Twilight New Moon Fans... read on...

My 13 year old is crazy about Twilight. We have the Twilight font, she has read the series, bought the first movie and has watched it, I don't know, about 10,000 times I think, and badly wants to see New Moon on its release, has posters, like any teen, and I know is NOT on Edwards team (I um, just can't remember the name of the other guy... Jake, Jack, Jacob... Bob... ???) 

It should be obvious by now that I have not succumbed to reading the books or watching the movie... yet...
But I do love the sound track, so scroll down and enjoy!

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North on US-69...

Cats are known as resilient creatures, graceful, usually, always landing the right way, on thier feet, as our cat Callie will tell you.
But its not always easy to know where you are going to land.
Or even if you'll land feet first, sometimes.

Our move to Texas 15 months ago was one we had been looking forward to, but the economy had its own ideas.  Soon after we were faced with moving along to a 7th state, my first post here looking toward another adventure, wrapped in undying love for discovery of another new city, another state.  It hasn't changed, I haven't finished discovering the Dallas area let alone the rest of this state.  We have yet to see the Grassy Knoll among other places.  Willie and those roads, are never far from my mind despite it being an unusual choice of theme, we, the song and I, seem to have become attached, and it will probably remain a moderately enduring theme for my entire life, if only in rememberance.  On the road again...
 
But a broken heart and a family separated by states has its challenges.  My husband being relocated 5 months ago in Missouri, North on US-69, part of the road there, the girls in school, and my career...
...my career, with its best chance of getting off the ground here in Texas, while I wait for a job opening in either state, has had its share of  dissapointments.  The economy has hit hard for us.  As a graduate in December 2007, with a great GPA, going into a field that is economy proof, I figured the world was that proverbial oyster, just a matter of time before I landed my dream job... now I await any job. anywhere.

Sometimes its not easy finding your way in the world, as much as we like to believe we are resilient, circumstances and God sometimes find a way of deciding for you, whatever that might be.  Its times like this, when desperation sets in, the fear of what might not happen, one can't help pondering the green grass on the other side, becoming homesick, the lack of family or friends in a relatively new place can sometimes be more than resilience alone can tolerate.  Then prayer on sleepless nights when stress becomes too much, longing for that peace, the calm in the storm even if its temporary...and thanks, that you still have a roof over your head...

...landing on your feet is sometimes a road in itself.  Sometimes cats have to twist themselves around for a good landing too.

Catch ya later
W&W

Half and Half - Coffee tales in America.

A cup of coffee please.
cream? um, no thanks (cream, what! CREAM in coffee *gag*)
do you have milk?
ahh, yes, if you do.
2%?  (Is that regular milk? 2???...)
Do you have just regular milk? (what do I say here, this is new, regular milk??...what do I call it?  aaahrrgg)
no?
no, plain milk?
...She means whole milk....  (2% is regular milk --)
Ooooh.  2% is fine, thanks.

I can't tell you how many faux pas there were on both sides when I first came to the US.  My first thoughts on 'cream' in coffee, were not pleasant, not having more info at that time.  Ask for cream in Australia and that's what you will get. The American equivalent I've since found out, is referred to here by its full name, 'heavy whipping cream.' Possibly to avoid the previous scenario.

Then I found out about half and half.  So the conversation took a twist.

Just coffee please
Half and half?  um, no just cream is fine thanks
Oh.  What?  so then what is half and half.
Exactly half of what?
OOOhhhhhh. 
So half and half is cream?
So why do they call it cream if its half and half?
So what do ya'll (we were living in Kentucky, I could say y'all) call cream then?
cream?  And you distinguish that between cream and cream and half and half how?
But tea is different.  Tea is tea, but tea is a cup of tea.  See what I'm saying?  (He didn't see what I was saying)

Welcome to Helen's Australian-American Dictionary of Terms:
Tea:  Tea in Australia is generally referred to as 'dinner' or 'supper' in the US. 
-But Tea can also refer to a cup of tea (usually with milk and sugar, depending on how you like it)
-or it can be referred to as morning tea, which would be a mid morning snack, which everyone generally takes at work and school. 

And this is where it can get interesting. 
Welcome to Helen's American-Australian-British Dictionary of Terms:
-Half and half is half whole milk and half cream. 
Or it can be half 2% milk and half cream, that is, heavy whipping cream.
-Apparently this is also known as 'single cream' in Britain.
ahh.. i'll take your word for it.  I have never really heard the expression 'single cream' either.
-But apparently, single cream as apposed to 'double cream' 
They have double cream in Britain?  I have no idea really.  I am lost to both, but I am assuming that double cream may be heavy whipping cream, or simply cream, in Australia...

See how this can go? 
It was a very confusing time in my life.

Culturally speaking, my Aussie-American girls are half peanut butter and jelly, and half Vegemite.   I should explain that I suppose.  One is obviously an American thing, as much as Cherry pie and Cracker Jack.  The other is an incredibly tasty and extremely healthy alternative, a national icon (well, I am out of stock right now, I feel I need to make up for lost time) So in order to win favor for our own sides, that being the USA or AUS, we naturally tried to win the girls over with one food item, or the fabulous other. 

They won't go near either of them. 

Great ambassadors we are.

Hooroo,
Helen

Elevation: 1200 m

(etriptips.com)

I remember several of the drives we took as a family while living in the Riverina, it was an intergral part of growing up.  Our car, probably an old Holden, though I have no idea what model, might have been pretty sleek at the time.  It had state of the art automatic climate control (painted a color that would reflect blistering summer heat), air conditioning system (an open window with manual roll down) controlled by fingertip precision (wherever the window stopped when your hand got too tired to roll more), entertainment system (whatever was out the window) and navigation system (Dad and Mum and a map), stereo (all 3 of us kids singing at the same time to the radio), equiped with a smart drive (Mum saying we should ask for directions) and precision traction control (when Dad told us kids we had to move to the other side of the car so it wouldn't fall off the edge of the road/mountain/hill/bridge or whatever we were driving over or near at the time).  You can see why Dad liked it so much.  Driving that is.

    

Tumbarumba.  "Delightful small country town which is largely untouched by the modern world.  Located 504 km south west of Sydney and 701 metres above sea level, Tumbarumba is situated on the southern slopes of the Snowy Mountains..."  (SMH.com)

Tumbarumba. I hadn't thought of that town for years. A beautiful area, wine country. This is when I first encountered part of the area considered 'the Snowy Mountains' in New South Wales, Australia. The winding road we traveled on at that time resembled more of a hikers trail the way it seemed to meander up the mountain. Eucalyptus, (or Gum) trees to the left towering far above, gradually getting shorter the higher we went. One of the first times I ever saw snow. Much of it had melted at the roads' side, and there was just a hint of icy white, little dentations where melting ice had forced its way toward the ground, that I remember most. Mum mentioning how it was dissapointing there wasn't more for us kids to see...

... we made up for it later when we took the second half of our dastardly drive - with that traction control I mentioned earlier - around the actual snowy part of the mountains, with roads that barely fit two vehicles (and some parts didn't at all) and no guard rails. Where the real snow was. Its this particular road I remember.  Winter, grey, cliff, snow, ice and another car coming toward us on this little slip of a 'road'.

The mountains of Tumbarumba, and our visit to the higher peaks of the Snowy Mountains (2,228m at its highest peak) are the only places I really remember actually MOVING very quickly to the other side of the car, apparently to save us from slipping to our untimely deaths from the roadside to the depths of the mountain valley approximately 1 million feet below.  I just remember a lot of Eucalypts between us and whatever that dark area was waaaaayyyy down there. 

Visit the local tourism site and it will tell you that the

"Snowy Mountain Drive is like no other"

Oooh, yeah.  I remember it. The drama of going to the snow.  Scarred for life, I tell you. Perpetually in fear when higher off the ground than the first 3 steps of a ladder.  This is why I am not a firefighter.  I like cats, but mate, I'm not climbing that dang tree.

Who would have thought that years later, I would be in the U.S., hearing of early snows in many parts of the area, hubby getting caught in Green Bay, Wisconsin because of snow, wondering how the kids in those parts will enjoy Halloween, and how many spooky creatures could be made from snow suits.  Seems the season has landed.  Having now lived in Northern and Midwestern United States where snow is plentiful, I can assure you that I now am very familiar with snow... my introduction to it so many years ago had accomplished many things.  Traction control.  I have a subaru, with much traction control, which worked very nicely thank you very much, in Wisconsin and Iowa.  I like snow, but I am happy right now that here in northern Texas, we are flat, and winter happens for a few days in January. 

Hooroo,
Helen

isnack2.0... the new Vegemite?

It was ineviatable of course.  A name was chosen from about 50,000 entries in the new Vegemite 'name me' contest.  The new version of Vegemite which combines the original recipe with cream cheese, was an addition to the store shelves, and seemed to go over well with the Australian public.  But the new name,

entered by a father of two who works in the computer industry, and announced at the end of September, seems has quite a few Australians in an uproar.  The web is full of complaints, newspapers are reporting it as a tasteless choice and youtube videos are mocking it.  Google isnack2.0 and you'll come up with a number of sites all voicing thier dissaproval.

I wrote about the new version of Vegemite previously, here

Living here in the US, I haven't had the opportunity to try the new version yet.  I can't imagine the cost at World Market.  Gosh...just the thought of it.  A 150g of the original version here is $6.99, and only about $2 something in Australia... but I digress.

The uproar has kraft foods in a bit of a bind.  I've read some reports of them agreeing the name is somewhat 'stupid' and 'lame' and apparently, they have ditched the new name altogther, much to the delight of consumers.  There are 500,000 jars of it to get through first though, so it won't be dissapearing off the shelves immediately.  Apparently that is about 3 months supply.  Though, there is a new name on the horizon, one of 3 they'll choose from.

Closer to Spooky...

Autumn Farm in Waunakee, Wisconsin, 2007.

Its that time of year again.  In some parts of the country, the leaves are turning, its colder, the winds are starting I bet in Iowa and Wisconsin.  I remember all too well those October days when trick or treating in costumes way too thin for any real midwestern autumn, left us with chills from more than just a spooky night.  We learned quickly that the warmest costumes are usually better with just a tad more insulation. 

Our youngest tends to enjoy being some type of fluffy animal.  In 2005 it was a black cat, in 2006 it was a mouse, go figure, in 2007 it was a bunny, 2008 we were cat and this year, we would like to be a...cat.  But we are trying to compromise with perhaps a cat, from the musical Cats - still a cat, but with a twist... well, its not so convincing yet, apparently.  Then we have the just turned teenager...

Black Cat and Shopaholic.  2006

There was only one time, while we were living in Michigan, a freakishly warm October allowed children everywhere to experience a new sensation.  It was called 'thawing.'  We were able to take our then 2 year old out for her first ever trick or treat, and without 3 layers of insulation.  She was a cheerleader - perhaps we set the stage for her, that's another story.  Since then, our '2' year old has progressed with age.  We have gone from being benign things such as Cinderella, and a shopaholic, to becoming a dead cheerleader, a  dead prom queen a grave yard fairy and this year, it could be anything.  The jury is still out.  She believes it could be something dead.  A dead bag, a dead leaf, dead dirt... I don't know.... (I would show you a photo of her as a dead prom queen, but with photoshop, it has become a little um, realistic)...  But whatever it is, it is going to have a pink streak in its hair.  And so is the dead friend. Apparently.  

It should be an interesting autumn this year.  Our first halloween in Texas last year was a delightful experience.  No -5F wind, it was warm.  And warm is nice.  As we speak, I need to go, because the two potential 'dead something' teenagers, that is, oldest child and friend both of whom have informed me that they might be 'dead university pink' (whatever that is) cheerleaders...  would like to eat (another teen phenomenon, right?)

hooroo,
Helen

An Article...

Wading through the debris in the construction zone here to let you all know about my new article!  Some of you may have seen this jar here before.  It is now on its own, published online.  You can see it here http://scrapbooking.com/article/73724

Update: We now have a new page devoted entirely to Art and Craft called Creative.  Please visit, and I know I value your input.  If you can think of a better name for example, leave a comment and I might send something to the most creative response :) 

Hooroo,
Helen