Circus Royale.

Tonight, Steve and I took the children to the Circus. We saw the Circus Royale. What a great night of entertainment was had by all.

There were acrobat's, jugglers, contortionists, tight rope walker and clowns. They had llama's, camels, cows, geese, a dog and doves as well. Christopher was very excited about going and enjoyed the show thoroughly. He held on to me very tightly though when the tight rope walker walked across the rope on stilts.

If you live in Australia and hear about Circus Royale coming to your town, go and see it. It was such a wonderful treat for our whole family.

Circus Royale Website

Meet Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy.

Get the tissues out for this one.



thanks to John Michael for emailing me the link to this

Do you have any special prayer intentions?

Last night I had an early night and read a couple of pamphlets with novena prayers on them.

One I came across was a novena to St. Therese.

A Jesuit priest, Father Putigan started this novena.

From EWTN

Father Putigan, a Jesuit, began the Novena to Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus on December 3, 1925, asking the glorious Saint for one great favor. For nine days he recited the "Glory be to the Father" twenty-four times thanking the Holy Trinity for the favors and Graces showered on Saint Theresa during the twenty-four years of her life on earth. The priest asked Saint Theresa, that as a sign that his novena was heard he would receive from someone a freshly plucked rose. On the third day of the novena, an unknown person sought out Father Putigan and presented him with a beautiful rose.

Father Putigan began the second novena on December 24 of the same year, and as a sign, asked for a white rose. On the fourth day of this novena one of the Sister-nurses brought him a white rose saying:

"Saint Theresa sent you this."
Amazed, the priest asked: "Where did you get this?"

"I was in the chapel," said the Sister, "and as I was leaving I passed the altar above which hangs the beautiful picture of Saint Theresa. This rose fell at my feet. I wanted to put it back into the bouquet, but a thought came to me that I should bring it to you."

Father Putigan received the favors he had petitioned of the Little Flower of Jesus, and promised to spread the novena to increase devotion to, and bring her more honor.

In this fashion, from the ninth to the seventeenth of each month, those who want to participate in the Twenty-four "Glory be to the Father's" novena, should add to those of their own, the intentions of all who are at that time making the novena, thus forming one great prayer in common.

I thought it would be good for those in the Catholic Blogging community to join together in prayer. We can pray for all our needs together. If you want to join in or have a special intention that you want everyone to pray for, leave it in the comment box.

I think it would be good to get lots of people involved in this so put it on your blogs too. Lets spread the word and join in prayer together.

Therese

Wordless Wednesday

Giving Thanks on Tuesdays.

I give thanks to God for all my children, my husband and all my extended family.

I give thanks to God for all the other home schooling mothers that left advise and helped me last week when I felt like giving up home schooling.

I give thanks to God for all the good food we have to eat and that we have never known hunger.

I give thanks to God that I am able to home school Tom and Amelia and that I am able to spend so much time with them.

I give thanks for all medication and devices we have to look after Tom's diabetes and that his blood sugars are so well controlled.

Hey hey it's Saturday.

Well it isn't Saturday today, it is Monday.

I couldn't think of anything really exciting to write tonight and I started looking through you tube video's from the past.

One of my favourite programs to watch was hey hey it's Saturday.

Every Saturday night it was on in many of my friends homes. It had many different segments and was pretty funny and entertaining.

I looked through lots of different segments. There was the good old Red faces which was anyones chance to come on and do a skit of some kind and where some people were lucky enough to get noticed and become quite popular. There was also pluka duck, funny foto's and lots of jokes.

Enjoy these two segments.

The Golden Compass.

I am sure many of you have heard about this book by Philip Pullman. I haven't read them or seen the movie but I have heard enough to know that it isn't something I want my children to see.

We got a note from one of our children's teachers telling us that they were going to be watching some movie's over the next few weeks and one of the movies on the list was the Golden Compass. I felt sick when I read the note. We know that the movie is anti Christian and presents the church in a bad light. Why the heck would anyone want to show this movie to a group of children?

We have given permission for our child to watch all the movies except The Golden Compass and written a letter explaining what is wrong with the movie to the teacher and why we won't let our child watch it.

I find it a bit frightening that secularism is so ingrained into our society that someone doesn't think it is wrong to show a movie like this in a Catholic School.


If anyone is interested in reading a bit more about the movie and why it shouldn't be promoted and watched by young children Catholic Answer's has a great article on it.

Happy Birthday Brigette.

Today Brigette turns 11. She was born on the feast of Mary, Help of Christians who is the patroness of Australia.

Happy Birthday Brigette. We are glad you are a part of our family. Your dad and I both hope you have a good day today and a good year.

Please join us in prayer.

Easter from Mostly Prayers
has a thread asking for prayers for those unemployed.

Please pray for the unemployed

Please go to her blog and join us all in praying the prayer to St. Joseph for all those that are without work and means to support their families.

From the comment box. Thanks Louise.

Tonight I want to post a bit more as a follow up to my previous post:

Do you ever feel like you want to give up?

Louise from Purcell's Chicken Voluntary made an excellent comment that made me think quite a bit today. I have realized many things from Louise's post so just wanted to comment on it and respond to it a bit here.

Louise's comments are in bold italics.

Maybe organising some time with their friends after school and on weekends might help on that score.

this would be good and I have approached a couple of mothers. Life just seems to get in the way of this. Hopefully it will happen sometime.


I opt for a very relaxed way of homeschooling myself and I know for a fact that a more rigidly structured style really burns me out - I have tries it.

You are probably like me (if you're a SHE!) and you may personally prefer flexibility over routine.

Yes. I am definitely a she. I do tend towards too much flexibility though.

Perhaps you could (just a suggestion here) spend a week or two doing just your Flylady morning and evening routines and perhaps the 15 minute declutter/ or Kelly Mission. Oh, and there is the laundry I suppose! But you could do that in 15 minute lots if you wanted and the kids could help (if they don't already).

You could, after your morning routine, gather the kids for a bit of prayer time (not too much - whatever you're comfortable with - baby steps!) and then set the timer for 15 mins maths, 15 mins English, either all the kids or just one at a time and alternate with some activities that *you* really enjoy! Why not set the timer for 15 minutes and say, "okay kids, have fun for 15 minutes and keep an eye on Christopher, while I do X."

You are obviously a beautiful, creative soul (and a SHE!) so work *with* that, not against it.

These are some great suggestions Louise. Thanks. I realized today that I do tend to work against being a she in several ways.

I don't know about you, Therese, but having a whole day of routine, day after day, makes me want to jump off a bridge. Really.

I think with me, this happens if we are doing the same thing every day. So when I plan routines, I plan a week ahead and try to vary the days.

Last term I had my morning routine, my home school timetable and an evening routine. Most days between 3 and 5.30 were unstructured except for running children to after school activities. It is definitely something I need. A time that I can sit and do nothing if I choose too.

Unfortunately, when it comes to homeschooling, we often expect ourselves (and others expect us) to be "structured" because we think this equals "organised." But it is possible to be organised, yet not very structured. Getting the balance right between all strucute, and no structure is probably a life-long journey for homeschooling SHEs! I often "tweak" what we do and how we're doing it.

I think what I worry about is the children will not be getting educated if we don't do abc in a certain order everyday. I think I worry about them falling behind other children their age and not really learning academically.

I am really aware that last term because I set a routine for the mornings that was the same day in day out they learnt really quickly that this was the way it was going to be and just got on and did it without arguing with me about it (after the first two to three weeks). I am finding myself fighting them more this term and they are doing less. I know I need to be firmer and deal out consequences for bad behaviour. I think it isn't the fact that we are home schooling that makes me want to give up, it is the fact that I haven't been firm enough with the children in setting the expectation.

Sorry this has been a long comment and feel free to ignore everything I've written, as it is mostly just my own experience coming through.

Thank you for your comment. It really made me think through what the real issue was.

Alphabet meme.

Esther from A Catholic Mom in Hawaii tagged me for this meme. Thanks Esther.

A: Amelia's mum
B: Brigette's mum
C: Christopher's mum
D: Daniel's mum
E: Eggs for breakfast
F: Fly baby.
G: Generous
H: Helpful
I: Insightful
J: Joyful
K: Kinky hair
L: Lovable
M: Madeline's mum
N: Nurture my children.
O: Original
P: Perky
Q: Queer
R: Religious
S: Sam's mum
T: Thomas' mum
U: Unbelievable
V: Violet is one of my favourite colours.
W: Warm weather is the best.
X: Xylophone is something I would like to learn to play.
Y: Yachting is something I would like to do too.
Z: Zoo. Sometimes it feels like our house is one of these.

I tag:

Alexandria
JoAnn
Uncle Jim
Ebeth
Rachel

Things that make you go hmmm.

Stewardesses' is the longest word
typed with only the left hand.

And 'lollipop' is the longest word typed
with your right hand.

(Bet you tried this out mentally, didn't you?)

No word in the English language rhymes with
month , orange, silver, or purple.

' Dreamt' is the only English word that ends in the letters 'mt'.
(Are you doubting this?)

our eyes are always the same size from birth,
but our nose and ears

never stop growing.

The sentence: 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'
uses every letter of the alphabet.
(Now, you KNOW you're going to try this out for accuracy, right?)

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right
or right to left (palindromes).
(Yep, I knew you were going to 'do' this one.)

There are only four words in the English language which end in 'dous': tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

(You're not possibly doubting this, are you ?)

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.'
(Yes, admit it, you are going to say, a e i o u)

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
(All you typists are going to test this out)

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds .

(Some days that's about what my memory span is.)

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.
(I know some people that could do this too.!)

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

(I know some people like that also . Actually I know A LOT of people like this!)

Babies are born without kneecaps.

They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast,
the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise liner, QE 2,

moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
(Good thing he did that.)

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls
froze completely solid .

There are more chickens than people in the world.

Winston Churchill

was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Now you know more than you did before!!

The Rain-Thomas Kinkade


This is a Thomas Kinkade painting It's rumored to carry a miracle!
They say if you pass this on, you will receive a miracle.

I am passing this on because I thought it was really pretty,

and besides, who couldn't use a miracle?

Thanks to Jean from Catholic Fire for emailing me this.

What is your blogging type?

Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious

You're an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends. People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support. You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone. You have a great eye for design - and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Wow. It is nice to know that my blog is one of the nice looking ones. Of course, nice looking is so subjective. Some people may think my blog looks awful.

H/T to Rachel from Chasing Butterflies.

Do you ever feel like you want to give up?

We had a two week holiday 4 weeks ago. It went too fast. I really didn't feel too motivated to start school again and I am finding it increasingly difficult to motivate myself.

For the first three weeks we did an adequate amount of work on Monday, a little less on Tuesday and as the week wore on I just didn't make the children do anything except their reading, writing and maths. As well as the home schooling, I am not motivated at all to do any house work.I am only doing what has to be done.

Today is Monday again. We did all the lessons that I had prepared. I think every weekend, you just have to get up and do it this week. No more procrastinating and I plan my week.

Tomorrow we have

Religion, Maths, literacy, Reading, Spelling and cooking in our lesson plans. Last Tuesday we didn't do the cooking lesson and the children's literacy was pretty minimal. They ran outside and played while I did some reading and sewing in the afternoon.

I am finding that the enjoyment that I had before is not there. I don't really want to teach the children as much as I did last term. I know that home schooling is better for them but I just don't have the motivation for it as much.

So I want to know what other home school families do when they are not motivated? How do you get over these humps and get enthusiastic again? How do you stay motivated when you don't want to do anything?

One of my big concerns is the children are picking up my lack of enthusiasm and they have said a couple of times, why can't we go back to our old school? I really don't know what to say to them when they say this so I just say well it is good for us to learn all together and spend time together.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Therese

Another quiz.

I saw this one on Jessica's blog and wanted to do it.

What time is your alarm clock set to? either 5.30 or 6.00. I often cannot get up at that time though.

What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? their looks.

Do you think people talk about you behind your back? Yes.

What movie do you know every line to? Probably Shrek and The sound of music.

What is your favorite movie? A wonderful life.

Is anyone in love with you? Yes.

Do you eat breakfast daily? Yes.

Do you sleep on your side, stomach or back? usually on the side and my back.

Who was the last person to make you mad? a person that made an ignorant comment on a blog I was reading.

Are you a lover or a fighter? Lover I suppose. I hate confrontation.

Are you a morning or evening person? Evening.

Are you a cuddler? Yes

Are you a perfectionist? Yes.

Have you ever wrote a poem? No.

Do you have more guy or girl friends? Girls

Piercings? 1 in my ear but I rarely wear earing's.

Do you have a tattoo? No

Are you patient? No.

Do you miss anyone right now? My family.

Tea or coffee? coffee.

Regularly burn incense? no.

Ever been in love? Yes and will be for a long time.

Best room for a fireplace? lounge room

What do you do when you're sad or upset? sulk.

Afraid of heights? Not really.

Can you change the oil in your car? No.

Favorite flower? Sturt Desert Pea's and Frangipani

Favorite hangout? The arid lands coffee lounge.

Middle name? Angela

Most romantic sounding language? I think french.

Ever been overseas? Not yet but I hope too.


I want to see what others would answer so I am tagging some for this quiz.

I tag;

Kimberly

Jane

Esther

and

Lynn

Received in an Email.

I got sent this. At first I thought it was an urban legend. I looked it up on the net and couldn't find it so maybe it is true. My guess is that it wasn't really written by a girl from Geelong since Australian schools haven't ever done the Pledge of Allegiance except for singing the National Anthem. (Advance Australia Fair).

I like the prayer though.


BY A 15 yr. old SCHOOL KID IN GEELONG VIC:

New Pledge of Allegiance (TOTALLY AWESOME) !!!


Since the Pledge of Allegiance & The Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most public schools anymore, because the word "God" is mentioned....


A kid in Geelong Vic wrote the attached:-

NEW School prayer :


Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense - it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take !!!


Amen

If you aren't ashamed to do this,
please pass this on.
Jesus said,
"If you are ashamed of me,
I will be ashamed of you before my Father."


Not ashamed. Pass this on..

Everything you wanted to know about me and more.

I was going to do this last night but didn't have the time to type it all up.

Annelisa from My Motherhood sent me this quiz in an email. I thought it would be fun to post on here. If you want to put it on your blog, go ahead and leave a comment here so that I can get to know you a bit better.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7.30

2. Diamonds or pearls? Pearls

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I cannot remember but you can be assured it was some children's movie that I took the children to see.

4. What is your favorite TV show? I don't generally watch TV.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Eggs on toast with grated cheese

6. What is your middle name? Angela

7. What food do you dislike? Brussels sprouts and asparagus.

8. What is your favorite CD at moment? Hooked on Classics.

9. What kind of car do you drive? We have two. A Volkswagon 2003 Kombi and a 1995 Toyota Carolla.

10. Favorite sandwich? Chicken, avocado and mayo but I don't have it much because avocado's are so expensive.

11. What characteristic do you despise? boastfulness

12. Favorite item of clothing? My black skirt that I wear to church in winter.

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? I would love to go on a cruise. I would also love to go to Europe and The States and meet all my online friends.

14. Favorite brand of clothing? The one's I make.

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? My last one was fantastic. Steve took me out for breakfast and the children under Daniel's supervision cleaned up the house while we were gone. The only thing that hadn't been done when we got home was the folding hadn't been put away. I guess we didn't take long enough for breakfast.

15. Where would you retire to? Probably stay here or maybe move into our unit in Adelaide.

17. Favorite sport to watch? Ice skating

18. Furthest place you are sending this? NA

19. Person you expect to send it back first? NA

21. When is your birthday? 1st October

22. Are you a morning person or a night person? night but I know that when I get up early I tend to get more done.

23. What is your shoe size? 7.

24. Pets? lots of chooks, a cocker spaniel called Pepper, a cat called CC, a turtle called crush and lots of little gold fish.

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? I cannot think of anything at the moment.

26. What did you want to be when you were little? I remember in year 5 we had to draw a picture of what we wanted to be. I drew a picture of a police women. I suppose I do police my children lol.

27. How are you today? Happy and relaxed.

29. What is your favorite flower? Sturt Desert Pea's and frangipani

30. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? the next school holidays.

32. What is your full name? Therese Angela _________________

33. What are you listening to right now? Tom and Amelia are watching The Magic School bus and the computer is humming.

34. What was the last thing you ate? a finger bun.

35. Do you wish on stars? no

36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red

37. How is the weather right now? Warmer than it should be. The sun is glorious.

38. Last person you spoke to on the phone? my mother.

39. Favorite soft drink? Coke Zero

40. Favorite restaurant? Our local Chinese one.

41. Hair color? mid brown with grey in parts.

42. What was your favorite toy as a child? dolls. I loved any doll.

43. Summer or winter? definitely summer

44. Hugs or kisses? depends who from. From Steve, a kiss, from everyone else a hug.

45. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla

46. Coffee or tea? Very sweet coffee.

47. Do you want your friends to email you back? NA but I would like to read this on other people's blogs.

48. When was the last time you cried? I cannot remember but I do cry a lot.

49. What is under your bed? lots of dust.

50. What did you do last night?treated myself for head lice and played the Wii.

51. What are you afraid of? Offending God or not being obedient to his call.

52. Salty or sweet? Sweet

53. How many keys on your key ring? 4

54. How many years at your current job? 16

55. Favorite day of the week? Friday. Today hooray.

56. How many towns have you lived in? 3

57. Do you make friends easily? I am shy to begin with but find it easy after a while.

58. How many people will you send this too? NA

59. How many will respond? NA

60.Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Yes

400 posts.

I was going to do a special post tonight because this is my 400th post. I cannot believe I have posted that many entries.

Alas, I have the lice treatment in my hair and still need to wash it out and it is now 9.44 in the evening so my special post will have to wait till tomorrow.

What does it mean to be pro life?

This is a question I have asked myself a lot this week. What does it really mean to be pro life.

I am not sure how many people know the Duggar family.

The Duggar Family website

This week Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar announced they are having their 18th child.

It is wonderful to read about a family that is so devoted to God and willing to go against the usual anti life culture that our society has.

I go on a couple of message boards. One is for parents of diabetic children and the other one is a Catholic one. I suppose I expected to read some criticisms on the diabetes board since it isn't a religious site but I certainly didn't expect to read it on a Catholic board from people that profess to be Catholic.

Many false arguments have been put forward against the Duggar family. First they are selfish. I really don't know how any mother and father sharing life with so many children could be called selfish. They would have to work mighty hard to have that many children and look after them all. So then others say well no they don't look after their children. A baby is assigned a buddy and the bigger child raises the baby. The parents don't parent the children at all. When told that the children are not in fact raising the babies, but helping out, many will still insist that they are and that the parents are guilty of neglecting these children in some way or giving the older children too much responsibility.

I think that this is all very untrue.

As the mother of a large family my children all have regular chores. They all have to chip in and help. A family with 17 children would have to do it more so.

My children's chores are:

Madeline has to maintain our living room. She is responsible for cleaning the computer table, the TV buffet and lounge chairs every evening. She is responsible for sweeping and mopping the floor as needed and she is responsible for putting everything that doesn't belong in the lounge room away.

Brigette is responsible for hanging the washing and keeping the laundry tidy.

Tom and Amelia are responsible for taking all dirty clothes from the bathroom's and bedrooms to the laundry. They are responsible for clearing the table after each meal.

Christopher helps either Madeline or Tom and Amelia during the family work time.

Our older two boys, Daniel and Sam, both work part time as well as attend school. Because they work part time I probably don't expect them to do as much as the other children. They have a roster where they do the kitchen three nights a week each. I am responsible for this on the night that they are not rostered.

Other chores that they do. I fold all the washing but they all need to put it away including Christopher. Christopher carries it to his bedroom and I help him sought it into the different boxes. They are responsible for making their beds. Brigette tends to help Amelia who still has a little trouble with this and Tom helps Christopher. They are all responsible for putting away anything they get out. If Christopher unpacks a bag of blocks, I will ask him to pick them up when he has finished. If any child watches a video they are suppose to put it away.

All these things are teaching my children how to serve. I believe when children are taught to serve they are happier. They don't look for fulfillment in materialistic things. I know that when I stop serving the family in the way I should, I become unhappy and feel guilty. I also know that it has an affect on the rest of the family and the children are harder to motivate to do their chores. When everyone works together we all feel a bond and the joy that comes from having everything together.

Anyway I digress. The Duggar family would have to manage every detail and expect all their children to do their part in helping the family run smoothly. In giving out these chores and expecting their children to help no matter how much, is not neglectful. It is making them responsible and giving them a sense of self worth that no amount of saying positive things could.

This is what being pro life is. It is bring children into the world and teaching them how to live life. Children need responsibility and a good loving home. To have children and not place responsibility on their shoulders really is what is neglectful. The child that has no responsibility really has no purpose. A child with no purpose has no self esteem. That is most definitely neglecting a child.

I thank God everyday for my 7 children. I am very very conscious that God has greatly blessed me in giving Steve and I all these children.

Suzy Q.

Suzy Q from Sailing by Starlight has a great blog and it just got better. Suzy has had a poetry book published.

I have loved reading her blog ever since I first came across it last year.

So go check out her blog and wish her all the best. But most importantly, buy her book and support Mother of Peace.The book is on my wish list and hopefully I will be able to buy it soon.

Have you ever had a problem with head lice?

Because I have. Last year my three girls all had them terribly. We couldn't get rid of them. I tried every different type of treatment and nothing seemed to work. After a couple of months of trying I finally went to the doctor and got a prescription for some treatment. This seemed to work to a degree but still didn't completely eradicate them.

Around this time, Shirley from seeking Jesus posted a post on her sister's blog about essential oils. She said, if you have any questions, email me so I did.

Shirley sent me a list of oil's and I went and got them. I mixed a couple of different ones in the shampoo and conditioner and put some eucalyptus oil with olive oil onto the girls scalp. After just three days the lice were noticeably less. After a week, I couldn't see any but still kept putting the oil on their heads every other night for another two weeks just to make sure. We were cured and I was very thankful to Shirley. I let her know.

So today I was doing Amelia's hair, just before we left for school I noticed the lice and eggs.

So I am starting the process again. I did Amelia's hair with the oil today when we got home, She has obviously had these for a while because there were lots of adult size ones coming out with the comb. I will do the other girls tomorrow because they both have after school activities today. Tom and Christopher both have pretty short hair and I don't think they have any. I will just put the oil in, comb through and make sure they are not there.

So, if you have had a problem, feel free to email me and I am will tell you any other info you need.

The list of oils that I remember are:

Eucalyptus, Peppermint, lavender, geranium. I am going from memory but I think we put a mixture of olive oil and eucalyptus oil (equal amounts) and rubbed this on the scalp. I put the lavender and geranium oil in the shampoo and the peppermint oil in with the conditioner.

Shirley, if you are reading this, I think there was one other oil and I cannot remember what it was. Can you let us know in the comments section? Thanks

Happy Mother's day.

Today has been a great day for me. I was blessed with some very nice homemade cards, an e card and a breakfast of pancakes with golden syrup and cream over the top.

We went to Mass and spent the afternoon just hanging around doing nothin :::grin:::

I wanted to share a piece with you all that Abbey emailed to me.

When I am old.

When I'm an old lady, I'll live with each kid,
And bring so much happiness...just as they did.
I want to pay back all the joy they've provided.
Returning each deed! Oh, they'll be so excited!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

I'll write on the wall with reds, whites and blues,
And I'll bounce on the furniture...wearing my shoe s.
I'll drink from the carton and then leave it out.
I'll stuff all the toilets and oh, how they'll shout!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

When they're on the phone and just out of reach,
I'll get into things like sugar and bleach.
Oh, they'll snap their fingers and then shake their head,
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

When they cook dinner and call me to eat,
I'll not eat my green beans or salad or meat,
I'll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table,
And when they get angry...I'll run...if I'm able!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

I'll sit close to the TV, through the channels I'll click,
I'll cross both eyes just to see if they stick.
I'll take off my socks and throw one away,
And play in the mud 'til the end of the day!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

And later in bed, I'll lay back and sigh,
I'll thank God in prayer and then close my eyes.
My kids will look down with a smile slowly creeping,
And say with a groan, "She's so sweet when she's sleeping!"

God Bless All Moms and Grandmas everywhere!

A night of culture.

Tonight I took Madeline, Brigette, Tom and Amelia to see Symphony under the Stars with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. What a wonderful night it was. In Port Augusta this year we have the Port Augusta Re Imagine's festival. It is a year of events, performances and workshops.

I did hear the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra play when Steve and I went to the Festival theatre (nearly 14 years ago) to see Jesus Christ Super Star. I haven't ever been to a concert with just the orchestra like this.

The last number they did was Tchaikovsky’s immortal 1812 overture, with fireworks in the background. I have never experienced anything like this. It was a wonderful night and will be one that I can imagine myself telling our Grandchildren about.

Friday funnies.

Kelly put this up on DCF and I liked it so much I had to post it here.

Slideshow of Amelia's birthday

Which Harry Potter character are you?

Intelligent and insightful, you are a gifted individual, who although may sometimes be buried in academic affairs, is friendly and welcoming.

Madeline would be happy with me being Hermione Granger since she is her favourite character in the books.

H/T to Within Me Without Me for this quiz.

Happy Birthday Amelia.

Tomorrow Amelia turns 7. Here is the pinafore I made her today.

Happy Birthday Amelia. Your dad and I love you very much and we are glad you are a part of our family.

Mum and Dad.

Super busy.

It is only two days till Amelia's birthday and I am trying to make a pinafore for her so I don't have much time tonight to post.

It is tasty Tuesday and I could post a recipe but I wanted to link to Kalona again and tell you all go and make her King Ranch Chicken. We had it last night and it was a huge hit.

Sunday.

We had such a nice warm day yesterday. Daniel went and played footy with Tom. It is so great to see brothers playing together.

May is a special month for Mary.

Today I started a new book with Tom and Amelia. One of our RE resources is Catholic Mosaic so today we got out the book Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue and read it.

This is such a beautiful story and teaches children the need to pray the rosary and use it to fight spiritual fights. It talks about the evil of abortion and about being a knight for God.

After the story Tom and Amelia wrote out the prayer Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue. We don't have any colour ink in our printer at the moment but when we do I am going to print of this prayer card and Tom and Amelia can glue it and laminate their own prayer card. Maybe we will make one for everyone in our family.

A little bit of fun.

This morning while browsing the web (instead of doing what I should be doing) I came across this little gem.

how many of me

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

luckily you people don't have to put up with another Therese.

How many of you are there in the USA?

A busy day.

I had my big cooking day today and will finish of the main meals tomorrow. It is a big job but I am seeing the benefits of cooking all at once.

The food bill is much cheaper. We don't need to dash out and get some take away because I am just too tired to cook or cannot be bothered.

Steve spent a good part of the day working in the backyard. We are still having some warm weather so it is nice to spend time outside working on the yard. Our next big project for our home improvements will be putting in a pergola and landscape around it. We have to save a bit of money before we can afford to do it so we are working on smaller projects at the moment. Tom and Amelia are going to do a vegetable garden as a part of their home school curriculum. They are going to grow zucchini, pumpkin and broad beans. We also want them to look after a couple of pots of herbs. We planted some basil today and hopefully we will get some parsley as well.

Things you might need to know one day.

DID YOU KNOW?

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to

pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.

If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.

It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.

Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef.

It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of

spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints

in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste

of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply

chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them

in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350

for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low

and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on

the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer

for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes

with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in

a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food

moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers,

put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for-

get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not

get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket.

It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper.

The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel

roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in nar-

row openings.

Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt

or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose.

Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.

Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such

as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of

your car . When the window s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside,

just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals

easily.

Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and

leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you

bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar

and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the

cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't

digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works

and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the

house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the

dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the fil-

ter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he

took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a

mesh material ... I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ...

the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us

that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit.

You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your

clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel

waxy when you take them out of the box .. well this stuff builds up on your clothes

and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your

house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long

time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with

hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.

He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?!

Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that.

So, I thought I'd share!

Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran

through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it

with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when

I rinsed it ... the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! T

hat repairman knew what he was talking about!

Thanks to Jean for this.