Peggy Guggenheim on a good day. 

If you want to come over for dinner next week...you can't. We're wiping the slate clean and trying to knock off a few things from our 'to do' list. Actually, it's a real list on an A4 piece of paper with boxes next to each item to tick once completed. I love that. It's titled "Guggenheim List" after Peggy Guggenheim. She was a wacky and kooky ol' girl who collected art and spent her husband's money left-right-&-centre. Michael calls me Peggy sometimes...I'm not sure why.

When there are tasks to be completed I get a little bit too focussed on that tick-in-the-box and people just get in the way of what I'm doing. My attention at the moment is on a video I'm editing following a camp we went on earlier in the year. I thought editing was going to be my new hobby but after completing the project once and then realising it was all erased by a bad "save as" judgement, I started it all again last night. I am so driven to get it completed in a short amount of time it seemed like a waste of time to complete the software tutorials that taught you the 'shortcuts'.

In between it all I listened to My Restuarant Rules and Amazing Race. Not happy about the winners. Thursday night TV is always such a comfort to me.

Pressure

I just wanted to write a post today so that it appears I'm a regular blogger. Sydney life is not agreeing with my play times. We hardly see our house in daylight as we're in the car by 6:45am (that's if Mel & Kochie don't lure me on the couch longer) and home by 6:45pm. And we don't even work long hours!! It's just traffic. Last night we went to our regular connect group and we're having friends over tonight. They'll turn up at home about the time we'll turn up so it means that dinner gets prepared after dinner the night before. What a cwazy world! I'm not my own best friend either because in my head it was absolutely essential we had chocolate & hazelnut meringue torte for dessert. Yumbo.

I drove home behind the school bus of the poshest school in Sydney this arvo. It made me smile that military uniforms like this doesn't prevent anyone from making a smiley face in chewing gum and pasting it to the back window of the bus. Nice, boys. 

John Paul and Paul or Peter

As an aspect of my role at National Church Life Survey is I scan every Christian publication produced in Australia for references to our data. Well, it feels like EVERY publication...sometimes it hard work flicking over pages of activities to do with church life that I don't correlate with 'life' at all.

Anyway, it has been interesting reading the Catholic papers at this time. As a thru-and-thru Baptist girl, I haven't known what to do with the Pope really. I'm assuming a lot of non-Catholics are in my situation. I've been reading his writing for discrepencies between our beliefs and I was surprised to find very few. I was struggling to find any reference to Mary in favour of Christ. His message was strongly exhorting people to commit to Christlikeness.

I love the two pictures below. I think they can tell you alot about his man. There's still a thought bouncing 'round my head though - if the apostle Paul or 'The Rock' Peter was to turn up, how would we explain the modern church to them? Would they be as a 3 year old with the quizzical responses of "why?" to every statement or would they understand? Whether it be the multi-media, wowser, smoke-and-lights of Hillsong or the multi-lingual, cloaks and jewellery, bells-and-smells of the Vatican...or anything in between. I think if we showed them these pics they'd be assured we haven't strayed as far as first thought.

If you were a Baptist you would call this photo "Quiet Time". I don't know what Pope John Paul II would've called it in Latin. 

The Pope with jailed [would be] assassin Mehmet Ali Agca in 1983. 

Nothing to read here people

I just wrote a mildly good post and it bleeped away into the cyber. If anyone finds it can they return it to me?

I've got to do some work now, although being a PA to 7 people who don't work in the same office is a challenge. To do that without email is very frustrating. I've called IT 5 times. I don't think they understand my pain.

I'm glad you do.

Thanks.

Another great weekend ticked off. On Friday night our friends Bruce and Jo came over for a tandoori bbqoori....whatever that means!? Bruce and I have a special connection. His 3 year old son tells us all the time "no more rust!" because we do like to collect it.

Saturday morning was a some French toast, coffee and paper before hitting the shops. I made a big step towards crossing "Sand and varnish jarrah desk" off my To Do list. By Sunday night we was a happy Rachel.

Saturday night saw us sneak into a David Meece concert. We had tickets but I was a little hesitant to be seen with an Christian 80's 'has been' - some would call him that. I saw him in concert in 1986 and it was the highlight of my 16th year. I won't elaborate on the evening other to say it wasn't really 'fresh' and I get offended by people who preach for 30 minutes in a shouting voice and with an index finger shaking in your face. It wasn't that he said anything dodgy but if he'd just sat at the piano and talked to us, I would've listened.