How was everyones Christmas?
Stressful,
relaxing,
busy?
Mine was busy. Does anyone else have the problem of trying to decide what family to see and when? This is our 2nd christmas married. Last year, we invited both families over to our place so we didnt have to divide ourselves up (no one else in our fam was married yet too) . This year however, my brother and russells sis were married and we had to decide what family to see and when.
This is painful!! Of course I want to see my family, and russell his. It is getting to the point where grandparents, uncles and aunts cant really demand to see us on Christmas day. I wonder if we could have dinner or lunch a week before christmas or christmas eve or something, but it is hard to expect us to spend the majority of the day with one side of the family.
I have never had this problem before. My immediate family is the only relatives I have here in WA. Everyone else is over east. So every christmas it used to be the six of us, plus we would have someone to share our lunch with who also didnt have anyone to spend christmas with. It was great, it was a relaxing day, no tension and no worries (other than the chook in the oven).
Now I have married into a family where EVERYONE lives in WA. Uncles, Aunts, grandparents, cousins, etc.
On Mon, I didnt get to see anyone in my family till 4.15pm. I was so upset, because it hadnt felt like christmas yet because I hadnt seen my bros and sis, and parents and granzo. (Granny moved over from QLD this year!) I struggled over lunch to be happy and try get into the festivities, but his family is SOOO opposite to mine, that I was stressed the whole time. I couldnt enjoy myself, and found myself constantly tensed. The only time I relaxed was when I was lazing in my parents pool and playing some backyard cricket. I know russells family is now my family, and I am trying. But I dont see why we HAVE to spend Christmas day with EVERYONE. Im all for spending time with his family, but could it possibly be on the Eve or during the week? We both agreed that we would see both sets of parents and siblings, but not necessarily relatives outside of that.
It starts to get so political and I just want my old, easy, relaxed, non political, chrissys back. I know it wont happen, but who knows. Maybe there is a waft of change in the air.
27.12.06
Christmas politics
22.12.06
Have a good Christmas
Hey everyone....as I wont have much access to the net over the next few days, I just want to wish you all a restful time and one where we remember that Christmas isnt about "me, me, me" but about an act of selflessness and love
Have a good one everyone!
21.12.06
busy little bee
Im so sorry for my lack of posts! I have been so busy lately that at the moment I wouldnt know if my butt was on fire!
Last week on Tues Night, was my first night home (to have dinner and veg) in 12 nights. I hadnt cooked a meal for myself, and if I did it was at 9.30pm. I rarely got to see Russell and I felt so overwhelmed that anytime someone asked me how I was going I had to try and respond without crying.
I have a lot of issues with my back (genetics! grrr) and 9/10 days I have pains in my back and no relief. So I go to see my naturopath, Mr Cathles (old family friend and member of old church). On my way to see him I was in a lot of pain (although I usually grit and bear it) and was dreading him asking me if I had been stressed lately as this usually is the cause of a lot of my pain. He didnt - which is good. But ever since I had my treatment of Bowen (where they move your muscles out and put it back where it should be sitting) and went home.
I dont know why I mentioned all that, but I think its because, the day that I went and had my treatment, was my breaking point day. Everything had been escalating to this moment. I got to finish work at 3 and I was just exhausted. It was a Friday and I was dreading my coming weeks. I had signed on to sing in a choir at some Carols by Candlelight, be 'Mary' in a Christmas play, tidying a friends backyard for their return home, make 200 toffee apples for another carols by candlelight, helping making punch for church, finishing my horticulture course (which I never did), getting ready to pack our house to move, and a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head. Reading that it doesnt sound like much, but the problem is it took up every night of my week. I work from 8-5 everyday which means up at 6.30 (thats when Im pushing it and go without shaving the legs or washing the hair!) and get home about 5.45. As soon as Im home, I need to get ready to either get dinner on the go or get ready to head out in 15-30 mins.
I decided I needed to start saying no. Does anyone else have this problem? Your a 'yes' person. I never thought I was. If I didnt want to do something, I didnt. If I did, I did. But slowly I got pressured into doing things and started to feel guilty for saying no to certain people. I wasnt a boundry lover! (small group know about that one!) A boundry lover is someone who can say yes and no to the right things. They are able to set boundries for themselves, and live guilt free! Its all a bit corny, but also essential.
So I decided on my way home after my Bowen, that I was going to pull out of a few things. I pulled out of the choir, told my small group that I couldnt help with making punch, and the one thing I didnt really want to do, I still did. I couldnt pull out of it, I had left it too late, and had to do it. I hated having to do this one thing, because my heart wasnt in it, and I felt backed into a corner and that I HAD to do it. I then found out after I did this particular thing, that the people I had agreed to do this for, where telling people that I had gone to them asking to do it! I was infuriated! I became a "do not mess with me" girl.
Im not sure why Im really posting about this, but I guess I just needed to let you all know why I have been a little absent, and why if any of you see my in person, Im not all there and not smiling. My life is hectic, and I cant slow it down. It also doesnt help when you have friends who constantly wave in your face how much money they have and that get to see their husbands/wives everynight, and every weekend. Im just a bit bitter at the world at the moment. It sucks at the moment, and Im sick of God laughing at my life, and the butt of all his jokes. Maybe I shoulda titled this 'my life sucks' because at the moment it does.
The end.
12.12.06
creation science
Kamikaze ichthyosaur?Long-age thinking dealt a lethal body blow
by Tas Walker and Carl Wieland
The complete preserved skull of an ichthyosaur1 was found buried in a vertical, nose-down position at 90 degrees to the rock layers. Unlike most fossils, the head was preserved in three dimensions, and had not been flattened by the weight of sediment above it.
Geologists found the fossil in 1999, in an abandoned quarry in the north of Switzerland, near Hauenstein, and took months to prise it carefully out of the enclosing rock.
The specimen is 37 cm (15 in) long, and consists of the head, its long snout with some 200 fine teeth, a few neck vertebrae and a very small part of its rib cage. It was a young animal, which would have been about two metres long, of the species Leptonectes tenuirostris, and is now displayed at the nearby Natural History Museum of Olten.
Above: The ichthyosaur head spanned three layers, allegedly deposited over one million years.
The skull was enclosed vertically within three geological layers, which have been dated according to long-age beliefs, by reference to the fossils they contain.2 Curiously, the layers span an ‘age’ of about one million years, and that presents something of a problem for long-age geologists.
How could anyone conceive of an ichthyosaur head being buried in a vertical position slowly over a million years, yet remaining preserved along its whole length? The obvious implication is that the ‘millions of years’ are fanciful.
So how would a long-ager deal with this problem? The scientist who discovered it, Dr Achim Reisdorf, was interviewed in depth in a German-language publication that is sympathetic to the Bible.3 It is fascinating to watch him wrestle with the evidence, while trying to hold that the sediments were deposited over a million years.
He proposed that soon after the creature died, before rigor mortis (stiffening of the body after death) set in, it started to sink. The increasing water pressure progressively collapsed its lungs, tipping it onto its nose, and causing it to sink faster and faster in a ‘kamikaze’ plunge. When it reached the bottom, its head thrust into the mud as far as its neck.
But why would a large marine animal die suddenly unless it was attacked by a predator? Why wasn’t it scavenged? How could the rib cage remain flexible, allowing the lungs to collapse, and the snout remain rigid, allowing it to push so far into the sediment?
Even if such a scenario were believable to this point, the ‘long ages’ assigned to the rock layers create extra problems. If the sediments on the bottom were a million years old, why were they still soft? And if they were still soft, why was the fossil preserved? Why didn’t bacteria or worms demolish the remains of the animal in a short time as they normally do?
According to Dr Reisdorf, the sediments remained soft, for at least one million years, allowing the ichthyosaur’s complete head to sink right in. Then the material surrounding the skull hardened immediately afterwards, so quickly that the skull was beautifully preserved.
These sorts of mental gymnastics highlight the fact that there is no tension between the Bible and scientific facts—only between certain interpretations of the facts in relation to the past. Long-age beliefs lead to the idea that the layers were laid down over millions of years. It’s those beliefs that create the problem.
When we abandon the preconceived belief in long ages, we are free to understand the evidence in a straightforward manner. The layers were laid down, and the ichthyosaur buried, as a result of rapid, catastrophic happenings. Moreover, the same processes that deposited the next layer of sediment probably removed the rest of the body. All this is consistent with evidence we would expect for Noah’s Flood.
11.12.06
like sands through the hourglass so are the days of bek...part 3
It has been so long since I updated this particular post that I decided to get my act together and do the next instalment.
I left it at the drive over. We spent roughly 5 weeks driving over from QLD to WA. On the way we stopped off in Brisbane and Sydney and a few other places on the way to say hi to the majority of our family over there. Most of them still are actually we only have our family of 6 plus Granny and now partners here. So it is very rare that we get to spend any time with our family – DON’T TAKE YOUR FAMILY FOR GRANTED! I wish I had mine here. I am fairly close with my cousins and its hard not getting to spend much time with them.
I remember my parents promising me that we would get to spend my 10th birthday in Brisbane with Granny, but our van died in Bowen (a small town) on the 2nd day (Im pretty sure) of our trip! So that’s where I spent my birthday. In a caravan park waiting for our car to be fixed. Dad made up for it though by sticking lollies up his nose when Granny wasn’t watching. It was hilarious!
Anyway we headed on with our journey and didn’t have too many other hassles on the way. I vividly remember the majority of the sights. Different States and different views, Im lucky I was old enough to remember these things. My younger brother and sister don’t remember anything.
Robbo and I had the back seats of the van and things we got up to…We would hide under a quilt and I would eat all of his lollies, we would read and make ourselves sick. We also watched my sister wake up and wonder where her pillow had gone – she had rested it on her OPEN window and it had fallen out on the journey – she still gets teased to this day. Dru also had a little "treasure" his "baby" it was a tatty old pillow he took with him everywhere! Robbo and I woke up to find him clinging onto his "baby" for dear life (he was 3 at the time) as it had slipped out the window and his tiny little fingers where trying to hold onto it. He didn’t utter a single noise! We just woke up saw his panicked face and Robbo helped pull "baby" to safety. I will never forget the look on his face, or his little fingers slowly losing their grip. It still makes me laugh now!
There are so many great memories from that trip. I think it bonded us as siblings, even if we still fought a lot growing up. Our family still remember different stories and often laugh around the dinner table about them. Much to Russells dislike. He doesn’t understand how we can laugh at the same thing over and over. It probably doesn’t help when I turn to tell him another story and he says "you’ve already told me this!"
When we arrived in Perth, we went straight to one of the Elders (of our new church) families place and had dinner. It was spaghetti! Don’t know how I still remember that! We then got taken to the place that the Church rented for us to stay in until we found a new house. I cant remember how long we were there for but I remember getting to move into our new house. It is 2 streets away from Thornlie and we could walk to church every Sunday (we complained loudly about this). I love this house. Over the backyards fence are ovals and we used to climb the fence and play on the ovals, go bike riding, and catching tadpoles. The house has gone through many changes, including turning the lounge room into mum and dads room, it has a pool, and now a Granny Flat called "The Shed" which is where Granny lives. They decided on calling it "The Shed" because Dad always offered to put Granny up in our little tin shed where the Granny Flat is now. We had a little competition to come up with a name, and the only thing us furlongs could come up with was the Pat Flat (Grannys name is Patricia). Sometimes we secretly call it that, but Granny hates it. So it’s "The Shed" for now.
Anyway, we settled into WA and had to adjust to all the differences. Not only a new State and weather happenings (we didn’t even own jumpers!) but also another denominational church. We were bapo’s and we had moved to a Church of Christ. Not much difference really. Deacons/Elders, Communion every fortnight/Every week, Sunday school before church with a pickup bus/Sunday during Church (although this really hasn’t got anything to do with denomination). So only slight differences, Thornlie was bigger though. I remember doing rolly polly’s down the hallway in front of dads office with Robert, and shoving leaflets through his little letter box next to the door. We also had to settle into a new school where you used to have to use flags to get the teachers attention (this story will have to be on a whole different post) and to making new friends. One girl I met within our first week here was Sally Cathles! She was on her way to a ballet class and she had such frizzy hair. She was also one of my bridesmaids and is getting married to Karl on the 30th of this month. How Exciting! Its great to still be friends after so long.
Anywho, I will have to finish off because this is so long, and Im at work!! Better hit those mounting files !!
7.12.06
Russells Birthday weekend!
The girls spent the day lazing by the pool
These guys are our best buds. Steve and Chants
My bro and his wife
My not so little bro (6ft!) Dru
Robbo and Kaylee. He recently had "kaylee" tatooed on his arm (i think hes showing it off!)
Steve and Chants
My man looking confused
Oh No! He has a knife!
Slice that cake babe! (see below for a picture)
The boys then headed out for some front yard cricket. Steve and Russell have been playing this since they were about 5.
Kate (my sis) and her bunt legs from falling asleep in the sun! Naughty naughty!
Steve going in for a killer bowl
Robbo swoops and misses
Dru having a bat
and another
The men getting the barbie warmed up
Girls cooling themselves
The cake I spent all day saturday getting ready for Russell. Its a golf course! I am very proud of myself on this little beauty. It even had blue jelly for the water! And I used mint leaves for the trees. Only thing was I broke the cake in half just before we left to take it to his parents place. So I had to try fill it in with leftover icing, so thats why there is a little crack just before the green.Russells big sis finally gets hitched!
Just arrived at the church
I think this is my favourite shot of them both
The bridesmaids
Doing the deed.
Their yummy cake
"On Guard!" (said in a spanish accent or is it french?)
Two of the girls. Fiona and Elyssa. 
Russells big sis finally gets hitched!
Warwick Church of Christ
Boys huddle before the ceremony - awww, cute
The back of Aimees's lovely dress
At the reception lunch
cutting the cake
mmmm....yum.
The first Dance
I love these couple of photos
Mr and Mrs Ingram
"going to the chapel and Im...gonna get married!" 6.12.06
a good husband
I had a work mate email this to me and thought it was great:
Jack wakes up with a huge hangover after attending his company's
Christmas Party.
Jack is not normally a drinker, but the drinks didn't taste like alcohol
at all. He didn't even remember how he got home from the party.
As bad as he was feeling, he wondered if he did something wrong.
Jack had to force himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees
is a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table.
And, next to them, a single red rose!
Jack sits up and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and
pressed. He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order,
spotlessly clean. So is the rest of the house.
He takes the aspirins, cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring
back at him in the bathroom mirror.
Then he noticed a note hanging on the corner of the mirror written in
red with little hearts on it and a kiss mark from his wife in
lipstick:
"Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to get groceries to make
you your favorite dinner tonight. I love you, darling! Love, Jillian"
He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot breakfast,
steaming hot coffee and the morning newspaper. His son is also at the
table, eating.
Jack asks, "Son... what happened last night?"
"Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk and out of your mind. You fell
over the coffee table and broke it, and then you puked in the hallway,
and got that black eye when you ran into the door.
Confused, he asked his son, "So, why is everything in such perfect order
and so clean? I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for
me??"
His son replies, "Oh THAT!... Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when
she tried to take your pants off, you screamed, "Leave me alone, I'm
married!!"
Broken Coffee Table $239.99
Hot Breakfast $4.20
Two Aspirins $.38
Saying the right thing, at the right time ... PRICELESS
