I never knew...

what exciting features my camera has...... this afternoon at the playground I was playing around with some buttons and a little tile icon came up, so I tested it out on Little Possum who was sitting in a spinning cup and this is what happened! I can see there's scope for some interesting photos

Alternative Nativity

This is the Nativity picture that Little Possum drew on Sunday..... In the left corner there is a shepherd with a sheep. Next to the shepherd are the kings bearing gifts. Baby Jesus , Mary and Joseph are there as well, and in the sky there are angels and the bright new star. And then..... well, then there is the Fairy Monster, lesser known personality in the Nativity...

New toy

This time for me.... Peter installed paint.net for me which is photo manipulation freeware. I get to play around with it and depending on how much fun I have with it, I might get PhotoShop. To start with I decided to play with a photo of Little Possum from a couple of years ago. The original is a colour photo and I have been experimenting with black/white adding a bit of colour. This is so much fun!!!

Colourful dinner guests

Now that the evenings are so pleasant, we have been having dinner out on the deck. Last night we had this little group of rainbow lorikeets dining along side of us in this palm tree (Queensland umbrella tree). There were 2 more, but they were a little more camera shy, and flew off as I took the photo. I love the birdlife here - lots of colour and personality esp the kookaburra.

Our gingerbread house!!!

Last year I had all the fun of assembling and decorating a gingerbread house at an activity, so this year I thought the kids could have a turn. I assembled the house and let the Turtle and Little Possum loose with lollies and icing.

There was intense concentration here as Turtle built a fence and LP was making sure the Smarties were lined up perfectly.
Just a few finishing touches......

And here is Turtle showing off the result - the house on the right is ours...... Now let's see how long this house will last before being demolished....

Floral abundance

Since I am not a horticulturalist, nothing much grows in our garden except for what can take care of itself. But every Tuesday Little Possum and I enjoy a lovely walk on the way from "Sue's school" (her reading group). It's only ever a short distance to the car but the street is lined with trees and beautiful gardens and there are always so many things to stop and look at.... walking a block can take us 20 minutes... Today LP wanted to take photos of the flowers since I had my camera with me and I was more than happy to oblige:

A Christmas Story - progressing....

I love working with these lovely colours. The freezer paper method of needleturn applique is so much easier than the template method I used before (what was I thinking ?!). I'll be giving the angel some hair, feet and her hat today and then start embroidering.And here are the embroidery threads that are used with this pattern..... Gorgeous, luscious colours, aren't they? The photo doesn't do them justice.

Little Miss Muffet

After a lot of preparation (getting into costume, setting the scene, organising seating for the audience), this afternoon Little Possum gave a wonderful performance of "Little Miss Muffet", starring LB in the role as Little Miss Muffet and herself in the role as narrator and spider.... it was very cute. Sadly the light and sound engineer let the production down badly....

"Sweet Pea's quilt" for a sweet pea......

Confession time again.... yes... I am starting another quilt. Honeysuckle Cottage sells the pattern and kit for this beauty (designed by Cinderberry Stitches). This one is going to be a belated baby present.

I promised a friend that I would make a quilt for her little baby girl, and as the First Birthday is coming up in January I thought that I had better make a start. After agonising over the style of quilt I came across this pattern and it is perfect. It's going to be fun to make as well which helps.... there is nothing worse than having a deadline working on something you don't like!

Bouncing in the rain

It's been raining here for most of the week. Since we are so drought stricken, I feel guilty complaining about it. Instead I try to adopt my children's mantra "Rain is fun, rain is wonderful!". This afternoon they relaxed after school during a break in the rain, but as soon as the showers started again, they rushed outside for a play. Did you know that trampolining is fun even in the rain?

"Australia All Over" is All Over!!

I am beyond excited to have finished this quilt after working on it for 3 years....... (about time it was done, wasn't it?) . This design is by Millamac who specialises in humorous designs featuring mostly animals. I would love to do more of their stuff, but think I will settle for a small wallhanging next time.....

It's a single bed size, but will not be on any of the kids' beds for the time being, I need to minimize exposure to ink/paint/food/drink and other unmentionables

A thought for the day

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. "

Henry David Thoreau

Which female action hero would I be?

(I may need to do some work before I am ready for the gold bikini.....)

	You are part Princess Leia. You are down-to-earth and stick to a rigid sense of ethics. Nerds may lust over you, but everyone looks to you for your grounded logic and intellect.
	You are part Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You are outgoing, warm, and sociable. Your intelligence and intuition give you a strong sense of right and wrong; you may be soft, sweet, and a little air-headed at times, but you are fully capable of proving yourself more than a stereotype.

Climbing the family tree....

My kids are never happier than when they can climb a tree, and this is a really good climbing tree that we get to climb once a week after Norwegian lessons.

100th post!!!

Apparently it is blogland tradition to write 100 things about oneself when hitting 100 posts... Can't imagine what one would do at 200? In keeping with that tradition, I thought I would try, so here are 100 assorted things you may or may not know about me:

1. I love smoked salmon - celestial food if there ever was one!
2. I met my husband at a Bjorn Again concert in the Royal Albert Hall in London ("..You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life, oooh, see that girl, watch the scene........")
3. I first read "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" while on night duty as a student nurse, and I laughed so hard I woke patients up.
4.I spent a year in northern Thailand as an exchange student.
5. I have ridden on (and fallen off) a water buffalo (made note to self - water buffalo do not like being ridden)
6. I sometimes sleep with socks on my feet in winter.
7. I hate liver and tripe.
8. I have eaten whale.
9. I came close to failing maths in high school (and I am now the fees treasurer for the preschool.....)
10. I am a lapsed member of Mensa ( I think I made it in under some Equal Opportunity rule....).
11. Gruoch MacBeth (Lady Macbeth) is a direct ancestor of mine. (watch out, Peter.... :)
12. I don't dye my hair, it really is this colour.
13. My favourite icecream is Ben & Jerry's Phish Food.
14. I would love to own/run (or even just work in) an independent bookshop.. all those books to stroke!
15. I have only ever been to 5 rock concerts - but they were diverse.... Roxette to The Cure
16. Chocolate........ need I say more?
17. I miss living in a temperate climate with snowy winters and 4 distinct seasons
18. I would like a Nintendo DS for Christmas (pink one, please Santa)
19. Jobs I have had include (but are not limited to) selling waterbeds, sorting fruit, packing medicine bottles, nannying...
20. I would love to learn linedancing.
21. I have read "War & Peace" and enjoyed it.
22. I have met the Queen in her office at Buckingham Palace (she talked about her corgis and I worried about curtsying properly)
23. I play the clarinet and the piano - both badly.
24. I have Margaret Thatcher's autograph.
25. Vin Diesel is a bit of allright.
26. (but Colin Firth as Mr Darcy is a strong contender)
27I collected erasers and matchboxes as a child.
28. I once rode on the bumper of a streetcar/tram across Oslo.
29. I love genealogy.
30. I am an eBay addict.
31.In the late 80's I was occasionally mistaken for the Duchess of York (thankfully not when she was "Duchess of Pork")...... I was younger and skinnier then, that's all I can say.....
32. I love Sudoku puzzles.
33. I miss English newspapers, especially the Guardian and the Observer.
34. My favourite dog is a German shepherd (Alsatian).
35. I once had all the 2 letter words memorised for Scrabble.
36. I have been skinny dippying.
37. I have also bathed naked in the snow (it was cold).
38. I hate being late.
39 I am politically confused..... but would probably vote Democrat if I were American except for the present elections where I would probably vote for Mitt Romney. .
40. I turned down a job for McKinsey & Company to become a nurse (who needs a juicy salary and a job that doesn't involve cleaning up body fluids?)
41. I spent 6 weeks travelling across USA as a 16 yr old and left the country with $6 to spare.
42. I hate the dark.
43. I would love to go to the opera.
44. I love the theatre.
45. I love all kinds of music.
46. I seriously doubt there are 100 things I could say about myself , but we'll keep going and see how I go.
47. I have hosted 3 Tupperware parties ( do I qualify as a Stepford Wife?)
48. I consider Speedo's to be a crime against humanity (esp when worn by the above 40, above average BMI, above average hairy or all of the above......)
49. I nannied in Chicago between high school and university.
50. While in Chicago I successfully convinced my friends that I owned a pet polar bear called "Bamse" who loved waffles and the occasional steak.
51. I love jigsaw puzzles.
52 . My favourite flowers are sunflowers and peonies.
53 .I am currently growing my first vege garden (with lots of help from Suzi)
54. Favourite refreshment - Mango smoothie
55. Second favourite refreshement - Iced chocolate
56. Would probably choose Pepsi over Coca Cola
57. I drank a bottle of red wine when I was 15, didn't enjoy it, didn't get drunk (although my friends did and I had to sort them out). Decided alcohol was overrated and haven't drunk it since.
58. Joined the church at 16 - then had another reason for being teetotal
59. I don't like the dark.
60. I had the opportunity to manage the first aid post at Westminster Abbey for Diana's funeral but decided to go to Mount Snowdon (Wales) for a weekend hike with Serena instead as planned before Diana died.
61. My favourite shop is Peter Jones in London.
62. I love reading out loud with my children every night. It's a lengthy exercise as they all have different stories/books but I get to release the inner actor, do silly voices and just snuggle up.
63. I love books and have a hard time parting with books that I have read and enjoyed.
64. I save a lot of stuff "just in case"..... inherited my grandmother's thriftiness combined with modern consumerism..... means I am never getting rid of stuff, but constantly acquiring new stuff....
65. My only knowledge of French is to order a crepe with Nutella.
66. As a child I wrote a letter to the Minister of Agriculture questioning the practice of dumping surplus milk instead of turning it into powdered milk for starving children in Africa. The minister sent a very nice letter in return.....
67. I had many nicknames in school - mostly related to my red hair.
68. I love board games and card games ( how did I manage to marry a man who enjoys neither?)
69. I am insufferably stubborn......
70. Received my first Barbie at the age of 25. It was camping Barbie, bought by a boyfriend who felt sorry for me after hearing tales of my Barbie-deprived childhood (my mother refused to buy them....)
71. I have no problem with Barbies, but I will never buy Bratz for my daughter.
72. I was the virgin Mary in the school nativity for 4 years running in infants' school. More to do with my ability to memorise lines than for my acting ability.
73. I did play Mother Aase in a school production of Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt". I had to die. I can still remember my first 3 lines today. So, when my Alzheimer's is in full bloom, I will probably recite it completely while at the same time being unable to tell you who I am.
74. I am really disorganised, but until I had children there was order in my chaos...
75. I tried really hard to learn water skiing but was never able to.
76. My sense of humour is questionable - I really like those stupid stories that end with the bad puns and I have a large repertoire of really bad jokes...
77. My favourite TV shows at the moment: Bionic Woman, Numbers, CSI, NCIS (Mark Harmon...)
78. My favourite TV shows that I miss the most: Room 101, Have I got news for you, Whose line is it anyway (BBC version).
79. (79 already?!?! I might actually make it to 100) . I should be doing housework right now, but would much rather sit here writing this.
80. I am secretly hoping that someone will steal and total our car so that we don't have to pay $2.5-3K to get it fixed after the head gasket blew.... (will leaving a sign on it saying "STEAL ME!" work, I wonder?)
81. I work as a post-anaesthetic nurse and I love it. Mostly because of the fast turnover and all the compliments we get from euphoric patients having their little drug high :)
82. My best friend in Primary school was called Annette and we were inseparable for 6 years. She was the one who introduced to the local girls choir which I was a part of for 4 years.
83. Annette and I once used an upended bicycle rack as a ladder to get on top of the roof of our secondary school so that we could write "Hi!" in the snow on the library skylight. Then we climbed down, put the bike rack back. The next day we were secretly thrilled by the mystery we had created. I was going to take this secret to my grave, but it's out now........
84. I was an ambulance driver/attendant with the British Red Cross in London. Never needed to treat anything scarier than a faint, though.
85. Scariest planetrip I ever had (even scarier than taking the 3 kids by myself to Norway this winter) was flying home from Thailand across the USSR via Moscow on an Aeroflot plane a few months after the Soviets had shot down a Korean airliner. Our consolation was that we figured the Soviets wouldn't shoot down their own plane....
84. I was an 80's girl......... had the spiral perm and the big shoulder pads. Never really went fluoro though.
85. I consider the following movies to be sacred chick flicks: "Steel Magnolias", "Sleepless in Seattle", Somewhere in Time", "Pride & Prejudice".
86. My first pet was a guinea pig called Pip. He was very affectionate and used to roam free in our unit. When he was lonely for company he'd seek us out - always walking along the walls for safety.... you never know when a predatorial bird might swoop down!
87. I love trivia
88. Cooking can be fun, but I think I enjoyed it more before I had children.... there was more room for experimentation, and a less critical group of diners....
89. I aspire to owning an icecream maker.
90. I love building traintracks with the kids..... both for the fun it gives them, but also for the puzzle challenge it offers. I am always seeking to build the perfect track (why am I a nurse and not an engineer?)
91. I still struggle with Christmas in the middle of summer. It should be dark and cold with snow outside in order to make the candles, fairy lights etc really make it cosy inside.
92. First kiss at the age of 13...
93. (oh no.... I can't fizzle out with only 7 to go?!) I recently discovered Facebook and find it completely addictive. What did I do with my time before I had access to a PC?
94. I was really sad when Elvis Presley died, and became an ardent fan of his music for the next 2 months....
95. My first LP that I bought with my own money was "Toto" ("hold the line..... love isn't always on time... ")
96. The first CD I bought (when I finally caught up with modern technology somewhere in the 90's) was Van Morrison.
97. My chosen method for eating a cinnamon scroll is to unscroll it......
98. I was accident prone as a child and due to frequent visits to the local Emergency Care, the drs were suspicious of my parents but I set them straight.
99. I managed to talk my way out of trouble when caught driving without a licence in Chicago... my Really Heavy Norwegian Accent saved me..... :)
100. I can't believe how long it took me to think of 100 things! (3 days!!!!!)

Did you make it to the end of the list? Still awake?