Cat-astrophes

Why is it that when granted time, time escapes?

For some reason I have an expectation of holidays such that I spend hours a day running through meadows, sipping pineapple juice from a coconut shell on the beach, sleeping under a shaded tree, sailing dreamily down the river, watching the sunlight play on the ripples whilst napping on a gondola on the harbour...

Instead, I have been filing papers, paying bills, organising budgets, washing clothes, dusting and reorganising cupboard space.

Oh how romantic.

Still, it makes me even more appreciative of Christmas day. Some lovely person took me to a lake nearby that I didn't know about. There are some amazing views there and they showed me a few vantage spots. I think I might frequent it a bit more. At least I can say I've done *something* these holoidays so far!!

xxx

Long time no blog.

My motivation for writing was the fact that I'm now on holidays - hooray!!

I actually began my break with yet another blood test (what a way to celebrate), though the bruising was nowhere near as bad this time through. However, I did almost pass out on the way out...though I think that was more to do with the fact that I had to fast for the 12 hours prior to it.

Anyway...will find the results of those in a fortnight...my doctor conveniently went on holidays....

I've discovered that I am teaching year 1 next year...exciting and scary at the same time. Non-English-Speaking ankle-biters...this ought to be fun.

It has also been brought to my attention that I didn't bring closure to shannanigans. Let me just say there is a reason why I act before I think.

My partner in crime was a little too excited and decided to tell a few people. A few people became a lot of people. A lot of people think too much. The lady who was looking after the keys began to rationalise too much, and, well...let me just say she refused to let us anywhere near the car.

Talk about no humour.

So the car is safe...the boss is clueless...and now the rest of the staff has cottoned on to the fact that you have to watch the quiet ones. *sigh*

xxx

Is it really appropriate for 'exes' to send Christmas Greetings? I know intrinsically there is nothing wrong with it. So why am I reacting so negatively to a cutesy-wutesy card? Is it simply because I partly never want to hear from the person again? (There is no unforgiveness here, I just have no desire to maintain any contact.) Is it because of what was written?

"The best part of my year was getting to know you..."

Go jump.

Is it because it reminds me that I'm still single? (I don't think that's the one) Is it because I'm overly cautious that he's trying to keep his options open (so to speak)? Is it because I over-analyse...?

Bingo.

The funny thing is, when I saw his name my reaction was 'who??'. The same thing happened about a month ago when he called.

'Sorry, but who is this?'
'.... Guess'
'Jonno?'
'no'
'Bob'
'no'
'Lenny?'
'no'
'Dave?'
'no....'.

He seemed a bit offended. Pffft...when I move on, I move on! Total memory erasure.

Nothing constructive to say, just had to vent.


xxx

Two days at school camp and I feel 10 years older.

The kids had a great time. I had fun with the espresso machine. Infact, since dancing around it on arriving at the campsite the principal is looking into getting one for the staffroom!!!

yay!!!

Aside from a near-drowning experience and waaaaay too many sick bodies it was a great little retreat. The workers at the site were fantastic.... very nice.

I had to try not to laugh when my colleague marched 6 girls outside at 10:30pm because they would not stop giggling and waking up the others. As they were lining up against the wall, I remembered all those past school camps where the same thing would happen. I would close my eyes, breathe a little deeper and always get away with it - nobody ever suspects the quiet ones.

Now, years have past and I'm the one throwing shoes at the walls at 5:30am telling over-excited munchkins to 'shush'.

Hah...bet they sure were scared when two teachers wandered into their rooms in pyjamas, tangled hair and those deadly teacher-stares. It sounds like something out of a horror movie.

xxx

Hmmm...so far I've had a total of 9 hours sleep this weekend.

I met an interesting lady last night. She is from Canada and is over here on business. She by chance happened to come to church (where I met her) by taxi and is staying in a hotel 5 minutes from where I live. Coinkidinkal indeed.

I ended up giving her a lift home, and in the meantime discovered that she is researching the emotional reppurcussions of children who are refugees or immigrants from other countries. Coincidentally the school I work at is made up of a large proportion of children that fit these categories. She was quite a wise woman - I learnt a lot in that car trip.

I picked her up for church again this morning - it's her last day in Sydney. The sweet thing had a card for me and a little 'Canada' pin. One thing that really struck me in the card was this:

God is using you to meet my needs for worship and spiritual refreshing.

When we do those 'little things' we have absolutely no idea of the impact they could be having on another - even if they seem so insignificant to us. Picking up someone and spending a little extra time driving around is no big deal for me - but for her, it meant she could go to church on a Sunday (which she said she hasn't been able to do for the past few weeks) and was able to have communion (which she hadn't done since being back in Canada) which meant so much to her.

Anyway...she'll be off to Melbourne now. It's amazing the amount of people we could potentially impact if we made a little bit of space for strangers.

Just a thought.

xxx

Beware, I feel a rant coming on...

A few weeks ago I recieved a letter in the mail informing me that my local council is installing parking meters in my area. They work on a zoning system, and I can apply for a parking permit if I wish, for a annual fee (of course...).

What's more, if I do not have visitors parking (which I don't), I can apply for a parking permit for my visitors also. Again, for an annual fee (of course...).

However. They did fail to mention that these parking permits are restricted to one car only and must have the car rego number printed on a sticker that is permanently placed on yours or your visitors windshield. Not only that, but you are restricted to two visitors permits.

I'm sorry, but you can't have any more than two members of family or friends.

Oh but it gets better.

If I want to apply for one of these little stickers, I must apply in person with two pages of forms and documentation of proof of identity and ownership of vehicles for both myself and my visitors. Oh yes, and did I mention that I can only apply weekdays between the hours of 10 and 2???? Sorry kids, but I have to duck out and give some council worker some money.

This all happened over the last few weeks. Plenty of time to deal with it all. What pushed me over the edge was this. Here is a quote from the letter I recieved at the end of October:

parking near your area will be meter parking between 8:00am and 6:00pm Monday to Saturday limited to four hours.

However the signs that have been newly inserted in the turf outside my building read 2hour parking 8am-6pm and then 4 hour metered parking 6pm to 10pm.

Are they just trying to get my attention away from the fact that I'll be paying $100 a year just to be able to park at my own house???

I think the real victims are going to be the small businesses surrounding me. They can't afford to lose customers due to crazy parking. Most of them are dependant on street parking, as their little 200-year-old federation style buildings don't exactly have ample guest parking built in.

The thing that gets to me most is this:

Revenue from parking meters will be reinvested in the local area in which it is collected

In otherwords, I can sleep easy at night knowing that I'm paying the council workers well. (A friend who is in fact a council worker confirmed this one for me...)

Good move, local council.

xxx

Last night I had BestFriend and her husband over for a Christmas/tree decorating celebration. Whilst sweating over a roast elbow-to-elbow with BF who was making her famous pavlova (YUM) we were reminiscing over the silly things we used to say as wee-nagers.

After a sigh I said "huh...remember when we used to say that we'd never be old and boring and do things like cook dinners for each other for fun...ahhh...I wish I had've been there when I said that..."

Hmmm...

Getting prepared for camp on Monday. We had our last meeting at lunch today. One boy whom I taught last year put up his hand:

Miss, will it be dark when I close my eyes?

xxx

Latest discovery (best tip since discovering water can burn...or is that only Syndey water?):

When mixing old penne with new penne, first ensure that the new penne is not that new scary 5 minute cook stuff when your old penne is Aldi 'how slow can you go' pasta.

The result is something interesting.

Maybe the tip should be 'cooking when fluey should be left to the professionals'.

Tomorrow - the roast.

xxx

Contrary to popular belief I have discovered that it is infact possible to burn boiling water.

I hereby publish my apology to Mr Schmidt from my year 7 science class at Singleton whom I used to make fun of because he taught us the theory of boiling water in term one, and then 10 different ways to boil water in term 2.

Obviously I wasn't paying enough attention.

And now I depart to go watch yet another thunderstorm.

Have I mentioned how much I love Spring??

xxx

Flu again! As if I had energy to spare! It seems my body didn't find Friday's rain dance as fun as I did...

The funny thing is, this has all made me think about the concept of sowing and reaping. Obviously what you sow is what you reap...which made me think if I sow energy...

The irony in this is that although it sounds great in theory ("in theory communism works") trying to force your body to do something it simply does not want to do is incredibly difficult (I had to take a rest yesterday carrying a loaf of bread and a carton of milk up my stairs...). However, motivated, I got up to do some aerobics (hooray Ozstyle...) then seeing their smiley happy faces I thought 'pilates sounds good'. On went the dvd.

I stood for a moment watching more smiley women do squats and thought 'yoga sounds good'. Change dvd.

I layed on the floor and watched a woman with an airy-fairy voice do crzy stretches on her back and thought 'five more minutes sleep sounds good'.

The spirit is willing but oh boy the flesh sure is weak right now!

Make mine a tall glass of ecchinacea with a twist of vitamin C.


xxx

BOOOM!!!!

Haha...love it



xxx

I love spring.

The summerish days flirting with the odd thunderstorm - and when it suddenly gets 'too hot', it spins cold again. Then when you get out all of your winter clothes again, the clouds disperse and you're left with an unbearably steamy heat.

No really, I love Spring. It keeps me on my toes.

Yesterday poured continuously - which was great for the kids (HA!). They were crawling up the walls (a few literally...). So when I had to walk 32 hyperactive little bodies through the rain to the otherside of the school for assembly I could hardly expect decorum. I'm just counting my blessings the principal didn't walk past at that moment. He would've seen 32 kids screaming through the rain (yet taking their time moving into the building...) and a saturated teacher trying to hide a huge grin.

As a result I think I got a bit of a chill (seeing as I had to be the first out of the building and the last in, consequently I was the soggiest). I've woken up with a voice an octave lower than what it was yesterday and with a husky edge. Love it.

Get soaked. Sing loud.

I love Spring.

xxx

Good news, even better news or bad news?

The good news is that the tests results for the big bad thingos all came back clear!

The even better news is that I'm not anaemic either!! My iron levels are up. Oh yes and I'm not pregnant either (thanks doc, I could've saved you time on that one).

The bad news is my iron levels are 'too' up. Infact they are so up, the doc is suspicious and wants me in for more testing. I think they just want more blood. Come to think of it, he does have an accent..."I vant to do more teztink ov your blood...."

He said with the copious amounts of coffee I consume (that was one thing present in my system...healthy amounts of caffeine) it should've been *much* lower. Basically I'm showing signs of some sort of deficiency, but so far haven't found what it is - yet my body is making up for it by storing huge amounts of iron. Anyway...regardless it's back for more blood. I protested and tried to convince him I'm all better now - the last tests fixed me good (hey, I could get used to sleeping 14 hours a day - that's a lifestyle change I'm prepared to make).

Stoopid vampires. They're so stubborn.


xxx

The boss is on the grade 6 camp for the next three days.

My colleague and myself found his car keys in our hands and the instructions 'go park it, and look after it'.

Oh we'll look after it alright...

Immediately I was scheming.

I'll let you know how it all goes.

Speaking of shanannigans, it was brought to my attention that I haven't mentioned any of the other goings-on of Saturday night. It all started quite tame...

first - dinner in Leichardt. Whilst waiting for one other, us, being the classy gals we are left 'token male' on a park bench whilst we played with clothes spanning from the 30s-50s. My favourite was a bright orange boy-legged one-piece swimsuit sporting a wide plastic belt and big round button. It struck me as very stereotypically 60s. I could see it with a pair of white vinyl stiletto knee-high boots.

Then, with no sign of Token Male's friend, we skipped two doors down to a little boutique with pretty unique jewellry/furniture/art. I fell in love with a few paintings (as well as a phonograph and a tallboy) but choked at the price ($660) and thought I'd paint it myself...so out came the trusty camera-phone...

Finally TMF came. He had found a shirt at the retro shop for $10 and *had* to wear it, so he got changed and went from dinner-shirt to 70s greasemonkey. 5 minutes later he realised that we were eating Itallian, and red wine pasta sauce didn't sound like a good idea with his funky new threads.

Two firsts:

1. First time I had seen a guy change twice in the space of 5 minutes.
   
2. First time I had seen someone change from paisley to white to eat red pasta sauce

Inbetween one of the girls being hit on by an old guy and singing 'Happy Birthday' to a kid and his family straight out of one of the scenes of The Castle ("Just try not to spit on the cake, son"), I must say that the service was great - 10 minutes from ordering to food hitting our table.

This must have put us all in high spirits. Heading to the show (finally) some brain surgeon came up with the idea of swapping seats at the traffic lights (how original). We all laughed politely. We did not expect, however, the driver to jump out at the next red light and race around. All of a sudden we were all doing laps around the car, jumping back in just as the light went green.

What we didn't expect was a couple of 20-somethings in the car next to us cheered and applauded as though they had never seen it happen before.

What they didn't expect was at the next red light our driver and passenger jumped out and knocked on their window shouting "Open the door!".

Car-jackers in the making.

On finally getting to Enmore and driving the wrong way down many one-way streets before finding a park we were delighted by the musical tantalisations of the Cat Empire (as previously mentioned). I managed to lose the top of my bananbel along the way, and then got the bottom bit stuck in my belly button somehow so I spent the first 5 minutes in the bathroom trying to pull a piece of metal out of my navel (sounds like a trick). Typically the band went on at this point - if you ever want to see ugliness, try being in a ladies rest room with teenyboppers lined up at the intro-moment. My my the claws do come out.

Friend and I took this moment to see if we could better our seats by sneaking onto the floor. It lasted about 5 minutes "Oh really? The 'circle' means the balcony? We thought it was here".

I think I mentioned the atmosphere - marvelous. Not going to repeat myself.

After the encore (sometimes I wonder why they bother going off - we all know they are coming back on) Friend and I were just a little too amped and continued dancing (broadway style up and down the balcony stairs) to Hot Chocolate. The funny thing was - we persisted whilst the balcony started to empty but then realised there was a crowd not leaving - they were all dancing with us! Hah. I'm still mildly amused by the sight still in my memory.

They finally silenced the music and an usher stood at the bottom with hands on hips - and we continued dancing right on out of there.

I tell you, adrenaline is better than caffeine.

Hmm...I'm suddenly realising this is becoming the longest blog entry ever....so I'll end in point form:

• We drove around looking for TMF's car, and being the smallest the majority voted me as the one to squish down in case of police (6 in a 5-seater).
• TMF forgot where he parked his car - we logically searched the area (logically meaning 'hey look, dead end - let's go back) until we found it - with it's lights on.
• We waited for TMFs car to start then headed into the city for someone's party
• Got to the party - TMF locked and armed his car - with the windows wound down (no, he's not blonde...)
• Bouncer wouldn't let me in - who says thongs and jeans aren't classy??? Snuck in.
• Hid from bouncer until he gave up chasing.
• Finally convinced others to leave at about 2am (sleep is more important after all)
• Smiled sweetly to the bouncer on the way out and told him to have a great night.

So there you have it. Saturday night.

(dododooo do dooo doo doo)


xxx

Thought I might also mention that there's also an entertaining blog with many an interesting conglomeration of words:

Before you wince in agony and declare us a bunch of bull***tting, press-release-squandering, Cuba-trip-story-regurgitating, dead-horse-flogging, tongue-cancerous tryhards I should probably mention the coffee is bloody awesome. "Latte-sipping cityslickers" is a much lighter burden.

If you're into that sort of thing

Oh yes, and please don't ask why I'm writing at this time on a Sunday after getting home 3am...
xxx

I'm still convinced that the Cat Empire are up there with the best performers.

Last night's show was amazing - there was not one butt left sitting in a seat. In fact I think it was the only concert I'd danced from first song to waaaay past the last one. It is just simply impossible to keep still around them.

Whilst there, I realised how much I've missed music like it. One thing I would look forward to each year was to make a visit to Melbourne and go to a little jazz club down there. I loved how you could sit (or stand. or sway) for hours and get utterly lost in the music.

I can't remember the last time I got 'lost' in music.

Back to the show....they played a well-balanced list including the 'favourites' with a happy balance of reggae, latino, raw jazz (best scat EVER!)and songs that would swing from one to the other. They tied in a few covers into the solos that kept the audience involved. The disgustingly intriguing Space Cowboy appeared periodically swallowing a whole range of things that just should never be swallowed....

The Empire Horns were thoroughly entertaining - their little dances inspired many around.

Overall, they know how to entertain without taking anything away from the music itself. They even shone over their modest props - a banner and some coloured lights. (Very similar to the ones we have at church!)

Cat's advice - The Cat Empire is a 'see before you die' band. Go. See.




xxx

Meet Thelma and Louise, my two bruises.





Unfortunately the brown and blue shades didn't come out, but to give you an idea they span a 5cm radius on each arm. When they said 'some bruising' I thought it would be a small spot around the needle mark!

Not so dizzy today, and only dozed off once - yay!


xxx

No, this isn't going to be a teeny angsty post. I seem to associate that song with reminiscing.

My *little* brother went to his Year 10 formal last night. He looked so 'big' (regardless of the fact he's a whole head taller than me...). I started remembering "the good ol' days" back on the farm when he first appeared on the scene. I changed his nappies not understanding how something so small and cute could produce something so putrid.

As the limo pulled up and he posed for photos with his girlfriend (and she was absolutely stunning), I overheard mother say "feels like not so long ago my daughter was doing all of this"...then I realised...it was 9 years ago. Where did all the time go???

And the only thing I could think of as he drove away in that Bentley was a little boy in a jumpsuit with a mouthful of gumnuts.

xxx

Pain is something I've never had much of a problem with. I have a pretty high tolerance for it. So when I went in for blood tests today I was a little surprised to find myself in tears begging the nurse to let me go home.

I find this particularly amusing seeing as when I had my navel pierced I barely had a second thought...

The irony is this. It wasn't the pain I was afraid of, merely the idea of a needle sucking 6 vials of blood out of my body. And yet it was a needle (a bigger, thicker needle) that put a hole through my belly button. Still, fearing needles is the reason why I haven't had a tetnus booster in 13 years...

What made it more frightening was the fact that one of the nurses was in training, and when she said "oops" I think I turned a few shades paler.

Anyway, the blood is out, I lived to tell the tale...now the wait to hear the all-clear.



xxx

SWOT. Strengths, Weaknesses, Oppurtunities and Threats.

Each staff member was asked to fill out a form listing items of our workplace under these categories. Then we had to analyse it all in an intense 2-hour meeting yesterday. I found some of the items quite amusing, but our boss' response even more so -

item 1.6 (weakness): Staff are too stressed with too many responsibilities and unrealistic expectations.

Bosses response: I don't want you to be stressed. Don't be. Okay, moving to item 1.7...

That's problem solving at its best.


xxx

Anyone who knows me half-well knows I'm not too political. Anyone who knows me half-well also knows that when there is an option to having a morning off due to some political outcry, I'm going to take it.

I've said it before, but I'd rather miss out on the 2 hours pay (even though my morning is 7am-11:45am someone do the maths for me??) than deal with 40ish kidlings who are excited that their normal teacher is not there.

That aside, what is more frustrating is when you schedule a sleep-in, and instead, wake up at 5am (normal wake-up time) from a nightmare.

It wasn't the freak-wave that scared me either (strawberry smoothies and chocolate before bed is not a good idea), but the imagery still stuck in my head - kids floaties strewn half buried about the beach. Buried babies, flotation devices...it made me sick to the stomach. Then came the question afterwards - 'Where on EARTH did that come from??'.

The annoying thing, for some reason, if I wake up from a vivid dream and go back to sleep straight away, more often than not I launch straight back into the dream. Overactive imagination? So it was 5:30 when I woke up again after bobbing upside down under this wave (had a similar sensation for real when I was about 9) and decided to get up. Frankly, drowning under my doona is not my idea of a relaxing start to the day.

Instead, I grabbed a coffee and sat on my balcony in the sunlight terribly thankful for dry ground.

PS. Need some affirmation?


xxx

You know we've become too politically correct when you can get away with the acronym and people still understand what you are talking about.

I spent 3 hours shopping yesterday looking for Christmas Cards for my class (okay, I got a little distracted by some other things along the way) that weren't too 'Christmassy' so as not to offend the 20+ muslim children there. Then I finally thought 'bugger it - it's an Australian holiday' and bought the most glittery christmassy ones I could find.

Why have we become so politically correct that we hesitate in celebrating the most exciting day of the year?? Whereas I'm sure if I went to Lebanon, or another Eastern country I'd find that Id El Fitr is celebrated in all its glory without reserve.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have a Christmas tree set up in my classroom on the first of December and we'll all decorate it. We're going to make cards for each other. I'll read the Christmas story, the Night Before Christmas and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. At the end of the year, I'll give out cards, candy canes and little presents. We will even do Christmas Craft!!!!! Hah.

I'm sure I'll encounter at least one child again this year who slams his fist on the table and declares 'No Christmas - ALLAH!', but once again I'll explain 'we are learning about Christmas because it is an Australian holiday, and we celebrate it here, just like you celebrate Eid - and we talked about Eid at that time too'.

Why do we have to be so embracive of other festivities, but not supposed to celebrate our own 'too much'?

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, and to all a good night!


xxx

Crazy lady at school trying to burst my bubble.

I was actually reprimanded today...and I don't mean in a 'the deadline has passed, you are late' kind of way, I mean in a way in which I wouldn't even to my class because it was so belittling.

With all that has been going on lately, I have fallen behind on a number of things - though I'm first to admit that, and I take full responsibility. Quite frankly though, I'm not going to sacrifice my health over work.

Anyway...
during my lunch break I had a meeting with a colleague over a grade 3/4 camp on in three weeks time. Dragon lady interuppted the meeting, stood over me with hands on hips, stuck her face in mine and infront of my colleague said "You are not going home until that paperwork is in my hand".

I thought she was kidding. I smiled, apologised and said "I know you are going to hate me for this, but it's at home" Which was true. What she had asked was done, but wasn't at school.

She proceeded to explode.

If I wasn't in such shock, I might have been amused.

However, I don't take to kindly to words such as 'irresponsible' 'unprofessional' 'unnacceptable'...un...un...in...un...in

I again apologised and offered to drop them at her house tomorrow morning. "I'm not going to ask you to drive to my house, I just want them!"

I tried to bite my tongue, but I probably could've done better...I responded (very calmly) "I'm sorry, but I can't make them appear out of thin air. SO if you tell me your address I will drop them off tomorrow morning"

She rampaged a little more and said "Learn to get things on time" right up close and stormed off.

My colleague was silent, red faced and looking to the floor. I felt embarassed for her, embarassed for myself and well, words are one thing that grate me to the core. I got up and left.

My class were beautiful that last hour. I heard one girl whisper "Miss looks sad". They all cleaned up the room for me (one thing that makes me happy) and drew little smiley pictures. Very cute.

Failure is something that is hard to deal with, but it is so much the more when someone not only brings it to your attention but rubs it in your face.

Maybe I'm too sensitive.




Happy Weekend


xxx

Driving in peaking traffic in yesterdays heat found me trying to get my head (or my hands) around this paradiddle business. My right hand is cooperative. My left...well, it's pretty much an almost useless appendage. Almost like an appendix.

It takes a fair bit of concentration to get it to do anything, and then, becuase I'm thinking about what should be automatic too much, the poor hand hesitates and the paradiddle becomes a paraflop.

3/4 of the way down Parramatta rd and I was finally getting there - Lefty was keeping up! A girly squeak of excitement escaped my lips and a feeling of accomplishment rolled on through...(if this is as far as I go with drumming, I can at least say I achieved one thing!)

...when 'Some Dude' drove past steering with his knees, drumsticks in hands belting his steering wheel at some inhuman speed.

I felt like screaming out "LOOOOOOK!! A PARADIDDLE!!!!"

xxx

I can't believe I didn't mention last night's storm! Amazing! Certainly worth being up at 4ish in the morning for.

Did anyone else see the green lightning? Fabulous.

My new favourite website


xxx

Obviously cryptic. I love it.

It has the emotional weighting of revealing all, but in a way that still witholds some privacy. The only problem is that being so obviously cryptic, it can sometimes draw more attention to itself from curious people...

Total topic change: (or was that cryptic also??? hmmm...)
I had my first drum lesson yesterday. Another 'do-before-I-die-list-thing' to tick off. I think now I'm left with scat-singing.

I think I have a new-found reverence for drummers...oh the concentration and co-ordination...and that was just for holding the sticks!

I felt sorry for my poor tutor - he'd show me something simple, I'd fumble a bit before getting the hang of it...then he'd show me the same thing 'in context'. I'd then follow by giving a look that basically said 'are you serious???' laugh and shake my head.

Patience is a virtue.

Sophie met my class today. The kids loved her - especially with a mouth full of crickets. Greedy little girl...

Speaking of food, the stomach calls.


xxx

Butterflies are running rampant.
Can't sleep.
Apetite gone out the window.

Nervous wreck.
Couldn't be happier.
Stoopid DB.


xxx

Today at school regarding a pregnant staff member:

Johnny: Miss...Did Mrs Ffillips have a baby?
Me: Not yet, she'll be having one soon
Johnny: Where is it?
Me: It's still in her tummy
Mary: Did she eat it??????

xxx

I just had to mention this:
A pair of ducks that frequent my parents house were a little bewildered at the new covering over the pool, though made themselves at home and thanked my father that they could now float without getting their little feet wet.



xxx

Sophie. How can words describe her? She has a shapely body, beautiful big brown beady eyes, long long (let me emphasize) LOOOoooOOONG legs, she has a tribal tattoo on her abdoman and is covered in silky grey hair.

Sophie is a spider. She is a gorgeous grey huntsman - she looks rather like a wolf-spider if it wasn't for the extended forelegs. Her little fangs look hairy and harmless from the front, but if you manage to see them from behind...well, I'm glad I'm no bug. She spans a healthy 15cm and is very VERY fast.

So why am I harbouring spiders? School. I'm doing a unit on mini-worlds, and doing a mini-study on spiders. My class don't know about Sophie yet, they'll meet her next week...my biggest fear is actually that one of them might actually eat her...

xxx

Argh...I think my caffeine tolerance is not what it used to be. I had three in an hour and I'm still suffering. That was 5 and a half hours ago. My heart is still racing. Physically it feels like fear. There are 20 butterflies flittering around my insides.

Thought I'd try to expel some of my jitters over the keyboard.

Weird Occurance #147
Thursday afternoon I was chatting to Best Friend. She had hurt her back and her husband was heading over to my house to drop off a few things that she had been meaning to bring over. I just happened to go to the window to check if he had arrived when I saw something bizarre.

Some guy in black was hiding in our garbage-bin area. I half expected someone to walk past and see him jump out and giggle along with them, but no. He kept crouching.

Then he began pacing. Maybe he was waiting for someone, thought I. Noone came.

He begun to fiddle with his jacket. He had something hidden in there. At this point I began narrating to Best Friend, still on the phone. It all appeared a bit sus, but alarm bells started ringing when he tried spreading newspapers with his hands balled up inside his jacket. When that didn't work he started kicking it around with his feet.

Best Friend told me to take a photo. I felt like Spy Girl, so I did.



After laying out the paper, he unzipped his jacket and started to drop something on it..."He's chucking stuff on the ground!" I cried...then realising my window was open, ducked down just as he turned around. I have to admit my first thought was 'jiffy firelighters', but with Best Friend's coaxing I sneaked up to the curtain for another look.



"They actually look like...biscuits?" Hmmmm...
He then started to get something else out with his sleeve, this time he was placing whatever it was with great care - and care not to touch it.



"What is it??!" Best Friend was getting just as intrigued as I was.
"I have no idea, but he's hiding it under the newspaper too." He suddenly jumped up, went over the wall, and seemingly did the same on the other side.



Suddenly, he jumped to his feet and bolted down the street. Nobody else was around.
"Is this one of those security-threat-thingos? Be alert, not alarmed!" I giggled...but was still pretty suspicious all the same. "I'm going to go check it out". I was really Spy Girl now...

Best Friend was a bit more cautious - "Be careful...and call me back as soon as you get upstairs."

I honestly wish I took a photo of what I saw. It was much more interesting that some random person blurred. What I found was carefully laid newspaper with an arrangement of biscuits (as guessed...) and....coins! Shiny coins neatly placed on the newspaper both beside our garbage area and in the middle of the footpath on the other side.

Why?

Who knows.

It was just simply another weird occurance in the life of Cat.

And now I'm going go twirl something and get this energy out of my system.


xxx

I'm in a green mood today. I don't mean jealous, or sick...just 'green'. I'm joyful, yet fairly
passive. I'd usually class this mood as 'blue', but it's just not that mellow enough.

I'm currently eating home-grown mushrooms (nothing sus...). There is absolutely nothing like home-grown anything. Just to make it more 'my own', I even gave mine a face...



He reminds me of a little snowman... again, poor camera quality... but with a cute little face like that, I could almost turn carnivorous...

SAVE THE VEGETABLES!!!

xxx