Lydia Ruby Smithies

So now we're up to the very last member of our family.... Lydia!!! This is the last post in this series on my family. I hope you have enjoyed meeting each of my family members!

Have you missed reading about Dad, Jacob, Ben, Sophie, Abigail, Caleb, Mum, Johnny or Danella?

Lydia Ruby is currently 7 years old. She is the fifth oldest girl in the family (which makes her the youngest) and is the 7th oldest overall.

Above photo- our beautiful Lydia.

Lydia is a very sweet and gracious girl. She loves hugs, ballet, playing games (especially Uno), helping with chores or whatever we are doing and animals. 

Lydia is an encourager. She leaves little "I love you" notes on my pillow almost every day and draws sweet pictures to go with them. :-)

 Lydia (right) with her cousin Melody who is her age.

Lydia is such a good older sister to Caleb and Jacob. She plays gently, includes everyone and loves to make newcomers welcome. She is a peacemaker and is always quick to smooth over troubled waters.

She also loves doing people's hair. She is always asking if she can do my hair and she spends ages carefully plaiting it or fixing it into a bun. 

Lydia is very enthusiastic and jumps quickly on board with any activity. She is helpful, patient, persistent and cheerful. And lots of fun to be around. :-)

I pray God's richest blessings on you, Lydia! You are growing into a beautiful girl with lots of talents and abilities and I can't wait to see what the Lord will do with you. Thank you for being such a great sister.

I love you, Lydia!

Danella Grace Smithies

Today I'm continuing my series of posts about family members by introducing my readers to the third oldest child in our family, Danella!


Have you missed reading about Dad, Jacob, Ben, Sophie, Abigail, Caleb,  Mum or Johnny?

Danella is the only (so far!) left handed person in our immediate family. Our grandfather is left handed though, so it's not really that surprising. 

We were wondering for a while if Jacob is going to be left-handed, but now we're not so sure! We'll have to wait and see.

So anyway, Danella. She blogs over at Footprints in the Sand in case you haven't seen her blog before.

Danella is so lovely. She has such a sweet, gracious personality. And she is funny and fun to be around. :-)

Danella is an excellent cook and loves sewing. She makes these gorgeous cross-stitch masterpieces- and I can never get around to finishing them! She is so diligent and just plugs away at something boring until it is completely done. And, then, of course, I always wish I had bothered to keep going!

She is sooo patient. When I can't grasp a particular maths concept (Danella is the family maths whiz!) she will sit beside me and patiently explain it... over..... and over..... and over again! And then if I still don't understand it she will patiently explain it again. What a girl.

Danella has such a servant heart. She is so diligent and will just do her job without complaining and, having finished it, go and find something else to help out with. She is so helpful!!

Above photo is of Danella and Jacob.

Danella, you are such a wonderful sister. Thank you for putting up with me so patiently all these years!
I value your ideas and love you so much. Thank you again for everything you have done!!!!

Danella, may the Lord be with you and bless you richly in everything you do. I love you.

Jonathan Roger Smithies

So, hi! How are you today?

Today I'm continuing my series of posts about family members by introducing my readers to the sixth oldest child in our family, Jonathan.

Have you missed reading about Dad, Jacob, Ben, Sophie, Abigail, Caleb or Mum?

Jonathan (or Johnny, as he is more commonly known) is currently 9 years old, although he will be turning 10 in November. 

Johnny in his ICONZ uniform. ICONZ is the more adventurous version of Boys Brigade and a Christian version of Scouts or Cubs or whatever. :-) Ben and Johnny love going once a week. They do all sorts of cool things and have camps and stuff.

Johnny is very outgoing. He is always full of good ideas of what to do in his free time and loves making things work. He is also very, very good at board games, beating us older girls frequently at various games!

He always has a project he is helping Ben with, whether it is taking wooden pellets to bits to enlarge the playhouse or making wooden boats to sail in the creek down the street. Johnny is a great helper and is always immensely valuable to have on a team.

In this photo, Johnny shows off the meccano-type gears, wheels and levers science kit. Together, the boys made lots of awesome things!

He loves baking (mainly because in our family, if you made it, you can have a larger portion than normal!) and spends hours making muffins to have for breakfast with Ben and Sophie. Whoops- did that sound like he was going to eat the muffins along with Ben and Sophie being eaten too??!!? Sorry! It was meant to be something like "spends hours with Ben and Sophie making muffins to have for breakfast". :-)

Johnny was thrilled to get a remote-controlled helicopter through recently. He loves flying it around and having people follow after him asking if they can have a turn. Of course, he is very kind and shares his precious toy with all of us. :-)

Jonathan is very helpful and enjoys teaching little children how to do things. He is such a great and patient teacher! All the little ones look up to and adore him.

Johnny, thank you for being such a wonderful brother to me. I pray the Lord's richest blessings on you both now and for the rest of your life.

Keep shining for Jesus, Johnny!

Guidance

I originally posted this on Pickin' Up Pears but I keep seeing it there and thinking that my readers of this blog might enjoy it too. :-)

It's by a lady called Jean Rhodes and was first emailed to us by a friend a year or so ago. It is really awesome! Read it and tell me what you think.





"When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing “dance” at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn’t flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw “G: I thought of God, followed by “u” and “i”. “God, “u” and “i” dance.” God, you, and I dance. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God’s blessings and mercies be upon you on this day and everyday. May you abide in God as God abides in you. Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.

And I Hope You Dance!!!!!!!!"

-Jean Rhodes

My Marvellous Mother

For those of you who have just joined us, I'm doing a series of posts about my family members. Today, I'm posting about my absolutely amazing Mum.

Have you missed Dad, Jacob, Ben, Sophie, Abigail or Caleb?

Mum is the middle child of three children in her family. She doesn't have much of a background of a big family, yet she handles it magnificently! :-)

Mummy is truly incredible. :-) She has 9 (soon to be 10) children and homeschools 8 of us! She runs the family, cooks a lot of the meals (although we do some of the cooking, particularly the baking) plus she is a full-time schoolteacher to us! At one time she had 8 children 10 years old and under, and that is a big undertaking! The magnitude of the pile of washing, (or rather, piles) the amount of food to cook, the number of children being homeschooled and the number of drains on a busy mum are all phenomenal. 

Yet Mum does it all without complaining! She is so patient, if we don't understand something difficult in a schoolbook she will patiently explain it again... and again.... and again...... and then the next day have to do it all again because we have forgotten it! 

Some people have told us that they think it must be really easy to be the mother of a big family. It's really not that easy!

Mum says that most of our photos of her aren't very nice so she requested a photo of our family be put on here instead. :-) So here it is.

Mum tells us of a day a few years ago when the window cleaner was here. Ben who was then 3 started smearing the windows in mud after the window cleaner washed them! He thought he was 'helping'. 

Mum also found the window cleaner's dirty footprints all over the kitchen floor because he neglected to take his shoes off when he came inside. :-(

Mum made the guest bed with clean sheets because Grandma and Grandad were coming the next day to stay for a while. When she left to do something else, Ben and Johnny, two and three at the time, got into the bed and smeared their snotty noses all over the clean sheets. (They had the flu at the time.) 

That's not all.

One of us little kids had used the toilet and forgot to flush it. (you can see it coming, right?) Ben found a used toilet roll and decided it would make an ideal boat. Guess where he sailed it? Yup! In the toilet bowl!

Since it was winter and everyone knows that it's difficult to dry washing during the winter, (and we're talking LOADS of washing and massive piles of dirty, wet nappies!) Mum tentatively decided to put some shrinkable garments into the dryer. She put the switch on 'low' and hoped it would be alright. It probably would have been alright, had not the helpful two and three year old boys come along and managed to switch the dryer on to 'maximum'!!!

Mum found this after she found the muddy windows, the dirty footprints over the freshly mopped floor, the snotty sheets and the 'boat' in the toilet. Yes, it's easy (?!?) raising a big family. 

I know it is really difficult. And I honour Mum for doing such a great job in spite of great challenges! Mum does such a wonderful job. I am so blessed to be part of her family. 

I love you, Mum.

Caleb Luke Smithies

For those of you who have just joined us, I'm doing a series of posts about my family members. Today, I'm posting about my second-youngest brother, Caleb.

Have you missed Dad, Jacob, Ben, Sophie or Abigail?

Anyway, Caleb. :-)

Caleb is currently (better get this right!!!) 5 years old, turning 6 in December. He is yet another blond-haired blue-eyed boy! All the boys in our family have blond hair and blue or hazel eyes. And all the girls in our family have brown hair and brown or hazel eyes! Strange, but true.

Here is Caleb, showing off his boat. I believe Ben and Johnny made this boat and painted it for him.

In the above photo, Caleb dressed up as an Indian for Ben and Johnny to play Cowboys and Indians with him. Here he is with his wooden tomahawk that the boys made.

Caleb is such a kind boy. He will give his toys to Jacob if Jacob wants them. He is always gentle when playing with someone smaller than himself. Caleb loves hugs. He will come up to one of us older girls and throw his arms around us and ask for a hug. :-) He is so cute.

"Look at what I made with my Lego!"

Caleb loves saying and doing kind things to people. He is very considerate of other's feelings and loves doing jobs for us. He is such a good helper.

Caleb is very cheerful and loves to go around the house humming his own songs. He even made up a song that he often requests we sing during our singing time after our Bible reading in the evening- it goes something along the lines of "I love God and God loves me back".

Caleb, keep shining for Jesus! I love your helpfulness and joyful attitude, you make our home happy. May the Lord bless you your whole life through. I pray His richest blessings on you both now and when you grow up.

 I love you so much and pray that the Lord will reveal Himself to you in deeper and deeper ways as you grow.

Abigail Rose Smithies

Abigail Rose Smithies. 16 years old. Firstborn in our family, which I guess makes her the oldest!

For those of you who have just joined us, I'm doing a series of posts about my family members. Today, I'm posting about my only older sister, Abigail. (Or Abbie, as she is more commonly known.)

Have you missed Dad, Jacob, Ben or Sophie?

If you don't know my family that well, Abbie is (as I said before) the oldest. She is absolutely horse mad! Horse crazy. (Or sometimes I affectionately call her just plain crazy.) :-)

Abbie was miraculously healed several years ago from REALLY bad excema. I'm not going into details here because I've got other things to talk about as well, but basically she was one of the worse cases in Christchurch and the doctors didn't know what to do to help her. She was itching (scratching at her excema) all day and most of the night long and no one could help her. The only thing we could do was pray.

She was like that for seven years. Then, several years ago, Abbie was prayed for by an amazing Christian man with a healing ministry and woke up a month or two later completely healed. The doctors said she would have terrible scarring for the rest of her life but it was all completely gone! All glory to God!

 The above photo was taken quite recently with one of her horses. HORSES? Yes, I said horses. Not just horse, horses! Abbie has (I think) 9 horses currently, with one due to have a foal anytime in the next week or so!

Abbie is always patient. She has a heart of gold and loves baking for the family. She is a very hard worker and is often at her horses paddock for hours at a time, giving lessons to people to pay for her horse's upkeep.

She knows when to tease and when to listen, when to laugh and have a good time and when to give sympathy. Her virtuous nature has showed me up many times.

Abbie is very self-less, she actually gives quite a few free horse lessons a week to various families who couldn't afford it otherwise. She is very caring and always looks for the underdog.

Abbie, you have been such a great older sister to me and I know you will continue to be. Thank you for listening to, laughing at and loving me even when I've said or done the wrong thing!!

You will always hold a very special place in my heart.

Benjamin James Smithies

Next on the list after Sophie is... Benjamin!

(Have you missed Dad, Jacob or Sophie?)

Benjamin James is the fifth oldest in our family and the oldest boy. He is currently 11 years old.

Benjamin (or Ben, as he is commonly known) loves doing sporty things, like running and climbing trees. (Below picture shows Ben running.)

He also loves reading books. He has recently got into Biggles books, which he really loves! Also Enid Blyton books will do when there is nothing else. ;-)

Ben is such a great older brother. He works so well with Johnny and always makes sure the younger boys have something to do if they are bored! He is a natural leader and takes charge with such patience and kindness with the result being that he is very popular amongst the younger children in our family!

Ben is a great worker and always does the job well. He loves making wooden boats in the garage and is making a destroyer! Perhaps when it is finished I will photograph it to show you.

Ben, I am proud to be your older sister. May you grow in wisdom and in stature and in favour with both God and man, just as Jesus did when He was on earth. May you be blessed greatly as you bless others.

Sophie Elizabeth Smithies

So, yes, here's the next post about a person in my family. Sophie Elizabeth. Now, remember, I'm doing them in a completely random order. :-) Mainly because there are some photos of certain people I've just taken that haven't gotten onto the computer yet and I want to give them time to. :-)

Have you missed Dad or Jacob?

So anyway, Sophie Elizabeth Smithies. Sophie is the fourth oldest in our family. She is currently 13 years old.

This is Sophie. Isn't she beautiful??? :-) 

Sophie is, as I said, the fourth oldest in the family. She ends the line of four girls in a row (Ben, the oldest boy and fifth oldest child), comes after her. 

Sophie is already TALLER than me! And she is a whole 26 months younger than me. That's a bit more than 2 years, in case you can't be bothered to do the maths for yourself. Taller than me! Mum thinks she will end up as the tallest girl in our family. I will, no doubt, end up the shortest. *sobs*

Sophie is such a good 'mother' to the younger children. She will quite happily spend hours reading books to Jacob without complaining. She is so patient and kind and loving with them. I seriously don't know how she does it!

I have had the privilege of teaching Sophie Grades 1 and 2 Royal Schools of Music Theory to her for the past year. She works so hard and even if she doesn't understand something completely, always gives her all and tries her best. I am so proud to be her sister.

Even though I am not that much older than Sophie, I have been greatly blessed by how she has matured over the years. She is a shining star, a real example of what Jesus shining through someone can look like. I am proud to be her sister and thrilled that she is in our family.

Sophie, I love you so much and pray that Jesus will continue to work in and through you. I pray His richest blessing on you both now and for the rest of your life. May you come to know who He is in a deeper way and what His plan for your life is. Thank you for being such a wonderful sister.

Sophie, I am truly blessed to be your sister. :-)

Jacob Joseph Daniel Smithies

You know how I was doing the series of blog posts about my family? Well, I've decided not to do them in order. I'm going to do a completely random order, and do Jacob (the youngest) next. :-) I hope you don't mind too much.

Jacob Joseph Daniel Smithies. He has been endowed with the longest name in the family and he's the smallest! (Apart from the baby inside Mum, of course.) None of the rest of us have two middle names. All of us including Mum and Dad just have one middle name! He's so cute when he tries to say his name. It ends up being something to the tune of  "Da-cub Do-sif Dan-ool". 

Jacob is just a barrel of fun. Being only two, each new thing is a BIG adventure!!! Here he is enjoying the swing. Look at him, he's laughing SO hard!

You can see more photos of him if you go onto my facebook page (Bonnie Smithies) then click 'Photos', then 'Albums', then the album entitled Jacob Smithies. Yup- I have an entire album dedicated to cute photos of my adorable brother!

The 'moment of truth' stage. :-) Realization has dawned. Then comes that cute wee "Ah" that starts down low and goes up before coming down again. You know the one. 

So, getting back. Jacob is so sweet. He makes life fun! Just this afternoon I was playing "Get the Meal for the King/Queen" with him. That involved one of us reclining on a bed of couch cushions and ordering the other one to be the royal cook and make some sort of food. When I was the 'Queen' I asked Jacob for some pie. He was so cute. He went and got two pieces of duplo, arranged them artistically (or as artistically as a two year old can manage) on a plate (well, actually, a book) and brought it to me, grinning from ear to ear. I then asked for a drink. He wanted to know if I would like a "lem-un hun-ee dink" and when I answered in the affirmative, he proceeded to pour air into a cup/dish thing. Laughing at his own ingenuity, he brought me my lemon honey drink and I asked for a straw!

This foxed him for a bit, until he found a yo-yo. Carefully placing the actual yo-yo bit into the 'lemon honey drink' he gave me the string and obviously expected me to drink from it!! Of course, I pretended to. Then he asked for it back and 'took a drink' as well. It was sooo cute. :-)

Jacob is really ticklish too. Most of us Smithies are! He squirms and wriggles in delight if you tickle him. He also loves being read to for hours on end. And playing hide-and-seek ("hyde and deek down the awl-way). And cakes. He thinks if there is a cake it's someone's birthday. The other day Danella made a sponge for dessert. When Jacob saw it coming out decked with cream and boysenberries, he squealed in delight and started singing "Happy Birthday to You"! Of course, with him, it was "Hap-pee Bir-day to Youuu"!

Jacob, thank you so much for bringing such life and joy into our home. I thank the Lord for you! Although you won't be the youngest for much longer, I know you will be a kind and gentle big brother. 

I love you, Jacob!

Not just another blog post

Hey guys :-)

So, I decided it was time to do something different. I mean, I'm sure you have all got little mental pictures of what my family is like influenced through miscellaneous photographs and paragraphs posted unmethodically on my blog. :-) Whatever that means, it's time to clear up any confusion and show you my family.

My family. Who are they? They are the people I live with. The people who live with me. They put up with me day in, day out. Fair weather and foul weather. It's not easy living with me! I thank God daily for such a wonderful family.

So I thought I would do one family member per blog post. That way, you won't get too confused between us all. :-)

So, first of all, my amazing father. Daddy. My Dad is truly awesome. I cannot think of a more wonderful person to start off with, he is truly an incredible man. He somehow manages to be the head of the family, make all the difficult decisions. work at a full-time job- yet he still has time for all of us!

Quite often he will come home from an exhausting day at the office, eat tea, then sit down at the couch and read stories to Jacob. And play ruff-and-tumble with Ben and Johnny. And make plans with Abbie to take the horses to some far-off place for a competition or something. And help me with some difficult maths problem I'm stuck on. And listen to Mum talk about another house she's found. And try and put kids to bed. All at the same time!

Daddy is no ordinary man!

I value him more than he will ever know. I love his wisdom and integrity. I know that no matter what the world may say, my Dad will stand for right regardless of adversity. If I am lucky enough someday to be married to a man who is even half the man Daddy is, I will be truly blessed indeed!

Dad is the most wonderful man alive. He has a neat sense of humour ("Who invented the electric light, Daddy?" "A bright spark") and always makes learning fun.

Dad, you are such a blessing. I am proud to be in your family and pray that the Lord will always direct your path. I pray that the Lord will give you wisdom and continue to honour you as you honour Jesus with your life.

Thank you for being such a wonderful Dad!

Yes, this is an old photo, but Daddy looks so handsome no matter the age of the photograph!

Dad is always hard at work. 

I love you, Daddy!

Creator King and Procrastinator's Daybook

Procrastinator's Daybook

Date... August 17th
Starting time... 10:44 am
Mood... slightly hungry but happy because we've just finished cleaning the house.
Outside my window... cloudy with a hint of rain in the air.
I'm thinking... about this post of course! What else???
I'm currently reading... I've just finished reading The Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne. It's okay, not one of my favourite books but it was good. Somewhat gory in places. :-P
I'm listening to... the song "Arise" by Don Moen. It's from the album Thank You Lord.
I'm wearing... clothing. (duh) More specifically, a polo shirt, black non-fleecy trousers (I know! Not jeans! Weird!) and, of course, my watch. And ipod.
I'm looking forward to... A sleepover we're having with a friend tonight. :-) We don't get sleepovers very often at all, so when we do get them it's a very auspicious occasion.
I'm hoping... A babysitting job I have on Monday night will go well. It's the first time I'll be babysitting for this particular family and I want to do a good job!
Yesterday, I... Went to woodwork and did schoolwork.
I'm hungry for... granny smith apples. My favourite kind! I love them! I could eat about 10 at a time. Weird, but true.
The song stuck in my head is... none really, because my ipod is on 'shuffle' and is just playing through a whole lot of songs so I don't get the chance to get one stuck in my head.
I love... netball! So sad it was cancelled today because it was raining when we woke up this morning.
I loathe... netball being cancelled. :-(
Picture of the week...

For some reason, this picture really makes me laugh. :-)

Oh! The song playing on my ipod has now changed to 'Creator King' (by Don Moen as well.) I love this one!!!

In fact, I love it so much I want to share it with you:

Have a wonderful weekend!
Blessings, Bonnie

1000 pieces put into place

By the way, this is my 150th post! Still going strong since I started up my blog back in January!

A few random statements for you today, since (as is unfortunately often the case) I cannot think of anything else to post.

Firstly... big announcement!

We have finished another 1000 piece puzzle!!!

*bows, and waits for clapping to die away*

Seriously though, it was quite a big undertaking. The puzzle was given to Sophie for her 13th birthday this year. We started it a month of two ago and then (sadly) one of the younger children smashed it. So we put it away for a while, then a week ago brought it out again and started over. This time, we managed to finish it without (too many) major breakages.

This is what it looks like. It's a picture of a ski slope with lots of things happening!

This is the size of a piece compared to my hand. This picture was actually really hard to take! I was taking it with Abbie's camera which is quite heavy. Because one hand was in the photo, I only had one remaining hand to hold the camera up and press the button to take the picture! Be glad it worked!

 A view of the puzzle when it was partially completed. Notice the border is done. Always do the border first when you do a puzzle.

Now a lot more is done. :-) Yay! Almost finished!

I sadly do not have any more photos of the puzzle. :-( I do have them taken, but they haven't been uploaded to the computer yet. I will post them when they are on the computer.

A random statement to suit a random post. :-) It pretty much speaks for itself!

I don't know who took this photo, probably Abbie, but it's quite a nice one with the sun peeking through the clouds.

Today we went to woodwork. We have been doing woodwork for quite a wee while now. When you start off you are in the junior class, making a set project. That is, everyone makes the same thing. Then you get moved up into the Advanced class, when you can make what you want!

I am in the Advanced class, and I am making a bedside cabinet with a drawer in it to go beside my bed and hold my alarm clock and torch. And of course, other things.

I contemplated making a secret drawer/compartment because that would have been awesome, but I decided against it because it would be rather hard to make! Any ideas for how to go about it next time?

I shall endeavour to post the pictures of the puzzle when I get around to it. Until then, farewell!

Telephones, Tolstoy and Model T Fords

Just because I know you love lists with random facts, here are some for you.

In the early days of the telephone, operators would pick up a call and use the phrase, "Well, are you there?". It wasn't until 1895 that someone suggested answering the phone with the phrase "number please?"

The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.

It took Leo Tolstoy six years to write "War & Peace".

Each of the suits on a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the middle ages: heart represented the Church, spades represented the military, clubs represented agriculture, and diamonds represented the merchant class.

1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.

There are 10 human body parts that are only 3 letters long (eye hip arm leg ear toe jaw rib lip gum).

Henry Ford produced the model T only in black because the black paint available at the time was the fastest to dry.

There are more than 1,700 references to gems and precious stones in the King James translation of the Bible.

The kangaroo population in Australia is estimated at about 40 million.

In ancient Rome, it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose.

The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear. Any cup-shaped object placed over the ear produces the same effect.

Have a great day. :-)

What chickweed has to do with us

What chickweed has to do with us?
What does chickweed have to do with us?

Well, I'll tell you.

For those of you who don't know, this is what chickweed looks like:

Chickweed is a really annoying plant that literally takes over your garden.
If you pull it out, next year it is back again in full force to conquer any patch of dirt it can possibly find!

We can be like that. Our sinful nature is to be mean and selfish and take whatever we want for ourselves!

Luckily for us, though, Jesus came! He took upon Himself all of our sins and if we believe in Him and trust Him then we can be made pure through His blood.

There's something I didn't tell you about chickweed.

Budgies love it! Correct that. Budgies LOVE it!

Get the illustration? We are all mean and nasty and horrible and... generally like chickweed. But if we allow Jesus to come into our lives and change us from the inside, we can become like the chickweed that budgies love!

Who was Murphy, anyway?

You've all heard of Murphy's Law, right? It states that 'anything that can go wrong, will go wrong'. Well, what I wanted to find out was who was Murphy, anyway, and why is his name so well known in connection with this strange 'law'? In my quest to find out this information I came across some fascinating things.

Wikipedia has a lot of interesting comments about Murphy and his Law. Apparently, "The law's namesake was Captain Ed Murphy, a development engineer from Wright Field Aircraft Lab. Frustration with a strap transducer which was malfunctioning due to an error in wiring the strain gage bridges caused him to remark – "If there is any way to do it wrong, he will" – referring to the technician who had wired the bridges at the Lab. I assigned Murphy's law to the statement and the associated variations."

There are many other versions and extensions of the original Murphy's Law (whatever that was-!) and you may be interested in some of them below.

• A falling object will always land where it can do the most damage.

• If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. 

• A shatterproof object will always fall on the only surface hard enough to crack or break it. 

• A paint drip will always find the hole in the newspaper and land on the carpet underneath (and will not be discovered until it has dried). 

• A dropped power tool will always land on the concrete instead of the soft ground (if outdoors) or the carpet (if indoors) - unless it is running, in which case it will fall on something it can damage (like your foot). 

• If a dish is dropped while removing it from the cupboard, it will hit the sink, breaking the dish and chipping or denting the sink in the process. 

• A valuable dropped item will always fall into an inaccessible place (a diamond ring down the drain, for example) - or into the garbage disposal while it is running. 

• If you use a pole saw to saw a limb while standing on an aluminum ladder borrowed from your neighbor, the limb will fall in such a way as to bend the ladder before it knocks you to the ground. 

• If you pick up a chunk of broken concrete and try to pitch it into an adjacent lot, it will hit a tree limb and come down right on the driver's side of your car windshield. 

• The greater the value of the rug, the greater the probability that the cat will throw up on it. 

• You will always find something in the last place you look. 

• (Or, alternatively, It is never in the last place you look. It is in the first place you look, but never discovered on the first attempt. ) 

• No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere else cheaper. 

• The other line always moves faster. 

• Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost you more than you thought. 

• If you fool around with a thing for very long you will screw it up. 

• If it jams - force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway. 

• When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman, it will work perfectly. 

• Anything dropped in the bathroom will fall in the toilet. 

I can totally agree with most of these! Particularly the last one, but that's another story....

Saturday the Tenth of this esteemed month August

Today I thought I might copy Sayna's  idea and do a Random Saturday post. Sayna, I hope you don't mind!

Two of Danella's budgies, Apple and Buttercup. I love this photo! These particular two budgies are the cutest in Danella's avairy. At least, they were. Both of them are sold now. :-(

Little brother. Cuteness. Probably planning some mischief....

I love all of my brothers and sisters!!!

I could spend all my life posting gorgeous photos of my family and never get sick of it. :-)


Random facts stolen from various blogs over the internet. Now, I'm not taking any credit for these: if you think one is wrong don't blame me!!!



Monday is the only day of the week that has an anagram: dynamo

It takes 4,000 grains of sugar to fill a teaspoon.

Your thumbnail grows more slowly than any of your fingenails.

The smallest, shallowest ocean on Earth: The Arctic Ocean.

A buffalo can jump as high as six feet off the ground.

The ball on top of a flagpole is called a "truck."

SUV drivers are twice as likely to talk on a cellphone as drivers of other kinds of cars.

Shakespeares's daughter was illiterate.

A pineapple is actually a very big berry.

A potato's closest edible relative is the eggplant.

The Great Salt Lake is six times saltier than seawater.

A parrot can not get appendicitis....they don't have an appendix.

The world's largest consumer of sugar is Coca-Cola.

Dividing something into squares is known as graticulation.

75% of the trees in Australia are eucalyptus.

There are about as many nerve cells in your brain as there are stars in our galaxy (give or take a billion).

75% of stage and screen actors do not use their real names.

There are enough calories in a Big Mac to run a vacuum cleaner for 98 minutes.

One cord of wood (4 ft x 4 ft x 8 ft) will make 75 million toothpicks.

The first chalkboard was used in school in 1714.

Cranberries get their name from Crane-berry - they grow on a stalk that looks like a crane's neck.

The largest living thing on Earth is an underground mushroom in Oregon. It is 3.5 miles across.

Sahara comes from the Arabic word Sahra, which means desert.

Sweden has a ski-thru McDonalds!

There is 10,800 feet of film in a two-hour movie.

After a three-week vacation, your IQ can drop by as much as 20%.

Monkeys given paint and paper on which to draw will scream in anger when an unfinished work is taken from them. But they don't object to having a finished painting taken.

Most parrots are left-handed (footed maybe?!).

Dolphins can hear underwater sounds from as far as 15 miles away.

It takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese.

The little statue on the grill of every Rolls Royce car has a name: "Spirit of Ecstasy."

The sale of hearing aids rose 40% when President Reagan got his.

The city of Edinburgh, Scotland is built on top of an extinct volcano.

Lions and Tigers can't purr. Cougars can.

The first vertebra of your neck is called the 'Atlas,' because it holds up your head.

The handle of a bucket is actually called a 'bail.'

Lead melts at a temperture of 620 degrees F; tin at 446 F. Mix them together & they melt at 356 degrees F.

During his lifetime, Shakespeare's last name was spelled 83 different ways. Shakespeare himself spelled it 10 different ways.

Longest name in the Bible: Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:1) 

Oh no! Jacob's getting into something he shouldn't.....

Caleb and Jacob playing together.


How have your Saturdays been?