Tired doing nothing ...

Ever have one of those days where you seem to be really busy doing nothing?

Had one of those today.

Full circle ...

This is a digi layout I have done for HMITM #142.  The challenge was to use "School" themed papers, incorporate a real pencil on your page as an embellishment, 1-3 photos that are school related, use something you would find on a school supply list and include journaling & numbers on your page.

I've been doing the school albums pages for both Christopher and Rachel as digital so thought I should keep this style going so I am able to add this layout in with the rest.  The photo is one taken last year on the first day of school.  Rachel was heading off to senior school in her new shirt with red trim which signifies the senior years while Christopher ventured into Year 5 in primary school.  I couldn't help but recall Rachel starting at our present school in Year 5 and that we as a family had now come full circle.  It even transpired that Christopher would end up in the same classroom, sitting in roughly the same position within the class that his sister did six years previously.  I wonder where those years went.

Flowers and Feminine wiles ...

When I saw the first challenge for this month on Scrap the Boys  I was really stumped as to how to go about this. The challenge was a relatively simple one from Susan ... I don’t know about you but I know I really struggle to put flowers on a boy page so the first challenge for August is to scrap a layout using flowers …to make it a little easier I will allow this one to be of you and your boy/s… Or if you can’t come at flowers …scrap about their feminine sides… or if you are feeling very clever… use both criteria.

 I use flowers a lot on my boy layouts - it's something I don't think looks out of place on a masculine page as long as it is subtle or in the right context. I wanted to be able to use both the flowers and the feminine side criteria but couldn't think of a single set of pictures I have left unscrapped that fitted the bill. My favourite funny "girly" layout is this one I scrapped some time  ago so I really had to put my thinking cap on to find photos I could use.

Eventually I gave up trying to locate photos of embarrassing dress ups, makeup sessions, high heel adventures and concentrated on the everyday and some of the things Christopher does that show the softer side of his personality - his love of cooking being one.  And this is what I came up with ... Baking Gingerbread Men at Christmas.  I used paper that was festive in feel but not over the top "Christmas" and teamed it with the more traditional red trimming and flowers that gave an impression of poinsettia's. 

The second challenge this month was to use ribbon on your boys layout.  I'm afraid I really ran this to the wire time wise so opted for the simple approach of using ribbon in strips to highlight the set of pictures. 

 

Awesome ...

Went to see Damien Leith last night.  It was such an enjoyable night and he's just so talented, such a beautiful, beautiful voice.  He played for nearly 2 hours - a real mix of his best known songs and a few that I haven't heard him sing before.  He was the real showman, witty, engaging and it was an incredible intimate setting - no him small up there on the stage and us way back in the boondocks - Lizottes is set up so the performers are right up there in front of you.  We had never been to a show there before but we both had such a great time we will be back for sure.

Mistaken identity ...

Saw the funniest clip on the news last night.  There was a piece about children visiting the Botanical Gardens in Sydney on a nature hunt - they had a long list of insects, birds and plants to try and find for a school unit on bio-diversity.  Of course it was hilarious as children all seem to think that the faster you do something the more successful you are at it which we all know, from the wisdom of years, is not exactly accurate.  There was one particular grab of two girls standing by the pond, clutching school notes to excited chests as they proudly  proclaimed quite loudly they were on the look-out for a "Dusty Moron" - I'm secretly chuckling as the TV reporter tactfully tells then that perhaps they were trying to locate a "Dusky Morehen" instead !!!   Ah the innocence of youth.

Paraskevidekatriaphobics anyone???

So what exactly are Paraskevidekatriaphobics ? -  people afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th.  Today some people will be so paralyzed with fear they simply won't get out of bed. Others will steadfastly refuse to fly on an airplane, buy a house, or act on a hot stock tip. It's Friday the 13th, and they're freaked out.

So how did Friday the 13th become such an unlucky day? The fear of Friday the 13th is set in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with both the number 13 and the day Friday.  When these two unlucky entities combine it makes for a super unlucky day.

Many stories about the number 13 abound.  In Norse times there is a  myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the whole Earth got dark. From that moment on, the number 13 has been considered ominous and foreboding. There is also a biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper. Meanwhile, in ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. Going to 13 indicates an oddity - something beyond the norm. This fear of 13 is strong in today's world.  80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor, many airports skip the 13th gate and hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.

As for Friday, it is well known among Christians as the day Jesus was crucified. Some biblical scholars believe Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on Friday. Perhaps most significant is a belief that Abel was slain by Cain on Friday the 13th.

So why the history lesson about Friday the 13th. Well today would have been my father's birthday (he passed away back in 1994) and he was born on a Friday and of course today I have been thinking about him and perhaps pondering over the "luckiness" of his lifetime. To add to this little scenario my mother was also born on the 13th and yes it was a Friday. So two people both born on the 13th, both on a Friday come together and marry. Was it a successful union, did they have a lucky life together? I would have to say no they didn't. They both were plagued with health issues, they worked hard but never really had much to show for it and had many more downs than ups in the lifetimes. I'm not a superstitious person by nature, I don't worry about black cats and walking under ladders nor would breaking a mirror send me into a screaming heap of hysteria but I have to admit that being born on Friday the 13th might not be a recipe to a successful, fulfilling life.

Dad and Mum

A strange sense of dejavu ...

John is a "Top Gear" fan - in fact the whole family is.  We have all of the released DVD's of the show, most of the books written by Richard Hammond, James May and  Jeremy Clarkson and avidly watch and tape each TV series as it airs.

John has received his fair share of these as birthday and fathers day gifts but there has been the occasional spontaneous "walking through Dymocks" purchase.  That was how we came to get the paperback version of "As You Do" by Richard Hammond a couple of months back - reduced from $49.95 to $10 on the bargain table.

"Do you have this one?" I ask.

"No - not that one" came the reply.

It comes home and is placed on his bedside table - John is what I would call an on again / off again book reader - he does it in fits and starts, alternating between huge computer manuals for work, magazine and newspapers.  So fast forward to this week and he's about 200 pages in of the 314.

I'm in our bedroom on Tuesday, moving, throwing and sorting through drawers and cupboards.  I have a stock pile of books, magazines and newspapers from his bedside bottom draw ready for John to put away or trash as required which I ask him to do that evening before bed.  And what do you suppose he rather sheepishly discovers? - yep the hardcover copy of "As You Do" neatly bookmarked at page 186 which is where he must have gotten up to the first time around with it.  I ask him how on earth he could get so far into the book without realising he had already read it?

"I thought it was vaguely familiar" he said.

MEN !!!!

Small things this week ...

Outside my window … is blue sky, sunshine and a gentle breeze.  Makes a lovely change from the gale force wind of the last few days.

I am thinking about ... how we really need to get in and clean out the garage - it is such a mess but have to admit I'm not very motivated to do it.
I am thankful for ... Rachel finally completing her major works for both Art and Design and technology at school.  It has been a stressful couple of weeks for her, with lots of late night but now that she has finally finished it is like a weight has been lifted.

I am reading ...  "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larsson.  I've just started having been on a very long wait-list at my local library - not sure what I will think of this - it is a very large book and many people have told me it is fairly confronting and brooding in places.

I am going ... out Saturday night to see Damien Leith in concert with John.  We very rarely go out so I have been looking forward to it.

Some day ...

Some days it is hard to believe it is winter.  Today is one of those.  Such a beautiful clear sun filled morning.  Gentle breeze and a predicted 18 deg - heck it is high summer in the UK and they aren't even getting temperatures like this.  John and I had breakfast at a cafe in Terrigal, just across the road from this. 

We were both saying how nice it would be to be able to do this regularly - stroll down from the ocean view apartment to partake of cappuccino and croissants. That would be the life - roll on retirement (then reality sets in along with the realisation we have an 11 year old). Deep sigh ........ someday.

Not so Sizzling ...

Ever gone to a fancy restaurant and order a meal that sounds wonderful on the menu and looks even better placed before you - you are salivating with anticipation but then you begin eating it and you start to wonder how could it look and smell so devine but really taste very ordinary and when you finally finish you are left with a sense of disappointment because it was just lacking something - more seasoning, less sauce ? - you're not sure but just know you are oddly dissatisfied.

That is how I feel having just read "Sizzling 16" by Janet Evanovich.  I'm a self confessed Stephanie Plum addict having read and re-read her antics in the series over the past 15 books.  I've loved Stephanie Plum, her bumbling bounty hunter antics, her destruction of car after car, her rescueunbg of Grandma Mazer from funeral home viewings, her long suffering mother.  I've laughed til I cried over vivid descriptions of Lula and Stephanie in outlandish situations, I've simmered through pent up sexual tension between Ranger, Stephanie and Morelli.  "Sizzling 16" still has it all so what am I complaining about?  To be honest I'm not sure - I want Stephanie to grow up and develop more as a character, I want her to make a decision about which guy she wants, I want her to catch a crook without forgetting her handcuffs or rolling around on the floor in some dubious substance, I want her and the series, in short, to move forward.  Every good thing needs to come to an end sometime and I feel that Stephanie Plum needs to go in this direction - four more books and four more stories to wrap up the loose ends and have her fading off happily into the sunset.  I'm sure Janet Evanovich will put us all out of our collective misery by Book 20.