Storytelling Sunday August 2013

This year Storytelling Sunday asks you to "pick your precious". This is how Sian described it ...

Start looking around, see what you love. Pick Your Precious is for short story tellers and for long. You can take the idea of simply a photo with a few words; or, if you are a can't-stop-yourself storyteller, you can expand as much as you like. The thing to keep in mind is that at the end of the year you'll have a permanent record of the little things you hold dear - and your family will know why you are holding onto them! Doesn't that sound like it might be worth it? No more "Do you really need that?"

Please join us this year. It only takes a minute and even if you only write a story or two, that will be a few more of your stories written down.  (and better late than never I always say!)

This month is a special month as it is my birthday.  I love to celebrate birthdays and not just for presents!  Everyone deserves one day each year where they know without a doubt that they are special :-)  I have put in my dinner request and organised some fun with friends.  I have been a little down the past few weeks and organising fun has been a great cure.  I will share all about that in another post as it is now time for my story.  A birthday present ...

You may recall a birthday story last August for Storytelling Sunday.  The beginning of that story recalled the fateful year of 'no birthday celebrations' and today I wish to finish that story.  We were camping in France over my birthday and while the family didn't forget it, they also didn't make ANY plans.  Feel free to click on the link if you wish to read it and also how they made up for it two years later :-)

Once The LOML realised his mistake he suggested that we find a special birthday present during the final week of our vacation.  I think he was a little desperate as he started suggesting a few extravagant things, but I did eventually find something.  Something small that I love very much.  Every time I look at it I notice something else.  It reminds me of fabulous family times and a wonderful camping trip to France.  It is too hard to describe so I will just show you what I found, not far from Sleeping Beauty's Chateau, to bring home as my birthday present ...

Old French Village

It is quite dimensional

There is so much detail

It is a 21cm x 14cm piece of limestone and is a bas-relief.  We stopped at a beautiful little place with caves where they made wine and all sorts of limestone items.  No one spoke English and our French is limited to a few words and two phrases ... "Do you speak English?" and "Where is the toilet?".  Neither are really helpful when you rock up to a tourist spot, unless you are dancing in desperation :D  The owners of the place had printed tour sheets in English so we followed along behind the group and I read out each section to the family quietly at the back.  The caves are full of water which is limestone heavy.  Items put into the water have layers of limestone deposited on them and these pictures are created by molds of carvings that are placed into the water.  No two are exactly the same as the mineral deposits add colour and patterns.

We weren't allowed to take photos (and it was too dark anyway) during the tour and at the end everyone is served a drink in their underground bar.  Photos were allowed in there and you could also taste more of the wines that they had for sale.  Here we are in the underground cave bar ...

It was very cool and refreshing down in the caves.

The Thinker & The Extrovert

I fell in love with the limestone pictures as soon as I saw them and knew that I would be choosing my birthday present in their gift shop.  I looked and looked and looked until I found the perfect one.  It was a beautiful gift and The LOML stopped feeling so terrible after I finally had a present!

I knew I had kept the brochure somewhere safe and I hunted high and low for it so that I could remember the name of the place.  Moving so many times since then hadn't helped but in the LAST box I looked in I found them ... our tickets, the brochure, and some postcards as the low light photos didn't do the place justice.

Yes, I am a hoarder storykeeper

If you are interested in ever visiting you can find their website HERE.

And that is my story this month.  If you like a story or two head on over to Sian's and read a few more.  I usually grab a cuppa and sit and read them as they are all wonderfully told.  They will make you giggle and some have even made me cry.  Happy August everyone!

Chipper

Story Telling Sunday 3 - July

This year Storytelling Sunday asks you to "pick your precious". This is how Sian described it ...

Start looking around, see what you love. Pick Your Precious is for short story tellers and for long. You can take the idea of simply a photo with a few words; or, if you are a can't-stop-yourself storyteller, you can expand as much as you like. The thing to keep in mind is that at the end of the year you'll have a permanent record of the little things you hold dear - and your family will know why you are holding onto them! Doesn't that sound like it might be worth it? No more "Do you really need that?"

Please join us this year. It only takes a minute and even if you only write a story or two, that will be a few more of your stories written down.  I had a story planned for this month but as it takes place in August I have decided to save it for next month.  Don't worry, I have another story AND a question (more on that later).

A little bit of background for you ...  In Western Australia at the time of this story Primary School went from Year 1 (calendar year you turned six) to Year 7.  High School began in Year 8 and finished at Year 12 (year you turned 17).  Compulsory education finished at the completion of Year 10 and many smaller private schools finished there and fed into bigger High Schools that had the facilities to cope with the demands of the final two years.  I attended one of those smaller private schools from year 2 until year 10.  I then went on to another school for the final two years. These pictures are items that have come out of my shoe box ...

I was blessed to have some fantastic teachers during my school life.  I also had the obligatory awful teachers, but they were far less in number.  I had my favourite teacher twice, once in year 5 and again in year 7.  Mr Mills was the first teacher to actually inspire me to put in some effort.  I was one of those students who found school work easy and was often bored.  He made learning fun and was born to teach.  Mr Mills is now a member of parliament and is showcasing his talents in another arena.  My story today doesn't begin with Mr Mills, but with another, Mr Bender.

I had always admired Mr Bender, and not just because of his formidable height of almost 7'!  He was my Physical Education teacher for the last few years of Primary School.  My least favourite subject was never going to put a teacher in my good books, but as we all attended the same church I already knew that I liked Mr Bender, just not the subject he taught!  When I started High School Mr Bender became a large part of my school life as he also taught Social Studies and my favourite class, Media Studies.  I attended a very small school and we usually had the same teachers each year for each subject.

Assignment Year 8 - It is 26 pages long!

Social Studies is now called S&E (Society and the Environment) by my children but the areas studied remain similar.  It encompassed history, economics, government & politics, geography, and law.  Mr Bender taught us to think, ask questions, and search for the truth.  We learned the finer points of creating well thought out arguments after thoroughly researching the topic.  He organised controversial debates (euthanasia and vivisection among others) and was happy to argue anything from either view point.  I remember many of the lively discussions that were a highlight of almost every class.  I also remember being guilty of taking the opposing point of view just because I could!  He used to say I was going to be a lawyer and he might have been right if my dad wasn't often in need of one at that time (I had no desire to work for free long into adulthood and quickly squashed that idea!).  I was always on the winning team in our debates and I longed to be in a school that had a competitive debate team.

My photography folder - some of the photos are missing :(

I chose to take Media Studies as an elective and over three years Mr Bender also taught us journalism, photography, and videography once a week.  He is a remarkable individual and exposed us all to the need to learn, seek the truth, and then form our own opinions.  At the same time he taught us to respect the opinions of others.  You can always try and persuade someone to agree with your point of view, but we each have the honour of having our own opinions.  His teaching must have had quite an impact as my next school asked me to represent them in a national public speaking competition after I had been there only one year!

We put together a newspaper at the end of our Journalism unit

To this day I still love to learn and formulate my own points of view.  I gather news from a variety of sources hoping that the truth will be buried somewhere in all of the reports.  I am very grateful for the lessons Mr Bender taught me.  It was more than just facts and figures, he made everything come alive.

If you enjoy reading snapshots of other peoples' lives head on over to Sian and read a few more stories.  They are always enjoyable :)

I also promised you a question.  It has been circling around in my head for the past week and I would like to hear your opinion if you have one.  At what time in our lives do you think we are ready to learn to think and formulate our own point of view?  Do you think that this could be taught in Primary school (or its equivalent), or do you think it needs the maturity that comes with a certain age?  Or do you think something entirely different?  Is there a specific time that most of us would be open to learn independence of thought? Do you remember when, if ever, that you became a truth seeker?  Please don't feel obligated to answer but I would welcome your thoughts.  I am curious :)

Chipper

Storytelling Sunday 3 - June

This year Storytelling Sunday asks you to "pick your precious". This is how Sian described it ...

Start looking around, see what you love. Pick Your Precious is for short story tellers and for long. You can take the idea of simply a photo with a few words; or, if you are a can't-stop-yourself storyteller, you can expand as much as you like. The thing to keep in mind is that at the end of the year you'll have a permanent record of the little things you hold dear - and your family will know why you are holding onto them! Doesn't that sound like it might be worth it? No more "Do you really need that?"

Please join us this year. It only takes a minute and even if you only write a story or two, that will be a few more of your stories written down. I have missed playing along over the last two months but it has been just crazy around here! We have almost found a new routine and I added STS to my personal To-Do list using my new app Wunderlist. I even set it to email me and flash me a reminder on screen!  And see, it worked!!!  I'm here on time :-)

If you have read any of my stories this year you will know that I am trying to look through my shoe boxes that have followed me near and far.  I finally got around to opening this one ...

It is filled with letters, newspaper clippings, school reports I wanted to keep, and mementos from weddings and outings.  It is going to take me a while to sort it out!  I had forgotten that I had a pen friend in Spain, until I saw the return address on one of the letters.  I was a letter writer as a kid but I was continually disappointed when people didn't write back!  My family lived far and wide and I loved to write letters :-)  But two things in it caught my eye this morning and so I will write about them this month.

Does your family have any traditions for the first day of the month?  Did you ever do anything at school on the first of the month?  If I remember rightly this story began in the school playground on the first day of the month many, many years ago.  It then spread to home and became ingrained in our family life on the first day of every month.

A pinch and a bunch on the first day of the month, and no returns!

The idea is to quite literally pinch and punch people and they couldn't do it back!  At some point we began to retaliate with "A slap and a kick for being so quick!" which caused the ending be altered to "no returns of ANY kind!" (You could only 'pinch and punch' a person once each month)

The morning of the 1st in our house was like watching a suspenseful thriller.  There was hiding, stalking, and lightning quick movements to get everyone and avoid being gotten.  At one point our step-dad worked morning shifts and so there were two times of attack.  First in the morning and then when we returned from school.  We would drop our bags and try to work out which door was safe to enter, or was there a way to entice him out of the house unsuspectingly so we could all get him at the same time!

Folded in my box I found this piece of paper ...

My brother must have left it on my door so that he could win.  We must have had some sort of conversation the night before about actions speaking louder than words as he noted this on the page ...

I love his pinch and punch pictures!

The LOML was never a fan of this game and when the boys were little it got out of hand and so it died out in our house ... until this year.  Living with my mom and my step-dad has seen the tradition come alive again as they have still done it to each other every month.  The first of May was the first time that it became a real game!  I think there will be lots of sneaking next month!  Maybe I should add it to my to-do list too, with an email reminder and a flashing reminder!

The other interesting item that surfaced in my box was a school project from when I was nine.  It is a booklet (mini-album) all about me.  I have covered some of the details that are not suitable for cyber-space.  I guess I have always been a collector of memories.

This page also contained all of my contact details and full name.  I still love Macgyver and trying new foods!

I didn't really go much for drawing to scale at the time.  My bed actually filled almost my whole room!  Sitting on my bed is Drooper the dog wrapped in a blanket.  Maybe you will meet him in the future :-)

The card that was stuck to my hospital crib when I was born and a lock of hair from my first hair cut ( I was a baldy for a very long time!).  My mom must have kept a record of the place and time.  This hair salon is still there.

And some interesting facts about me including my birth announcement from the newspaper.  I even included a scrap of carpet from my bedroom (I hated that pink carpet and it was ALL through the house!) and the grey vinyl from our kitchen floor.

I think I shall have to try and preserve this a bit better but I am very happy that I have a record of it all.

If you enjoy a story or two why not pop on over to Sian's and join in!

Happy Sunday,

Chipper

Story Telling Sunday March 2013 - Photo Heavy

This year Storytelling Sunday asks you to "pick your precious".  This is how Sian described it ...

Start looking around, see what you love. Pick Your Precious is for short story tellers and for long. You can take the idea of simply a photo with a few words; or, if you are a can't-stop-yourself storyteller, you can expand as much as you like. The thing to keep in mind is that at the end of the year you'll have a permanent record of the little things you hold dear - and your family will know why you are holding onto them! Doesn't that sound like it might be worth it? No more "Do you really need that?"

Please join us this year.  It only takes a minute and even if you only write a story or two, that will be a few more of your stories written down. I know that I am incredibly late this month and I will post why later.

Pick Your Precious - March



My Maternal Grandma was a very important figure in my life.  It was this Grandma who bought the doll house for me that I spoke about last month.  My Grandma was an integral figure in my life, living with us for long periods of time after my mom and dad separated when I was two.  Here is a picture of us (albeit VERY red!) from when I was a toddler.  I love this photo and wish the colour was better.  My Grandma was almost 6' tall and very large boned so unfortunately her jewelry doesn't fit me.  I remember her wearing the think necklace in this picture her whole life.  Any piece I own is just HUGE!

This Grandma was an interior decorator but turned her hands at many things over the years after she divorced when her kids were little.  She was an adventurer like me and even dragged her kids across the world in the late 60's to Australia.  This is where my mom met my dad.  Grandma didn't last here as she found it was too conservative for a single mom (with terrible woman's wages) and she moved back to the US without my mom who was by now engaged.

Fast forward a handful or two of years and Grandma moved to Australia to help my mom after her attempt to work things out with my dad failed.  Grandma lived with us on and off after that in between mission trips to countries like Fiji and even China.  Grandma even smuggled Bibles into China when it wasn't safe to do so!  She died unexpected while preparing for a trip to Russia after the fall of the USSR. She could only stay in Australia for a certain length of time before needing her passport to be stamped elsewhere.  So she began traveling. In between she would turn her hand to all sorts of jobs that earned her the money for her next trip.  Many of the items in my 'precious' boxes are from my Grandma.  Due to other circumstances, I haven't had an opportunity to spend quality time with my boxes so I am going to share a precious that I inherited from my Grandma.

Grandma didn't have many personal items but there are a few things that she shipped all over the world and in between temporary travel we looked after.  Here is a photo of my brother and I and cousins either dropping Grandma to the airport or picking her up.  We did this quite often!  I am the eldest in the photo and sporting a spiral perm!

One of the items that my Grandma shipped everywhere was her set of 'Liberty Blue' dinnerware.  Grandma used it as everyday dishes and when living with us my brother and I broke quite a few breakfast bowls!  I inherited it and have cherished it every day since.  It was packed up in a tea-chest until I moved out of home but I have to admit I only use it for 'good'.  My husband isn't a fan of any blue and white dinnerware and he is terrified of breaking it, so it sits in a cupboard on display until I can bring it out for dinner parties.  We ALWAYS use it at Thanksgiving and that is when I feel closest to my Grandma.  She was always home for Thanksgiving and it was my favourite holiday as my parents didn't fight over us ... this was just my mom's holiday and dad never worried about it.  I can smell Grandma baking pies in my memory as I type this.

I have to admit only knowing family legend about this dinnerware as I never expected my Grandma to go so soon.  It was always a part of her house and I never heard her stories about it.  There is now a book available detailing the pieces in more detail and one day I would like a copy.  I love the pictures on each piece and know most of the stories behind each scene.  I probably know my US history about as well as I know my Australian history!  I am truly a child of the two countries, but I don't fit perfectly in either.  I am always asked where I'm from ... my accent isn't a fit for anywhere.  I think that is why I loved living in Ireland so much, no one had any expectations of what I should be like.

An inscription on the back of a piece

I will leave the story here as I am close to tear,s and just share photos of the pieces with you.  I have service for 6 with additional dinner plates that I found in Portabello Rd, London and in small street market in Amsterdam.  One day I would like to add to the set and have service for 12.

The soup tureen is my favourite and features the Boston Tea Party on the lid.

The side of the soup tureen.  Many pieces feature Paul Revere like the salt shaker.

Here is a close up of the lid.

There is a full tea/coffee set.  The sugar bowl shows Betsy Ross sewing the flag.

This poor sugar bowl was in constant use by my Grandma and we broke the lid at some point.

Here are some of the platters and bowls.  I love the large platter with Washington crossing the Delaware.

These are the plates and the bottom right is a soup bowl.

Well done if you made it this far :-)  See you next month for Storytelling Sunday and please do pop over to the other stories.  I will endevour to read them over the next week.

Chipper

Storytelling Sunday 3 - February

This year Storytelling Sunday asks you to "pick your precious".  This is how Sian described it ...

Start looking around, see what you love. Pick Your Precious is for short story tellers and for long. You can take the idea of simply a photo with a few words; or, if you are a can't-stop-yourself storyteller, you can expand as much as you like. The thing to keep in mind is that at the end of the year you'll have a permanent record of the little things you hold dear - and your family will know why you are holding onto them! Doesn't that sound like it might be worth it? No more "Do you really need that?"

Please join us this year.  It only takes a minute and even if you only write a story or two, that will be a few more of your stories written down. 

Pick Your Precious - February

One of my most precious 'things' are stored in two shoe boxes.  I have had them since I was three.  We were living in Montana at the time with my Grandma and Aunt.  For Christmas they gave me a dolls house full of furniture and dolls.  It is one of my earliest memories.  Here I am Christmas morning playing with my house.  I had to take photos of the photos to get them on here and one just wouldn't lay flat!  The house came complete with Santa going down the chimney, a snowman out the front and a Christmas tree in the living room.

Unfortunately when I was five we moved back to Australia and my Grandma said the house couldn't come with us.  I now know that my mom wanted to pack it and argued with my Grandma about it.  She said that it is her one regret about that move as I didn't forgive her for giving it away for a very long time. Somewhere in Orlando a children's church enjoyed it long after I did.  Thankfully she kept the all of the furniture and the family of dolls.  I played with them for many years and would set them up around my room.  When I was done I would pack them away back into boxes to sit safely on my closet shelf.  I was never really a very big Barbie fan.  For my 6th birthday my dad bought me a huge Barbie house with an elevator and all the furniture, but it was never the same.  It was plastic and gaudy. I sold it when I was 10 and bought a bike.  He was not impressed.

The people have bodies bound in thread so that they can bend.  The family consisted of Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister and Baby.  The grandparents have grey hair (didn't you know that all grandparents have grey hair?!?!?!?)  Funny that I came from an extremely dysfunctional family but I had a 'normal' doll family :-)

All of the pieces are looking a little worse for wear after all these years.  My Aunt used some kind of green goop to attach the accessories to things.  I spent ages trying to remove it as a kid as it is sooooooo sticky, but to no avail.

Grandma has her rocking chair while Grandpa has a big comfy chair by the fire.

I always loved the sewing machine and the basket of knitting.

And what home would be complete without copies of all the good magazines?

The bathroom always made me giggle as the toilet seat goes up and down and used to have a chain hanging from the cistern.  I always wanted a big bath like that.

The kitchen was very modern, considering the dolls wore long dresses and they had a treadle sewing machine.  There was a dishwasher, toaster and lots of other bits.  The little cupboard on the left of the photo used to hang on the wall of the house.

The knives fit into slots on the side of the chopping block.  I used to bake pies and cookies with my dolls in this kitchen for hours :-)

The nursery was so cute with pictures on everything.  I loved the little stroller and the rocking horse.

I always wanted a four poster bed just like this one!  I added the Japanese screen when I was older as all dolls need some privacy when getting ready for bed :-)  It is completely the wrong scale but has lived in the box along with the rest for many years.

As a kid it was always the little accessories that excited me.  I loved the clocks and the books.  There were also mirrors, candlesticks, mice, and letters.  When I was about seven I added the basket for the kitten.  It contains the one and only thing I have ever crocheted.  It is a tiny white and pink circle.  For a little while we had an older lady minding us after school.  I remember crocheting this with her.  But after that we didn't go to her house very often so I never crocheted again.

I have enjoyed getting out these boxes.  Even as an adult I would occasionally open the lids and peak in remembering my lovely house and all the fun I had.  It also reminded me how much I was loved.  These things have been packed for so long that I hadn't realised that I had never showed them to my daughter.  My boys had seen them (although they had forgotten) but I was very sad when The Princess wanted to know where I had gotten the dolls from.  Life gets so busy and complicated and I was very sad that I hadn't taken the time to share these with her.  I am glad that STS is making me look at the precious 'things' in our life.  While people are always more important, sometimes the stories behind the 'things' we hold dear that shed some light on who the important people in our lives are.

Please head on over to Sian's and join us for a story.  I promise that they are all good :-)

Chipper

Storytelling Sunday "Pick Your Precious" - January

This year Storytelling Sunday asks you to "pick your precious".  This is how Sian described it ...

Start looking around, see what you love. Pick Your Precious is for short story tellers and for long. You can take the idea of simply a photo with a few words; or, if you are a can't-stop-yourself storyteller, you can expand as much as you like. The thing to keep in mind is that at the end of the year you'll have a permanent record of the little things you hold dear - and your family will know why you are holding onto them! Doesn't that sound like it might be worth it? No more "Do you really need that?"

Please join us this year.  It only takes a minute and even if you only write a story or two, that will be two more of your stories written down.  Click HERE to find this month's stories :-)

January's Precious

On the top shelf of my closet is a small stack of old shoe boxes.  This collection of "stuff" (or "junk" as my mom calls it) began in a small drawer in an equally small bedroom.  It was the only drawer that was off limits to everyone else, and the only place that was safe from my mom's clear-outs.  As my collection grew it expanded to the brown shoebox you see on the top of the pile.  Looking at the pile of boxes to take this photo reminded me that those shoes were the FIRST pair of shoes I bought with my own money.  They were a tan pair of leather Rivers boots and they cost a small fortune!  But I digress, this collection of precious possessions has followed me from house to house and country to country.  Last month they emerged from storage after almost four years.  Everything there holds some meaning to me, some happy and some so painful that I don't know whether I will be able to actually look at them.

My Precious (very Lord of the Rings! LOL)

This idea of Sian's to tell stories about some of the things we would save if our house was burning down brought these items to mind first before anything else other than my family :-)  So this year I am going to go back through these boxes and see what memories get stirred up.  I am both excited and terrified of the idea at the same time!  So lets start this series of stories with a story.

Amongst the papers at the top of the stack is a story I wrote when I was 14.  That year I had the most inspiring English teacher (Mrs F).  Mrs F's son was in my class and I had known her since I was small, but in class she was all business and she loved to see us all expressing ourselves. (Mrs F is now the high school librarian where my sons go to school and she finds that very strange!) At the beginning of one class Mrs F walked around handing out pictures torn from magazines.  We all wondered what had gotten into her when she announced that our assignment was to write a story inspired by the picture.

My picture was of a wedding dress.  I think that most 14 year old girls are a bit romantic and melodramatic, even a tomboy like myself.  So I wrote a tragedy all woven around an old wedding dress.  Reading it now I roll my eyes at the stereotyping and completely ridiculous plot but Mrs F deemed it good enough to enter it in a state wide writing competition.  I didn't win but I felt honoured just because Mrs F had liked it.  If it wasn't so long (5 pages and embarrassingly corny!) I would have typed it out for you.

This Christmas my mom spotted a book by Rachel Hauck called "The Wedding Dress".  It made her think of my story and the minute I opened the present I was taken back in time to when I wrote my story.  I have read the book and really enjoyed it, but the most ironic part was that we both chose the same name for the leading character - Charlotte.  How strange is that?!?!?!?!

The covers of the two stories.

This is definitely a story I shall have to turn into a layout.  Maybe next week I will find the time to finish unpacking my new craft room.

Look around you ... do YOU see "your precious"?

You do?

Great!  Jump in and write about it!

Until next time,

Chipper :-)

Storytelling Sunday - November

Sadly, I missed Storytelling Sunday for October but I really want to participate for November.  I have been racking my brain for a good story and have drawn a blank, until this morning.  So here is a brand new story hot off the press this morning ...

This is about The Princess, the one who never likes to draw attention to herself, the one who didn't speak at school for FOUR years!  You would never have guessed that she was that way if you ever saw her at home, as she is the loudest of our three children.  However, the minute a non-family member is present she is silent.  At her school they have a 'Crazy Hair Day' fundraiser each year for an orphanage in Bali and a local charity (chosen each year by the senior class).

Now if you have ever perused Pinterest I am sure you will have seen lots of photos of crazy hair.  I used one such photo as inspiration for my Halloween costume this year (more on that later LOL) but each year I have tried to get The Princess to be just a little adventurous and it was a disaster.  I have offered to use coloured hair spray - NO!  I once braided wire into her long plaits so that she could then have them hold any shape she wanted.  She took one look at it in the mirror and  - NO!  So each year I have helped her put her hair in a high pony tail and tried bright ribbons around it.

Last night The Princess mentioned that it was Crazy Hair Day today, had I not received the note?  She is sure she left it out for me ... hmmmmm NO!  Being cheeky I offered to do her hair like mine was for Halloween - NO!  I asked her if there was anything special she wanted me to do?  I received a shrug and a blank look so I suggested that she google 'crazy hair'.  For the next half hour all I heard were giggles and then "Mom, do you think you could do this one?"!  I was amazed, The Princess is growing in confidence (YEAH!).  I knew that she was getting braver as she presented a talk to her whole class this year, in the past she would have just stood up there silently waiting for the teacher to give in and ask her to sit back down, or she would have whispered it so that no one could hear.

So meet my 'Crazy Hair Stegosaur' ...

With coloured bobby pins for that added pop of fun!  She was very excited this morning and I hope that this is the start of The Princess starting to blossom :-)

If you like a good story then head on over to the host of this series, Sian.  There is always a collection of good stories to read each month.  They will make you laugh, cry, think and everything in-between.

Happy Reading,

Chipper

Storytelling Sunday - September

Well, it is still a Sunday so we shall still call it Storytelling Sunday, even if I am a week late!  LOL  This is my contribution to the fabulous collection of stories told every month with Sian at From High In The Sky.  Grab yourself a cuppa and go over to check them all out.  I know I will be a little later when I have a few more moments to spare!  They are always worth a read and you will laugh, sometimes cry, and ALWAYS have a great time!

This month I am doing something a little different just to get you all thinking, and because time is short!  We all know about Facebook (and if you don't then you must be a hermit) and like it or love it FB is often controversial.  But for our family who live scattered all over the world it has been a wonderful invention for keeping in touch.  As much as letters are special, lets face reality and say that we often just don't have enough hours in the day to write to anyone and everyone.

In 2008 we went on a family holiday to Florida.  While we were there I uploaded photos each morning from the previous day (I am an early riser) to an album on FB with comments about the photos so that family could see what we were doing.  It turned out that it was a wonderful idea for two reasons.  Everything was fresh in my mind when the photos were posted and as I am STILL scrapping the photos I have the journalling already completed.  AND as comments were posted on the photos more of the story unfolded.  It was like keeping an interactive holiday journal.

The photo story below was from the 'Back Lo't at Disney Studios and is called 'Harbor Attack'.  First you will see the photo, followed by my original description and then the comments in italics.  I hope you like it :-)

This was the back lot tour. We waited ages for this ride as it was cancelled due to lightning. When it started up again I was one of the 'volunteers'. Not sure what I got into!!!!

The LOML "doesn't she look happy to be a volounteer.. she tried all day to get on stage as a helper i think she lucked out here look at the next few photo's..this was a great show.."

Me "I was very happy to be a volunteer. I was just having difficulty walking in the heavy waterproof overshoes. They were 2 sizes too big!!! Didn't want to fall flat on my face in front of a few hundred people!!!"

The sexy suit I had to wear as the volunteer. I was the mechanic on a ship in Pearl Harbour. This is a specail effects type show. I was told to sit in a chair, answer the phone, and DON"T LOOK LEFT!!!

The LOML "doesn't she look great in this blue suit..."

I asked why I shouldn't look left and was told ... "You'll See!!!"

The LOML "just don't answer the phone..."

Answering the phone ... wonder whats next.

The LOML "remember don't look left..."

HELP!!!! WE ARE FLOODING!

The LOML "oops we can't see her anymore.. at this stage the kids were screaming with Laughter. We got a prime view spot because Christine was on stage.. Pity she abit wet..."

Me "It was fun though!!!"

The LOML "Trust me she is in there somewhere..."


It was very fun and the kids still laugh about it today!  See you next month (hopefully on time) for another story.

Chipper