Happy New Year!

Okay - New Year Eve here in Australia and I am just contemplating whether or not to make any resolutions this time round (I usually start off great with them and then get distracted over time. Not that I'm implying I am as blonde as once I wa.. oooh shiny thing!... erm... never mind)

So this year I may just keep it simple. 

*Work on myself (get back to my daily walks after work - it's good for my stress levels as well as my health).

*Be committed with my studies (I am doing a part time - via online - Bachelor degree. Only 9 more subjects till I graduate)

*Don't let my work rule my life and leave the stresses behind each night

*Work on my relationship

*Keep up the cheer to my adopted soldiers and decide whether to adopt any more when these ones go home (I probably will - I just hope I get more that aren't too freaked by the Strange Aussie Girl)

*Conquer the Debt monster (I think I need to refinance the mortgage this year - maybe consolidate my credit debt in to that and sort it all out)

*Work some more on my relationship (we've both gotten complaisant after seven years together)

You'll notice I'm not putting in any impossibles there - like "resist all chocolate temptation" or "strive for world peace".

My New Years hope for all my friends - Stay safe, be well, keep in touch.

And now I need to go write some "what I did on my holidays" cards to Martin & Gilbert so they have mail to return to after their Christmas leave. Take care all

Firstly... an apology

My blog comments have recently been hijacked by someone pushing their own belief system - apologies to those he's tried ranting at directly. I have now blocked him and as soon as I work out how, I'll start screening comments left before they go "live" [looks at my technical assistant with panic... how do I do that again?]

Secondly I seem to be at a loose end with the whole "Sending treats to troops" thing - one of my guys is coming home soon so gone "No Mail" - the other two are currently home on Christmas leave so I'm nervous of sending anything to them till I know they are back (the whole "ping-pong-package" thing seems so very silly).

So is there anyone you know in need of a quick Marsupial fix? (I'll even throw in some timtams).  Whizz me an email if you do

Boots!

Warning - this is a Girlie post...



My friend Kathy has just bought some boots during her recent trip to Lubbock Texas (she lives in Clovis NM so she's buying the accessories - bags/buckles et al - via mail order)

http://www.sheplers.com/womens/justin_fatbaby_gypsies/045e02.html

Not quite my style so I checked out their full range.  Mmm... wonder if I'd get disowned by the cowboy readers list I'm on if I were to get these ones instead?

http://www.sheplers.com/womens/victorian_boots/045549.html

So very very tempted

Hello.....!

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/27/zombie-hello-kitty-c.html

Bestest Christmas gift EVER!!

Some of you may know that I have a thing for Penguins. (Platonic love I swear!)

It all began years ago when a copy of Bloom County feel into my hands (mmm Opus!) and grew even more once I saw the Penguins in the movie Madagascar (My ideal penguin isn't the sort that just waddles about - I really like the ones that make things go KABOOOM!  I <3 Rico!)

So imagine my joy yesterday as I began unpacking not one, not two but THREE parcels shipped to me from California

I am now the proud owner of 4 hand made evil penguin tshirts; a soft toy , a book on evil penguins and the US special version of Madagascar!

I am feeling the Penguin love :)  - Thank you so much Vicki!

Hey Santa - are you sure you checked your list twice?

Christmas Morn here in Australia and I'm unwrapping the odd gift or two.

Turns out that >

is indeed a vacuum cleaner.

....   at least it's purple...

And Ben just said "Now you can tell everyone that my gift to you sucks" (as he proudly demonstrates the machines power).  Some days reality doesn't visit us here (possibly too scared of being beaten up)

Anyway - Merry Christmas My Friends - may YOUR gifts be of the non-domestic type!

Merry Christmas!

Tis the Night before Christmas so I thought I'd show all of you what our itty bitty tree looks like

And here's one from long ago

(why yes.. I once was that short!)

Operation Santa Stockings... 2nd delivery made!

Just received word back from the Talons that their Santa Stockings have arrived And they sent pictures!

I don't have permission to show the ones with the people but below is their designated christmas area. The fluffy stockings grouped around the tree are the ones sent by Vicki & Myself.

And they made people happy :) [I'm doing the "I helped do something good for a stranger" dance tonight]

Sadly Peace on Earth isn't happening but Good Will to all Men - and to all a Goodnight.

Pax
(downunder)

Go look...

I have seen a few of these photos before but not all of them

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/10/30/photographer-collection-david-guttenfelder-in-afghanistan/

Operation Santa Stockings - the continuing story

News just in from Izzy that the box of Santa Stockings has arrived safely to his base.  No word from Martins 2IC as yet  (I don't have the SSG's contact information - D'oh!) but I'm hopeful their batch will make it through soon.

And credit where credit is due - Vicki (the super-wonderful and massively organised) in California did all the hard work on these - she obtained the stockings and the sweets & cookies & all the extra bits; stuffed  & sent them. Pretty much all I did was supply the aussie bits & pieces and the toasty-warm things ; the name lists (since the troops are the team mates of two of my adopted soldiers) and some of the postal funds.  I think she'll be more wary next time I say "I have an idea"... :)

And now for some more pictures of a few of the things that were sent to our special troops [full contents are classified just in case this list is being monitored by those who are about to receive]

Your standard basics for troops trapped in Icy Climes - toasty toes, hothands and I think some other type of warmer too [it's been months since we started shopping for the project so brain-fuzzies on details will occur]

To the left you can see some of the multitudes of aussie toys that were sent to them. And somewhere under that pile are a batch of single serve Vegemite packs (why yes - we Aussies *do* enjoy sharing our weird national food)

The Teams are both made up of mixed troops so Vicki made sure the girls all got Pink Stockings (the boys Red or Blue ones). Final lists were thankfully sent to us in November with M or F on them averting a near pink-tragedy for one poor soul with a multi-gender-use name.

Vicki added extra sweets and cookies to fill the stockings up.

 

She also included a packet of peppermint candy canes to each box - thinking that the team could share with others on their bases or even hand out to the local children.

Gift tags were then attached to each stocking (note the glitter on them? - she hand applied the sparkles to jazz up the cards)

And finally they were all ready to ship out.

By the end of it - 23 stockings all up - containing a mix of Aussie & American items.  Sure hope the teams find them fun to open come Christmas Day.

Yay!

Ben's back from his family-obligated-trip to Canberra today - maybe I'll manage more than 3 hours of sleep a night once he's home (over-active nerves will be the death of me yet)

Sigh....

I realise that the Universe considers my life one big comedy but does it always have to involve tools into the equation?

*nothing to see here.. move along.. move along... bleeding has stopped*

:(

Mwhahahaha!

Oh that was fun! - even more tinned marsupials despatched to the unwitting.  Sadly no Kangaroos in stock :(

EDITED TO ADD... and another one organised for delivery (at this rate 1000 years from now an archeaologist will unearth one in Iraq and become extremely perplexed  *heh*)

Operation Santa Stockings is a Go!

I'll write more on this later (after my brain has recovered from a day of work frustrations and university re-enrollment dramas)

For now let me just say how amazing Vicki is to have managed to pack all the below in to boxes and lugged them off to her local US postal office. 

They should be received by Izzy & Martin (well actually Martin's 2IC since M's off home for christmas - Yay!) before the 25th and they have been told that they *can* give them out to their teams before Christmas day if anyone really needs an early pick me up

Season's Greetings - and other difficult phrases

I began filling out my Christmas cards today - and you know how you need to write a heart-felt, warming & personal note on each of them?  Yeah... epic failure of brain cells occured.  Filling out each of them I was actually thinking how this person is so super fun or loveable or insane* or goodhearted (sometimes all of the above) and trying to articulate it in to 20 words or less - but the words - they failed me.

So if you happen to receive a card from me and the message is more "Special Needs" rather than "Special Thoughts" just engage your imagination and add in a Hallmark moment of your very own

Posting out starts tomorrow

*unless it's Michael & Shell reading this - and then the sentiment is exactly as I wrote it :)  [and the tag line accurate - after all, how many Nutty Aussies do you actually know? :) ]

Scary stuff!

I don't usually blog about my adopted soldiers (found via http://soldiersangels.org/ ) but I have permission from Izzy to post about his recent Halloween adventures.

You see a few months back young Izzy (that's PV2 I. Franco to the rest of the world) asked if I could help him find a suitable halloween costume he could wear to his bases's event (he's stationed in Iraq so no chance to drop into "Costumes-R-Us"). I of course said "no problem" and then immediately contacted my guru of all things American (and evil mistress of the darkness and cookie hoarders) Vicki with a "I have no idea what to do - you guys do this holiday so seriously - HELP!"

She was her ever calming self (well actually no - she immediately found some pictures of some really REALLY horrific and *blush* naughty costumes and sent them to me with a perky "what do you think of this!")

...After I bleached my eyeballs back to normal we began again.  We worked throught a list of what Izzy's interest were (anime, Lord of the Rings, world of warcraft [he's a horde boy - see why I adore him? :D] and Star Wars) and narrowed it down to something demonic but still uber-guy looking.

We also wanted to make sure it was something he could get on & off easily and still carry his weaponry with (okay so I had the fleeting thought of him in a big pink bunny suit humping his rifle about but I resisted... I'm not that evil *gives sweet angelic look to the heckling gallery*).

Once we had a plan I forwarded gold across the seas (well via Paypal - less chance of unofficial pirates that way) and let Miss Vicki have at the various USA based vendors that would ship to her in California.

She found an excellent deal on a face mask; and a really nifty set of demon wings that extended & retracted with the wave of a claw (or maybe the pull of a string - the details elude me a bit). The chest piece was feared to be a bit on the small side for our manly hero so Vicki adjusted it all upon receipt.

And then she worried that he just wouldn't look scary enough so she obtained some really evil looking replica weapons (orcish stuff) and paid from her own pocket (somehow she's adopted my adoptee's and we all seem to be loving the dynamics)

Oh and in the mean time I sent Izzy the following picture and asked him what colour he wanted

(that bit where I said I wasn't evil?  Yeah - I lied ;D).

So as Izzy was being freaked out (but so politely - I'm sure he was worried he would hurt my feelings if he said "Hell no!") Miss Vicki was shipping off the finished outfit.

He won "Most Scary" :)

Kiwi's for the win!

This is amazing!  From the New Zealand Book Council


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_jyXJTlrH0&feature=player_embedded

Parroting on

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.


John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary. Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.

In desperation, John threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.

For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer.
The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."


John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued...
"May I ask what the turkey did?"

One for my American friends...

For those of you who are looking forward to Pumpkin Pie over Thanksgiving

Tough Kitty

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Just add water...

Over the last 6+ months I've sent a number of really odd things off to my 3 adopted boys (adopted soldiers via Soldiers Angels - http://soldiersangels.org)

This is probably the strangest - and got one of the biggest laughs (it arrived about the same time as the wading pool I sent Martin & his Team)

So.. middle of the desert.. wading pool... what else do you need but >

The Definition of RAK

RAK (aar-aa-k). Noun. Adverb. Adjective.
The Act of unexpectedly doing something nice (RAK-Random Act of Kindness).
[Dictionary of Marion-ism's]

The Definition of RAK

RAK (aar-aa-k). Noun. Adverb. Adjective.
The Act of unexpectedly doing something nice (RAK-Random Act of Kindness).
[Dictionary of Marion-ism's]

Six Truths of Life

1. You cannot touch all of your top teeth with your tongue.

2. All idiots, while reading the First Truth, will try it.

3. And they will discover that the First Truth is a lie.

4. You're smiling now because you're one of those idiots.

5. You soon will forward this to another idiot.

6. And there will still be a stupid smile on your face while you're doing it.

I do not apologize about this and I do not feel sorry about sending it to you.

I'm an idiot too and I just needed company

Dear Tech Support...

(disclaimer.. I am still trialing B 5.0 and yes - it's been a 7 year trial so far - just wish I could find the bug-fix for his aversion to Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5)

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installed many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as

NBA 5.0,
NFL 3.0 and
Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate.


DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind,
Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while
Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html, try to download Tears 6.2, and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If those applications work as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to
Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOTunder any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0-program. This is an unsupported application and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend
Cooking 3.0 and
Hot Lingerie 7.7

Good Luck!
Tech Support

Oooh Impressive Customer skills!

Just got an email from the group I am buying the new computer from.
Wanted to advise me that they had to substitute a few things in the build but that all of them were improvements on the older items.  Also advised that as the Aussie dollar is doing so well at the moment that I'll be paying about $250 *less* than first quoted.
Will definitely shop at Umart again - www.umart.com.au

New build
1 Asus VH232H 23 inch Wide Full HD 5ms HDMI SPK R4K2-59
1 Gigabyte GTS250 GTS 250 1GB, 740/2000MHz k31-5
1 Western Digital 1TB SATAII HDD 32M Cache Green Power Q1-3-83
1  Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L P45+ICH10 FSB1600 DDR2 1366+ SATA2 GbN ATX N2-2-12
1 Intel CORE 2 QUAD Q9550/2.83GHz/12MB CACHE/1333MHz FSB/LGA775 B7-2,70-3
1 Computer System -97490
1 Kingston DDR2 4(2x2G)PC6400 800Mhz - KVR800D2N5K2/4G A4-5A-32
1 LG H22NS50 SATA 22X+- Super Multi DVDR Black with Software s-q2,O3-4-54
1 Logitech X-540 5.1 Speakers System R8-16
1 Antec Nine Hundred Tower Gaming Case with side window Black(No PSU) R2F1,R2F3-20
1 Antec ATX TruePower 650W R8A2-6
1 Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard USB 2.0. T2-3-12
1 Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard USB 2.0. T2-3-12
1 Razer Diamondback 3G Earth Green Infrared Precision Gaming G3-2-2

****************
Old build
    * Intel CORE 2 Q6600/2.4Ghz/2x4MB/1066FSB/LGA775
    * Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 P45+ICH10R DDR2 1200 1600MHz PCI-E 2.0 SATAII GLA
    * Kingston DDR2 4(2x2G)PC6400 800Mhz - KVR800D2N5K2/4G
    * Western Digital 1TB SATAII HDD Green Power
    * MSI GF9800GT 512M OC GDDR3 2xDual Link DVI PCI-E 2.0
    * Asus VW222U 22 WIDE 2MS DVI/VGA Tilt Speakers HDCP Vista Premium
    * LG DVD22X+- DUAL LAYER DVD Rewriter with Software(GH22NP20) Black
    * Logitech X-530 5.1 Speakers System
    * Antec Nine Hundred Tower Gaming Case with side window Black(No PSU)
    * Antec NeoPower 650W ATX Ver2.2 & EPS12V
    * Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard
    * Razer Diamondback 3G Frost Blue Infrared Precision Gaming

It's been a good weekend

I've heard from two of my overseas friends - one via emails (he sent photos!!! :D - only been promising me some for 5 months or so) and one via Facebook I.M. Chat. Both are still safe and well and still extremely fond of cookies so this is a good thing. Ones coming home (hopefully) end of January - the Other April. Mr the-third-friend appears to be well too (he pops on to facebook now & then so I see that he's alive and kicking).

In other news - more shopping at the Hardware store for bits and pieces - current projects are - fixing an old desk of mine to make it easier to use the computer with (it's now got an underneath keyboard; a suspended holder for the hard drive and a 3 inch high edge to stop the cat from pushing things off) and the big in-built dvd/entertainment unit project that B's doing the majority of work on (I get to paint it when it's finished and installed).

And my order for new computer has been placed - should hopefully (fingers crossed) be built and ready for collection by next thursday. So soon I shall have shiny computer goodness that will hopefully last me the next 5 years (which may be the length of time it takes me to pay off the credit card debt it's been added to... opps!)

[cross-posted to Live-journal; Blogger & Facebook]

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

....Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more! [The Grinch - Dr Seuss]

Operation Santa Stocking has begun to take place - goodies of the good variety (some even aussie!) are wending their way to my friend Vicki in California to compile and contain and then to stuff into stockings (25 in all).

Then Dash away, Dash away, Dash away all

Now if only the US postal service doesn't stuff up Christmas will prove to be fun for two of my adopted soldiers and their teams :)

[and yes.. I realise it's only October but the final posting has to happen late November to make it to the middle east in time]

Eep!

Some of you might recall that I've been involved in a morale building endeavour with some of the troops currently serving overseas.

My friend Vicki (in California) and I thought it would be a great idea to organise Christmas stockings for the teams of our guys (Vicki's the one that got me involved in the first place and is a complete dynamo of RAK's  [random acts of kindness]).

In theory the idea of playing Santa seems an easy one... we figured we had 5 months lead time to get it sorted out, the stockings made and stuffed & sent on their way early December.  What we didn't take in to account was that one of my guys is a base chaplain and needs 425 stockings for his team alone. 

But now that the offers been made, we can't back away from it (better to fulfil a promise with a bit of pain then be thought of badly) so expect to find my place Elf-central in the coming months (and if you have any excess blue, red & white velveteen - care to send it my way?)
Oh and for the few of you out there that have so far expressed rage & condemnation of my involvement
in securing the harmony of the troops - BITE ME! - I'm doing this for my cosmic karma - not yours

Playing Catch up...

Let us see... since last I blogged I have -
* gone with Mr B to see the new Harry Potter movie at the Gold Class cinema  (relaxing chairs - table service of drinks and incredibly expensive munchies - limited number of people there - no kids).  It was a great experience :)

* Attended History Alive with B and friends (Craig & Narelle from his medieval group).  Saw lots of friends from my past; spent time chatting, getting hugs, giving back rubs, discussing costuming, hanging with my friend Coral and her 14th century medieval group - even saw some battles [the Scottish lads were the funniest - they'd die in slow mo and then carefully adjust their kilt-line once they hit the ground. Makes one wonder if they were wearing them *properly* ;D]. 
Highlight of the day was Coral *breaking* one of the guys in a one on one fight (she makes a very sexy 14th century warrior)

* Celebrated Mr B's birthday with actually zippo celebration (we could have gone out for lunch but he didn't want to. I offered a full roast dinner - he preferred to make goat curry instead). He seems to have enjoyed himself regardless

* Over the last week I've been a bit ill - thought it might have been the dreaded swine flu (some of the symptoms matched) but I never developed the classic flu signs so looks to be just a 24+hr type bug.  Almost over that now (still tired though)

* Arranged for the sending of a wading pool, rubber duckies and dehydrated  water to one of the US soldiers I have adopted (he's in Afghanistan - hence the needing the water ;D)

And today I need to clean the house (it has reached ground-zero bomb site grade - eep) and help B install the new window fittings so we can replace the pane of glass that broke a fortnight+ ago.

Whew... Saved by the Crazy American!

Update on my previous posting about trying to get items shipped to US military addresses.

A friend in California has agreed to be my middle-gal - so I can buy from Amazon, ship to her and have her re-ship it downrange.

Thank you Miss V!!

The World's a Global village? - I think NOT!

Sigh.. I've recently been attempting the near-impossible - vis-a-vis - finding a USA based supplier of general grocery items that will 1) ship to a US military address [I've made some new friends] and 2) accept the concept that other countries actually have reputable credit card systems.

So far I'm batting zero. Sure I can buy books and toys* from Amazon.com and ship it where-ever the heck I like - but not anything considered a standard grocery item (including non-perishible items like soap & razors). Netgrocers.com were kind enough to direct me to a "pay us to give you a false US address" company [ergh.. can we say potential scam?.. oh yes we can!]. Sure I could ship stuff from Australia - at 4 times the delivery cost; 6 weeks in the shipping and still be likely to have it confiscated by the US customs group but yeah.. I deal badly with failure.

Oh and I can actually buy US stuff for myself via Expat.com - excect they don't ship to the US itself (strangely enough they're based over there - just don't do domestic shipping).

Sigh.. guess the guys downrange are doomed to receiving the weird tea-tree shampoos & stuff that the Aussie supply companies have [I'm sure it cleans great but the smell is kind of a bit umm...]

So if any of you know of a friendly we-like-your-money-regardless-of-your-country type suppliers could you let me know?


**in about 4 weeks I'll tell you about the dastardly toy shipped out to the unsuspecting and unaware (wicked grin)