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


Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Mum and dad, what the?

I am not at all interested in people’s views on this blog topic because I think I have come to the end of my tether when it comes to having enough of hearing and seeing how respect and standards have diminished over the last decade or so when it comes to Gen X, Y and Is (my youngest informs me that they are generation I ie Ipods, Ipads, Internet etc) and their standard of acceptable language v my standard.

Maybe being the daughter of an army officer might have something to do with my views but I have finally accepted that the world has certainly dropped its standards in too many ways and the respect we showed our elders whilst growing up have sadly, to a very decent degree, parted company with the next generations. My peers do not use bad language so someone has let the standards down and hence it has come from somewhere right?
I can start with my children’s peers. Thank goodness the majority of them are respectful and have fabulous manners. There are a minority however where calling me by my first name without asking my permission is just ‘the norm’ and I have a problem with that. Dropping explicit language at my feet whilst engaged in conversation with myself or my offspring does not seem to phase some at all. Yes, I can assure you I do not hesitate in standing my ground, expressing my displeasure in their offensive language and asking for them to watch their ‘P’s and Q’s’ whilst in my company. This is usually followed by a forthcoming apology from them and a very red face and our next encounter is always void of such behaviour, thank goodness. I think that is a lesson in respect is it not? So why do I have to do it and not their parents? I have brought up my children with a clear understanding about language which will not be tolerated neither in our home nor in my presence EVER! As a very learned gentleman said on TV recently, if you wouldn’t say it to your grandparents, don’t say it ever!

Now I will jump onto my high horse here and blatantly state that I blame mum and dad/guardians for this decline in good behaviour. As a child I was constantly reminded about respectful behaviour and my goodness I stand by it. Many will now think how, due to the increase in divorce, parenting has become harder and parents aren’t around enough to govern behaviour which is true to a point but I say RUBBISH to letting this be blamed for increased bad language in society. I was a single mum for eight years and if I can have well behaved children then there is no excuse. Just the simple words, ‘oh your girls are so lovely and polite’ makes all my hard work worthwhile and yes it is hard work to teach your children, but worth every minute of it. There are NO excuses. The simple words ‘shut up’ are spoken by children to parents and vice versa and I have been witness to this many times recently and have become the ‘norm.’ I dislike it intensely and unless using it in a frivolous manner, do not use it in my presence thank you. Once we allow the ‘odd’ bad word into our family life, the rest of those words will follow.  

Walking through shopping centres nearly brings me to despair when overhearing these younger people drop the F word or the S word etc etc as if they use it as often as we use the word AND. It is horrifying but understandably horrifying when, if they are walking with their elders, these elders are using the same words.....I ask you? As they say you learn what you live and ain’t that the truth.
Reading some tasteless comments on Facebook from some of the younger generations makes my blood boil and I can assure you that if it appears on my youngest's FB page from a friend of hers, I will put a comment on that comment. Yep, parenting is hard work and until mine are of legal age, I will continue to parent and voice my opinion and yes you lose the odd friend because of it but they come back with more respect and having learnt a lesson.
May be it should be a New Year’s resolution for families to have a swear tin in their homes for 2012 where monies are put into it by anyone who uses bad language or is it too late? Nope, it is never too late to improve ourselves.

Beware, anyone whose children/family members/friends are in my presence and utilise bad language when conversing with me, you will remember me forever. I will not tolerate it, never have and never will so watch out!

PS, It is now some two months on since I wrote the above and I recently noted my eldest had dropped the F word on her Facebook page. Appalled at this, I took a photo of it and then proceeded to block her and then informed her of this episode, ofcourse she was very red-faced (I told you I have standards.)  Why the photo? Because she is 18 and denies all wrong-doings in her life that she is responsible for .......Sherlock Holmes has nothing on me! This little darling lives out of home, her choice not mine, and reads my Facebook page to keep up to date with home life. Not any longer. Now she has to pick up the phone and communicate with me. Perish the thought of her talking to her mother. Will she be permitted to rejoin my FB? Possibly not. It is not because I want to punish her 'until the cows come home' but I don't particularly wish to have an eighteen year old watching over my shoulder.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Time for a little Christmas cheer and some green thoughts

As we approach the festive season I need to remind myself as well as hopefully you, my readers, that, although many human beings find the Christmas season to be an absolute pain in the proverbial.... Yes I am hearing you and say there is too much materialistic emphasis put on the season and quite frankly I agree. The world economy is not prepped to allow a season of spending, spending, spending, this year. The upside for those of us who look forward to putting up the Christmas tree and preparing those popular rum balls (my grandfather’s recipe - which naturally contains copious amounts of our fabulous Australian Bundaberg Rum and just enough Madeira cake, Cocoa powder, coconut and condensed milk to soak up that rum and hopefully hold together) is that I think we have learned that the year needs a little or should I say a lot of Christmas cheer to help us rid the roller coaster ride many of us have been on.

I can honestly tell you that I have had quite enough of this year and am, frankly, looking forward to farewelling 2011 and welcoming 2012 in with gusto. It seems there has been heavy clouds hanging over many many heads throughout the year all over the world and we were no exception. We were greeted at the beginning of the year with our dreadful floods which affected us both emotionally and physically (my car went under 5 metres of water) and caused such incredible devastation and loss of life; following this was the sudden and sad loss of a loved one to be then followed with a large negative influence which attempted to fracture our family unit; as well as constantly hearing from others the hardships the flood has brought upon so many; the Japanese earthquake; the New Zealand earthquake; the Bangkok floods; our local news constantly discussing whether the hydrologists should or shouldn’t release water from our large Wivenhoe dam as they predict another big wet season is about to greet us even though it has been our driest November in many many years and so it goes on and on. Accompanying this I can tell you that it was the quietest year I have had in my five years as a stallholder at our local market as we all understandably watch our pennies and through all of this, the constant of the GEC which we have all woken up with and gone to bed with for some two years now.  Quite frankly I have had enough and it is time for some fun.
Last evening we had our annual community BBQ around our apartment pool and which was a huge success and where the common theme of conversation was just as I have said, we all need some Christmas cheer to help turn the tides. Yep, I am talking some damn good belly laughs with some smiles thrown in for good luck.

So I am asking all who read this that although so many have suffered in so many ways this year and, including me, we may not have had the laughs and good fortune we had wished for on New Year’s day this year, as we all go about our Christmas shopping, albeit low key spending for many, can we all please make an effort to find a smile and pleasant comment or two for those we encounter whilst we enter into the festive season. I mean we all know Christmas shopping time seems to release in some of us the “Grinch” type attitude (and I am talking the pre-Cindy Lou Who-let’s-show this creature what can be achieved by being nice instead of angry period) with the “serve me first and quickly and let me get-the-hell-out-of-this-shop” type of human being. Yeah, it is true, shopping is tiring and boring and futile to many but have a thought of those behind the counters serving as well as the man or woman next to you in the line-up, not to mention that person who stole your car park seconds before you set foot inside the shop. That person next to you may have lost everything in the recent floods or in the GEC; they may have just heard the worst news possible about a loved one or about themselves, they may have even just lost their job and may be just about to lose their home. It is everywhere at the moment folks and no-one is immune from any of it.

So in this busy, exhausting and financially challenging Christmas season, instead of reminding yourself how much negativity life has allowed to land on your lap as I have just allowed myself to do, remember the saying ‘what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger’ and let’s allow some green and positive thoughts creep in to our heads. Before you want to give the evil glare to that car park thief, don't! And remember, even the wealthiest of the wealthy aren’t wealthy every second of every day....just look at the stock market!
So keep those heads up, find that smile that costs nothing and do one or two random acts of kindness for someone this Christmas season and some ‘thank you’s, ‘cheers’ or a’ Merry Christmas’ to a stranger or two even though you really just don’t feel like it. Trust me, it will make you feel like a million dollars.


Sunday, November 6, 2011

What the?

It was such a lovely morning yesterday, Sunday, that I, hubby and youngest daughter decided to visit the new Boggo Road Gaol Market, set up by the original Brisbane market trail blazer Ms Peta Hackworth. Peta set up the original Riverside Market many years ago and which kick-started the market world here in Brisbane and I thank you Peta for your foresight as I can now officially confess that I am indeed, a market junkie, I truly can't get enough of them!

On arriving at Boggo Road, hubby and I noted how the precinct had become modernised with the new to us Ecoscience building adorning the area, along with a new bus stop, just off Annerley Road. The old gaol has been looked after well, aesthetically speaking having clearly had an external gurneying in the near past and although they were conducting historical walks which meandered through the market area, these walks did not allow entry into the gaol.
Regardless, the market, though clearly in its early days, was substantial in the areas of fruit and veg, hot food stalls, craft stalls as well as having a couple of musicians/bands placed strategically throughtout the area and the surroundings were more than pleasant. Note: in these summer days, best to get to these markets in the earlier hours to avoid the heat. Note II: Don't be concerned, there are always adequate stalls ready to cure your hydration problems.

I felt in the mood for more market observing after our roaming at Boggo Road and not wanting to go home and conquer what was awaiting me in the laundry I encouraged hubby, with great success, to visit our old haunting grounds of Mitchelton, Blackwood Road Markets, run by Jan Power. On arrival, we noted that the set up was the same and I looked forward to seeing some familiar faces. Unfortunately this was not to be the case. Though the market had clearly expanded a little since my time there as a stall holder some two years ago, there were only three remaining original stalls which saddened both hubby and I. Not only was this a sad situation but what I found even more confronting which maddened me somewhat was that adorning market stall space at these markets are the local real estate chains and the local sitting politician! This young lady was handing out red carnations randomly to us to give to grandparents, as it was, she informed each person passing, grandparents day? Well I have since surfed this on the net and according to Wiki, yes it was National Australia’s Grandparents day, the first Sunday in November. Note to self for future reference!

It is a wonderful thing to see the weekend market life expand in our fair city, however as a stallholder for some 5 years now, I feel I must put my foot down and ask what the? According to Wiki, a market is any one of a variety of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. However in my eyes, this does not include real estate agents and pollies!! Don't these people like being on TV? So what are they doing occupying these wonderful markets?

Now we all know that in the good ol’ days, money was not factored into the original produce selling country market. Exchanging of goods was how it was done in the old days, alleviating the want for cash, and quite frankly this still exists in some situations. I for one exchange my products for other stallholder products and the almighty dollar does not enter the exchange which I truly love. Bring these days back I say! So how does a real estate agent and a politician exchange anything? The only things these people had were business cards and dehydrated flowers. Okay I will always settle for a flower, albeit dehydrated, but having these characters in a market place is just wrong in my eyes. No doubt they paid to have their stalls, I certainly hope so anyway. So this makes me question, and knowing how difficult it is to secure a spot at any popular market, did these characters take the place of a local producer eg farmer, butcher, candle stick maker, who are struggling to keep their heads above water especially in the present economic climate, or is it just that money talks and market organisers are much happier taking that almighty dollar from anyone who is willing to pay including politicians and real estate agents? I think someone may be missing the whole point of why we the people go to markets! It is to buy local products from our local supplies for affordable prices and to cut out that middle man, the BIG TWO, and save a pretty penny or two of the household budget.
Yes, I was extremely disappointed to see these groups now clearly working their way into the happy market place but I certainly hope that this is not a growing trend. As a stallholder I am not wanting to involve a middle man who I know will place another 300% on top of my asking price for my wares should I put them in their retail world and hence the markets is the ideal place for me and my gorgeous wares. Please leave the market stalls for us the local, hard-working producers, trying to make a penny and at the same time, make the public happy too. Keep the politicians on TV where they all seem to like it anyway!