Not Totally Lost In Action

Sorry, very remiss of me to neglect my blog - and eveyone elses!

Yes I'm working, I love the job but I'm exhausted when I get home.

I have been working many more hours than first expected, but thats ok with me :)

I hope to make time to entertain you (and me) soon.

Take care all !

Just love this pic

It's the simple things that amuse me the most.....

The News (for want of a better description)

I was leaving a comment on a friends blog, then I realised that maybe, just maybe, it was a little long winded for a comment. ok.. so it was unquestionably too long for a comment - so, here it is as a post.

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“News”

I think they need to redefine the term

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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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Both Local & International 'news' is so heavily influenced by very powerful people.

So much so that it sickens me.

What happened in the lives of these powerful individuals to make them act with such narcissism? They still eat, sleep & shit like the rest of us dont't they so what makes them so damn special?

Ahh yes, but of course!

Money.

Money is power. Power is hungry.

I'm sorry, correct me if I am wrong, but what gives ANYONE the right to direct or pervert what information is released to the general public? Should we not know about it if it pertains to or effects our lives, our health - our planet!

Yes, OUR planet.

Remember a few older posts of mine?

Check here and here if you haven’t seen them. Even if you have seen them.. who cares, read again (if you can handle it!)

Having previously dealt with the media myself, I am more than aware of the content of media alerts that are sent out, and then what actually gets into print or televised.

There is a VAST difference between them I assure you – and that was only small time news if you compare it to the big picture.

I understand that the opinions of the editors (or directors) will always come into play, but the truth is, they are held by the goolies in an incredibly tight grasp by the powers that be.

If any of the large broadcasters were to use independent news sources, we, the plebs as they view us, might actually discover some of what is really going on in our world.

They simply will not allow that to happen.

The prevarication will continue despite our objections.

I believe internet access has enabled many of us to nibble at the edge of truth. It has provided us with a medium to poke & prod the drivel labeled as ‘news’ that is force fed to us. It has allowed us to communicate with other like minded beings who are sick of the inconstant lies, the conspiracies & the blatant cover ups that occur way too frequently. In reality, even those that dig around for the truth would only know a quarter of it – quite possibly not even that percentage.

At the same time, don't be fooled into thinking that we are not being monitored whilst doing this.

Without meaning to sound paranoid….You simply cannot be too paranoid.

Hang on, reality check. Think about this a minute. Imagine the consequences of being told the truth about everything.

Could we really handle it?

Could we?

Maybe just a little truth?

I think we are intelligent enough, mature enough and ready to try something new like the TRUTH don’t you?

Hey, here’s an idea…. Let’s try it !

C’mon, throw us a bone eh?

No, not YET...

Pumpkin Soup... and dicks

As we had a milder day here today (Yippeee !) I thought soup would be nice for dinner.

When I went to Wulkuraka I was fortunate enough to be given some fresh picked butternut pumpkins.

YUM ! Thanks BIL

So, pumpkin soup for dinner it is! (the dick part will become apparent as we go along.. trust me)

I often get asked for the recipe I use for my soup.. it’s nothing special.. the ingredients change depending on what I have at hand without going shopping... and it’s incredibly easy and everyone enjoys it (yes, even the children!)

For those of you who already know how to make pumpkin soup - my apologies & skip this post.

At least next time someone asks me for the recipe, I can just give them this link.

The pumpkin itself is the only ingredient that is always necessary. Everything else is really only an extra - and depends on how much nutrition you are trying to hide in the soup! Trust me, you can hide plenty of things that are good for you in soups, but they are not always what people would eat if they knew of its existence in the meal! I can not and will not divulge what I often hide in my soups as I may well get sprung. My hidden ingredients are not for public knowledge!

In saying that, I do NOT make pumpkin ice-cream.... Mel, you will never live that one down!

Alrighty, I started with 1 litre of liquid chicken stock (premade & store bought, I wasn’t THAT good today) Two big pumpkins, three medium potatoes, four small onions, 5 garlic cloves ….. and a partridge in a pear tree.... ok.. so now I'm just being plain silly.

Everything is rough cut, no need to be precise as it all gets blended later on.

Now this is real Aussie grown garlic. Not like that horrible imported stuff we get here. Look at the size of the clove! It costs around $30 per kilo but hey.. It’s damn good!

Now for the dick part. You may notice in that photo not only the size of the garlic cloves, but also a bloodied tissue and a bandaid on my finger... yes, the dreaded dick knife struck again. You would think by now I could manage not to cut myself - alas. At least this time it was a humble cut. (My foot STILL hurts & two toes are still numb btw)

If the pumpkin is rather young, and is pale on the inside (as I discovered these ones were after cutting them open) do not put much potato in. It will make the soup end up rather bland. So the rule is, cut the pumpkin BEFORE peeling the spuds!

Fry the onions in a nice oil. I use avocado oil cause it’s good for ya - rather expensive, but its great stuff. When onions are close to being transparent, add in garlic. Only slightly brown the onions & garlic. I love caramelised onions, but they don’t look all that great in pumpkin soup. They look remarkably like insects have fallen into the pot - aesthetics do count, especially when it comes to insects floating in your food.



While those are cooking, heat the chicken stock in a large pot and rough cut the pumpkin. Don't be too fussed, as long as they are all kinda the same size for equal cooking.

There is that *&%^# ! knife again...

Put the chopped pumpkin into the pot; make sure that the fluid level covers the pumpkin by 2cms or so. If there is not enough stockto do that, just add water.. no biggie. Don’t put too much water in at first, you can always add it later but you can't take it out! *note* runny pumpkin soup ain’t that nice!

Add some Vegeta, or something similar. Vegeta is a dry vegetable stock that I use for many dishes. It is a good price & available in most supermarkets.


Cook the pumpkin & spuds till they are tender. Add in fried onions & garlic; cook on low for another 10 minutes or so, the stove temperature doesn’t really matter, just don’t totally boil the snot out of them.


You can transfer the chunky soup into a blender, but I much prefer using a stick/stab mixer. It is much easier that way & less dishes ….is a good thing.

Blend until smooth (or as smooth as it gets) then add in some ground nutmeg. Fresh grated is best, but the stuff you buy in the supermarket is ok too.

Use about this much nutmeg


Now we need cracked pepper. I'm not a pepper lover myself so I put in about this much.

At this stage I add some Kecap Manis . It is also called Ketchap Manis. It is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce – make sure to use sweet soy, not the ordinary one or the soup will be waaaaaaay too salty.

I sometimes add a little curry powder or cumin if it’s needed for extra taste, but you can decide on that with the final tasting. I didn’t add that today. The pumpkins were young, but still had a nice flavor.

Last but not least, comes the cream. There are no measurement guides for this, is definitely a personal taste. I normally add about 400ml to the pot and then add a dollop in the middle of the bowl when serving. (just makes it look a little speech!)

Here is the final product.

Tonight I served it with a sprig of parsley and sourdough crusty breadstick.

That is nutmeg scattered over the top...not insects btw :D

The kids absolutely loved it – as did my neighbour !

We are lucky enough to have what I consider to be the world’s best neighbours! They are both in their late 70’s. Toni loves my soups & Bruno loves anything sweet. He doesn’t eat fruit or vegetables because in his words “they are for old people!”

I hope I am still as 'young' as him when I am 78

The embarrassment of Spoonerisms

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Spoonerism

Noun: spoonerism (spoonurizum)

Transposition of initial consonants in a pair of words

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This is something I have suffered from since childhood.

It can create many new words - some of which I now deliberately keep in my day to day vocabulary.

Spoonerisms come with out warning. I often chuckle at what I meant to say compared to what actually came out... & sometimes I dont even notice that it happens until it is pointed out to me by whom ever I am speaking to. Sometimes others are too horrified to point them out to me. It can be funny & entertaining - It can also be outrageously embarrassing in the wrong company!

There are many I have said - too many to list all, but these ones come to mind

wrinking dater (sounds like wrinking daughter) (drinking water)
bar coot (car boot)
dompact cisc (compact disc)
pmoke sacket (smoke packet)
tomputer cower (computer tower)
veletision (television)
pouse mad (mouse pad)

Some of my all time repeats are Vulti Mitimin (Multi Vitamin), Ferigerator (refrigerator) or Toob Boob (Boob Tube - & yes, that shows how long ago I started saying that one!)

Now to the big one - still, to date, this is the most embarrassing one & gawd I hope it stays that way!

I was 13 years old. Remember how impressionable you were at age 13? I had many friends that were a few years older than me. One such girl was Kerry. Kerry had a car ! That was impressive when you were 13.

Ok, so I am standing outside the church hall where I practiced my callisthenics. It is also called Physical Culture in Australia. Click here to see what it is if you are unsure. Damn I was good at Physie. Even represented my home town on a few occasions. Anyway, back to the story.

I was outside the hall with three other girls. I was introducing two friends, the same age as me, to Kerry. Oddly enough, I can clearly recall so much. Where the sun was in the sky, where we were standing, where Kerry's car was parked... so many details.

So off I went with the intro, this is Cheryl Kranz, this is Jayne Fedorif and this is Kerry Hunt... all sounds good doesnt it?

EXCEPT.. I didnt say Kerry Hunt.. spoonerisms kicked in at the most unfortunate time and I said " Herry Kunt" .. Herry, said with my accent, sounds like Hairy........

I was mortified.

For all the details of my surroundings that I can recall immediatly prior to the introductions, I can not remember at all what happened after I completed that sentence. I am at a total loss to retrieve that memory. As much as I have tried, I have no idea of what was said (if anything) afterwards - nothing at all.

Nothing, except that there was a small crack in the concrete on the ground between my shoes and the sensation of my face going red as a beetroot.

The innocence of what I said haunted me for a long time. In truth, yes I swore, all kids swear, but I NEVER used that word... never - infact I still dont .. maybe that is why?

One thing though, I do NOT recall seeing Kerry very often after that spoonerism episode! Wonder why? Still, she didnt beat my head to a pulp so thats a plus!



damn it, think bubble wont attach to head... think that says anything?

Ok thats my personal admission for the day.

Terribly sad news

Mel is my dear friend, I have known her for 10 years and I love her dearly.

Yesterday I read Mel's blog.

I often check in to see how she is going, it's one of our vehicles of communication.

I know her so well that in my head, I can often hear her voice reciting what I read when I view her blog.

I frequently howl with laughter at the chronicles of her life.

Yesterday was different.

I quote from her latest post.

"I am a little bit behind and confused at the moment. So many different hurts around me.. "

"I learnt a friend had lost her son in a tragic... well accident is the wrong word. An accident is an unforseen event. It isnt an accident that if you drive under the influence of prescription drugs you can cause something horrible."

"I just feel rather lost..."

I felt .... for want of a better term, a terrible sadness came over me.

I know by Mel writing this, something really awful had happened. Mel cares deeply for her friends and always shares their pain - sometimes to her own detriment. (before she says it - yes I do that myself too. Birds of a feather eh?)

I left a message for Mel saying -

"Just remember, one step at a time Mel, try to combat everything at once and you will continue to feel lost. Baby steps through you whole life, has hurt no one :) Hugs"

Obviously, someone Mel knew had lost their child.

As a mother myself, my heart instantly went out to this lady. I had no idea of whom it was nor whom the child was.

I have dealt with the loss of loved ones in my life, parents, friends, acquaintances - but I just knew it was far too painful to imagine myself in the shoes of someone who lost a child.

I can sympathise, but not empathise.

Empathy would mean having to imagine myself going through the emotions this mother was experiencing. That is.... unconscionable - I simply can not ideate that scenario. My mind stops me before I can get there. Self protection, no doubt.

Last night, Mel phoned me.

I DO know this lady.
I DID know this child.

Phuck.......

I sit here now with fingers on my worn keyboard.. but I simply do not know what to type next.

I still feel all the things I did before I knew that it was Beckles who had lost her son but now... now it is different.

Faces.....Memories ........ laughter shared with Beckles over many years, replace the anonymity I saw in the newspapers. The story about the death of two teenage boys who died for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. No other reason.

My heat breaks for you Becca. May your precious memories of Nathan be with you always.

Rest in peace gorgeous child.

That is all I can say.

I'm sure this needs no explaining !

For anyone who takes offence to that... well I say stiff shit.

I am not religious but I have the utmost respect for those who are.

In saying that, if you cant laugh at yourself.. thats sad.

awww so cute !

I saw this today and just HAD to share it.

I'm sure this is one home video that the child wont be embarrassed about when he (?) gets older.

Laughter is good for you... indulge yourself :)

Good ol' Ronnie

Got this from some Pizzaland nut in an email..
I hope he wasnt planning on posting this in his blog - Oh well.. too bad how sad ! hee hee Mwah!


Nut boy doesnt know who Ronnie Barker is so I have supplied this link so he and anyone else that doesnt know him can find out more about him!

To all of you who already know him, you know that Ronnie Barker was one hell of a funny man. A very modest man who penned much more than we were aware of at the time. He kept many alias but one in particular, Gerald Wiley. The comedy writing fraternity were apparently in a frenzy trying to work out who the writer really was - as his work was so good but no one had ever met the man in person.

I was raised on 'Ronnie' humor. (Thanks mum!)

Ronnie died in 2005 but his wit will live on for quite some time on the screen and in the minds of many.

This was the email - I hope you enjoy this as much as I did !

This text is attributed to Ronnie Barker. If you know who he is (I don't, and frankly can't be assed to google him atm lol), you can imagine how much funnier he would have recited it. Though not technically spoonerisms, it made me chucking fortle!

"This is the story of Rindercella and her sugly isters.
Rindercella and her sugly isters lived in a marge lansion.
Rindercella worked very hard frubbing sloors, emptying poss pits, and shivelling shot.
At the end of the day, she was knucking fackered.
The sugly isters were right bugly uggers.
One was called Mary Hinge, and the other was called Betty Swallocks; they were really forrible huckers; they had fetty sweet and fetty swannies.
The sugly isters had tickets to go to the ball, but the cotton runts would not let Rindercella go.
Suddenly there was a bucking fang, and her gairy fodmother appeared. Her name was Shairy Hithole and she was a light rucking fesbian. She turned a pumpkin and six mite wice into a hucking cuge farriage with six dandy ronkeys who had buge hollocks and dig bicks.
The gairy fodmother told Rindercella to be back by dimnlight otherwise, there would be a cucking falamity.
At the ball, Rindercella was dancing with the prandsome hince when suddenly the clock struck twelve.
"Mist all chucking frighty!!!" said Rindercella, and she ran out tripping barse over ollocks, so dropping her slass glipper.
The very next day the prandsome hince knocked on Rindercella's door and the sugly isters let him in. Suddenly, Betty Swallocks lifted her leg and let off a fig bart. "Who's fust jarted??" asked the prandsome hince.
"Blame that fugly ucker over there!!" said Mary Hinge.
When the stinking brown cloud had lifted, he tried the slass glipper on both the sugly isters without success and their feet stucking funk.
Betty Swallocks was ducking fisgusted and gave the prandsome hince a knack in the kickers. This was not difficult as he had bucking fuge halls and a hig bard on.
He tried the slass glipper on Rindercella and it fitted pucking ferfectly.
Rindercella and the prandsome hince were married.
The pransome hince lived his life in lucking fuxury, and Rindercella lived hers with a follen swanny. "


I dare anyone to not laugh when reading that !

Remind me to post about my trouble with spoonerisms - and may Miss Hunt forgive me !

Orroo for now :)

SNAP dragon...

These were my results

You Are a Snapdragon
"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."You Are a Snapdragon

Snapdragon...

Snap.. .. yes I snap at people...

Dragon? well, I've been called worse !

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Wulkuraka

Took a road trip up north (& inland) yesterday.

We did rather well, found our way there with out getting lost which is always a bonus :D

Went to historical place called Wulkuraka which is just west of Ipswich in South East Queensland. My brother in law (who I will refer to as BIL) lives there on a HUGE property (approx 140 acres I think). We only explored a small section of it yesterday as SOMEONE (namely me) did not wear suitable foot attire. Der !

Wulkuraka was quite a major crossroad in the golden olden days of Australia. I tried to find some interesting facts on the net about it - found this but most of what I found only refers to the region once the train came into play. Prior to that, it was a coach stop - yes, coach as in horse & buggy type thing ! The original coach stop hut is still standing and is located on the property I visited.

Here it is.

Aint it quaint?

It is amazing to me that the historical society of the region has not taken possession of it - or moved it to somewhere with other museum type thingies (thingies - thats a technical term btw).

In saying that, I would imagine that much of the original wood work would not take too kindly to being moved.

The original floor boards are still there too.. that surprised me. The weather can be quite harsh there. They have been in drought until recently. Typical Australia, drought then flood.. drought then flood.. and.. repeat after step one...

As you can see by the photo, it has been used for storage on the property for many many years - understandable, but such a shame the old place wasn't maintained.

BIL cooked us a Hungi (or Hangi as some seem to call it) This is a traditional Māori cooking technique now only used for special occasions. Banana tree leaves are used to stop the hot rocks from burning the food. Banana leaves get very burnt..lol


A shoulder of pork and lots of fresh vegetables.. yum ! We had the best home grown butternut pumpkin. Brought lots of fresh picked ones home too ! Pumpkin soup this week guys! I wont do a Mel - I wont make pumpkin icecream ! hahahah (yes, she really did that once - that poor grandchild will be scarred for life I tell ya!)



There are a few Kangaroos that frequent the front paddock. BIL sees them most every day, both morning & evening. They are getting used to him now and come in fairly close to him. They did not come out to play when I was there but here is a photo that BIL took a while ago.

Seems like a nice family - but don't be fooled into thinking that you could walk up and pat them.. they are wild animals and can be quite agressive. That great big male (over 6ft tall btw) wouldn't think twice about defending his family... and in the process... possibly disembowling you!

All we saw of them yesterday was roo foot prints by the dam

The owner of the neighbouring property obviously has quite the soft spot for the local roos because he has built them a shelter ! Check this out ! See the humpty style lump of greenery? Its hollow on the inside ....

Nice cosy home for roos in the rough weather eh?

As we walked down to the big dam we came across much of the local ant population.

I have the bites to damn well prove it !

This is a big ant nest - with big ants. Not nice little ones..big buggers. Im not totally sure what kind of ants they are.. but let me tell you .. the bastids jump ! Which in turn makes you jump, and when you jump near an ants nest..what happens? Yeeeees.. more ants come to see what the commotion is all about.. more ants - more jumping - more bites....I got out of there VERY fast let me tell you.

Now, for the Pièce de résistance ! Check this baby out !

This is a female Golden Orb Spider. The info on that link says that the body (just the body) can grow to 23mm - I'm telling you this was bigger than that. Much bigger. With legs spread, it would have to be close to my hand span. Anyone hate spiders? lol I can feel you squirming in your chair now!

In this next shot, you can also see the male. Look at the end of her back legs.. see the little fellow? Don't forget, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.


He is much smaller that the female as you can see - I guess she wears the pants in that family eh? The web of a Golden Orb has a yellow tinge - hence Golden Orb name. The web is so damn thick.. it is extrodinary... incredibly thick. I think the web worries me more than the spider to be honest - they are awful when you walk into them.. *note* I said walk INTO them, not through them - as they are very strong. I recall almost 'bouncing' out of one when I was a child. I was running through the scrub and ran in between two trees. I don't think it was a golden orb spider as it was in South Australia, but I will NEVER forget that incident. *shivers*

Those spiders can and, if really annoyed,will bite. Will not kill you, but dear oh dear, what a mess they can make of your skin ! Check this out.

Necrotising arachnidism: Progressive ulceration and loss of skin around the site of a biting by a number of araneomorph spider species. Its cause is uncertain and for this reason no fully effective treatments are available at the present time.
NO treatments at the present time... whoa ! Didnt know THAT when I was upclose taking photos !

I can't actually work out if that is someones hairy leg.. or ... or what appendage that is!

Ok, lets end this on a nicer note. This section is especially for Mel.

The ducks. Oh they are so cute but typical for real wild ducks, we could not get close to them. This photo was taken from across the dam (gotta love the zoom on my camera!- as that was as close as we could get to them.

They waddled off and sat in the shade in the next paddock while we examined the area.


They really made me laugh because as they waddled off, they voiced their disaproval of our arrival by making a mumbling grumbling quacky sound.

Mother duck said.....

"Quack Quack Quack Quack

Sod off of my territory and dont come back !"

Ha ! I swear she said worse than that!

Yibbider Yibbider, thats all folks!

Take care & I'll be back soon

Happy Australia Day 2008!

Hmm, meant to put this in the last post, but hey - if I do two posts, it makes it look like I have done more work?

Not convinced?

Oh well, bite me.

Anyway, I was sent this photo a while ago by a good friend.

Considering all the rain (see, flooding) that we have had locally, I thought this photograph was appropriate. So good to know that, at least in some parts of Australia, the drought has been broken.

Ok, bedtime now :)

Oh, and its raining !

The catch up

Ok Ok OK !

Yes I know I have been remiss when it comes to my blog.

After much public pressure (ok, so only 5 people have complained) I thought it best to put cyber pen to cyber paper and bring this blog up to date.

Now, what to talk about? Hmm?

*pregnant pause with musical interval as I consider my options here*

Well I have been job hunting. Gee, that’s fun.

I have never, ever, in my life had any problems in finding a job – until now.

At first, I guess I was being a bit choosey. My bad.

My bad, yes but – holy shit let me give you an example a job that I turned down in December.

Let’s see, would I like a position of office manager that supervises 7 other staff members? A position that also entails being personally responsible for all of the company’s monies – accounts in & out, payroll, taxation, superannuation etc?

Sure I can do that.

The workplace was quite close to home, just over the border. Excellent eh? Crossing the state border each day can be a pain in the rear during daylight savings time (6 months of the year) as there is a one hour time difference.. but hey, I can handle that.

If I was to accept this position, the company wanted a firm 12 month employment commitment. I asked why. They said that they had, in the past, had difficulties keeping someone in the position. That rang alarm bells to me, so I asked more questions.

Eventually we get around to discussing wages. What were they offering me per hour?

$14.56 per hour – Gross.

I don’t even want to THINK what that is AFTER tax!

To put that into perspective, I could get a job working on a check out or stacking shelves in a supermarket, with a smidgeon of the responsibility of this job and get paid $17.00 per hour. That’s $2.44 more per hour - nearly $100 more per week to stack shelves than to run company finances!

Accepting personal responsibility for an entire company’s finances can be quite a duty – but I for one, expect to be paid accordingly for that responsibility and not to be paid less than a check out chick (with all due respect to check out chicks !)


I told this ‘gentleman’ at the interview that I wasn’t surprised that he had trouble keeping someone else in the job. That was an insulting hourly rate for the position he was offering.
But.. would it?

I left quite soon after that.......

*sigh*

Other jobs I have gone for I have been told that I am over qualified.

OVER QUALIFIED??

What the hell is that? Oh sod off ! I would much prefer to have an employee with experience and qualifications.

So, I keep applying for jobs. Filling out applications, changing my resume to suit the position.. forms, forms, forms and as for Selection criteria.. what the hell is that shit about?

Would I like some cheese to go with that whine? Yes please.

Well I think that will do for today, not very informative but hey, it’s all ya getting for now.

Hopefully soon, I can report that I am gainfully employed again.

Ooroo for now

I'm still alive !

That I am :)

I will get back to you with more details soon... ish !