The common crow ...

I will let you in on a secret friends. You may not agree, but I really don't like birds. Especially crows. 

In fact, I can't stand them. That horrible 'aaaaarrrrkkkk' sound they make irritates me more than words can say, and the fact we seem to have a community of them living in our Jacaranda tree, is not impressing me. Not. At. All. The fact that one shat on me the other day as I pushed Dominic on his swing for the twenty billionth time, also did not please me. It did however, seem to amuse my little friend as I swore loudly :)

Maybe it goes back to my childhood. Crows would attempt to steal our tuckshop lunches at school and would always be hovering around the bins. I remember laughing hysterically (my laugh has been described by some as raucous), when my bestie was commenting on how loud and distracting the crows were, while we were trying to concentrate during our exams. She joked that maybe the crows outside were calling out 'faaaarrrkkkk', cause let's face it as we sat that English exam, that was exactly what we were thinking - 'faaaarrrrrrkkkk' :)

By coincidence (or was it?) in that same year, the bestie fell victim to what she described as a vicious and intentional attack by pigeons in the Queen Street Mall. This event left her falling to her knees during lunchtime rush hour, commando rolling past Hungry Jacks! She hasn't been the same since. 

Even as adults, I have been in situations with the bestie where we have been walking, talking animatedly about what is undoubtedly a very important social issue, when suddenly she will drop to her knees, hands over her head screaming 'Birds..... I hate freaking birds'. Without a joke, she has even accused a butcher bird of swooping her! Ok that may be a lie but my point is, I have a history with birds - especially the common crow.

Anyway, over the last couple of weeks at home we have noticed this...

Excuse the photo quality, it is hard to make a water feature look pretty.

Yes beloved readers, that is bread floating in our water feature. This happens daily. I know. Completely random. At first I thought it might be kids(?), although I appreciate there is little logic in this theory. I then came across the offending crow. I have tried to get a photo of him, but he is smarter and a lot quicker than me. This morning I watched him drop, yes drop, one single piece of bread into our water feature. He then yelled 'faarrrkkkk' and flew away. He returned an hour or so later and collected the now soggy bread, which he gobbled up in a few quick bites. How bazaar is that? Can you believe it? Crows have been intentionally dropping bread into our water feature to soften it to eat! 

Maybe after all this time, I have underestimated the common crow. I still hate them, but one has to admire such multi-tasking :)

Do you have any strange bird stories? You don't do you. I didn't think so. 

These strange things after all, could only happen to me :)

FYI ..I did not consult the bestie in the publication of this post. Being the clever lass that she is, she gave birth to her second baby a gorgeous little boy, this week. We are so proud of them both and I thought that this post might give her a bit of a laugh. x

A new year....Tintin.

I promised a post about my New Years resolutions didn't I?

I wrote a very long-winded post (unlike me I know), on all the things I would like to achieve this year.
It was boring. In short, my 2014 is about self care and continuing to eat well. I am feeling so good for eating more wholefoods and now I have a juicer! Crazy times ahead ;) Juicing is deliciously addictive. Who would have thought that carrot and beetroot could taste so damn good!

I have also started keeping a gratitude journal. Given the amount of time I devote to my iPhone and iPad, it seemed appropriate that I download an app for such a thing. Gratitude 365 people. It is fabulously easy and you can attach photos from your day too. Love it.

In the meantime, I have been daydreaming about the many things I want to do with Dom's room. I have long been a fan of vintage posters but alas, my budget does not allow for the purchase of the same.
One day I will have the perfect Baly poster.
In the meantime, I have been eyeing off Tintin posters for Dominic's room.
Surely if I can't have a vintage poster he can? ;)
I have been searching high and low for inspiration and found the perfect Tintin poster at the Wooloongabba Antique Centre. It is the same as the picture below.

What do you think?
Are these posters not gorgeous?
Tintin, I am thinking you may just find yourself on my little boys bedroom wall.

x

A Christmas Day Story (to remember)....

Friends, I do not know where to start. Christmas Day was perfectly, imperfect. There was lots of fun, tears from overtired toddlers (namely ours), baked goods consumed in excess (by me), Pims at nightfall (with cucumber and mint - sensational!), swims in a beautiful pool with a very cool blow up slide, more slides and swings, presents given and received, ham consumed but not so much so that I found myself wanting to roll in mud 'Peppa Pig' style, and many laughs.

 

I have decided that Christmas is a bit like getting married though, don't you think?

We get so excited. We plan. Spend money, eat, drink and buy presents and then all of the sudden, it is over.

 

Our Christmas Day will however, always be remembered because of a town called Inglewood - 40 km's from Goondiwindi. We had driven through Warwick, knew we needed more petrol prior to getting to Goondiwindi, but decided (stupidly) that we would get petrol in Inglewood.

Inglewood isn't a small country town. There is a main street, Queensland Government Offices, a Post Office etc - you get the picture. With 25km's of petrol on the clock, we pulled into the Shell Service Station at Inglewood, keen to refuel quickly and get to my sisters to see my family and celebrate.

As I went to refuel, I noticed the pumps were locked but there were still customers in the actual petrol station. I approached the attendant and was told abruptly: 'We are now closed. The petrol pumps have been zeroed'.

I explained our predicament, that we hardly had any petrol left in the tank, had a toddler in the car and that it was Christmas Day - surely she could help me out and serve me? I even cried, people who know me won't be surprised by this :) The attendant still refused to sell me petrol, obviously keen to close up and commence her own Christmas Day celebrations.  In fact, the attendant couldn't even tell me where the next petrol station was! Funny, the next petrol station was at our destination - Goondiwindi.

So we set off in the 35 degree heat, somewhat shocked. How could someone be so unkind on Christmas Day? In short, we drove until we ran out of petrol and ended up in a sleepy town called Yelarbon. We parked under a tree opposite this very lonely looking petrol station which was, clearly closed :) - but, of course. 

We then as grown adults had to suffer the humiliation of calling in for back up, which came in the form of my beautiful Brother in law and Father. If you could have only seen my Brother in law hop out of his Ute smirking when they arrived with petrol: 'You lot run into some trouble?', he said in his best Australian accent (his is pretty good). He had a cowboy hat on and black RayBan's. I should have taken a pic for instagram - he is quite the modern day country boy.

Anyway, we made it to Christmas Day lunch. Fun was had and needless to say, will NEVER purchase petrol from Shell again.

 

On a positive note, while we waited for an hour for help, I was able to carefully consider my New Years resolutions. I am sure that you are keen to hear about what I have planned for 2014. All this and more will be provided in a post later in the week :)

 

How was your Christmas Day? Come on, try and out do my family drama... I dare you :)

 

Great to be back friends....

 

x