One Flew Out of The Cuckoos Nest

It's funny.  I always raised and nurtured my mini goddesses to be independent, empowered women.  I just never realised they would spread their wings so soon.


My eldest, physically 9 years old, but with wisdom and a sense of responsibility way beyond our years combined, will leave the roost this Easter.  

I have always told my girlies they create their own lives and that they will create an awesome life using positive thoughts, words and actions.  Good things always come from opening one's big mouth and pouring forth much loveliness.  

Amy told me she wanted to live with Amy Senior and her father, who recently got married. So, she had thought about it, spoken to me about it and yesterday we took action and delivered a letter to prove she was 'serious' about it.  Amy told her father exactly what she wanted and demanded a clear answer.  And she got it!  I am so proud of her.

I know it is for the best for everyone. I always manifest a win-win, surely you must know that by now.  There is no better outcome than one where everybody's happy.  Amy will get her daddy back and an amazing new mommy who can nurture her through her delicate teenage years and fulfil all her material needs.  I've been so blessed with the first precious years of her life and had a huge influence on her conditioning and character!  (Ha ha!  Sorry about that, chick, but face it, you are awesome and I love you heaps!)  But ultimately there is something innate that draws her to her father and his lovely new wife, an awesome role model.  Similarly introverted characters, I have every faith that this is exactly the experience she needs to continue to blossom beautifully.  It all seems so right.

But, yes, of course I feel sad.  It's the end of a chapter.  A rather sudden one to be honest.  There are bittersweet tears plopping on the keyboard as I type this.  The words I type are merely blurry splots and splodges on the screen (NB. Edit text with dry eyes). There's going to be a huge Amy shaped hole in my life.

So that leaves me, MiBu and the littlest monkey to go on our overseas adventures together.  Totally extroverted and bonkers by nature, we are going to rock the world with our crazy, silly hippy ways.  Because we know our Amy Pie is safe and sound following her bliss, we are free to follow ours, without compromise.  New ideas and possibilities have opened up yet again, but I don't want to get too excited talking about our adventures in front of Amy.  But, rest assured, the future is brighter than ever before.


Amy knows she is the luckiest girl in the world being able to choose her parents and everyone being happy with it.  I remember my sister desperately wishing she was adopted.  Bad luck, sis.  But our beloveds have benefitted from our childhood experiences.  Something good comes out of absolutely everything.

Is splitting up siblings a bad thing?  Absolutely not, if it is in both of their interests.  If I had any doubts at all, I simply wouldn't do it.  Each child is going to have the most amazing upbringing for their individual characters and totally diverse needs.  No competition.  No compromise.  No conflict.  

I am so excited to see how Amy and Abi's relationship develops with them living apart.  They are going to skype and be penpals and share their adventures and experiences with eachother.  It's actually really exciting.

These Little Piggies Went to Market

I saw something that I have never seen before, which was why I asked the butcher if I could take a photo.  It was a curious sight, in the middle of a street, in broad daylight.  Something about the surreal nature of hanging (petrol smoked) carcasses intrigued me.  It's not how I am used to seeing pigs. 

I prefer them live and oinking.

Henry the Hunter

If he's not propped against Buddha, Henry can be found in various snuggly spots around our home.  I think he's lazy but he assures me he's meditating.

 

He's never been interested in expensive cat toys.  I know this because when he was a kitten (and over the last 6 years) I spent a small fortune in an effort to entertain Henry, only for him to turn his nose up at my gifts and go back to sleep. 

His favourite toys, to chase, are scrunched up tin foil and greaseproof paper.  He also enjoys feathers, balloons and earbuds, but these don't do his digestive system any favours.  I was absolutely horrified when I saw he had pooped a bright red Pizza Hut balloon the girls had brought home one day.  I guess I should be grateful he is so easily pleased by the contents of my kitchen cupboards.

However, the other day I came home with a fluffy toy rat.  It didn't claim to be anything special and didn't even say it was stuffed with catnip.  Suddenly, Henry decided to diss his peaceful ways and awoke his inner hunter.  He clamped it in his jaws and shook it violently, kicked and scratched at it with his back paws and ran, batted and chased it all over the house.

Sadly, this is the carnage I came home to the next day.  Bits of kapok rat innards were scattered in every room.  R.I.P. Ratty xXx

Santana Worship

Today was a grey day.  It was a cold day.  It was a cloudy day.  It even hailed or maybe it was just a randomly thrown handful of gravel, who knows, but I needed some music to make me feel sunnier and bouncier.

A man who really can create magic with some strings and a piece of wood.  You really can't beat Oye Como Va, by the amazing Carlos Santana.  Rock on!

CHAOS Theory

I've been puzzling over CHAOS Theory recently.  That's right:  Childrens' Horrendous Accumulation of Stuff.  They see something.  They want it.  They play with it for, ooh, a day at the most (two days if a sibling or friend shows an interest), then it just becomes clutter that they have to tidy up.  And tidying up is something that they don't want to do.  In fact, I don't want them to do it either.  I want their rooms to be organised so they can spend more time playing and less time getting upset because their rooms are in a mess.

When I was even shorter than I am now, I used to get upset when my room magically got messy all by itself.  Being made to clean up my room and reorganise a calligraphy set, I stumbled across a quote and even to this day I actually remember it....and I have a very selective memory, so this is pretty impressive:

The chaos about thee is but the confusion within thee.  

I was and still am terrible at calligraphy, but loved the book for it's wonderful quotes, even if I didn't fully appreciate their meanings at that time.

Warning: Shopping causes merriment

Shopping in the World Foods Aisle caused me to giggle out loud.  I had to re-read it several times to make sure it wasn't just my dirty mind playing tricks on me.

No, not the Caribbean Everyday Seasoning! No, not the Caribbean Barbecue Seasoning, either!

I checked the ingredients and fortunately it did refer to chickens.  

On a less 'Carry On' vibe, I found the following lovely sounding chocolates.  After my experience with Caribbean Cock Flavoured Seasoning, however, I was curious about their meanings, so I decided to call on an infallible internet translation service.  Tiki Taki apparently means 'such tiki' and kasztanki means 'kasztanki'.  Well, I'm glad we got that cleared up.

 Keeping this blog pumping in a similar vein, here's a photo of my pussy:

Henry.  Isn't he lovely?!  He likes to blend in with the carpet, which isn't so good in the dark, escpecially when he sits at the top of the stairs.  I think he does it on purpose.

Serenity

I'm glad I took the opportunity to stay at home and rest today.  It's been rather more productive than spending 90 minutes whizzing Oswald up and down the motorway.  So, instead, I made my house stink of white sage, cranked up the music and ploughed into a 2,000 word essay.  I've done most of the research.  Now I just have to make sure it is coherent and actually answers the question.

I am listening to Gentleman, who is actually a German dude with a passion for Jamaica.  One website source claimed he expresses his devotion to God without defining a particular religion.  Never believe what you read kids!  Every song he sings mentions JAH.  If I'm not mistaken, that is the Rastafarian Big Dude, which kind of does single out a particular religion.  Ho hum!  

 

That got me thinking about something else.  You see a Rastafarian walking down the street and you think, 'Cool! He's a dude with faith and he gets to smoke pot as part of his religion.'  Then you see a Catholic priest who isn't even supposed to engage in the most natural demonstrations and expressions of LOVE: Sex. Intercourse. Copulation. Procreation...  Recreation!  

I know which one appeals more to me, but I am still highly suspicious of any organised institutions.  A person is intelligent.  People are stupid.  As soon as they gather en masse, something bizarre happens and nothing makes sense any more.  

But that's enough jibbering.  Enjoy the music, sent with love, hugs  and giggles.  If you don't like this genre, just enjoy it for the fact it's a music video that features, a forest, a dog, a real heart, t'ai chi and a mountain bike.  

 

And as Gentleman says: "Your awareness is rising.  Don't let it drop" ;o)  Keep shining dudes and dudettes xXx