile. No wonder more people than ever before are going online. Learning will never be the same again. Even a passionate reader like myself can understand and embrace that idea.

So, was doing NaBloPoMo 2007 worthwhile? Hell, yes!

Will I be back again tomorrow?

Wait and see...

Food for thought

There are lots of ways I indulge my love of food, apart from eating it, of course.

I used to collect cookbooks, until I channelled that (expensive) compulsion into buying some of the many first-rate food and cooking magazines now on the market. (Here in Australia, my addictions of choice are Australian Good Taste, Table, and Super Food Ideas, with the occasional ABC Delicious. Recently, Woman's Day Everyday Food has caught my attention...oh, but, no more...bad, bad girl!)

Seriously, I should stop spending money on magazines etc, and just dive online. Blogging has provided a perfect and natural platform for foodies and fans - there are just as many eager to read and drool over delicious recipes and eye-catching photographs as there are eager to share the results of their culinary journeys. Part of my interest in blogging came through my explorations of cooking bloggers, usually begun by searching for a particular recipe or a special ingredient.

I am thrilled every time I find a new "gem" - that perfect marriage of the visually engaging, verbally entertaining, and mouth-wateringly tempting. Some are a source of recipes and inspiration for me; some are just pure escapism (I'm never going to put that much effort into my cooking, but I love to watch someone who does.)

Here, ranging (in no particular order) from the sublime to the suburban are some of my favourites:

TasteSpotting - "Feed your addiction" - what more can I say?

Exclusively Food - Simply and beautifully photographed Aussie food blog shared by Amanda & Debbie

Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit - There is something weirdly compelling about this blogger's exploration of flavours (eg. Adzuki Bean Paste Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Matcha Green Tea Frosting) - and they look stunning.

Milk and Cookies - Another great Aussie food blog, with gorgeous photographs.

Smitten Kitchen - A new find - she makes me laugh, she makes me drool - it's got it all.

The Virtual Kitchen - Wholesome hearty fare and a lovely network of food-loving friends.

The Food Traveller - Gastronomic delights from the kitchen of a European couple (he's Italian, she's Belgian), spiced with photographs of their travels.

Hey Mum, I'm Hungry - Kim from All-Consuming cooks a mean recipe blog, too, served with plenty of laughs.

And then there's lovely Red Dirt Mummy, who I found on a recipe search, and stopped to read and share and smile (her blog is not all food, but she's got some real keepers in her recipe files)...and...no, I have to stop.

It's late, and I'm now reaaaallly hungry, and should go to bed where I can dream in glorious technicolour of jewelled fruit tarts and sculptural cupcakes and aromatic curries and...

Coming and going

I was here...but then he woke.


(Edited the next day to add: This is an example of blogging under pressure. NaBloPoMo finishes tomorrow, and after a busy day with no opportunity to write anything all day, I thought I'd finally found a small window when the Big Feller headed off to bed. No sooner had I touched hands to the keyboard when the wee man woke up and started crying for me. So forgive me for the extreme brevity and lack of interesting content...but I guess it's a post most parents can relate to!)