A bit about Easter

Good afternoon, how has everyone been? I have had a good weekend doing this and that, we had plans to go to the Reptile Park with Jessica and Leo but as Jessica was sick we cancelled and we will do it in a few weeks time.

So next weekend is Easter, did you know that Easter is considered to be the most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church. It is the time when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ and held in the Western Church between the 21^st March and 25^th of April the date is based on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox. This I found out via Google.

Now I am sure most people when they think of Easter think of the Easter Bunny and chocolate, but have you ever wondered what the hell is with the Easter Bunny, like what does a rabbit have to do with Easter. You may think this is some kind of modern invention but you would be wrong, most popular Easter traditions have their roots way back in history, like the Easter Bunny.

In fact the Easter Bunny can be traced back to ancient Anglo-Saxon times, way back when the hare was an important symbol of fertility so it played an important role in the pagan festival of Eostre, whatever that was.

Legend claims that this mystical goddess found a wounded bird and turned it into a hare so it could survive the winter. When this very same hare found it could lay eggs it made a gift of its eggs to the goddess who had protected him. And so the tradition of the Easter hare, or bunny was born.

Eggs have been an important fertility symbol for millennia,and they have always been associated with the rebirth of spring. And as eggs are associated with new life early Christians used them as

a visual symbol of the resurrection of Jesus. When people first starting giving eggs as offerings and gifts at Easter time they used birds eggs. They were painted bright colours to echo the vibrancy of the colours of spring after the darkness of winter.

In the UK and Europe early Easter eggs took the form of duck, hen or goose eggs. These were later replaced by artificial eggs until eventually, as chocolate became a more widely available foodstuff, the first chocolate eggs began to appear, in the early 1800s. The vogue for exchanging chocolate eggs at Easter quickly spread right across the globe so that by the end of the century chocolate eggs became the ubiquitous Easter offering.

Have you heard of egg rolling the tradition of egg rolling on Easter Monday dates back to Anglo-Saxon Germany. Although historians are unsure of the exact significance of egg rolling, it's believed that for the early pagans the activity was seen as a way of bringing new life to the land at springtime. For early Christians, meanwhile, egg rolling could have been a representation of the stone being rolled away from Jesus' tomb.

The tradition of eating hot cross buns on Good Friday has its roots even further back than early Christianity. Buns marked with a cross were eaten by the Saxons during their spring celebrations - it's believed that the bun represented the moon and the cross the moon's quarters. Christians continued the tradition but to them the cross symbolises the Jesus' crucifixion.

Although chocolate eggs tend to the gift of choice at Easter time today, coloured, decorated eggs have also been an important symbol and gift shared at Easter time. The tradition of colouring and decorating eggs dates back to the Middle Ages when eggs would be painted bright colours to welcome in the new spring. The tradition continued and was adapted by different countries; in Germany, for example, it remains a tradition to paint eggs green and eat them on Maundy Thursday while in Greece and the Balkans eggs are dyed red to symbolise the blood of Christ.

But the most elaborate take on the tradition came from Russia, where in the late 1800s/early 1900s Russian aristocracy commissioned the French jeweller Faberge to create an egg like no other, fashioned from enamel and encrusted with the most dazzling jewels. These incredible Easter gifts are worth millions of pounds today!

The special fruit cake eaten at Easter, known as Simnel cake, is steeped in traditional symbolism. Traditionally the cake has a layer of marzipan on top and is decorated with marzipan balls - these symbolise the disciples, though Judas is left out and only 11 balls are added to the cake.

Five Things Friday.................parking

Damn it is Friday again, as you may have noticed I didn't do a post yesterday, why you wonder, ok you properly didn't wonder but I will tell you anyway. I was run off my feet yesterday, I had Summer all day and had to take Leo and Jess to the dentist, Leo had an appointment to check his teeth and his mum couldn't take him on her own so I had to do it. It was just one thing after another all day and it was last night when I was in bed that I remembered I didn't do a post. So you all missed out on Motivation Thursday, but now it is Five things Friday, so here we go.

Complimented on my parking skills, not once but twice today

I can't drive into a parking spot very well

I can, however, reverse the car into any spot

Both Blain & Leo here for a couple of hours, hope they don't fight

Felling so tired I could go to sleep now, it's only 4.21pm........what the hell 

Wordless Wednesday

A bit about the time

Hi all it is now Monday afternoon, I had a productive morning, I was sorting through some mail and went into Tim's office to file something away and the state of the room annoyed me so much that I ended up spending a good hour cleaning the room up, which lead me to cleaning the area next to the stove in the kitchen.

Tim use to complain about the state of my computer desk but he has a whole room and it is usually a right mess far more so then my computer desk.

I was thinking yesterday about AM and PM when I was asked by one of my girls way back when what AM and PM stood for I said AM was after midnight and PM was past midday, well yesterday I thought what does AM and PM really stand for.

So I did what all people with internet do when they have such thoughts I Goggled it and it turns out that AM stands for “ante meridiem”, which means “before noon” in Latin, while PM stands for “post meridiem”, which means “after noon” in Latin.

So now I have learnt something new, did you know what AM and PM stood for, my common sense told me it wouldn't have stood for after midnight and past midday but I still think it is an easy way to explain AM and PM to young ones and those who may not be able to get their head around the Latin meaning.

No I know we all should know that there is a 12 hour clock and a 24 hour clock, the use of a 12 hour clock goes back to ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians who recorded and kept time by using sundials during the day and water clocks at night.

Egyptians are thought to be responsible for dividing the day in to 24 equal parts, because they counted their joints in their fingers instead of counting using their fingers as is now commonplace.

So is it 12PM or is it noon?

When you think about it technically speaking 12PM does not make sense, since it is not after noon, the same can be said for 12AM as that is not before noon. So it is recommended that one refer to these hours as midnight and noon. Although most digital clocks tend to show 12AM and 12PM to specify midnight and midday.

Hey Hey It's Sunday

Hey hey it's Saturday  Sunday so you are getting a run down of my Saturday on this lovely wet overcast Sunday. So were to start, let me think should I start at the start of the day and work forward or maybe I should start at the end of the day and work backwards hmmmmmmmmmm

Ok decision made I will start with the start of my Saturday, which had me waking with a headache, so I get up get dressed because I am straight out of bed and dressed for the day person, not a fan of sitting around half the day in my nightie. So I get dressed take my morning medication and sit to do the blog rounds and then write a post, some days I read blogs first other days like today I write my post first.

Anyway as I was saying I was doing the blog rounds and my headache was getting worse, so I decided I needed to have something to eat so I walk into the kitchen open cupboards and the fridge and can't decide what I want to I return to the computer, this I do about 3 times before I decided to drive to Macca's and get some breakfast.

Oh I might add that Tim took our car to work so I had to drive Natasha's car and my plans of going to the library to return stuff went out the window, or more to the point off to work with Tim as the stuff to go back to the library was in my car. So I drive to Macca's I order and waiting to advance through the drive thru and the guy in the car in front of me gets out if his car and walks back to tell me that he noticed that there was a large stream of water coming from my car, so then I decided I wouldn't go out in it again and came home, sent Tim a text telling him what the guy said when I looked back to were I had driven I could in fact see the water.

Let's move forward a couple of hours around midday my headache was really bad I decided to take strong pain relief and go for a nap but before I could lay down Natasha, Jessica and their boys turned up the boys run in give me a hug and then Natasha and Jessica start kind of yelling at each other about how Natasha left Jessica sitting in a car with 2 boys who took to fighting to get over being bored for an hour.

I ended up just going to bed and leaving them going at it in the lounge room, now while I was laying down I remember Natasha coming in saying she was taking her car, I also remember telling her about the water coming from the car. So I think I hear her leave in her car but when I got up from my nap her car was still here, so I thought I must had heard wrong.

The the next thing I know Jessica and Leo are back here she has decided to let Leo spend the night here, we talk for a while and she leaves. Oh I might add my headache is still hanging around and getting worse again.

When Tim gets home he says to me Tasha broke down, I said no when, he said this afternoon at the top of Bayview about half a k from my place anyway I say not that I know of, well it turned out she had taken her car and a hose had come off and she broke down at the top of Bayview. She rang Jessica to help her and she brought the car back here and now that is something else for Tim to look at.

By this time it is after 6pm and my headache is really getting bad and I was starting to feel unwell so I tell him that after Leo has his night time medication I was going to bed, he said ok but I could tell he wasn't really ok with it. So by the time I went to bed at 7pm I was feeling so sick in the tummy and thought I was going to throw up at any time, after only maybe 15 minutes in bed I had to go to the bathroom coughing and retching. Leo was concerned and brought in the little orange bin from the bath room just in case I threw up and couldn't make it the toilet, I asked him what happened to the rubbish in it and said I emptied it in the big bin and you need it just in case, he then said but try not to throw up in it as they you would have to clean up yuck vomit...............

I thank him and try to sleep but the smell of Tim cooking was really making me feel so much worse that I had to shut the bedroom door around 7.50pm I ended up throwing up (yes in the toilet) of course after I threw up I felt better and went straight to sleep.

This morning I am much better, no headache, and I will be having the girls and grandchildren here for lunch, I am doing silverside with mash and veggies.

Right now I am heading out with Tim and Leo to do some shopping I want a new electric knife as I lent mine to Kelli last Christmas and she still has it but Tim said she can keep it and we will buy a new one.

Ok home again and just in time to post this while it is still in the AM, Kathy and the girls are here and Kathy is sounding frustrated because Sydney-May says she is hungry but she will not eat anything, Kathy is fed up with making meals and tossing most of it out because Sydney-May will not eat. 

Five things Friday

Here is this weeks five things for Friday

Big but beautiful

Take me as I am

Not going to change

I am my mother

I have my father's temper

Motivation Thursday

How many of us try to do this each and every day of our lives?

Many of us may say we want to live our lives like this, but the truth of the matter is that for many of us we will fail.

So many people go through life not worrying about how others feel, we don't think we should be reaching out to others and trying to bring a smile to their faces.

How often do you smile at people while out and about during the day?

I try to smile at people, I try to bring joy and happiness into the lives of those I interact with each and every day. 

Wordless Wednesday.................Australia

Saint Patrick's Day

Ok it is Saint Patrick's Day and you know how much I know about Saint Patrick well you could write all I know on the top of a pin with space left over, yeah that is how much I know.

So I did what people do when they know nothing about something, I Google Saint Patrick and this is what I found out. The 17^th of March is the day of his death, ok I knew that already and he is the foremost saint of Ireland, I also knew that.

Now for something I didn't know, Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early 17^th century and is observed by Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox and Lutheran churches ok have no idea what Eastern Orthodox and Lutheran churches are just saying. Also never heard of the Church of Ireland which is suppose to be Anglican.

The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland as well as celebrating the heritage and culture of the Irish. It is a holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as well as in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated by the Irish and others all over the world but mostly in Great Britain, Canada, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and the U S A.

The colour green has been associated with Ireland since around 1640 when something called the green harp flag was used by the Irish Catholic Confederation whatever that was. Green ribbons and shamrocks have been worn on Saint Patrick's Day since around 1680.

During the 20^th century something called the St Patrick’s Day Cross became popular this is a Celtic Christian cross made of paper that was covered with silk or ribbon of different colours, it has a bunch of green silk in the centre.

What I do know is that St Patrick's Day is a day when people wear green, drink green beer and get drunk, honestly for most people I bet they can't tell you who St Patrick was or what he did they just see it as a day to wear green drink green drinks and get drunk.

I didn't know when he lived until I Google St Patrick but for those who are interested he lived during the 5^th century born around 386 AD and was a Roman.

Leo & Blain

I love my grandchildren each one of the the same amount, but there are times when I feel that Leo loves me more then my other grandchildren do, this morning I took him to school and yet again he wrapped his arms around my waist and wouldn't let go. All he would say was he wanted nanna and that he hadn't seen me in so long, I saw him yesterday, he was here with Blain for lunch but he felt like it had been sooooooo long since he last saw me.

I told him that if this is how he is going to carry on I will not be driving him to school as it isn't fair on him or me, me because I find it distressing when he has to be pried off me and him because he can become upset and that means his school day doesn't get off to a good start.

His teacher told me when he is like that it takes an hour to and hour and a half for him to settle and be ok for the rest of the day, that means he is losing that time from his learning. I think I might have to get Natasha to drive him to school and I will pick him up from school as he doesn't carry on when she takes him to school but then again she can be so very strict with him.

I remember when Blain use to love to be with nanna and was all over nanna and preferred nanna over anyone else, but now that he has grown up so much he is 9 now he isn't like that and I know it is to be expected but still at times it hurts.

A rainy Sunday

Well it is now Sunday at my house again, this Sunday we had a mince stew for tea, I asked the girls what they would like for lunch and Kathy & Jessica said a chunky beef casserole but I felt like a mince stew. My mince has veggies, tin potatoes and about 2 cups of frozen veggies with bacon and 2 minute noodles it is nice and thick and I like it I add cream of chicken soup mix as well as beef stock.

After lunch it started to rain so I went out to get the clothes off the line before they got too wet and threw them into the dryer to finish off. It was a nice heavy down pour with hail about 1cm in size, it didn't last too long and all the girls and Blain & Leo had to go out the back to watch the rain and hail.

Kathy and Summer just left and I just told Jess and Tasha that I don't want them to stay all afternoon, Jessica also asked if next week I will do the casserole she wants but I may tell them I will not be having lunch next weekend but we will see I am not sure about next Sunday I will decide next Friday if I am going to have lunch or not.

Both boys had ice cream after lunch and even though she didn't ask for any I gave Summer ice cream as well all had cones and and I can tell you Summer made a right mess out of herself but I think she liked it and I only gave her a tiny bit of ice cream. Kathy when she notice says “mother you gave her ice cream”. I just had both boys ask me for another lot of ice cream and I was good I told them they had to ask their mothers first which they did and now they both have bowls of ice cream.

Tim has Natasha trying to help him figure out how to draw on photos on his phone, this is not something I know anything about so I am glad that he can ask the girls, Natasha just gave up and tossed the phone to Jessica to have a look at it, they are in fact tossing his phone back and forth trying to figure it out for him.

Have to say it has become a lot cooler then it was when I got up this morning I am thinking I might have to go and find a pair of long pants to wear as my legs are getting cold. Tim wants us to go down to Coles also which I will suggest we do soon as I really just want to spend the rest of the day doing nothing much at all.

Hey Hey it's Saturday..................Kelli-Jayne

Hey hey it's Saturday, I am sure everyone noticed I didn't do 5 things Friday yesterday, why well because by the time I got home at the end of the day I was exhausted and my brain just wanted to rest like my body so you all go nothing.

However, it is a new day and I am up dressed and ready for the day although I did sleep in till 9.30am don't do that very often but what the hell it's Saturday and I don't have to go out so why not be able to sleep in.

So what am I going to write about today, well it is my niece Kelli's birthday today she is 21 today what the hell why did I not remember that yesterday when I got her present, for some reason yesterday I was thinking she would be 20 today but not she will be 21.

This I know because she was born on Monday the 14^th March 1994 at John Hunter Hospital in Lambton, in the great state of New South Wales at 14.43pm by Caesarean Section she was 6lb 15 oz's or 3160 grams in weight and was 48 cms long or 18 inches. Her name is in fact Kelli-Jayne jut saying 

Kelli is a Pisces this means she is compassionate, devoted, accepting and imaginative but she can also be indecisive, over-sensitive with moments of feeling lazy and when really sad can be drawn to self-pitying according to a web search I did on Pisces. The site I went to was this one: http://zodiac-signs-astrology.com/zodiac-signs/pisces.htm

Moving away from the technical stuff to me Kelli is a loving and wonderful, caring person and mother, she is the mother of Daemon and step-mother figure of Blain and she loves her boys as she calls them like any mother would.

I formed a bond with Kelli when her and Daemon lived her for 9 months, although it was difficult to get her to come her she wasn't sure she would like it here and I had to talk her into coming but after a while this became home and she felt relaxed and comfortable here, well I think she did.

Kelli is one of those women who was born to be a mother, just saying. She is the youngest daughter of my sister Sue and her first husband Rex. I refer to Kelli as my sweetheart all my girls have a name I call them starting with Sandy who is my baby girl, Kathy who is my precious first born, Natasha who is my darling daughter and Jessica who is my special girl.

I hope Kelli has a wonderful 21^st birthday..................Aunty Mum loves you Sweetheart..........

Motivation Thursday.............Being a woman

For so many people the above will ring true, but why..........

I feel that in many cases a woman is her own worst enemy, I know I am.

I have had many times when I have thought I have failed my child or children in some way, but they don't think so. So why do I?

This is a question I cannot answer, I don't know the answer.

I know I do my best for my family and I always try to be there when they need me and step up when asked to help but there are times when I have to say no I can't help I have other plans and usually when I do this I will get but can't you change your plans, I really need you mum do you have to do such and such can't it wait and me being me will often give in and change my plans but if I can't I get “fine don't help me then” this upsets me and makes me feel like I am failing.

I know that I am no but I can't seem to change how I feel and I will become depressed and sad and sometimes I will even cry because I feel so bad. Even when the daughter in question tells me she didn't mean it and she understands I am busy it doesn't help I still feel terrible.

Also who do we say a woman has to think like a man, what the hell is wrong with the way a woman thinks............nothing if you ask me

Many women feel it is wrong to age and have grey hair and some lines or even wrinkles on their body it is not it is natural.

As for working like a horse well yeah all women do that if we are married and have a job we usually end up still being the one doing 90% of the housework because men don't and even often if we have a man who is willing to do some of it we will complain they have not done it “right” as in our way as if our way is always the right way. We hate it when a man acts like his way has to be the “right” way but in fact many women when it comes to household chores feel that their way is the “right” way. 

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesdays Crap

What a day I have had, started out with Leo wrapping his arms around me at the school and not wanting me to leave him this morning, his teacher pride him off me and I quickly left, at least he wasn't crying out for me as I left this morning.

Ok that wasn't the start of the day, the start was when I got up and went to the kitchen to take my injection and when I opened the fridge the light didn't come on so I go and check the circuit breaker and it had been tripped and I flicked it back up and what happened if flicked off straight away. So I rang the Dept. oh Housing maintenance line and said we had no power in the kitchen. While I was at the school someone came to check it out, thankfully Tim was home he is one afternoons this week. When I asked Tim what was wrong he said the guy said it was the kettle or microwave that tripped it and I said not possible as they were not even plugged in so that wasn't the cause. Oh well we still have power in the kitchen so all good.

Then when I get home Tim says he wants to go and do some shopping to stock up oh stuff, so we did that spent around $190, Tim likes to do this a couple of times a year and I am ok with it as well.

Being Tuesday night we have Blain here for the night, so it is just me and Blain as Tim is at work but Blain is a good boy and no problem while he is here. Although he does have a habit of staying up super late, as I go to bed early and he will just sit up watching telly and I will not be surprised if he is still awake when Tim gets home at around 11pm tonight. He knows he is suppose to go to be at around 8.30-9pm but since no one is up to tell him to go to bed he just stays up till he is tired.

He also has a lot of ice cream when he is here, but he also eats his dinner without complaint so I don't worry about how much ice cream he has.

As I type this Dr Oz is on and you know what he talks a lot of rubbish, like Dr Phil some of what he says makes sense and sounds like good advice but some of what he says if crap.

I know that being overweight is not good for a person but if a person is happy with who they are and they are for the most part healthy stop going on about a persons weight. Just saying it annoys the crap out of me, maybe because I am a short fat woman.

Very Inspiring Blogger..............who................me.............get out of here

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I have been nominated by Susie who can be found here: https://susieshy45.wordpress.com/

Here are the rules to follow if you decide to accept the award, my friends:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you, in my case Susie from https://susieshy45.wordpress.com. Thank you, heaps.

2. List the rules and display the award.

3.Share seven facts about yourself. Well, here they are

4.Display the award on your blog
5. Share 7 facts about yourself

Ok I am not nominating anyone but if you follow me and want the award here it is feel free to consider yourself nominated.

Now to share 7 facts about myself:

I prefer butter over margarine

I have sleep apnoea

I am short and fat

I am happy with who I am

Tim things I have too many photos on my walls, I don't

I was pregnant with Natasha when I got my drivers licence

I have crocked middle fingers on both hands

Sunday at my place

Hello world, it is Sunday afternoon at Jo-Anne's place, today I had Natasha and Jessica with Blain and Leo here for lunch, Blain was a surprise as he is usually at his fathers place on the weekends but last night he stayed at Jessica's so she brought him to lunch and Natasha was pleased to see her son. Lunch wasn't much just did chicken tenders not home made Ingham's chicken tenders with bacon and potato bake.

Now I wish they would leave as Jessica is being annoying, calling out mum every few minutes for no reason just to be annoying. After lunch the boys had ice cream cones, 2 cones in fact and I ad apple crumble with custard.

I have also done 2 loads of washing and changed the sheets on the bed and of course vacuum the house, I want to write a few letters this afternoon after I have read some blogs I will not be reading a lot of blogs as I have other things I want to do this afternoon.

In other news yesterday I bought Leo another pair of school shoes, in fact this will be the third pair of shoes he will have had this year and school has only been back 2 months yes 2 months and he gone through 2 pairs of shoes, the latest pair I bought are a better quality so I am hoping they last longer then a few weeks.

Oh yeah on Friday night Jessica and Leo called in to eat Macca's before it went cold and have to tell you I was so tired that at around 7.30pm I went to bed and left Tim, Jessica and Leo up well Leo didn't want to leave so Tim gave in and let him stay the night, this would have been ok if Leo had settled down and went to bed at a reasonable time but of course he didn't and he was up half the night. I do mean half the night at 12.30am I gave him a second dose of his medication, which Jessica told me I shouldn't had done but he was so active that I had to do something.

Anyway as I was saying he was up half the night and got into the junk food and made a right mess of the house. Also before I went to bed I had to clean up the mess he made by stabbing Tim's cast of wine with a pair of scissors the was wine all over the floor a full 4 litre cast was spilled all over the floor this is the second time he as done that to a cast of wine and have to say both Tim and I were mad.

Tim of course went to bed and went to sleep so it was me who had to get up to Leo during the night all Tim did was say turn the light out over and over again, oh at one point he said if you don't settle down Leo I am going to ring Aunty Tasha and then of course he fell back to sleep and so it was me who was mostly awake trying to make sure Leo didn't try to go outside the house.

I will be glad when the girls and the boys leave and the house is quiet again.................

Five Things Friday................Seasons

Here we are at Friday and so that means Five things Friday, so without further ado here are this weeks five things.

Goodbye Summer

Hello Autumn

Welcome light weight long pants

Shorts not going away just yet

Short sleeve shirts still around

Motivation Thursday..............good in things

When a situation arrives do you see the good in it or the bad, are you one who sees the glass half full or half empty?

I think if we can go throughout our lives seeing the good in things we will be happier, yes I know it isn't always easy and there are some things that really there is no good in but over all if we try to see the good in things we will be happier.

Seeing the negative, encases us in cloud of negativity and that makes us sad, and when we are sad we can't see the positive so it is a vicious circle and too many people find them selves trapped in said circle.

I feel there are times when we have to take a deep breathe and centre ourselves and look for the good. It may not be easy but it will be worth it, in the long run.  

Wordless Wednesday..............with a lot of words, just not mine

Saw this on Facebook thought I would share..................

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Have you heard of Holocaust Remembrance Day?

Until recently I had not, I saw it mentioned on someone’s blog and decided to research it and find out more like when it is and when it was started and why have I not heard of this before now. I wish I could tell you why I have not heard of it before but I can't I don't have a answer to that question.

The Holocaust is marked in Israel on the 27th day of the Jewish month of Nisan. This date was reached after much deliberation.

The Holocaust spanned years, from before the start of World War II in 1939 and through to its end in 1945. As Jews and other victims of Nazi brutality were harassed, tortured and murdered on every single day of the year, it was impossible to single out a single date as the "most appropriate" Holocaust Remembrance Day. Also, due to the unprecedented nature of the horror – industrialised genocide – the question arose of how to mark the Holocaust on the chosen day.

The systematic destruction of Jewish life in Europe became widely known before the war's end, but it was only when the war ended and the death camps were liberated by Allied troops in 1945 that the true dimensions of the calamity became apparent.

In 1947, the Chief Rabbinate of Mandatory Palestine set up a committee to think of possible dates for an annual memorial. This committee thought the date should be related to the annihilation of Warsaw’s Jewish community, which before the war was 500,000 persons strong and the second-largest Jewish community in the world (after New York).

Many dates were put forward and dismissed and in fact different countries have different days for the remembrance. Usually between January and April, I think here in Australia the date is the 27^th January but I am not sure I have done a lot of looking and have not found the exact date.

The first Holocaust Remembrance Day took place on December 28th, 1949, a year-and-a-half after Israel's independence. The ashes and bones of thousands of Jews were brought over from the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp near Munich. They were placed in a crypt, together with decorated Torah scrolls, in a Jerusalem cemetery. A rabbi appointed by the Rabbinate presided over the religious ceremony. The public was invited to an overnight vigil at the crypt and in the morning a prayer service and Talmudic study session were held in honour of the victims.

The following year, in December 1950, some 70 ceremonies were held around the country. The events were organised by the Rabbinate, organisations of former European Jewish communities and the Israeli Defence Forces. They mostly took the form of funerals, in which artefacts and the ashes and bones of the dead brought over from Europe were interred. The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, did not have a special ceremony.

But in March 1951, the Knesset decided to take an active role, and set about choosing a new date for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Three were proposed: again 10 Tevet; Passover; and September 1, the date the war broke out on.

In 1959, the Knesset passed a law officially establishing Holocaust Memorial Day in law and sanctioning official ceremonies throughout the country as well as a two-minute moment of silence, indicated by sirens.

On the Holocaust Remembrance Day of that 1961, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller announced that from then on April 19 would be Warsaw Ghetto Remembrance Day in the State of New York.

In 1971, Israeli television began broadcasting special programming for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Today, most channels don’t broadcast on Holocaust Remembrance Day and those few that stay on air, show only Holocaust-related programming.

On November 1, 1978 President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order making April 28 and 29 official “Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust.” The date was chosen as the date in which U.S. troops liberated the Dachau Concentration Camp in 1945. The first of these days of remembrance was held in 1979 in a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda, led by Carter.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Council was established in 1980. Since then the eight Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust are set from the Sunday before the Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The first national memorial held under this new council took place in the White House on April 30, 1981, with President Ronald Reagan making his first public appearance following a recent assassination attempt.

In 1981, the Knesset amended the law to push Holocaust Remembrance Day back or forward a day if it fell on the weekend.

Since 1988, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, people from around the world have participated in "The March of the Living" from Auschwitz to Birkenau, in Poland.

Since 1996, Germany has observed January 27 as Tag des Gedenkens an die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (“Day of Remembrance of the Victims of National Socialism.”) January 27 was chosen as it is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Red Army in 1945. The day is marked by a ceremony at the German parliament and cultural events around the country.

Sweden observes its Holocaust memorial day - Förintelsens minnesdag - on January 27th too. The Swedes first began holding an annual memorial for the victims of the Holocaust in 1999.

In 2001, January 27 became Holocaust Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom. Greece followed suit in 2004.

Hello Monday................I Feel Sad

Hello Monday, looks like I am going to have another week without a car, Tim said he will talk to the mechanic today and see when he can take the car back into be looked at, he doesn't want me to drive it and this is so frustrating.

Not having a car means I feel like I am letting my girls down as I am unable to drive Leo to or from school but this isn't anything I can change it is just the way it is right now, but still I have been made to feel like I am letting them down, I am sure they do not mean to make me feel like this but I do and it is easy to say not to feel like this but not so easy to do. Changing the way one feels isn't something that is easy to do.

Our feelings come from some place inside us and really we don't really have a lot of control over our feelings, well I don't think we do. It is easy to say don't feel bad but often we do feel bad if it was easy to change the way we feel then we would, wouldn't we.

Do you feel that you can control your feelings?

Do your feelings seem to take over your body at times?

I know when I am feeling sad or like I have let someone down my body reacts and I end up with headaches and feeling tired which is how I am feeling today, tired very tired and sad inside because I am unable to do what I would like to do for my family.

I know that my online friends are going to tell me not to feel bad and that I am unable to change anything it is not my fault the car is not running and that can run around after my girls and grandsons but as I have already said for me it is not that easy. 

Sunday at my place

Well it is now Sunday afternoon and I am feeling much better today, I woke up at around 2.30am and felt fine which is good because I cooked a baked lunch and what is better is that our air conditioner is in the kitchen because today we have temps in the high 30's. All the girls came to lunch with Leo and Summer, Sydney-May and Blain are at their fathers.

Tim and the next door neighbour Kevin have been working on Tasha's car for the last few afternoons and all day today, in fact Kevin has been a big help to Tim and no one asked him to help he offered. After we get the car repaired Natasha is going to try and sell it privately and she has he on/off boyfriends car in her back yard and she told him to either come and get the car or she is getting rid of it he said she could get rid of it so she is going to try and sell it for a few hundred dollars and then she is going to see about buying herself another car. She said she would like something smaller and cheaper to run.

Speaking of cars our car is still not running right, in fact Tim drove it to work yesterday and came home and told me he doesn't think I should be driving it till he gets it repaired so I am expecting him to drive it to work tomorrow and have someone look at it. It still sounds like it is missing and will just stall at any tick of the clock.

So I will have to rely on Natasha to take Leo to and from school again next week this is really bloody annoying but it can't be helped we need to get the car fixed and Tim is worried if we drive the car we may do more damage to it and he doesn't want that to happen.

Oh yeah this Wednesday coming I won't be going to see my nan as the nursing home is in lock down and mum has an appointment at the hospital for physio on her neck. Ok that is all from me for this lovely Sunday afternoon I will now post and retire to my arm chair to watch some telly for the rest of the afternoon.