Welcome to my blog.....

I guess I can say that I have spent a lot of time telling many friends and family members about my life's happenings via the internet. This is due to the fact that I have many friends and family who live all over Australia and indeed all over the world and the time differences makes email easier than phonecalls.

Feedback from a variety of these have included words of encouragement like "maybe you should write a book" not because my life is full of dramas, well not too many anyway, more so that my style of writing is an enjoyable read, so they tell me anyway. A book would be nice at some time however short stories appeal to me more at the moment and hence the creation of Blogtastical Banter.

I hope you enjoy my views on my life's situations and also situations which interest me, so sit back, relax and enjoy my ride.

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My wares can be purchased at www.etsy.com/shop/CreativelyCouture


Thursday, October 20, 2011

My creative side.....made with love and now available for purchase

I just wanted to let you all know that I have an addition to my market stall where I sell my lovely handmade greeting cards....these new handmade by me, upcycled denim bling bags are now available.

Made with heaps of love, the bags are made from denim jeans I purchase from local charity shops, are adorned with bling procured from near and far, come with a lovely scarf and are all fully lined and hand stitched. They are available online at www.louisedempsterbags.com and from the Davies Park Markets, Montague Road, West End here in Brisbane each Saturday 6am - 1pm (weather permitting). Come and say hi and peruse the latest collection. Eftpos facilities available.






Saturday, October 15, 2011

It's soccer or bust Australia!


Association football (also known as football or soccer) is the most widely played sport in the world. An estimated 3.5 billion have some interest in association football, either playing or watching it.


To say that the only codes of football in Australia are AFL, NRL and ARU is a fallacy my friends. History tells us of early evidence of soccer being played as a sport finds the occurrence in China and soccer is one of the most popular sports in Europe and the Americas.

In Australia, social football (soccer) has no specific start date since it was played sporadically across the country from the late 1870s between rival mining communities and visiting ship crews – mostly by English and Scottish natives. Organised football began with a game on Parramatta Oval (NSW) in August 1880 between Wanderers and Kings College. Wanderers won 5-0.

With a worldwide following in 2010 of Association football (also known as football or soccer) it is the most widely played sport in the world. An estimated 3.5 billion have some interest in association football, either playing or watching it ie 53 separate countries/teams compared to Australia’s 10 A-league teams.

I predicted this some three years ago and I predict this again in 2010: Australian soccer, or soon to be known as Australian football in the European scenario......will have the largest following population in Australia, far outweighing the rest of all the leagues.

As the saying goes my friends.....if you can’t beat them......join them.... and I have. Go the mighty Brisbane Roar.....Go Ange Postecoglou and the boys....Go the A-league. We love you all! Go Australian soccer, we are right behind you all!





Thursday, October 13, 2011

As Australian as football, meat pies and being a passionate female supporter

This weekend is a huge weekend for Australian footy ( the shortened word for football for my overseas readers who are not ‘in the know’ re Australian slang.) Australia vs New Zealand in the Rugby League test (go Darren Lockyer) as well as the World Cup Rugby Union semi-final in New Zealand, again Australia vs New Zealand. Now I know that so many of my female readers will be about to close this blog and wander off to do something a little more exciting than reading about men’s football but I for one must state that I LOVE AUSTRALIAN FOOTY! Did I receive a little more testosterone than the normal female dose?(Females do have testosterone.) Nope I don’t think so. I grew up in a female-dominant family, two sisters and one bro. So why the great love of these male-dominated sports? I put it all down to great patriotism and a little male influence too.

My maternal grandfather was a keen sportsman in his younger days and I cannot remember a weekend when visiting both him and my darling grandmother that the television wasn’t on and featuring some form of a sporting event be it cricket, league, union, tennis, golf and being a made keen golfer (he lived across the road from the Ashgrove golf links here in Brisbane and frequented it very very often) I remember him often standing in front of the television, talking to the commentators and voicing his opinion to them as if they could hear him. Hilarious at the time and guess who has now picked up this habit?

My father too was a feather-weight boxing champ in his army days; a cross country enthusiast again in his army days; was a keen cricketer and a very good one (wicket keeper mostly) and I was fortunate enough to meet the great Sir Viv Richards because of dad's interest in cricket. Dad also found himself on the judiciary of the Mt Isa Rugby League back in the days when we lived in ‘The Isa’ (great times) and let me tell you this position evoked much passion from the offending players and their supporters but we won't go there! After having three fabulous daughters, came my brother eight years my younger who not only was a fine goalkeeper for his Hilton soccer club in Mt Isa but also represented North-West Queensland as captain for age team; he captained his secondary school ‘firsts’ in cricket and had an outstanding year and he also played Rugby Union at the same school. I am sure I will be reminded by family members who read this that I have missed some things out but regardless this is a fine list of sporting prowess on so many levels.

This fine list has clearly been a major contributor to my interest in a plethora of sports. To add to this fine list, I married a Scotsman who not only follows the great (cough, splatter) Aberdeen team (which is sad for him as I am a Celtic supporter, the great green and white – my grandmother was a Glaswegian lassie and me being Catholic...yep.....and of course then there is the fab Rod Stewart too….) Hubby represented Scotland in Volleyball, was a cross-country runner, naturally played soccer as a youngster growing up in Scotland (dah!) and is also a retired junior soccer referee. My youngest daughter also plays soccer (oh and can I mention that she received the award for ‘most improved’ for team this year…so so proud of you darling…...thanks Paul!)

Don’t get me wrong, my female siblings were also great sports people. We three girls were fabulous swimmers and we took many awards away with us at meets, my mother was an ace tennis player, so too my eldest sister and the list goes on too.

Hence these have been my connections to the sporting world and I guess this is where the passion has come from and yes passionate I am! I was sitting in a room at a family friend’s house last weekend and we watched the last half of the Australia vs South Africa World Cup Rugby game after having a scrumptious BBQ lunch and to my amazement - ‘tis true, I did not think we would make it after watching our thrashing by the fabulous Irish, and how lovely it was that I was wrong -we beat those Seeth Africins but was sadly disappointed by the lack of Australian support in the room!

Now let me tell you what happened:- whilst sitting in this room which was dominated by Scotsmen (who sadly?….I don’t think so…. are out of the cup whoop whoop!) I discovered by their clear lack of enthusiasm for the score that they were NOT supporting the great Australian Wallabies. Sacrilege!! Due to this obvious lack of support, I dutifully reminded them all that I thought that theirs was a ‘poor call’ and I asked them to think about what country they were all presently living in and which they chose to live in! What country they had all found wealth and a great lifestyle? What country provides sunshine to them for three quarters of the year as opposed to their mother country and what country’s economic climate has held up against all others including the UK in the present economic climate oh and what country were they all presently living in, oh did I already say that? Yes, you could hear a pin drop.

Karma happened to them as Australia went on to win that game resulting in me jumping up, punching the air with my fist whilst yelling jubilantly GO THE WALLABIES!!! My fellow viewers were silent. Wanting to make the most of their clear demise, I then regrouped and just prior to me momentarily leaving the room to seek out the bathroom, I counted out loud whilst pointing to each of these Scots, yes those ‘non-Australian supporting offenders,’ and informed them I would be returning with a tissue for each so that they could cry into it. Again, their response was complete silence.

Yep, I am a very passionate Australian and Queenslander and more than proud to support these male sports, female and all! It doesn't always 'go down' terribly well in male company at times when I quote players names; declare that I thought that that pass was a forward pass and then the referee agreeing with me and awards a penalty etc. I am known to regularly tell THE MOST BIASED NSW league TV commentator, Gus Gould, to 'be quiet Gus' during any game he is commentating where a Queensland team is participating, because Gus really, really, really dislikes Queensland and takes great joy in showing his clear bias....shame on you Gus! I am often momentarily disappointed when my wonderful Brisbane Roar soccer team miss goals but so proud of their achievements during last season after having such a poor start. They won the A-League premiership last year….Whoop! Whoop (take that Mark Bosnich....love you Adam Peacock!) Being competitive is healthy and without competition we wouldn’t be able to use the letters VS would we?

So let’s get together my fellow Aussie girls and you lads….show your support for our great Australian sports men and women we have produced and I say Go the Kangaroos, Go the Wallabies and go Australia. The land of the great!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

The glass ceiling and women.....it is slowly being lifted

I am a suffragette from way-back-when. I was labelled with this word whilst working in the operating theatre during my nursing training days whilst I voiced my opinion to the ‘then’ surgical registrar whilst I assisted him during a procedure. He then referred to me from that day on as a suffragette, a label I feel proud to hold onto to this day – oh and might I add he dated me for a couple of months after that so he also felt comfortable with my outspoken approach to the powers of being a female.

The day women won the right to vote back in around 1893, was clearly a day when many men or maybe I should say most men swallowed with difficulty. History shows us that women seemed to have been created for the purpose of breeding and then child rearing, cooking, cleaning etc etc. However, thank goodness, gone are those days. Yes clearly we are required for breeding purposes and quite frankly any man who had to endure hours and hours of labour pains let alone birthing, in my and millions of other female’s opinions, would not be a good idea. However I must give credit where credit is due and let’s face it anatomically male musculature clearly allows our men to be physically more apt when it comes to laborious duties involving the expanding and contracting of the old muscles and that is a great thing. Don’t get me wrong, nobody adores men more than I and socially I usually feel more cerebrally stimulated listening to male conversation than those of my  own sex but there is no doubt that women are extremely capable at pulling in the dollars when it comes to employment as men are….just ask Westpac’s CEO Gail Kelly. There are more females than ever entering into the world or law, medicine, IT, engineering etc, and quite frankly I feel the boys feel very threatened by our presence in these male dominated professions.

We are repeatedly hearing the anecdotal comments regarding the corporate world allegedly trying to get rid of the ‘glass ceiling’ when it comes to women in corporate/CEO positions and indeed all top positions including political via the media, it is going to take an army of women to get this going. Mr Rupert Murdoch (born Keith Rupert Murdoch) and his News Ltd empire, clearly has a very strong hold on influencing our political views and controls most of what people read, watch and hear when it comes to Australian politics. Being a capitalist and as Australian political history shows us, capitalists and the Liberal party go hand-in-hand here in Australia, Mr Murdoch has, and this is not just my opinion but those of Australian advertising companies along with truly honest males, Rupert has a clear dislike for Ms Gillard and her Labor Party. We hear EVERY DAY AND I MEAN EVERY DAY currently Julia is clearly being pushed out by Rupert thanks to his media control. Julia cannot walk, talk, blink, breathe, dress, eat or do anything right in ‘his’ (the media’s) view. A recent male advertising guru agreed on national TV that Julia is being given an extraordinarily hard time and he believes it is mainly due to the fact that she is a WOMAN! Yes, admittance by a male.

Here is our first female Prime Minister, a graduate of law who became a partner at 29 at the firm she was employed by….is no mean feat. Clearly a tough and highly intelligent female who has had to contend with a male dominated political party from way back, during her uni student days and so knows that the boys are tough nuts to crack, but oh how she managed to do it at our last federal election.

During a recent TV interview an advertising mogul who admitted to the rough treatment of Julia by ‘the boys’, he was quick to state that he felt Julia was a very strong female and he had the utmost belief in her that she is strong enough for the clear ‘stirring of the pot’ she is currently enduring as a female prime minister and will no doubt have to endure this agitation for some time to come, maybe even forever.

Julia is lacking talent in presentation and marketing. Is Swanny any better at selling? No and this is the problem these two face. You cannot take away from the Howard and Costello or Hawke and Keating advertising campaign that they managed to ‘sell’ their party’s strategies hence their political longevity. Yes, they suffered from verbal diarrhoea and it worked. Yes, Julia needs to scrub up on her salesmanship big time, however, support/teachers for this absent talent come from the back rooms advisors of Labor. They are clearly not stepping up. Why? Because they want her out too maybe?

My thoughts…….hang in there Julia…..you are a forced to be reckoned with…..yes we do live in a world where it is clearly dominated by the attitude of “jobs for the boys” and the lack of CEO female positions talks for itself. Quite frankly whether you were Liberal or Labor, you would be given a damn hard time by many due to you being female. Yes, we have to change things and yes it will be left to the females to do so unfortunately. Are we not capable of managing these top positions? Absolutely not. Do the men feel threatened by females moving up the corporate ladder? Understandably and absolutely yes and that is a pill they are just going to have to learn to swallow. We gals are more than capable of holding these top jobs. Some would say no thank you and that is fine. Many would say yes please and to those ladies I say hold on because your day is fast approaching.