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You are here: Home / 2008 / Archives for April 2008

Archives for April 2008

The pull of home is too strong

April 12, 2008 by Jen

It hit me one day – winter was coming and I did not want to be around for another cold, grey, and miserable winter so I decided to escape back home, and back to a warm summer.

As well as the cold, grey and miserable winters, it was that place where it doesn’t really snow yet there can be ice on the roads in the morning making it hazardous to walk down the street to get to work. That place where there’s plenty of your country men and women, and your ancestors came from there, and it costs a fortune to do just about everything. Have you guessed yet? Yes, I’m talking about London, England.

I’d already been living there for nearly a year longer than I planned, the plan being one year. I’d done some travelling but it was time to leave. Winters in London are really depressing. It’s not so much the cold weather, but the continual grey sky. If the sky was just blue for a while it might be a lot more bearable. It was also the short days which meant travelling to and from work in the dark. Maybe I was too used to mild Australian winters and was spoilt and just couldn’t handle a different winter climate, I’m not sure.

I really wanted to go home and have an Australian summer but it was going to be hard to leave England. I’d finally made some good friends there – it had taken a while. I’d made friends with people I lived with and I’m still in touch with one of them now. My upstairs neighbours in the last flat I lived in were fantastic. They invited us to their regular Tuesday night food and video sessions and I did other stuff socially with them also. I’d made friends with people I worked with as I’d worked in the same place for nearly one year. In fact I could have got a good job with British Airways who were associated with my work which probably would have meant cheap flights home but even that did not entice me to stay.

I still wanted to go home. I went on one final trip to Israel and Egypt and organised a travelling partner for a trip through India on the way home. I also organised a couple of tea chests for the goods I’d collected and didn’t want to part with. I found a person to replace me in the flat and realised that finally I wouldn’t get hassled to pay for that TV licence. I still don’t get why you have to pay to watch a television in England after you’ve already paid to buy a television.

For my last few days in London I stayed with a couple of friends and said my goodbyes to everyone and finally the morning came where I caught the tube to Heathrow for the flight to New Delhi.

It took two months to get back to Australia via India but it was worth it, and I knew I was home as I left the Melbourne airport and the money collector at the car park gate said, ‘No worries mate’ in that unmistakable Australian accent.

This is for the Scribbit Write-Away contest

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My favourites this week

April 10, 2008 by Jen

I used to do blog bits and bobs where I linked to blogs posts I’d enjoyed recently. I’ve stopped doing it because it was a bit time consuming and as blogging is my hobby it fell to the bottom of the list.

I’m going to try and reinstate it using Google shared items. Read how to set it up.

Because the Google shared items are dynamic and new shared items are automatically added I’ll repost this once a week and the new items will automatically be shown. I’ll see how it goes anyway – this is an experiment.

Below are the blog posts I’ve enjoyed recently. Because it is generated using Javascript the links may not show up in a feed reader. Like I said, it’s an experiment. Updated: now it doesn’t show up in my feed reader – damnit! Does anyone know of another way of doing something like this?

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What is this flower?

April 9, 2008 by Jen

Bulb

This flower is just now flowering. It’s a bulb, so only flowers once a year at exactly this time. Soon, two biggish green leaves will start growing either side of the flower.

I have a question for you clever bunnies. Does anyone know the name of it?

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Bumper All for Women blogging carnival

April 7, 2008 by Jen

Welcome to the April 7, 2008 edition of all women blogging carnival. This carnival will now be hosted fortnightly which is why nothing happened last week. I’m glad to be hosting again – it’s good fun, and there’s no mess to clean up at the end. Here we go:

Edith presents Who Are You? posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act.

Tali presents Easter Special – 10 Finest Bunny Bombshells | Holidays, posted at Tali, saying, “It’s Bunny Mania at The Pinup Blog! Easter leaves me no choice but to go bunny hunting across the web. I bring you the finest bunny bombshells: Be vewy vewy quiet…”

Rena Williams presents Are Your Goals Golding You Back? posted at Balanced Success.

Suzie Cheel presents Monday Motivation Just Being posted at The Abundance Highway, saying, “The ability to Just Be, helps us to have peace , reflection and more in our lives. Take time each day just to be.”

Robyn J McCleary presents MUSIC, DANCE AND DRAMA posted at Rhythm ‘n Rhyme.

Edith presents Obama, Clinton and Web 2.0 posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Tali presents Plus Size Pinups – Could they Ever Grow Beyond Sidestream? | Art, Artists, Plus Size, Diversity, Comics, History | The Pinup Blog posted at Tali, saying, “Plus-size pinups are a niche within a niche. It’s hard to see a potential of growth outside of the plus-size fetish community. I would like to propose otherwise, by showcasing a few plus-size pinup artists.”

Jenny presents Cartoons can drive you crazy! » the so called me posted at the so called me.

Tali presents Welcome to The (new and improved) Marketer Review or Why I posted at The Marketer Review, saying, “It’s shiny, it’s pretty and it’s fully functional! It’s The Marketer Review! New and improved! But why did I move?”

Cindy King presents How Do Your Foreign Prospects Use Their Search Engines posted at Cindy King.

Nara presents Surviving Marital Infidelity – Signs of Infidelity » Getting Over Past Relationships posted at Infidelity, saying, “Surviving Infidelity helps you identify the signs of infidelity and deal with the situation.”

Micellaneous Mum presents Tears for fears posted at Miscellaneous Adventures of an Aussie Mum, saying, “A snippet taken from a 2 year old’s sadness over Thomas the Tank Engine”

Health and beauty

Aparna presents Cover your gray with touch-up sticks posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming, saying, “I recently heard about hair touch-up sticks (color sticks) as a quick and easy way to cover gray hair. How do they work? You have to wet the color stick and then brush over the offending strands.”

Lisa Jey Davis presents Yo Yo Me posted at Ms. Cheevious, saying, “Ms. Cheevious explains the ups and downs, ins and outs of trying to live healthy, keep her boyfriend happy and lead a very hectic life – all while trying to enjoy every moment!”

Suzie Cheel presents Monday Motivation: Being Present posted at The Abundance Highway, saying, “Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is a gift, That’s why we call it the present. -Anon Being present is often a challenge in the busy world A new Earth provides us with new ways of being still”

Home sweet home

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Deja Views posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

GP presents Follow Up .. with feeling posted at Innstyle Montana- Come on Inn, saying, “Follow up with feeling… it makes all the difference”.

Mandy presents How to Make a Camera Obscura posted at The Photographer Blog, saying, “This blog takes a look at my love for digital photography and everything to do with it. This is a fun ‘how to’ article!”

Stephanie presents Frugal Green Crafting posted at Stop the Ride!.

Tip Diva presents Top Ten Tips – Getting Things Done posted at Tip Diva, saying, “Getting things done can be a big hassle. But if you take the time to ponder, prepare and prioritize, you can simplify your daily tasks. Here’s how.”

lisa presents My cell group posted at Life Lesson, saying, “visit and enjoy my writings”

valereee presents Foraging: Wild Garlic posted at Cincinnati Locavore.

Mandy presents My First Month of Project 365! posted at The Photographer Blog, saying, “I’m looking at how I am getting on with my project 365 and how it is documenting my year.”

Parenting and family

karen alonge presents he’s leaving the nest posted at advice for parents.

Elizabeth presents Never let go of your dreams! posted at The best is yet to come!, saying, “This blog discusses how to have success when going after your dreams!”

poetloverrebelspy presents The Art of Being a Gracious Houseguest posted at Less Than a Shoestring, saying, “Staying with family and friends while traveling is an easy and enjoyable way to save money. A gracious host will make you feel that you and your wishes are at the center during your stay — but a wise guest is one who makes his host’s wishes his own, thereby honoring his host. How can you make sure you are the type of guest who will always be welcomed with open arms? Find out more in this post.”

Elizabeth presents Reaching your dreams with PASSION! posted at The best is yet to come!, saying, “This blog discusses success and happiness when going after your dreams with passion!”

Adie Dornom presents 3 Tips to Blog Like a Manic and Still Have a Life posted at Lee McIntyre’s Honest Marketing Blog. presents How to Make Your Own Free Printable Birthday Cards posted at Home Life Weekly, saying, “These easy to make these free birthday cards, are tasteful quality designs which you wouldn’t be embarrassed to give to anyone, just choose your design and print, fold and give.”

Marcella Chester presents Socialization Which Sets Up Sex Predator/Passive Victim Model posted at abyss2hope: A rape survivor’s zigzag journey into the open.

Meg A. presents 5 Ways to Make a Difference to the ENVIRONMENT Before you go to Work posted at How to Make a Difference.

the baglady presents The Business of Being Born posted at xynny, saying, “review of a great documentary about natural child birth”.

Elizabeth presents Small steps that ignite the flame of passion! posted at The best is yet to come!, saying, “This blog discusses the steps that you need to take when going after your dreams with passion!”

Jennifer Price presents Spanking is NOT Loving Discipline. posted at Cosmicmama.com. Tra presents Follow Your Intuition posted at SINGLE MOM LIVING.

Megan Bayliss presents Child safety at weddings posted at imaginif, saying, “We have just celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Reflecting on our first year together, I can truly say that I love Paul more now than the day we got married under a waterfall in the rainforest.”

Jen presents Party food and suspension from school posted at Semantically driven, saying “It’s not always smooth sailing at school. Some kids find it hard to fit in and make friends and unfortunately get into trouble as a result.”

Pets

Kate Sheofsky presents Just another manic monday posted at Mighty K8.

Shopping and money

Sarah presents SARAHSPY: Buy me compass jewelry to help me find my way posted at SARAHSPY.

Erica Douglass presents Are Your Business Cards Still Stuck In The 1990’s? posted at erica.biz – Erica Douglass challenges you to change your life! What is holding you back from your dreams?, saying, “Are your business cards boring, or do they grab people’s attention right away? I share “four steps to business card bliss” based on conversations with top bloggers.”

Tali presents Jack Humphrey’s Authority Black Book 2008 – Very Necessary posted at The Marketer Review, saying, “Like most second editions the changes made to the Authority Black Book 2008 aren’t huge, but they’re very necessary.”

Amy @ The Q Family presents Can I ride? posted at The Q Family Adventure, saying, “Great product for travel with kids” .

Silicon Valley Blogger presents See Our Lower Utililty Bills! Save Money, Energy and Water With New Appliances posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “thank you!”

Arriane presents XOXO: Style Lessons from Gossip Girl « The College Girl Inquiries posted at The College Girl Inquiries.

***********

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of all women blogging carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Be careful about entering online competitions

April 4, 2008 by Jen

I’ve been receiving text messages about entering competitions from a 19xxxx number and didn’t really think anything of it. A comment from a colleague made me realise that I might be being charged for receiving these competitions SMS’s. Luckily I checked because I have been charged for receiving these SMS’s. I have now unsubscribed.

I don’t think I’ve got any way of getting out of these charges because I didn’t read the Terms and Conditions of this stupid competition that I entered online, and now I have to pay for the privilege of getting spam SMS’s. I can’t even remember what the competition was for.

Moral of the story, read the Terms and Conditions of everything. You’d think I’d know by now.

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Savouring the season(s)

April 2, 2008 by Jen

It’s autumn here (or fall for you northern hemisphere habitants). This time three weeks ago it was nearing the end of a two and a half week heatwave. A heatwave is apparently a period of days where it’s over 35 degrees celsius and the temperature cit certainly reached that, and more. The only thing that kept me going (and others I’m sure) was the fact that it had to be over one day. It is hard to imagine the weather outside being cool though when you go outside all you think about is how hot it is.

One night I lay on the couch, the fan going overhead, the windows wide open wishing for a whisper of a breeze to blow out some of the hot air and realised that I was getting used to it being really warm at night. On these nights I would have liked to have a mosquito net to sleep outside on the trampoline because it was cooler than sleeping inside. I don’t have central cooling so fans and cool showers were my method of keeping cool. I also live in a house that’s over 100 years old therefore it keeps cooler than many modern houses. If I lived in a more modern house I would probably need air conditioning to cope.

I also wondered what people did before electricity when fans weren’t an option, let alone air conditioning. I couldn’t imagine trying to sleep without a breeze, even a warm breeze. I guess they just had to get used to it.

It was in the back of my mind that once our heatwave was over, autumn would be here with the darker evenings, the crisp feel in the air and memories of hot days when swimming in the ocean was a real pleasure and maybe some rain – please some rain.

I’m glad I live in a place where there are definite seasons, and I appreciate these seasons more as time goes on. I look forward to winter so I can light the fire and have cosy warm nights. I love the summer because it means swimming, and autumn and spring are great respites from summer and winter. It also means that the things I don’t like about the four seasons will always change pretty soon.

This is my entry for the Mammablogga group writing project.

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Reflecting on the Adelaide Fringe

April 1, 2008 by Jen

From late February to mid March the Adelaide Fringe was on. I paid to see one Fringe show – Die Roten Punkte which was a really enjoyable show. It had humour and music – both really well done. They’re playing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival which is on now so if you’re in Melbourne I’d recommend seeing them.

So what was I doing for the rest of the Fringe? Well, I was actually participating myself as part of other shows in our local ukulele squad. I kept it pretty quiet in these parts.

Let me say it was a hoot to do and I look forward to doing more as time goes on. See more pics of us here.

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