Tag Archives: just for fun

Climate change and urban gymnastics

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Two years ago, Ruth laughed when I bought a summer dress the week the clocks went forward. The reason she laughed as a day later, it was blowing a gale and snowing.

Last night the clocks went forward again. I didn’t believe it, but it was almost 20 C outside this afternoon. Hard to believe that almost 2 years from those photos above, this is the same bit of our back garden (excuse the hair – I left it to dry naturally in the sunshine while I read a book sat on some paving stones in our driveway, and it needs cut!)

A building site alternative to plastic garden chairs...!

And while we’re on the subject of summer, since there has been conference gymnastics in USA this weekend (Go Gators who won SECs – gotta cheer for a team that has a British Olympian on it!), not to mention the Russian Championships and the Pacific Rims in the last week…I decided to live out my gymnastic dreams practicing some balance beam in the back garden. All dance moves of course, no tumbling for me!

One of those pointless laughing at myself while still moaning posts…

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Yep, officially have my first sinus infection of 2012. Why, why, why did it have to wait until THIS week to come?

Perhaps a quote from a text I got earlier says it all

“Hey lovely lady. Sorry to hear that you are getting the powerpoint cold again…“

Of course. I was just lulled into a false sense of security when in February (the month I usually spend hugging boxes of kleenex) I stayed well. I went into school. I was at Guides. I’ve been getting the bus to work. I even sang at Powerpoint…healthy as can be.

But being healthy the week of Powerpoint is not normal for me.

To be honest, it’s not that bad. It’s irritating, but let’s face it, I’m not dying or anything. And if I played an instrument I wouldn’t be having this moan. Because germs may make me feel like crap, but I could still play fine.

Snot + Singing = not compatible match

I was getting so annoyed at blowing my nose earlier, I invented a new coping strategy that you may find amusing:

It turns out to be much more effective than I thought it would. However, maybe not a strategy to go for on Friday night.

However, did get some stuff accomplished today. Like looking at the term ahead for Guides, chasing up my leadership pack, ordering a bunch of resources and finding out that I’m going to be a guest on one of my favourite blogs tomorrow! Oh, and I caught up on The Good Wife as I hadn’t seen last week’s episode.

I’ve stayed off drugs so I can feel the full benefits of paracetamol, sudafed, NeilMed sinus rinse and all the rest over the next two days.

I have the greater one in me (1 John 4v4) so :P to you snot demons!

 

Muppet brain

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So. After the craziness of the weekend (the entire contents of our kitchen cupboards and worktops are now in our living room…) and a very long and crazy day at work today, I’m a little bit tired. Do you ever get so tired, you get a little hyperactive?

Yeah. Me too.

I went to see The Muppets Movie yesterday afternoon with my friend, her daughter and her daughter’s friend. Now as I’ve got tired, this tune has popped into my head. Like over and over. More specifically Beaker’s mee mee mee mo!. All day long. Even when we were doing a training session on supporting people through grief after pregnancy loss tonight.

Oh dear..

I think my mother may now be despairing of me, as I got home at 10.30 p.m., saw our living room exclaimed ‘It’s like Fun House!’ (her response was ‘Except it’s not fun!!’) and randomly burst out with ‘An albeeno! A moskeeto! Mee mee mee mo!’

I’ve always loved Nirvana, and now I just love it more. Tee hee hee hee.

Over and out.

The Updated Bucket List

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So a while ago I was looking back at journals from many years ago, and found a ‘Bucket List’ I’d written. Some stuff I’d written on my bucket list I no longer care about, but I thought I’d share the updated version – including some of the stuff I’ve ticked off. :)

1. to have a home that is welcoming (I hope had this from 2004-07 & wish to again)

2. to get a good education and a good degree at university (Class of 2006!)

3. to have lots of good friends (but more are welcome)

4. to visit South Africa, to work in South Africa (visited Durban in 2009)

5. to visit Ghana

6. to road trip across the USA & visit Wilmington, NC.

7. to visit Australia, to live in Australia (visited in 2007)

8. to hug a koala (Anzac Day 2007)

9. to learn to surf (2007 – though I’m sure I’ve already forgotten how to now!)

10. to get a tattoo

11. to get my navel pierced (done at New Year 2001, taken out the day of my abortion, and it’s not getting redone!)

12. to get a good job that helps other people & I enjoy doing (I’ve been lucky enough to have more than one!)

13. to dance en pointe (sponsored by animal wool & Boots Plaster strips)

14. to be able to do the splits

15. to find a 4-leaf clover

16. to see the artistic gymnastics competition live at an Olympic games

17. to visit Munich, Berlin & the Black Forest in Germany (visited Summer 2001)

18. to visit Paris, Verseilles & Lyon in France (visted Paris & Lyon in Summer 2001)

19. to visit Athens and other parts of Greece

20. to tour around Italy

21. to write a book

22. to visit New Zealand

23. to learn to ski & snowboard

24. to learn how to rock climb

25. to do something sporty for charity

26. to go to Barcelona, Madrid, Seville in Spain (visited Barcelona in April 2005)

27.to backpack around Europe (Summer 2001)

28. To camp out & drive a VW Camper van

29. To be on Top Gear (or better yet drive Top Gear test track!)

30. to learn how to play guitar or piano (or was learning until I damaged the tendons in my left wrist!)

31. to foster babies until they can be restored to their mothers.

32. to be on the set of Home & Away

33. to meet Ray Meagher (met November 2011)

34. To have a big party with bouncy castle, jelly and ice cream with all my friends young and older. Online friends included. :)

35. To give an inspirational talk at an event of some sort.

36. To cartwheel on as many beaches as possible.

37. To go on a spa day

38. To be in the Edinburgh Festival

39. To do a postgraduate qualification.

40. To make the world a better and more fun place to be in.

What’s on your bucket list? Is there anything you think I should add to mine?

The Giant Stuffed Koala reloaded

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So it was Australia Day this week, and I changed my profile pic on facebook to this picture (as I’ve done for the last 2 years on Australia Day).

My Mum’s response?

“please do not bring a koala that size home. No room.“

My retort?

“I’ll just have to get a house in Australia for it then. ;) “

My Mum has a fear of me moving ‘too far away’ (note to blog readers, when I chose to go to university 2.5 hours away you might have thought I was moving to the ends of the earth). So she backtracked..

“No need we can put him in the hut and let him eat the hedge instead.“

I’m wondering if the builders can put in some eucalyptus in our garden. To replace the hedge. And then at some point I’m going to have to get a giant stuffed koala from Sydney to Edinburgh.

Oh what a sleekit horrible beastie

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Today is the birthday of Robert Burns (Rabbie Burns as we call him in Scotland). My friend posted this poem written in Scots – a parody of one of Rabbie’s most famous poems. It’s already had about 11 ‘likes’ on facebook by 9 a.m. from fellow Scots. Mainly because, well it’s true. Haggis, neeps and tatties do create a little bit of wind…! And us Scots seem rather fond of toilet humour. Oh dear. Anyway, Happy Burns Day!

Oh what a sleekit horrible beastie,
Lurks in yer bellie efter a feastie,
Just as ye sit doon among yer kin
There starts to stir an enormous wind.

The neeps and tatties and mushy peas
Start working like a gentle breeze
But soon the pudding wi’ the sauncie face
Will hae ye blawin’ a’ ower the place

Nae matter whit the hell ye dae
a’body’s gonnae hae tae pay
Even if ye try tae stifle
it’s like a bullet oot a rifle

Hawd yer bum ticht tae the chair
Tae try tae stop the leakin’ air
Shift yersel fae cheek tae cheek
Pray tae god it disnae reek

But a’ the efforts go asunder
Oot it comes like a clap o’ thunder
Ricochets arrond the room
Michty me! a sonic boom

God almighty it fairly reeks
A’ hope a’ huvnae shit ma breeks
Tae the bog a’ better scurry
Whit the hell, it’s no ma worry

A’body roon aboot me choakin’
One or two are nearly boakin’
I’ll feel better for a while
Cannae help but raise a smile

It wis him! I shout and glower
Alas too late, he’s just keeled ower
Ye dirty bugger! They shout and stare
I’m no tha’ welcome any mair

Where e’re ye go let yer wind gang free
Tha’ sounds jist the joab fir me
Whit a fuss at Rabbie’s party
Ower the sake o’ one wee farty.

We’re having another party – and you are cordially invited!

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I love parties. I love having friends over and taking part in parties. Having our ‘Community’ blog party in September here was so much fun, I thought I’d try and have another one. So during the 12 days before and after Christmas Day, we’re having a ‘Christmas’ blog party.

Once again, I have a whole mixture of people with a whole mixture of thoughts. Because some of them asked for a ‘prompt’ I thought I’d show you the list, which lots of friends contributed to over facebook and twitter.

Holly

Jesus

Pagans

Hanukkah

Hogmanay

New Year

Beach

Summer

Family

Home

Brussel Sprouts

Nativity

Saviour

Hope

Stuffing

Decorations

Advent

Illegitimacy

Angels

Journey

Snow

Gifts

Star

Children

Birth

Traditions

There’ll be rants, anecdotes, recipes and who knows what else. And if you’d like to get in on the action, please do get in contact (which you can find out how to do on the ‘about laura anne‘ page). Even if you don’t want to contribute with a post, I hope you do pop in as others share by commenting on their posts!

Of course, I’ll also be (re)sharing some of my winter recipes (and maybe some summery ones to for my friends in the southern hemisphere) and having my annual nativity story rant (because it is tradition). Meanwhile, for those of you who like to see my ‘Edinburgh at Christmas‘ pictures, some new ones are over at my other blog. Plus a brand new ‘Translator‘ post for my Americaneze speaking friends!

Oh, and if anyone feels like contributing some storytelling of ‘The Night Before Christmas‘ we’ve only got Australia, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England represented so far. I think we need some more accents!! If you can make a vimeo/youtube video, let me know so I can add you to the collection for Christmas Eve!

The day we met Alf…

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We weren’t sure the day was ever going to come.

The day we would meet Alf Ray Meagher that is.

But it did.

At 8.30 a.m. me and my rolly suitcase & wee rucksack went down the brae as fast as we could to catch the Airlink bus to Waverley Station. It took forever for the bus to come, and forever to get through all the tramworks and traffic lights, but with time to grab a bottle of water, bag of crisps and some grapes at Boots I made it to my 9.30 a.m. train to London.

I sat next to two lovely ladies who I got chatting to (me? chat? I know it’s shocking, isn’t it?), and surprisingly we arrived at Kings Cross a few minutes early. Off I went to top up my Oyster card and navigate the London Underground to Bayswater where Ruth & I had booked an apartment. Apartment found (with free wi-fi – hurrah!) I dumped my stuff, changed into slightly smarter clothes and went to meet Ruth at Paddington. Back to Bayswater so Ruth could dump her stuff, and off we went to Leicester Square to meet Mike, Rebecca and Oli.

To say we were excited was a teeny weeny ickle bit of an understatement.

Off to Chinatown, and we got chinese food in a restaurant. At this point I would show you the picture of the receipt we got that I picked up to work out how much I owed to discover the whole thing was written in Chinese.

But I accidentally deleted off my camera.

Which means the embarrassment of the waiter coming over and seeing me take a picture of the receipt in Chinese was all for nothing (except the entertainment of Mike, Rebecca, Ruth & Oli who laughed a lot at me & the bemused waiter who probably didn’t know that it was all for blog storytelling).

Then we met my friend Mike and it was time to take our seats!!!! eeeee!!!!

The show was amazing. The costumes were brilliant. The script was hilarious. The choreography was just right in helping tell the story and matching the crazy costumes. The set was so well done. The only thing that let them down is that sometimes you couldn’t hear what they were singing. I’m not sure if it was the actors not having enough strength in their voice or an issue with the sound engineering.

As soon as the show finished we went straight to the Stage Door (though my friend said goodbye to us at this point) and waited anxiously for Ray Meagher. As did a huge group of New Zealanders who had been sitting behind us.

Doors opened. Security people poked their head out – our hopes rose as we thought the moment had come and….

out walked Cliff Richard.

Eh? What?

Very confusing (he must have been in the audience we think), but we did get a giggle seeing him running away (literally) from some people chasing him for an autograph.

Mitzi came out (or as I call him ‘Lachlan Fraser’ – yes, another Home & Away star starred in Priscilla too!) and looked disappointed that none of us Alf Stewart fans asked him for an autograph.

Then the moment….

He was super nice. We told him how we’d tried to come down last year. He thanked us for coming to see the show. He told us that Kate Ritchie (Sally) was doing well and how her Mum had been to see him the other week, and when I asked him how they’d written out Alf so he could come do Priscilla, he assured me that Alf was not going to jail again. (Phew!)

After that we got our picture beneath ‘the shoe’ and we headed for the tube station and parted ways. With ‘We met Alf!‘ being exclaimed every now and then.

I confess it took about 2 hours before I had calmed down (sorry Ruth!) and Rebecca let me use her phone where I did wake up my Mum just to tell her that Ray Meagher said ‘Hello’. Gotta love my Mum who answered the phone not with ‘Hello‘ but with ‘So, you met Alf then?’ (because who else would be phoning at 11 p.m. but her insane daughter).

So now we’ve crossed that off of our ‘bucket lists’. What next?

I’m thinking a trip to Summer Bay Palm Beach, Australia – don’t you? ;)

How Noah flew to the moon

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In the last month my godson has officially made ‘minister’s kid’ status. My friend is now a Probationary Minister with ‘the kirk’ (as we call it in Scotland) in the church another friend is the Minister at. I love it when my prayer turns out to be God’s plan!! Apparently my friends were having lunch with the minister’s family (also friends of mine) who had asked them how they knew me. The Minister’s wife apparently exclaimed ‘Oh!!!! Your son is Elastababy!!!!” as they put two and two together meeting my friends, and recognising their children from photos on facebook.

Hee hee.

Anyway. The pressure to be a good godparent is really on now.

Last summer, the one known as ‘Elastatoddler’ came to the conclusion that the wise men brought the baby Jesus cupcakes when I read his nativity storybook with him.

Well. Tonight I was on the bedtime story duty again.

After ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar‘ (excellent choice Elastatoddler!) he pulled out a storybook of ‘Noah and the Ark‘.

I read the first line: ‘Many years ago, there was a man who was good and faithful to God. His name was…’

Elastatoddler: ‘NOAH!!!!’

Auntie Laurie: Yes! That’s right!

Around this moment, Elastatoddler got very excited, bounced on the sofa and knocked Mr Teapot’s spaceship toy flying.

Elastatoddler: ‘And Noah built a SPACE ROCKET!’

Auntie Laurie: ‘ummm….no, I don’t think Noah built a Space Rocket’

Elastatoddler: “Yes he did! There was a flood and Noah built a Space Rocket!!!’

After some debate, we did agree that Noah had built an ark, but Elastatoddler still maintains that after Noah built an ark, he also built a Space Rocket and flew to the moon. We then moved onto a book of children’s devotions he pulled out from the bookshelf, and opened it up to the story about Jesus as a child visiting Jerusalem during Pentecost, and based on pictures is adamant that there was a castle in Jerusalem like Edinburgh castle.

Soooo, to sum up:

Three wise men brought cupcakes to Jesus when he was born.

Noah built an ark, and afterwards built a space rocket.

Jerusalem has a castle just like the one in Edinburgh.

Hopefully I did redeem my ‘Auntie/Godmother’ status by helping him with the number 4, learning how to read and some adding skills.

 

The newest Elmo on the block…

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You may already have caught a glimpse of him on twitter or facebook, but I thought I better introduce you to the newest Elmo on the block…

Sarah (my PCC partner in crime) was on holiday for the last few weeks visiting family in the USA and seeing her big bro graduate (Hey Steve if you are reading!!!). While she was in South Carolina, she spotted this wee guy and reckoned I’d give him a good home.

He’s currently sitting on top of a Dawson’s Creek boxset, leaning against the TV looking pretty chilled out.

He hasn’t really met the elmo slippers yet, I thought they’d been kidnapped and then I found them in a toybox in the centre office on Monday (!) 8O