Cate – Page 35 – everydaysparks

No sour grapes here

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Cate

You may know that we are about four weeks into the 7 Eleven Slurpee promotion – 13 Flavours in 13 Weeks. Some of my nieces and I have taken it upon ourselves to try as many of the 13 flavours as we can get our hands on, after school on Mondays. This week though, I went to visit a friend and so the Slurpee Run has been postponed ’til Wednesday afternoon. Today, the official Slurpee site revealed the flavour for this week and almost everyone in our family is excited. It is the one we had been hoping for – Sour Cherry.

It’s amazing how life throws you little signs – this is a sign to me that the week ahead is going to be a good one. I’ll be away for the next three Mondays as I am heading over to the States for Thanksgiving, so we were wondering if Sour Cherry would make an appearance before I left, or if the girls would have to save one in the freezer for my return. And here it is, like a ‘bon voyage’ message from the Slurpee gods. Who must know that I’m heading to east coast USA, where they’re predicting even more storms to roll in this week.

Anyways, my dear old Dad and I went to their local Slurpee outlet to try it this evening. Our verdict: top notes of cherry, with a hint of sour-ness and a undertone of cola, all in the form of a cup of icy goodness that is just the thing on a hot Sydney day. To be fair, it was never going to live up to the hype that we had created around it, but as the kids say: whatevs. Our Slurpee Gang is all about trying new flavours and drinking out of brightly coloured straws, getting brain freezes and laughing like nutters as the sugar rush hits. Ah, this is the life!

Like herding cats…

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Cate

This morning at work was one of those mornings, when you know it would have been better for everyone if you’d just stayed at home in bed. After a particularly annoying email, as I tipped my head back and released a silent scream, I was reminded of a You Tube clip that someone had sent me years ago. The term was used a lot when working in professional services HR, but could apply to pretty much any workplace/looking after kids/organising an event/managing home renovations: “This is sooooo hard, it’s like herding cats”. I’ve always felt it was a powerful image to sum up that point of utter frustration and despair, when people just would not agree or fall in to line. Here’s the video that still makes me laugh every time I see it – I think it was released as one of those magical SuperBowl ads, back in 2009. Enjoy!

Sparks in the wild, Sydney sparks

Trick or Treating

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Cate

So, yesterday was Halloween – the one night of the year when it’s perfectly acceptable to turn up at your neighbour’s door and demand lollies. I was lucky to be invited by some of my nieces to join them as they toured their neighbourhood and collected a bizarre assortment of candies in big buckets shaped like pumpkins. Good times.

The main unofficial rule of the evening are that you can only stop by houses that have decorations outside, showing that they’re on board with the whole idea. Although even the decorated houses participate in different ways – some welcome you to their door and personally hand out treats (with a few even making their own lolly bags), while others leave a basket outside the door or gate with a sign that optimistically suggests that you take ONE ONLY, and then there was the man who didn’t even open his security gate as he struggled to pass the kids their chocolates through the bars of the fence.

We had a good time and got a great haul of jelly body parts, eyeballs, jelly pizzas, sherbets and even some sugar-free lollies from one of the houses. A lot of people in the neighbourhood made a huge effort to make their homes spooky and really got into the spirit of the day. It was lovely to see so many kids of all ages (even the dreaded teenagers spraying their silly string) dressed up and walking around the ‘hood. Wandering around in the late afternoon sun, it was a really nice community feeling as people admired outfits and decorations while sugar-filled kids squealed and laughed – I think Halloween is a great excuse to make that happen. ‘Til next year!

HallowEyes — OK, so these were actually our decorations – spooky eyes peering out from behind the gate. With horrible, sticky, fake spiders’ webs all across the gate, of course.

HallowGround — Scary stuff. This house also had grave stones and body parts scattered around the otherwise beautiful garden.

HallowSign — A friendly Halloween house.

HallowSkeleton — One of our skeletons, just chillaxin’ in the bushes.

HallowWitch — Our witch – she has a frightening cackle when touched. But still not as scary as the skull hung on our verandah, which drops down from the ceiling when you clap – its horrible wail freaked out many unsuspecting people who followed our directions to clap loudly if they loved Halloween & wanted to meet our skeleton. And then they screamed. (Then they laughed, I promise – it was very funny to hear them as we sat inside eating our lollies.)

HallowPumpkin — An amazing witchy pumpkin, hand drawn and carved by the girl across the street – looked even more incredible as it got darker…

HallowPotions — And one of the highlights – my niece (7) had prepared notes for 60 Halloween potions (‘posions’). I was impressed by the range of ingredients – from monkey fur to cocoa to screws to garlic to wool to bananas. Happy Halloween!

Home sparks, Sparky gifts

EverydaySparks Gift Idea #374 – Hey, Pillow Face

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Cate

Now this is a gift I really like. At the risk of spoiling this year’s Christmas present surprises, I can think of so many faces for so many cushions for so many of my family and friends – I reckon it would be a real hit. And they deliver all around the world, so it’s a far cheaper way of sending the kids to stay with Granny in Iceland. I first saw PillowMob featured on a Fab.com sale. Their tag line is “All your face are belong to us”, which sounds like the kind of slightly dodgy translation more commonly found on a Hello Kitty pencil case. Although these ‘pillow faces’ are made in Seattle, Washington.

You can choose from the range of cushions featuring animals, food items or random strangers – or you can upload your own photo and the clever folk at PillowMob will turn the face (or whatever) into a cushion. Like so…

Copyright issues permitting, I’m thinking of furnishing my apartment with a Liam Neeson, a Don Draper, a cupcake, a bowl of gelato and maybe a Sharpei puppy, because they’re funny. The possibilities are endless – and imagine the fright you could give someone by sending them a giant cushion of your face in the post…I’m off to write my list – if you’re on that list and you read this blog, please act surprised when you receive your pillow face! You can check out the Pillow Mob website here.

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Something to think about…

Posted on October 30, 2012October 30, 2012 by Cate

I’m aware that today’s post will definitely not be everyone’s cup of tea, but that might kinda even be the point. Most of us are so busy, busy, busy that we don’t really stop and think about things. I mean big picture things, not what type of lettuce to buy or what time bus to catch or what colour top to wear. Stumble Upon recently steered me towards an amazing site called Thought Questions. It’s based on a very cool idea (or, at least, an idea that really appeals to me): “A question that makes you think is worth asking…So we ask one new thought-provoking question every day”. I like it a lot. And if you feel like sharing, you can enter your answer to the daily question or tell your story.

But back to the actual questions – the creators of the site suggest that “the questions posted here should be reviewed regularly when you have some quiet time to think. After all, reflection is the key to progression.” Amen to that. They remind visitors that there are no right or wrong answers to the questions asked. Anyways, enough jibber jabbering, here are some examples for you…

They use cool images with their thought-provoking questions. Looking through the archives was an interesting experience – I rolled my eyes at some, wanted to wallpaper my apartment with others, and considered sending a few on to different people I know. If you’re interested, you can like Thought Questions on Facebook or sign up for the daily question to be emailed to you. The website is here if you’d like to check it out.