Bobby Pins!!!

A favourite accessory of mine!  Earlier this week, I was doing my hair and I just wanted to get it off my face and my neck and I wanted to look cute and effortless.  A few well placed bobby pins and I was done!  Although there is also something to be said for good quality hairspray.  The humble bobby pin has been around for a long time and has been credited for many famous hairdos.  It has been portrayed in films as the magic item that can hold an entire bun in place for 5 days then break-in to the back door in seconds.  One can only imagine what MacGyver could do with one.

I wonder if you can really pick a lock with a hair pin?

Anyway, that's the favourite of the week!  Whether it's a glam-do for a night out on the town, a messy bun for work or holding back the locks while you are touching up the make up, a good quality bobby pin (and maybe a few of its mates) are a girl's best friend!
But be warned: 1. Don't skimp or you might as well put twigs in your hair, this is one item where, even I (cheapskate queen), must purchase quality. 2. They are precious and have a habit of "disappearing" under the bed, between the couch cushions and at the bottom of your hand bag.  You paid good money for these magical little treasures, take care of them.  3. Lastly, like all hair accessories, they will always match your hairspray!

Aussies

Today's thank you goes to the people of our emergency services organisations.  Great Job guys and gals.  Keep up the good work!  It is horrifying to see the footage of the floods (and bush fires and motor vehicle accidents and train disasters and cyclone aftermath) on television.  You see it in real time in real life.  You meet the people effected and you save lives.  I am in awe of your courage.  You are prayed for daily!  Hang in there!

I also want to thank the families of our emergency services workers.  Some of these men and women are volunteers and some are paid, but all of them have families.  Parents, husbands, wives, partners, children, sisters and brothers: Thank you for sharing these amazing people with us.  You are prayed for too!

Aussies are awesome!  Maybe we can't play cricket (I watch the news), but this team will survive and be bigger and better than ever!

So That's Thursday.  Praise God for the blue sky and the shining sun!

Cacophony..big word for a little book

I gave my nephew, Mr10yo, a book for his birthday last year.  We were hanging out at the DVD shop the other day and I suggested we hire out the movie to which he replied, "Nah, you gave me the book and it was really boring!"  So we hired out a film called Marmaduke about a great dane (that's a breed of dog :D) who moves from Kansas to California with his family.  It was funny and we actually watched it twice!  But I digress.
I got the book from Mr 10yo and decided to read it for myself.  I bought it for him because I had seen the film and I thought that he would enjoy the book.  Well, after reading the first chapter I understood why he didn't like it.  The story was awesome, it had  villians, disappearances, magic, fire, drama, love, friendship, fighting and conflict resolution.  But the novel itself was really badly written.  The authors had novelised the screenplay.  In an attempt to make themselves sound like literary geniuses they used all these really weird phrases and big words like 'cacophony.'  No wonder the poor kid was bored, he probably didn't understand a word of it.  Anyway, I sort of guessed the meaning from the context surrounding it, but here is the real definition for those OCD people out there.  You can even press the speaker button and hear a funny lady say the word.
Hope your Wednesday is Wonderful! Keep Safe!

ca·coph·o·ny

   [kuh-kof-uh-nee]  Show IPA

–noun, plural -nies.

1.

harsh discordance of sound; dissonance: a cacophony ofhoots, cackles, and wails.

2.

a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds: thecacophony produced by city traffic at midday.

3.

Music . frequent use of discords of a harshness andrelationship difficult to understand.

Church Chatter Part Two

Hands off that mouse buddy!  I'm going to stick to the plan and tell you my story today.  I promise!

So last week at Church it was the first Sunday morning service of the year.  As you would expect there was a great deal of excitement in the air.  As you can also imagine, the Christmas celebrations (common in a Church) and  New Years activities had resulted in the hall being rearranged a little bit.  So, the service progresses as usual until it is time for the offering.  The piano begins to play a beautiful song called "Now I belong to Jesus" and the usual people rise from their seats and head towards the front of the hall to collect the offering bags and distribute them.  All of a sudden everyone who was on their feet froze.  The pianist (not knowing what was happening) continued to play.  Everyone looked about curiously, when finally someone said, the offering bags aren't here.  Well, they were quickly located (behind the piano!) and distributed and the piano and organ played an extra verse to make up for the delay.  Maybe you just had to be there, but I was in absolute stitches.  I laughed out loud and my mum whacked me on the leg saying "ssshhh."

This brings me to story number two... you will like this one!  It also involves offering bags and my mother whacking me.  So yesterday, we are at Church and for the first time in like forever (totally), Mum, Dad and I were sitting together.  The offering was announced and the piano began to play (sorry I don't remember the name of the song, maybe I have selective amnesia) and the bags were collected from the front and distributed.  The bags are passed along the row and then to the row behind who passes the bag back towards the centre aisle and the "steward/usher/whatever" takes the bag and passes it to the next row.  Anyway, the bag comes along our row and Dad and I both put a few coins in the bag and mum lifted her arm to pass the bag to the row behind.  In the process she whacks me in the head with the bottom of the offering bag.  That thing had lots of coins in it!!! I rubbed my head and Mum covered a smirk as she apologised.  I had a headache for the rest of the day.... still considering the possibility that she did it on purpose!

True Story! You can't make this stuff up!

Church Chatter

I know that many people don't go to church these days.  I also know that many people have a certain "concept" of churches which is perhaps a little unfair.  Here is why.
1.They may have seen church portrayed on film.   While I love watching movies, I am a great believer in the idea that practically everything is produced with a certain motive or stereotype in mind.  The old, "I saw it with my own eyes, therefore it must be true" is not something to which I ascribe.
2. They may have heard about church in the media (newspaper, television, radio).  Again, these are forms of text that are produced by authors who are simply sharing their own opinion or experience.  Much like this blog, I suppose.
3.  They were dragged to church against their will at some point in their lives by; a parent, aunt or other family member, a lover or a friend.  The experience was horrid, it was boring and staged. No one talked to them, or everyone talked to them, they didn't understand what was happening.  They had a negative experience.
4.  Lastly, they are/were a convert and somewhere, somehow, they were hurt.  A friend hurt them, they became ill, they made a choice that brought judgement down on them instead of love (When I say that I mean people judged them instead of showing them how God forgives).  They became sad and felt guilty and they decided that "church" was not for them.


That is not at all what I wanted to tell you about today.  I wanted to tell you something funny that happened at Church, well two things actually.  But you know what, I think that can wait until tomorrow.  Instead I'm going to finish up by saying this: Church is not the worst place to be on a Sunday morning/evening.  The Church is made up of people who are human and who will make mistakes.  But if you make Church less about the people who are sitting behind you and all about God, something amazing happens.