I have a lot of needs....apparently lol

The mwahlicious Ngaire B tagged me on Facebook to play this game.  You go to Google and type in your first name and the word "needs" in quotes so I typed "Lucinda needs" and got this:

Lucinda needs a husband, not a lover. (Shhhh, best not tell the husband I've already got lol)
Lucinda needs no introduction.
Lucinda needs to find a person who is as strong willed as she is.
Lucinda needs a lifestyle that allows her to be spontaneous.
Lucinda needs reading glasses.
Lucinda needs to turn 2 more or gain 48 more Werewolf points to reach the next level.
Lucinda needs her clinic (if there's one for me I'll gladly go lol I could use a holiday!)
Lucinda needs to come up with a spell to snag a guy (apparently I'm desperate but don't tell DH!!!).
Lucinda needs to talk.
Lucinda needs to toughen up.

Okay, so from what I can work out, I'm an infamous sex mad talkative yet sooky spinster who needs therapy and corrective lenses, who clearly likes to dabble in the odd game of Dungeons & Dragons....lol

Tagged by Mel K "25 random things about me" from Facebook (no I don't know how to link up all my technologies yet lol)

1. I can only drive an automatic car.

2. I met my husband on the internet (lucky neither of us turned out to be an axe murderer!)

3. I am adopted but have met both of my birth parents and have an ongoing relationship with my birth mother and her family.

4. I start work at about 4.00am most days.

5. I hate ceiling fans because I don't like the feeling of wind on my skin; actually I don't like wind and really windy days make me cranky (not sure why).

6. I crave food in cycles and will want lots of one particular food for maybe three to four weeks at a time and it's rarely anything healthy.

7. I love to sing.

8. When I yawn, my saliva glands squirt so I *always* have to cover my mouth when I yawn (besides the fact that it's good manners lol).

9. In my job as a medical typist, I know the terminology for over 30 different types of medical specialties.

10. I am guilty of reading the smack blogs from time to time.

11. I barely scrapbook at all anymore :( but this week I gave up two of my transcription clients so that I can find time to scrap again because it makes me happy and keeps me sane.

12. I have never seen snow.

13. I have never left the country.

14. I knew it was a mistake to get married the first time at 19 and I did it anyway.

15. I hate exercise.

16. I have never managed to gain control of my weight (see above!) but I also have reverse body dysmorphia - I don't see how big I really am.

17. My favourite colour is red.

18. I hate public speaking and having to teach scrapbooking as I get very nervous and think people won't like me.

19. I have never dealt with the death of my mother when I was 19 - I have "ignored" it for 15 years but plan to start counselling this year as I have only just realised the magnitude of the effect it has on me as a person, even if I choose to ignore it.

20. I am trying to be a less materialistic person - yes I have a Pandora bracelet but I bought a nice bead for it from Spotlight for $5!!! I care about how things look, not how much they cost.

21. I constantly lose sunglasses and as a consequence only buy $10 cheapies as I'd kick myself for losing anything expensive - and besides, if I like them, I don't care if they only cost $10.

22. I believe that loved ones we have lost are still present in our lives, and that if you look closely, you will see the signs that they leave for us.

23. I don't consider a mobile phone a necessity.

24. I have ADHD (diagnosed when I was a kid) and am in the process of finally getting medication for it so I can function like a *normal* person.  I feel sorry for my kids as I understand how hard it is to be scattered all the time but I am hopeful that, as has been the case with them, the medication will help me to be not so scattered and a lot more together.

25. My most favourite place in the world is on a beach, especially at sunset, and it feels almost physically painful to leave again to go home.

So there ya go!!!  I don't normally do tags as I get so easily distracted by this stuff and my mind wanders from work and doesn't want to go back lol  I figured I'd post it though because I love to read other people's random facts and maybe other people do too.  No photos today but I am planning on scrapping tonight as I don't have any work scheduled for after dinner.  YAY!!!!  L xx

I are a BAD mama!

This is a great photo of my eldest son, Blayd, who turns 14 in a few months. He's starting to get a bit of peach fuzz on the top lip, becoming a cranky "don't speak to me" teenager and is now as tall as me. He also as a wee hypochondriac streak which I know is an awful thing to say about your own kid but he does tend towards the dramatic when it comes to his health and will mention the same thing (whether it's a stubbed toe, a paper cut or a bruise) repeatedly, along with a description of how painful it is, to the point where I have to say "Yes, I can see that, you've told me already" and repeat whatever first aid directions I gave him the first time he told me what was wrong. As you can tell, there's not a whole lot of sympathy around here and I try not to let them obsess over little things. Don't get me wrong; if there's a serious injury, claret spilled, etc, then I am the protective mother bear to the rescue but I try not to let them sweat over the small things as usually once distracted, they just forget about it anyway.

So, when Blayd mentioned something last night about having a sore mouth, I admit I kind of brushed him off a bit. I said go brush your teeth then, thinking he might have something caught between his teeth, or a leftover from the sore throat he had on the weekend. It was one of those nights last night where Lachlann had dance class, I was working late, Blayd had karate and we had to fit in grocery shopping at some point. I wasn't especially focused last nght.

Blayd comes to me this morning, early and while I'm taking a phone call, and tries to tell me again that his mouth is sore and can I pleaes have a look at it for him. I say "yes, as soon as I get off the phone" but by then he's off making lunch, getting ready for school and I've started typing again.

He comes home this afternoon and casually wanders into the office while I'm working and asks if I want to have a look at his mouth now. I am full well expecting to see something caught between his teeth or maybe an ulcer at worst. What I do see is a very badly swollen and inflamed gum right up the back on the left - the poor little bugger has his first wisdom tooth erupting!!! Well now don't I feel like a shit mother?!?!?! It looks really awfully painful and I immediately thought back to when I had my wisdom teeth come through, about a year after I had Blayd actually, and I remember thinking I could understand why he cried so much when teething way back then - because it really bloody hurts!!!

So I've given him a panadol and asked him to rinse his mouth with warm salty water because it looks awful. I may go so far as to give him a Nurofen at bed time if it is hard for him to sleep. Honestly I don' t know anyone who got their wisdom teeth at this age!!! That's why I was thinking I would find something totally different. At least from what I can see it is coming through straight so that's one less worry. The one on the right is starting to push up too and I give that another week or so before it's as bad as the left. Thankfully there's no action up the top at the moment.

So there you have it - Crap Mother of the Day Award goes to me - yes, Lord, I promise to listen more carefully to my children when they bitch about things.....L xx

If you want to help...

...by donating whatever you can afford to the bushfire victims I can only imagine how grateful those affected would be. I have seen firsthand someone I love lose everything but the clothes on their back in a fire and the devastation was incomprehensible but to see it happen on such a large scale, whole suburbs and towns...there don't seem words enough to convey the tragedy of it all.

If you would like to help, here's how:

To donate to the Red Cross State Government Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund: 

* Visit www.redcross.org.au 
* Phone 1800 811 700 
* Any NAB, ANZ, Westpac or Commonwealth Bank branch 
* Any Bunnings store 
* By direct deposit to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund - BSB 082-001, Account number 860-046-797 

Myer Bushfire Appeal 
* All proceeds to the Salvation Army. Donate at any Victorian Myer store (if you live in Victoria).

The people of Victoria, the victims, families and emergency services staff are all in my prayers.

Kaiser Sneak Peek for February!

How cute is this paper?!?! This is a sneak peak of just some of the new paper Kaisercraft has coming for February. I'll post some more pics as I get them. Can't you see this being a hit with the little fairy in your life?

Trying to keep up with photos!

Only my two children would break into a near knock down, drag out fight over...a stick! A bit of a blurry action shot there.

This is "Fang" as I call him or "The Terminator" as the kids call him. He's a venus flytrap that sits on my kitchen bench. One seriously cool piece of Mother Nature's handiwork. The problem is the kids like to watch him in action so much that James will find deceased flies and try to feed them to him...ick. It's the equivalent of poking a lizard with a stick or something and I keep having to say to them "leave the poor plant alone!" lol

We get some amazing sunsets at the new place - the shot above is looking down the street and the shot below is looking up the street. Nearly all the sunsets here (on a clear day anyway) are that really beautiful golden light and all the trees and plants look hyper-green. It's great for taking photos of the kids or of just about anything really. I love, love, love the new place and it's become a little ritual to wander out the front at sunset most days and let the kids have a bit of a play in the front yard while I take a few pictures here and there. It's a small slice of happy, fun time in an otherwise hectic day.

This week I was literally sucked into the vortex that is Facebook. People have been asking me for ages and ages to get on there "because everyone's on Facebook!" but I've resisted for a long time as I know that I have the attention span of a budgie and I am really easily distracted. Working at home means having to constantly remind myself that even though I'm sitting at my computer and I may need to Google a medical term occaisonally or look up a doctor address, it is not then okay to just wander over to someone's blog for a *quick look* or check out a forum or a challenge blog, or *shamefully* catch up on the 99% meaningless gossip on the smack blogs or any of the other thousands of things I get distracted by on the huge, enormous place called the internet. I really struggle to maintain my focus and that just goes with the territory of working at home. So I figured Facebook would be another place that would sucker me in and eat up an hour or two of my day in what feels like only a few minutes - and it is!!!! So if you got one of my friend invites this week that claimed I was being sucked into the vortex, too late, I'm in....but I'm trying to do it in small, manageable bites lol I'll be one of those FB'ers that...like my blog...I get into for a couple of days and then don't get back to for a week or more only because I've found a way to drag myself out of the vortex for a while and get some work done lol But I am on there now so if you want to find me I'm listed as Lucinda Benson but my maiden name is Griffin. I haven't done anything exciting like created a nice, arty wall, haven't sent anyone an imaginary gift, drink, hug, kiss or crush, and haven't dared go near the games because that would just be the end of my working day if I did! I do however have all my friends on RSS feed so every now and then I get a little window on the bottom of my screen while I'm working that tells me the latest "what are you doing right now" thingy for whoever has posted one recently. The problem is that it would be so easy to just spend hours on there writing on everyone's walls, getting into networks and keeping up with everyone so I'm going to resign myself to doing "Facebook Lite" which is me getting on when I can and not letting it eat into working hours.

Work has been really crazy busy this week with all my clients having more work than usual to be done. Not entirely sure why it has all happened in the one week but I've been working 14 hour days to keep on top of things and I'm hoping for a quieter week this week!

The kids have had a busy week with Lachlann starting Jazz and Ballet this week which he was really excited about. Lachie is my one in the middle who tends to kind of float along and seems to just miss out sometimes so a big thanks to darling Cass who rang and reminded me that classes started this week when I otherwise might have forgotten in the midst of toothaches and masses of work. Blayd tried out for the school cricket team for the district comp and got in so he's a very happy camper as he hasn't made the cut the last couple of years he has tried. Now he wants a new cricket helmet, new bat, new gloves, yadda, yadda, yadda.... James is planning on starting Auskick again soon when it restarts at school. He's only small for his age and last year I think he and his friends spent more time chasing each other and talking in the in goal area than actually playing AFL but he seemed to enjoy it so he's going back again this year. Friday night Caeligh wanted to learn how to do a handstand after successfully teaching herself cartwheels over the Christmas holidays. Honestly within an hour of me showing her (well not literally, mama is a bloody long way from doing handstands and any attempt may well result in hospitalisation!!!) how to do them by holding her feet and then telling her how to do them up against a wall so she will have something to balance against, she had them down pat and was so proud of herself. I was proud of her too - I can't believe how fast she picks things up. So yesterday she went for her first gymnastics lesson which she absolutely loved! They did some circuit work in the gym room, having to do different exercises on all the apparatus like the parallel bars, uneven bars, springboard, balance beam, trampoline and vault. She mastered it all quickly and had the best time. Then the most fun of all was the rope climb. The gym room is two stories high as there is a viewing gallery above the main room for spectators to watch and the rope hangs from the very top. She was in a class with up to 7 year olds so she was the youngest one there. When it came her time to climb the rope, she was up it like a shot, nearly all the way to the roof and without an ounce of fear but the biggest silly grin on her face lol I sat and watched as she did all these climbing, balancing things that if she did anywhere but in side a padded floored gym they would be dangerous and thought about how funny it was that the teacher was telling her to do all the things I have spent her whole life telling her NOT to do because I was frightened she would hurt herself. Funny how she never has though, despite all the things she has gotten up to the second our backs were turned. So gymnastics appears to be her thing and she can't wait to go back next week so she can climb the rope again. I just have to keep a close on her during the week and repeat the age old sentiment "DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!".

Hope you're all having a good weekend! Cheers, Lu

Trying to keep up with the pics and Kaiser winner

So I'm trying to keep up with the pics for the year so I'm playing catch up from Friday - you know me, there'll be lots of catch ups lol Naturally these pics aren't in order because Picasa has decided what order they go in and not me! So the pic above and below are from yesterday. I babysat my niece and nephews (Cass's son Ronin and daughter Lily, and Kris but he doesn't need babysitting, just company) yesterday while Cass and Kelly went to a movie. Ronin found Jamie's rollerskates and wanted to use them so we strapped him in and he was off like a shot, a real natural! I asked Lily if she wanted to use Caeligh's rollerblades so both of them were cruising around the house in no time. Last night was quiet at our place as Blayd and Lachie are with their dad and James and Caeligh went to gran's for a sleepover so Doug and I had the place to ourselves. The pic below is a present Doug got me as an early Christmas present - he knows how much I love to sing, in the shower, in the car, anywhere at all really. There are some great songs on there, recent stuff too as well as older stuff. Out of consideration for hour neighbours we made sure all the doors and windows were closed lol

The cleaning bucket is looking at me today, knowing that it will get its workout tomorrow morning once the kids are off to school. Damn Cass and her cleaning bucket - it's become a real fixture and with everything in one place I know where to go when I need something and it does make getting the cleaning done a bit easier. I'm not a Domestos addict yet however...I can't stand the smell that you can't get out of your nose for hours.

Below is Friday's picture, not a great one but one that I see everytime I look out my office window. We have pebbles all up one side of the house where it's too narrow for grass but it doesn't stop the weeds that have sprung up like...um...well like WEEDS!!! lol Apparently it's our responsibilty to spray regularly so the weeds don't take over but it's been raining all week and there doesn't seem to have been one totally dry day so far lately to go out and do it so the jungle continues to flourish.

What I didn't get a chance to take a pic of was the name Caeligh randomly picked for my Kaisercraft goodies which was Robyn W!!!! Robyn if you want to email me (there's a link on the left side bar) I can get your address and post your Kaiser goodies off to you.

I'm going to go get some typing work this afternoon - ugh. I've had a slow last few days because of yet another tooth abscess driving me insane. I've been chewing through Panadeine and anti-inflammatories and eventually caved in yesterday and went to the dr to get some antibiotics but they are slow to work this time so I'm still not entirely focused as there is a constant, low grade grumbling toothache going on all the time no matter what I take. I was going to get my teeth fixed as part of my Life List for last year but I just ran out of year! I do want to do it this year though - provided I can work up the courage to go to the dentist to get a quote!

I haven't done any more scrapping though have taken over the far end of my dining room table with a couple of baskets of necessities so that I can sit down when I have the time and urge and get something done. My office still remains like a storage shed for all of my other supplies and I can't bear to think of unpacking any of it until I know where it's all going to go, otherwise it's going to end up a huge mess and I won't know where anything is. I want to get to Ikea in the next week or two just to have a look at options and I'll work something out from there.

Caeligh and James have just come home so I'm going to go get them lunch and then show Caeligh the Gabriella Cilmi song "Sweet About Me" that we recorded on the Foxtel IQ last night from one of the music channels that does a karaoke segment on Saturday nights. It's the original film clip but a strip down the bottom with the words. She'll be quite excited as she loves the song so even though she can't read the words, she knows them all by heart anyway, and I'm sure she'll enjoy prancing around the lougeroom with the microphone. Maybe that'll be another photo for later today.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday, love Lu xx