Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

Interesting thought...

We are like lumps of clay, shaped by God, and on the mould of Jesus.

God is not slow: he is patient, waiting until many of us are aware of the Good News.

Crazy Collection Capers

I almsot died laughing the other day.
My neighbour told me about how they had had their old toilet in their garage for ages, so they were really excited when they found out about the kerbside collection in our area coming up.
So they put this old toilet (which was in multiple pieces) on the kerb and waited for the big truck to come along at the end of the week and chomp it up.
Lots of  people have been walking/driving round our area looking for good things other people have thrown out. A few Sundays ago my siblings, a few neighbours and I went walking round our street - we found a scooter, a desk, crutches, two walking machines, an almost new ab circle pro machine (the thing you kneel on and swing your hips - apparently good for the abs), two sets of weights (2.5kg and 3.5kg), a mattress on wheels (Spock rode this thing down the street - the lady next door even videoed it!), two suitcases, a safe, another desk, a filing cabinet, and a heap of other things! You should've seen our driveway!!!!! It was a maze of other people's junk. We ended up with a rather massive kerbside pile, and half of it wasn't even ours - mostly because we'd brought stuff in, and Mum had said noooooooo way was that vile thing worming its way into our house!!! So what did we do with it but throw it onto our own lawn!!!
So anyway, my neighbours were just waiting for the truck to come along and chomp up their old toilet.
Except the truck didn't come and chomp it up because someone else came and took it!
'WHAT?????' you say, 'what mad person would pick up a dirty old toilet?'
I'm not even joking. Someone came past my neighbour's house, stopped, and picked up their used, disgusting, dirty old toilet - it was cracked and everything!!!!
My mum reckons they probably thought they could get money from it by handing it in somewhere our something, but I'd rather think that someone out there has a really wacky taste in garden pots...

Late - AGAIN!!!

I was supposed to fill in for piano at church today. Practise was at 8:00am this morning, and, well, I kinda woke up at - 8:30..........
erm....
And When I tried to play one of the songs during the actual service, I played in the wrong key, and the poor guitarist had to try and work out the rest of the chords himself!!!!
oops.
Anyway...
I survived. And a lot of people came up and said afterwards that I played really well, so, you know, it can't have been that bad. :)

Why NOT to take public transport!!!

Oh yeah, uh huh, oh yeah, uh huh!
I SURVIVED EXAM BLOCK!!!!
(It really is time to celebrate!!!)
I had a 15 minute speaking exam today, but it took me 3 hours to get there and back (by public transport).
The driver on the bus home was really cranky. I asked him if the bus went past the shops and he grunted yes. Then I asked him (a little while later) if it went past a particular street, and he grunted another yes.

And, oh, how I dislike public transport!
Yeah, sure, it takes cars off the road, and reduces all the green house gases, blah, blah, blah, but seriously, I don't think waiting 20 minutes for the next bus, and being yelled at (like the bus driver does every day coming home from school) to 'move down!' so they can cram another 20 people on the bus. We sent in a petition, but we never got an answer.

Twice in the last two days I've sat in a 'priority seating' seat (which is closer to the front of the bus) without realising, and what happens each time, but someone comes along who needs to use it!!!! Oh, the embarrassment!!!
This is especially embarrassing when the bus driver yells down the bus - 'you need to get up to let this lady sit down'.
AAARRRGGHH!!!!!!

And did I mention that one time, on the school bus, the driver (who happened to be really fat), got so 'energetic' about cramming us 'stupid' school students like sardines into the bus, that he got up and physically pushed us along!!
I heard later that one of the parents had rung up about it, and he got suspended from driving, enrolled in anger management classes, and must, from now on, drive a bus with a supervisor!
(I actually found that kinda funny - some of these drivers are pretty mean!!!)

Indestructible!!!

Spock tells me one of the toyota cars is the indestructible car, according to TOP GEAR. (We think it's the same one as we bought).
He siad TOP GEAR was told that toyota was an indestructible car, so they tested it.
TOP GEAR let a toyota car float out to sea. When the tide brought it in the next day, it still started, though with difficulty...
Then they drove it under a building to be knocked down. When the building had fallen on the car, they reached in under it and, after 30 tries, the car started again!!!
I reckon we did well in getting a toyota!!!
:)

Awesome blog!!!

This blog is hilarious! :)
You really should check it out. Whoever wrote it jsut cracks me up. :)

http://lifeofalife.blogspot.com/

We've got a new car!!!

It's a white 4WD, and it seats 8 - perfect for our family!!!
Although it's quite old, it hasn't been used much at all. It's like a brand new car. ;D
It's better at towing our caravan than our other car, and it's a better ride than a troop carrier (did I mention that dad was looking for one of those before?)

Hoo, boy, this is exciting!!!
:)

Life's so hard!

Spock walked into the kitchen this evening as mum was making dinner and said, 'I thought I made it clear last night that I wanted burritoes for dinner!'

.

Then, 'You haven't made anything yummy for ages.' and 'It's becoming worse than breakfast!'

 Mum drove us to school on Monday. Cooper was strapped in the seat in the back.

We were talking, when suddenly we hear him say in his cute baby voice:

'I was like, where's de sword? An'  den I found it!'

Our house has issues

I was sitting in the kitchen today when I heard someone snoring. I instantly thought of dad (naturally!), but then remembered he wasn't home. Then it occured to me to wonder why someone was sleeping in the kitchen?!?
I turned around and saw Teddy sitting in the rocking chair he has claimed as his own - snoring!!!
I mean, what dog snores?
Mum said that sinus issues run in the family, and you have to have them to be a part of it.
But our house has more issues than that. Sometimes I come into the kitchen and hear a weird snoring-like sound. I could never work out what it was until mum told me it was the oven. Yeah, like I could have guessed that!
But really, is it just me, or does our house have some serious lethargy/sinus problems?

Exams, how I despise you!

First, I missed my bus!!! I had to catch another bus, then I had to walk for ages, then I gave up on that and rang someone to come and get me.
Then, I had a Maths B exam today, and boy, did I do badly!!! I wrote 1000 instead of 100 and it was such a stupid mistake!!!
aerggghh!!!

Australia trip

Dad brought up the subject of our australia trip yesterday again - Spock is absolutely hilarious! He moaned for ages about how long he'd be away from his friends, how he'd be away for his birthday (no party!), and when mum said that we'd have to leave Teddy with our grandparents, he, well, le'ts jsut say that he really lost it then!
Apart from him, everyone else is very enthusiastic. :)
Dad's looking for a troop carrier because our current car can't really tow our caravan. Well, it can, but not across australia - that would be stretching it a bit too far!

I love this proverb!

a bird doesn't sing because it has an answer.

A bird sings because it has a song.

Day 1: discovering the wonderful world of... blogging

The first thing you're probably wondering is - why, why, why?
Why a blog? Why the mad hatter? Why this? why that? why the other thing?
Well, there were several reasons as to why I felt like pinning my life up on a pinboard visible to the world.
First, none of my friends have done it. I love doing new things, don't you? It keeps life fresh and interesting.
Secondly, my family (and I) are (hopefully) going to be doing a trip around australia this year, and I thought it would be a lot of fun to have somewhere I could tell everybody - friends, family - about what, exactly, we've been up to. I didn't name my blog anything to do with that though, because it'll be about more than just that.
Thirdly, I love writing. (Fact #1: I'm writing a book). It's fun, interesting, entertaining, a good way to mop up extra time on your plate (not that your average teen has much free time...), and a whole pile of other things to boot.
So I figure, if one of my ambitions is to write, why not start now?
Lastly, I have a big family - not huge, just my five siblings, parents and I. A lot happens around here, and I thought that perhaps some people out there could get some entertainment from it - who knows?

As for the mad hatter, in case you're wondering, no, that's not my nickname: never has been, and probably never will be.
My blog's name didn't come from alice in wonderland, but from the saying, 'mad as a hatter'. I'm a reasonably serious, calm person usually, but I can be really mad. I love being mad. I make up funny songs, tell lame jokes, and generally drive my friends up the wall. It's one of the most amusing things in the world.
(Mad Hatter also happened to go well with musings).
SO.....
That's probably enough information to start with.
I really should be studying form my Maths B exam tomorrow, but I was itching to get this started...