Beyond the Edge of Adventure

I went to a meeting the other night. With the state election coming up, the Toowoomba Coal Mine Action Group, Friends of Felton and two other groups invited the candidates for the local area to attend a community meeting on the CSG and mining industry. Almost the entire area around Toowoomba has had an EPC (Exploration Permit for Coal) approved for it, so we're very interested in where the next mine is going to be, considering that we actually have to live here and breathe in whatever is put in the air. And now I'm mad. Really mad. Anyone with half a brain knows how devastating coal mining and CSG is to the health of people. In Jondaryan, there's a huge pile of coal that waits to be transported into the trains to take it to port right next to the highway. People in Jondaryan have to wash their plates, cups and cutlery before they eat from them because they're layered in coal dust. The state government has allowed a 2km buffer zone around coal mining activity. It...

I've had to come face to face with some hard facts lately. I've known since I was about 18 that I'm sensitive to gluten and dairy products. But it wasn't life threatening, so I've just bodged along, sometimes going hard core and not eating any gluten or dairy and other times eating whatever I wanted until I got sick and had to slow down a bit. Mostly I've maintained a bit of a middle road, prefering to eat gluten or dairy free, but eating other stuff if I felt I could tolerate it. Not any more. I"ve had some worrying trends with my health lately and so the gluten-and-dairy-free diet has begun. I'm tired just thinking about having to think and cook gluten-free and dairy-free meals! But I just wanted to share how the solution to my health concerns came about. I've been to my GP and had some tests done which all, worryingly, came back negative (apart from a sinus infection). NOT ONCE did she mention that my condition may have something to do with...

http://transformedmagazine.com/life/the-2012-kissing-challenge/ OK, so I'm in. A year of one hot kiss per day! I'm a get-out-of-my-personal-space person, whereas my poor sweet man is a cuddly sort of person. So things like this really are a challenge for me. I'm good at the "Hi, how are you, glad you're home." peck, but when I'm busy I don't like to stop doing what I'm doing. So.....to stop and kiss him - passionately - each day is going to be full-on! But I love him so much and want to put our marriage ahead of everything else here on earth! I want to make the effort to show him that I love him and he's so important to me, not just blog about it. Day one was good - he was surprised :). 364 kisses to go!

This is truly terrifying. This report came out today and is the result of the 'media enquiry' commissioned by the Gillard government. Do NOT switch off, and please don't be complacent. Your freedom to have your opinion and express it is under attack from the recommendations. An online website need only around 40 hits a day to be subject to oversight by a government body. I'm super passionate about free speech and it's becoming harder and harder to speak up for truth with so many people assuming that because you disagree with them you have offended them or you must hate them. It's just simply not the case. And for these recommendations to be even considered here in Australia is truly, truly frightening. So please check out Andrew Bolt's take on it. There are links there to other websites on it, too. Even an online site read just by your relatives is threatened

I realised I haven't told 'the story'.......about how little 'Twinkle' came into existence. I've been praying big time about our family and our fertility. During December, I realised that if we were to fall pregnant in that month, we would be expecting in September. So, I prayed - "God, if I could just have this year off to get the house in order and settle our family, then I'll happily have another baby for you....just next December.....I'm just so tired...." and blah, blah, blah....... He said 'No.' Little did I know, that despite following all the 'family planning' rules, I was probably already pregnant by the time I was rather arrogantly praying that prayer. The thing is, I'd LOVE a September baby. September 1st in one of my favourite days of the year: spring arrives! Matthew was due in late September and I stupidly expected him to arrive on his due date. He was ten days overdue. In my pathetic way, I've alwa...

Two things happened recently which reminded me that sometimes, you just need to swallow the complaints, whinging and excuses and get on with it. I was at church on my own with all the children and feeling blargh (I was pregnant but didn't know it at the time). Had to wait for ages for someone to get something for me so I could go home. Had the baby in the pram, fourteen.....oh, alright.....it was about four, bags hanging off the pram, plus my three eldest children, whom I always make hold onto the pram when we go near the road. As I walked out of church, huffy, tired, hungry and sick, I heard everyone else sipping their coffee and having a great time chatting. Suddenly, a shrill voice in my head blurted out, "Why doesn't someone HELP me?". I limped out of church with all my encumberances feeling dejected, flat and quite honestly, jealous. Then, my sweet Lord, who is always so gentle with my tantrums gently reminded me, "Julie, it's your choice to have the...

Today did not start well. I felt like I was sitting in my smug happy-Christian blanket on a jetty, enjoying the 5am sunrise.......and next minute I felt like I'd been knocked into the icy water and left clinging to the side of the jetty, gasping for breath and wondering, "Where in the heck did that come from?" It's not a big deal. After the baby woke me at 5am and I couldn't get Woollies online to work and then I read a blog post that dragged up a heap of emotions all at once and then I had to make breakfast while feeling nauseous but not able to get time to feed myself to relieve said nausea and after our prep girl wee-ed her only remaining pair of school skorts, I was a little cranky. Just a little. I had a bit of a rant. Kicked a toy....... ....and wondered why I was being so horrid! Normally I can talk myself out of a funk. Not today. I had to go grocery shopping (since the stupid online thing wasn't working!), so Ben offered to come with me, despi...