A little late, but Self portrait nonetheless

This is me..or what you'll get of me.

These days, you couldn't pay me to be in front of a camera. I'm not in a place in my life where I want to be able to look back and see myself in all my whaley-ness. *yes, it s a word in my world*

But my eyes. They're a good feature. I don't wear my heart on my sleeve...I wear it in my eyes. I can't hide things very weel, because they're so expressive.

If you can get a good look at my eyes, you can get a good look at me.

Writer's Digest

3 am. Startled from a sound sleep by a strange noise. Check the baby. No problems there. Monitor light flashing reassuringly in time with his breathing. He is sound asleep. Whatever woke me hasn't been repeated. Maybe I dreamt it. I am just dozing off when it happens again. *Scre-e-e-e-e-eech* What on earth? It's coming from the wardrobe! Maybe it's a rat. It doesn't sound like a rat. Maybe it's a rat that's mutated after eating some long-forgotten lollies it found in the pocket of one of my winter coats. Maybe it's the ghost of a rat that died after being trapped with the stench of my old shoes. Maybe it's a mutant ghost rat with huge, sharp, white... no... yellow teeth, and glowing red eyes glaring out at me through the keyhole. Ok, that's enough. I'm just scaring myself. It sure is dark in here. I wish there was a moon tonight. 3:10. Now it's scritching. Scritching and screeching. I'm going to have to do something or it will wake the baby... or worse... Yup. I'm going to have to do something about it. But what? What am I going to do? I can't just lie here and listen. I wish it would stop. I wish it would go away. Give hubby a tentative shake. Maybe I can delegate responsibility. He just rolls over and snores so that I can hardly hear the scritching. But it's still there. *Scrre-e-ech* OK. It's getting louder. Better go get a torch. The hallway is cold. Much colder than the bedroom. And dark. I wish I didn't feel like something might sneak up behind me. Phew, here's the torch. It's a bit dim. I hope the batteries don't run out. I should save them until I need them. Nice to be back in the warm bedroom. Baby's still asleep. Husband's still asleep, worse luck. Wardrobe's still scritching and screeching. My hands are sweaty. Wipe them on my nightie. I don't want to drop the torch. Now then, deep breath. Turn on the torch. Grab the handle of the wardrobe with my other hand. Oh, I really don't want to do this. Open it quickly. Maybe I can take whatever's in there by surprise...

(Ooops. Sorry folks. David just woke up - great timing - so I gotta hit publish and run... if you know what's in there, you're welcome to finish this for me ;P)

Self-portrait?

(And now I try to participate in the photo challenges in which I can use old pics of mine, since right now my computer is not at my house, where my camera is, etc.)
I have to say, I never really liked pictures of my self. Well, my face, specifically.
That's why the ones I'm in, I always have something like a stuffed animal on my head. You know, to counterbalance. Provide some cuteness!
So, here, although I have no penguin... There's my beloved kitty hat. I won't say "I wear it everyday" because it would be madness to do so in the summer... In fact, I think it would be madness to wear it everyday in the winter, too! But I like it. That's my point. And when my friends think of kitty hats, they think of me. That makes me happy. ^_^

10 on Tuesday

10 Things You Think People Don't Like About You

1. I talk about Kaelyn too much
2. I don' want to follow the crowd if i don't believe in twhat they are doing
3. I am messy
4. I lie
5. I talk over the top of people (when people are having a conversation with me i will usually blurt out something irrelevent that was prompted by what they said but i had to say it as otherwise i would forget)
6. I don't use a spell checker very often and am an attrocious speller
7. I dont finish projects
8. I am Lazy
9. I am grossly overweight
10. I like brussel sprouts

that was REALLY hard - I often think people dont like my but trying to find 10 reasons why they dont like me...

NOW SOMEBODY APART FROM ME POST FOR PITY SAKE!!!!

Self Portrait

This one had me stumpped for a while - I hate how i look in photos these days - as they say the camera doesn't lie...Its just not how i think of myself and i am always quite shocked at how fat i am when i look in the mirror - The self image I have of myself - how i think and imagine myself - comes from my favorite photo of me - at 17 - its bad quality cause it resided many years in hubbies wallet as we were dating - skinny little young me - this is how i see myself

pxite challenge - self portrait

This be no pirate parrot... ARRGH!!!

c'mon then... let's see you... or at least some bit of you :P

shadows and reflections seem to be popular as well...

what's your idea of a self portrait?

But wait... there's more!

Hi all,

not inspired yet?

I have added some more photo challenges to the sidebar, so now there is one for every day of the week :P

Fun, fun for everyone ;D

Email Notification

I have set up the account so it sends emails when a new post or comment has been made on the blog...if you do not wish to recieve email notifcation just reply with an email with the word unsubscribe in the header.

This is pretty much a test blog to see if it works - but there have been heaps of really good postings made before this one ;) lol

Stuff Portrait Friday

1. Stuff that annoys the living shit out of you.



I kid you not, feral hordes of dustbunnies roam wild in this house. It doesn't matter how often I clean, dust, sweep and vaccuum... as soon as I turn my back they come thronging in again... it was worse before they paved the road... and it doesn't help that I shed hair faster than a persian cat... but yeah, ze dustbunnies, dey bug me!!!

2. YOUR space.



lol... this was mainly an excuse to tidy it up a bit :P I have an idea for a "find-the-object" competition while I am away giving my thesis presentation mid-September, so you might see this photo again... depends on if I get time to make the prizes I have in mind :)

3. Something in your life that keeps the makers of Xanax (anti-anxiety/nervous drugs, like Prozac) in business.



*sigh* the aforementioned thesis... or at least, the literature review that preceeded it... this is the one that got me top of the class... and now I must buzz off and bee good ;P if I want to keep that position

(I would have given you some Thursday challenge PLANT pics, but you're probably bored with them all from my updates, anyway... and I couldn't pick just one... so you got a 'stuff portrait' instead)

Friday Photo Challenge - Circle

It's no use trying to lose weight while MIL does the shopping :P
(at least, that's my excuse... I mean, I can't let it go stale, can I?)
but it does give me something a bit different for today's challenge...

Circle

I wish i could have found something better as a backdrop - does anyone know what works best for this kind of thing?

Thursdays Photo Challenge

This was not a contrived photo but i love it! I picked the flowers from my garden that had fallen over in the rain. I was looking for a backdrop to photograph them on and so used the red velvet curtains in my lounge as i was taking a photo kaelyn came up to me to see why i was lying on the floor then saw the pretty photos and picked one up to smell

Way Back Wednesday (Steff)

This is my sister and I on our trip to Tasmania perched on an old puffing billy - It was in some sort of "historic township i think) there is also a photo of us putting wood into the engine.
Man what i wouldnt give to have a middriff like that again...also note the complete lack of shoes - shoes are evil even when standing on a train on a hot day

Last Mondays Snarkland (Steff)

well snarklands question of the week last Monday was "How’d you get that scar?"

(why do elboes look so ugly)
And since I have one of the best scars I think I've seen though I would show it off. I started writing this before snarklands next question and here it is Thursday so I better hot foot it and finish it. The scar was cased by removal of an invasive tumour that was wrapped around and through my elbow - There are actually two scars as the first time it was removed they didn't get it all. I was about 10 at the first operation and I think 11 at the next. It was benign and thankfully has not grown back and I never really gave it that much thought as a child - but now I probably think about it more. The older I get the more I think about cancer - the whole am I more likely to de from cancer as I have had a tumour before? and since Kaelyn was born I think more about how it might have impacted on my parents - because when I went in for surgery they had no idea whether it was benign or not - I'm not sure I even knew that much about cancer - certainly I don't remember being worried. But being a parent I can only imagine how scary that would have been for them.

Tuesday twosome - (Steff)

1. Where were you 2 hours ago and what were you doing?
In bed Kaelyn had woken up 7 min before and we were snuggling and playing in bed

2. Who was your 2nd boyfriend/girlfriend and how old were you?
that's a hard one what is classed as "boyfriend" I suppose I have only had two what I would call "relationships" but small flingy things - too many to mention so I suppose my second flingy thing would have been Gus - resident bad boy and friend of my first boyfriend

3. Who are your 2 closest friends and explain why you chose them?
Tinkie - because she makes me laugh - no matter how down I am or how mundane an experience the two of us can be in fits of giggles
Bambi - Moreso since she had her daughter who is 3 months older than k but we were always close sine school - Bambi is a rock - she is a solid person and a friendship I feel I could always rely on

4. What 2 accomplishments are you most proud of and why?
Sticking out my marriage through the hard parts - proud because it was hard and I could have so easily taken the easy way out
Award for the best paper at a conference I attended and presented at - Proud because it made me feel validated and smart

5. What were the last 2 television shows you watched and did you enjoy it?
House - And yes as always
Playschool - funnily enough I love playschool - I know all the songs (imprinted upon me as a child) its full of great activities that I cant wait to do with k when she is older - I imagine watching playschool together and then going and doing an activity

Couldn't resist this...

OK. I have promised myself no more procrastination until Friday, so you shall just have to amuse yourselves without me...

but I couldn't resist telling you about this before I go:

http://www.oceangram.com/

you can click on a bottle to send your own message out across the seas, or you can just leave the page open while you do something else, and after a while, a bottle will come drifting in across the ocean from somewhere else in the world!!! you click on the bottle, add your own message and send it off on its way to some other (lonely/pathetic/bored/procrastinating) person...

I know, I know... small things amuse small minds...

I wonder how long it will take for my next bottle to drift in??????

(if you see a message by MW from Australia - it's from me :P )

Mind Hump

lol... this is an easy one... who else wants to play?

HUG

Manic Monday

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

If you were to pick the one thing that always makes you smile, what would it be?

Yeti in a good mood, singing, making jokes - and DJ's grins (which are the same thing really, because he has inherited his Daddy's sense of humour).

If you were to name the most clear proof that evil exists in the world, what would you say?

Wanton cruelty to weaker creatures - particularly children and animals.

If you could trade your derriere for that of someone else, whose would you want?

lol... I wouldn't want to swap for someone else's buttocks, I'm kind of used to mine by now... but if you ask whose backside I'd be happy to sit back and admire - Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing.

On friends!

Well, if you know me, this is no surprise.
I do treat my favourite stuffed toys as friends.
You could ask Igor there, on my head!

Oh, and I do apologise if my posts are kinda scarce for a while, we have to wait until I have internet in my house again. -_-

Memorie's Unconscious mutterings

1. Cruel :: Joke


2. Jive :: Boogie


3. Weak :: Strong


4. Understand :: Comprehend


5. Bum :: Crack


6. Stairs :: Heaven


7. Tone :: dial


8. Quickly :: slowly


9. Moment :: Hanging


10. Beating :: bruise

does this tell you anything about me? Ive never been good at word assosiation - but it was nice and quick to do

Friends - At last inspiration

This one had me stumped - Myth had taken my only idea already so I was going to give it a miss - then an opportunity presented itself out of the blue - A photo of true friendship - I realise its close to my sisters post - but friends are friends.
It all started on a bad night - Tigger (k's best friend and bed companion)got unfortunately splattered with vomit (as a loved one who is in bed with you might in time of sickness) and so was washed and hung out to dry...until K spotted him...those are real tears of anguish - and the look she is giving me once tigger has been safely removed from the line says all.
Friendship is caring about your friends dignity and being willing to stand up to protect it!!

I had to resize tis otherwise the links to the right didnt work - so click on the thumbnail to see original which was much better :(

Word beads

['teleological', 'unindented', 'ideology', 'dive', 'industry']

Authors who dive into unindented teleological explorations of the ideology of industry are unlikely to be popular with their readers.

lol... I didn't think I could do it when I first saw this week's words, but I needed a quick break last night :) and this is my idea of fun! now I guess I'd better define them too, before I forget what the sentence means...

• dive - leap head first
• unindented - wasn't in the dictionary, but I'm assuming it refers to a lack of formatting. Technical documents are much more readable if they contain lots of white space - which is why your english teacher insisted that each new paragraph should start on a new line and be indented.
• teleological - 'The use of ultimate purpose or design as a means of explaining phenomena.' So, the author might argue that the ultimate purpose of industry is to promote consumerism, or to enrich our lives, or to pollute the planet...
• ideology - 'A set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of a political, economic, or other system.' An ideology of industry might include the belief that everyone should be employed, so they could earn money to go out and buy things, which would need to be made in factories, so the factories would employ people... and around and around we go... an alternative ideology might emphasize ecologically sustainable development - industries which are good for the environment, for example... yet another might hold the belief that if we opt out of the rat-race and concentrate our industry on making our home life more productive, our society would be better and more pleasant to live in...
• industry - I liked finding out that industry evolved from a Latin word meaning: 'diligent activity directed to some purpose' (busy work for a reason) to the current: 'systematic work or habitual employment' (having a job)... interesting to think about the difference between those definitions...

hmmm (lol - the boy is helping by deleting as I type! then the Yeti came and borrowed my internet connection... I shall have to come back and finish this later!)

Unfortunately my industry here, while promoting an ideology of procrastination, is unlikely (from a teleological point of view) to result in a future in which I get paid. I will put this in blockquotes, so at least it won't be unindented, and then I had best dive back into my studies!

ROFL ;D TWO!!! in reverse order, even!!! I rule!!! Aren't you just dazzled by my brilliance? *runs from the storm of rotten tomatoes being flung at her* :P

[now it's DEFINITELY someone else's turn :)]

Minor details

In case anyone was wondering, I am keeping the default US time zone since most of the challenges come from the US - this makes it a bit weird for those of us on the other side of the world, as the day is pretty much over before the new challenges are posted :P

Of course, while I have grouped the challenges under days of the week for convenience, nothing says that a challenge has to be answered on any particular day... I think a challenge should be open until a new one replaces it on the site where you found it... I guess you can even do challenges that have expired if they appeal to you :P

The rules are there are no rules! Except to have fun...

(I'm only writing this so I can post at 1am and see what time that means in 'Blogger time' :P)

I'll bite...The Photo Friday challenge

Right now, this is my greatest friend.

Friday's Feast (Myth)

Appetizer: What color is your car? white

Soup: If you could wake up tomorrow with full training in another occupation and a job in that field, what would it be? lion tamer

Salad: How many times in your life have you had the flu (or something similar)? are you kidding? more times than I can count! Twice this year...

Main Course: What is something that has happened to you this week that you didn't expect? I 'chatted' with my little brother for half-an-hour using Google Talk (I've never used an online message thingy before - most people I know are sound asleep when I'm online...)

Dessert: How old were you when you had your first kiss? Fourteen

Photo Friday Challenge (Myth)

Today's challenge :)

This Friday's challenge is 'FRIEND'... To quote Michael Leunig:

The duck . . . symbolizes one thing and many things: nature, instinct, feeling, beauty, innocence, the primal, the non-rational and the mysterious unsayable; qualities we can easily attribute to a duck and qualities which, coincidentally and remarkably, we can easily attribute to the inner life of . . . man, to his spirit or his soul.

Photo Friday Challenge (Myth)

This was from Friday August 11 :)

This Friday's challenge was 'FOUR' and since it was my birthday, here are the four presents that hubby gave me :)

~ a strand of tanzanite chips
~ a strand of peridot chips
~ a multicolour gemstone necklace
~ a silk scarf from Nepal

It wasn't me... it was some other guy... err... girl... err... help?

you all know how good (bad) I am at procrastinating, right? Any excuse will do.

Last week I discovered the Photo Friday Challenge and thought, "Wow, that looks like heaps of fun!"

Since it was my birthday, I felt that I had every right to indulge myself :P so I took a photo... but then I discovered there was nowhere on my website to put it, and that it seemed lonely all by itself...

all week I found myself looking forward to next Friday (today) wondering what the challenge would be, and I kept thinking of you, my friends, and imagining what your photographic interpretation of the word would be... (which is strange, because today's challenge is... "FRIEND"!!!!)

so today I decided to stop daydreaming and ask you instead to join me in this palace of procrastination ;D I miss you, and since I can't justify any of my usual long-winded forms of communication, I figured maybe you would be as inspired as I am by these tiny little timewasters ~ momentary distractions ~ just a little bit of occasional fun...

The links at the side offer a variety of procrastination challenges... choose to do one, a few, or all,* depending on your mood... share the results, comment if and when you feel like it ~ no obligations ~ no worries...

(*I have listed all the ones that looked interesting, so we have lots of choice. If you do them ALL, every week, the get-a-life police will come knocking on your door. This I guarantee :P just try it and see...)

If you are going to play, put the title of the challenge (and your name) in the heading, copy the details of the challenge underneath and unleash your creativity! (I've done one or two to give you the idea... not because I couldn't resist... honestly! I'm strong, I am... *tears self away, breaking several fingernails*)

I do hope some of you will succumb to the temptation :P

(oh, and if you've got any good links to add to those I've found, feel free to suggest them)

ps. I am not planning to link or comment on the sites I get the challenges from every time I do one, but you can please yourselves about doing so or not... this is just an excuse for me to have some fun, a different way for some people I like to keep in contact, and possibly inspiration if you're having a dull day in your own journal :P