1001 uses for a tea diffuser (almost)

While at La Porchetta today we discovered that there are many more uses for the humble tea diffuser than its conventional usage.

Here are some, can you add more?

1. Air freshener (just fill with potpourri and hang from your rear view mirror)
2. Easter egg mold (grease and put chocolate in, shake around and cool). Not sure if this will work or not!
3. Earring holder (for when you take them out at the pool and put them in your handbag)
4. Small change purse (great for meter/toll money!)
5. Cockroach / spider collector (hate picking the bodies up after you've killed them?)
6. Fly trap (better be quick!)
7. Breath mint holder
8. Bath salts diffuser
9. Pill case
10. Clip on earring (extreme fashion)
11. Paper clip
12. Jewelery cleaner (just put your rings / earrings in here and swoosh around in jewelery cleaning solution)
13. Watch-battery holder (where else would you put it when you go to buy another?)
14. Screw holder (when you pull something to bits, you need somewhere to put the screws so you don't lose them)
15. Chewing gum or throat lozenge keeper (for when you need to stop chewing to eat)
16. Whisk
17. Cappuccino frother
18. Earring
19. Button holder (for when your button falls off and you want to look after it)
20. Memory card holder
21. Note holder
22. Photo frame (just stick the bottom in a lump of Blu-tack and clip a photo in)
23. Picker-upper-er for injured persons
24. Moth-ball hanger (put a moth ball inside and hang it in your wardrobe)
25. Scent container (for your clothes drawer - just put lavender inside and hang or put it in your wardrobe / drawer)
26. Treat container (to take on walks with your pal)
27. Food shaper (make little balls out of fudge, icing, or whatever!)

Add your own to the list (no liability is permitted for following the above advice ;)!

A birthday, and a change of government

What a week it has been. This weekend I've been exhausted after cleaning and packing stuff up all week ready for the open days this weekend. A few interesting people have come through the house which is good.

Yesterday was Mum's birthday (hi Mum), so at her preference, we went out to a local lake and had fish and chips. It's always risky, trying a new fish-and-chip shop, but we were impressed. The lady even remembered to add chicken salt!

What else happened yesterday? Oh yes, we got a new prime minister. Kevin Rudd won the election this time, most probably due to fallout from the Work Choices legislation introduced by the previous PM John Howard, as well as the war in Iraq and a few other things that Australians just aren't happy about.

Watching the election coverage on TV is just like watching footy. I was at a friend's house for dinner with some other friends, and we weren't able to watch the entire 'match', but we did check the scores often. Needless to say, we did watch the last quarter (when it was clear who had won), as well as the speeches afterwards.

It was, in the end, kind of sad to see Mr. Howard leave on such a bad note (he lost the election terribly, and has probably lost his own seat, which would make him the second prime minister to do so). Although I haven't agreed with many of his decisions, he still has led our country out of debt, and has held fast to some of the great values that we had when this nation was formed.

Perhaps the reason for the downfall of the coalition can be illustrated by an interview I saw with one candidate who was predicted to lose his seat. When asked why he thought there had been such a swing against him, he simply refused to accept defeat, and then later admitted "I don't know". Any politician who does not listen to his people, and who takes their loyalty for granted, will eventually find himself unseated.

Well, here's to a "new page" in Australia's history - I'll look forward to seeing some of Mr. Rudd's promises fulfilled (and let's hold him to it), such as throwing out WorkChoices and sorting out this mess in Iraq.

Just dribble...

What a relief - I've just about finished study for this year. Just a few lectures to go and I'm done. It's been a long hard year, but we get there in the end.

Oh, and that house I told you about? We bought it! The agent rang back and told us the owner was prepared to reduce the price a bit, so we're signing up next week. I knew it was our house :)

And in other news, Susie has been dribbling for the last couple of weeks. I have no idea why... but it's pretty gross. Perhaps it's an ageing thing? We have looked into teeth problems but hers seem OK. Anyone got any ideas? The only lead I have is that she seems to dribble when she's happy...

My cup runneth over

A student's best friend, I have decided, is coffee. I cannot do without my Cup at studious times like these...

Cappuccino generator

The Hunt

The search for a new Shack is on. We spent the best part of last week looking through other people's houses, which is an education in itself. It's amazing to see how others live.

Anyway, so we think we found our new home. It's a nice little 3 bedroom house, in a nice street, with a nice garden, and (you guessed it) a picket fence. We find out today if the owners will accept our offer. I hope we get it, but if not, there are quite a few others coming on the market.

Buying a house is fun; it's like shopping, only much more expensive! Good thing is, it ain't my money :)

Beauty

Motivational poster generator - check it out.

Good times keep rolling...

Sarah and I said we would go and see another play, and we did. This time, we saw Annie, the story of an orphan girl who tries to find her parents.

It was good; the students had made a lot of effort, and even managed to score a live dog for the production to play Sandy.

The costumes were also quite good. And again, we got in for the dirt-cheap student rate of $5.

We hung out for most of that day, which was quite relaxing, and watched a movie called The Lake House which was actually quite good. I'm not normally a Sandra Bullock / Keanu Reeves fan, but the story really made the film a good watch, if you go for chick flicks.

I'm going to continue to frantically catch up with all my friends over the next couple of months before I pack up my Little Shack and leave. Let the box-stuffing begin!

A Good Night Out

My friend Sarah and I discovered last week that you don't have to spend much to have a good night out.

We went and checked out a local school production, which was quite well done actually, and then dropped into Maccas for an ice cream.

I spent a total of $6, and was happily occupied from 7-10pm.

We plan to check out another school play some time - they make for good, cheap, clean entertainment!

Essays, she wrote

... and the amount I have written in my lifetime is just murder. I have just three essays to finish this year. And after eighteen years of non-stop, full-time study, I have just about had it! It's not that what I'm studying is boring (in fact it's awesome, life-changing stuff), it's just the writing of essays that gets tiresome after a while.

Better get back to it... I promise I will blog soon, when I get a life.

Sad to tell you...

I found this Emo generator today. It's a bit of a joke; but in reality I'm very concerned about what the Emo culture is doing to our young people. I understand that many people live in difficult situations. But taking your own life does not solve this problem - in fact you enter a worse reality than you knew before.

I think it's time that adults (and young people too) begin to engage the young people around them. Find out about their dreams, and help them achieve them. Listen to their struggles, and help them walk through them.

There is hope; it's up to us to show them how to find it.