photostory friday: this blog post has 3 titles

"IT STARTED INNOCENTLY ENOUGH" (blog title #1)

or

"APPARENTLY YOU CAN HAVE TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING
(blog title #2)

or

"THE POD PEOPLE ARE HAPPY" (blog title #3)

this photo works for blog title #1

so the iphone 4 came out here today.

after a royal F$%^^&&*UP between vodafone the contract distributor, the iphone 4 finally arrived at lunchtime.

mr scrappy was #9 in line.  (i guess when you're in line you have time to count).

[this is is happy face].  when being photographed, he's mostly concerned with not looking like a crazed drug addict; so this is a good day for him.

there's a very long money chain in play here, so try to keep up :)

mr scrappy HAD a iphone 3GS

miss 18 had an iphone 3G

her bestie had a [recently purchased] ipod 'touch'

miss 12 WANTS an ipod touch

now that mr scrappy has his precious iphone 4, he will sell his 3GS to miss 18

SHE will in turn sell her 3G to her bestie

and

miss 12 will become the proud owner of a nearly new ipod touch

in the meantime...

you have to WAIT for it to sync!!!

insert blog title #3 here

...and insert blog title #2 here

Hosted by Cecily and Caitlin

wordful wednesday: you're never to old to.....

share a laugh and a cuddle with your grandma

my parents have been visiting for the past 5 days and miss 20 (almost 21!) and her boyfriend came over for dinner on sunday night (a big fat ROAST!) we had 9 around the dinner table.

love that.

after dinner we played cards (another post)  we managed to NOT scare new boyfriend off after playing cards.  previous players to join our card table (then beat a hasty retreat) include tara and miss 18's boyfriend.

their parting comments went something like this:

"you're mean when you play cards!"

"this is too intense!"

well, if ya can't handle the heat.....

meanwhile back at the ipad, i'm almost wishing i hadn't shown my parents how to play scrabble on said ipad.  for the past 5 days all i've heard is utterances about 'it' or 'they' (the corporate baddies hiding in the battery pack maybe?) won't accept my word!

refusing to use the dictionary, i think they enjoy doing battle with the computer.

on the issue of the word 'trojan' however, i must take their side.

although it's a well-known brand name, i do believe the greeks came up with the idea first, but scrabble would have none of it.

for more wordful wednesday, visit angie over @ seven clown circus

i heart faces: purple photo challenge

this is my first time participating in i heart faces, and bless my 18 year old daughter for being my willing subject.

she'd just got out of bed and came into the kitchen for her breakfast.

as soon as i saw that she was wearing purple, i dragged her outside (into the cold - it's winter here!) to take her picture.

i've played around a little in photoshop and here's the result:

the big shwop: re-loaded

you may remember my first big shwop experience last year with mandy.

the big shwop is new zealand's largest eco-fashion event and is an afternoon of shopping that doesn't dent your bank account or your conscience.

for every unwanted, barely-worn, quality fashionable clothing item the big shwop accept, you get to 'buy' one item of clothing (or shoes or bags).  no money changes hands (although it does cost $20 to register and you get a loot bag of sponsor products).

the organisers made a couple of crucial changes to last year (one of which was my idea!) and it made the world of difference to our experience.

i went with my friend nik, and we had a great time.

and here's me with my loot

here's my [non]-purchases

these super-cute flats

wrap-around dress and dress-top

a skirt for tara

i'll wear this over skinnys i think

wrap-around top

'the girls' look great in this, and when i say 'the girls' i mean my boobs, not my daughters, although in the cold light of day, there's a strong possibility it WILL look better on my daughters!

wrap-around dress

here's me wearing it today
excuse the photo quality - stupid white balance

i felt super-cute in this outfit today and wore it to see this film festival movie about women playing rugby in iran.  the spirit of these women is inspirational.

and last, but not least, this wrap-around top

(anyone sensing a theme here?)

happy monday!

photostory friday and aussie world

remember how on wednesday i said that some photos deserved their own post?

well, this is one of them

this is aussie world

it's on the sunshine coast and sits behind the ettamogah pub

here's the ettamogah pub

it was built in 1989 and based on a cartoon drawing

the cartoonist's drawings line the inside of the pub and the furniture inside is built from trees cleared from the pub's building site

'ettamogah' is aboriginal for 'good place to drink'

aussie world was apparently refurbished in 2005, but to us, it looked like a tired theme park aimed at younger children.  having said that, our guys just loved it!  we aimed for the 4 'thrill rides' which were said to feature:

"stresses and unexpected physical forces"

G ones i'm guessing

and some did produce some 'unexpected physical forces'

like this one

this is called the 'wild mouse rollercoaster' ride

although i prefer to call it 'the death ride'

gateway to 'crap-your-pantsville'

i discovered this morning, that 'wild mouse' refers to a specific type of rollercoaster, that are characterised by small cars that take tight, flat turns (without cant or camber) at modest speeds, that produce high lateral g-forces.

all of this is true, but they forgot to add the part where you think you are going to fly right off the end of the turn and be flung into the stratesphere and plummet to your death.

i think the looks on my girls' faces sum up this point succinctly.

this is her 'thank god i'm alive and it's over' face

this one was actually our favourite, and we WERE planning on riding it again, but after riding the 'space shaker swinging ship' and following that up with a ride on the voyage simulator, all we wanted to do was sit very still.  for a very long time.

this mini golf course was insanely difficult and i'm certain a fair amount of cheating went on, but everyone had fun!  i never did see any blue or white dots.  go figure

she was very excited to win!

this is the second largest ferris wheel in the southern hemisphere (if you believe wiki)

and yes, i have an annoying spot on my point-and-shoot

this is actually a happy face

this one was fun too.  we rode it twice

yeah i'm a rebel

wanna make something of it???

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

wordful wednesday: not tonight dear...

i'm busy scrapbooking!!!

this is sue (too!)

i found her recently-opened gem of a scrapbook store in the cute mountain village of montville on our first morning of venturing out into the sunshine coast of australia

it was a monday morning in the school holidays, and lots of creative crafty goodness was happening in the store.

i arranged with the fam to meet back at the car after 30 minutes, so we could all wander around the village at our own pace, but i spent the entire time in this store!

sue was sporting her $5 t-shirt (purchased from a recent scrapbook expo) that said:

"not tonight dear, i'm busy scrapbooking"

love it!!!

for more wordful wednesday, visit angie over @ seven clown circus

photostory friday: sunshine coast show and tell

first up: our apartment for the week

not to shabby for sue!

our view out onto moolooaba beach

our private rooftop, complete with spa!!!

the rooftop also had a built-in BBQ

this guy didn't come with the hotel, but he did agree to flip my burgers

there was a trip to the maleny CHEESE factory

and the NUTWORKS factory across the road

(apparently they SELL nuts, rather than taking them in...)

hugging a tree (coz you can)

then there was the ginger factory (the largest in the world)

AND the only publicly accessible one too!

who knew???

new boots were purchased

and weird pyjama pants too

we took a ride on the mary valler rattler

they're getting set to turn the loco BY HAND here!!!

TOOT TOOT!!!

this train trip is a whole other post.  it was very cool

we went there and back to noosa beach

(to see how far it was)

we caught some excellent light for this pic at a lookout

of course there were jumpy pics

the best thing?

THEY reminded me to take them

i really gotta work on my form

it would appear i only have one pose (and that's a whole other post too)

i found SEVERAL very cool scrapbooking stores

this lady (who's name is also sue!) picked up this tee for $5 at a recent scrapbooking expo

it says "not tonight dear, i'm busy scrapbooking"

LOVE IT!!!

we went to AUSSIE WORLD, which is a very tired little theme park, that the kids really enjoyed, even though it's had its day and is rather lame.

THIS rollercoaster LOOKS tame, but [again], is a whole other blog post

i almost had to change my pants afterwards, and that's all i'm sayin'....

this was one of the FOUR rides that came with the rider "contains stresses and unexpected physical forces" which was a hoot, because theme park rides have moved on a lot since this one was built!  having said that, those things DID spin at a pace and it was a lot of fun.

rocky road at the eumundi markets.

D.R.O.O.L.

what a rebel

i caught up with scrappy chick michelle, and fellow scrapper stacey, who both moved to australia recently

we arranged to meet michelle outside this apple store.  we figured it was as good a place as any.  it's permanently HEAVING with people and there ware HOARDES of blue t-shirted staff, and NO cash registers in sight!  kind of a cool place, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND the entire staff break into spontaneous applause anytime someone makes a significant apple purchase.

(that was kinda weird, but i'm sure it made the customer feel special, or really embarrassed).

one or the other

THESE guys we haven't seen for 12 1/2 years!  we caught up with them on our last day.  it was so much fun.  greg sure knows how to tell a story!  his parents and MY parents used to camp at the same place when we were teenagers.  we each brought our respective boyfriends and girlfriends each year, got married, had 4 kids each, moved away, stayed in touch, knocked on their door after 12 1/2 years and picked up right where we left off.

love that.

and before we knew it, it was breakfast on the beach before checking out

yeah, my family will pose for photos pretty much anywhere

man, it is SO easy travelling with kids when they're older

they carry their own STUFF!!! (well, wheel it)

happy PSF!!!

Hosted by Cecily and Momma