Drum Kit Stake Out

On Thursday night I went to visit a good friend. So After work I jumped In my car, got some dinner (pretzels), and drove to the city.

You see my mate was camping out under the stars on Waymouth street.
Why? you ask,
well partly because his crazy and needs to do all the over-the-top spontaneous things before he gets too old.
But mostly because he was buying a drum kit for our church and Billy Hide was having a giant sale, one day only. (A $2000 drum kit for $150, that's just nuts).

He had been there since Wednesday 1pm and the sale was on Saturday morning (now that's dedication my friend).
So being the great entertainer I am I thought I would go and keep him company. It was good we hadn't had a chance to have a real conversation I a long time, so with nothing else to do sitting there but talk we did.
We got coffee sat there (tried to keep warm) and just talked about everything and anything. I feel really blessed to have a 'Clay' in my life. I can talk to him about almost anything. He's like a second father. (Thanks heaps old man, you really do mean a lot to me. xx)

Time passed (fairly slowly I would imagine) and Saturday morning came. He was first in line and got the drum kit. (its orange and pretty looking - I keep telling everyone when it comes to instruments for girls looks come first and sound comes second. (Well It does for me anyway). It's a Ludwig if that helps).

That night our families had dinner together and we got our instruments out. We had a lounge room bash, we needed to test the drum kit out, right?

This morning in church a very tired sleep deprived Clay was playing a new (pre-tested) drum kit and he looked good doing it.

light bulb moment

So have you ever had a 'light bulb' moment?
One of those days where everything falls into place, One of those conversations were everything just clicks, One of those moments when your deep in thought and you just get it for the very first time. Well I had one of those moments today, tonight in fact.

... See I was having a conversation with a friend tonight about boys and I realised how boy centered I had become. That wasn't me! Wanting a boyfriend so much that I would just about go out with any guy just to be 'out with a guy'. As the conversation continued I realised I loved the idea of having a guy, and not so much the actual guy I happened to be chasing.

I think it's safest to say I'm planning on taking a moratorium from guys for a while, re-adjusting my priorities and focusing on the one long lasting assurance we have; God.

I'm going to try something so far out it's probably never been tried before; I'm going to try to get to know guys for who they really are, as friends, with no intention or thought about their availability or date ability. I'm going to aim to treat all guys as if they were my brother, with respect and no hidden reasoning. I'm going to attempt to be more Christlike, a better person. I'm going to try to do things so they glorify God and not myself.

Here's where I ask those of you who know me to help. Ask me how I'm going and encourage me to put God first in every aspect of my life.

And now for my favourite verse which is quiet appropriate at this time i might add...

But those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They rise on wings like eagles, they will run and not get weary, they will walk and not grow weak.

(and yes House it's trust not tust)

all grown up

As you may have read previously, I bought a frog and some tadples home from Flinders camp with me. I named the frog Franky Juniour and the two tadploes Goliath and Jemima (Goliath was the bigger one).

Sadly a month or so ago Franky J. escaped and was nowhere to be found. I was so sad I had always wanted a pet frog and finaly I had one, but only for such a short time.

Only a week later I noticed Goliath was growing rappedly but Jemima was still so small, so I intended on putting them into seperate ponds so that Jemima would have a better chance of getting some food. To my horror that same day before I had seperated them Jemima was gone. Goliath had defeted them all (maybe I should have called 'Jemima' David).

So over the next few weeks I watched Goliath grow, and grow, and grow......

Until finally the other night he hopped out the water. My little tadpole Is now all grown up.

Hes a frog.

He's so georgous. Heres a Photo of him at about 3 days (of being a frog that is).

.......Isn't he just the smallest, cutes thing you ever saw.

(and for those wondering if this cute frog will turn into a handsome prince, sorry to disappoint he doesn't....... mmmwwa)

DIY Break-in

Thrid time luck (I've written the frist part of this post three times now so hopefully this time it gets published).


I had just gotten home from house sitting for my youth pastor and his wife and I was in total DIY mood. It's probebly because my youth pastors wife is very creative and it is complely evedent throughout there house.

So I just got home and saw my perants for about 2 minutes before they were off to bible study. Dad mentioned something about my bedroom light being out and he would change it when he got home (because it's a little tricky).

I didn't pay much attention as per usual and sat down to watch my t.v. show which dad had recorded for me. Then once it had finished I went to unpack and realised my light was out. So I needed a screwdriver a philips head. But to my horror we only had flat heads in the house.

I had a 'light buld moment' I keep a screwdriver in my car for energencies and that would work just perfectly. So I grabbed my keys and headed outside looking through my car I had no luck and addmitting defete I turned to go back inside realising I had locked my keys in m car I was fustrated. Turning the door handel to return inside I became extreamly annoyed I had not only locked myself out my car but also out the house and my mobile was on the inside.

After calming down I had to work out how to break in to my house. So I work out that I could jump the fense. So I climbed up onto the bonet of my car and then onto our rain water tank. Lets just say I sprained my anckel and had to battle two spiders. All in all I got back into the house and I was armed with a philips head screwdriver.

I climbed up onto the stool and unscrewed the light cover to change the light globe. And there was light. Once I had changed the light globe I decided to renevate. I took the blades of the fan off the light and hung one of those big paper balls over it and I was impressed it looked pretty good.

Once Ihad done that I noticed that my windows had paint on them. We have the big old wooden window frames and when we painted last paint got on the glass enevatably. Because when your painting your so exhausted by the end of the job that you can never be bothered scratching the paint off the window. So I took the time and did it now they look great. Except now I need to scratch the paint of the windows on the outside.

My plans:

I indend on taking my paper cranes down (all 194 of them) they have been up for a while now and I need to make room for my ever growing collection of photos. I have just brought some fantastic looking gold photo frames and think it would look really cool if I hung them on the wall.

But I guess my future DIY plans aren't that exciting unless something unexpected happens while i'm looking for a hammer.

What do I need a hammer for you ask, well i'll keep you in suspence....


(or save you from bordem)

Anyway here's some pictures:






My new light









Fan blade after I detached it from the light










All paint removed (from the indside at least)

Geoffrey

Geoffrey is my car.

I know what your thinking you named your car how absurd. well I don't care if its a little nutty or crazy or whatever you want to call it I just figure if guys could name their cars then why couldn't I??? So I did after a lot of thinking I came to the conclusion that Geoffrey was a good name. Reliable and cute it seemed to fit my car.

So I brought Geoffrey when I was 16 all keen on getting a car and my license as you are at that age. He wasn't perfect but nothing is for that price is!!!

So the proud owner of a 'new' Daihatsu Charade soon learned that it's NOT cheep owning a car and that along with a hefty price tag came a lot of responsibility.

• Car insurance
• Rego
• and not to mention the learners test, lessons and of curse your P's etc.

the list goes on it's just so expensive to become independent these days.

Over the years Geoffrey and I have had many good times and some bad times.

Hes driven me to youth camps and on an amazing race to Aldinga. To the beach, the air port and city. For the occasional putter through the country side and back and forth to my cousins house in Seaford. All in all he has been a good car.

But then we have had our disagreements and lets face it he is getting a little old (for a car anyway). He's cracked his head, the water pump has gone, the clutch cable snapped, the radiator was blocked, the clutch needed replacing, and the wheel alignment was not aligned to say the least. As well as some injuries that I have inflicted myself such as cracking the diff housing (if that's the correct term), and a few minor bumps and bruises that occur form 'natural' wear and tear.

However the latest injury is by far the worst. And yes I know it might come as a shock to you but it was NOT my fault.

You see the other day I was driving to the shops to get this pair of Connies that I've just been dieing to get (another story for another time) and this guy pulls away from the curb, no indicator, no nothing. So I swerve to avoid this car Unsuccessfully I might add. And He plowed right into the side of Geoffrey, scraping from the back tyre right to the front the indent getting deeper down the side of my car. I was completely in shock and devastated at the crumpled sight of Geoffrey. It's all ok I was the only one in the car and I wasn't hurt; Geoffrey on the other hand...

Now I have to get quotes and go through the insurance jargon and all that stuff. And Geoffrey is still crumpled and their telling me that he might be considered a write-off. (Something about he will cost too much to fix). Don't they understand that I love Geoffrey I have an emotional attachment to him I don't wasn't him to become scrap metal. :(

So many things...

So lately my minds been a blur, a complete storm cloud just floating around up there. So I thought I'd share a few thoughts with you, in hope that it gives me some clarity.


I've been thinking about my future after the end of this year and where exactly God's taking me. I feel very passionately about youth and children's ministry and would love to be a Christian Pastoral Support worker (formerly known as a chaplain). But then I wounder am I good enough for a position like that would I help or hinder Gods mission in this world, In this job. Or am I just over thinking it all or worse under thinking it all. As I said earlier a storm cloud of thoughts.


We went to the Sons of Korah concert the other night... And it was fantastic by the way, bought the DVD, met the guys and got their autographs; over all a great night.
There style of music, although unique and fantastic reminded me very much so of Harold.
For those of you who don't know Harold, he was my step Grandad. But he meant more to me then just a step grandparent. Harold taught me my first chords on the guitar, how to make a backyard sun dial, he used to teach me about plants and birds and he would tell stories about his ever so interesting past. We would make all sorts of contraptions from scrap bits of wood in his shed, take long walks through out the countryside of Gladstone (where Nana and Harold used to live), and make back yard put-put with an old tin and a golf ball. Harold was beloved by his family and all who knew him.
This list by its self not so sad in fact its quiet a happy and fun list, however the sad part is that this time last year Harold went to be with our Lord and Saviour. I know hes in a better place but it doesn't mean I don't miss him.


Looking back this time last year was a sad and hectic time for me and my family.

Shortly after Harold passed on Christopher did also. Christopher was my cousins beautiful baby boy. He was just 5 months old when he went to be with Harold in heaven.

Just to throw a little more drama in the mix Dad went into hospital for his surgery. As I have blogged about previously.


So to make the big fat fuzzy confusion and emotion that happens to be my being at this particular time, just that little bit blurrier I'm so messed up with these feeling about a guy. I don't want to be the girl who can't function without a guy in fact I'm not that girl. But just when I think I'm ok and can 'move on' so to speak; he appears again and manages to tip the boat so we all end up wet and dripping and to pick our lives back up and go on.


I think that's just about everything in the stormy cloud of mine. so on that note I'll go.

blisters, holes and no real coffee.

Ok, so I haven't written a post in a long time, it's partly because I've been been house sitting and therefore very busy so I'm sorry but that's a post for another time.

Today I want to tell you about year 9 camp, although it happened almost 2 weeks ago.

So year 9 camp...

...ok so Friday, week 9, term 3, I was given a really big back pack, I'm talking the size of a small child. In this back pack I was to pack our tent, my half of the food and my clothes, two words came to mind good-E. Ok that only one word but you get my point.

So back at home I'm packing the Jumbo back pack, sleeping bag, spare clothes, blow up pillow, food etc. but I was lucky enough to keep the weight of my pack to about 20kg (that was considered light).

Day one.

The next morning I get up early and bump my pack into the car. Dad drove me to the school and the bus was there ready to take me away from civilisation for 4 days. We made a detour through Macca's drive through no the way there for my last cup of real coffee. And for those of you who know me, mornings without coffee do NOT equal a happy Steph.

On the bus... I waved good bye to Dad, drank the rest of the coffee and went back to sleep...

3 hours later and our last flushing toilet we made it to our starting point. this is where we learned the two words we would grow to hate 'packs up'.

We hiked maybe 15 minutes down the path before we got to Alligator Gorge were we drop our packs with a sigh of relief (that was far enough for me I was ready to go home). Then we went for a walk through the gorge. It was beautiful and we even saw a lizard which I just had to touch 'I had a Steve Irwin moment'. No, actually I had to touch it to make sure it was real. It just looked so fake like someone put it there to trick us or something??.

It was pouring with rain for majority of the 7km that we walked to the first campsite. I was completely soaked along with all my belongings. But I am happy to say that I was the 5th person to arrive at the campsite. An enthusiasm that would die very quickly on this camp. I put up the tent and just chilled.

Day two. .

I put my feet in my shoes to find that they were so extremely sore, blisters, huge blisters had appeared on my feet. And I assure you that they only got worse as the camp went on.

The hike up to the battery and back was excruciating. It was like too many ks to even count and it was all up hill, and steep. My feet were throbbing and my asthma was playing up. (as you can tell nature and I are one. or not you make the judgment). But in all honesty the view when we got up there was breathtaking. And so worth it. And the bonus... on the way back we took the short cut so much quicker.

Unfortunately I felt sick after that delightful 'stroll in the park' and had to sleep the exherstion off, with the help of a few pannadol.

Day three...

The next morning I cracked I had to go to the toilet, so I went to a secluded spot dug a little hole and reluctantly went. I can tell you now it was worth holding on and I'll never, ever do that again.

[Sorry to those of you who have already read this it seems as though only half my post has posted and I am now finishing it off. Grrr]

So after my intimate experience with nature I got my much needed coffee hit. See my Mum had this brilliant idea that I could take coffee beans on camp, this eliminated the need to boil water. This task in a normal setting not so hard, but when on camp and with no coffee in the system this could prove quiet difficult or even dangerous, so the coffee beans were a good idea and they worked. Thanks Mum.

Today was the most relaxing day of camp. All we had to do was pack up our tents and walk to the second campsite. (ok the morning was kind of relaxing).

So were down at the river (it wasn't much of a river really but it had some water) cleaning all our cooking stuff when one of the girls found a frog. I love frogs, they're my favourite animal so I was over there in a shot. we managed to catch the frog and place him in a container along with rocks and a few tadpoles. I named him Franky Junior, Franky J for short.

The hike to the other campsite was long and hot which was a contrast to the first day but I can't say it was any better. I was the 5th to last person to the second campsite (clearly no enthusiasm was left). But it was good I shared a tent with some friends so I didn't have to pitch my own tent this was a nice change. I think knowing it was the last night made it so much easier.
And this campsite had ...... flushing toilets.

P.S. Franky J was safe and sound so there's no need to call the RSPCA

Day four....

We were up feed, coffeed and packed ready to leave but the bus wouldn't start. The bus driver had come the night before and slept in the bus, but he left something on and the battery went dead. We couldn't jump start the bus, (not the worlds easiest things to do) so we called the RAA. They rock up 45mins later and finally we can go home.

On the way home we stopped in a little town for lunch and I must admit I went a little crazy. It must have been the lack of junk food on camp. So we went to the bakery where I had a sprinkle donut (so good) and a juice, then across the road at the fish and chip shop I had a hamburger with the lot - minus egg, some of my friends chips and gravy and a chocolate milk. and after that I had a stomach ache.

Finally at home, well almost, at the school which is almost home. Anyway Dad picks me up and when I excitedly told him about my new pet Franky J he did his usual tut and roll. That's where he tuts and then rolls his eyes, you know hes not mad but hes just thinking here we go again.

So actually at home...

I get home and tell Mum about the frog and shes more excited about it then Dad was. So we go out and buy a tank and some crickets for Franky J to eat. We set it all up and he seems to like his new home. Then.....
I had to pone my Grandma and tell her I got a frog. See Grandmas frog-a-phobic and I new she wouldn't like it, but she took it surprisingly well and she said as long as he stays in his cage in my room that she was ok with it.

And then I slept and voled never to go on Flinders camp again.

Things I learned on camp:

• bring enough pairs of sock you'll need them
• pack ALL of your clothes in heavy duty garbage bags to avoid getting wet clothes and everything else
• pannadol and coffee are musts
• sleeping on the floor is NOT comfortable
• everyone ends up smelling so it doesn't matter if you smell as well
• flushing toilets should never be taken for granted
• the shoes you plan on wearing the entire camp should fit you properly
• it's illegal to take things out of a national park. whoops
• the idea of lugging everything you may need around in a giant back pack is absurd

So many assignments

I have been so stressed lately. I mean completely stressed, which unfortuantly meens that people arround me have to deal with my moodyness. (If thats you then I'm really sorry).

Iv'e been stressed because I have never been any good at the who time management thing, and although I was given my bilical counselling assignment at the begining of the term and I left it to the last minute.
Take last night for an example I was up until 2:30 finishing my assignment off.

Sorry this is a pretty doggie post but i'll fix it up later.

Black Hands

Black Hands (a wired title but its aimed to hook people in, and I promise it will make sense by the end of this post).

Well tonight was a seemingly normal night; we had our women's book club (at my youth pastors house [this information will be useful later]), and it went really well in my opinion and i am so exited to start our new book - Max Lucado, learning to have a heart just like His, Just Like Jesus. He's like my favourite author but that's another story.

Anyways the night came to an end and my friend went to leave. She got not even 10 meters down the road before she realised that her tyre was flat. She came back inside and explained her predicament. So those who were left (at the book club that is), went outside to investigate.

On examination the tyre clearly needed to be changed. so we popped the boot and found the spear tyre. I attempted to unscrew the bolt thing that holds the tyre in place but it was rusted over. My youth pastor and his wife went to find a torch (a pretty pink Disney one at that) and a pair of pliers. He (my youth pastor) used the pliers to unscrew the bolt and it snapped clean off; maybe it wasn't the ideal way to get the tyre out but nevertheless the spear and slightly flat tyre was out.

We jacked the car up slightly, then loosened the bolts, then jacked the car up more, and unscrewed the bolts completely.Off came the tyre.

The culprit was a huge Bolt, which makes sense there's been a lot of building going on around that area, so my friend must have driven over it.

So we lined up the spear tyre with the screws on the wheel and fastened it back up. by this stage everyone is hovered around staring at us (my youth pastor and myself) changing this tyre. And it's freezing cold, (at least the rain held off until we were finished).

The spear tyres on and very flat so we went and got a mini pump, My youth pastor had to move his car so the pump would reach the cigarette-lighter in the car, I turned the pump on and about 20 hours later the tyre was pumped up (ok so that was an exaggeration but it did take at least 10 minutes).

The car was finally drivable, so we packed every thing away and my friend was ready to 'hit the road'. I followed her to the petrol station and taught her how to pump up her tyres. She was very grateful and amazed that I knew how to change a tyre, I was somewhat surprised also, I hadn't really changed a tyre without my dad with me before. Yay.

I got home and immediately told Dad how I changed a tyre he was so proud. I love that feeling when you've accomplished something and people are proud of what you've achieved. Shortly after telling my folks what had happened I wrote this post which is why it's titled 'Black Hands' - because my hands are still black, I was too excited about writing this post that I didn't get a chance to wash them yet.

Who knew such a seemingly normal night could turn into one of excitement? Well God did.

BFF

So there's this really great gal and she changed my life in more then one
way. OK I'm just taking the space here to explain that I'm not a freak, I'm talking about my best friend Lisa. (I know I don't usually use names, but I think Lisa deserves credit for being the person who inspired me to write this blog).

Well as I mentioned above Lisa is my best friend. And I can't imagine life with out her. We've been putting a slide-show together of junction (our youth group) over the past few years. This caused me to take a trip down memory lane.

Looking back at when I first started Junction Lisa and my self were in completely different leagues. She was cool and popular, and in the 'in' crowed, and I on the other hand was not! I was a loner/loser, geek who had no sense in style. But isn't it funny that some where along the line our paths joined and we became friends.

Anyway so over the years we went from strangers to acquaintances to friends to now BEST FRIENDS.

At the end of last year we both decided to do the Internship at Craigmore
Christian Church, this would prove to be a great test for our friendship.
And it has been so far.

• We've had many 'mini' fights, the ones were words are said, apologies are made and then we go on.


• We've also had the deep and meaningful chats, the ones that involve a large amount of chocolate and a box of tissues.
  
• We've also withstood a boyfriend (hers not mine).


• We've survived a road trip, and much, much, more.


• We've dealt with our differences and also our uncanny similarities.

Lisa is my BFF!

We have lots in common:
One Tree Hill
Crunchy Chocolate
Love for movie quotes
and Pete Murray

We also have lots of differences:
Our taste in music (excluding Pete Murray)
Fashion sense
Our driving abilities (mines worse)

Lisa is a wonderful person and an even better friend. Shes kind, caring and compassionate, and always there in my time of need. Shes bright and bubbly, and fun loving. Shes the one who makes my day brighter even if I'm in the darkest grey ditch of the day. She shows empathy and love. And all these things are what makes being Lisa's friend so easy. I can reflect these ability to listen and empathise with her in her times of need. I can be her sun and make her day brighter because she so easy to love. And the best feeling of all is when were both refreshed and renewed just hanging with each other, laughing, singing (badly on my part i might add), mucking around and playing jokes.

...I think that's what friendship is, a two-sided connection with a person who just gets you for who you are. They have no need to want to change you, they love you and you can love them in all situations. You can understand their point of view even if you don't completely agree. And you can tell them anything with absolute honesty because you know and respect their opinion and input.

...Lisa that's how I feel about you!

I Luv ya my BFF! xx

...Did I mention Lisa is fun-loving and loves photos???

BEST birthday ever

So I know all my posts have been really dreary lately, so I decided to write about a happy moment. My birthday! I'm sorry it's about a month late but I know you'll forgive me for that.

Now for those of you that know me, know that I love my birthday. I love the family and friends. The gifts and the food. It's the one day a year that's ALL mine! Every ones attention is on me.

OK well it all started the night before my birthday, mum wanted to watch me unwrap my present from my brother and she had work on my birthday so she wouldn't get to see me open it. I was a bit confused as you probably are. Because as far as I knew he was getting me a sports muffler (a very 'brother' present). To my surprise he handed me a small box I opened it and it was a pair of ruby earrings, to match the ring he had bought me the year before. After lots of hugs and screaming (the good kind) It was off to bed with the anticipation of a wonderful day tomorrow.

Tomorrow came and it was my birthday yay!

I got my other presents from my sister and Mum and Dad and then it was off to school/church for my internship. (now I know I'm strange, but I love to do heaps of things for my birthday, the more places I go the more people I see and the More happy birthdays I get wished all in all its great).

So I was at the church after my phone going off the whole way up there, birthday message after birthday message. Anyways, I was in the office when my best friend walked in. And she didn't even say a word, I was devastated, I thought she had forgotten. :(

So it hit 10 O'clock and I went around to our youth pastors office where he had a cake waiting. Yum! It got to 10:15 and the other sill haven't arrived (stupid sanguines). So the meeting was moved to our office. Confused?? When we got round there I opened the door and SURPRISE. My BFF threw me a mini surprise party, so cute and so special. There was streamers and a jam donut with a candle (my favourite).

As the day went on I got more happy birthdays and cakes. I had a bible study with my mentor. Shes the best but I'll talk about her some other time. She also bought me a jam donut and did the whole candle thing as well. Yay. So that makes 3 cakes in one day so far.

For dinner: Chicken schnitzel, potato bake and carrots (my favourite). And for desert more cake, that's a total of four cakes. Well it was a giant donut tower, with rocky road all over it. Yum. Lets just say I was eating cakes for days.

And then we had youth band. Which to tell you the truth was the icing on the cake (get it cake).

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER

Thanks to everyone who contributed.

To ask or NOT to ask!

See there's this situation where I want to ask something important to someone special.
The only problem is that if I ask them, it could alter our friendship.

..Oh I might as well tell you the person I'm referring to doesn't read my blog.

OK so there's this guy (it's always a guy) and I really like him, but he's a good friend and I don't want to wreck the relationship we have. And if this was not enough my supposed friend likes him also except she has an advantage (she's a good flirter, and some people might say she's pretty).

Well I'm sick of not knowing where I stand in this bizarre triangle thing that we've got ourselves into. So I just want to know whether or not hes interested in me or more importantly is he interested in her??? But I'm afraid, I don't want to get my heart broken again (so to speak).

So yeah.

Any advice???

The Big Fight

Tonight I had a fight with my brother,
now this may seem normal to any given person; but not for us, we usually don't fight so when we do its pretty bad... But this one was a whopper.

It all started with me being a little selfish, to be completely honest. I wanted to go to Music practic early so I asked my brother if he could take our sister to music practice with him, but as uaual he didn't want to.

At this point I got a little agro with him because I always have to take our sister everywhere. Don't get me wrong I love my sister and I really don't mind taking her places but sometimes, just sometimes, I want to look out for myslef frist an not have to wory about my little sister. It's not in the job description- is it?

My brother was was clearly not impressed with this confronting truth. How do I know this you ask? well it was about this time when he raised his voice and world war 3 broke out...

>Why should I have to take her???

>Because you never help out, your selfish, you never think about others, you never take your sister anywhere, etc.

>I do help out, and why should I take her what if I want to hang around my friends after etc.

And so the bombing continues... this went of for a few minutes, the yelling got louder and the name calling got more frequent.

Until it came down to me leaving for music practice and my brother said: "aren't you taking our sister?"

No!

Then came time for round two.

More name calling and yelling occurred and my parent actually sided with me for a change. My brothers keys were confiscated, only to see him grab his spare key and speed down the road.

We (my sister and I) left for music practice, disappointed that my brother wasn't only wigging out on me but on the whole youth band.

Out of the blue my brother rocks up to band practice, doesn't say a word to me, you can bet I felt good tonight. Not!

Well that's where it ends.Were not talking. For now any way.
I'm not planning on apologising first, but then I feel bad- should I be the 'bigger man' and apologise first, probably. Well let me sleep on it.

My Mum's the best!!

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I have come to the conclusion that my Mum is a superstar. So lets go back a few years and see what she has done for me and our family:

In 2001 Dad got sick, and couldn't work. At this stage Mum was working as a florist (a pretty talented one if I do say so myself). However she gave up her job and went to study full time at tafe. Which is really quiet a big step for my Mum considering, she's not exactly the go and get 'em type; She defiantly the one who will wait to be invited into a group. But I suppose that's the way God made her, not everyone can be as loud and boisterous as me, which is probably a good thing other wise God would have to wear ear-plugs.

... anyways back to my Mum...

She started tafe studying the general subjects like computing, maths and english, just to bring her up to speed on all the 'modern' things like Internet and the metric system. (Jokes, shes not that old, but she still can't use a computer :) Mum if your reading this I love you. [Cheeky grin]).

Then she went on to study aged care, which is not a very glamorous job, particularly compared to floristry. The beautiful aroma of perfumed flowers compared to poo; or the vibrant colours and elegant petals apposed to gray, wrinkly faces.

Now I'm sure its not all that bad working in a nursing home, from the stories I've heard there are some good days where everything goes according to plan, when the ressies are co-operative. Then there are the not so good days when only a few ressies are ready for the day and they are unco-operative and every ones behind.

After a few years working at the nursing home mum decided, with a lot of persuasion from friends, family and my-self that she would further her studies. Go back to tafe; and study for her enrolled nursing diploma. And to make things just a little easier for herself she's doing it off campus (sarcastic tone in voice).

This is just the beginning. In doing these studies Mum has the best interests of the family in mind and quiet often has given up her wants and dreams for our needs.

... So I guess what I'm saying is Thank you Mum.
Thank you for the:

• Early mornings
• Late nights
• Lack of free time
• Dedication
• Headaches
• Stress
• Love
• Support
• And so much more

I can't thank you enough. Mum your a superstar and I love you.

xx your loving daughter.

"...i'ts not your day, your week, your month or even your year..."

I found myself thinking just the other day why do I have a blog?
What is the purpose in writing posts? And why do I read other peoples blogs?
Well the answers I came up with were: I have a blog because I like talking about myself. I write different posts to let readers know whats happening life and to show them all aspects of my life. And I read the blogs of others to gain an insight into their life.

...So I guess that's were I'm coming from with this particular post. I want to write about all areas of my life and that includes the highs and the lows.

I guessing you've all heard of the T.V. show Friends, well you know the theme song

"...it's not your day, your week, your month or even your year..."

well it hasn't been mine.

My day:
Well today hasn't been too bad. An average Sunday by any means. Actually it was quiet good but when your in a rut it has a way of following you everywhere.
I found out that one of my good friends likes the same guy I like, but if that's not twisted enough, he happens to like someone else. Sucky.

My week:
As usual I have time for everyone but myself. OSHC has been busy as which is great, but busy OSHC = about 15 kids between 2 OSHC workers and as we all know 15 kids in a small room hyped up on sugar or whatever they ate for lunch just = CAOSE!

My month:
For starters my best friend went to England, which was a great experience for her don't get me wrong but I miss talking to her about stuff. My school holidays was taken up by work, work and more work. It's a good thing I love my job. (My bosses are the best, the workers are great, and three years on the job have given me the right to call myself the chief of all pretzel twisting; well one of them anyway).

My year:

My dad had his operation, which in all honesty stressed us all to the max. And as some wise person told me at the beginning of the year that God would test me through out my Internship. And believe me he has, and I'm only half way through. but never the less he has come through every single time.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

I guess it comes down to the fact that I'm just too busy! That and the fact that I 'try' to do everything in my own strength.

I look at my life and see myself filling every spare hour of the day. I don't like sitting at home doing nothing to me that seems like a waist, instead I'd rather be doing something productive. Even as we speak I'm typing this post and watching T.V. at the same time. I guess its part of being a choleric.
As well as the whole control freak thing. Yeah I'll admit it I'm an control freak. Which kind means that I take over and push God to the side. 'I don't need Him.' (well we all know I actually do- I guess that's a lesson I'm learning).

Maybe I need to take a step back and evaluate what I think is important. What in my life needs to be my first priority and everything else should fit in around that.

And as I make that comment I can't help think that God should be my no. 1 priority and if I were to be completely honest with myself and Him; He's not.
Which is really disappointing and something I need to work on.

long time, no post...

Hey guys,
Sorry I haven’t posted anything new in a while, I haven’t really had anything all that exiting to write about. So I offer you some of my random thoughts...

... Well for starters I'm sick I woke up with this terrible head could and its put a damper on my already tragically bad week. (and Jewels, if you comment on my bad spelling you’ll just make me sadder).

2. Our office is now officially liveable but I can't use my computer because someone else is on it. Grrr

3. I had a sausage roll today without sauce; I think I prefer them with sauce. Tomato.

4. I have work tonight 'after school ours care' and one of the kids threw-up yesterday. I'm hoping that it won’t be as hard work tonight.

5. My cousins 30th birthday party is tomorrow night and so is my friends 18th and the church bonfire. And I'm sad I have to choose between them.

6. Coles Coca-puffs are better than Coco-pops.

7. My best friend came back from a holiday in England the other day. She was gone for 5 weeks.

8. My Nana got a new house and now she’s moving- again.

9. Don't think I’m going to youth group tonight, I'm stuffed and I don't think I can handle 50 screaming teens.

10. I'm probably boring you by writing these meaningless thoughts but hey you can stop reading any time you want.

11. The eye Dr. (can't spell optomitrest, or can I? No.) told me I have to were my glasses all the time and they're driving me crazy.

12. I saw the CCS primary school play Dayuma's Jungle last night it was very good. And the Rouse kids #1 and #2 did a great job.

13. Eating Pringles right now. Once you pop...

14. Had ACM (Adelaide College of Ministries) this week and I'm totally scared that I have assignments due in just over a month.

15. Just want a BIG hug from a good friend.

Well congratulations if you made it to the end. And I’ll try to post something more interesting next time.

green paint

Green paint...

...now something you should know about me is that I love the colour green and I like to paint.

Our Intern/OSHC office, was called the ark, it had flooded a few times, but was still standing that was of course until this year.

At the beginning of the year we painted, carpeted, furnished and decorated our new office, only to see it leak, then flood just a few short months later, but this time it didn't recover. It sank to put it more bluntly. So we moved furniture back out, boxed up books etc. and riped up the soaked carpet that we laid ourselves all that hard work gone :(

We moved our stuff into our friends office, and have been invading her space for the last term and a half.

We continued to watch as the lights, air conditioner, ceiling and one of the walls were riped down. The office was a mess, covered with a layer of rubble and dirt.

The office was bolted shut for some time after. Ok so that's a slight exaggeration but it seemed like we were making no progress, for such a long time.

Then... with a lot of help from some good friends the walls and ceiling were replaced and the lights and air conditioner were put back in. The office looked like A room again, we thought this day would never come.

Here's were the title comes into the long winded story. In the last few days we have managed to buy new carpet, and find paint, (green paint). I spent 8 hours painting the ceiling, door frames and skirting boards white and the walls green. At the end of the day I was sore, tired and green with white speaks, and ready for a hot shower and bed.

...But boy did the office look good.

The desk went in yesterday and hopefully the carpet will follow shortly.

Good news the newly named 'TITANIC' (hence the sinking, after all the ark never sank.) is almost complete, we should be able to move back in in the next week or so, and I'm sure our friend will be glad to see us move back out of her office and back into ours. I'm telling you now putting up with us for a term is an achievement, we should get our friend a medal.

...So next time you see green paint have a chuckle to yourself and remember even in the most straight forward of circumstances EVERYTHING can go wrong.

green paint..... (giggle)

I Caught a FISH!!

Well for those of you who don't know we went to Victor Harbour for the weekend.
(we being Recharge, our young adult group). It was great!
A chance for us to unwind, relax and Recharge.

Alright, so me and my mate drove the approx. 2 hour trip to Victor and got there a lot earlier then everyone else. So to kill time we went fishing.
I've never been fishing before, and I was determined to catch a fish. A few cast-outs and
re-baits, and a lot of waiting (patients not my strong point), I caught a fish, yay!!! I was so Chuffed, I mean I was so excited I was jumping up and down on the jetty. It was a little Tommy_whatever (ok I'm not a fishermen so I don't know what all the fish are called) and i was about 10cm (It won't break any records but that's besides the point, I caught a FISH. Yay!)


Our fishing expedition was cut short by our youth pastor, he was running late and asked me if I was able to meet the owner at campsite. And I was entrusted with the keys to the campsite (yay I feel a bit spesh).

The camp was great, we went to Granite Island and actually saw some penguins, played on the playground (the one with the really old train), and we made our selves completely sick and dizzy on the spinney thing (I know great description). We also walked along the beach, drank good coffee, went to the Bluff (but it was too dark, windy and dangerous to climb it, totally bummed).

The studies were also really good, i got a lot out of them. They were based in Proverbs and taught about wisdom. I know i got a lot out of them and look forward to trying to apply these new lessons to my life.

Over the camp I:
1. Gave "the kids" shoulder rides.
2. Taught Kid #2 how to take photos with an old-school camera (yes it uses film).
3. Took plenty of old-school photos myself.
4. Ate way to many lollies, chocolates and biscuits.
5. Drank good and bad coffee.
6. Got sick from too many "spinney thing" rides.
7. Walked lots and lots.
8. Built a human pyramid.
9. learned how to become wise.
10. Slept on the floor on a thin-as mattress.
11. Had to listen to my friends snore.
12. Had a few DnM's (deep and meaningful's).
13. found a really pretty sell shell (only to find it was crushed when I got home).
14. Went to Horseshoe Bay and played on the playground in the dark.
15. Oh yeah, and... Caught my very first FISH!

So all in all I thoroughly enjoyed camp and can't wait to go again.

Oh yeah if you didn't catch my excitement earlier I caught a FISH!!!

ONE WORD ONLY

Just for you Jewelz.

ONE WORD ONLY!
Not as easy as you might think.
Now copy, forward, or post this and change the answers to yours and pass it on.
It’s really hard to only use one word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket

2. Your significant other? none

3. Your hair? bun

4. Your mother? work

5. Your father? recliner

6. Your favorite thing? food

7. Your dream last night? forgotten

8. Your favorite drink? juice

9. Your dream/goal? Jesus

10. The room you’re in? office

11. Your ex? luke

12. Your fear? spiders

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? family

14. Where were you last night? recharege

15. What you’re not? sarcastic (lol)

16. Muffins? yuck

17. One of your wish list items? vidio-camera

18. Where you grew up? SA

19. The last thing you did? talked

20. What are you wearing? clothes

21. Your TV? room

22. Your pets? messy

23. Your computer? frank

24. Your life? stressful

25. Your mood? stressed

26. Missing someone? lisa

27. Your car? geoffrey

28. Something you’re not wearing? ring

29. Favorite store? pet

30. Your summer? past

31. Your favorite color? green

32. Last time you laughed? forgotten

33. Last time you cried? thismorning

34. Favourite food? carrot

35. Who will re-post this? person

> see Jewlez it wasn't that hard.

There's only 24 hours in a day

I was up awake and productive for a whole 20hours on Saturday!
20 hours that's nuts, 4 more hours and it would have been a complete day.

6 am - Beep..beep..beep my alarm goes off, up I get slowly and lethargically get ready for verge. (pre-coffee)

6 30 am - My lift comes to pick me up, don't worry i have had my coffee by now.

7 am - Start verge

9 am - Say bye to friend (shes going to England, without me)

10 am - Heading home to get ready for work. (+ another 2 cups of coffee between 7 and 9 )

11 am - Start work. Customer, oven, pretzel, roll, oven, roll, pretzel, customer,customer, clean, count, mop, lock up, etc... until 5 30, there was a break in there some where, I think.

6 pm - Movie night at church

7pm - Alvin and the Chipmunks

9 30 pm - National Treasure 2

11 30ish - Back at home, have to help mum finish her assessments for tafe (due Mon). Now as you can probably tell I can't spell at the best of times, so when it's like 12, 1, 2 in the morning and you're almost falling asleep at the computer you're so tired then your spelling is worse then usual. (lets just say there was a lot of red lines on the page).

2 am - Crawled into bed. Stuff PJ's. Zzz...
zzz...
zzz...
zzz...

9 am - Ok a bit of a sleep in but I deserved it.

... Off to start another busy day...

I HATE Spiders

So I get another house sitting gig. I rather enjoy the somewhat Independence.
my friends give me the walk through tour, explain the do's and dont's and hand over the keys.
I move my gear in, inspect the house and then chill.
6 rolled round and I picked my sister up from work, we go 'home' and I get ready for netball (we lost by the way). After the game we go back 'home' to watch a movie (my friends have the best DVD collection ever, well its alright anyway). My stuff had been in the house all of 2 or 3 hours and a spider had made a cosy little home out of my shoe. Was NOT impressed. Ok I'll admit it was only a daddy-long-legs, but those of you who know me know I'm absolutely terrified of any spider no matter what size or species. ARACHNAPHOBIC to the tenth degree!
It doesn't end there, there were hundreds of the creepy crawlies everywhere (ok slight exaggeration, but I killed at least 15; by me I mean my sister, and that was just the first night).
The second night I didn't have my little sis to protect me so I stayed at a nearby other friends house, which also had spiders but there was just one and she killed that for me. and the third night I crashed at my other mates house, now her house was safe and spider free. Just the way I like it.


lessons i have learned:
1. little sisters come in handy when it comes to killing spiders
2. when considering a house sitting gig ask if their house is spider free
3. take your own can of bug spray, you might run out of theirs

RIP miss chief

Friday 20th.
ahhh... a sleep in just what I like,
well Friday morning I got out of bed and decided my washing basket was looking a little full (that and the fact I needed my work uniform for my Saturday shift).
So I stick a load on and eat my breaky, yum coca puffs.
Beep...beep, the washing finished. I go outside and hang my washing on the line, that's strange miss chief not squawking (yes she squawks, to let me know she wants food).
Oh by the way miss chiefs my guinea pig, shes beautiful, and mostly black with white and brown markings. She 2 years old and mischievous, hence her name miss chief.
Anyways I was half way through hanging my washing out and I go to investigate, there she was lying lifelessly in her hutch. She was so young. I dug a hole, placed her body in, as tears welled up in my eyes.
The sadest part is not knowing. I mean your parents tell you there,s a doggy heaven when your 5 but were do pets go really? :(

home sweet home

Ok, so I haven't written a blog in a long time;
well you see I have discovered the art of house sitting.
what do you mean? you ask, well I'll start from the beginning.

My Nana decided that she would become a world traveler, well ok she only went to England, but England is in the world and she had to travel to get there so there you have it "world traveler." And while she was gone who better to look after her house than her favourite grand daughter (that's me).
Fantastic, my very own house, that means independence!!!
No board, freshly stocked pantry and fridge this is the life how could it get any better??
Well I'm telling you now it was not all it was cracked up to be.

I was in the house all of 2 minutes before I encountered my first spider. The striped, orange, 8 legged creature was awaiting my entry sitting only inches away from the front door. And there were many more to come, lets just say that the insect spray and myself became the best of friends. I killed 11 spiders in total, yuck!!

And if all the spiders weren't enough she had no Internet. That was a total bummer, no blog, no my space, I didn't realise how dependant on the web I was.

And the dishes, i couldn't believe how many dishes one person could make. By the end of my "holiday" I worked out that frozen food creates less dishes and its much more efficient to collect all your dishes up and do them all at the end of the week. (And when your Mum comes around to visit and asks why you haven't done the dishes yet, you just say "there in soak" it works, kinda).

The list goes on...
washing (ring, ring.."how do you use the washing machine Mum?")
ironing (whats that?)
vacuuming (managed to get away with only vacuuming once)
dusting (I don't know where Nana keeps the duster)
Bins (ring, ring.."Daddy")

All in all it went well.
The house is still standing and relatively clean (by teens standards). Most of the spiders have been abolished with a thick cloud of bug spray, and lots of screaming, but there stories for another time.
And the best part was Nana bought me back some awesome pressies, yay!

Let me tell you, there's no place like home; and there's no bed like your own bed!

My Dads Alive!!

My Dads Alive!!

As you may or may not know my Dad had his heart surgery today. The longest day of my life.

Alarm clocks buzzing at 6am (6, I didn’t know there was one of those in the morning aswell). Stumbeling out of bed to the smell of hot coffee (my Mums amazing).

We arrived at the hospital at 7 to see Dad before his opp. Giving him our love, support and Prayers. The hospital guy came to take him to theater at 8 and we all followed him down to the ’doors’ (your not allowed to go beyond the ’doors’). Looking back at it now, it was quiet comical 6 of us following Dad been wheeled down the hall; walking very fast, almost a jog just to keep up.

Final kisses just before he disapered behind the ’doors’ for what would be a long and teedious opperation.

> He had his mitral valve (don’t ask me what exactly that is) in his heart replaced. The opperation took about 5 hours and there were a few complications, like they couldn’t do the bypass so they kept his heart beating during the surgery (which is an enormous feet in its self for both Dad and the surgeon). But on the up side he has only a ’small’ (about 15 cm long) insition on the right side of his chest and a few small holes just above that; opposed to cracking his chest open (which is the normal presedure). <

We decided to go to the chaple and just spend sometime in prayer with God. And at this point i would like to thank every one for their continual prayers and support. Thankyou! It’s much appreciated.

During the 5 long hours of waiting we took to retail theropy. We started at Koorong were I sepnt more money then I had. Then we had the best chicken burgers ever from the cafe in Koorong. After that we hit Rundel Mall and burned o few more holes in the credit card. (it helped somewhat on keeping our mind off the surgery).

Dr. Edwars called mum and said that the surgery went well so we rushed over to the ICU (intensive care unit) but they wouldn’t let us in until visiting hours 10, 3 and 7. So we went and had a coffee.

3 o’clock rold round and we went in to see Dad. He was on a ventorlator like the Dr. had said and he was very yellow from the anti-bactirial stuff they put on him; other than that he looks great. Now all thats left to do I wait for him to recover.

I’d like to say a big thankyou again to all who prayed for Dad and my family and an especially big thankyou to Dr. Edwards, the leading cardiac surgeon in Australia and the kindest man you’ll meet. Thanks.

Newsboys Concert

Thursday the 27th of March,
The day we went to the Newsboys concert.
(we beeing, a group of about 30 youth and young adults that went to the concert).

The car trip down there:
Three girls and a pumping sound system practicing up for the concert, and a call into Hungry’s for dinner (a girl needs her sustenance).

At the Thebarton Theatre:
Hayley saved all of us a spot in line, the 2nd group from the door! Some how I don’t think the people behind us in line were all that pleased at 30 people pushing infront of them. :( woops.

The doors oppened (10 minutes late I might add). We rushed in and got our tickets ripped, and waited (again) at the side entrance to go into the theatre. Totally pumped, waiting, waiting, and go! The mad dash to the front of the theatre right infront of the stage, third from center (my seat :) ).

Alabaster Box (the support band) were great, and managed to get everyone pumped and ready for Newsboys.

Intermition:
It was a crazy everyone buying hats and shirts and CD’s and any other merchendise they could get their hands on. I got a Newsboys shirt and hat. (you can’t go to a concert and not by some memrabillia, can you?).

Then...
Newsboys they were awesome, fantastic, fabulous and all of the above. The concert was great, the music was loud and I had the time of my life. At the end of the concert I was given Duncan Phillips (Newsboys drummer) drumsticks. I was so chuffed. I couldn’t believe my luck.

After the concert:
We went to the northen lights, they were fantastic, they don’t get old. I’ve seen them a few times.

Then... it was time for home. Which was a total shame I wish the night would have never ended. But never the less I will remember this night forever, or until I forget it. lol. (sorry, just my bad sense of humour).

On that note I will sing off for now; hope you enjoy your next concert like enjoyed this one. Rock on.

my very frist blog

Yay i’m in the blogasphere.

And on that same happy note. My Dads pre-op test went well, very well.

For those of you who are reading and have no idea who my Dad is and why he’s having an opperation i’ll fill in the blanks.

Well basically a long story short, my Dad has a heart, lung condition. I would tell you the name for this condition except there is none. Yep thats right my Dads a freak of nature (pretty spech really). Anyways thats a story for another time.

So Dads Dr.s have finally said that he can have the operation, and before the opperation he had to have this pre-op test. An angiogram, yay a lot of fun. Whats an angiogra? you ask, well its were the feed a microscopic camera through a vain in your leg all the way to your heart to see whats, what. It’s done under a local anistetic so your awake while they do the test.

So every thing went rather well, Dad was really nervous and had to have a Gelco (a rehydration liquid injection) beacuse he was so nervious. Other then that it all went well, hes still a little sore and has to hobble but he should be fine in a few days.

All this is preperation for his heart sergery, wich is on April 7th (all prayers appreciated). The Dr.s are planning on replacing a main artery of his heart and this will help the heart pump blood arround the body to get oxygenated, which in turn will make it easyer for him to breathe. (well thats what I understand from what i’ve been told).

Well thanks for reading my first blog,congratulations on getting to the end , I hope it wasn’t too boaring.

Why???

Why miss-Chief? you may ask. Well it's simple really.
See my Brother decided that Chief would be a fitting nick name for me, and the kind, loving, adoring older sister I am, I, out the kindness of my heart agreed to adopt this name. Some time later I discovered that this name was not given completely out of affection for me, but instead reflected my bossy and somewhat demanding nature (I know what your thinking, no way someone that sounds as nice as I do could be bossy and demanding). Well I hate to admit it but it's probably true.
And the miss, well I'm a girl so it seemed logical; and i guess it adds a whole new dynamic to the name (after all wheres the fun if you can't be just a little mischievous).
So all in all, my family and particularly my Brother refer to me as Chief. It's ok, I have grown accustomed to this name and know that they really do love me, even if I am a little bossy.