Today's To-Do List

- Connect
- Music Prac 1
- Music Prac 2
- CD 2
- 4 Learning Stories
- Read Every Thought Captive
- Light Globe
- KFC Costume
- Tune Harp
- Go through Books
- Email Auntie Violet
- Pay credit card
- Transfer money to my savings account
- 1 Load of washing
- Rearrange bedroom
- Handwashing
- Polish Shoes
- Read Getting Organised

Documentary on World Populations

Demographic Winter

Quote from their website:
"Couples decide to have children for all kinds of reasons – religious, emotional, cultural, etc. Money doesn’t seem to be one of them, although money concerns are sometimes cited as a reason for having fewer children."

Who thinks I can single-handedly reverse this trend? It will be a big ask, even for me, but I'm willing to try...

Now, all I need is a partner in crime...

Sam Muses

Would a prose edition of The Odyssey go in the poetry section, or in the general (i.e. non-kids) fiction section?

I put in in the poetry section, but I'm torn. TORN I say!

And who found the title aMUSEing?

I Record Songs

I wrote a few songs for KFC memory verses. Auntie Violet asked me to record a few of them and a few songs for the kids so they can practice for the Christmas service.

Here is a excert. Kal thinks it is a number 1 hit. She did the filming, but for another project. We combined the two for viewing amusement.



Quiz: What verse? Points / chocolate for winners.

Amy, you are barred from entering, as you have an unfair advantage (access to the KFC curriculum)

I Am Clearly Sick

Why? I've been eating really well this week. Okay, I had ice-cream for dinner twice. And I just ate ice-cream for breakfast. But seriously, the rest of the time has been scary nutritious. Here's what I ate yesterday:

- a bowl of chocolate porridge
- a wholegrain sandwhich with basil spread, sliced mushroons and cheese
- two peces of raison bread
- a salad with lettuce and semi-dried tomatoes
- about 1/3 of a cucumber
- a pear
- a banana
- two tubs of pureed apple
- half a vegemite and cheese sandwhich (white bread)
- an extra banana slice
- a few watermelon slices (finger sized ones - I think I had three)

And then for the junk food:
- two sweet bicuits
- 1 bowl (and not even a large one) of homemade ice-cream


You know what is worse? On my break I noticed that there were lots of sweet biscuits in the cupboard. And I ate, I WANTED to eat, my sandwhich. Free sweet biscuits!

Man, I MUST be sick.

David + Kaye's Wedding

Finally up to putting up the photos for this.

Anyway, for church friends, two of my school friends got married recently - David and Kaye. I missed the wedding, but made the reception. It was beautiful - and everyone danced. That is because it was a Jewish wedding, and Jewish boys dance. They all dance hyper, and I think that is way, way cool. Claire said that she wants a Jewish wedding. Eli told her that it takes 2 years to convert. She replied that she didn't want to become Jewish, she just wanted to wedding. I like the bits where you throw lollies at the couple, and then the kids scramble to get the lollies so they can eat them. I think I'm going to steal that bit at least.

The happy couple



Claire, Steph and Winnie.



Winnie


For some reason there are no photos of me on either my camera or Winnie's. Not one. There will be some of me dancing in the official photographs - though not as many as there will be of Steph. The photographer thought that Steph dancing was the highlight of the evening.

It was very romantic - the best bit was that the music for their dance together cut out, but they kept on dancing. And when it came back on, they were in time. It was so sweet.

More people need to get married. Okay, okay, I know Cors and Justin are. And Jas and Chris. But really, is that enough?

Tulip Farm

On Saturday I went to the Tulip Farm with Kal and her CG. There were flowers. I ate a lot (not the flowers though).

Sam takes good photos.

Way So Cool

If you look at all of my book lists on a semi-regular basis, you will notice that I update them. I add books when I find something really special. It has to be REALLY special for me to put it up as a favourite on my blog. Not that they are all perfect (I consider My Place to be hugely politically flawed, but I still love the book, and I want one day to make a similar book myself - and one like Window)

For PSB (Picture Story Books for those of you who aren't kidlit people) my favourite ever has to be Not A Box. So great! My criteria for PSBs is fairly stringent, especially if I'm buying new, because those things are aout $20 a pop, and I can't spend that kind of money on something that easily. Especially something that lasts less than 5 minutes. But I bought Not A Box new the moment I saw it at Readings.

Criteria for a PSB:
- Pictures have to make me feel happy. Some can be really lush, or realistic, or collage photos, or simple, but they HAVE TO BE WELL DONE.
- Story needs to be good. 'Nuff said.
- It needs to be worded properly. If I hear something that aint written there, it probably isn't written well. When you read it, it needs to sound as though there is NO OTHER POSSIBLE WAY it could have been phrased.
- Morally appropriate. This rules out a lot of books. In a book, if a kid does wrong, they need to get punished. I won't read Olivia and the Missing Toy to my kids at work because she is a brat who is repeatedly rude to her parents, mean to her siblings, ungrateful, and her parents encourage her to be materialistic. I don't like many 'classics' for this reason, and don't have them - I gave the Rainbow Fish to work, because in my opinion it degrades natural gifts and encourages children to be 'just like everyone else' and it promotes communism. Seriously, I think that. We can talk about my issues in the comments, but my kids aren't reading The Rainbow Fish.
- Able to be read 5 times IN A ROW without me feeling ill. Because kids will ask for it at LEAST that many times if they like it. At LEAST. But in all honesty, if you can stand it five times in a row, you can stand it as many times as the kid(s) want to hear it.

Not A Stick is a book that I desperately want. I.E. one I'm going to be buying at Readings when I get my Readings voucher. Or at Readings before I get my Readings voucher, so I get a bigger Readings voucher. Check out the interview with Antoinette Portis - so awesome. And I want A Penguin Story too.

I need to earn more money. Oh well, Christmas is coming.

I Love Kids

"Hey Sam, can we listen to The Bugs? Me and Taya want to dance."
- Alana has a great taste in music

"How old are you Sam?"
"I'm twenty-four."
"I'm turning four too!"
- Lily believes that I am clearly one of the kids.

Currently Reading

- The Genesis Flood
- Always Ready
- The Double Helix
- The Normans
- The Poems of W.H. Davies
- The Gospel of Matthew

Hoping to get to soon:
- Characters around the cross
- A Live Coal in the Sea
- Mathematics: Is God Silent?
- And a few light kids books when I feel like it.

I have over 182 bookmooch points. I was vaguely aiming for 200 for when Reb gets back, but I don't think I'm going to get another 18 points by tomorrow. On the other hand, that is only 6 books being mooched - so it might happen. Reb thinks that when I get 200 points all will be right in the world.

What are you all reading?