Muscle Work

While I know that going to the gym this past 8 or so months has been very helpful in giving me some beautiful definition in my arms (no picture, shouldn't boast too much!) I think I've found something that's just as good for all round toning and definition of those arm muscles that seem built by God to be flabby.

It's called "Moving House"! Weekly routine could involve:
- packing and moving boxes
- vacuuming those "hard to reach" corners
- scrubbing the floor with disinfectant
- reaching for those cobwebs in far corners
- getting into the grouting in the shower (my personal fave)

So girls! If you want to get some definition, just move house! It does wonders for the muscles.

(Ok so there may be a note of sarcasm in my tone here, just in case you didn't pick it up. But the house is starting to look cleaner and emptier and moving date is fast approaching!)

All girls love to dress up! (Don't they?)

Was at a wedding (Kirk McKenzie to Renee Downie) on the weekend so I had to take the opportunity to put the photos on the Blog.

Here's one of me and Amy (who was a bridesmaid):

And me and Tom (Mum, please note that Tom has lost lots of weight, we can't stand the thought of you remembering us as podgy! - And yes, he's getting his hair cut on Tuesday.)

And I suppose I should put one in of the wedding party!

It was a very relaxed wedding, the only traditional thing about it was that the dress was white. I don't think I've ever laughed so much during a wedding actually. It suited them very much!

And then there were two...

You may remember some time back that I mentioned our fish. Well, one of them died some time back, which was quite sad and it had appeared to have been bullied by the other three fish. Wouldn't you know it, now another has died of a similar fate! And not only that, but when we found it dead, it's tail was missing - ugh! Even fish canibalism makes me squeamish.

So now it's a battle between the remaining two fish, both of similar size. I must say that now I know what they get up to when we're not around, I'm not all that keen on getting many more fish, their calculated coldness to consistently bully another fish to death and then eat it's remains doesn't exactly float my boat. UGH!

And we thought fish were such nice simple creatures.

Bad Habits

I'm happy for you to disagree but in my opinion drinking beer could be classified as a bad habit (no offence Dad!). But I suppose perhaps you just need to start early enough to get the taste of it. I was flicking through some photos on the computer today and came across this very cute one of my goddaughter Jemima. I'm thinking that she will probably be a big beer drinker when she gets older! It's a Boag's draft for those of you who are interested. Maybe she could become a Boag's tester reserve?

Greenthumb

Actually, I've never been much of a greenthumb myself but now that we're moving out I figure the small courtyard area we actually have should be kind of tidy! So on holidays a couple of weeks ago I was out there with the weed spray and went CRAZY! Hmmm, not sure if that's really called "gardening" more like "weedocide" (like genocide but with weeds). So this weekend has been the weed killing aftermath. I've uprooted all the weeds along the path, the paved area, the rocks and the soil area and while I did kind of kill the few plants that once lived there, I'm hoping that the weeds won't come back too strong before we move out so that my greenthumb days can begin in our new place that actually has a nice garden. In fact, I've already got a Japanese Maple tree all ready to plant when we arrive. (If you go to the picture a few blogs back, I want to put it near where that bushy thing is near the window on the right.)
A successful weekend had by all - except for the weeds (and the snails - I have it in for them too!).

Cricket

For those of you about to tune out because even the word cricket puts you to sleep - WAKE UP! Tom's parents recently returned from a trip to Europe that included a trip to the famous cricket ground of Lords in London and brought me back a tea towel that generously explained the rules of cricket - for those uninitiated, like me, I thought it would be helpful to share the tea towel's words of wisdom...

The quietness of mornings

Ok, ok, so it's actually 9:22am precisely, but I'm on holidays and Tom has been sleeping poorly so I've left him to sleep away and got my breakfast and so am now sitting at the computer in my dressing gown with my toast (with nutella - thanks Joce) and juice. So anyway, as I'm sitting here listening to the hum of fish tank water filter, I've been pondering on the beautiful quietness and solitute of mornings that are not filled with the insanity of constantly needing to do stuff. I rarly get up these days and get time to be still and reflective, it's always up and out the door. So even though our house does need to be both cleared of junk and cleaned at the moment, I'm just enjoying this morning that I can be thankful for all the mornings that God gives so graciously to us (and the fact that it's currently cloudy but I live in Melbourne so by midday I should be able to get some washing done when the sun eventually decides it's time to shine). Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (that's the water filter)

Our House

Well, it's quite unbelieveable really, but Tom and I bought ourselves a house yesterday! We are still pinching ourselves as we continue to call friends and family to let them know, so sorry if this is how you've heard... I thought it might be a good idea to have a picture so here it is!
Isn't it cute? It's more than we ever dreamed of being able to get and we are so looking forward to putting our own mark on the place and welcoming lots of family and friends. If you live in the near vincinity or are planning a holiday, we are having a Australia Day Housewarming Party in January (the 26th if you didn't know) and can't wait to show it off, hope you can make it!

A Ball!

I only went to 2 Uni Balls in my time as a student but now being a student worker, these things tend to pop up again and again and on Saturday was the 2nd Annual Christian Union Ball. I must say, as a girl it's always fun to be able to dress up for times like these. Tom on the other hand finds them very tedious. Needless to say it was a very fun night. Here's a photo of me and Holly (a girl that I meet with).
Christy (my sister in-law), kindly curled my hair for the evening and put it up for me!
Tom and I also did quite well out of the evening and went home with a cut of beef that would have been at least 30cms by 20cms (you would have been proud Mum!) and today we cut it up and distributed it amoungst the melbourne uni staff team, we had to get rid of it before the smell was going to take over the fridge so much that we'd never get it out! It was overpowering this morning when I got out the milk for breakfast and I can't say that I enjoy being able to smell half a cooked cow at breakfast time!

A timely reminder

Was talking to Mum on Skype last night and she told me off for not having updated my blog, so seeing I'm currently on my lunch break (but working from home), I thought I should use the time productively (rather than playing spider solitaire that is!).
So, after my last blog was our mid-year conference, which was an absolute hit. We didn't get quite as many students as we hoped but all who were there had a throughly enjoyable time and the speakers were excellent.
However, I feel that all that hard work is starting to catch up with me as we are currently in week 6 of semester and my whole brain and body feel like they want to grind to a halt! I think the gym and all my running is catching up on me too as today my calf muscles feel like they were cramping all night, ouch!
Anyway, I promise I will try and become a regular blogger again so you can keep up with all the news and my constant ramblings!

A quick note

We leave for our week long mid year conference today. It starts with a leaders camp for two nights and then the rest join us on Monday morning. I'm excited because I know that it will be a really great time, but also scared because as organisers there is so much to think about and there's a part of me that thinks there should be no way possible that we could pull this off. Organising the music has been a mixed blessing. It's been more time consuming this week than I anticipated and yet we have a group that are really passionate about worship and are good musicians. This makes the world of difference when practicing, but again there's the little voice inside my head telling me "you can't possibly pull this off" and yet, by God's grace, we will. I better run, we have a car to pack and some long-term food to buy for the fish! Thanks for reading my inner thoughts ;-)

New additions to the family

Well, for some time, Tom and I have been thinking that it's time to increase the size of our little family, and seeing that our rental agreement does not allow pets - we have bought some fish! We've had them for a week now, there's four, and they're tropical freshwater fish (which means the tank needs to be heated), their proper name is serpae tetra and they're black and orange and transperent. There's one who is a bit larger than the rest and he seems to chase the others around the tank quite a lot. Anyway, must put up some photos on the blog soon, I should say that I find them quite distracting when I'm working as I can just look up from the computer and there they are! That big one really is a bully! We hope to get some other kinds of fish to add to the tank, hopefully we'll eventually have around 15 in total.

School

We're on holidays from CU this week and next week, so I've taken the liberty to go back to Brentwood where I was teaching last year and do some relief teaching, much to my surprise I've enjoyed it way more than I thought I would, now that I no-longer work there full time it's giving me an oppotunity to get out of the house and earn some good money and I've loved catching up with my old teacher friends and even some ex-students. It's also helped me to realise a number of things about why teaching is so rediculously stressful and how nice teaching can be without all that stress such as:
- Not needing to prepare for classes (or think of something on the spot because you've been doing report writing/proof-reading/collating).
- No marking
- No reports
- No meetings
- No need to follow up student discipline all the time
I feel like I'm hardly working at all and yet I'm getting paid for it - it's lovely!
I've been amazed at the number of students who both remember me and want to say hello and seem genuinely glad to see me, while I do love student work, I did invest a lot of time in some of these students over my two years of teaching and I feel like (much to my surprise) that I really did make some sort of impact (because you're so busy and stressed, you rarely get to either ponder on or reflect on the difference you might be making).

Relief work is giving me a whole new perspective on teaching, or perhaps confirming the perspectives I already had - it's hard, it's stressful, the hours are long and some of my friends look like they need 6 weeks to recover from the 12 week term, not that other professions aren't hard but I realised even more that when I thought I was going crazy last year, I probably was.

Thank God for teachers and good ones at that!

Remodelling

Tom and I have spent the better part of the last 3 weekends remodelling our home. It was either that or move and moving is too expensive so we decided to swap our study with our master bedroom in order to give us more working space, seeing we are at home all day everyday at the moment, space is vital to keeping us both sane.

Speaking of sane, we are babysitting Ruby, Matilda and Jemima this afternoon, hopefully we'll have plenty to do with them so that we can stay busy, it includes bath time and dinner! A real test for the two of us, but we should be right for 3 hours! It's Jemima's 1st birthday this week! Tom and I are very excited as her godparents!

Tom's cooked nacos for lunch - yum!

Going to the Theatre

When was the last time you went to the theatre? Yesterday I went to see Romeo and Juliet with my friend Katharine from Brentwood. The performance was by the Bell Shakespeare Company who always put on energetic performances with modern flair and this play was no exception. It was great to see the whole of Romeo and Juliet performed live on stage although it was hard to watch at times without comparing it to Luhrman's movie. It made me realise again how easy it is to understand Shakespeare when it's performed and when the actors know how to interpret the text.

The biggest shock came when the "Finish" guy from the Masterfoods sauces adds came out as Friar Lawrence. Katharine and I were sitting there with our shoulders moving up and down and we restrained our laughter. He was quite good too!

Anyway, it was nice to be sophisticated for an afternoon and go to the theatre - I highly recommend it.

Happy Birthday Dad!

A picture so typically DAD! Bow-tie, powt, it has it all! And Mum looking at him so adoringly (cool photo huh?)

Sorry the blog isn't actually on your birthday but I hope that you had a really great day! I have a feeling that the next year for you will bring many challenges but lots of excitement and fun as well! You've been a great dad and even though you are now half a world away, I have heaps of good memories of all the fun times we had together living at home (playing "guess the composer" with Tom doesn't really feel like real competition) and I look forward to hearing about all the amazing things you will do in Basel! Lots of love, Glenda
Disclaimer:
To those who are not my parents I apologise for all the recent blogs regarding them, but seeing that they are in Germany and I am in Australia I need to make sure I say these things loud and proud!

30th Anniversary Congratulations

To my darling parents... Do you remember when I used to ask you to promise me that you would never divorce? I think I was about 8 at the time, you would never promise and I used to get so annoyed. I think I understand now - life is always full of surprises, good and bad. But I've loved the priviledge of growing up in a stable family home, with parents who love and adore one another. Now you have come to the 30th anniversary of your marriage and I think (though it's a bit werid to say) that you are back to the "honeymoon period". No children to worry about! (Well, that's the theory anyway...)

Congratulations, what an amazing feat - may God enable you to stay married and happy for another 30 years!

Work on the Weekend

I'm waiting for our slow computer to print out my bible study for Tuesday afternoon (Mark 16 if you're interested) and thought it had been so long since my last post that I should update while I wait! There's nothing more annoying than doing work on the weekend, but I do it every weekend anyway, so I don't know why I'd bother getting annoyed!

Mondays are so often a hectic day for us that it's almost impossible to get away with not doing work on a Sunday. I still have to finish reading the chapter on "Knowing God" I said I'd do to report back to staff meeting tomorrow - arg! It's about propitiation and gee it just gets my head in a muddle, despite that however, I also know how important it is to get my head around it all and be able to grapple with the issues involved. Six years ago I used to get so frustrated with Christians sitting around talking about the deep issues - now I understand that if I'm not forcing my faith to push forward beyond my simple regions of understanding then my faith won't grow, and I always want to be able to believe bigger things of God - even to the extend that he'll grow my brain to help me understand the tough issues!

All that aside,

Happy Mother's Day Mum!

I love you loads and wish I were able to sit down and share a coffee with you this afternoon, maybe even some cake too! You are a magnificent mother, even from afar. Your never-ending love and support for us is amazing. I love that we are such good friends and thank God for the last few happy years we spent "hanging out" at home when I was at uni. You are and always will be an inspiration in my life - I love you, your daughty xox

Facials and Pampering!

Oh I love Ella Bache. Hmmmmm. Today I went for a facial - my first ever. It was a kind of birthday present. My auntie had sent me some money for my birthday "to pamper myself" and because I'm on the Ella Bache mailing list I also received a $20 voucher for a facial there. Put the combination together and you have one hour of bliss. It is so nice to be pampered! I almost missed the date for the voucher (considering my birthday's in March and it's now May!) but I got a letter from my auntie this week saying "enjoy that facial" so I thought I should comply, being the dutiful niece that I am.

So I'm feeling beautifully relaxed this afternoon as I look outside at the wet and contemplate the fact that Tom and I are going to the football tonight! I suppose that Mud baths are a form of pampering, right? Oh well, it should be a laugh - if we win! GO CATS!

Blogging Frustrations!

So I'm starting to set up my own blog right and I wanted to display a picture of me on the block, no rocket science huh? But no, first the URL name is too long, then the file is too big, grrrrrrr. Don't you just hate computers sometimes!

On a nicer note, I'm sitting here writing my blog while Tom is making us dinner... I have such a great husband! Though no thanks to you mum, not being able to send the recipie and all! It's alright we found one on the Internet (curried sausages for your information, Dad would be so glad he's missing out on it).

Oh well, there's a gym to go to and we haven't been in a while as we've both been unwell, in Sydney, in Adelaide ect. Aren't we the young jetsetting couple!