It's Over!

There will be not be a repeat of the Grand Final glory we experienced last year.

Sarah and I celebrating the glorious victory last year. 30th September 2006

My man (before he was my man) watching the boys sing their club song

Craig and Sarah

I'm disappointed but not devastated.

As the old saying goes....there's always next year.

Friday Funny

This was emailed to me a while ago......

THE ORIGIN OF PETS

Adam said, "Lord, when I was in the garden, you walked with me everyday. Now I do not see you anymore. I am lonesome here and it is difficult for me to remember how much you love me."
And God said, "No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will know I love you, even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish and childish and unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself."
And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam. And it was a good animal. And God was pleased.
And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and he wagged his tail. And Adam said, "But Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and all the good names are taken and I cannot think of a name for this new animal."
And God said, "No problem! Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG."
And Dog lived with Adam and was a companion to him and loved him. And Adam was comforted. And God was pleased. And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that Adam's guardian angel came to the Lord and said, "Lord, Adam has become filled with pride. He struts and preens like a peacock and he believes he is worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught him that he is loved, but no-one has taught him humility."
And the Lord said, "No problem! I will create for him a companion who will be with him forever and who will see him as he is. The companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know that he is not worthy of adoration."
And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam. And Cat would not obey Adam.
And when Adam gazed into Cat's eyes, he was reminded that he was not the supreme being. And Adam learned humility.

And God was pleased. And Adam was greatly improved. And Dog wagged his tail.
And Cat did not give a toss one way or the other.

The Albany Pottering Sabbatical

Currently I'm down in Albany for a few days R&R. I drove down on Monday and am going back tomorrow. It's been a great trip. Too short but just what I needed.

Weeks ago I told Duncan over the phone that I wanted to take a one-week sabbatical. I just felt like I needed to take some time out by myself and he understood. It wasn't that I didn't wanted to spend time with him (he couldn't come down during the week anyway) but I just needed to spend some time 'pottering'. Female readers, I can see you nodding.

Some men don't understand women's need to potter. But us women need to do it. I needed to take some time to chop things off my 'to do' list because life gets so cluttered with work, commitments and 'busyness' (especially in the city) that I don't have time to get little jobs done. One of workmates recently took some leave and she told me she had a week of pottering and reading Harry Potter. I was jealous ;)

I've been asked what is 'pottering'? What do women do when they potter? Well it's just like doing little chores and errands that you don't normally get time to do. My original plan was to take a week off but stay in Perth and potter. I planned to tell no-one (except Duncan) that I wasn't at work because otherwise I'd get sucked into socialising during my pottering time. I scrapped that plan because I wanted to save some of my leave so I decided to have a shorter pottering sabbatical and spend it in Albany. That way I was away from the busyness of Perth and could spend some time with family and friends down here as well.

Over the past few days I have:

• Mended my clothes that had holes in them.
• Written and post thank you notes to people who have sent Duncan and I engagement presents.
• Watched some TV shows I'd recorded because I didn't have time weeks earlier.
• Went op shopping for costumes for a 30th birthday that Duncan and I are going to on Saturday night (that was an unfruitful quest).
• Shopped for new sneakers (also an unfruitful quest).
• Got a haircut.
• Had my car serviced.

These are things that I would have delayed for weeks had I not taken my pottering holiday. One may ask 'isn't resting the whole point of a sabbatical?'. But it has been restful. I haven't been stressed at all. I've got stuff done and had a great time catching up with people.

I highly recommend all women take a pottering sabbatical if they possibly can.

5 Things

Amanda from Amanda's Musings tagged me so here goes...

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
How ironic I just blogged about this the other week. In short, I was 14, I lived in Albany with my parents and brother and was a Year 9 student at Albany SHS. For more details see my post 10 Years On.

2. What were you doing one year ago?
Feeling quite down actually. Wondering where my life was going, what God had in store, should I make big changes, were there any men left for me and would the Eagles make the Grand Final?

3. What are 5 snacks you enjoy?
* Dove or Cadbury Milk chocolate
* Chicken Crimpy biscuits
* Drinking chocolate powder with just a little bit of milk so it's like a thick chocolate sludge. YUM!
* Barbecue Samboy chips, Chicken Twisties or Burger Rings
* Spearmint Mentos or Kool Mints
(Healthy aren't I?)

4. What are 5 songs that you know the lyrics to?
* Climb Ev'ry Mountain
* The Sound of Music
* Edelweiss
* Do Re Mi
* I Have Confidence
(Gee I wonder what my favourite movie is ?)

5. 5 Things you would do if you were a millionaire?
* Support missionaries
* Support bible translation organisation
* Support struggling local churches
* Support TEAR Australia
* Give to my friends/family in need

6. 5 bad habits
* Dawdling
* Procrastinating
* Getting stressed out
* Inappropriate language (yes I know..... I'm BAAAAD)
* Watching too much TV

7. 5 things you like to do
* Live for God and learn more about him
* Catch up with Duncan, friends and family
* Dance
* Sing
* Chill out and watch movies

8. 5 favourite toys?
* Beads and all the accompanying tools.
* Computer
* TV and DVD/VCR player
* My Golly I got in Victoria.
* Digital camera

9. 5 things you would never wear?
* Skivvies
* Overalls
* Low cut or see through tops
* Too short skirts
* High heels (I can't balance)

10. 5 things you hate to do
* Vomit
* Clean my house
* Ring up people I don't know well
* Stranger/walk up evangelism
* Waste things

Now I tag James from Middo's World, Dodgy Pete from Longfur, Rodney from The Journey, Scott from Scott's Simple Life and Iris from Double Half.

The Eagles Rollercoaster

Tonight is the Eagles' first final against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. I'm a bit nervous but they seem to win when I doubt them so there's hope.

Ronan Keating sang that Life is a Rollercoaster. Well, I think being an Eagles supporter this year is like being on a rollercoaster.

Wonderful Highs

*Photos are from the Eagles derby victory in Round 3 on the Real Footy website and their thrashing of the Western Bulldogs in Round 17 at the Telstra Dome on the Afana Gallery website.

Devastating Lows

* Photos are from the Sydney Morning Herald (Ben Cousins goes to rehab), Yahoo Sport (Daniel Kerr leaves the field after the Eagles' shock loss to Brisbane) and Fox Sports (the Des Headland-Adam Selwood incident).

I don't like rollercoasters much.

Which Eagles will show up tonight? Who knows....

Personal DNA

Iris over at the Double Half blog did this test and I couldn't resist doing it as well.

Here are my results:

Advocating Idealist

Have a go yourself and see what results you get.

Crikey!

While we're on the topic of death anniversaries, can you believe Steve Irwin died a year ago today? It has gone so quick! But it has probably been a slow and painful year for his family though.

I was sitting in my car, listening to the radio when I heard the sad news. I was on my lunchbreak at work and was about to drive somewhere. Can't remember where I was going though.

He was one of those people who many of us just didn't expect to die. He'd flirted with danger so many times, it seemed very likely that when he did die one day it would be due to being eaten by something. Perhaps a crocodile or a big bear or another savage beast. How ironic that it was a stingray's barb.

Steve Irwin, like Princess Diana, has become much more respected since his death. He was often ridiculed so much but many of those same people who thought he was an idiot now think he was just the greatest.

I thought he was a bit of an idiot because of some of the stuff he did but I really admired the way he was so passionate about wildlife. Often he was ridiculed because of this passion. But at least he was passionate about something. So many people just drift along in life and never really get into anything. Then they have the nerve to stand on the sidelines and laugh and take potshots at others who wear their heart on their sleeve.

I wonder if the crocodiles miss him or if they're glad they're being left alone?

* The photo is from The CBBC Newsround website.