We were back at our World Vision Jumble sale last Friday. I don’t think I have ever worked so hard. It was hot muggy day and the electric fans were not working properly. People kept bringing in more things for us to sell. There seemed to more coming in than there was going out. We were flat out all morning, sorting, pricing, selling – and then it all had to be packed away afterwards. By the time we had finished, we were exhausted and dripping with perspiration. I was looking forward to going home for a good rest.

That’s when my mobile phone rang. It was Joel.

“Can you pick up the kids from school?” he asked. “Frances doesn’t have the car today – I had to take it to work.”

I barely had time to rush home first, unload the car, have a quick shower & gobble a sandwich.
I picked up Frances & drove to the school.

“Park at the back,” she said. “That’s where the bus will come in from the camp.”

“Oh, I didn’t realise it was today that Miles is coming back from camp!”

The bus arrived with all the campers just as the school bell rang. They all looked weary, but had evidently had a good time.

Hayley came down from her Grade 3 room. When she saw Miles, she ran and joyously threw herself on top of him.

On the way home, Hayley said to me, “It was paradise with Miles away all week.”

“You were pleased to see him back,” I reminded her.

“I was just trying to flatten him,” she said.

 This morning I discovered my car battery was flat. It wasn’t going anywhere! I hadn’t closed one of the doors properly last time. Luckily, where I had to go was in easy walking distance, so I was able to carry out my mission and got my walk in as well.

 Joel came to the rescue later, as usual.

 “Why do you keep leaving the door open?” he asked. (It’s at least 2 years since it last happened.) 

“Well,” I retorted, “I just drove in and thought, ‘Lets not close the door properly.’” 

He squeezed himself between the car and the garage wall.

“It would help if you didn’t park so close to the wall.”

 “I have trouble getting this car in,” I explained. “It’s wider than my old car and the mirrors stick out further.”

 “Of course, you didn’t think to back out and try again!”

 I didn’t tell him how many times I had tried! Most days I can drive straight in, but sometimes it just won’t line up. My neighbours must be greatly entertained watching me drive back and forth in the driveway before I can get through the door.

Anyway, Joel put my car on a charger for a few hours, then took it for a run to charge the battery. When he brought it back, he backed in, so all I have to do tomorrow is drive straight out.

I must remember to get in on the right side.

 Oh dear, now I’ve broken my next resolution – to go to bed earlier!

It has been a tough year. The toughest thing was losing my mother last month. She’d had a heart operation and was doing well, but then she got a Golden Staph infection. She would have been 88 next week. She wasn’t just my mother, she was my best friend.

I have adopted Mum’s beautiful cat, Fluff. She is settling in well and helps to fill another gap – Oscar went to pussy heaven recently. Ollie and Fluff are tolerating one other very well as long as they keep a respectful distance between them.

fluff09

We had a nice Christmas, even though it was our first without Mum. As usual, I went round early to see Hayley & Miles open their presents. They loved the gingerbread house I took them.

gingerbread09

Then I went with Relle to Lea & David’s place. This year we had a Secret Santa. Everyone took a gift that cost less than $20 and it had to be a game. It made Christmas shopping much easier. After we had opened our presents, we spent the afternoon & evening playing the games. It’s just as well there were no near neighbours, because we got very rowdy playing “Billionaire!”

It rained all the way home. We have had some heavy rain in past week. Its the best Christmas present of all, after the worst drought in 100 years.

“I know,” said Carney. “Somebody has to be.”

How right he was! Out of all the people in the world, he was the only one qualified to fill the role of Art Carney.

Do you realise, the only one who can fill your role in life is YOU! Because there is no one else quite like you.

What if everyone was the same as you?

What if people were mass produced, using the same mold. What kind of world would it be? Isn’t it strange – when we see a set of identical twins or triplets, we find it hard not to stare in wonder, and yet, the real wonder is, that we are all so different!

No one else – not even members of your immediate family has the same combination of genes, the circumstances, the experiences, that help to make up you.

You have your own individual personality traits, your own set of memories, your own thoughts. You are so special, you have been stamped with your own unique fingerprints.

I believe that is is no accident that you are  here at this time, in this place on earth and that whatever you do  in your lifetime will have an effect of some kind on the future. Everybody has their own sphere of influence.

I once read a story about time travel – where people could go back in time, but they couldn’t touch anything, because whatever they did, even if it was just to step on a blade of grass and crush it, the future would be influenced in some way. Isn’t it awesome, to think that you could be helping to shape eternity!

So.. if you have been placed here on earth as your own unique self, then the most important thing you can do with your life is to be yourself.

And anyway, as Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself, everybody else is already taken.”

So many people want to be someone else. They are not content with their own self  image. They aim to impress others by trying to appear more important, more successful, more beautiful than they really are.

Remember the TV series “Keeping Up Appearances?” Hyacinth Bucket – or Boo-kay, as she preferred to be called, was always trying to impress others. I knew a woman who was like that. She was never herself, and she was never happy. She had never got over her disappointment at not being born into the royal family.

A lot of people think they are a failure unless they excel at whatever they do. We can’t all come first in the race. We can’t all be Prime Minister – if that role is not for us.

Its a relief to know that some roles are not for you. The other night, a fire engine rushed past my house and I thought, “Thank goodness, I don’t have to drive a fire engine. I don’t like making right hand turns!” The driver of that speeding fire truck  was probably well suited for the job, but I’m glad its not my role in life.

Did you see the movie, “Babe?” Babe was a pig who could round up sheep and won first prize at the sheep dog trials. Everyone I knew thought it was a wonderful movie. I guess it was, but I always felt it taught the wrong values. What’s wrong with a pig being a pig? That’s what he was created for. My mother said I read too much into the story, but really, if pigs act as sheep dogs, who is going to be a pig?

It’s OK for a pig to be a pig. And it’s OK for you to be YOU – as long as its the best that you can be.

Now, don’t get me wrong! I believe, as I’m sure that you do, that we should all have goals and strive to fulfill them. Most of us are capable of far more than we have ever dreamed.

As a child at school, I used to dream of winning at sports. I was the smallest in my class. I was always the last one to be picked on a team. I always came last in a race. Other kids won awards.

Then one break-up day, competitors were called for to run in the final race for the year. This was my last chance! Everyone laughed as I lined up beside Sally, the champion of the school. The starting pistol was fired and we were off!  I ran as I had never run before. The crowd roared as I reached the finish line and was awarded – second prize. There were just the two of us in the race. Sally had finished way ahead of me – but I was still a winner. I had performed at my utmost.

Its in moments when you are giving your all that you are your real self. If you go through life trying to find yourself, you never will, because the more you think about it, the less natural you will be.

Whatever you attempt to do, do it with all your heart. Lose yourself as you follow your goal. Always aim for the highest and best – don’t worry if somebody else is better, just do the best You can. You’ll never win the race if you are watching the other runners.

Think of all the really great people in history. Winston Churchill, Ghandi, Mother Theresa… Did they perform great feats because they were searching for themselves? No way! What they each had in common was a total dedication to whatever cause they believed in. They followed their inner conviction and took no heed of any else’s opinion.

But of course, you don’t have to be a Ghandi or Mother Theresa.

Rabbi Zusya said that on the day of judgement, he would not be asked, “Why were you not Moses?” but rather, “Why were you not Zusya?”

I’ll finish with a quote from Dan Zadra…

“There has never been another you. With no effort on your part you were born to be something  special and set apart. What you are going to do in appreciation of that gift is a decision only you can make.”

I’m still in that unreal post-Christmas limbo state, where its hard to know what day of the week it is. Christmas never seems to fall on a particular day, it’s just Christmas Day – and all the days of the following week are out of whack. The heat doesn’t help.The last few days have been very hot and humid and I don’t feel like doing anything.

But it was quite pleasant last week and we had a comfortable Christmas. Ben & Agnieszka came up from Sydney for a couple of days. We all went to Lea & David’s place for Christmas Day. It was a nice relaxing day. No one got their leg stuck in the back of their chair this year like Hayley did last year, but I must confess I did something just as stupid at the Minglers Break Up a couple of weeks ago. I had taken off my shoes because I was hot, then somehow I managed to put the leg of my chair on my big toe – then I sat on the chair! Not a good idea.

I suppose I’ll have a think about New Years Resolutions. I usually make the same ones each year – something along the lines of going to bed earlier and getting up earlier, spend less time playing Spider Solitaire etc. They never last more than a few days, so they are still fresh the following year. Is it worth it? I think so. I always think of this lovely quote:

“If Thou hast broken a vow, tie a knot on it to make it hold together again. It is a spiritual thrift, and no unbecoming baseness, to piece and join thy neglected promises with fresh ones. So shall thy vow in effect be not broken when new mended: and remain the same, though not by one entire continuation, yet by a constant successive renovation.” Thomas Fuller 1608 – 1661

I’ll leave you with that thought. I’m off to play Spider Solitaire – and my latest addiction, Flea Round Up.

Happy New Year!

“Why? Are you going to visit Ben and Agnieszka?” asked Miles.

“No.”

“Are you going away? Are you going to hospital? Why?”

“Think about it.” I said. “What day is it today?”

“New Year’s Eve – are you going to a New Year’s Eve party?”

“Well, I am,” I said. “But that’s not the reason. What day is it tomorrow?”

“New Year’s Day. Oh, I get it, it will be next year!” Miles laughed.

But Hayley was still worried. “I wanted you to come to my Birthday,” she sobbed.

Once we explained it to her, she enjoyed the joke.

Last night I saw the New Year in with a small group of friends. We had fun playing Cranium. The men sat and looked on while we women made fools of ourselves, trying to do impersonations of Marilyn Monroe or the Easter Bunny or hum tunes that no one knew.

A couple of us had to act out a Conga line. I put my hands on my team partner’s shoulders and we danced through the room kicking our legs out at the sides.

“I know,” shouted someone. “Its the front and back end of a horse costume!”

“Why don’t you go and watch TV?” suggested our hostess to her husband.

“There’s nothing funnier than this on TV,” he said.

I’ve had a quiet restful New Year’s Day. It has been rainy and windy – not at all like our usual weather for this time of year. Most of the beaches in Queensland are closed this week because of the wild seas. Other parts of Australia have been sweltering in heat waves.

Tomorrow is Hayley’s sixth birthday. I’ve just wrapped her present and yes, I will go to see her!

No, its not a murder mystery – it was Hayley, with her knee stuck in the back of her chair, squealing like a stuck pig. I don’t know how anyone can put their knee through the rungs in the back of a chair while they are sitting at the table, or why they would even want to, but that’s what she did.

Now, you don’t get a photo opportunity like that every day, so I rushed up and took a photo while Joel & Frances tried to free her.

hayley-stuck

“Don’t worry,” I soothed, ” I’ve never heard of anyone getting married with a chair stuck on their knee.”

What I meant was, no one is still stuck by the time they are old enough to get married. (I have a weird sense of humour.)

And she did get her knee free in a few minutes.

“The poor kid probably thought she would never be able to get married,” said Lea, when the fuss was over.

“Yeah,” said Joel, “If you visit a Nursing Home, you’ll probably see some old spinsters with a chair stuck on their leg, all wailing about missing their opportunity to get married!”

We were at Lea and David’s place, in its beautiful bushland setting. It was a really good day. The weather was lovely and cool for a change. The kids were no trouble – they played computer games, tried out their new roller blades, and swam in the pool. The adults played Lea’s new games, “Sequence” and “Smart Ass.”

Before we left, Hayley tried on the ring she had got in her Christmas bon bon. She couldn’t get it off her finger.

“You could leave it on for your wedding!” I suggested.

She didn’t think it was a good idea, so I took her into the bathroom and helped her to rub soap on her finger till it slipped off easily.

The ring, I mean – not the finger.

Today, we had our second last World Vision jumble sale for the year. The final one will be next Friday, then we’ll have a break till the end of January. One of our helpers arrived with her finger plastered in bandaids . She had the slammed the door on it as she was leaving home. She still managed to arrive before me and had started setting up. Her finger kept bleeding, so we sent her off to the doctor. The doctor couldn’t stitch it, because the tip of her finger had been cut off. She found it when she went home, still stuck on the door. “I hope it wasn’t wiggling like a lizard’s tale does when it falls off,” I said.

On Tuesday, we had our Christmas Auction and it was our best ever. Instead of exchanging Christmas gifts, we auction them – as well as other things. It sounds crazy, but it works well. Everyone has a great time and we raise a lot of money. Everyone got into the spirit straight away and the bids went higher than I expected. I noticed that the neatly boxed parcels with pretty wrapping brought in the highest bids.

tigers romping

Relle took Mum & Me to Dreamworld again on Sunday to see the tigers. The baby tigers are 7 months old now. They are so beautiful and playful. The best part was late afternoon, when most of the crowd had gone, all the handlers came out onto “Tiger Island” and just romped with the babies. You can tell that they really love them.

Nearly December. I’m off to bed. Back soon.

It all started when I was wakened one night at some unearthly hour. Oscar was pouncing all around the lounge room. I was feeling too sleepy to investigate.

About a week later, when I opened my a drawer in my kitchen, I wasn’t quite sure, but I thought I saw a little shadow move quickly under the cutlery tray. Maybe a cockroach -  or had I imagined it? I ran hot water over my knife & fork before using them, just in case.

A few days later, I pulled out the drawer and the little shadow darted away again. There was no doubt about it this time – it even had a long tail! Oscar’s mouse! That was the last place I expected it to turn up.

Easily solved, I thought. I took out all the cutlery (and washed it, of course) and replaced it with a mouse trap baited temptingly with a pumpkin seed.

Half an hour later, I heard a snap. Got him!

But no, when I looked the trap had been sprung, but it was empty. Even the pumpkin seed had disappeared. This was one cunning mouse!

At least it was in a confined area, I thought. I gingerly emptied out all four drawers, expecting the mouse to spring out at any moment.

There was no mouse.

Then I discovered there was just the tiniest gap at the top of the unit, just big enough for one tiny mouse to squeeze through. That meant he was now in the cupboards under the kitchen bench. There are no dividing walls in the whole unit. He could be anywhere in there.

It took days to move everything out of those cupboards, because all the crockery had to be washed. Even tins and packets of food had to wiped over. Normally, I would clean out a section at a time, putting things back as I went, but with a mouse still at large, it had to be totally emptied.

The mouse was very elusive, but he had left tracks. Each day brought a new surprise. The boxes of cat food had been chewed through, and the contents scattered. Then I found a packet of cake-mix had been spread the full length of one cupboard, and mixed in with the bran. Next he  sampled some packets of chicken-noodle soup. I was furious when I discovered he’d had my corn chips. I’d only bought them the day before and was looking forward to snacking on them.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t use the kitchen to cook a meal, because all the bench tops and the table were covered in boxes of stuff I had pulled out of the cupboards. Luckily I had a few meals in the freezer. It was frustrating though, because we had a street stall that week, and I couldn’t do any baking for it.

Finally, I emptied out the last cupboard and found – no mouse! The wretch had escaped. There are tiny gaps where the cupboard doors meet in the corners. I have now filled them in with blue tack.

I set traps around the house for about a week (Where the cats couldn’t get into them, of course.) He visited them each night and gratefully took the food I’d left in them. But eventually, his feasting was his undoing. He must have put on enough weight to spring the trap and so he met his end.

So now I have clean tidy kitchen cupboards, but there are still boxes sitting around filled with things I think I can live without. I didn’t put my silver cutlery set back in the drawer. I never use it. A lot of the crockery can go. And I don’t know how I managed to accumulate nine vegetable peelers! It all needs to go out in the shed ready for a jumble sale, but the shed is overflowing and really needs a good clean out before I put anything more into it.

If I tell people about the mouse, they say, “How could you have a mouse when you have two cats!” 

 It’s those darn cats that bring the mice into the house and let them go!
 

At least it wasn’t as bad as the time I got my head stuck above the car door. The car was parked too close to the wall of the garage. So I wriggled between the car and the wall. I had to step on a ledge, which made my head higher than the car door and slid down into the car. But my head got caught above the door as my body was dropping down. As I hung there, my mobile phone which was out of reach, started to ring.
I don’t know how I get into such predicaments. The other night the shower screen jammed and I had to crawl through a tiny space. And today the zipper on my handback got stuck when I was trying to take out my purse.

But I think the worst was the day I accidently put the leg of a chair on my foot, then sat down on the chair!

Its a shame I don’t write more often, because so far it has been an eventful month. It would be so much easier to write about things as they happen.

Here’s a bit of an update…

Tsunami alert

The entire coast of Eastern Australia was on Tsnami alert at the beginning of the month. I don’t think it has ever happened here, before. Beaches were closed. My elderly neighbour was feeling panicky. “I don’t know how I’ll get out of the house in time if it comes,” she said. “But you are already in a highset house on one of the highest points in the area,” I told her. We were quite safe – nothing happened here, but the Solomon Islands copped it!

Dreamworld

tiredtigers

Relle took Mum and me to Dreamworld one day. The tigers were the main attraction. Relle is crazy about tigers. She’s even been to Thailand recently and patted tigers at the Tiger Temple.
Mum and I like them too. Such beautiful majestic animals! The tigers have been trained (for a reward) to leap and climb trees on cue. But they are never forced to do anything they don’t want to. One of them just lies motionless during the entire performance. The audience is instructed to clap and cheer if he happens to twitch his tail or roll over, because that is all he will ever do!

Easter
 
Our World Vision Club had a Street Stall the day before Easter. I was exhausted & did nothing the next day. Had lunch at Spinnikers with my sister Jan  on  Saturday.

Church on Easter Sunday. Our Sudanese friends sang during the service. It was wonderful! Joel & Frances brought the kids for Sunday dinner. The kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt. Hayley insisted on hiding the eggs over & over again until they had melted out of shape & our hands were covered in choclolate.

On Easter Monday I went to the movies with a friend to see “Freedom Fighters.” We both enjoyed it.

Bus Trip

visited Ettamogah Pub and the Ginger Factory at Yandina. The Ginger Spread I bought is delicious on toast.

Pot Luck Dinner

mummies

We each took a dish to represent the country we originated from. I liked the Thai Curry best. After dinner the kids had fun wrapping the some of the adults in toilet paper, like mummies. 

Toastmasters

I won the Area Interpretive Reading Contest! We had a Tall Tales contest recently, too. First time we’ve done it. You can read my tall tale if you like.