It's Not About How I Feel

As I think I have previously mentioned on this blog times have been changing at my salvo corps, for the past 8 weeks while we have been leaderless, the young adults have been stepping up and having a go at preaching, coordinating and generally getting involved, and it has actually been really good, like seriously good. I have been blown away by the things I have learnt, the hidden talents of my friends and by the way that God has just so very very very clearly had His hand on the whole thing, guiding, prompting and using us in a huge way. In fact part of me is a little sad that it’s all over, but I think that it’s actually just the beginning… but that’s a different blog

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Over the last 8 weeks even though its been very powerful and we have (with lots of help from the big man of course) ‘pulled it off’ so to speak, there have been lots of frustrating times, challenging situations and sometimes I just haven’t wanted to do it any more. Last night I shared a video about worship which thanks to facebook’s news feed I had found, which talked about how we just go through the motions and make worship about us… in fact you can watch it for yourself…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJp98hoqy5I]

At the end of the video I talked about the fact that sometimes I feel like just going through the motions and getting my ‘worship face’ on because I just couldn’t be bothered giving it my all, but that actually God calls us to more and that He deserves more, so much more. I was then reminded by a very wise man that it’s not actually about how we feel at all. In fact what we feel like doing is often irrelevant because God is bigger than feeling. This idea is something that I had heard before, but I had forgotten, being the emotional, feelings based person I am. I am so glad that God is bigger than my feelings and that he is steadfast in His love. I am so glad that he doesn’t actually call us to be ‘in the mood’ but instead just to be obedient and that he actually honours our faithfulness when we are obedient even when we don’t feel like it. I am glad that God’s brain isn't based on the flippant emotions that I feel… I am glad that he does have emotion and that we are able to experience his emotion, both good and bad, but that it isn’t his emotion that calls the shots, but instead his heart of love, justice and mercy… I am also thankful that he used his obedient servant to remind me of this.

Yellow Chocolate?

The title of this blog is ‘the most curious george’ which just between you and me I am pretty impressed with… because you know… its like curious George the monkey… and now I am a George… so it’s a pretty impressive play on words… ok, maybe its just me but I like it…. I feel like I have stepped up into the world of other blogs with cool name plays like The Freind's who have “Freindly Fire’ and the ‘Friendly Sparrow’. 

Anyway that’s not the point, the point is if the blog is called ‘the most curious george’ its only fair that every now and then I am actually curious about something… perhaps I should make that my blogging criteria… maybe I always need a question… hmmmm, that’s not such a bad idea…. Anyway the time has come for a question, and it’s a question that I have been pondering for a while now.  I haven’t actually done anything to actively seek out an answer, but I still wondering…  Are you ready for it?  My first official blogged curiosity? Ok here it is…

What is the Yellow Chocolate?  

Let me explain, you know those old school chocolates where you get chocolate melts almost, they are small about the size of a 20cent piece... wait I have a picture: 

They usually come in milk chocolate, white chocolate and then the yellow one.  That’s what I want to know what is that yellow one?  Is it a half milk, half white… and if so why is it yellow?  Is it a honeycomb type flavour that’s just not very strong… is it just a dyed white chocolate?  And if it is what is it’s purpose? 

If some one would kindly explain what it is? Where it has come from? And Why its always there? That would be most appreciated…

Thanks,

The truly curious george.   

Wordless Wednesday

Try Hard Anthropologist

So my last blog was all about how I was going to be more honest with this new blog, let you into who I am am and what makes me tick... we I have had my first challenge with this.

This week I found out some news that I am very excited about... no I am not pregnant... just in case you went straight to that... No, this news is much less serious, but perhaps a lot more embarrassing. This week I found out that big brother is set to return in 2012. (Well according to this article at the herald sun anyway).

Anyway, this isn’t the first time I have blogged about big brother... in fact way back when they were in lots of trouble for being a little naughty, i felt I needed to blog, but what I failed to mention in the that blog was the fact that I loved big brother... and I mean loved it, like I would follow their daily activities via the website loved it!  I have been a secret fan for a long time... and I guess that's not so secret now, and in fairness to myself, the height of my addiction was while I was at uni and really had way too much free time on my hands... but I am not going to lie... I am very very very excited that it is coming back.

I think what draws me in the most is that I love to watch people... I guess that's why I like the blogs that I do, I like to know how people work, why they do the things that they do. How they interact with each other. Perhaps I should have been an anthropologist so that I could watch all day everyday, but I am not... So instead I do it as a hobby.  Although, sometimes it gets me in trouble because I tend to stare at people, couples, families, whoever, especially while I am on holidays where I am away from those I know, and apparently, according to Dave, I am not very subtle.  In fact just this morning inbetween my patients at clinic I found it very interesting to observe from the safety of my offive how many people would use the single toilet despite the fact that the light doesn't work in there.  Of the 4 people I noticed heading to the toilet 3 chose to go in the dark... only one went to the toilet next door which has a light that was already on... crazy... who goes to the toilet in the dark?  Granted the other toilet has a disabled and baby change label on the front... but seriously... in the dark... that's just asking for trouble. 

Anyway, I guess the point I am trying to make is that big brother makes this little personality quirk of mine acceptable, whether that's right or wrong. It actually provides an opportunity for me to just watch and not get ‘caught’. Actually now that I am typing it out it sounds kind of creepy, but its not... its all above board so to speak, and I am still excited about it’s return...

Who I am...

I have been thinking this morning about the ‘theme’ of my blog… that is it’s appearance, and I am not sure I like it… it doesn’t feel like me… So I have started the process of finding just the right theme, just the right first impression for the people that read my blog.

I think that one thing I really wanted with this blog was to be a little more honest, rather than it just a glorified primary school diary.  But I guess like anything else on the internet it’s easy to hid behind graphics, words and the fact that you can really tell the world anything that you want to and no one can actually check that it’s true.  I guess the hard thing for me is that you actually know who I am, the people that read this are usually my friends and family, the people that I see on a regular basis, or I guess when it comes down to it the people whose options I care about, so it’s a scary thought to let people in.  I guess by sharing my life I also share the stories and the relationships of those around me and that is a scary thought too because then my words impact more than just me.  I guess too, I have a healthy sense of internet security and don’t really want to go into all the details of my life because I know that once it’s on the internet… it stays on the internet.  So I guess I am guarded in how much I share about the things that really challenge me coz I don’t want them to come back an bit me in the butt so to speak.  The thing is though when I look at the blogs I like to read… they are the ones that are raw, they talk or personal struggle and triumph, of pain and joy, and they actually allow me to share someone’s life with them, to learn from what they have learnt… and that’s what I want.  I know this isn’t the first time I have blogged about this, but it’s something that I don’t think I have achieved since I last posted it, but I am freshly inspired… thanks to a few of my blogging buddies and their courageous honesty.

So here is too another fresh start of sorts… to a more honest blog, one that actually shares my thoughts not just my deeds. One that actually says this is me… this who I am.   A blog that actually shares my curiosities about life… not just my whinging, but one that asks questions and shares the answers as I find them… or the new questions I have on my quest.

Trying Something New

So after years of being a faithful ‘blogspot’ blogger, I am trying something new.  For a long time now, people have been telling me to get into wordpress, because ‘it’s heaps better’ but until now I haven’t given it a good go.  I have played ignorant and let all the extra features of wordpress scare me.  However today I have decided its time to give it ago and so I have been playing around put all my old blogs onto this one so that now both my blogger and my wordpress blog are up to date and giving me a chance to get my head around exactly how this wordpress thing works, and I think I am going to like it…  but because I am a committaphobe I am going to keep the two going for a while and just see what happens, see which one I like better… maybe see which one gets the better reaction.

I must admit though I am liking wordpress so far… I can load straight to my twitter feed… I can show you all my instagram pictures, and it just seems to fit a little better, all my social media in the one spot… but its still early days… so we will wait and see.

I should be embarrassed about how bad I am feeling about leaving blogspot… its a little sad… but I don’t… I get attached to what I know, I guess I am just not as good with change as I thought I was.

Oh and you can check out the new one here

Wordless Wednesday

Wow what a month

I have lost my blogging confidence again, and for that I am sorry, once again I am doubting whats worth writing and whats not, what people will want to read and what they will not, but once again I have had to remind my self that this blog is for me... not you, although I hope you enjoy it, it’s for me.

So here we are the 4^th day of spring and I am busy... well... clearly not right at this very moment, but my life over the last little while has been nuts.  Here are some of the things that have gone down... which I haven’t blogged about... it is a long blog but I have broken it down into bit size pieces... enjoy: 

We ate a massive load of duck to celebrate the 23^rd year of my brother's birth...and it was delicious.... so delicious.

Dave has been MIA – well again, kind of... September sees Dave’s first Musical Director gig at his new school, and because the musical they have chosen to do is the epic “Sound of Music” he has been busy busy busy, doing lots of extra rehearsals out of his normal school hours... I guess this makes me the newest musical widow... Although its seems to be the month for it because before the Sound of Music, Dave was busy with the YP Anniversary 2011 which was also a musical but this one was all about Jonah.

In fact, its not just Davo that has been busy with the kids I have also been flexing my children’s ministry muscles this month just gone,  not only have I made some very cool cup cakes, kept children under control while waiting for the signal from dave, started taking the timbrels while Jude is away and hung out with the coolest prayer pal in the world! But I think that last Sunday really topped it off, I also got to lead over 100kids in worship, with crazy singing, dancing and jumping around at this years Eastern Vic Kids Big Day Out, which was super fun.  Although it did take me a little longer to recover than I would have liked.  Being so involved with the kids again has made me realise how much I love working with them, and perhaps even need to return at some stage (although not just now).  In fact it made me a little nostalgic so I have added this little link to my previous times in children’s ministries just so I can reminisce a little bit more.

Weddings Weddings Weddings – I have been lucky enough to attend two weddings this much, one for Bec and Michael, which feel like forever ago on the 6^th of August and the second for Felicity and Michael last Saturday the 27^th of August, and just in case you weren’t sure yes... they were different Michael's...  Both weddings were really different, and I think that perhaps reflected on my relationships with brides.  Bec was one of my cell girls when she was growing up, so her wedding , made me feel very old, but in a good, motherly, way.  It took me a long time to comprehend that this girl, now woman, who I had watched grow up was now getting married.  Where as Flic was one of my uni mates, so my emotions were a little different, they weren’t reflective, but rather, excited to see my good friend so happy and excited to be able to share this next chapter of her life.  Both were beautiful, and reminded me just why I love weddings soooooo much.  Oh and both brides looked amazing!  I felt so privileged to be part of their special days.

I have swapped jobs – well kind of.. my position was a ‘rotating’ one which means that from time to time, (usually about every 6months) I have to swap sites, so this last week I spent a few half days being orientated to my new sites and this week I have been flying by the seat of my pants trying to work out what on earth I am doing at my new site, getting lost, asking silly questions and generally feeling a little more useless than normal, but give me a week or two and I will be ruling the roost again.  My new sites aren’t quite as busy as my old one, which means I am actually getting time to do all the things that I need to do in the day, which is a very pleasant change. 

Oh and I also had my first batch of Australian bananas in I don’t know how long.... and boy were they good, I can’t wait until the prices go down a little bit more and I can have them all the time.

So there you go... that was August, crazy ey?  I am really hoping that September slows down just a little bit, but I am beginning to think that that's unlikely... I think this is just life... but it would be nice if it slowed down just for a little bit.   

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Jan Brady Hair

My hair has been growing pretty much since I chopped it all off when I was I was at uni and had it pretty short.  At the time I really liked my short hair, but decided that it was a ‘mum-cut’ the type of no fuss hair cuts that mum’s have coz they don’t have time to fuss over anything else and therefore started the process of growing it back out.  As it grew I couldn’t decided whether I liked it better long or short, but I figured that I should see it out and then before I knew it, I was getting married and needed to grow it for the wedding, so that the hairdresser would have some hope of making my super thin hair do something nice.

Anyway, the wedding has come and gone and with the help of the length, a hair piece and a million bobby pins (which took Dave and I 45mins to get out, much to Dave’s disgust) my hair looked pretty good, even if I say so myself.  But now it is super super long, longer than it’s ever been before I am pretty sure, I have noticed some new ‘hair behaviours’ that I don’t appreciate.

Apart from the malting, and getting stuck in everything, I have discovered I have ‘Jan Brady’ Hair.  What does that mean... well, if you cast your minds back to the episodes of The Brady Bunch, you may recall that when Jan walks, her whole body, but in particular her hair swings from side to side.  And now mine does too and I hate it.  Now, unlike Jan, my hair only swings when it is in a pony tail, but I still don’t like it.  I can’t stop it either, it’s not quite long enough to prop on my shoulder, but it’s too long not to notice.  I have tried changing the way I walk, and tucking it into scarves and things, but nothing seems to be able to control it... It just makes me look ridiculous.  Now, just so we are clear I am not just talking about a small moving in the breeze swing... my hair has soooo much movement it is out of control.  Sometimes it gets so much swing I can see the ends of my pony tail in my peripheral vision... my hair is out of control and I need help!

Luckily I am getting my haircut on Saturday... I am not quite sure how much I will cut off just yet, but I am hoping it will make a difference... although with less hair it might just be lighter and get even more swing... oh man this could be a disaster.   

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Reflecting

So I don't know if its just today, or perhaps the whole week, but I have been reminicing a lot.  Anyway today I have found myself reading back over a lot of my old blogs and I thought perhaps it might be fun to 'reflect' on the things I have written on this date in the past, and it turns out that August the 4th is actually quite a popular blogging date.  In fact in all my blogs except one I have blogged something on the August 4. Some of the things that I have written aren't that exciting, in fact most of them are about nothing in particular, in fact the one about burning beef, is actually a little bit off.. but it's what I wrote at the time 5 years ago now.  Anyway these are the blogs that I have written on this same date but in the years gone by.  I hoping that I have developed as a writer in this time, but if you go by these, perhaps not, it appears I still have a long way to go.   

August 4 2010 - Wordless Wednesday 

August 4 2009 - Deadly Dexter

August 4 2006 - Parking Power 

August 4 2006 - Burning Beef  

Oh and you will be pleased to know (if you actually clicked the links and were had the thought cross your mind)...

1. Dexter stopped whining, but now he just barks instead... but I do love him... even if he is silly and a little annoying.  

2. I still don't know what the rules are on parking... and I think it is actually getting hard to trick the inspectors into thinking you having been there the whole time... I have heard they even use photos and scanners and all kinds of high tech equipment to catch you out these days.

3. Just in case you are concerned I have not burnt any cows or pursued this matter further... although I have to addmit I am still curious.

Wordless Wednesday

One Month To Go

So today it the first of August and for me this is significant, I have one month to go...

Its one month today until spring, and although that is exciting, its not what I am refering to.  No, its one month today until I have to have everything unpacked and sorted at home.  I moved into Dave's after we got married, and then once we got home from our honeymoon, I started the daunting process of moving all my things from my family home to my new home.  And you would think that this wouldn't be that hard, but I have a lot of stuff... seriously a lot of stuff, and I just don't know where it is all going to go.  So I decided that I needed to set myself a deadline because I really don't want it just sitting there indefinatly, so the dead line I set, about a month ago, was the end of August... which is now one month away.  

My progress so far has been good, I have now moved all of my stuff out of Dad's and physically put it inside my place, but it remains in boxes, filling up both the study and the spare room, which I think is starting to irritate Davo.  Every now and then, when I am feeling motivated I pick a box and unpack it, but now I have gotten to the last few boxes ('few' is quite misleading, its probably 15boxes, but they are the last 15).  These are the boxes of stuff that have been there since before I moved to Castlemaine in April 2009, or things I boxed up when I left castlemaine late last year and have just never dealt with.  Now I know if I haven't used in this time, I should probably just get rid of it, and trust me I have been ruthless in my sorting.  In fact when moving my clothes I gave away 8 bags of clothes and shoes alone, and this was on top of the the 5 bags I gave away last year when I moved back home.  But the thing is I can't just through it out without know exactle what it is... just in case.  I hate losing things, so I just can't stand the thought of randomly chucking stuff out, perhaps I have a little bit of hoarder in me, who knows.  So the thing is now that I have gotten down to these boxes, the motivation is just not there, they are boxes I don't want to sort through because I know its going to be annoying and boring.  Its not the exciting things anymore, like books and DVDs... its just the paper work left... but it needs to be done and I need to get onto it now, otherwise I won't make my deadline.

The thing is I am actually really looking forward to the end result, having everything unpacked and then getting to the fun bit of making it all work, rearranging and changing, and 'making our house a home', but I can't do that until I have done these boxes... these last annoying boxes, full of things that have no place.  

Ok, I have a month... so I need to get of the computer and start unpacking... wish me luck.     

Preach it Sister

I talk a lot, to myself, to my friends, to clients, to Davo, to small groups of people and to large groups of people, in fact I will pretty much talk to anyone that will listen, actually take that last bit back… they don’t even have to be listening. 

Anyway, the reason I am telling you this is because tonight, my words, my thoughts and ramblings were given a stage, you see, at the corps at the moment we are having the young adults take it in turns to share the word, or in other words, to preach the sermon, and tonight was my turn. 

This is something that although I hate to admit it, I have been really nervous about, which is awkward because the main theme of my sermon was ‘Don’t Worry; Trust God’ so I literally had to practice what I was preaching.  I actually found the whole experience much more daunting then I thought I would, I guess I felt a bit of pressure to actually make sense as I rambled my way through the passage, to share something profound and helpful, to say something that wouldn’t leave people thinking, I can’t even remember what she was talking about. 

Anyway the deed is now done, so to speak, and it went pretty well, even if I say so myself.  But  I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised because I had put my trust in God, and just like always he was faithful… seriously faithful.  I know that the reason why it worked, the reason why it was ‘successful’ if I can say that, actually had nothing to do with me…. And everything to God’s faithfulness.  And I guess I wanted to write this down and record it just in case my ego, or pride changed my mind and started telling me it was me, and my strength… because it wasn’t… it was all the Big Man.

Love is in the Air

There is something in the air at the moment… and I think it’s a thing called love… or weddings maybe… but hopefully love.  How do I know this? Well this week on Wednesday one of my friends at work got engaged, late last night I got a message telling me that my friends Miriam and Daniel were now engaged and today I have been to a high tea for my friend Flic in preparation for her wedding, a kitchen tea for my friend Bec who gets married next weekend (who was also one of my cell girls, which makes me feel very very old) and just now I have been out to dinner with two of my three bridesmaids, just because. 

Now can you see why I am thinking that love and weddings are in the air?  Crazy ey?  I am not sure what’s causing this sudden influx of love, but I love it… pardon the pun. 

Oh and today I ate the biggest meringue that I have ever seen in my life and it was amazing… check it out… oh and some of my other pictures from my adventures today…

 

Mission: SMS Rescue... Part 2

So here is the update... but if you have no idea what I am talking about, you best go back a few days and read part 1

I went home and attempted to fix my iPhone myself, but no such luck.  I found out later I had come pretty close, but just not qutie there.  So instead of resolving to tears… again, I decided that it was time to bring in the experts… or should I say Geniuses… so tonight, Dave and I (Dave had to come coz I told him I needed for moral support) have sat at the ‘Genius’ bar at the apple store for 3hours trying to get this problem fixed.  And I am very pleased to say that after a number of attempts at restoring, clearing out some files and then a final restore, I now have all my messages back.  Well not all, truth be told, I lost the SMS’ I had received since the 19th of July, but I figured that losing a week of SMS’ wasn’t so bad if I got 18months worth back, including all my nice little keepsakes from our engagement and wedding.  So while Dave may not agree, I am pretty sure that the hours spent in the Mac store tonight and those afterwards at home backing up all my SMS' in pdf format, were hours and time well spent. 

Anyway, I figured… perhaps as a celebration of all that I have got back, I would share with you one of my favourites message threads from Davo… (oh and I am the green writing... the one with all the cool, nerdarific, pictures)

Wordless Wednesday

Mission: SMS Rescue

I am shattered.  Seriously upset.  On Sunday my phone had a small melt down and has deleted all of my messages.  Now for most people this wouldn’t be a problem but I am a message hoarder.  In fact back in the good old days when inboxes only held a limited number of messages, I had little books which I would copy the messages into so that I could keep them forever (and yes I still have the books, and probably more embarrassingly I often flick through them just to see what I felt was important enough to record forever).  But with my iPhone, I stopped the habit, because the messages are stored conversationally, they weren’t in order for me to write out.  I had also been told that it was impossible to ever completely delete things from my phone, so naively I just left them there unprotected and now they are gone.  The thing is though I have only had my phone for 18months, so normally not that much stuff would have happened in my life over 18months and I could probably just get over it.  But in the last 18 months massive things have happened including getting engaged and getting married and all my favourite texts over this time are now gone and this makes me really sad.  I know that is ridiculous, but I am actually really really sad about the thought of them being gone. 

 

Here is the thing though, knowing how hard it is to actually delete data on an iPhone, part of me believes they are still there... so the computer nerd in me is determined not to be defeated by this silly little phone.  A about a week ago, while backing up I lost a whole heap of photos, but after a few tears and some investigative research I got my pictures back and I am really hoping that I can do the same with my messages.  I am not holding my breath, but just in case I have stopped backing up my computer and my iPhone (only temporarily) in the hope that I can rescue my texts from an old iPhone sync... so tonight (I hope) I am going to start mission ‘sms rescue’ a stealth operation to retrieve lost data... 

I will let you know how I go.  

Wish me luck.       

Wordless Wednesday

Family Recipe

Well its official, I am now completely a George.  I know that technically this was all official on May 14 when Dave and I got married, but for me, it really became official last night when I conquered an old family favourite recipe of the George’s.  You see yesterday was Davo’s birthday, so in an attempt to prove my wifely skills I took an ADO so that I had the whole day to make the perfect dinner, which it turned out was ‘Red Meat Casserole” and I am pretty sure I have pulled it off.  Davo was impressed which is all that really matters.  

Why am I sharing this?  Well I guess it really took my by surprise how much getting this recipe, this meal, just right meant to me.  I have had the recipe since my kitchen tea and knew that at some stage I would have to try it, but even though its just a casserole, this hand written recipe handed to me by Dave's mum, with the family names of George and Crocker (Dave's Nanny's surname) it almost felt sacred, special, like I had been let in completely to the family secret. And now that I have completed my task, I feel like my initiation into the family is complete.   

It also made me wonder what I had to pass on and I have discovered to my surprise that I actually have a few things from my own family cookbook to pass on one day too, probably most notably my mum's chocolate slice, which just between you and me is delicious, and I am sure that I continue to grow as a cook I will bring my own recipe's to the table.  This is something I never really thought about, or never realised would be this important to me, as being a wiz in the kitchen has never really been a goal of mine, but all of a sudden, it is.  Perhaps its the 'traditional wife' in me, I don't know, in fact I am not even sure how long it will last, but I am glad I have experienced this.  It makes me feel like I belong to both families, and that I have family traditions of my very own, that I will one day be able to pass onto my kids (when they come) and their families.

Oh and I made a killer cake... check it out!  Pretty good even if I say so myself!

A Fresh Start

My life is busy... really  really busy, but despite this over the last little while I have really missed my blog...and blogging.  So I am starting again... again... with a new page and hopefully a new flair, as now that I am an old married woman, it only seems appropriate to start afresh.  Wordless Wednesday’s will be back (although...Wednesday seems to be my most boring day photo wise), and random tales of my adventures will be plentiful... I hope.

Something I always find difficult is to know where to start after such a long break, because I haven’t really blogged all year but that doesn’t mean my life has been on hold... a lot as happened.  Good stuff, bad stuff and in-between stuff.  I guess I could start with a blog about my wedding and the magical day that it was, or some of the crazy shenanigans that we have found ourselves in while planning for said wedding, or a blog about some of the changes my life has seen already this year.  I could start with the random things that happen to me day to day, or maybe even the things that have made me stop and think? I could start with any of this, but I am stuck... really stuck... because as soon as I start to type I begin to think, no one really cares about this stuff, seriously no one actually cares.  But as I have been reading through some of my old blogs I have discovered that I really care, and I really like having it there to read back on.  To look at the things that were important, my sad moments and happy moments all laid out in front of me. 

So I think as I start again, I am blogging only for me... but you can read it if you want to.  I am going to share whatever I feel like and maybe even whenever I feel like.  And if its boring or silly or just not that good... its ok, because it is for me.  Having said that... I do like it when people read... so please... continue to stop by.

So here we are... blogging has officially started again...