The Island

The basic idea is if you could take 3 and only 3 things out of the world (and onto a remote island where no one would ever see them again...) what three things would you get rid of?

I - Porcelain Figurines..... they are the most annoying useless things, why anyone has them is beyond me...

II - Cigarettes... foul, nasty, things they are! And I wouldn't care if the tobacco industry took a hit....

III - Guns.... I hate firearms.....

This "excercise" was hard for me... everything has consequenses and many things are intricately connected, so I had to really think.... but this is what I came up with..... thank you Dave!

'Oy, Fred! C' mere and help!'

'Give her hell from us, Peeves.'
And Peeves... swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

In honor of my favorite comic duo.......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!!!!!!

'We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go,' said Fred, with a mysterious wink. 'Come in here…'

'This, Harry, is the secret of our success,' said George, patting the parchment fondly.

'It's a wrench, giving it to you,' said Fred, 'but we decided last night, your need's greater than ours.'

'Anyway, we know it off by heart,' said George. 'We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it any more.''

And what do I need with a bit of old parchment?' said Harry.'A bit of old parchment!' said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace, as though Harry had mortally offended him. 'Explain, George.'

'Well… when we were in our first year, Harry – young, carefree and innocent

–'Harry snorted. He doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.'

– well, more innocent than we are now

– we got into a pot of bother with Filch.''We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason

–''So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual –''– detention –''– disembowelment

– '…'This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school.
'Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs,' sighed George, patting the heading of the map. 'We owe them so much.'

'Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?' said Fred.

'That was a sample of fertiliser from Norway!' said Percy, going very red in the face. 'It was nothing personal!'

'It was,' Fred whispered to Harry, as they got up from the table. 'We sent it.'

'Hello, Harry,' said George, beaming at him. 'We thought we heard your dulcet tones.'

'You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out,' said Fred, also beaming. 'There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you.'

About blogging

So I've been thinking about a friends' negative opinions on blogging and stuff, and though it is hard for me, I will admit it got under my skin a little.... in truth I was a bit bothered by it..... I did try to see things from other perspectives and what I came to is this.... many blogs out there are purely sensational "journalism" they excist only to rant and rave, they are impersonal and have no character or warmth to them.
I understand that because of such bloggs, one can get uninterested and even a little harsh.

However, allow me to bring another view or side if you will into the equation. From someone who comes from a place of scrapbooking, keeping memories, sharing ones' life through pictures/writings/etc. the world of blogging has opened up a WHOLE new way of sharing and exercising ones' skills in writing and creating.

So here is what I am thinking, MY blog is like my scrapbook or my journal... except it is online, and I don't have to make lots of messes to share my life/interests/thoughts. (Like glue on me, my clothes, and everywhere else, paper clippings everywhere)

To me it is not an excuse to distance myself from friends and family, if anything it is the other way around where I feel a strong sense of responsibility to reach out, when I feel like crawling into my hole and withdraw from the world. It's almost therapeutic.

So, to my friends who are negatively inclined to the world of blogging, I have one plea... give me a chance to maybe change your view.... and let me share my life with you, unsensored, untouched and honest.

A great story! Help Save the Trolls!!!

So I stumbled across this blog, it's in Norwegian, and it's about loosing the Norwegian mythical creatures such as the Trolls, Nymphs, Nisse, etc. I just thought the article was fantastic, and I do believe it is important for any culture to keep their mythology, their creatures, it's part of ones' culture, it's part of who we are. In fact, in many ways it is the essence of who and what we become.

Personally I've always had an overactive imagination, ever since I was a little girl, I would talk to little "mice" who lived in treeroots, fairies in the forrest behind my house, or in the rocks by the wayside. The flowers were as real and alive as I was, and the birds could talk if one only would listen.

The stories of Asbjørnsen and Moe, Elsa Bescow, Thorbjørn Egner and others were influencial in all this. Stories, where animals talk, stones and rocks are alive, even lakes and brooks aren't always what they seem, all this was grounds for a world around me that was both scary and facinating at the same time. Face it, who wouldn't be scared by this troll....

and I'd be willing to bet that anyone who grew up hearing stories about this guy would hurry home when the sun set, and look at the mountains to make sure you got to safety before he could get you and trap you in his cave for EVER...

I'm adding some other pictures to show and inspire anyone who wants to keep this tradition alive, and maybe find the inner troll or fairy in your life.

Help SAVE THE TROLLS by telling stories and make up creatures or just re-tell some you've heard!

Good luck!

This last picture is from Elsa Bescow.

Natures' Alarm Clock

So at the crack of dawn, which is when I usually wake up, I have the pleasure of waiking up to lovely songbirds... I have doves, sparrows and hummingbirds right outside my window, or so it seems at least :)

There are also some really nice sounding black birds, that live in the area, that make some funky "clicking" noices, put all these together, and I have a beautiful symphony to wake me every morning......

Days of our Lives

Today, after the kids came home from school, we all went to the park just around the block..... Dog, baby, nanny and school kids..
At first, Cam didn't wanna go.... "whine whine whine..." any excuse under the sun.... NOT to go... but at last he caved in.... of course finally at the park he had so much fun when it was time to go, I got the same as before we left...... "whine whine whine.... I never get to play, I don't wanna go home...."
*Sigh*
Sometimes a nanny can only do SO much......

The park in our neighborhood is REALLY NICE. And in the afternoons there are ALWAYS people there, baseball/soccer/football practice, little league games etc. etc.
The playground is HUGE and split up in two parts, there are 8 swings, a really nice pavillion and lots of seats for parents/caretakers to sit. And it always looks so nice and clean. They must empty the trash cans really often as well, and there are always park service-men around.

The neighborhood is great as well. It seems there are a lot of families with children and that is always nice. So far I am enjoying myself tremendeously here.

Tv shows, VENTING.....

So I've been watching a few shows lately (all my hobby stuff is in storage in Salt Lake....), and I just have to vent and voice my opinions.....

First of all, "Moment of Truth" is a disgusting show that should be taken off the air!!! Why do we watch this CRAP that is only disrupting and sad. People leaving their dirty laundry out to dry, and some big guys make money on discrediting and distroying our society. Because that is what this show and others like it does. It does absolutely NOTHING for our morale, and it holds our private lives in contempt! Yeah so people go on there, no one is being threatened to tell anyone anything, but the point is, we are so caught up in sensational journalism, and I think it STINKS!!!!

Now, that said, one show I really like and have gotten a little hooked on is "Deal or No Deal". Howie Mandell is FUNNY and quirky, and these people who go on there are CRAZY!!!! But it's funny to watch, and the best is, if the contestant loose or doesn't get away with a deal, you are no worse off.... :)

And then there is "The View"..... which I started watching when Rosie was still on, and I loved it. I thought it was funny, interesting, they dealt with informative subjects, and there was humor, a lot of laughing.... Now, off course, with Rosie there it was still filled with controversy, but I didn't feel it was derogative and a big mess.... Now, I LOVE Whoopie Golberg, but with her and Sheri as the two new co-hosts, I feel there is just too much BLABBER...... and half the time I can't make out what anyone says, because they all talk at the same time and they all talk so fast. And I also can't stand Ms. Hasselbeck... she is just too liberal, to me she comes of as "holier than thou" and with an "I know what's real/right/WHATEVER, and everyone else don't".
Joy Behar is still a joy, but unfortunately she doesn't get her two cents in hardly at all, and it is a shame because she is really funny! So I am waiting for Elizabeth to get really sick or have another looooong nice time off...... Then maybe I'll be back for more View :) In the meantime, I am losing interest fast...

Next, "American Idol". This week they did Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennons' songbook.... I was worried and a little scared that nobody was going to do anything good. But there were some that stood out to me. My new faves are Chikezie and Amanda Overmeyer. Chikezie did an especially fantastic version of a song most artists wouldnt touch with thongs if their lives depended on it.... So Cudos to him for pulling it off!!!!!
And I like Amanda, but I think she should now try to show some more versatility in her performances... she's great, but she needs to show that she can do different things... be more "colorful" :)

A good familyshow I think everyone should watch, is "Are you smarter than a 5th grader" It's clean, funny, and it's funny to see grownups being outsmarted by kids!!! Jeff Foxworthy is hilarious, the kids are charming, and the contestants are just great. My particular favorite is when they have celebrities on.... nothing funnier!!!!!

Finally, my absolutely favorite has been for a long time now and will probably for a long time, Rachael Ray rocks my mornings, and inspires me in so many ways. It is another clean show, great for families, young and old alike. It's a great mix of funny, educational, informative, competitive and let's all be honest here, who doesn't love a show about food!!??!?!?!!

Anywho, that's it for now..... sorry if' I've offended... it was not meant that way, it's just my opinion.

Tote

So after quite a few of my friends have shown the items of their purses/bags/totes... I figured I'd let you all know what's in mine.....

The before picture:






And here are the inside on the outside:


The items are:

• Wallet
• Library Card
• Library Information List
• Random papers containing map and directions to Long Beach
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• My planner
• 3 Pens (Because when I need one I can never find one)
• Antibacterial Hand Gel (White Tea and Ginger)
• Hand Lotion
• Blue Multi-tool Thingey
• Eyedrops
• Liquid Bandaid
• My coin purse
• Lip Balm
• Togo's Menu

and my trusty waterbottle that goes everywhere with me!

The tote itself is made by yours truly, and I am super proud of it too!!!!

So there you have it.... there are a few things that I normally also have, such as my nail clippers, a nail file and some headphones.... but they fell out of the pocket last night, and I just hadn't put them back in. But now you know that is what a nanny drags around everywhere :D

a short one

I only have time for a short update. But here goes....

So after a loooooong dry-spell of little or no work, I finally got a family who needed me. So I moved, to Southern California, Corona to be exact....

Mom is super nice, works as a legal secretary and is a local. : )

Dad is also local, he works as a designer of some sorts (I think in web, but not positive about that...)

Oldest kid, Cam is 9 and Autistic. He has Aspergers' but is a wonderful young man who is generally kind. His favorite subject in school..... MATH (yuck!)

Then there is Mimi. She is 6 and very precotious. She is also HYPER but cute and funny. She loves hugs and playing games.

Then we've got the BABY, Zoe. She is six months and supercute. Her legs are strong and she loves to stand up and look around. Nothing will pass this kid, if she has anything to say about it!

Last member of the family is the brown and white Australian Sheep dog, named Annie.
Annie lived with some mean people earlier in her life, so she is a bit timid, but she loves hugs and shows lots of love by giving slobbery wet kisses....

The area we live in is a newer nice area, and there's a park just around the block. My only wish is that there were a better bus and library system around here.... There are neither within what I call an easy walking distance, and since I haven't made any friends around here yet, it gets a little lonely. For adult conversation at least! (there is more than enough "blabbering")

So that is the latest from me. Signing off from Corona, CA.