At Least I'm Still A Mammal

After corporate prayer, I was chatting to Y-Kong. In the conversation, I mentioned that I was a moody cow.

"Huh?"

Kal and I then explained to him that this is a general insult for moody people, particularly moody females.

He looked at me and said, "Well, I got the moody bit. But not the cow bit. I mean, you look much more like a rabbit."

Zoe and her Music

One of the most important things that I do is that I refuse to play kids music at work. The Toddler room is a Wiggles-free zone. We play real music to the kids. And they start developing preferences pretty soon.

So when I came in I went to put on some music. I asked Zoe wha she wanted. "Gee."

"Beatles or Fleetwood Mac?"

"Or Gee."

"We could have the Everley Brothers."

"Or Gee for Kids."

"The Beatles are really cool."

"Gee for Kids."

"Fine, we'll put on Glee."


Next week, I gave her the choice of Beatles or Fleetwood Mac again. "Gee?"

"No Glee today. I don't feel like Glee."

Zoe thought about it, then made her choice. "Beatles." So they went on.

As she usually does, Zoe stood in the home-corner where the CD player was and listened for a moment. Then she looked at me and sighed, "It's wonderful."

Car! Car!

I came into work today, and was, as usual, greeted by several of the children, including Thalia. The rest soon went back to their activities, but Thalia didn't. She looked at me and said, "Car, car!"

"Honey, you know I catch the bus."

"Car! Car!"

Then she grabbed my legs, and started lifting up my skirt.

Now, the good thing about childcare is it's pretty much all females as far as the adults go. And I wear stockings AND leggings under my skirt. But it's still disconcerting to have your skirt lifted by a two year old. So I told her to quit it.

"Car, car!" Thalia insisted.

"No, that is my skirt, not a car, and you don't lift up a girl's skirt. It's bad manners."

I walked away from her, putting away some of the things I had brought in from home. And I felt something banging at the back of my thighs. I twisted around, and saw this flash of red metal.

One of them had attached a toy car to my skirt!

I cut it off and gave it to Thalia, appologising, who promptly took the car. It was what she wanted anyway.

Well, it was an interesting start to the morning.

That Explains It

The children often tell me where their parents are. "My daddy's at work," is obviously the most common one. But sometimes we get some surprises...

Thalia looked at me and told me that her daddy was at work.

"Oh, and where's your mummy?" I asked.

"She's shopping."

Jude then told me that his daddy was at work, "making money". Thalia said, "My daddy's got money."

"Oh, who else has got money in your family."

"Me. And my doggy."

"What about your mummy?" I asked.

"No," said Thalia, like I was some kind of crazy. "My mummy goes shopping."

Another 9, and I'll have my 20...

Most people know that I want 20 children. Yes, I accept I'm mad, but I do. I don't expect for all of these kids to be bio kids - I always wanted to adopt, from before I was 10.

But I recently aquired another sponsor kids.

I was at Chadestone, getting some baskets for work, when this random African guy came up to me, grabbed me by the arm, and said: "If you sponsor a child, will you feel good? Yes! You will feel good!"

Well, who's going to argue with that?

I now have a girl called Judy from Malawi through Plan.

Poor Joash. He's my only boy.

Next time I'm accosted by people in a shopping centre I'll ask for a boy. Because who can argue with feeling good?

How to Pick Up Jane...

Michelle and I are in charge of the bookstall. This makes for occasional odd conversations, because Michelle is slightly odd, and I'm... well... mad (this is Sam-Is-Mad, after all).

So we were standing there, not really selling books, when Michelle brought out her favourite book and forbade me to sell it. Because the author (who appeared on the cover) was so hot.

I looked at her as though she was mad. Because that author was not hot.

"Besides Michelle, isn't that a wedding ring on his finger?"

"So?"

She flipped open the book and noticed it's dedication: to Anna.

"Who is this Anna?" she asked indignantly.

"I'm guessing it's his wife," I said.

"But he's so good looking," complained Michelle.

Jane, who was browsing the books, consoled Michelle. "It's alright. The boys I think are cutest are married."

"Jane!" I said. I was shocked. I mean, Michelle and I are not leaders at church. I mean, I'm not even JG. Jane is a leader (I think).

"Who?" Michelle wanted to know.

"Steven Curtis Chapman and Jim Eliott," she said.

"Jim Eliott is not only married, he's dead. And he wasn't even that good looking when he was alive."

"He was definitely the best looking out of the Ecuadorian martyrs. The others just weren't that good looking. So I like him best."

Oddly enough, that entirely made sense to me.

Celtic Festival

As most of you are aware, every year I go the the Portarlington Celtic festival. My dad lives down there, so it's easy for me to go and stay for the whole long weekend.

It was tons of fun!

No photos, because my camera battery died. Incidentally, if anyone can charge batteries for an Olypus camera, I would love to borrow your charger! Mine got taken by the thieves.

There were tons of great bands and performers, lots of food (I could even eat! GF/CF alternatives are great!) and plenty of items for sale on all things Celtic and lots of other random things.

I bought 7 CDs, mostly of harpist, and am planning to go see Claymore live at Spenser St on the 23rd of July. Think of the band as a Celtic rock band with Billy Connerly as the lead singer, and Alan Rickman as lead guitarist, along with a digeridoo and other instruments.

Someone threw haggis-flavoured instant noodles at a crowd. I am amazed that anyone would want one. They also had haggis bugers for sale. Gross.

However, the quote of the festival has to go to my brother, JW: "Bagpipes are evil. I mean, any instrument that gets played by your armpit must be destroyed."

Sketchbook Project!

One of my sketchbook projects is available online! Check it out!

In Flight

I'm such an awesome artist!

I Gave That Up Years Ago

I was busy trying to give away books when Shaun came up to me, very apologetic. "I forgot about your birthday!"

It's all right, he's not the only one. Though so far he is the only one to apologise for it.

I got him a present at his birthday, and when I was trying to find out what he wanted, his response was "the same thing every 25 year old male wants".

Turns out, they want comic books.

So I responded to his question about what I wanted with "the same thing every 27 year old female wants."

His response...

"Dignity?"

Why, Yes, He Does!

Jude got to go home sick. What he had was very contagious, so we were keeping him away from the other kids, on the verranda. As a treat he was looking through my photo frame. (The photos do change on a semi-regular basis, just so as you know.) Georgie was tidying the next verranda, and laughing at Jude (because he's so funny and awesome.)

"Hey look! It's Hope!" he said excitedly.

"Yep, that's my church's logo. Hope church."

Jude flicked to the next picture. "Look, it's Ps Ian!"

"You're right, that is Ps Ian."

"He's SINGING," said Jude in awe.

"He's preaching I think."

"Oh, preaching."

"Look Georgie, it's Ps Ian!"

"Wow, Ps Ian," echoed Georgie.

Jude smiled at her, and let her know one essential Ps Ian fact. "He's got HAIR."