Favourite Books & A Give-Away

UPDATE - I AM GOING TO CLOSE THIS GIVE-AWAY ON SUNDAY, 7TH SEPTEMBER AT MIDNIGHT.

THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON MONDAY

Put your spell check away - I meant to spell favourite that way!! I am Australian after all and even though spelling isn't my greatest talent, there are a few things I refuse to alter in my life. Spelling the Australian way is one of them!! So, centre, cheque, theatre, colour, neighbour, favourite and many more, will not pass muster at the old spell check! All though, I just hit spell check and they didn't pop-up as being misspelled. For years I have been doing battle with spell checks and now.......is it a plot to lull me into a false sense of security?? Or has some intelligent person seen the light and programmed the spell checks to the correct way of spelling things? Mmmmmmmh.

I have digressed away from my intended subject. That never happens in real life of course! I wanted to introduce one of my favourite children's books. This was a gift to our family from my childhood friend, Angela Thomas. She came to visit us shortly after Samuel was born and this is one of 3 books that she gave us. I love all of them, but thought I would start with this one.

Diary of a Wombat

A Honour Book for The Children's Book Council of Australia

Winner of the Australian Booksellers Association Choice Award

I love this book. I love the illustrations and I love the simple story it tells. My kids love this book - the 21-year-old, the 16-year-old and the 2 1/2-year-old. In fact, I love this book so much, I have a few extras laying around to give away as baby presents. I love to give new babies and their families a book, silky blanket and a cute stuffed animal. But, on this occasion, I am going to give away 1 "Diary of a Wombat". What do you have to do for this give-away you may ask?? Just tell me in the comment section what your favourite children's book is. I will randomly draw a # out of a hat to pick the winner. You may have noticed that I haven't been getting all that many posts, so I haven't picked a closing date for the give-away yet.

Sally-Ann

Bare Butt Bunny Bowling - New Olympic Sport?

Bet that title got your attention!! I enjoyed watching the Olympics the past 2 weeks. I like watching most of the sports, swimming is my favorite with gymnastics a fairly close 2nd. My youngest son recently took-up bowling, so I wondered if this could possibly be a sport added to the Olympic line-up in the future!??

Purchase one "Bowling Bunnies" game on clearance at the local Home Goods store.

Line the bunnies up in any order desired.
Don't forget the cabbages!!

Strip naked, bowl!!

Pretty blue butterfly not included in the set.

I don't think the Olympic committee will go for this form of bowling. It is a bit difficult because they would have to lower the eligible age to participate to the age of 2 1/2. That is probably the age you would have to be to not get arrested playing this sport in public. I am not here to judge what you do in your spare time and in the privacy of your own home however.

After having his bath a week or so ago, Sam did not want to get dressed and decided to bowl instead. I think it must come from his Father's side of the family. My family wouldn't be caught dead Bare Butt Bunny Bowling. They would prefer good game of cricket or Aussie Rules football - fully clothed.

Sally-Ann

Gentlemen, start your harps!

Well, so begins another week. Last week was my 16-year-old daughter's first week back at school. Jessica attends Blake High School of the Arts. It is a magnet school that concentrates on the arts, but also has a "traditional" high school as well. Jessica is a harp major. She is a very talented young lady. Plays the harp, piano, violin and steel drums. Jessica also loves to write and draw. Jessica came home last week and informed me that her harp teacher had suggested that all juniors and seniors should consider renting or purchasing a harp. Being the ever dutiful parent, I sat myself down at the computer to research prices. After picking myself up off the floor and applying ice packs to all the parts I hit on the way down, I had to tell my dear sweet daughter - no. The cheapest I could find for the required model was $10,000 - ON SALE I TELL YOU!!

Please take note of my daughters age. She will be getting a driver's license soon and will need a car to drive herself to and from school. Her school is quite a distance from our house, so this is something her Dad and I have been dreaming of as we sit in rush hour traffic, plotting a route around all the known road construction and then inching the car through the worst car pool line in known history. When I can do it without blowing a gasket, I will have to write a post about the joys of car pool line at Blake High School.

Anyway, we have been discussing if to buy a car, what kind of car, when to buy it, etc., etc..... Told my daughter that if a Lyon & Healy pedal harp had a steering wheel, attached seat, indicators, gas pedal and brake we would consider (please note the word consider) getting one. Most teenagers ignore the word "consider" and in their mind you just agreed to something.

Teenage girls are very good at giving eye rolls, heavy sighs and when the occasion calls for it, dramatic arm movements. Not my dear sweet daughter. She gives "the look". "The look" can wilt the will and stamina of all but the hardiest souls. It can cause those not prepared to take at least 10 steps back and cower in the closet. I received "the look", not because I said no, but because I tried to do it humorously with my comment about a harp being a car, blah, blah, blah.... teenagers don't think their parents are at all funny.

Sally-Ann

Mother's Worry

My oldest son, Joshua, is 21 years-old. I know, I know, the oldest 21, the youngest is not quite 3! That is another story in its self. Anyway, Joshua is in Halifax, Canada serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He gets to write home via e-mail every Wednesday, that is their "day off". Yesterday we didn't hear from him. On Wednesdays I check my e-mail about every 30 minutes until we get his e-mails. As the day went on I began to imagine all kinds of reasons why he didn't write. Is he sick? Is he being transferred to another area? Is he injured in a ditch somewhere? Once again, I know, I know - remember the name of my blog - sometimes the wombats really get fluttering around my head! All my worry was for nothing (as it usually is). He had a meeting with the Mission President and several other areas of missionaries and that is why he didn't write until today. Joshua comes home in October and we are excited to be able to go and get him. Two years is a very long time not to see my boy! Have added a fairly recent picture of him.

Mother's seem to worry about their children no matter how old they are.

Sally-Ann

What do I say?

Well, the time has come for my first post! What do I say? Will people be interested in what I have to say? The questions are going around and around in my head! I guess my blog is correctly named - Wombats in the Belfry.

Why that name you may ask?! My youngest son is nicknamed Pokey Wombat because he likes to know exactly what is going on at all times and he likes to burrow under the bed covers, his silky blankie, his Mum's arms. So, I came up with the play on words with a well known expression because half the time I feel like I have bats in my belfry.

So, I hope that you enjoy my take on life, as wombatty as it can some times be.

Sally-Ann