With various sports activities going on at my children’s school, Natalie was curious as to what javelin was. The following conversation took place:

Natalie: Mummy, what’s javelin?

Me: It’s where people throw a big spear to see how far they can get it.

Natalie stood there with a horrified look on her face so I explained further

Me: The competitors throw at one end and it’s measured with a tape how far it goes when it sticks into the ground.

Natalie (obviously relieved): Ahhh, I thought you meant someone throws the spear and we had to Jump to miss it.

I went to the ABC shop the other day and walked out with a bunch of Doctor Who stuff as well as a “Stig in a soap”. It’s simply a clear bar of soap with a Stig toy inside but now when I head to the shower I can say to myself… “time to shower with The Stig.”  AWESOME!!!

Recently I bought a pencil sharpener in the shape of a nose.  My seven year old thought it was awesome (and so do I) but she had a little trouble with it.  I watched as she twisted the pencil round and round in frustration, eventually she gave up and said “stupid thing doesn’t work.”  I then told her that only one nostril leads into the sharpener slot so perhaps she would like to switch nostrils.  Poor thing had picked the wrong nostril!

My family is now addicted to Dunlop Volleys and it all started because they were the only shoes wide enough to fit Claire’s big elephant feet.  It started as a necessity but now whenever we are near a department store we pop in to see what new designs are out and if they are on special. We really have to thank Adrian Quist who first introduced Volleys as a tennis shoe way back in 1939… in my opinion it’s the only good thing to come from tennis. The shoes are comfortable, reasonably priced and in my opinion groovy. I know some people say they’re daggy but those people SUCK!

Today while standing int he kitchen I glanced at a packet of sugar on the counter top and thought… wow, they put Chinese characters on labels now.  I wasn’t too surprised since almost ALL of the shops in our area have signs in Chinese and if you’re lucky there will be a smaller English translation underneath.  I then leaned closer and got a surprise when I read PKD 24-05-10 16:o4:43 M … it wasn’t Chinese at all… just my bad eyesight! I leaned back again and there were the Chinese characters.  Lean in, English… lean out, Chinese… in, English… out, Chinese.  I will have to bite the bullet one day and go get my eyes tested but for now I’ll just entertain myself.  In, English… out, Chinese… in, English… out, Chinese.

A few weeks back I came across a tropical fruit I had never tried before… Rambutan.  When I showed Luke he looked at them and said “they look like hairy balls…. yes… hairy ball fruit.”  I bought a few and they were quite nice, sort of like Lychees but not as sweet.  I now buy them whenever they are on special but unfortunately Rambutans are now known to the children as “hairy ball fruit.”   Thanks Luke!

Last month we bought a KFC family bucket and were pleasantly surprised to see a competition was currently running.  Due to our high level of competitiveness I thought we would tackle the competition straight away but “Life” got in the way and we didn’t get a chance to look at the competition details until several weeks later.  It’s a simple competition really, just look at the cryptic images and name the movie title it depicts… easy as! We sat down and worked out most of them (one or two eluded us) then went online.  Our first few attempts were good but we wanted to be at the top of the leader-board,  we had to be faster if we wanted to be the champions.  The children lost interest but once they heard Luke and I scream “YYYYEEEEEEEESSSSS” at the top of our lungs they came back inside to see what champions their parents are… on top of the leader board!!!  Truly we rule!

My seven year old loves to chuck a whole heap of ingredients in a cup of water and call it an experiment. I don’t know exactly what was in the latest experiment (photo above) but it sure did ferment well in the laundry cupboard.  When Natalie was satisfied the experiment was a success I was given permission to dispose of it.  So with my trusty rubber gloves on I carefully took the cup outside and tipped it on the lawn… it stunk!!!  The smell was so bad I actually gagged on the stench.  I tried to escape the smell by going inside but the wind just sent it straight in after me.  My poor neighbour had been outside rendering his house but after five minutes he too left the blast zone and fled inside. If I had known it was going to be so vile I would have thrown it straight in the bin.  In the end I had to throw the cup away because the smell had soaked into the plastic… how the hell does that even happen?  Oh I wish the Internet came with a “smell” function because this smell had to be smelt to be believed… YUCK!!!

While  out shopping I took a moment to carefully select my tea bags, that’s when I noticed tea pot bags.  It got me wondering how many people out there still use teapots? Isn’t it easier to just pop a teabag in a cup rather than a teapot?  I own a teapot but as you can see by the photo above… it’s been awhile since it has seen any tea leaves.

While wasting time on youtube the other day I came across a video on how to pick a padlock with just two paperclips, my interest was piqued. I watched as some young kid opened a locked padlock in just a few seconds, I was impressed.  I armed myself with a pair of pliers and a stack of paperclips.  I followed online instruction and  hey presto… I had my own tool set.  The only problem was that I couldn’t actually pick the lock, I tried and I tried but I just couldn’t do it.  I got more and more frustrated as I watched clip after clip on youtube, these KIDS seem to be able to pick a lock in a few seconds flat!  I made four sets of picks and pressure wrenches ( I even sacrificed a fork) but I still couldn’t do it! Luke got home after work and seeing the fruits of my labour spread out on the computer desk he said “You need a job”. I explained that I was learning a new skill because you just never know when you could find yourself locked in a room with only paperclips to escape… what I need…  is to be able to pick a lock!