Yes it’s true, I’m standing tall and ready to shout it to all the world “I watch Gladiators.” I remember watching it with my family as a kid so naturally I would watch it now as an adult. My children love it and even my husband (who initially said no way Jose) is even enjoying it. What’s not to love? – competition, corny sledging and eye candy all round! The kids like “Angel” but for me the Gladiator I want to see is “Outlaw”…oh yeah talk about eye candy! I don’t usually like men with long hair but Outlaw can have his hair any way he wants… I could get lost in his eyes… the hair doesn’t matter. There’s a Gladiator to suit anyone so go on give it a go!

Natalie(5 years old) has just learned how to play UNO, it’s a great family game. We were all sitting at the table playing when Natalie put down her second last card. Wanting to help her I said “what do you say?”, she looked at her last card then yelled out “BINGO”. It wasn’t quite the word I was after and seeing that we all found this amusing she got all embarrassed and kind off slithered under the table. Eventually she returned to her seat and we were able to continue playing UNO… not bingo.

Is your life worth $12?  My husbands apparently isn’t.  You see I went grocery shopping the other day and came back with a 1kg kitchen fire extinguisher.  Well the neighbours must have thought world war three had stated because my husband was not happy.  I know money is tight (it has been for the last 12 years) but I had been eying off these little extinguishes for a couple of months now and at last they were on special.  Not just on special but on clearance… I could have shouted for joy in the isle when I saw the tag reading $12.  They are normally $30 and I knew we couldn’t afford that but at $12 I couldn’t leave the last one on the self.  I made sure it wasn’t expired or damaged ,which it wasn’t, and I bought it! You see a few months back I was making some chips for the kids but I used a pot that was too small so when I put the chips into the hot oil it overflowed and hot oil ran over the edge right onto the flames from my gas cooker.  I turned the flames off straight away but if I was any slower a fire most certainly would have started. For me $12 buys piece of mind and possibly a life saver but to Luke $12 buys two family meals.  I think he is seeing reason for my purchase now but when he first saw that extinguisher in the shopping bag he could have dropped dead… if only he had a heart condition!

Hasn’t the world changed in such a short period of time?  To think that in the 1940’s boys as young as fourteen were lying about their age to sign up to fight in the war.  They had to act like men even though they were really just boys.  They faced horrors we can’t even imagine! Those who survived came back to raise families in their twenties and worked to support the whole family.  Now in the year 2008 men in their twenties stumble through life acting like boys.  Game consoles in pockets, skateboards in hand, no families of their own and hand fulls of cash to spend on nothing more than themselves and entertainment.  Of course this is a generalisation because there are family men out there in their twenties but it’s a rare sight indeed.  What I want to know is,  WHY have things changed so drastically?

Claire is home sick today so over lunch she got to watch Dr. Phil with me. My nephew (aged 3) wasn’t too keen on shutting his trap while we tried to watch and I could see Claire was getting quite annoyed. I’m used to watching TV and playing with him at the same time…it’s a gift… but Claire was NOT amused. She tried to get him interested by saying “Dr. Phil solves problems he’s really good” but my nephew couldn’t give two hoots about Dr. Phil. So Claire tried another angle, she said “he’s like my daddy, daddy ’s a problem solving doctor.” Of course this didn’t work either so we just turned the volume up. It was nice however to see that after years and years of research my husbands PhD had put him on par with Dr. Phil…. in his daughters eyes anyway!

I couldn’t do it… I just couldn’t sentence the mice in my house to death. When the pest controller rang I told him it was O.K I had the situation under control, I then rang the real estate to notify them that we won’t be needing the pest control after all. The thought of those cute little mice bleeding internally after being poisoned was too much to bare. I have a level of compassion for animals that others find ridiculous. I know other people would bait mice with out a second thought BUT I’m no killer! So now when one of the humane mouse traps snaps shut during the night, instead of saying “ohhh not another one” I’ll be saying “good, another life saved”. Funny how once we shift our perspective problems seem to disappear.

No I’m not an astral traveler and no I wasn’t abducted by aliens and given the full body prob treatment on Jupiter… my children dropped me off on their way to Pluto.  It’s quite simple really, they turned our coffee table upside down added a few boxes with seat belts and before I knew it we had blasted off and were on our way.  At one point we were allowed to take our seat belts off and float around the space ship enjoying zero gravity.  Then the brakes came on (screeching noises from my 5 year old) and I was being shown around Jupiter.  Funny thing about Jupiter… it looks just like my bedroom!  So while I stayed to surf the net on Jupiter my girls continued on to Pluto.  And that my dear friends was my outer space journey, amazing what you can do with a few boxes and an imagination.

My husband suggested this title as my next blog post (a little in jest I feel) and I will indulge him.  Yes I feel I am always right but the simple truth is this: I’m a woman – of course I’m always right! Those men out there who want a long happy marriage will remember this simple fact and carry it with them to the grave.  Woman = always right.

I am sick and tired of reading article after article about Muslims killing Christians. I get the Barnabus Fund newsletters and e-mails and I have read such horrific accounts of violence it ruins your day. Toddlers kidnapped then returned to their parents roasted and served on a plater of rice, children being disemboweled and tortured, the elderly set alight to burn to death, entire villages burned to the ground simply because they believe in Jesus. This anti-Christian violence is perpetrated by the Muslim community in such countries as Indonesia, Burma, Iran, etc, countries where Muslims have the majority rule and minorities like Christians are simply not tolerated. I certainly wouldn’t expect to find such despicable acts here in Australia. I think the world has moved on enough to tolerate each others faith but some countries are lingering well behind. It’s 2008 for goodness sake! Now lets get something straight – I have a Muslim side of my heritage, my grandparents and Aunt are Muslims. I certainly don’t expect to find them knocking down my door ready to kill me so I’m not saying ALL Muslims are Christian killing mongrels. There have been MANY incidents in history of so called Christians killing in the name of God. Many wrongs have been committed by both sides and the simple truth is that the two sides will NEVER see eye to eye and I’m not saying they should. It’s just really sad that these atrocities still happen today, regardless of which side is doing the killing.

My girls were talking last night about careers and life as adults when Claire (age 7) said to Natalie (age 5) “if you want to be a teacher you should get married first then be a teacher.”  Natalie asked why to which Claire explained that once you get married your last name changes, so to save confusing the school kids she should wait.  Natalie was horrified, her wide eyes and slack jaw said it all.  She looked at me and said “I don’t want to change my name EVER!”  (I think my grandmother’s heart would have skipped a few beats hearing that statement).  I told her that it’s O.K some people don’t change their names when they get married they just keep their name as it is. (My grandmother most certainly would have dropped dead hearing me say that it was O.K)  Of course I think it IS proper to take the mans name but Natalie didn’t want to hear that, she just wanted to know that she can be herself for ever.  I’m sure she’ll stick with tradition when she grows up but for now she’s my little feminist!