Eight things...

When I read Kate's 'eight answers' I thought I would join in and play along.
I like to learn more about the people whose blogs I read and I haven't done anything like this in ages, so thought it might be fun.

So here goes nothing...

Favourite meal?

That's a hard one - I can't think of any one dish that I would choose as my 'death row' meal.

I love Thai and Indian food, the flavours and smells created by the spices contained in these styles of cooking make me very happy.

Truth be told, I have to say that at the moment any meal that I don't cook and that I am able to eat hot and uninterrupted would be my favourite!

Do you have a quirky eccentricity?

Yep, lots of 'em!

I can't choose the seats in the cinema - whoever I am there with has to choose, it renders me immobile even having to consider making a selection.

I have a weird thing where I try to make up mathematical equations in my head from the three numbers on a numberplate when I am stuck behind another car in traffic.

I know, it's seriously odd.

I feel great joy when I find a typographical error in a newspaper or a book, it makes me feel as though I am justified in making them if major papers and books read and re-read many times have them. (So if you find any in this post, that's my excuse!).

I don't like cooked fruit in savoury dishes. No Apricot chicken, hawaiian pizza or sweet and sour with sultana's in it for me (YUK!!).

I'll stop now or you might never come back!

My middle name is

Elizabeth, very hard to learn to spell when you are small.

More interesting than my middle name is the fact that my initials spell the suburb where my husband grew up and went to school and where we first lived when we were married.

I sometimes wonder how much this had to do with him marrying me...

I am passionate about

Parenting and community.

I want to be the best parent I can. I know I do a lot of things wrong, and will continue to do so, but I do strive to do things better each day and to not repeatedly make the same mistakes.

I get annoyed by people who wait many years, or try for many years to have a family and then can't wait to shove them into childcare for vast amounts of time or ship them off to kinder/school as quickly as possible.

(sorry if that offends - it's just my opinion!).

I think every kid deserves to have people around them who love, support and care for them - and it makes me so sad to think of the number out there who don't have a loving and caring home environment.

When it comes to community, I think it's the country girl in me that makes me want to know my neighbours, to help them where I can, to get to know them as is appropriate.

I think everyone should be involved in their local community in some way, be it through volunteering to help with meals on wheels, being on school/kinder committees or joining a service organisation.

There's lots we can all do and if everyone did a little it would mean that others don't have to do a lot.

I know time is a valuable resource but I think dedicating some of it to others is invaluable.

(No that's not the twins in there, rather this pic was taken a few days before my petite 4.706kg third daughter arrived!)

Thongs or Birkenstocks?
Birkenstocks definitely.

I have two pair for summer, red ones and black ones and then I have a fabulous pair of Birky Dorians, and would quite like to add this ladybird pair to the collection too!

They were the best thing ever for my "7mths-pregnant-with-twins-in-a-4o-degree-plus-summer" super-swollen feet!

And I have loved them ever since.

Who was I before I had kids?

Someone with lots more disposable time and income!

I was a features editor, an aerobics instructor, a training coach, a much better basketball player, someone who was always up for a movie, the theatre or dinner at the drop of a hat, a convertible driver, someone who read avidly, possibly a more reliable friend and a very involved aunt.

Toward the end of my time as a person with no kids I was also a very envious non-parent of those who were parents.

I'm more than happy to have less of the above things for what I have in return.

Have I ever been arrested?

I feel very dull when I say no, not even an overnight stay in the lock-up for me!

This weekend I will...

Be visiting my in-laws on the south-west coast of Victoria where we will be walking along the beach and through the bush lots, I will be being treated to a morning of great indulgence here a gift from my 'significant' birthday in February, I will be playing lots of games and reading lots of stories and probably braiding hair a lot too.

I will get time to read and to work on my Granny Shrug and hopefully trace and cut a few patterns.

It should be great.

Now you know more about me than when you started, maybe more than you wanted to know!

Feel free to join in and add your name to the list on Kate's blog (it's at the bottom of the eight answers post), so we can all get to know you better.