Thursday 28 February 2008

Joab's Car Part 2

We decided that we can't take our lives into our own hands by driving without a liscence. So we're going to get Scottie to drive for us.

The fact that Scottie is a seven week old cat is irrelevent.

Here is a picture (by Kallie)

Sunday 24 February 2008

Joab's Car

On the way back from church, we passed Joab in his new car. Kallie and I were oblivious but Rebecca noticed. So Kallie and I, being evil, started talking.

K: We should steal his car.

S: Absolutely. How are we going to do this?

K: I'll open the car door and scratch his paint.

S: But I thought we were going to steal it. I don't want to steal a stratched car.

K: No, because then he'll get out of the car, and come out and yell at us. And we'll blame Rebecca, and while he's distracted, we'll jump out and get in his car and drive away, and do burn outs.

S: And we'll go to church next week and Joab'll say, "That car looks familiar..."

K: And we'll tell him that we just moved his car off of the middle of the road, and it wanted to come and live with us. And then we could give a testimony in church that we have been driving around for a week with no liscence, and we haven't been fined or pulled over.

S: Or killed anyone!

There the conversation ended, because I was laughing so hard I had a coughing fit.

Reply to Comments

Caro:
I eat, just not in the morning. And Rebecca has this idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the deal. I think it's the grossest.

Joab:
You did not get the joke. Not unless you recognised that I was quoting Trixie Belden, who, by the way, is INFINITELY cooler than Nancy Drew.

Monday 18 February 2008

More Funnies

On Ice-Cream
Some of the boys were over at the girl's house. They decided that they wanted ice-cream. However, the only ice-cream that was available was ice-cream that had been put out for a day and then re-frozen. (All the girls say "EEEEWWWW".) They ate it. Kien explained: "You can do anything to ice-cream. Except boil it. Because that would wreck your kettle."


On RPM:
RPM stands for Rebecca's Perfect Match, and it was an excellent way of teasing Rebecca. However, our RPM had a Fatal Flaw. Oddly enough, in spite of the fact that we gave her many, many obvious clues, it wasn't until he himself mentioned (unwittingly) the Fatal Flaw. Rebecca then said: "HIM?" He has since been dubbed RPM the 2007 model.


Blogging will be sporadic - I've moved and started a new job. See you all when I next see you!

Friday 15 February 2008

Random Funnies

On Patience:
"But Sam, don't you want to wait for God's perfect timing?"
"Yes, I just wish God's perfect timing was FASTER!"
Rebecca and me on waiting for husbands.

"Lord, give me patience, and give me patience NOW!"
Me, pretty much any occasion where I need patience.


On my proposing marriage:
"Sam, what do you know about this boy?"
"I know he wants 20 kids."
"SAM!"
Amy takes me a little too seriously at times.

"You couldn't possibly marry him. It'd undermine the one thing that your mum likes about our church. Eurasian babies."
Kallie has the same sense of humour as me.


On me:
"She's absolutely mad; that's why I like her."
A statement that proves: 1) people like me BECAUSE I'm mad, not in spite of it, 2) girls know everything

"I like your blog; it's funny."
"Funny ha-ha or funny perculiar?"
Joab gets told a joke that only Rebecca gets. He didn't get it.


From Mikey:
"Mum, do I have to eat like a gentleman?"
It was an honest question.

"Sam, I'm going to marry you when I grow up. Or maybe Leah."
Leah would be the better choice, as she went to the same kindy as Mikey.


On violence:
After punching Keith, and him saying, "Oh, that hurt," in a sarcastic voice, Anton handed me Keith's guitar and said, "Use this - it'll hurt twice over."


On getting old:
"Sam, you are not old. People often live to 100 now. You're only a quarter of the way there."
Rebecca fails to comfort me on my rapid aging.

After looking at a photo:
"You're not yet 21? I feel like such a cradle snatcher!"
"Why, how old are you?"
"23, nearly 24."
"Wow, you're getting OLD."
"Hey!"
"And clucky."
"I've BEEN clucky since I was 16."
Daniel and I on aging and children


On Skirts vs Trousers:
"Sam, if you're independent minded enough to be a quiverful in Australia, surely you're independent minded enough to be the only quiverful woman who wears PANTS."
Nick in our quiverful conversation

Wednesday 13 February 2008

On Non-Conformists

I've been thinking about non-conformists, on "thinking for yourself". (Does anyone think it's ironic that I'm thinking about "thinking for yourself"). The thing is, you get a non-conformist and another non-conformist, and they... tend to think an awful lot alike.

Take any "issue". I'll take something that won't have me lynched. Our recent election here in Australia. All the time up to the election we were hearing how Howard did x and Howard did y, and then would you believe he did z?! I'm not denying that he did x,y, or z. I don't know, I don't care, and that ISN'T MY POINT! The point is that everyone had the same arguments. Howard is a racist, he's a mysogynist, he's a homophobe, etc, etc. And it was time for a change.

These people who criticed Howard all claimed to be independent thinkers, but their thoughts were exactly alike. He won't say sorry. He won't give bigger maternity leave. He gives money to private schools.

Comparatively little was said about Rudd. But don't worry, wait a little and the non-conformists will all get their thoughts together (pun intended) and find the things that are wrong with him. (He's not doing enough for the environment...)

It's like a bit in a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie I saw once. (I know, I know, but I was ironing and there was nothing else on.) They've gone to Australia for some reason, and they meet a group, I think they were even CALLED the non-conformists. And they all had straight dark brown hair in the same hairstyle, with the same glasses. They were introduced, "This is Sheila, and this is Sheila, and this is Sheila, and this is Hannah..." "But my friends call me Sheila."

I suppose what I'm getting at is that really, none of us are really independent thinkers. Sorry, but you aren't. Don't worry, I'm not either. The thing is, who's thoughts are we thinking? Is our every thought submitted to Jesus, or do our thoughts go straight to the thoughts of the "non-conformist" world? Is our thinking centred on the Bible, or on what sounds good?

Tuesday 12 February 2008

Chinese People Drink Tea Too!

I'd just like to point this fact out. They INVENTED tea! They just drink green tea. Which I actually like better than black tea.



I'd just like to say.

Monday 11 February 2008

This Time, I Proposed Marriage

On Friday, we had Allan's farewell dinner. He's going to Canberra to study for 3 years, and he's not likely to pop back on a regular basis.

Anyway, I was there, talking to Winnie about my music lesson for the next day. It was on Bach.

I said, "Did you know Bach had 20 children?"

Then Nick said, "That sounds fantastic!"

Me: "You want twenty kids?"

Nick: "Yep."

Me: "Will you marry me?"

And then we spent most of the night talking about the quiverful movement. (I'm quiverful, he "just likes children".) There aren't many poeple who'll happy talk for that long about the quiverful movement!

Sunday 10 February 2008

Mikey On Marriage

Mikey has made a few comments about marriage recently. Here are a few more.

After Shawn expressed a lack of interest in marrying me immediately, Mikey was a little upset for me. I hugged him, and said that that's all right, I'll just marry him.
"You'll have to wait a long time. I'm only five."

"I can't wait to grow up."
"Why's that?"
"Cause then I can get married and be a daddy."

Random Facts

About Steph's Wedding:
- Only two people danced with all of the bridesmaids. I was one of them. Daniel was the other
- I only danced with two guys. One was Winston (Steph's dad), the other was, (given that I was one of the bridesmaid), Daniel

About the Coolness Factor:
In music, you can tell how cool someone is by when they clap to music. If they clap to beats 2 and 4, they're cool. If they clap to beats 1 and 3, they ain't.
- I'm cool, but I have to think about it
- Rebecca alternates between being cool and uncool
- Ps Ian is not cool (but who wants a cool pastor?)
- Veng marches entirely to his own beat.
- Feel free to check these facts, but as it means you're NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO GOD DURING PRAISE AND WORSHIP, I don't recommend it.

Church Facts:

- Deakin care-group has the best food whenever we have pic-nic lunch
- Joab and Jason and Shaun have a very nice house. Especially for boys. It's nice and clean and all that. There is just one problem with your house. YOU DON'T HAVE ANY TEA in your house. Honestly! How could you?! I nearly died.
- Rebecca will let me eat ice-cream for breakfast. Or cookies. She claims it's because she's just grateful I'm eating SOMETHING!
- Kien and Shawn (Simone's brother Shawn, not Shaun who lives with Joab-and-Jason) are cousins. This becomes slightly strange when you realise that Mikey has suggested that I marry Shawn, and Emily has suggested that I marry Kien.

Monday 4 February 2008

It's Looking Better

Well, I'm still feeling pretty awful. Generally tired and ineffective. I've only done three things from my to-do list (four if you count taking stuff to the op-shop, but I have another few loads to take over the next few days).

One of the things I managed to do was FINALLY watch a movie I've been meaning to watch for over a year. It's another Shirley Temple, Since You Went Away, and it was wonderful. It's not a Shirley Temple movie per se, it was one of her 'adult' movies (though she's about 15 or 16 in it) but it was so lovely.

As quite a few of you know, I'm not much good at just sitting and watching TV. I usually need to be doing something. Sewing is not much good with TV (it's better with talking books or audio sermons) but knitting is perfect. And I always have about a million different knitting projects that I plan on doing. One is knitting a plastic bag out of plastic bags (yeah, I'm crazy) which I can only do a row or two at a time as it hurts my hands. Another is making a bag out of old stockings in stocking stitch.





Doesn't it look cool? Anyway, I got to thinking that I could actually make a dress out of this within a few hours. That is, if I had the materials. So, if anyone wants to donate any old black stockings then pass them on to me. The condition of the stockings doesn't much matter, they can have runs/holes, I'm knitting with them and the imperfections won't show.

Thanks!

And now to try and get more than three things done today...

Today is not looking to be a good day

I got up at 7am, did some errands, then went for a snooze at 11am, only to have just gotten up.

I don't think today is going to see much being done.

Sunday 3 February 2008

I Won!

Look at this beautiful book I won!


Sea Animals by Amy Erickson.

Thanks so much to Steve and Eden of Once Upon a Dream for hosting this awesome giveaway! I can't wait to read this book!

Preaching to the Choir

At Frankston service last night, I was sitting, eating next to Mikey. He looks at me, and asks, "Sam, have you got much money?"

I think about the approx $3.50 in my wallet, and truthfully answer no.

He thought for a moment, then said, "Sam, is it because you don't have a husband?"

After we all laughed, I replied that that was no doubt a contributing factor.

"You should get married then," he solemnly advised.

"Oh believe me, I know!"


So today, at the Waverley service he tells me again that I should get married. So I told him that he could pray for a nice boy from church to ask me out. Mikey smiled and nodded. And started asking the nearby Shaun (Simone's brother, not the other Shaun) if he had a wife yet...

Winner!


And now, the moment I at least have been waiting for... The winner of 3 Shirley Temple DVDs...

The winner is Nicole of Little House in the Big City!

Hope you enjoy them!

Saturday 2 February 2008

What I Got Done

Remember yesterday's to do list. What did I actually manage to get done?

- Bible Study
Done. I don't go to sleep unless this is done. I try to do my quiet time in the morning, but if I haven't done it I don't go to bed until it's done.

- Blog (3 different posts)
In spite of the fact that I did 7 posts yesterday, only two of them were the ones I planned to do.

- Email the Builder
Done. Hopefully he will get back to me and want to buy my house for millions of dollars. Hey, I can hope!

- Email Caro
Done!

- Phone the Salvos regarding my couch
Done, but they won't take it. So I have to get rid of it somehow else. Again, anyone want a couch?

- Term planning
Mostly done. Actually, I've probably done most of the essentials, with me just having to refresh my memory of each composer before the class. I still plan to do a little more, but mostly, it's done.

- Stuff to Op Shop
Done one lot, but there will be another lot within a day or two.

- Library
Done.

- Read Our Island Story
Read about a quarter of this

- Read Lottie Moon biography
Done

- Watch a few videos, mainly AIG ones, but hopefully another movie too.
I watched all of the AIG videos, but didn't get around to my next movie. It's 3 1/2 hours long!

Today is just really work and church, with me hopefully squeezing in a little reading on the trains. See you all tomorrow when I announce the winner to my giveaway.

Friday 1 February 2008

Frugal Fridays: Chocolate Fix

Who here doesn't like chocolate? If you don't, number one, you're crazy; number two, don't know why you clicked on this link; and number three, you're crazy.

So, chocolate. Who has chocolate cravings? And who here spends too much money on chocolate? I used to, and then I became broke. As in $5 a week for groceries broke. And as I can eat nearly a kg of chocolate in a sitting, $5 a week was NOT going to feed my chocolate habit.

I went through my cupboards. I ate all my cooking chocolate. And then I was left with only one thing. Cocoa.

I'd bought it for some baking I'd never got around to doing. (Mainly because my over doesn't actually work!) I decided that cocoa was better than nothing, and that therefore I was having hot chocolate.

Here is my hot chocolate recipe. It will kill ANY chocolate craving instantly. And any small children / Chinese church members who don't eat chocolate.

- 3/4 cup of milk
- 2 tablespoons of cocoa
- 2 tablespoons of honey (I get my honey for free, my mum knows a bee-keeper. The honey gives it a different flavour than sugar, but substitute sugar or other sweetner as you see fit)
- A sprinkle of spices. I prefer chili, but nutmeg and cinnamon are great too.

Cook on a stove. I don't trust those new-fangled mircowaves for anything as precious as chocolate. Try it before you pour it. Cocoa is very bitter, and chili is very hot. You don't want a big mouthful of bad tasting hot chocolate.

And that's it. And don't believe Rebecca when she says to dilute it with milk. It's nice as is. (She nearly choked when I made it for her.) Seriously, this is strong stuff!

You can add cocoa to other stuff too, such as porridge! (I'm eating it right now!) It's a wonderful, cheap way of satisfying chocolate cravings.

For more Frugal Friday tips, visit Crystal at Biblical Womanhood.

Can I Borrow?

Does anyone have a copy of Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery. It's a Classical Kids CD. It'd be very useful for music.

Provision

Most of you will be familiar with Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. Okay, boys, you probably aren't. But girls should be. And girls, if you haven't read it, you've missed an essential part of childhood and you need to go and read it.

Anyway, LMA was brought up by her parents, and her father was a little weird. A bit of a hippie, a bit of a communist, but he was also a preacher and a firm believer in God and Jesus. That's a little odd. (Actually, Bronson was famous at the time for a variety of reasons, including his work going to wards the ending of slavery). Anyway, LMA and her sisters had a strange upbringing, with them living on a commune where they refused to kill fruitflies (and as a result of this all nearly starved).

Anyway, LMA's father used to drive LMA and her Marmee crazy. They were the practical types who liked to provide for their families.

One time, when May (Amy in Little Women) was a baby, Beth was young and delicate, and Nan and Louisa were young, it was snowing. Anyway, a neighbour came by that day and gave them a whole lot of firewood. You know what happened. Bronson (LMA's father) then promptly turned around and gave the wood to another neighbour, who had a baby and children who were ill/delicate with Scarlet Fever (which Beth eventually died from, both the real Beth and the Little Women Beth). This didn't please Marmee, who had her own baby and delicate children. Bronson's answer was the God would provide. Marmee was not happy.

Shortly after, another neighbour came by and gave the Alcott's ANOTHER lot of firewood.

If I'd been Bronson I'd've turned round and said, "See! I'm right! Ha!" (I'm not exactly the most mature of people.) I'm sure that Bronson Alcott was more mature than me.

But it really struck me how God does provide, especially when we are generous with what he has given to us.

Incidentally, this incident does not appear in Little Women (which is from later) but appears in a biography called Invincible Louisa.

So Cute!

Okay, you need to check out the Everyday News page. Click on the story for Shedding Some New Light. It is about the cutest thing I've seen all day!

And no, this post and my second clear out ones are not the ones on my list. I have another 2 I'm wanting to post!

Clear Out Part 2

I still have a desk to give away. The printer and the ironing board are claimed. I'd like to add a couch to the list. It's a wooded frame, and I've been using an old mattress on it. You're welcome to the couch with or without the mattress. Remember, I don't drive; I can't deliever. And unless you live very near to Rebecca, she is busy adn can't deliever either (Joab, Jason and the rest of you are so lucky not having to drive to Frankston!)

Again, either leave a comment, or email me, or text me. You don't have to know me personally, but you do need to pick up. Which means that you need to live in Victoria. I live in Frankston, so be prepared!

Post One on my To Do List

These are a few quotes I especially liked from Beautiful In God's Eyes. If you remember, it's on being a Proverbs 31 woman.

"I am to supply beauty in the lives of my husband and children as we struggle though life together. I am to light up the home with sparkle no matter how hard times are." (pg 26)

"As Proverbs 12:4 says, "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband." God's beautiful wife is the crown her husband wears. She is his brightest ornament, and she draws all eyes to him, as one who is eminently honoured and blessed. A crown is a mark of dignity, and a virtuous woman - a person of strength and dignity in her own right - brings respectibilty, credit, and reputation not to herself, but to her husband. Adorning and beautifying his life, she is an honour to him. She is his crown... She desires that her husband be highly respected and esteemed, so she contentedly offers the supreme sacrifice of herself for him." (pg 234)

I'm Supposed To Be Lesson Planning...

Ha! I've been 'lesson planning' since Monday. I actually did some last night. But you know what I'm doing? I'm watching MORE Answers In Genesis videos, entering competitions, clearing out my house in preparation for a move, and reading. Not books from the 888 challenge, but a few others, mainly from the library, but a few others.

It hasn't been a good week. Monday was fantastic, but the rest of the week has been a bit of a loss. Wed and Thurs were all right, but not brilliant. Tues was awful. I think today is going to be a repeat of Tuesday.

So, to keep me slightly more on track, I'm posting my to do list here, and I'm going to let you know how I go:

- Bible Study
- Blog (3 different posts)
- Email the Builder
- Email Caro (Hi Caro! If it's not on my list it doesn't get done!)
- Phone the Salvos regarding my couch
- Term planning
- Stuff to Op Shop
- Library
- Read Our Island Story
- Read Lottie Moon biography
- Watch a few videos, mainly AIG ones, but hopefully another movie too.

That's about it, I'm not expecting to get much done. If you think this is a lot, I has 26 things to do on my list for Monday. I got 20 of them done - and as one of the remaining things was to 'declutter', which is never done, and which I spent over an hour doing.

I'll post how I'm doing later in the day.