I love listening to a couple of scrapbooking podcasts, including Diva Craft Lounge

Today I had the pleasure of an unexpected package from a Fed Ex guy - WOW! I had won a prize from Purple Cows!!!

I had looked at these (US$69.95), but by the time you convert to Australian dollars and then add freight from the US ..... well, it soon adds up!But now I have one and I bet my friends will love it too!!!

Pigging out on breast milk

I hadn't come across The Lactavist before - http://thelactivist.blogspot.com/ but from today I have become a staunch supporter.I hadn't an opinion of the US National Pork Board and never imagined such an organisation could ever upset the world of breastfeeding and lactavism.Tempted to say in a nervous voice "only in America" but know the reality is this farce could occur anywhere these days.The Lactavist - a mother who devotes much of her time to producing "a site that aims to promote breastfeeding through humor." stepped on the Pork Board's trotters with a FUNDRAISING tshirt sporting the simple slogan "The Other White Milk".This simple parody on a well-know slogan (intended to promote pork sales to consumers of chicken "Pork - the other white meat" and has also featured here in Australia) was taken as a threat by their legal people - a threat to their TRADEMARK!Now I am but a simple soul, but surely the Pork Board would BENEFIT from any reminder of their slogan, let alone association with breastfeeding, which is recognised by authorities world-wide as the natural food for humans and other mammals. (I learned from Jennifer's site that only kangaroo's have milk that is not white - they favour pink!)So I add my thumbs down to others around the globe telling the board to Pork Off!The way the world is heading, we will not be able to utter any words in print, at risk that these words have been *claimed* by someone else for some other purpose. We should all turn away from any advertising or marketing that may imprint on our brain and come back at some future date. The catch phrase is obviously a dangerous species!

Bucket Brigade

This image burned into my brain in childhood, seen so many times as the classic Fantasia piece, The Sorcerer's Apprentice appeared time and again on The Wonderful World of Disney.So it is not surprising that it and that wonderful music lurk in my mind as I lug buckets of water from shower to garden, washing machine water collecting and catching rare rain water.We are under stage three water restrictions as the drought continues and I wonder how I could ever shower now without a bucket by my side! Water is rationed to those plants I deem "bucket worthy" - mostly my courtyard rose garden, which was decimated by a previous dry summer and I carefully restocked over the past winter and my restocked native garden which I nurtured through winter and spring until mature enough to be left to their own devices, aside from the odd trickle of bucket water.My small potted herb garden outside the back door get cleaner water as I balance possible risks of eating fresh plants watered with grey water (well, when my conscience gets the better of me - the rest of the time I slop in bucket water with crossed fingers! We are healthy and use planet friendly products where we can.)So my workout involves lifting weights (full buckets are just the right weight!) and walking backwards and forwards from water source to individual plants. I am permitted to use my trigger hose or drip watering system on Wednesdays and Sundays, before 8am or after 8pm .... not usually my most alert hours ..... so I generally only do so once a week or less, to flush the soil a little and reduce build up of salts etc from the grey water.And the plants seem to thrive on it!