Conjunctivitis and My Favourite Place in England

con-junc-ti-vit-is: (commonly called "Madras eye") is an acute inflammation of the conjuntiva (the outermost layer of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids), most commonly due to an allergic reaction or an infection (usually viral, but sometimes bacterial). Thanks, wikipedia. Conjunctivitis is more commonly known as… Pink Eye.


On Tuesday morning, Youngest woke up with conjunctivitis. The Mum stayed home with him that day, but when his eyes were still quite red and puffy on Wednesday, I took charge of the little patient. Other than sore eyes, he was perfectly himself, so I took him to the local park… pretty much my favourite place in England. Instead of taking my usual running-route around the duck pond, Youngest and I explored some of the parks more hidden pathways. Youngest had a great time balancing on some fallen logs and pointing out feathers and flower petals that scattered the path. This time of year is just gorgeous! It's kind of like Vancouver in the spring; very large old trees are covered in green moss and everything is so colourful. 

Unfortunately, we did have to leave in order to pick up Youngest's prescription eye drops from the chemists (pharmacy). And even more unfortunately… I had to somehow get them in his eyes. The first eye was fine, but after he realized what was happening, he screamed and kicked! Even when I finally pried his hands away from his eyes, it was all I could do to get his second eye open wide enough to get a little drop in there! The next day, The Dad advised me to get Youngest to have a nap and administer his drops while he slept. So, we went to the park again on Thursday. I tried to tire him out by taking him on an extra-long walk and letting him play on the playground for a while. Then, we drove around for a bit (I hoped the car ride would put him out as usual… but no luck). So, I went home and put on a film in a dark room and cuddled him up in a blanket. Of course, 30 minutes later, he was bouncing up and down on the sofa. I even tried laying him down in his bedroom, but that just made him hysterically angry. So, I put him in the car again. The combination of the long walk, the overemotional crying, the car ride and some ardent prayers on my behalf FINALLY put him out. 


I had a pretty typical Friday, today. After getting the kids ready for school, I did some washing and ironing. I went for a run (trying, again, to go further… but I just ended up walking more). BUT I did get a lovely surprise in the mail: a lovely pair of red Birkenstocks that I bought on ebay! I am wearing them everywhere so I can break them in. I was planning on taking them for a test-walk down into the village… but the rain has returned. After a couple of weeks of sun and rising temperatures, the soft pitter-patter of rain kept me and my cork-bottomed sandals indoors. 

With all this rain, it's good thing I like reading! Right now, I am re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. GREAT books. C.S. Lewis wrote this excellent series of fantasy novels to convey Christian ideas to a young audience. I had forgotten mostly everything about these books (except for, of course, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe), so I am really enjoying them. I have just finished The Horse and His Boy— it was fantastic. If you have a spare rainy afternoon, I definitely recommend picking up a Narnia book for a nice escape! (source)

St. George's Day Weekend

Friday: Last week, my Dad and I decided we'd train up to do a 5-10k run in the fall (autumn for our English readers), so I ran much further than usual on Friday. I will have to start wearing a t-shirt for running, because it is getting much too warm to wear my normal athletic wear. Much later in the evening, I popped next door to babysit the boys. 7 caused a bit of trouble, trying to delay his bedtime, but 13 helped me out and soon, the younger brother was fast asleep. As the older boys spent their evening listening to loud music and playing computer games in 14's room, I spent my evening on Skype and facebook… wow, that sounds a bit sad… I wish I could say I spent the evening reading or something, but I didn't.

Saturday: The Mum and Oldest arrived home from their trips on Friday night, so I welcomed them back on Saturday morning. Both were quite cheerful and friendly! I walked down to the High St. to check out the farmer's market before heading into the city centre for the St. George's  day celebrations. St. George's Day is the national day of England and has apparently been growing in recent years as English people seek to cultivate an English identity separate from the Britain that encompasses Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It's called 'St. George's Day' because St. George is the patron saint of England (and Georgia, and Portugal, and Ethiopia…) St. George was a Roman soldier and priest who was executed for refusing to worship pagan gods above Jesus… but most people just know him because of a legend that says he slayed a dragon.

Wow! I was not expecting such a great afternoon! One of the dj's I listen to in the mornings had given me the impression that St.George's day was not really celebrated with any enthusiasm— but  that was NOT the case. The city had set up three different venues with English crafts, beer, cider, cakes, a Saxon village and slave-market, sword-fighting demonstrations and— the best part— live music! I saw 2 really great bands: The Old Dance School and Demon Barbers.

I saw a family I knew from church, so I went over to say 'hello' and I ended up joining them for the rest of the afternoon; the invited me to have a picnic with them. It was really lovely of them to invite me, because I would have wandered around by myself, otherwise. We listened to the bands for a while, and while we were eating our picnic, we saw some Morris Dancers. Now, Morris Dancers are very traditionally English… but they are ridiculous. They are grown men, dressed in white and wearing silly straw hats with silk flowers, waistcoats made of brightly-coloured rags and bells on their knees. They hop around with handkerchiefs and sticks. These particular Morris dancers were performing in the churchyard of the Birmingham Cathedral, where all the highschool-aged emo-kids hang out. The Morris dancers actually got some of the punks to join in— it was hilarious! I also enjoyed some local cider before I headed home to have some curry with Aussie (who has been preparing for her Ofsted inspection all weekend.) So, St. George's Day was pretty cool… but not as cool as Canada Day (which I will have to celebrate in England this year.)

Photos: St. George stilt-walker, Katy Price look-a-like in St. George's garb, silly Morris dancers, emo-kid doing Morris dance, English step-dancers, men from 'Demon Barbers' doing sa-weet sword dance!
Sorry the pictures suck so bad. I was an idiot and forgot my camera, so I was stuck with the crappy camera on my phone.

Sunday: Today, I helped out with the 5-11 year-olds at church. It is always fun to play games and do crafts with kids, and so sweet to hear their questions about God. They are so curious and not at all embarrassed to talk about Jesus. One of the little girls will be moving later this year (her parents will be missionaries) and I asked her if she was excited. She said "Yes, but it's mostly for my parents, because they are going to tell people about Jesus." Adorable. After church, I was invited to lunch at a friend's house where I got to meet some new people. I was a little shy today, though. I don't like when I'm shy, I just feel awkward and not myself. :S I decided to go to the evening service at church because I had missed the message in the morning. We are continuing to look at the book of Esther and the focus today was on Esther taking a life-endangering risk to save the Jewish people. We were challenged to be bold and to not be afraid of the potential risks of living how God intends us or to tell people about Jesus. Now… I'm not going to post a full-on Gospel presentation on my blog, but I will tell you that Jesus loves you! If you are interested in talking more about it, so am I!

*sigh* back to normality tomorrow… Mop-Day.

Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen…

So… on second thought… I think I'll keep growing my mane for now. I have been inspired by one of my fave fashion bloggers, Julie @ Orchid Grey. She has AWESOME hair and is almost as good at second-hand shopping as me :P

… but I've got some growing to do before I'm anywhere close to having her tremendous tresses!

I Want to Go to There and Hair

Also, I am going here in June. Oh yes.

And I am going to need a haircut soon, my ends are getting super dry. So, I am considering my options. I know it's a bit dated, but I was thinking about getting 'The Rachel'. Or maybe I will go for something a little more textured, like Alexa Chung's do. Heck, I could give it the chop a la Katie Holmes! Or maybe I will channel a little bit of Selena Gomez and go for a curly version of my former haircut. Or maybe just my former haircut.

I know that my devoted readership have strong opinions, so I would love to hear them!

Books and Television

I am now re-reading C.S. Lewis's 'The Chronicles of Narnia' from beginning to end. I am almost finished the second installment, and most popular chronicle of the series, 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'. As a child, I never saw the Biblical references, but I am getting them now, bahaha.

I am enjoying Glee at the moment. Check it out, if you haven't already! Also, there is a show airing now on SkyTV that just entertains me completely. 'Pineapple Dance Studios' is a completely (sometimes unbelievingly) true documentary that occasionally has some staged dance numbers. It centres around the lives of some of the studio's key players such as Artistic Director, Louie Spence (who reminds me of one my my ex-roommates from uni), choreographer Mark Battershall, and dance instructor and wannabe popstar, Andrew Stone. This show is hilarious… especially any bits related to Andrew Stone and his band 'Starman'.



Tonight in small group, we talked about the message from Sunday, when we read a bit of the book of Esther. We talked a lot about living for today and the situations we are in now. One person said she had read somehwhere 'wherever you are, be ALL there'— this is definitely a good saying for me to have tucked away in my head. I spend so much of the time planning for next week, or this summer, or next year… sometimes I'm not planning, I'm just daydreaming about a future that will surely not happen the way I imagine it. I think I will adopt this mantra and try to live it. Another person said 'know your season and do it well'. So, for me, I am working as an au pair and experiencing life in another part of the world. Instead of doing a half-ass job looking after the kids and cleaning this house, I will try to do it to my best ability. Instead of wasting my £ on sweets and eating out, I will save it for travel. And I will keep a look out for opportunities God is giving me to live the life he has for me today… not the life he has for me a few months down the line.

Volcanic Ash

So, some volcano erupted in Iceland and now the airspace above the UK and other European countries is closed. So… there have been NO flights in or out of the UK since Thursday! The past two weeks have been the Easter holidays over here, so that means millions of people are stuck abroad! Aussie's cousin is stuck with his classmates in China! Radio and television shows are lacking guests, concerts and comedy tours are being cancelled. And… the Mum is stuck in India.

Babysitting and… I Love Roller Coasters!

Friday night, I had a babysitting job with the kids next door. There are 3 boys, all with awesome Scottish names, aged 14, 13 and 7. The older ones, being teenage boys, spent our first couple of hours in their rooms playing computer games. So, I got out my awesome tat-kit and made custom tattoos with 7. He LOVED them! I had to stop him after his 6th tattoo because I wasn't sure his mum would be too happy if he had full sleeves. I applied quite a few tats myself… some pink paw-prints, a bunch of stars, a rainbow stegosaurus and a little blue icthus (Jesus fish). After 7's bath, 13 and 14 invited us both to play a game of footy with them. Well… they played football and I stood on the sidelines, kicking at any stray shots. It was so nice that they tried to include me! After football, we played on their trampoline. I'm sure having me bouncing them around was fun for them, since I probably weigh, like, 50 pounds more than the heaviest of them! I haven't been on a trampoline in ages— it was so much fun!

Saturday was a big day! I picked up Aussie at 9 and we drove to nearby theme park: Drayton Manor.  We met up with our friend Gordie and some of her buddies to celebrate her birthday! Now, I am a lover of rollercoasters, so I was excited to get on all the big rides… but the others were hesitant. They weren't scared, however, to go on the log-flume ride! That was the 2nd ride of the day… and I wore jeans. So, needless to say, it took the rest of the day for me to dry off! We had some very American-tasting fried chicken for lunch and some ice-cream cones for dessert. I had to go on 'Apocolypse' (like the 'Drop Zone', except for this one tilts you forward!) and 'G-Force' by myself, but I did get some of the other girls on 'Pandemonium' (like 'Jet Scream')! It was a great day— but it made me miss Wonderland! And for some reason, my body ACHED the next day from hanging upside down!

On Sunday, I went to church in the morning. At the moment, we are going through the book of Esther. We read through chapter 4, in which Esther's uncle Mordecai asks her to go before her husband, King Xerxes, to plead him to save the nation of Israel from genocide. At first, she is afraid to go before the king, but Mordecai asks "Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this?" So, the message focused on each individual in the congregation being in our unique places so God can use us where we are now, not int he future.

After church, I went shoe shopping in the city centre with Aussie. We were there for, like, 3 HOURS and I DIDN'T BUY ANYTHING!!!!! Frustrating. I did decide on a pair of Tom's… but they didn't have them in my size!!!

My Favourite Toy

Today I went to an awesome shop called 'Home Bargains', which is kind of like an outlet store for everything. There are all kinds of brand-name skin-care products, hair products, toothbrushes, etc. There are cleaning supplies and pet foods. There are all different kinds of candy and food and even alcohol. It is a great place— and the prices are so reasonable. I popped in today when I went into Harborne to the bank (the Moseley branch is randomely closed on Wednesdays). I just wanted to get some facial wash, but I couldn't resist when I saw this:

July Trip!

As the summer approaches, I am hard at work planning my UK Tour!

A Lovely Long Weekend!

Hiya! I've had a busy few days here in Birmingham!

On Friday, I took Oldest, Middle and one of Middle's friends to the 'CSI Experience' at the Bull Ring in the city centre. On our way, we saw this surprise ballet dance at the Bull Ring!


The 'CSI' thing was cool. First, you investigate a crime scene and make notes on your clipboard about what you notice. Next, you go to the 'lab', where you learn about different methods that CSI's look at blood spatter, bullets, drugs, etc. The next step is a visit to the coroner, where you are told the COD (cause of death). Finally, you enter your findings into the computer to determine who the killer is! It was cool, but I think the girls would have enjoyed it better if they were a bit older. It's probably more fun for fans of the show, too. I'd recommend checking it out… if it wasn't so expensive. We also got our picture taken:

Saturday was GORGEOUS! The sun was high in the sky and it was actually quite warm! Aussie and I donned our wellies to take a stroll in the Moseley Bog. Did you know that JRR Tolkein, author of 'The Lord of the Rings' grew up in Birmingham? I didn't. Actually, he grew up right around my neighborhood. He spent many days in his childhood playing in the Moseley Bog and around the nearby Sarehole Mill, which we also visited. The Bog and the Mill are supposed to have inspired Tolkein's 'shire' where Bilbo and Frodo and all the other Hobbits lived. Aussie and I had a great time exploring the streams, fallen trees and sinkholes in the Bog. I felt like a little kid in my Grandpa's sugar bush, climbing trees and ducking under fallen branches.

Saturday night, I was invited to a birthday dinner for one of my friends at church. We met at 'Pizza Express', which is this really great pizza chain that they have all over Birmingham. The pizza is very Italian and they even have gelato. It was really nice to spend a nice evening with the ladies and get to know everyone a bit better.

This evening, it was my turn to help welcome people to the evening service at church. Because this service is right in the middle of the Easter holidays, instead of a regular service, we had a Q&A period with the church leader. I can't remember what the question was that sparked this particular response, but one thing he said really resonated with me. He said that to go through life saying "God loves me, so I'm just going to live my life the way I want, because He'll always love me" kind of belittles the sacrifice God made in order for us to know his love. When I watched 'The Passion of the Christ', I was able to put some meaning behind those words I hear quite often: 'Jesus died for our sins'. I saw how brutal and barbaric and humiliating crucifixion is and the extent to which Jesus suffered while he died. To just live life thinking 'oh, whatever, God loves me anyway', without acknowledging and accepting what He did so we can know His love just trivializes his sacrifice.

Well, there's one more week left for Easter break and the girls are attending a sports day camp all week. I'll let you know how it goes!

My Guilty Pleasure

In addition to Doctor Who, I am quite a fan of American Idol. I never vote, or anything, but I try to watch each week's performances and I always have my favourite. This year, my favourite is Casey James (not the porn star). Yes, he's a very handsome man, but he is also quite talented. In fact, he kind of reminds me of my all-time favourite musician ever: Mr. Johnny Lang.

Anyways, here are a couple of Casey's performances. What do you think?

My Turn to Time Travel

Today, after some more spring cleaning (I did the ovens today), I joined Youngest, Middle, Oldest and The Dad for a day-trip to Blists Hill Victorian Town in the World Heritage Site of Ironbridge Gorge. When they asked me if I wanted to join them, I said: "Yes, please!", but in my head, I was like: "Absolutely, I do!" I was pretty excited to go; Ironbridge was on my must-see list!

Blists Hill is kind of like 'Black Creek Pioneer Village'— it's a living museum. When you enter the museum, you can change your pounds into shillings, farthings, sixpences and other Victorian-era coinage at the bank. You can then purchase your various and sundries at the wide array of shops in town. First, we visited the grocer, followed by the sweet shop, the post office, the drapers, iron and leather works, the photographer, the bakery and more. My favourite shop was the print shop. The room was hung with freshly-printed posters and cards and there were drawers and drawers full of lead and wood type! It was awesome!

Once you get past the High St, the path takes you into the fairgrounds, where you can play old-fashioned games to win a coconut.  You can also ride one of those 'swings of the century' rides, like at Wonderland. You can also visit a rich doctor's home, a common-man's 2-room cottage and a mid-size brick house.  There is also a school, a church, a shipyard and even a mine!

I had a good time wandering around the town and seeing the girls get so excited to try things like home-baked bread (even though they can have much better home-baked bread at home) and candle dipping. It was nice to join in their fun! My only problem was that they were so excited that they would often run off and leave me to wander on my own. It's okay, though, it gave me more time to explore the stuff they thought was boring, haha.

We took a break from the museum to take a walk in the nearby woods. It was such a beautiful day! We came to some old railroad tracks and Youngest had fun trying to balance on the rails… and so did I.

I really enjoyed the whole 'living museum' thing and I'm excited to visit more museums like this one… like Eden camp! I think I'll stop by there when my friends and I are in Yorkshire this summer!

P.S. God totally provides. I have been super stressed about money lately— I even woke up on Monday morning in the middle of a nightmare that was about me not being able to pay off my credit card bill or afford any kind of activity beyond sitting at home watching TV. I have had so much anxiety about money and I've been praying so hard for God to just help me trust him! Jesus says: '…So don't worry about these things, saying 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?" These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.' 
… and then today, I received my tax return from the government of Canada. I couldn't believe how much it was; I was able to pay a huge chunk of my credit card bill! Praise God!