It's A Very Rocky Road Indeed...

Have just busted Myles trying to pull a swift one again...it's been happening quite a bit of late, to varying degrees, sometimes with potentially serious consequences.

This time it's kind of funny though.

He has Home Economics at school tomorrow...during term time they have cooked a number of great recipes so this being end of term they are preparing a treat.

This is the recipe that he brought home for Rocky Road...

200g Raspberry Lollies
200g Peanuts
200g Marshmallows
200g Snakes/Jelly Lollies
460g Milk Cooking Chocolate

This morning I asked him to write out me a list of the things he needed so I could go to the supermarket and pick them up today. He often forgets and remembers once dinner is over etc. on Thursday night and someone (usually John) has to go out into the cold to get what he needs.

Last thing you want to do once you have settled in by the fire for the evening.

He disappeared into his bedroom and this is the list he came up with...somewhat modified...

800g Raspberry Lollies
800g Marshmallows
800g Snakes/Jelly Lollies
500g Milk Cooking Chocolate

*Peanuts omitted as he is highly sensitive to all nuts but he cleverly decided to replace them with Rice Bubbles instead.

It didn't "add up" at all to me...why would you quadruple the lolly part of the ingredients and only add 40g of extra chocolate, the ingredient that is meant to be melted so as to bind it all together. Using Myles rationale the chocolate should have been increased to 1840g, almost 2kg...!!! My estimation of the cost of Myles' list was around $32.00.

After checking with his friend Bryce's Mum on the phone, it seemed that the boys were planning a junk-food-fest..!!! Bryce hadn't been quite so eager and avaricious...he had only doubled the ingredients and his Mum had no idea.

This was a much more clever attempt at pulling a fast one...but still didn't work, I'm still a step or two ahead...!!!

What Every Baby Needs...

This just blows me away...the Korean/English translation is hysterical though...


Bomo, The World First Indoor Robot Baby Carriage.




The smart Bomo which tends the baby at the vicinity of the mother gives pleasure and omfort to the baby, and gives the tired young mother and father a moment of leisurely time to enjoy a cup of coffee.

Function of Cradle

When the curiosity filled baby amusing itself facing the mother eye-to-eyes, it acts as a spacious chair, but when the baby fell in sweet sleep, it becomes a peaceful and comfortable cradle.

Function of automatically Swing

The function of the world first, gently rocking to-and-fro motion (not the ordinary swing motion but a horizontally sliding motion) when the baby woke up, makes the baby pleasantly amusing. The distance of the movement can be adjusted.

Function of automatically maneuvering

When it is switched on to the automatic mode, within the vicinity of the mother, it changes automatically, from the comfortable baby cradle to a robot car, and maneuvers by itself through the room, dodging the furnitures and walls, thus giving the young baby the fun of riding a car, and gives the mother doubled. leisurely time and pleasure.

Function of manual maneuvering

The young baby can ride it on the Automatically maneuvering mode, and for the more active older brothers or sisters, it has the function of manual maneuvering mode, which uses the accelerator pedal, and steering wheel like a real car. And even in case when the car is going to bump into an obstacle due to the clumsy driving, it automatically stops and backs up. Thus, it never bumps into the obstacles, both in automatic mode and manual mode.

Function of charging the power

It has a long battery life of, 3 days (2 hours/day) with 3 hours charging.

Function of Cover sheet

It is easy to cover or take off, and cleans well in plain water. And more than all, it is composed with the Nano Silver technology which protects the baby?s skin with the function of anti-biotic and anti-odor, by 99.9%

From now on, all the mothers in the world will call this Bomo the Indoor Robot Baby Carriage, which will with them for over a decade.

"In My Daughter's Eyes..."

Do you have a very favourite photo of your child or children..??

You know, one that just is "them" all over, that when you look at it, it brings tears to your eyes for the sheer clarity with which it represents your son or daughter.

This is my favourite photo of Matilda (besides to the very first ultrasound pic that showed she was still in there at 8.5 weeks gestation and her heart was beating as it should be. I'd had a bleed and didn't realise how very attached I was to this baby until that moment, but that's another post altogether...and I'll share it one day.)


It was taken in September 2005. I was on a month's sick leave, (I had not long had my gall bladder removed), when we decided to go for a walk & picnic up on Mount Alexander (not far from where we used to live in Castlemaine, Central Victoria. We had had our picnic and were waiting for the hot chocolate (that we had carried in the thermos) to cool down. She snuggled up behind me and we had a "Thelma & Louise" moment with my camera.

With just a little cropping, this was the result. I have this photo in a number of places at home, framed & scrapbooked, colour & black & white. I scrapbooked it with the lyrics to this song,

"In My Daughter's Eyes..."
By Martina McBride

In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I want to be
In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes
Everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light
And the world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me
Gives me strength when I'm weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand around my finger
Oh it puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart
Is had enough
It's givin' more when you feel like givin' up
I've seen the light
It's in my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes
I can see the future
A reflection of who I am
And what we'll be
And though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone
I hope you'll see
How happy she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes

I'd love to see all of your favourite photos...post them on your blogs, along with what makes them so special to you.
Leave a comment or link back here if you like.

BTW...this makes post number 100 !!!

Absurd Surds & Karma...

Matilda was sitting at the dining table tonight doing her homework utterly frustrated. She had quite a lot to catch up on as she was absent from school all of last week with the 'flu...not a heavy cold as many mistake for the 'flu, but real Influenza, she was so ill, poor love.

It was "Surds" that were frustrating her...she asked if I remembered learning about Surds and yes, I do but I can honestly say that in the 30 years since I was in Year 10 at high school, I have never, ever needed to know what a Surd was, much less have any use for them. I'm surprised they still teach such outdated and useless (IMO) maths. If anyone can tell me otherwise please do, I'd love to know a use for Surds.

Answering her questions took me right back to Year 10 maths and the sleazebag teacher I had...Mr. A, (name withheld to protect the guilty) ugh. Just writing his name makes my skin crawl. He was a very short man, wore thick glasses and had a huge moustache which often had lunch remnants trapped within. He was a heavy smoker and always reeked of cigarette smoke, his breath was quite foul. When I was in year 10 teachers were still allowed to smoke in classes, hard to believe really. It was well known and discussed among the female students that he liked to stand very close and peer down the front of our school uniforms. He would press his groin right up against the girls while checking their work and was far too touchy-feely. None of the girls ever went into his office, just off the maths room, alone, it wasn't safe. To my knowledge his highly inappropriate behaviour was never brought to the attention of the Principal. When discussing doing so among my group of friends it was felt that we would not be believed or supported so no action was taken.

I was telling Matilda about him and she was incredulous that this could happen and no action be taken. Thankfully, she and her friends won't ever be likely to have to deal with this sort of behaviour by someone in a position of power. From many discussions we have had over the years she knows that if ever anyone behaves inappropriately, whether it's at school, home, friend's home...wherever, that she will be believed and supported.

Incidentally, I Googled my year 10 maths teacher's name and discovered that he has taught at a huge number of schools over his 40 years of teaching, averaging one school per 18 months or so. He retired this year as he has lung cancer.

Karma can be such a bitch, can't it..??

***Quick update on us...

Have been rather absent of late...am still recovering and am off to see a GI Medico as my liver function is nowhere near what it should be...my energy levels are gradually getting there but it's a slow process. I also had 5 days in Melbourne last week visiting family & friends, it was so lovely to be away by myself...lovely to get home too though. While I was away Matilda came down with the 'Flu...she was really ill, couldn't get out of bed for several days and had all last week off school. She is recovering too, albeit slowly but was quite happy to go back to school today, Monday being a holiday was handy.

Have been reading all of your blogs and commenting very little, it's not personal, just taking time to get back on track. I really thought I would be much better by now and am frustrated that I'm not.

Much love...xoxo

P.S. Please pop on over to my dear friend Carla's new blog and say hello. She's an amazing woman, a newly published writer...she blogs in English, her second language...don't know how she does it all.