Can you date an Xbox?

As a teenager I swore I would never have computer games in my house. Boy was I wrong! I apparently didn't plan on marrying. Or at least not marrying someone my age & Australian. As of last week we have an Xbox, Playstation 2 and are borrowing a Wii. And that doesn't even count computer or facebook games! Ah, the ideals of youth *sigh*

I was also crazy about the Beatles. (I was obviously born 30 years too late). So tonight I have borrowed Across the Universe to watch as my consolidatory I'm-not-an-Xbox-widow-I-am-choosing-to-spend-Saturday-night-alone Chick Flick.

A few months ago on Mamamia we were invited to describe our sex lives in three words here. The answers were great, here's a sampling:

14. Non. Existent.

Hot. Loud. Daily.

knock me up

Too much effort.

(and before you search for me, I didn't comment!)

My fav was zz's  always.playing.xbox

Whilst the Prince is not that bad, I was wondering the other day if he is dating the Xbox. He buys special treats & sets aside time for the Xbox. Just need to train him to do the same for me! ;)

That's okay, gives me lots of time to watch Beatles movies...

~Stretchy P. xx

Mental health in Australia

Lana, of Sharpest Pencil has written the most beautiful post about her BIL who suffers from severe schizophrenia. A MUST read. Check it out now.

click here - I dare you!

Go on - you MUST!

~Stretchy P.

Rose: when I suffered a mental health illness I was diagnosed early, treated effectively and recovered well. I wish the same for Lana's BIL xxx

Grammatical help

The Prince & I call ourselves two of the "Four horsemen of the apostrophe". There's nothing worse than bad apostrophe placement!! So of course I love this video of The Apostrophe Song by Cool Rules. I particularly like the rock & acoustic versions available on their iPhone app. There's even resources etc. I taught a lesson on apostrophes to a 4/5 class on teaching rounds - now I would play this song. So much better!

& I can never spell definitely!

The Oatmeal also has the awesome i.e. vs e.g. poster - very helpful, along with other awesome stuff!

~~

Rose: 24 degrees & sunny today! Yay!

I'm also thankful for a government that will pay me to be a student at a university. So few people in the world get that privilege. I love study, but would never be able to do it if I had to pay full price! Thanks HECS! =)

Prac is finished!!

I am super super proud of me! (can I say that without sounding too much like a tall poppy?)

Yes I can! Because I have earned it! I have worked very hard, sacrificed much & overcome extreme anxiety to finish my Kindergarten placement. And I didn't just finish I got a H2A (B+). I believe I did really really well. Yay me!

Big thanks to the Prince for getting me out the door on supreme anxiety days, doing all the cooking & housework every Tues, Wed & Thurs since August & just loving me. Without him it would not have been possible!

Thanks also to family & friends who have understood me not being able to do anything!

*side note: does thanking someone on the internet when you know they can't read it count? Does 'sending the vibes out there' show love?*

Things I have learned: 

• I can do way more than I think I can
• I love working with children
• anxiety can be beaten, and I can do it!
• I'm good at working with children. And I don't have to know what to do in every circumstance, my instincts are good.
• Some kids live really hard lives. (this was the hardest lesson. really feeling for some of the kids I met)

Rose: I've finished! What more is there? =)

Axis of Awesome - What Would Jesus Do?

This made me laugh


What would Jesus Do

Rose: I have finished prac! I am now on holidays! YAAAAAY!!!!

What I'm spending my time doing...

I haven't been here much coz I'm on prac. And sleeping. And resting. And sleeping. But I've discovered:

I'm missing something...

Project Free TV - streaming for all those shows you want to watch, but aren't on TV (or are at an annoying time)

It's supposed to be heaps lighter on your download limit, but I haven't really found that to be the case. Looking to increase our limit now... *oops*

Still, it's nice to be able to watch something different!

Rose: it's sunny! it's warm!!

Image from weheartit.com

Quotable Quotes

Things I said at Kindergarten this week:

"It's a handkerchief. Kind of like a permanent tissue"

"You don't need to cry about the bubbles. I know you didn't get to pop one this time, but look I'm blowing more right now..."

"You don't need to cry about the bubbles too..."

I also got sparkles & magic (to kill the bad guys) brushed through my hair by 3 gorgeous girls. *Awww*

I love working with kids! What are your favourite kid moments?

~P

Rose: only one more day of prac left! I'm loving it, but it's sooo draining & really hard on my CFS. Nearly finished!

Photo Friday

Sorry a little late on this one - my routine is all out with the Prince home on holidays this week.

Firstly: 7 things not to take a photo of thanks to the Oatmeal. Must say I'm guilty of taking 3 of these types of photos (I'll let you guess which 3!)

Today's photos are because they make me laugh. Serious threat ahead: golfers!

Sorry 4 super-large first photo - needs to be big enough so you can see the sign.

Rose: great catchup with a g/f this week. Love my girls.

First World Want

Perhaps now the AUD is so high? Or as a loosing weight reward?

My nerdity is currently finding its vent in The Big Bang theory. I *soo* want a Sheldon Shirt or a Soft Kitty, warm kitty shirt. Or a Wesley Crushers shirt. And here is the actual soundtrack shirt!
How bout this I don't want to talk shirt?
If only they made a Stretchy Princess shirt. This is pretty close.
I <3 the threadless Lightsaver shirt, but they've sold out in women.

Then there's Inconceivable!, Inigo's shirt & I think I need this shirt even more than chocolate (above)

(You'd better leave now, I could go on all day)

P.S. Rose: spare $ for random things like shirts!

Post with no words

‎:=8[-]8=:
/_|_\
|-o-| <-o-> |-o-|
( °) That's no moon....
lock S-foils in attack position :>8[-]8<:
...|-o-| <-o-> |-o-|
:>8[-]8<:
:=8[-]8=:

'Nuff said

Internet Randoms

Been really sick this week, so have taken solace in the wonders of the internet. I <3 my laptop! Here's some low energy fun:

Zoe Foster has discovered that All women want is an f'n cup of tea! So true.

Also just recently found Reservior Dad. His Mentally Sexy Dad concept/contest is awesome! First discovered it at Mamamia here. (Who knew someone from Reservoir could be so articulate?! :P

Eat the Damn Cake! Sage advice from America here, with reflections on what makes us beautiful, food & body image.

Love the children's book "Where is the Green sheep"? (& if you don't you're crazy!) Check this out.

Finally, Irish hand dancing. Could watch this all day!

~Princess CJ

Rose: have decided with my psych to decrease my anxiety meds a bit. This is the one causing weight gain, so hopefully the weight will drop off too!

CFS article on Excercise

Here is an interesting article on exercise with CFS patients.Well worth the read!

If you don't want to read it all I'll sum up:

~Listen to your body! You know when too much is too much!
~The body has two energy systems. Rather like a hybrid car. The car has an electric motor (anaerobic system) and a fuel motor (aerobic system).
The anaerobic system runs for two minutes, before the aerobic system fires up. The anaerobic system is the bit we need to operate within as CFS patients. Our aerobic system doesn't work well. I have personally thought of it as 'adrenalin is bad', but this 'aerobic system not working' really makes sense.
~Monitoring heart-rate is a way to stay below the Anaerobic Threshold (AT).

Personally, this makes sense of why I go so well with pilates or slow walking, but any sweating activity is too much.

from weheartit.com

Anyone know where to get a heart-rate monitor?

~Stretchy Princess xx

Rose: my pilates class is awesome. Enables me to do excercise & get stronger without reaching the AT without even knowing it! =)

Gruen Haikus

The Gruen Transfer held a Twitter comp to win a copy of their new book. Winner produced the best Gruen-related Haiku. I didn't win. But I thought they were so good they had to be published. So here they are:

Wednesday Night, Gruen Time
Todd's so hot, Wil looks fine, mo-
torized poo, fun times

On Todd's Tshirts I
ponder, Will's hair ever higher,
who will win the turd?

Ads on ABC,
only to mock, don't worry,
Turd is on a horse!

Good Haiku I must
write for Gruen & Todd I love
but broke sadly I am

and finally:

Gruen Nation the
only good thing in
tedious election

Melbourne

Some pics from the Rialto Tower a few years ago. Starting with my fav of course: the MCG

~P. CJ xx

P.S. Rose: Spring! Flowers are blooming! The air is warm & I can open the windows =)

Roses

On Sunday a friend invited me to Solace where I was introduced to a different type of praying:
Thorns & Roses. Basically you light a candle for something you're thankful for (the rose) and one for something hard/difficult/painful (the thorn). The children were involved too & I thought it was lovely. (Even though I had more thorns than roses this week!)

Over at Eat the Damn Cake Kate puts an "un-roast" at the end of every post: something she likes about herself that day. Fantastic! While I don't think I can commit to saying something nice about myself every time (see I love me) I want to continue the positives. So from now on I'm committing to putting a rose at the bottom of each post.

Join me in dwelling on the positives

~Princess CJ xx

Mr Lincoln - my fav rose

Rose: I'm thankful that I can afford all the painkillers I need. I've had a headache since Tues, but at least I don't have to worry about spending $ when I try to ease it.

Pic 1  Pic 2

What does your profile pic say about you?

Thought your pic was artistic? Unique?

from Dougie Horner via ZotheySay

2729

As I'm currently attempting to loose weight (to offset a medication I'm on that has a side-effect of weight gain - fun) I decided to wear a pedometer this week. I got 1600 steps on a good day, and around 400 yesterday, a bad one.

Today: 2729! What an effort! Of course, I was doing teaching rounds at a local Kindergarten (Preschool) so most of them were dashing from one emergency to another! At least that's what it felt like...

I think tomorrow will be a sub 350 in recovery mode!

Missing Jasmin (the flower)

Jasmin is *supposed* to flower in early September, before my birthday. I count on it to provide me with hope and encouragement.

The first time I remember really noticing it was when we moved my (now) Prince into the house next door. We were standing outside in the twilight feeling the hope and optimism of a new move, discussing how life would be better now, when this beautiful scent wafted over from next door. Over the next year I would sniff a thousand flowers trying to discover what it was!

Pity this isn't a scratch-&-sniff website

Last year we moved next door and I finally found the source of the mysterious 'hope' plant! A magnificent bush resides over the fence. So I bought my own plant, hoping to have my own source of hope to nurture.

So far it has disappointed a little. There are NO flowers. There's heaps of flower buds, but they have been sitting there, as buds, for a month! And they don't smell. Other bushes, in other places when I don't have opportunity or time to smell them have flowered. I know, I have seen them.

I was wondering why this particular plant was bothering me so much (after all, I kill heaps of plants every year - and of those that survive, plenty don't flower!) when I realised it's the hope.

This year has been a long and difficult one. I have had my personal successes, but close friends have failed, my Grandmother is seriously ill, my Prince has been struggling and the Black Dog has been visiting everyone it seems. (except me fortunately!)

I feel I'm coping well with the pressure, considering, but I am weary. I could use a smile, a hug or a pretty white flower.

pic

Monday Meh

Hello all the Spoonies out there! Today is brought to you by the letter Z and the number 0. Actually, it's not entirely true, I did get some sleep last night - 6 hours in fact - but that's not quite enough...

Today is the last day of my holidays. I'm back at teaching rounds tomorrow - not that I feel like I can! I was planning to spend the whole of my 2 weeks off resting & recovering & getting ready to go back. Well, I certainly did the resting, plus eating well (if you don't count about 20kgs of chocolate!), getting lots of sleep + excercise. Sadly the "feeling well & ready to go back" has evaded me.

I must remember that had I not taken as good care of myself I would without a doubt be much worse. (right?)

Positive things I did during the holidays:
-enjoyed my birthday
-started a blog!
-had time to go & visit my Grandmother
-had time for coffee with some friends I had been meaning to catch up with for ages
-met a friend's new baby =)
-had time to see my friends

Hope you all have as many spoons as you need,
-Sleepy Princess x

Paws wants more cheezburger

So, Paws has been recaptioned 18 times! Maybe he'll make it to the front page? =)

Some people *ahem* really spend waaay too much time looking at cats on the internet....

October: the month of love!

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans (isn't that just the coolest name ever?!) have declared October "I LOVE MYSELF" month.
They challenge us to take the pledge:

The Pledge to Love Myself.

I pledge allegiance, TO MYSELF.
Today I will proclaim it
out loud,
TALL AND PROUD
I LOVE MYSELF.
From this day forward,
I promise to be nice.
TO myself and ABOUT myself.
I will accept my quirks and I will love my faults.
I will love my shape, whatever it is
My bones, my muscles, my hair and my face.
My body, all of it, inside and out.
Because that is what makes me, ME.
And there is only one of me.
I will finally allow myself
to see what others see.
My kindness, my spirit, my love.
And starting today, I will share some of it,
with ME.
Because I deserve it.
I will fight for myself, because I’m important.
And I deserve to be everything I am capable of in my life.
I deserve to find my greatness and live my life fully and completely.
With no regrets.
There is so much I want to do in my life,
but first, it begins with “me.”
I LOVE MYSELF.
Today, tomorrow, and every day after that.
I LOVE MYSELF, DAMMIT!
And no one can stop me.

So far I'm already finding this hard! Why can't I put the button straight on the site? Why can't I title this post "I love me"? I guess that means I have a way to go... Perhaps at the end of this month I will be able to proudly say I love me!

 Thx to A New Kind of Normal for introducing me to the Sisterhood!

 ~Stretchy Princess xx

Spoonie Spouses

Jamee @ A New Kind of Normal 's husband has written a fantastic article about being a spoonie spouse. 

I think it must be a very difficult job. I know I don't just get sick & not be able to do things, but I get upset & grumpy coz I'm sick! I'm lucky the Prince is very understanding, but it hasn't always been an easy road by any means!

check it out here:
http://www.anewkindofnormal.com/2010/10/identity-crisis-being-a-spoonie-spouse-part-1/

~Stretchy Princess (needing more spoons today!)

Photo Friday

A metaphor of life

I wouldn't say I'm a great photographer, but I certainly love taking pics. I thought I'd upload some of my faves on Fridays. Feel free to upload some of yours!