If the shoe fits... and even if it doesn't.

The Badoo has adored shoes since birth. She was my only baby who wore shoes prior to walking, simply because even at 6 months it was obvious that she loved them. I bought her a little pair of 'pre-walkers' and they were never off her feet. She graduated to her sister's shoes as soon as she could stand, worked her way through my collection of flatties not long after and then before she could run she was in her Zia's sky-high stilettos which even 13 sizes too big she walks in better than I ever could.  At almost-two she insists that everyone around her is wearing shoes (she heads off and gets you a pair, brings them over and puts them on you. Doesn't matter if they're not actually yours). She carries extra shoes wherever she goes and is not fussed if she is wearing a different shoe on each feet and on the wrong feet. She changes her shoes a minimum of ten times a day. She wears shoes to bed.

So it comes as no surprise to learn that while viewing the Biennale exhibition on Cockatoo Island with her daddy on Saturday (mum was burning up the tarmac on the Snowy Mountains Highway at the time) she decided to help herself to a shoe that was part of one of the exhibitions. LOML said her look was one of utter concentration as she carefully tried this way and that to manoeuvre the shoe out from under the guard rail. She was beside herself when she was dragged away. My shoe, she screeched, MY SHOE! (My art, the artist shrieked, MY ART!)

Back when I had normal-size feet (a dainty size 9) I too had a glorious shoe obsession. Prior to pregnancy stretching the ligaments in my very high-arched feet one and a half sizes (up to a, gasp, no really, not joking, 10 1/2) I owned over 30 pairs of loveliness collected from all over the world. The best thing about coveting shoes was that no matter how much my weight fluctuated, a beautiful shoe still fit. Little works of art, lined up by colour and giving such pleasure.

Now I'm shopping for shoes at the chemist.

But, no mind. The Badoo is here. And she loves my old shoe collection even more than I do.

Henrietta Lacks: A Legacy of Love

This is Mrs. Henrietta Lacks. To some, this name means nothing; to millions around the world, this woman's is the reason they're alive today.

Loretta Pleasant was born and raised in Southside Virginia in 1920.

Ms. Pleasant married and moved to Baltimore and became Mrs. Henrietta Lacks (no one knows why her name was changed from Loretta.)

Early in 1951, Mrs. Lacks discovered she had an aggressive form of cervical cancer; as she

was being treated, her cells were removed without her consent for research. Her cells were referred to as HeLa (hee-lua) cells so doctors wouldn't have to disclose the name of the donor.

Mrs. Lacks passed in October of 1951;buried in an unmarked grave, she passed unaware of the extraction of her cells and the impact she would have in the world of medical science.

I strongly encourage each of you to research the history of Mrs. Lacks life and the "HeLa cells", there are many articles relating to her life as well as a book entitled "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (Skloot.)

Over the past thirty years, the Lacks family has been making strides to have their beloved mother, sister, grandmother's name honored, on Saturday, May 29, 2010 the healing began.

A doctor with Morehouse College in Georgia provided funds to give Mrs. Lacks a proper headstone so people from all walks of life can identify the final resting place of this phenomenal woman.

I had the pleasure to attend the memorial service for Mrs. Lacks in my hometown. I was glad to see so many people in attendance on a Memorial Day weekend. I later began to see that the base if attendees were the extend family of Mrs. Lacks. This was the first encounter for many of the family members, and you could feel the love for one another.

Doctors, family members, public officials gave remarks on the life and legacy of Mrs. Lacks and the way the HeLa cells are still saving lives to this very day.

The highlight of the ceremony for me was the remarks of a pastor in our area. To paraphrase his remarks, he gave what some would call a prophetic vision of the day doctors/scientist discover the cure for cancer thanks impart to the HeLa cells.

I found myself very moved, to the point of tears about this woman and her story. She was my age when she passed away and almost sixty years later, I had the opportunity to be in the midst of her family and friends.

As I heard how the HeLa cells are used, I felt a since of gratitude to Mrs. Lacks as she could be the reason my grandfather lived an easier life as he battled cancer. I thought about the couples that now have families of their own, those who don't have to endure endless sickness because of one woman's unique genetic code.

The service ended with a sense of closure with optimism for the future of science and of course, love.

There is more to come from this story, so much more. I hope this has given you as much interest as it has given me. I also hope to follow up on Mrs. Lacks in future entries.

Thank you, Mrs. Lacks.

Memorial Day

On this day lets remember those children forced to fight in wars and let's put a stop to this.

Please read:

http://its-all-for-love.blogspot.com/2010/05/lost-children-child-soldiers.html

Where there is love, I'll be there....

Walking to Emmaus by Fritz von Uhde
On the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"

"What things?" he asked.

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Source: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A13-35&version=NIV

Things I learned this week including a well known truism

It's been a big week and my learnings are varied.

1. Better late than never!

2. A hagiologist chronicles the lives of saints.

3. If you discover a word that you have never seen before like hagiologist, you will invariably stumble over it time and time again in the next 48 hours.

4. Sitting in a peaceful, beautiful garden, reflecting on the road behind and the road ahead is the best form of meditation there is.

5. The GPS Navman lady is very bossy and if you disobey her stern warnings she will lead you in a merry circle as punishment.

6. There isn't a town on the East Coast of Australia that doesn't have a chinese restaurant.

7. The official ski season starts in the Snowy Mountains next weekend.

8. The paintings in the National Gallery of Australia's Masterpieces from Paris exhibition somehow looked even more interesting and vibrant than when I saw them all shuffled together at the Musee d'Orsay. Perhaps this is due to the 'important exhibition' nature of the NGA's showing.

9. I love an open road.

10. There is no place more exciting, more inspiring, more fun or more delicious than home.

Happy Birthday Rebbie and La Toya Jackson!

The It's All For L.O.V.E. webteam would like to wish Michael's big sisters Rebbie and La Toya a very Happy Birthday!!!

May you be blessed today and for the next years to come...

Foxglove Inspires

The drive today was true happiness. I stopped at many little towns - Milton, Mogo, Tilba Tilba, Narooma, Bermagui. There are so many special places to visit.

I spent a really lovely morning poking around all the shops and eating lunch at one of the sweet cafes at Central Tilba. It's one of the best preserved 'historical trust' villages that I've seen and it has all the requisite craft shops, lolly shops, wooden toy shops, candle shops that you'd expect. The town sits in a breath-taking valley and beautiful mature trees dripped golden leaves all over the streets and the smell of woodsmoke made time stand still.

Foxglove Spires is an open garden in Tilba Tilba. Clever owner Susan Southam wrote "Velvet Pears" about her time developing the garden. I found such beauty and peace there that I couldn't tear myself away. I spent twice as long as I expected wandering the winding paths and watching the chickens and doves scratch about.

They also have the best shop. I went a bit nuts getting little trinkets and things for the garden. I think I might take after my mum (who's a bit of a bower bird when it comes to ornaments). But what can you do when every single thing in the store makes you genuinely happy just looking at it?

As a result of my lingering day, I've changed my game plan and have stopped in Bega for the night. Instead of my always-driving ambition to head down the bottom of Victoria and across to the Daylesford, I'm going to do a loop along the Snowy Mountains Highway thorough Cooma, Canberra, Yass and the Southern Highlands. This way I'll have a lot more time for play.

An aside...

I just had to add that yesterday I committed the number 1 school parent error: Maxi-Taxi went to school in school uniform on a mufti day.

If it wasn't bucketing down with rain. If it wasn't 8.58am. If I didn't have another boy in tow (the slowest boy in the world) to schlep into his kinder classroom. If I didn't have Badoo under one arm, an umbrella in the other and both eyes on Cappers as she skipped her way along in her pink gingham rain jacket and matching umbrella. If things had been different I might have zipped him home to change or at least sprung a fresh set on him at recess. I did not.

I fretted all day.

He skipped out at 3pm, big smiles. "Mum, it's really cool to wear your uniform on mufti day. Everyone thought I was great!".

Delayed shame will hit one day. But for now, phew, I'm off the hook.

It's not about the drive

I'm off on an adventure. Alone. For four days and four nights.

Thanks to the enormous generosity of always-supportive LOML, I'll be driving down the east coast of NSW, then across to Daylesford in Victoria and back up to Sydney via Bendigo. It's a big drive and it may change en-route, but to be honest, it doesn't matter where I go, just that I go. Alone.

There have been two schools of opinion on this one. First there is the 'oh my god, I'm so jealous, I wish I was doing that' school. They get that it's not about the drive. It's about the opportunity to do what I want, when I want and for as long as I want.  If you ask me, when you're a wife and a mumma and at the end of some days you've done so much talking in your work and real life that you are literally all talked out, being alone is the ultimate luxury.

Then there's the 'don't you want to take a friend?' school.

Now, I'm a social creature, don't get me wrong. I come alive in large groups of people and I love to talk and talk and talk. Love sharing a story, having a cuddle, showing off, listening to a problem, debating the universe and sorting out just exactly what needs to be done about that Shari-Lea.

But I really, really don't want to take a friend.

Cheers to thinking uninterrupted thoughts and spur of the moment stop offs. To arrivals and departures whenever it suits me. To suddenly taking a left hand turn to see what's down the road.  To listening to the music that I want to listen to or to no music at all. To staying a bit too long at a gallery or lingering in a bookstore.

Cheers to the beauty of solitude.

[Image: photo-alchemy.co.uk]

Pretty patterns all in a row

I'm loving these gorgeous fabrics from funky fabrix. I would buy up the lot if I had a.) the money or b.) the slightest idea what to do with them. If only my sewing extended beyond straight lines. I would make softies and cute little skirts for Cappers and The Badoo and cushion covers and maybe an apron or two.

I can feel a sewing course coming on...

May 25th, International Missing Children's Day

The disappearance of 6 year old Etan Patz, on his way to school in New York, 1979 was the event that led to this day of raising awareness for missing children around the world - the ones who have found their way home, the ones who have been victims of a crime and the ones who are still missing.

Nine countries around the world (Australia, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Nederlands, Romania, South Africa and United Kingdom - member countries in  the Global Missing Children’s Network) have joined in to pledge support and strengthen the efforts to bring missing children home to their loved ones and actions are supported by the European Union.

Whether the children are running away and end up loosing their way and are not able to get back home, whether they are victims of a crime, including parental/family abduction, action must be taken by all of us to ensure they are returned to safety. All of us - authorities, NGO's and us as individuals.

Please join us in prayer for all the missing children 

- may they find their way home - 

and their loved ones.

Also read:

China's Child-Trafficking Epidemic (Spiegel Online) 

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,696129,00.html

For more informations please visit:

Don't You Forget About Me - YouTube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/dontyouforgetaboutme

International Center for Missing and Exploited Children

http://www.icmec.org/missingkids/servlet/PublicHomeServlet

The Global Missing Children's Network:

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=1184

Really, not particularly busy

I spend my days fending off well-meaning types who tell me I'm busy. Instead of asking 'how are you?' they say 'how are you, busy?'.  In 2010 it's like a mantra. There seems to be a fear that if you're not swamped, stressed and running around madly that somehow you're not doing it right. You're not interesting or worthy.

But, instead of joining the busy brigade, I feel like I'm pretty much under control and would adore the opportunity to answer 'I'm fine, how are you?'. I don't find that my life is a juggle or a struggle or even a muggle at all.

There's an assumption that when you're a 'working mum', you're going to be stressed out and bleeding. But it's actually the SAHM who do it tougher if you ask me.

At work, you get to sit down. At home your left butt cheek hits a chair and it's like you've pressed a 'mmmuuuuuum can you...' button.

At work you can eat your lunch without having to explain exactly what's in it. You don't have to share it. You don't have 3 pairs of eyes steadily watching you eat it. You just eat.

Most importantly, when you're at work, there is no one messing up your house.

The only time I think the WM has it busier than the SAHM is in the mornings. There is a lot to accomplish before 7.45am at our place and we need military-like obedience to The Routine if we're going to make it out the door on time. (Military-like obedience in preschool set? We are frequently late for work.)

It really is three quarters of an hour of insanely, tear-your-hair-out busy in my day and 23 1/4 hours of not so much. I think that's a win!

So, um, I'm fine, how are you?
[Image: Claro Cortes IV / Reuters]

Poet's Notion - Tribute to Michael Jackson

This beautiful and heartfelt tribute to Michael was written and sung by lovely MJ Fam member Carina Lanes. Michael Jackson is one of her biggest role-models.

The song "Poet's Notion" was written right after his passing when she went to Los Angeles to pay her last respects to him in July 2009. "He left us something that we can continue and with this in mind I want keep doing what I do."

Enjoy!


A Poet's Notion

It was june
and the night was quiet
i will always remember
I smelled the rain
when the news
almost made me surrender
I looked up
for the sign of a lie
praying for a wonder
I'm caught alive
in a blaze
craving for a blunder

It's a poet's notion
to fall away too soon
I fall away with you
I'll make it a better place
like you told me to
even if I fall away too

Is it too late?
am I overcome
by a rational fate?
How can turn back time
or buy eternity?
cos you're the one we need

It's a poet's notion
to fall away too soon
We fall away with you
We'll make it a better place
like you told us to
even if we fall away too
even if we fall away too
Credits:
written by Carina Lanes MySpace
arranged and produced by Muca MySpace

Choc Chip Heaven

 

My 'Sydney Food' (Bill Granger) recipe book falls open to page 11. It's the home of the ULTIMATE Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. I'm not sure where you stand on Aussies calling biscuits 'cookies' but these babies ain't no biscuit.  They're lush, chocolatey, melty, chewy cookies. I hope Bill won't mind me sharing his divine recipe (I noticed that there are many, many other postings of it all over the 'net so I don't feel so bad). I've added my very helpful commentary. The bad cookie photography is all my own.

Bill Granger's Chocolate Chip Cookies

125 g. (4 oz.) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar (don't substitute whitey sugar as brown is the key to the divineness, me thinks)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

a pinch of salt
1½ cups of chocolate bits (but, you know, the more the merrier!)


Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Beat and beat and beat because the lighter and creamier, the better the cookie. Stir in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined - this will seem like way too much flour, but just keep folding and folding, it will all come together. Fold through chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a lightly greased then lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Bill says to cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold, but (depending on oven hotness) I say cook for no more than 11 mintues so you get the light crunch on the outside with the doughy, softy yummo on the inside. Experiment to see what you like best.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before putting cookies on a wire rack to cool further. Makes about 16, depending on how big you go! Will keep in an airtight container for a week.

I made a double batch yesterday (that's Cappers devouring the wooden spoon in the photo above). Cook half right now and then roll the rest of the dough into a cylinder shape, wrap it in baking paper then cling film and then put it in the freezer to keep for up to a month. When it's time for cooking, just slice the dough, put on the baking tray and into the oven for 14 minutes instead of 11.

OMG, I need to go and eat a CCC immediately!

The Lost Children - Child-Soldiers

This cannot continue...

 credit for the picture:www.theinspirationroom.com/

"Children need be the victims of war only if there is no will to prevent it. Experiences in dozens of conflicts confirm that extraordinary actions have been taken and can be taken to protect and provide for children." State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 1996.

With total misregard for  “The Convention on fhe Rights of the Child”, Article 29 (1), approximately 250.000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be fighting in conflicts around the world, and hundreds of thousands more are members of armed forces who could be sent into combat at any time. (Source for dates: www.amnestyusa.org)

Any war and any armed conflict always accompanies massive crimes against humanity, against civilians and especially against children. The less defense a person has the more this person has to suffer demages. In wars, hate rules and children have to suffer agonies – physically and  psychologically.

We can hardly imagine the impact of armed conflicts on children who are fighting as child soldiers. There is no source giving datas how many child soldiers lost their lifes , but we all know for sure that any child soldier looses his childhood and his soul was sold for war.

We all are supporting the problem as long as we do nothing to stop it. 

So let´s do something...

let´s

•  get facts
•  stay informed
•  spread the word
•  sign petitions
•  shop for the cause
•  donate
•  join the movement                                                                                                                            ....and never forget to care about the "lost children". Thank you for reading.

Choose what you want to know. You´ll find a lot of informations here:

• http://www.lost-children.de/en/home.htm

• http://www.un.org/rights/concerns.htm

• http://www.child-soldier.org/

• http://www.amnestyusa.org/children/child-soldiers/page.do?id=1051047

Wet Autumn lives

I used to loooove wet autumn days. You'd get cosy by the fire, a good book resting in your lap as you doze to the rattle of rain on the roof. Outside everything looks sparkly and misty and nice.

Now, things are just wet. And muddy. And there you are, stuck in the house with three cabin-crazed children while the rain bleats loudly down on the roof such that the kids have to scream even more than usual and now they have an excuse.

I noticed last year that once the magnolia hit late autumn, it looked bare and forelorn. No light green leaves, no beautiful blooms.

I thought I'd make it some.

 

The tree seems happier. And, of course, it likes the rain.

__________________________________________________
I rewound this post at the Fibro on 12.2.2011

Things I learned this week including getting lost

1. If you urgently need to see your doctor you need to book the appointment approximately 3 weeks in advance.

2. A binding contract can be defeated in court if the way you acted whilst signing the contract was contrary to what was outlined in the contract.

3. You shouldn't eat food, even if it's healthy, while crossing the road if you want to be safe (this from Cappers who was visited by Healthy Harold at daycare).

4. Even if you haven't seen a person for decades, if they die you will still feel the loss in your day to day life. (Vale Val.)

5. Sticking it out with the TV show Lost for the past six years - even though you've hated it with a passion for at least 2 of those 6 years- will not pay off in the end.

6. Albert Einstein died of a brain aneurysm, which seems kind of fitting.

7. Peas do not taste good because they look like alien eyes (thank you Maxi-Taxi).

8. Returning your child to pull-ups at night if they've wet the bed for an entire month is a very good idea.

9. It's too late in the year to plant Hyacinth bulbs that haven't been in the fridge (I planted them anyway).

10. Copyscape is a website that helps you find copies of work from your website across the web. So if you're a writer and someone is plagiarising your stuff, you can find out about it.

[Image: oreganlive.com]

When hormones make life decisions

I work for a large corporate in a reasonably full-on role. When I was pregnant with my third child I went through a frenzied, hormone-charged turn-around that went something like this...


I'm having another baby. My other babies are still babies. I'll have three babies. How can I possibly have three babies and work in the city in a 'big job'? They'll make me put the job first and then the three babies will suffer. My kids will be those kids with really cool stuff because their parents are trying to make up for the fact that they hardly know them. I used to envy those kids when I was a kid, but now I know that it's wrong wrong wrong. And what happens in the school holidays - ALL those school holidays - when the babies grow into bigger babies? Where will they go? For godsake, who will love them for 12 weeks of holiday time?

So, I decided to become a school teacher.

Yes. Throw away 15 years of successfully working in advertising - marketing and become a high-school English - Drama teacher (at least I would still have the hyphen...) earning approximately one third of the salary. But it seemed the only solution to the 3 kids / 3 o'clock pick ups / 12 weeks of school holidays dilemma that I faced.

I enrolled and did my first two semesters, managing uni, a 4 day a week job, the pregnancy and 2 under 3.  I handed in my 3 essays and 1 report 2 days before giving birth and did my half-yearly exams 8 days post-CS.

And then I woke up.

I never went back to uni and to this day I have NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING.

Frankly, in hindsight, I'm surprised they let us operate heavy machinery whilst pregnant. But understand that when I was pregnant it seemed like the most logical, sane thing in the world. I temporarily forgot that millions of women before me and millions of women after me manage the balance of work and family and that I can be one of those women too.

While pregnant, I forgot that I'm the sort of mum who will always, always put her children first and things would be much the same with three as they were with two. A little bit of give and take, but all of the time my kids are my number one priority and work understands that. I might not spend the amount of time with my children that other mothers do, but I'm comfortable that their lives are balanced, safe,  interesting and, most of all, uber-loving. They are happy little people.

I learnt very early on to park my work-ego at the door each day and just get on with the job so I can get home to my real life.  And that's a decision I would make even while pregnant.

[Image: Frank Maiorana]

Randy Jacksons wants fans to be able to pay respect on the anniversary

Randy Jackson is working on an arrangement to allow people into the private mausoleum in California’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park to mark the anniversary of his brother´s Michael death next month.

 Photo credits to:www.lisaburks.typepad.com

He tweeted: “I’m meeting with Forest Lawn and the City of Glendale. Although they have strict rules, I'll do my best 2 see if fans can visit & pay their respects beyond the gates of ForestLawn, on the 25th. I will inform you all soon.”

The Michael Jackson Fanclub of Southern California not only visits Forest Lawn  the THIRD of every month  at 1:30 pm but also kindly offers all fans from all corners of the world to deliver their cards and gifts. 

For more info, visit MJFSC´s Facebook page HERE

Please send cards/gifts to:

MJ MAIL
PO Box 575
Atwood, CA 92811-0575

Thank you so much for this loving and caring act. Very much appreciated. 

 Addition on May,27th

 

Moooooooooooly good hair

I have hair that's favourably classed as 'dry' but really should be called 'unruly'. It's thick and kinky-curled and frizzcityrama. After having the children, things became even more dry, kinky and frizzy and I pretty much resigned myself to having crazy hair for life. I used to think that the best I could hope for was that if I worked it with a good (read: pricey) shampoo, conditioned it twice and slapped in loads of product it could look... passable.

But that all changed when I found the cow.

A friend put me onto Moo Goo products to help me combat the psoriasis that I have on the sole of one foot and in my hairline. So I started using the products because, frankly, when you suffer from psoriasis, you'll try pretty much anything (ever smelt Coal Tar?).

 [Image: Moo Goo]

Instant success. The psoriasis has improved immensely and so has the hair. In fact, the hair is so improved that I swear I will never use any other product ever again. Best of all, Moo Goo products are so natural and chemical-free that I started using the products in the children's baths and hair and they look so shiny and glossy that it brings a tear to the eye.

If you have dry hair or damaged hair, or even if you have normal hair, check them out!

Loving these boots

So, of course they're the only style sold out on the site, but I'm loving these boots at Nellie & Me.

Nellie & Me is a sweet little brand all-round. I just love their site design and the shoes are fantastic quality.  This is the cute* little pair that I already own:

Now I realise leopard print isn't for everyone, but I find these to be the most versatile shoes in my wardrobe. These are go "anywear" shoes and the quality for the price is outstanding. Go the leopard!!

* really there is nothing even remotely 'cute' about my giantess size 10 1/2s!

Monster madness

The Ammmmazing Mmmmmonster party was a huge success.

We played 'chase the monster tail'...

We ate monster food...

 

We made monster masks...

We wrapped ourselves up like mummies and awarded medals to the best mummy-wrapping team...

And we went on a monster treasure hunt to find the monster softies...

It was a fantastic day.