<![CDATA[Umbrella Support - JUST WRITE]]>Tue, 28 Oct 2025 01:36:46 +1100Weebly<![CDATA[I'm excited!]]>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/im-excited
Something that I have been excited about lately is going to podcasting every Wednesday after bowling. I love my voice, reading and listening back to it.
I have another exciting thing happening soon and that is the Disney Cruise. I will be on the cruise when you get to read my blog. I am excited for the drinks and the shows on stage. It is a girl gang girls only trip with my mum, aunty and cousins. I am looking forward to the spa and lots of beautiful dinners together. I get butterflies in my tummy when I am excited and I am very excited for this cruise.
Every week I get excited for my routine and it is Halloween soon. We will do "Handmade" on Mondays Halloween style. I am excited for this. I was very excited for Dinner with Friends on Tuesday because wore my evil queen purple and black dress with the witches hat. I showed everyone my evil queen cackle.
Thank you for reading my blog once again, Claire. 


Dear readers, this weeks topic is something that you are looking forward too. Let me start by telling you about how I am looking forward to Halloween because I get to dress up and get to put on makeup and I get to go trick-or-treating. I love watching Halloween movies. Scream, every instalment every year. I watch these every Halloween season. I feel happy and excited when Halloween comes around because I love Halloween. 
Written by Charlotte. 



We all know by now that I love Halloween and horror movies. Last year my friend and I went to Luna Park for Halloween which was amazing.
It’s was fully decked out with Halloween decorations, the staff members were dressed up, I went dressed up as a broken doll, and my friend went as the bent neck lady from the series The Haunting of Hill House.  We stayed in an apartment in the city, then caught the tram to Luna park. You should have seen the looks we got. 


This year for Halloween myself and the same friend are going to the Aquarium, for a candlelight horror soundtrack performance which will includes some songs like 
  • Run Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street
  • Main Theme (Extended) from Nightmare on Elm Street
  • Cry Little Sister from The Lost Boys
  • Main Title from The Shining
I’m so excited for this because it’s something I love and it’s something new that I haven’t done before.
Haley.


I went to see Imminence at the Forum Theatre, they are a metal band.
I went with mum and her mate Craig, they were awesome.
The light show was the coolest I  have ever seen, my favourite song is Beyond the Pale.
The concert was very busy to go in the mosh pit, there were thousands of people.
I bought an awesome t-shirt that has the logo and the coolest, darkest shirt.
The first band was Inertia, they are an Aussie metal band and they look so cool.
One of the guys plays the violin and it was the coolest concert I have ever seen.
And that dude has got long hair and he was head banging. 
Korey 


Dear readers, how are you? 
Today’s topic is something that I am looking forward to.
I have chosen to write my blog about something happening in a few weeks.  I will be having braces attached to my top teeth and bottom teeth.
The procedure to have all of this done is quite a lot of work. I have to have an expander attached to the top of my mouth (which is called a palate expander) which will slowly expand my mouth. It will stay in my mouth for six months. The bottom of my gums will have a procedure to move my mouth a little forward.
Before all of this I had to have moulds done of my gums which involves them making a paste and carefully inserting the mixture into my mouth to form a casing for the braces.
I will be having this done at the Royal Dental Hospital in Melbourne.
This sounds like a lot of work but I will be looking forward to seeing the outcome and will have the most beautiful teeth and the a gorgeous smile to show all my friends and family.
Bethany


What am I looking forward to? I am looking forward to the Down Syndrome Market on Sunday and l am selling my everyday people merchandise such as hats, t-shirts, hoodies for people and even dogs and cups. My friend is selling her tie dye clothing especially for babies. My other friend likes to do art so he's selling some art pieces.
I am really happy that I am doing it.
And I am a little bit nervous
I hope I get lots of buyers at my store.
From Ben2



I love a beautiful hot day in America and some of my friends love to go to Disney California Adventure Park. I was excited for the scooter, zooming around the hotel. It was so much fun. I look around for somewhere to buy fun and cool stuff. I am looking forward to the Five Nights at Freddie’s 2 movie, might be with my friend, or even Black Phone 2 movie together. It will be a good movie, because I love every scary movie. 
TJ


So freaking excited…
Most people are aware that I’m a bit of a Disney fan and that my absolute favourite Disney movie is The Lion King. I absolutely LOVE The Lion King and that still doesn’t do justice to how much I love The Lion King. It’s an obsession and I am proud of it. If you didn’t know this about me then congratulations you’ve just learned something new about me. You learn something new everyday.
My childhood was mostly watching The Lion King with a side of other shows and movies. I would get excited about many Lion King themed things and was very excited to learn about the existence of the Lion King Musical. Though I didn’t think I would ever be able to see it because it rarely comes to Australia.
In 2005 my grandparents went to The Lion King musical in Melbourne and gave me the program from the musical and it became a dream of mine to go and see it. It has been a permanent bucket list item and is always at the top. I have spent years hearing people say how amazing it is but now I get to be one of those people.
I AM GOING TO SEE THE LION KING MUSICAL!!! As you can probably tell I’m very excited about this and so grateful to those who have helped make it happen because as I said it’s been a dream of mine to be able to go and see this beautifully put together musical of my absolute favourite movie.
My heart is full and I hope that you all have a wonderful day!
Your friend,
Shan.

Hello and welcome to another weekly blog. Today we are talking about something we are looking forward to. I’m looking forward to my Ashes trip and seeing the different venues I haven’t been to yet. I love all sports and the A-League starts this weekend which I’m really looking forward to. 
Thanks for reading my blog. 
Ben1

Today I am looking forward to see Southern Sons at Crown in the city as it’s one night only. It’s with Jack Jones, Peter “Reggie”Bowman, Angus Burchall and Brett Garsed. Jack, Angus and Brett were in the band with John Farnham in the 1990’s. So if it wasn’t for John Farnham in the 1990’s there wouldn’t be a Southern Sons like we know today. 
I am excited because I have met the band before. When I get excited it lights up my face and I feel overwhelmed but in a good way. Krystle has seen that for herself. Another thing that makes me feel excited and a good overwhelm is feeling everyone’s positivity in the room. That’s what I love about live gigs. 
Keep on rocking out, Ash. 
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<![CDATA[Randon acts of kindness]]>Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/randon-acts-of-kindness
According to - Mental Health Foundation - Random acts of kindness are small, simple, and unexpected gestures that can have a big impact on others. Any act you do without a motive that stimulates a sense of happiness and joy in others counts as a random act of kindness. Examples include shouting someone a coffee, making them breakfast, or mowing their lawn

Doing something nice for someone and not needing it back, is an act of kindness.
I have done lots of kindness for my mum and she does for me too. I make cups of tea for my mum and that makes her very happy.
My dad gets lots of cuddles from me, which is kind. 
My nephews are kind and do lovely things for my mum and dad and their mum and dad too.
Krystle does kind things for me that makes me smile. Bernie is a lovely girl too who is kind to everyone. She is happy and she has a smile on her face which is kindness. Delia brings donuts on Thursday's which is kind of her.
I think it is important to be kind and important to be friendly, as it helps people feel happy.
I will miss Krystle, Steph, Cindy and Bernie and Delia too when I go for my Disney Cruise. soon.
My favourite kindness is hugs and back massage because the ladies work hard and are good to me.
My voice and podcast on Wednesdays are very fun and I enjoy doing it a lot.
Thank you all my readers. Until next time, Claire.
 
 
My friend came back from Japan and she gave me a t-shirt without me asking, it was a random act of kindness by my friend I was happy and she shouldn't have done that but I was grateful she did. She always gives me things when she goes away on holidays.
Recently, I did an act of kindness for someone special at Umbrella Support, I gave her dog a hoodie.
It was a hoodie I designed from my company called Everyday People, she loved it and showed everyone a photo of her dog Mavis in her hoodie.
I felt so good about it.
Ben 2

I like when people, who I don’t know,  smile at me. It makes me feel happy.
One day, I would like to write letters to my friends saying the things I like about them, and I hope that makes them smile.
I like when people watch my videos on YouTube and give me kind comments about my videos. 
I love making my videos, I love when people love it too.
I like making new friends, I will compliment them so they feel good about themselves. 
I like to help people when they need it like carrying the bag or opening the door.
To help the environment, I will pick up rubbish and throw it in the bin.
I buy a movie ticket with my mum and we went together. I like walking the dog, it is a good exercise being outside.
Thank you Korey.
 
A few months ago, my friend volunteered for a small business called “letters of hope”. 
How that works, is people send letters of hope asking them to write positive letters to people who are either having a bad time or just need a little bit of a pick-me-up.
One day I received a letter. I was unaware of what it was at first. I opened it and it was filled to the brim with positivity. 
It contained a little magnet that says “you are stronger than you think”, a little brochure of breathing tips and positive affirmations. 
Lastly, it had a handmade card that was made by someone, which was beautiful.  
So I’ll just write a little bit that was written in my card from my friend. 
“I’m thinking that we don’t share our pain and our vulnerability more? Sometimes we forget we are all just humans, we are all trying to do our best”
Another bit from the card:-
“What’s one small thing you can do right now to take care of you and move towards change?”
 
I also received another one from “letters of hope” but I left it at home. 
My friend also drew me pictures of all cute animals and little kind notes. For example, she would draw a cat with the lyrics of the cat song of healing, which goes:-
“Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow” another note I have kept she wrote me a poem which goes 
“You are enough,
You are good enough 
You are smart enough
You are strong enough 
You are beautiful enough 
You are kind enough
You are brave enough 
You are enough and always will be”.
I’ve kept all of her drawings she has drawn for me, because they means a lot to me, even though most people would just think it just a drawing on paper, to me it means the world. Knowing she has thought about me. 
I just hope she knows that I value her and her kindness and I cherish her.  
She also sends me reels of the cutest things, which lets me know she’s thinking of me.
Everyone needs a friend like my friend, because she will brighten up everyone’s lives just by being herself.
Please don’t ever change my friend. 
Your friend Haley 
 
Random acts of kindness… brain dump.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever wasted.” – Aesop
Have you ever received or done a random act of kindness? I have had the privilege to have both, which I am incredibly grateful for, you don’t understand how grateful I am for the random acts of kindness that I have received. I’m also very blessed to be able to also pass on my own random acts of kindness to others, to strangers and to people I know.
Kindness wether intentional or not can change someone’s whole world. You don’t know what others are going through and sometimes even a simple smile can change a persons outlook on life. This is why I started leaving quotes and uplifting writings around random places, to spread kindness and to bring some joy and hope to people’s lives.
Kindness is such a beautiful, magical and powerful thing to share with the world and it can be in some instances the difference between life and death. I write letters for people who may need some hope and kindness and while I don’t know who they will be going to I am their biggest cheerleader, or a fairy godmother of kindness. I truly believe in that they can do amazing and wonderful things in life!
I support and encourage others to spread and participate in random acts of kindness, even if you just start with being kind to yourself and then branch out to others humans or otherwise. Everyone deserves to feel loved, appreciated, valued, safe and included. This includes you our dear readers, you are just as important as anyone else on this earth.
With every kindness,
Shan

Hey readers, how are you? Today's topic is acts of kindness. 
I have three very special, kind people in my life that I would do anything for. 
The reason I have picked these three people in my life is because they are my support workers who help me with my daily requirements. 
I appreciate them so much and want to thank them in return.
My first choice is Krystle who is an amazing cook and teaches many yummy recipes on a Tuesday and has all the patience in the world. I always feel comfortable and very safe when I'm with her. I would take Krystle to see Teddy Swims and also I would take her to see Taylor Swift.
My second choice is Cindy who is a beautiful person and very funny and is always happy to be with. My act of kindness to Cindy would be to take her to bowling and then out to dinner in the city to the Flowerdrum restaurant.
The 3rd person would be Bernie who always says kind and happy words to me, she always gives me the confidence to do whatever I want to achieve. I would love to take Bernie to Luna Park and spend the whole day there and eat lots of fairy floss. We would go on lots of rides and go to the magical castle at Luna Park.
I have so many kind and beautiful friends that show me their love that I want to in return give them my love and kindness.
Thank you for reading my blog readers. This is Bethany with a big heart of kindness signing off until next week.
(let us know what would be your act of kindness in the comments below). 
 
Cooking makes me happy, brownies and cookie. You all make me happy, but I make you all happy too. So it’s Halloween time now, party time for Halloween. I make people happy and have a good day. Happy from America so beautiful out there. I’m so happy for everything but two girls crazy at bowling and music make me calm and happy. I can’t wait for Radiovoice with Cindy and Daz. I’m happy to see my friends on the weekend to make them happy. Everyday I been happy and fun but sometime too tired. 
TJ

Once I did random acts of kindness.  My parents and I were in Aldi, we saw an elderly couple that were going to pay their groceries and their card kept on declining.  So my mother and I decided to pay for their groceries. They were in tears because we did something so special to them and they came back with a bunch of flowers to say thank you so much for doing that for them. 
 
One day, I didn’t have enough money in my bank account to fill up my car so my neighbour down the road told me to put $40 worth of petrol in and he ended up paying for me. As a thank you back to him I dropped a carton of beer off to say thank you so much. I was in tears because it was so beautiful what he did for me but I told him not to do it but he totally ignored me, but it was worth it. It’s so nice to see people helping each other out. Kindness can go a long way. It doesn’t matter if you’re struggling with finance or your mental health, you’ll find there’s always someone there to help you out. It doesn’t matter if it’s big or small but your kindness goes a very long way. 
Ash

Dear Readers this week’s topic is random act of kindness. Let me start by telling you about a time I did an act of kindness.
It started with my friend who was feeling down last week and needed cheering up, I thought if I could make him laugh and smile. 
I started by telling terrible jokes. At first he did not laugh, but he did smile. I would not give up on him laughing and I tried many jokes, funny comments and even smiling at him.
Finally after what seemed like a whole day I got him to laugh and smile and it was the best feeling. I will always continue to make my friends laugh.
Readers, have you done a random act of kindness or has someone done something special for you?
Written by Charlotte
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<![CDATA[Why music is IMPORTANT to me]]>Wed, 08 Oct 2025 13:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/why-music-is-important-to-me

My favourite music is easy for me to write about. And I think everyone will already know that it is Disney music. I love Disney music and Disney movies.

I have three favourite songs. My first most favourite is from Tangled, about Princess Rapunzel. It's called "I see the light". It makes me feel happy when I hear it and I know all the words. I listen to Disney Princess music a lot.

Another one I love is from the movie Aladdin. It's the song when Princess Jasmine and Aladdin are on a magic carpet ride over the markets of Aggraba and Princess Jasmines castle. It's called "A whole new world" and Aladdin sings it to Princess Jasmine, it's when they start to fall in love.

I have another favourite that is “I just can't wait to be king” from the Lion King. The song is about Simba singing about how he can't wait to grow up and be king one day. The Lion King is one of my favourites movies to watch.

These are my three favourites songs but I love all Disney music and could listen all day long. My favourite thing to do in the car is to put on a Disney playlist and sing along.

This is Claire signing off, see you next week.
 
 
 
My favourite band is Slipknot and the song I like the most is Sulfur.
Slipknot is an American alternative metal band, founded in 1995 by percussionist Shawn Craban, bassist Paul Gray and vocalist Anders Colsefni.
There are 9 members in the band.
Members of Slipknot had played together in various metal bands since 1991.
Some of the members wear masks because it's a part of their identity, allowing them to “physically manifest the intense and dark themes of their music, transform their personas on stage, and express an animalistic freedom” (Slipknot website).
The name Slipknot was chosen during a band meeting after being proposed by Jordison, marking a turning point for them. 
They have made many songs together like Psychosocial, Duality, Before I Forget and Wait and Bleed.
I hope they come to Australia and I can go to their concert and dance all day.
Korey
 
When I was in my teenager years, I was a huge punk rock fan. The bands I use to listen to were My chemical romance, Linkin Park, The Used and Paramore. Most of their songs were on repeat on my iPod. 

My favourite song from my Chemical Romance is “I’m not okay”
At the start there’s a little speaking part which all of my friends would say.  It goes like this:- 
“You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, fangoria, Harry Houdini and croquet you can’t swim, you can’t dance and you don’t know Karate, face it you’re never gonna make it 
I don’t wanna make it, I just wanna”
From the used, they were a little bit more grungey. 
My favourite song from My Chemical Romance is “Paralysed” and my favourite line in that song is how could a fist fight be romantic. Not sure why, but it stands out to me. 
The next band I loved is Linkin Park,  their older stuff was good, but their newer songs called “One more light” and “Heavy”, are my favourites. They both have great lyrics
“Who cares if one more light goes out, in the sky of a million stars, it’s flickers, flickers who cares when someone’s time runs out, well I do”.

Now that I’m writing I have remembered, 
“All time low” is another band I love and still listen to. My favourite song of theirs is “Remembering Sunday”, the whole song is just a sad vibe, sorry not sorry. 
Another song I like is called “I will follow you into the dark” by Death cab for cutie. 
The favourite lyric for me is “if heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied, illuminate the No on their vacancy signs”. 
 
Anyway that was my teenager years in music. But now I listen to anything really, I do like Noah Cyrus, yes Noah not Miley. My favourite song of hers is “Lonely” and my favourite line is “and everyone’s dying, so I keep on trying”. 

At the moment my favourite songs are
Temporary by Eminem and Skylar Grey.
Somebody Save Me by Eminem and Jelly Roll
God needs the devil by  Jonah Kagen
The sound of silence by Disturbed
Twisted by Eminem, Skylar grey and Yelawolf 

My favourite remake songs are called 
“Last Resort” by Falling in reverse 
Take me home, country roads by Lana Ray Del.
But the one song that stays on my playlist every time is the Reason by Hoobstank. 
Thank you for rocking out with me, I hope you’ve picked up some new songs from these blogs. - Haley.


My favourite song is “Clint Eastwood” from Gorillaz
It’s nice to hear and smooth voice and I always listen to it in my life. Sometimes I like rock song or music but they’re cool voice and you all know what make me calm just music.  Bluetooth for my hearing aid and make me go back to sleep oh dear mama Mia. Anyway, I love music but I hear music in toilet oh lord why am I in toilet and listen to music. - TJ
 
 

My favourite music is Pop and I like Michael Jackson, Kylie Minogue and
Spice Girls. I have a CD of theirs and played it often.
I used to play the Village People and I loved the song YMCA. My favourite song by Michael Jackson is ABC and from Kylie is Spinning Around.

I have enjoyed writing this blog and listening to the group singing the songs.
What's your favourite song and why? - Ben 2 
 
 
What is Shan’s favourite song....

Just for fun before I get into my current favourite song, I'm going to tell you what my favourite song was when I was 5 or 6 years old, this was the Pre Delta era, around 1999 and it may shock some people. Drum roll please... it was All the Small Things by Blink 182, I would sing my little heart out to that song, I’m not kidding I put all my energy into singing that song and loudly too! I also enjoyed singing it into my Dad’s C.V. Radio, while 4 Wheel Driving to the other cars on that channel, usually it would be my dad’s friends and I'm sure they enjoyed the free concert not that they had a choice in the matter. I can’t remember why I loved the song I just know it was my jam.

I have many songs that I enjoy from many different genres of music, I’ve always tried to appreciate music from everywhere and I like listening to music in different languages too. However, when it comes down to it there is one song that I love with my whole heart and soul and have done since its release in 2003. The song is called Innocent Eyes and it’s by the lovely Delta Goodrem, I’m fairly certain I know this song off by heart it’s been over played and over sung in my house or really if I'm honest everywhere.

Innocent Eyes has been with me through all life's ups and downs, if there was a life event innocent eyes was and still is there with me and for me, it has been great to always have a musical support because I didn’t always know how to voice my concerns and emotions. Even when I was made fun of for liking and listening to Delta, I still listened to her endlessly because Delta’s music and especially Innocent Eyes gave me something to sooth my anxious and overactive mind. I also was made fun of for everything I liked so really it made no difference anyway. I was and still am fiercely loyal to Delta Goodrem no matter what.

I feel that this song has deep connections to my childhood. In my middle primary school days, I could come home and play my innocent eyes CD as loud as my mum would permit, I could put all my emotions into singing and making up dances to innocent eyes. I feel like Delta Goodrem has unknowingly gotten me through a lot in life and I’m forever grateful to Delta and her music. I will even one day get a Delta tattoo, I just need to settle on which lyrics to get.
To quote Delta; with love and light,
Shan.

Today we are talking about music and my band of choice is Southern Sons, what a surprise. 
“Heart in Danger” is my favourite because it’s an uplifting song and it has a very young Jack Jones with his long hair. 
The song was released on 23rd of July 1990 and did you know that Jack Jones was only 19 years old. Further, did you know that Jack was in the film clip “That’s Freedom” with John Farnham. 
Jacks real name is Irwin Thomas. 
Did you know that before Southern Sons started Jack was in the band with John Farnham and everybody thinks that Jack and John sounds very similar. Did you know that before Southern Sons started Jack Jones was in the band called “Get off the cat” then “Survival”. 
This is Ash rocking out see you next week.


 
Dear readers, this week’s  topic is what is your favourite song or type of music.
Let me start by telling you about my favourite artist, his name is Eminem. My favourite songs are “Lose Yourself” “Till I collapse, “Sing for the moment” and “Cleaning out my closet”.
I started listening to his music in my early teens and haven’t looked back. I like his music because I sometimes can relate and find it easy to listen to. I love that I can listen to  Eminem no matter what mood I'm in. Eminem has a movie called 8 MILE which I love and now he also has a documentary called Stan but I haven't watched it yet. 
Written by Charlotte
 

Hello and welcome to a very musical blog. Today we are talking about our favourite music. I love RNB. I love going to RNB Fridays (Fridayz live as it’s now known). I love Usher, Sean Paul. Shaggy, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown just to name a few. I feel like I can be transported to my own world when listening to music and not worry about anything. I also used to love the Spice Girls as a kid. I love going to concerts where I can listen to the music and lose myself in the lyrics. I wish nightclubs etc were more accessible so I can enjoy the music more freely.  How do you like to relax? 

Keep being awesome,
Ben 1 
 
 
Dear readers, how are you? Today's topic is what is your favourite song, artist or kind of music and I have chosen Delta Goodrem. In 2001 debut with "I don't care" but it was not successful. Her first hit song was "Born to Try" and it came from her debut album Innocent Eyes. She has recorded many albums and singles and my favourite songs are Paralyzed, Back to your heart, Lost without you, Wings and last but not least, Enough. I like singing and dancing to her music and she has an amazing voice and for those who don't know I went to one of her concerts and she used to be a judge / coach on The Voice. 


I am also a big Swiftie. I love all of her songs but my favourite songs are Love story”, “Cruel Summer, “Shake it off”, “Lover”,  “I knew you were trouble” and “Blank Space”. I hope one day I will be able to go to one of her concerts. 
Thank you for reading my blog readers, this is Swifty Beth signing off until our next adventure.  Stay tuned for our next blog.  



Do you have a favourite song? Well, if you read my blog, you’ll find out what my favourite songs and music are.
I like “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake. People can dance to this song, and you can play it at a kids’ birthday party, adults’ birthday party, or even at a disco. I don’t enjoy performing like dancing or singing, but this song brings me joy. Did you know it also played on Smooth 91.5 radio? This song was used in the Trolls movie and was released in 2016.


I also like “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber, which was also released in 2016. I love this song because it is calm and has a beautiful message. It’s rarely played on the radio, but I like listening to it every year on my birthday on YouTube. It makes me smile, especially on my special day.


I remember requesting this song when I did one-on-one support with Cindy. We went to a disco, but I didn’t dance. Cindy asked me, “What is your favourite song?” I typed “Love Yourself” on her phone, and the DJ played it.


Another favourite of mine is “Roar” by Katy Perry. I love this song because it’s about being brave and staying strong even when things get hard. You can play this song when you’ve had a difficult day, or even at a party. It was also used in Just Dance, although I just watched it and didn’t copy the dance. I like playing this song on my birthday too because it’s a happy song.


I usually listen to the radio during exercise. I like Fox FM, where they play current songs and R&B from the 2000s.


I also love listening to Smooth 91.5. You might be surprised that a young girl listens to middle-aged songs, but I enjoy this station because they play music all day with the slogan “More music and less talk.” Many of the songs feel familiar because my dad listened to this station in his car too. It’s a good radio station to listen to when you’re stuck in traffic, instead of getting grumpy.


Smooth Radio is suitable for people born in the 60s, 70s, and 80s because they can listen to songs from their childhood but anyone can enjoy it. A fun fact: Michael Bublé used to be on Smooth Radio advertisements in 2012.


Do you like these songs and radio stations too? Tell me in the comments. If you do, we share the same taste in music!


Thank you for reading. This is Jacinda, a girl with mixed music taste, signing off. 

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<![CDATA[Choose your own adventure...]]>Wed, 01 Oct 2025 14:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/choose-your-own-adventure8190215
Choose your own adventure – September 2025
 
Hello and welcome to our September edition of CHOOSE OUR OWN ADVENTURE! Today our bloggers have come from all over the world and we mean it! TJ was in America eating burgers and waffle fires and joined us for the morning brief via FaceTime... We LOVE this so much that we can connect so far away. TJ wanted to write his blog from California so it's only fair that we start with his blog this week...

Well it’s hot out here in America but really fun and I’ve had good time. I have had so much fun. I went on a scary adventure at California Adventure Park but some of those clown people were not that scary, they were funny and I laughed a lot.  I miss you all my beautiful friends and will see you when I get back next Monday. I went shopping too. – TJ.

​My chosen topic is friends. Friends are the people you hang out with apart from family. You can make friends at school, university, day programs (like Umbrella Support), or work. There are lots of activities you can do with friends, such as playing board games, going to the mall, eating ice cream, or drinking coffee.


I want to write about my handmade friends from the Umbrella Program. I am happy to see them every Monday. I am the only person in this group who was born in anther country. My friends’ favourite things are different from mine. For example, they enjoy birthday parties, but I don’t.


I also have a high school friend. She is very mature, talkative, positive, and bubbly. We talk a lot on WhatsApp, though not consistently because she is busy with her job. We’ve caught up four times already; our latest catch-up was in April 2025. This makes me happy because I enjoy reuniting with people I like. She also has a childlike spirit, loves Disney, and likes plush toys just like me. We’ve been friends since year seven, and I remember we asked each other icebreaker questions on the bus on the way to school camp.


I am usually quiet, but I can be talkative with this friend because I feel comfortable having deep conversations with her.


I used to have another friend, but our friendship ended in year ten. I remember when we were friends, she invited me for lunch at her house, went for a walk afterwards, and invited me to her birthday party too. We had a birthday dinner at a restaurant, and afterward, she blew out candles at her house. After our friendship ended, I didn’t make new friends immediately. Instead, I did colouring. My teachers aide organised a lunch club where special needs kids could do colouring or make loom bands, so I joined that instead.


I also used to have friends from Jakarta. We sometimes hung out at the mall with my mum, brother, her mother, and her sister. Her mother is very cheeky and funny. But now that we are adults, we don’t talk anymore. Adult life is very busy, and she probably has other friends now. It’s okay to lose friends, because at least I still have my Umbrella Support friends and my high school friend to talk to on WhatsApp.


I have some advice for anyone making new friends: ask lots of icebreaker questions with new people. If someone isn’t a good friend, it’s okay to stop being friends with them. Then you can hang out with other friends, or you don’t have to make friends at all if you don’t want to. The most important thing is to do what makes you happy.
Thanks for reading my blog. This is Jacinda signing off. 




Today's blog is a choose your own adventure and I'm going to talk about the cherry blossom festival. 


I recently went to the cherry blossom festival in Wandin East and I had the best day with my friends Beth, Ronalda, Martina and Steph. 


On the way there we listened to my favourite Disney songs and we all sang along together. We played a giant version of connect four, which was a lot of fun. I tried the hula hoop, I was really good at it and so were my friends. I took photos of the cherry blossoms and with all the props they had like chairs and photo frames. We went to the kids hub next where we did some activities and I sat on a bean bag. I made a pretty bracelet for my mum and also did some colouring. I had lunch at the festival, I ordered a potato twister with chicken salt and also had a slice of margarita pizza, it was so yummy.

Before we left we did a drink tasting, I tried cherry juice and a cherry spritzer, I LOVED them. We then headed back to the car and listened to some more Disney songs on the drive back. I had a great day and had so much fun.
This is Claire signing off, see you next week.




Today I am blogging about going to the Collingwood game, but today I am changing the outcome and we won the game.
Nick Daicos is my favourite player in the Collingwood team. Nick Daicos is a really good player and won the mark of the year.


I am pretending that we won the game, but we all know that we lost the game but we know that next year the team will win the Grand final.


I will wear my Collingwood jumper with the number 35 on the back and run on the footy field with the rest of the team. My position on the field will be goal kicking.
GO PIES.
Until next year.
The pies will be the Premiers in 2026 - Korey 






A week in the life of Haley. 
I’ve started an art book, which I’m trying to keep going with. I’ve learnt how to do optical illusions and new ways of colouring, for example, you can colour one part of the page, and draw in a paint brush to make it look like you’ve painted it. Or there’s a glitch pattern. Which looks amazing. 


I’ve been trying to look for different things to do on Pinterest and TikTok, on the weekend I’m going to try make oil rainbow paper just by using black paper, clear nail polish and water. Looks easy, but if you know me, I like to make things hard for myself.  One time I tried to shrink a twisties packet. Unfortunately I burnt the packet onto both of the trays that I used. Luckily it came off in the wash and a bit of elbow grease. 
I’ve also learnt how to  make a Zine, it’s like a folded paper that never ends but it does though. 


I also do jigsaw puzzles, I’ve done two in the last month and started one two days ago  
I did an abandoned place, one it was a lounge room that was tore up and empty.  I did a Pokémon one, and now I’m doing a the Grinch that Stole Christmas. It’s basically all white apart from the little pictures of the Grinch and wording. 


That’s my week done, but next week I’ll be looking after my furphew “Diego” who’s a delight to look after.
Haley. 




Choosing my own adventure…
Why hello to you our very amazing readers! Just in case you’re new or you have forgotten (it happens) let me reintroduce myself, I’m Shannon however I very much prefer Shan. Only a few people get away with calling me Shannon, honestly having to say Shannon three times in this blog was enough for me.


I love writing wether it’s blogs, journals, poems, letters or just random lists for the day. This is what lead me to doing the Just Write program with Umbrella. I really enjoy writing each blog for you all, even on days that I have writers block. I’m a big fan of a brain dump and this blog is going to be a brain dump. It’s just like a therapy session for me except I get to share it with anyone who might be looking for a good read. (Kind feedback welcomed).


Let the brain dump begin!! Have you ever thought about how as we go through our lives we are forever growing, learning and evolving. I would love to know how this make other people feel because it’s such an important thing to express and experience our feelings. For me I think life wants me to feel the whole rainbow of emotions when I start to think about how I’ve grown and evolved over the years. It feels like I’m discovering my superpowers and that’s a powerful and magical journey.


I have found that I’m constantly seeking out new things to learn, that I want to grow my mind and knowledge for the simple reason that it makes me happy and I enjoy it. I also really enjoy learning through doing things, I’m also a super visual learner which means that I like to see what I’m learning. There’s also a lot that I can learn about myself through learning other/new things.


I’m learning that I don’t always have to be doing things for a purpose or to prove my worth. That sentence in itself is proof of how much I have grown and evolved. I think that it’s really exciting to be continuing to learn things about yourself. It’s like you’re getting to know yourself like you would a good friend. I want to be as kind to myself as I am to others. I believe we all need to be kinder to ourselves.
I will be kind to me today and everyday (I will do my best anyway).
Love to you all,
Your friend,
Shan.




Choose your own adventure
To open my own tie-dye store. A big store for only tie-dye products. I would make drink bottles that would have pink blue, green, orange and red with the tie-die
patterns through it. 


My next product would be t-shirts with multiple colours running through the fabric. I would like to sell tie die pants for women and men, and maybe children also. And hoodies and jumpers as well and tie-dye sheets with pillowcases.


I would like to choose another adventure and open up another shop called “Over the Rainbow”.


From Ben2

 Dear readers, how are you all?  Today's topic is a choose your own adventure and I have chosen to write my blog about a story that I made up and it starts like this. 


Once upon a time there were nine princesses and they lived in a castle. The princesses' names were Cindrella, Aurora, Elsa, Snow White, Belle, Rapunzel, Jasmine, Ariel and Tiana.


They were doing fun things like karaoke, dancing, art and crafts, doing hair, nails and makeup. Each princess has their own bedroom which they decorate themselves with their favourite things. The prince charming's are allowed to visit on the weekends but the weekdays are girls only! 

The princesses have a lot of fun and eat every meal together which they take turns in cooking, tonight Elsa is cooking and we're having pasta and snow cones for dessert. We have lots of pets in our castle including Rajah, Jasmine’s tiger, Tiana’s frog, and Ariel fish friends. Tomorrow night is movie night and we will be watching Brave, which is a favorite around here. There is always something fun happening in our castle and all the princesses love to be there.


Thank you for reading my blog.
This is Princess Beth signing off until next adventure. 




Dear Readers  this week's topic is a choose your own adventure. 
Let me start by telling you about this week.  It has felt like a roller coaster ride of emotions  especially since I’ve been at home this week sick with a common cold. By the time you read this reader, I will be back at blogging next week and I’m feeling so excited to come back to media and  blogging and see all my friends including my boyfriend Ben, who I love so much.  To be honest  it’s hard for me to think of something to write when it comes to a choose your own adventure. 


Readers I have a question: what would you write about if you could write  about anything and you got to choose your own adventure as a topic?
Written by Charlotte

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<![CDATA[If i could invite anyone to dinner...]]>Wed, 24 Sep 2025 14:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/if-i-could-invite-anyone-to-dinner
If you could invite anyone to dinner, who would it be and why?



Today’s blog topic is if you could invite anyone over for dinner who would it be and why?


If I could have dinner with anyone it would be Rapunzel because she is my favourite Disney princess. I would invite her over to my house and put lots of decorations up because I'm so excited to meet her, they would all be purple which is her favourite colour because Rapunzel has been stuck in her tower for so long I thought I would order uber eats because she’s probably never heard of it. I will order Thai food and get things like green curry, satay chicken skewers, and some spicy dishes too. 


For dessert we can make our own ice cream sundaes, I will buy the ice cream and all the toppings. I will also have lots of drinks to choose from like Coke, Pepsi, Sprite and Fanta. After dinner I will surprise Rapunzel with a hairdresser to cut her hair and dye it brown which will be so pretty for her. I will ask Rapunzel what her favourite Disney movie is? And maybe we could watch it together.


This is Claire signing off, see you next week.


I’ve handed out my dinner invites to the most amazing people ever, there’s Johnny Depp, people from the 27 club which includes Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix.

Other people like Tim Burton, all of the horror icons. This dinner will be a blast, it’s also a Halloween dress up theme dinner. 


I dressed up as a zombie Tinker Bell, Johnny couldn’t chose so he came as four different people, Willy Wonka, Captain Jack Sparrow, Mad Hatter and Edward Scissorhands. 

I hired out the haunted mansion for the dinner party. 


It’s already decorated, with ghosts floating around, spider webs  from the ceiling. 
Everyone sat around the coffin table, we chatted for a while, the entrees started to come out they were devilled eggs with little horns poking out of the top with a ghost milkshake, they were super creepy and adorable. 


The main is a blue spaghetti with meatballs in the shape of eyeballs. Paired with a green smoking martini. For dessert, is bobbing for poisonous apple. 


Dinner was over, we danced  the night away to graveyard hits, the monster mash was my favourite. To send the 27 club people back we used an Ouija Board to send them home at sunrise. 

I’m exhausted, but it was a great night. 
Your hostess with the mostess Haley 


Breakfast at dinner party…
This week I am blogging from home and as the blog topic came through I was making breakfast and naturally thought; I know I’ll have a breakfast at dinner party! You will wear what you would normally wear eating breakfast. What to bring? A pillow and blanket. Your plus one? Your favourite soft/plush toy companion. You will need to tell me your favourite breakfast foods and beverages so that it can be passed on to the caterers because your girl is NOT going to be cooking. I just want to be present in the moment and not be stressing over someone’s eggs.


Who am I inviting? You. Yes you our loyal, faithful and supportive readers will be invited to my breakfast at dinner party! How exciting for you, well I’m excited for you and you will be very welcome. There will be soft calming music playing for a calming breakfast environment, extra blankets for the always cold guests (I see you), pillows EVERYWHERE because we want you to be comfortable and you can leave whenever you’re social battery runs out.


I’m also thinking there should be therapy dogs for anyone who might want to join in but might feel a bit nervous. You can be social with the dogs and that will be wonderful! I’m sure the dogs will be very excited that you came and so will I! I will make sure that our canine guests are also catered for because why should they miss out!


You will have everything you need at this party, it’s important to me that everything is accessible and that you all feel included and welcomed. Which is why I haven’t mentioned a venue. I’m leaving that up to your imagination so that it’s a place you feel most comfortable and included.
Enjoy your breakfast at dinner my friends!
With every kindness,
Shan.


This week’s topic is about people I would like to invite for dinner. I would like to invite Michael Bublé, my parents, my brother, and Arifin Putra (Indonesian actor).


The food for our dinner would be: spaghetti bolognese, waffle chips, party pies, sausage rolls, and takeaway pizza. We would choose the Aussie flavour pizza, which has ham, onion, bacon, egg, and cheese—it’s one of my favourite flavours. We would also order Raptor pizza, with ham, salami, Italian sausage, crispy bacon, and mushrooms.


The dinner would be at my house. I would have deep conversations with the two celebrities, asking things like: What do you like to do in your free time? Favourite food? Country to visit? Do you watch any kid-friendly cartoons? I think Michael probably watches cartoons with his kids, as he has four children.


The theme would be pastel colours. The plates, cutlery, and cups would be in baby pink, yellow, mint green, and baby blue. Arifin would choose the baby blue plate because he likes blue. Michael and I would choose yellow, mum would choose baby pink, dad, mint green, and my brother blue.


Everyone enjoyed the food, especially the pasta and pizza. Then, when we were full, we all had Meiji Japanese ice cream that my parents bought at Astee Asian supermarkets.


I also want to do another dinner gathering with all my cousins, who are now adults and teenagers, along with my parents, brother, and nan. This dinner would be at one of my aunt’s houses. I was really nervous about seeing my extended family, but I pushed myself by talking to them, and they gave me hugs too.


I imagine chatting with my cousins about my life in Australia. They would listen carefully as I tell them about handmade craft activities, blogging, and working at Woolworths. One cousin asked, “Why aren’t you doing five-day-a-week activities?” I would calmly reply, “Oh, because it would be too tiring if I did full activities.” She said, “Fair enough, Cici Cinda.” I got called Cici because I am the eldest.


We eat the food while chatting. My aunty said, “I love your earrings, Cinda.” I replied, “Thank you, aunty! It’s Piglet; I bought it from Eastland.”


Thanks for reading. This is Jacinda signing off. Bye bye. 💛


Who would I invite to dinner and why.  I would like to invite the group Slipknot, the reason why is they are my favourite band.
They would come to my house and my mum world cook us burgers.
The burgers will be beef and they would have cheese, lettuce, tomato and burger sauce on them.
For dessert we will have is rainbow paddlepops.
I would ask the band to bring their instruments so they could play some music after dinner.
I would love if they played Sulfur for me as it's my favourite song.
This is Korey singing off see you next week.


Tie-dye started in China around the fifth century. My friend's business is Tie dying. She does work shops for schools. I would make pizzas for our tea.
We would both love to talk to the guy who made tie dying popular in the sixties. My friend sells stickers as well. And she sells her tie dye at markets.
Ben 2 signing off for the week.


Hello and welcome to a dinner time blog...............in the morning? Yes, you read that right readers. We are talking about who we would invite for dinner and why? I would have to invite all of the Hawthorn and Melbourne Storm players. I would also invite Usher, Bruno Mars and Callum Scott would definitely cook a Mexican and Italian fusion feast. For dessert I would love to cook a lemon meringue pie or chocolate mousse. I would have lots of snacks and drink so no one would go hungry or thirsty. It would definitely have to be a sporting theme. After dinner Usher would treat us to a concert and we would party all night long. The next night we would have a BBQ with sausages, burgers, BBQ potatoes and salad. After dinner Bruno Mars would perform and we go around Vegas partying. As we were partying I would ask Callum Scott  would perform “you are the reason” Who would you invite and why?


Keep being awesome. 
Ben1


Dear readers, this week’s topic is who would I invite to dinner and why.
Let me start by telling you about who I would invite and why.  It would be Ben, my boyfriend  because I have never had him over for dinner before. I would cook him spaghetti with gluten free pasta and for dessert I would make a  lactose free lemon and passionfruit  cheesecake. It would be a very romantic candlelight dinner and after dinner we would sit on the couch and watch movies.
Who would you invite to dinner and why?
Written by Charlotte.




Today blog is about who we would invite if we had any famous people over for dinner.
Who would it be, and why. They can be dead or alive.
I am going to invite the band members from John Farnham and Southern Sons, I'll be making a 3 course meal. For entree I'd make dry biscuits and dips, and or the main course I'll make a roast lamb and roast beef with roast veggies, gravy and garlic bread. For dessert, I'll make a trifle and rum balls with Bundaberg Rum in it. I also will make jelly slice as well.


We would have a drinking session with everyone and include Glen Weatley and his wife as well as Jimmy Barnes and INXS at my door step so I would have to let them in as well.
A phone call would come through from the lead singer from Dragon Marc Hunter and Scotty Clarke from Dear Enemy and Scotty Carne from Kids in the Kitchen.


Lastly, Brian Mannix from Uncanny Men would arrive. We would party until 6:00 am the next morning and I know I would wake up with a massive hangover.
I would be too tired and hungover to clean so my cleaners would clean whilst I sleep.
I'm not shy with social media and because Cindy and Krystle saw my photos they both rang me to check that I was ok and decided to come over. Cindy was star-struck when she saw Michael Hutchence in the hall way and Krystle was so happy to see John Farnham. Bernie and Delia tagged along too and and were in shock in the kitchen when they saw Jack Jones.


David Hirschfelder was playing Playing to Win, the Age of Reason and Chain Reaction.
It was time for a second party the next night and the same people came but this time we had pizza and KFC. Daz turned up this time looking for Cindy.. but she was asleep, recovering.
Thanks for reading, Ash here until next time. 


Hi readers, today's topic is inviting someone special to dinner and why I have chosen that person, which is the famous Taylor Swift.

The theme for this dinner will be all decorated in her favourite colours purple, pink and gold with lots of pink flowers on the table, purple candles
and beautiful large gold placemats.

The outfits to wear at this dinner party which are Taylor's favourite, are the love story outfit, the lavender haze style dress and the red era party dress.  Last choice is the fearless country chic outfit which are some of her outfits she likes to wear on stage.

We will have an entrée which will be deviled eggs because that's one of her favourite foods. 

Main meal is going to be burgers and fries. 
Desserts would be ice cream, chai sugar cookies and cinnamon rolls. 


The drinks we will be serving will be cocktails, her favourite is called French Blonde followed by a vodka diet coke and lavender haze which consists of purple gin. 

We will play her music in the background and finish off doing karaoke at the end of the night. 

I know this will be an amazing night and having such a special person in my life and enjoying our friendship together while making new memories that will last forever 

The support workers are more than welcome to come to this dinner party and meet Taylor and have a good time and make a new friend.

This is Beth (Taylor Swift's new found best friend) signing off until another adventure comes next week.  


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<![CDATA[A Problem shared...]]>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/a-problem-shared
"A problem shared is a problem halved" is a proverb meaning that discussing your issues with someone else can lighten the emotional burden and make them easier to manage, solve, or overcome. By sharing, the weight of the problem feels less overwhelming, as you no longer carry the full responsibility alone and can benefit from another person's perspective or advice.

I had to give my sister a gift for her birthday. I went to TK-Maxx to buy her bracelets, she loved it, I love my sister. I made a card and wrapped her presents.  I also made a card from Father's Day, and he loved it too.

I bought Dad a new black jacket for Father's Day and I wrapped his presents.
I love stop-motion animation. But what if my laptop decided not to work?
This is what I would do because there was a charger and I would make sure it is charged. 
Korey


Today I had nothing to write in my blog so I started eating donuts, but Delia took the donuts away until I started writing and suddenly my brain started to work.
On Tuesday night I had a problem as my taxi was late after Dinner with Friends. Cindy was waiting with me until the taxi arrived. I had a phone with me so l rang for a taxi. It took a while to get to me but spending time with Cindy, was fun. Ben2


My problem I will be talking about in my blog today is that sometimes I get bored and there is a few different ways I like to solve that problem. During the week I like to keep myself busy, on Mondays and Tuesdays I do arts and crafts, on Wednesdays I go to bowling and to dancing, on Thursdays I do blogging and media and on Friday's the group I go to does different activities each week. On Saturday's when I can, I like to go out with my best friend Krystle. We have the best time together at Fountain Gate, we have lunch, watch a movie and listen to Disney songs on the way. Sometimes when I don't have things planned I get pretty bored so I do things like playing games on my iPad and phone, watch YouTube, call my friends and practice my new dance moves.
My friends make me happy so I love when I get to see them and hang out with them.
This is Claire signing off, see you next week.


Dear readers, this week’s topic is something that hasn’t gone to plan and how did you resolve it? 
Let me start by telling about this morning. I had an issue with my wifi on my phone because when I tried calling someone I love, I couldn’t hear them. My phone was on the hotel room wifi and I resolved the issue by switching off my wifi and face timing the person instead. I’m glad I was able to solve the problem so I could FaceTime my boyfriend Ben who I love and cherish. 
Written by Charlotte 


A problem solved for me recently is that i didn’t have enough ingredients for dinner. I was cooking for the family but had to compromise on what I wanted to cook so I could use things that I already had in the pantry. My plan was to cook roast beef and veg but I didn’t have enough gravy. I had to do a pan gravy instead. I also wanted to make sure I had enough for the freezer for leftovers. 
On this day I also didn’t have enough vegetables so in the end the only way I was able to solve my problem was to quickly go to the supermarket.  
Ash. 


I wake up in the morning then I go to shower every morning get ready for Krystle but really tried I need some coffee for the morning go to Umbrella get my own lunch shop, if I don’t get up my mum will kick my butt but oh lord mama, I need to get ready before Krystle or she will shake my ankles. Steph too will be shaking my foot to wake me. I need to be better at waking up in the mornings. I am busy and need to stay busy for my life
TJ

I had trouble writing this blog, I wrote a fair bit about a road trip I went on with my cats Banshee and Maggie and my friend Sunny and her dog Claude.  But I started writing and it wasn’t going where I wanted it to, so I decided to erase all of my blog and started to write the problem I had writing it. 

Sometimes you can have a great story in your head and once you start writing or typing it out, it doesn’t turn out as good as you thought it would be, that’s my problem today.  And that’s okay. 

Nothing is permanent, and most problems can be solved, and you can always ask for help if you need it.  But this problem I could have solved it by myself and re wrote my own blog myself. 

A few more problems I’ve had during the week that were being able to be solved.
I had a doctors appointment and I was so anxious about my results, but my GP, told me my results were very good so that’s one part of the problem solved. 

I had a 1000 piece puzzle, I’ve had out on the kitchen table for ages.   I did need help with the puzzle, so my dad helped me with it and I completed it yesterday.  

I love watching tv shows, but picking a show is hard. Sometimes I love watching horror or comedy, all depending on my mood. Lately I’ve been watching 3rd Rock from the Sun and Married with Children. I wanted to watch a horror/ true crime show but took me ages to pick a show. I did in the end it was Only Murders in the Building. I’ve only watched one episode, but so far, so good. 

See, problems can be little or big but every problem is valid.
Another thing before I end,  R u okay?  
Haley 


Today, I have a problem. I can’t think of a blog topic. Oh wait, yes, I can. Today’s topic is all about solving problems. We all have problems in our day-to-day life that we have to solve.  In my life I have to deal with problems often. To survive in this world, we all need to solve problems otherwise life would be too boring.

Recently I had to solve a problem regarding Father’s Day. I had brought too little so I needed to buy another present so I had to problem solve by buying tickets to Hawthorn’s Best and Fairest. Another problem I had to solve is trying to get tickets to the Melbourne Storm but this was made easy as the club were very helpful. Some problems are super easy to solve and some are harder, but with a little imagination we can solve anything.
Keep being awesome.
Ben1


Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill…
This is much easier said than done, especially in the moment as your feelings maybe heightened and you may feel extremely stressed, overwhelmed and filled with more anxiety than you know how to handle. This means that even a small problem can feel like the biggest and most pressing thing in the world. Your feelings are always valid and it’s always important to take the time and space to work through the problem however works best for you.

I am much better at solving other peoples problems than my own. The world seems to be ending when I need to face my own problems, but I’m the world’s best problem solver when it comes to others. This is why it’s important to have a support system and work on the problems that arise as they come. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but once the problem has passed I think about all the things I could have done better to deal with and solve the problem.

I’m trying to work on growth within myself for my mind and body so that I can learn to be a lot calmer and less anxious when problems come my way. I say body because stress and anxiety can cause physical symptoms and if they can be avoided that would be fabulous.

I think that we will always be faced with problems in each of our journeys that we call life, it’s just a part of the human experience. It’s how we manage and deal will the problems in life that’s important. I say this knowing full well that I should be taking my own advice and maybe I should read this blog to myself.

Hopefully today is a problem free day for you and you are blessed with a peaceful day.
Your friend always,
Shan.


Dear readers, how are you?

Today’s topic is if we have a big problem how do we solve it? 

Laying in bed one day I looked at the mess on my bedroom floor which was starting to be a massive problem, but to solve this I would have to clean it all up. 
Where do I start?

There's clothes everywhere, shoes on the floor, toys expanding everywhere from corner to corner, I can't see the colour of the floor, the desk has a mirror on it which reflects double of the mess. 

Once I motivate myself to clean up this problem, I will have the prettiest room which will make mum happy. If I can keep my room tidy and know how to solve the problem, my room should stay this way for a long time.

This is Beth (the cleaning lady with magic hands) signing off until next week from my new email 
Beth.


There were times when things didn’t go to plan. It can be hard for me because I don’t like unexpected changes, but that’s part of life sometimes.

I want to share about Covid times in 2020. I thought 2020 was going to be a great year for everybody, but it was such a sad time for so many people. I was still working at Woolworths then. I remember in March I didn’t do facing because there weren’t many items on the shelves. Instead, I did returning products. I preferred doing facing because it was easier for me. Luckily, that only happened once, and the next shift I went back to facing again. Everyone had to wear a mask to protect each other.

During Covid I also had my second job at Australia Post Sprintpak, but that job wasn’t consistent like Woolworths. If there were lots of jobs I could do well, the agency would call me, and when the job finished the agency or supervisor would let me know.

When I had a break from Sprintpak, I stayed home and kept myself busy—that’s how I resolved it. At home, I liked to relax by watching cartoons in my room to keep happy during lockdown. Sometimes I watched funny Indonesian videos on Instagram or YouTube. I also helped my grandparents prepare lunch. They lived with us during Covid, and they were okay staying home all day because even before Covid they usually stayed home too.

I also remember in July 2021, I was supposed to reunite with a friend at the local shopping centre. Then I heard on the news there was another lockdown. I was so sad and disappointed because I really like reuniting with people. But we rescheduled, and finally met in November 2021 when things were back to normal and Christmas was coming.

In July 2021, I still did one-on-one support with Cindy. We usually went to fun places, but when shops and cafes were closed, Cindy and I did a video call with silly filters. It was good that even in lockdown we could still be silly and giggle together.

Then, on Cindy’s birthday, I finally got to go out with her. Lockdown was still happening, but Cindy and I hung out at a café where Handmade (craft program with Umbrella) was held. The café staff let us stay even though lockdown was on. I remember doing diamond painting and video calling some friends too, which was fun.

That’s how I resolved some problems during Covid, when things didn’t go to plan.
Thanks for reading this week’s blog.
This is Jacinda, signing off.

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<![CDATA[Adventures....]]>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/adventures
​Adventures…
 
Where would you go on an adventure or where would you go if you could journey anywhere in the world? Speaking of a journey, that’s our challenge word in today’s blog. Let’s see how our team are able to use this word in their writing!
 

When I was born I was rushed to the Royal Children’s Hospital and my journey would start in and out of that hospital through my childhood. I have two older brothers, both born in the 80s, who now both have a family of their own. 

In my younger childhood, I remember a few memories which I’ll write about, because it’s my journey and I’m happy to share. 

One memory with my Grandma is that she had a blue two-door hatch back, a two seater. Every time I got into the car, she told me I had to sing to the car to make it start, so I did. The other memories I have is with my brother. We were walking home from the shops and she saw us and pulled over to pick us up. Remember there were two seats in her car? Well, I hit the jackpot, a cardboard box big enough to fit me was in the boot. Luckily it was only up the road.  I mention this memory all the time as it’s a fond one. 

I did kindergarten twice because my parents thought I would grow a little bit taller to fit in with the rest of my class mates, but they were definitely wrong. I did meet my best friend though.  We took different paths after about twenty years, which hurt in a way but that’s a part of life’s journey isn’t it?

In my teenage years, my friends had their ups and downs too. I managed, even though I have some sad memories during these years.  

One time I had a bully, who was in my group of friends during that time. I chose to sit in the hallways on my own.  Until I  went home one day and burst into tears telling my mum. She made me realise that it was the bully who had the problem not me, and I shouldn’t be frightened to stand up for myself. 

I remember going to Tasmania with my dad, brother and my pop, we drove all around Tasmania in my dad’s Mitsubishi Mirage. One morning, we had an animal visit us. He came to the front door of our room. We hand fed it in the snow. That’s another very fond memory of mine. 
 
Adulthood for me has its up and down, but that’s life again, isn’t it? 

I heard this quote ages ago and I like it: 

“It’s your parents first time, it’s a strangers first time, it’s your first time on this journey called life, so just be kind”

So there you go, that’s my life’s journey, so far. 
Haley
 
 
Hello and welcome to another adventurous blog where I'm going on a journey back in time when I went to the UK. I have been to the UK a few times which I really enjoyed. I went for my 18th birthday to watch Manchester United play, then again a few years ago for the Ashes. 

I love the adventure of going on a holiday and discovering new places. Especially new airports and seeing all the modern architecture along with all the old. I love seeing different cultures and how they live in their modern lives and how it differs from ours. How do people who are less fortunate than us feel when they see us with beds etc? People who sleep rough or are in a less fortunate position. Travelling gives you perspective. 

I love eating spicy food and trying different cuisines. I wonder what it would be like to live how they live? How would you embrace different cultures? Keep being awesome and thank you for joining me on my latest adventure. Ben1
 
 
I want to go on an adventure again to Disney as I am a Disney girl.
I love Disney because I have lots of fun. I love the rides the most, especially the Tea Cups and the Peter Pan ride.

I love to wear Minnie Mouse ears when we go to Disney. It's a long journey there on the plane, but I love the food andI hope Disney will be my next big holiday.

I am going to see Annie tonight with mum and my cousins, and I can't wait.
I hope one day soon we will go to Shanghai, as I haven't been to that Disneyland yet.

The castle is a little different, it's called the Enchanted Storybook Castle, and at night time they do the Disney lights. It looks very pretty. I am excited because Mickey Mouse is there too. Some rides are different and they have some different characters. I have looked at the map and it has many different parks. I am excited it would be a great journey for me.

I have a Disney cruise coming in October and I can't wait. I am all about Disney.
Thank you for reading my blog, your Disney Princess Claire.
 

Knotfest was held in Melbourne this year on the twenty-eighth of February at Flemington Racecourse. I went with my mum and her friend. We had a great car journey to get there as it took over an hour. It was fabulous, there were two stages and thirty bands.
My favourite was Slipknot. This year it was their twenty fifth anniversary. Lots of people were wearing masks. 
I love their music and my favourite song is Gematria. It was the first time they did it live and I was there, so were over twenty thousand other people.
It was the BEST
From Korey, your dude.
 
 
On Saturday, I am going to see Annie The Musical with friends.
It will be so good and we will be going by taxi, it will be a fun journey. I am going to buy a program at the show. - From Ben 2
 
Hi readers, how are you? Today’s topic is adventures, and I have chosen to write my blog about going on a cruise.

I have a dream to go on a cruise in April on the Disney wonder and journey from Melbourne to New Zealand. We will be on the ship for 5 nights before arriving in Auckland where I will stay at the Hilton Hotel for 5 nights. 
 
On the Disney cruise I look forward to watching the shows, meeting the Disney characters, karaoke, eating foods, buying merchandise and visiting the spa. I would like to buy a book so I can get all of the characters' autographs, and take photos with them too. At the spa I would get a facial and maybe some other treatment. I’m really excited to try all the themed foods like Mickey waffles and ice cream. 
This is Beth signing off, I can't wait for my holiday one day. See you next week.
 
 
I want to share with you all about my trip to Indonesia in 2011. At that time, I visited my baby cousins. I actually had two baby cousins that year—one was just a newborn and the other was one year old. They are teenagers now and have Instagram accounts too.
I also remembered when I went to Banjarmasin, I saw another cousin who was in kindergarten at the time. I have lots of cousins from my mum’s side. He was on holidays with his mother. He has an older sister too, but she was at school. I remember he was whinging to his mum because he wanted a Kinder Joy chocolate and to go to the mall. 
I went to Indonesia again in 2013 to help my grandparents move to Australia. I visited Jakarta, Banjarmasin, Surabaya, and Balikpapan. In Surabaya, my brother, my nan, and my little cousins went to a fun place called Jatim Park. It was fun—you could look at animals, go on a gentle boat ride, and eat lunch there.

I also remembered visiting Balikpapan, where I have other cousins. I actually never chatted much with them because I find it difficult to start conversations with people I don’t usually talk to. So my cousins just chilled on the sofa watching Disney Junior and anime on TV or played on their gadgets like their DSi and iPad. I also noticed my cousins wore some of my old trousers—they were pastel yellow with cute designs. I had outgrown them, so mum decided to give them to my cousins. 

Now I am writing about my 2015 Indonesia trip. I didn’t go to Jakarta this time because my grandparents were already living with me permanently. Usually, it was just mum, my brother, and I who went to Indonesia. My dad didn’t come, same as in 2011 and 2013. We went to Indonesia to celebrate my grandma’s belated seventy birthday dinner.
I also remembered stepping out of my comfort zone—I got my makeup done. I’m not really into girly stuff like makeup and nail polish, but I do like earrings and girly movies. I did it for a family photo.

The ladies wore magenta dresses for the photos. The boys wore shirts and trousers, and one of my little cousins wore a tuxedo. I remember taking group photos with my grandma and all her grandkids. We also had a full family photo together.

After the family photos, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We didn’t sing happy birthday or have cake, but I remember my grandma gave all her grandkids red envelopes, and we all gave her a kiss.
Thanks for reading about my Indonesia trips. It was such a good journey.
Love from,
Jacinda
 
Two more weeks and I go to Disney and Universal Studios too. This is going to be fun and beautiful out there. It’s my first time that I’ve been there so it’s gonna be so much fun. I will miss you all for one week. I'm not sure if i can get autographs from everyone. 
TJ
 
Dear readers, this week’s topic is about adventures. Let me start by telling you about my adventurous journey which is about to start very soon as I’m heading off to Cairns. I’m feeling very excited to go to Cairns will do so many fun things while I’m there. The place we are staying has a rooftop swimming pool and I’m going to swim in the pool. We’re going to explore Cairns and I will tell you all about my trip when I come back. When this week’s blog comes out I will still be away enjoying myself. Have you ever been to Cairns or have you ever traveled to a place that you have enjoyed being on holiday?
Written by Charlotte
 
 
We’re going on an adventure!
Alright my friends, pack your backs, grab your favourite plush or stuffed toy, pack your favourite snacks, grab your water bottle and wear your comfiest clothes because we are going for a drive. Don’t stress about the destination because that’s not important at this moment in time. You aren’t driving so just get in the car and brush up on your navigation skills for when you need to be a navigator, but otherwise just sit back and enjoy the journey. Now that I've got you in travel mode and you’re all excited and ready for an adventure, let's get to this week's blog. It would be fantastic for some travel reading material, just saying.
 
My most recent adventure was a long drive from one Australian state into another, and I really enjoyed my adventure. One, because it was with my sister and two, because we travelled to see my chosen family. What is a chosen family? Well my chosen family are people who are like family to me, but we aren't related in any way. So, for example I would say I am going to see my sister and her family. It's special to have a chosen family as well as a real family.

I went slightly off track, but I did feel it was important to explain what a chosen family is. Now to the adventure, I have seen the most beautiful landscape, animals and people (my people). I’m not a huge fan of snow but I saw some in New South Wales that was so beautiful and clean. It was like something out of a fairytale and even more special because it was completely untouched by human influence. I saw a wallaby with a baby in her pouch, currawongs, rosellas, kookaburras and an abundance of other wild and beautiful creatures.

I got to see and love my chosen family for a few days and spend time just enjoying their company. There is something magical about being with them in their home nestled in the middle of nowhere, it is such a peaceful place to be. I get to share in their world and make some memories. I really had a wonderful time and have so many more things I could share but I'm not writing a novel today. This is my blog post and I’m so happy that you, our dear readers, are a part of our blogging journeys.
All the love and kindness to you and yours,
Your friend,
Shan.
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<![CDATA[Choose your own adventure]]>Wed, 03 Sep 2025 14:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/choose-your-own-adventure9942912
Choose your own adventure – August 2025
 
Hello and welcome to our August edition of CHOOSE OUR OWN ADVENTURE! Today our bloggers have been given the challenge in their blogs to incorporate the word POSITVE:
 
Hi I am a Disney Princess. I like am just like Ariel the little mermaid because I love to swim.
I have been to Princess Jasmines castle, and I hugged Jasmine. She hugged me back and it made me very very happy.
I like King Triton and how Ariel finds her true love.
I love Tangled too because I love the music and her long hair.
Snow White is one of my favourites too because she is a princess who can talk to the animals and the seven dwarves Happy, Sneezy, Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, Grumpy and Dopey. I even like the Evil Queen with her apple.
Princess Aurora is also a favourite because her dress turns blue, then pink, then blue, then pink thanks to her fairy Godmothers. The evil sorcerer Maleficent too. Princess Aurora can also talk to the forest animals like little rabbits and little birds. Cinderella is also a favourite because of the glass slipper and her Prince Charming.
What I love the most about the Disney Princesses is that they are all friends and they make me feel positive and happy.
Claire
 
I am feeling positive today because I get to do blogging every Thursday, and I really enjoy it. This time I want to write about ice cream.
There are so many ice cream flavours to choose from, such as chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, biscoff, salted monkey, choc mint, cookies and cream, and more. You can buy ice cream in a supermarket, minimarket, ice cream parlour, or even in fast food restaurants like McDonald's. They have McFlurries too—my favourite is the Oreo McFlurry. But my most favourite ice cream parlour is Wendy's. I usually order the cookies and cream Megashake there.
I have also been to other ice cream parlours, such as Baskin Robbins in Jakarta. I remember going there with my parents, brother, and uncle when he visited Jakarta. He ordered three scoops of ice cream! I also went there once with my friend and her mum after school. There’s also Baskin Robbins in Japan. Back when we lived in Jakarta, my parents took my uncle to Häagen-Dazs Café too.
I prefer to eat ice cream in a cup because it’s easier. Another positive thing about eating in a cup is that the cups often have fun designs and colours, depending on where you buy the ice cream.
Ice cream parlours can be very busy, especially during summer holidays. Lots of parents like to buy their kids ice cream as a treat on hot days. But I haven’t really seen Wendy’s get too busy. I do remember going to San Churros one long weekend in March—it was so crowded with a group of kids having a playdate with their parents.
One of my favourite ice creams in Jakarta was from Indomaret (a minimarket). It was a Walls ice cream cup. The chocolate one was my favourite—it had chocolate on both sides and vanilla in the middle. There was a strawberry one too, but I liked chocolate more. I also remember buying a choc mint ice cream at Family Mart in Osaka Airport. It was yummy!
From Woolworths, I really like the Oreo ice cream sandwich. It looks like a big Oreo biscuit, but it’s actually ice cream inside! I also love Meiji ice cream from Japan, which you can buy in Asian supermarkets too. Sometimes I eat ice cream at home, but not every day—because too much can make me sick, gain weight, or get pimples.
I even remember Barney singing a song about ice cream called “Icy Creamy Ice Cream” at his beach party, when Barney and his friends were eating cones. That is such a fun memory!
We often buy ice cream when we go out of town or travel overseas. It’s always nice to have a treat day on holidays.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my ice cream story.
Love from,
Jacinda 
 
Hi, l'm Korey and I like heavy metal. I like Slipknot, Ice Nine Kills, Metallica, Slaughter to Prevail, Falling in Reverse. My favourite bands is Slipknot. I just like listening to metal mix.
I just went to Knotfest and I saw Pantera.
I also like Horror movies, and my favourite movie is Child's Play.
I love making animation in Blender too. Blender is an animation computer program that I have learnt. It is good for making movies, stop motion movies especially.
I love making Minecraft animations and would love to show everyone.
All these things keep me positive and happy, your friend, Korey.
 
Today is my 40th birthday and I'm feeling very happy because my friends are at Umbrella and have given me a party.
We have a birthday cake, lollies, donuts and chips. All my favourites.
We are having a party for lunch with party pies, sausage rolls, pizza, mini hotdogs, chips, but I'm most looking forward to tonight as I am going out for dumplings with my housemate and my support worker and my dad.
Today is a really positive day for me.
Ben 2
 
Today’s blog is a choose your own adventure and I will be talking about the Titanic.  
The Titanic was a large ship that set sail on April 10th 1912, and sadly sunk four days later. The Titanic scraped the side of an iceberg, but I am positive that if they didn’t reverse their engines once seeing the iceberg they would have missed it. As the boat was sinking all the water was rising from the bottom to the top over the bulkheads. The exact number of people who died on the actual ship is unknown as workers were trapped down the bottom. Some workers were venting the steam so it wouldn’t explode but that affected the people on the top of the ship as it was so loud people had to shout to hear each other, although I think that may have been the least of their worries. 
For people that ended up in the water my advice would be to find a table to sit on top of to try and keep your body out of the water for the best chance of survival. The head baker of the Titanic, Charles, drank two bottles of whiskey as the ship was sinking which is believed to have helped him survive as it kept him warm and calm as he treaded water for hours before he was rescued. 
This is Nick signing off, see you next week. 
 
Hello and welcome to our August choose your own adventure. Today we are talking positively about one of my favourite times of year. Its AFL and NRL finals time. I love this time of year as you can follow any game without having the result affect your mood (unless your team is in the finals). I love watching the intense battles between teams and analysing what teams do and why they do it. There are so many different scenarios and opportunities for teams to try new things and explore new tactics. Unlike the regular season the finals are so unpredictable and that’s what makes it so exciting. I find it intriguing about if a star player gets injured or suspended and how teams will cover those concerns. Meanwhile tonight (at the time of writing) there is the EJ Whitten Legends game where all of the old players get together to play a game for charity.  I love all the positivity and laughs that come with it. I also love playing wheelchair football as I get to be with my teammates which is always a positive. What makes you feel positive about yourself?
 
Another way to keep positive is to keep being awesome.
Ben1
 
Session Friday the 13th, meeting started at 9.30am. 
I’m hoping for a positive outcome today. 
I’m sat here with Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Charles Lee Ray also known as Chucky, Tiffany and Freddy Kruger and Leprechaun,  I think that’s his nickname. 
 
I’ll go to you Jason first, what made you murder those people? 
Jason gave me silence, which was normal for him but I thought I would give him a go.  
Freddy, how have you  been sleeping?  
Freddy replied with “what sleep, I’m always in other people’s dreams trying to scare them, I’m really not like this, I see the kids at school. I don’t want to see them in my dreams.  I know I’m a janitor at the school. I just want to be left alone".
I hope you get some sleep soon Freddy, just remember you need 7-8 hours of sleep a night. 
Information  before the next client - Charles Lee Ray or Chucky, depending on his mood. I think he might have a split personality disorder.  
From the looks of him today, chucky is out. And apparently he’s a murderous doll on a rampage. Tiffany is also his girlfriend who is here to support him. 
They started arguing about something, under their breaths. 
Chucky stood up and said “Tiff, babe, I’m not father material” 
Tiffany rolled her eyes and lit a cigarette, I interrupted and said “there’s no smoking in here, Tiffany” 
Tiffany got up and said “Barbie, eat your heart out” 
Chucky and Tiffany both held hands and walked out, Chucky in his spare hand drop down a knife, I think to myself they’re so bad for one another but good in a way too. 
Michael was next to speak, but today he just wanted to sit and listen to the others, that was okay. He spoke last time, he said that Halloween was his favourite holiday, but the problem was he was stalking his childhood baby sitter. 
Last but not least, Leprechaun. He’s very positive that someone stole his pot of gold and he wants revenge on the people. But frankly, I think he has anger problems but no one can argue with him otherwise, he’ll throw a four leaf clover at you. 
Times up for today session.
Will see you next week, same time, same day. 
Haley
 
Today I would like to talk about the positive effect music has on people. 
It does not matter what genre you like: the 60s, 70s, 80s or the 90s. Personally I like the 80s and 90s because I love the mullets and the clothes that they wore. Australia has music artists like Jimmy Barnes, Michael Hutchence, John Farnham and Silverchair, Savage Garden and Goanna and of course Southern Sons. This makes people happy and positive as it can bring nostalgia being a part of childhood memories. 
Ash
 
I’m fairly positive that today’s blog is a choose your own adventure journey..
Honestly I’m more than fairly positive that we are doing a choose your own adventure blog. As you might have guessed we were given the challenge to use the word positive in our blogs. I’m sure that our blogs will all be the absolute highlight of your day! Yes we toot our own horns here but in a positive and kind way of course!
Have you ever heard of toxic positivity? Toxic positivity is when someone’s negative emotions are not validated because of the belief that you must always be positive and have good vibes. For example you might be going through something that makes you feel sad and feeling sad is completely ok and should be validated. Now toxic positivity might come alone and say that you have to feel positive and keep smiling.
When I wrote letters to kind strangers, I tried very hard to avoid toxic positivity. As a volunteer of what was Letters of Hope (which has since shut down) I learnt that toxic positivity is something that isn’t helpful to someone who might need their thoughts and feelings validated. It’s about walking in that persons shoes and being empathetic by not dismissing their feelings but also letting them know you care.
It’s also important not to dismiss your own feelings that you feel, all feelings are valid and if you're worried about how you feel please know that there are many places that you can contact to talk to. I really went on a tangent with this one but it just seemed to fit with our challenge word.
If I were to sum all this up in one sentence I would say; You can be positive without dismissing or invalidating a persons or your own feelings.
Always your friend,
Shan.
 
I go to shop next Wednesday and I have to get new clothes for next month I can’t wait for next month but with my family oh lord. Anyway , I have fun and one more thing happy birthday to both Ben’s it is a positive day, Im going to miss you for one week.
TJ

 
 Hey readers, how are you? Today's topic is a choose your own adventure. 
My greatest wish would be travelling to Disneyland with four of my best friends who are my support workers and we would positively have an amazing time together. 
On this adventure we would be flying First class with Emirates and take in every minute of how the rich and famous lived. Once we arrive we will be picked up by a car and taken to our resort. We have plans to go on many rides. I have checked out different rides online. The best ones to go on are Toy Story, Midway Mania, which is an interactive 4-D theme park, and then go on Dumbo the flying elephant which is a flying carousel ride.
After many days of fun our last day will be meeting the most famous characters in the world Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto and of course the Princesses of Disneyland. 
Thank you for reading my blog. This is Bethany signing of until next week from my new email.
 
Dear readers, this week’s topic is a choose your own adventure. 
Let me start by telling you about my trip to Cairns which I’m looking forward to and positively excited to go on. This holiday will be fun because it is my first time going to Cairns. I missed out going last time when my parents went to Cairns as I went to visit my family up in Brisbane this year for my birthday. My parents give me two options I can either have party for my birthday or go to Cairns and I chose to go to Cairns for my birthday.  I’m very happy to go the airport and on the aeroplane on holiday soon.   
Written by Charlotte

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<![CDATA[My Perfect Special Occasion]]>Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:00:00 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/my-perfect-special-occasion
My Perfect Special Occasion
 
Imagine this…You can arrange the perfect day for any occasion. Where will you be? What will you wear? Who will be there? What food will you and most importantly, what is the celebration for?


Our blog topic is what would be our perfect celebration. 
My favourite thing to celebrate is my birthday, it's my favourite day of the year! My birthday is March 29th and I will be turning 42. I love spending my birthday with my family and getting lots of presents. For my birthday I want an ice cream cake which is also a smash cake with all my favourite lollies and chocolates inside.

I would love to be on holiday for my birthday in China, maybe even at Shanghai Disneyland. I would spend my day hugging my favourite princess's, going on rides, eating yummy food and seeing the fireworks. I would have a very special dinner with my big family and order dumplings for everyone to eat. I like pork, prawn, seafood and vegetable dumplings with chilli and soy sauce.

I love my birthday and I love dancing so I could also have a dance party and show everyone my new moves. I would perform a dance to a Shrek song which is my favourite movie. I would like if everyone danced with me and we had a big dance party.
See you next week, love princess Claire.


Halloween in America 
I’ve always loved Halloween/Horror.
I’ve always dreamt of going to America to celebrate Halloween.
Because their Halloween is in fall and to me that’s a vibe, the Americans go all out as well. They decorate their houses and even do ghost fun houses and corn mazes. 

I prefer to do something for Halloween than my birthday, that’s how much I love Halloween.
I even tried to celebrate Halloween a few years ago with a photoshoot, but it didn’t work out, but there’s always next time. 
I try and do thirty-one days of horror movies in October. I compile a list of movies I haven’t seen before, so it’s a win-win, new movies and new jump scares. I even tried 25 days of Christmas horror movies, wouldn’t believe how many horror movies are based around Christmas. 

Last year my friend and I went to a theme park called Luna Park for Halloween, it was so magical, seeing everyone dressed up. I was a broken doll, and my friend was the crooked neck lady from “The Haunting of Hill House”.

We went into the haunted maze and, boy, was it scary. A person was camouflaged into the wall and kept moving with us. When we were about to leave the area, he yelled “Boo”  they gave us a fright. One of the rooms had an autopsy table with a man being axed in half by a crazy lady with a chain saw. 

I also love researching the history of Halloween. 
One little fact about Halloween is that turnips were used for the Jack-o’-Lanterns which dates back to Celtic traditions in Ireland and Scotland where they were used to ward off evil spirits. 

So as you can see, I’m a Halloween/ horror girly.
Halloween isn’t for everyone, but I think everyone is entitled to a good scare once in their lifetime. 
Haley


There are many special occasions in the world such as birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, New Year, Easter, and Lunar New Year. 
My favourite special occasion is Christmas because it’s such a happy celebration. I especially love spending time with my family and my Umbrella Support friends—we have Christmas gatherings every year. I also love Christmas because I get presents. Wouldn’t it be great if Christmas season was every day? 

In my dream Christmas, I would get lots of presents with cute wrapping paper. When I open them, I would find things like: 100 Faber-Castell colour pencils, A new phone, a new tablet and earbuds. A Tsum Tsum Princess Jasmine plush, and a pastel colour cutlery set. I love collecting aesthetic cutlery sets!

Mum would play Michael Bublé Christmas songs (he’s my favourite Christmas singer), and I’d also enjoy listening to Hi-5 Christmas songs. 

There would be so much yummy food that Dad cooked: roast chicken, roast potatoes, nuggets, chips, and fried rice. I’d really enjoy it all, and then go for a walk because I’d be so full! Later, when I wasn’t full anymore, I’d eat dessert. Dad would make Oreo cake (he doesn’t cook desserts in real life, but in my story, he does for Christmas).

In my imagination, my house would be bigger and more modern than my current one. It would have pastel-coloured Christmas lights outside, so people walking past would gasp at how pretty they were. 

Inside, my house would even have elevators and stairs—so if I felt lazy, I could just take the elevator to my room! In my room, I’d have a TV so I could watch a Christmas movie. I would choose The Polar Express, a classic Christmas movie. 

Even my bedroom would feel festive. My bedsheets would have teddy bears wearing Santa hats, and my doona cover would have Winnie the Pooh holding a Christmas wreath. I would also receive a Hello Kitty Christmas card from a close school friend, and I’d send her one back too. 

Apart from Christmas, I also love Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. These days are important because my parents sacrifice so much for me. 

For Mother’s Day, I would give Mum some BTS (K-pop) gifts because she likes them. For Father’s Day, I’d give Dad a Geelong Cats dinner plate. (I don’t like footy, but my dad is a big supporter of Geelong Cats.) Both of my parents would love their presents. 

For Mother’s Day, we’d go eat fish and chips at San Remo, and for Father’s Day, we’d eat at Pizza Pizza in Lorne. If the weather was sunny, we’d sit outside together.
Thank you so much for reading this week’s blog. I hope you enjoyed my story about my favourite special occasions.
Love from, Jacinda 


I had a phone call from my sister because my birthday is coming up and we are planning on going away to Torquay. Dad is coming and my sister too. Maybe my nephew will come. I hope they give me a cake. I love birthdays. 
From Ben 2


Hey readers how are you? Today’s topic is your perfect day or occasion and I have chosen to write my blog about my Christmas dress story.

It was a few weeks before Christmas and I looked on Temu and I saw a beautiful Christmas dress. I showed my mum and she said she loved it. I asked her if I could buy it and she said yes I was so excited to be able to buy it. But oh boy it was a long wait for it to arrive. 


I didn’t even want to wait until it came because I wanted to wear it straight away.
Each day I checked my emails for news about my dress arriving. Finally I got an email to say it was coming. After what seemed like years but was only weeks it arrived and it was more beautiful  than I thought it was in the picture.

I wore it to Umbrella Christmas party and Dinner with friends. I loved it and everyone said how beautiful the dress was and how beautiful I looked. I felt so special.


Readers, I have a question for you do you have a perfect day or special occasion and how would you spend it. Please let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading my blog this is bubbly Beth signing off until next week.


My celebration is coming up, I am seeing AC/DC in November at the MCG with my biological father. It will be a great opportunity to see them and then a week later I’ll be seeing Jimmy Barnes at Mount Duneed Estate in Geelong, with one of my friends who has organised our tickets for Jimmy Barnes. I’m so grateful that I’m going to meet the bands who are performing on that day. 

It will be a hot November day because it’s nearly coming up to summer that’s why it’s going to be hot and I’m sort of looking forward to it but the other half is telling me it may not be nice because I’m hoping that I don’t get a migraine on any of those days because I’ll be so upset if I got sick. It’s going to be a crazy experience. The highlight is seeing AC/DC at the MCG. 
This is Ash signing off keep on rocking.



The one thing I would celebrate if I had unlimited money and time and ideas, is to organise a New Years party at my place and have lots of friends to come to the party, four of my closest friends would come to celebrate New Year together. 


We would have lots of chatter and many laughs together and reminise the good times we have had in the last 12 months.


To celebrate this very special day/night we would build a very large firepit that would burn for 12 hours or more.

We would throw on lots of wood and a little touch of kerosene just to get it started whilst standing back a few metres for the flame to connect, and just for fun maybe put kerosene in water pistols to keep the fire going. 
We would play rap music and the volume would be the loudest you could play.

This would be a night to remember and the best part about having the party is that I'm with my friends and family.
Nick


Hello and welcome to this week’s blog. Today we are talking about special occasions. This blog comes at the perfect time as I have just celebrated a two-month milestone with a special someone who I love and cherish very much. Not only was it our anniversary but it was a milestone birthday. I had a great time at the basketball with my brother sitting in courtside seats. I love special occasions even before as it builds excitement and anticipation for the event. I love Christmas as I know the cricket is just around the corner. I also love New Years as those who know me know I like to party. I love going to parties and events to celebrate. I love listening to all the music and dancing (albeit very badly). 

What special occasions do you enjoy?

Keep being awesome - Ben1


How I would celebrate Halloween
My name is Korey and I as going to celebrate on Friday The 31st of October with many friends on Halloween day.

I am going to trick or treat and I'm also making the Jack-o'-Lantern.
I have watched many horror movies and my favourite movie is Child's Play.

My face would be painted to look like Michael Myers who is an actor in Halloween and my costume would be the hockey mask that Jason Voorhees wears in the movie and his creepy looking jacket with a machete in my hand.

I would go with my friends around the neighbourhood, and hopefully get lots of treats.
This is Korey signing off and wishing everyone a Happy Halloween.


Dear Readers, this week’s topic is about a special occasion. 
Let me start by telling you about last year’s red carpet event. It was on a Saturday and I got to go as a guest and I got to walk the red carpet and we all took photos and I’m so excited for this years red carpet event. Being a part of Hellow Media means I get to dress up, do my nails, do my hair and do my makeup.  I’m excited to walk the red carpet and take photos and watch all our hard work on screen.  

Written by Charlotte 
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<![CDATA[What is your era?]]>Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:52:16 GMThttp://umbrellasupport.com.au/just-write/what-is-your-era
What’s your era?
 
The oxford dictionary defines the term era as:
 
A period of time beginning with some special date or event.
 
Today our bloggers write about a time that is an important era in their lives.
 
I was born with a disability in 1999 and I’m also deaf. The doctor will fix my body like my hips and my hands to fix them. When I was little I got a bad brain and everything but now I’m happy and peaceful. I’m helpful and a nice guy but sometimes I’m cheeky. Anyway soon I’m going back to America. I’ll be happy to be there but it’s hot out there. I miss my grandpa and my friends who have passed away and one more thing about my old dog I miss her so much sooo I will be ok and have a fun time like a party Umbrella time from TJ
 
Today's blog is about choosing a different era to live in and what I would be doing.

If I could go back to another era l would go to the future in 2035. I would probably be doing the same things as I do now, being with my friends, learning new dance moves, watching Disney movies and going on lots of holidays. I hope in 10 years time a Disneyland would have opened in Melbourne and I could go there all the time! I think there will be new things that I like and new superhero's that I will love. I think there will be more games for me to play on my IPad, maybe even a newer version of an iPad. I would like to dress up as Wonder Woman, Captain America and I would have a big wardrobe of costumes. I think the future will be so much fun with my friends and family.
See you next week
Love Claire
 
 
I’ve chosen the 2000 era because it was such a good time, full of happy memories for me. There were so many popular, kid-friendly cartoons back then. 

Things were different in the year 2000—there were no smartphones. I remember watching movies and TV shows on DVD or free-to-air TV.

If I were living my day in 2000, I would start by watching cartoons to stop myself from feeling bored. I’d watch Playhouse Disney or Disney Channel. 

I’d also play with toys and do colouring in. My choice would be a Winnie the Pooh colouring book, because he’s one of my favourite classic Disney characters. I’d use my Faber-Castell 48 colour pencils to make it bright and colourful. 

Then, I’d go with my parents to a CD and DVD store, because there was no Spotify or Apple Music back then. I’d hope they had F4 CDs (the Taiwanese boyband). I’d feel anticipation—excited but a little anxious in case it sold out. Luckily, they would have plenty in stock, and I’d be over the moon once I got my CD. 

After that, I’d visit Toys “R” Us to buy toys like a Disney Princess castle, Barbie dolls, and Minnie Mouse or Winnie the Pooh plush toys. I’d feel that same anticipation again—excited but worried I might miss out—but luckily, the shelves would be full of what I wanted.

If it were winter, I’d wear my Strawberry Shortcake jumper and track-pants in baby pink. They would feel warm and cozy. Do you like that cartoon? I still do, even though it’s not so popular now. If it was a hot day, I’d wear my Lilo & Stitch t-shirt with shorts.


For breakfast, i’d eat Disney cereals—Hunny Bs, with a picture of Pooh on the box. I also want to try Sipahh straws (I never tried them in real life, but my cousin did). I’d choose choc-mint flavour because the packet is aqua, my favourite colour. 

For lunch, I’d have a Happy Meal from McDonald’s—nuggets, small fries, and a Coke—because the toys were so good in the 2000s. I’d get a Care Bears toy, which would be super cute.
For dinner, Dad would make me macaroni and cheese, because he’s a great cook.

Thanks for reading my story about the year 2000. I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
Love from, Jacinda
 
 
I was born at the start of the 90s, so my whole childhood was within the 90s. 
But I wish I was born in the 60s.
Why you ask? 
My parents were born in the 60s, I would love to relive their childhood and to see if all of the stories they told me were true and there was no social media, which would have been great and bad.  My mum even says today, the social media is the cause of the trouble, especially for bullying, because in the 60s, people could go home and relax without going online and being bullied by keyboard warriors.  Even if they were getting bullied, they could escape it for a bit. 
 
Also in the 60s they had good music too, like the Mama’s and Papa’s, Credence Clearwater.  The 60s also had some great tv shows, not like today. 
We sometimes even flick the TV on to I dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. 
Half of the jokes back then, I don’t think would be acceptable now. 
 
Both my parents would also say, they could leave the house in the morning and return when the street lights came on or for tea. To me that sounds like freedom.

But I guess each era would have the good and the bad, where the 60s all sounded great, but in school the teachers would use the ruler on the knuckles, so I’m glad I didn’t go to school back then. 

The Woodstock music festival looked like fun, I would loved to have been there. 
To be quite honest I think I have an old soul or a hippie soul, so I think I was born in the wrong era.  But sadly I was born in the 90s, at least I’m older than the internet. 
Haley. 
 
My name is Nick and I'm  stepping into a Time Machine which I built over the last twenty years.
My destination will be in the future and I am programming the Time Machine to 2099, which is 74 yrs from now. Whilst I'm in the time machine my age will stay the same as the day I entered this amazing machine.

When I arrive at my destination I will be surprised to see so many changes.
There could be flying cars with wings attached to the body work and no need for petrol as it would be all electric with powerful batteries under the bonnet. This battery would be capable of running for 10 days before  we have to recharge.

The biggest challenge would be creating a safe and effective vertical take-off. This amazing flying car could rise up to 20,000 feet, it would have controls in the car that are automatic and have senses all around the car. You would never have a car accident in the air. This is my dream for the future .
Signing off from my magical flying car, Nick.
 
Hello and welcome to new era in blogging. If I could go into any era, I would love to travel to the 80’s to listen to all the cool music and find out what life was like in that time. I would love to watch all the Hawthorn premierships and watch all the sport and see all the developments that has happened. I love comparing what life was like in the past compared to now. I wonder where politics would be? Would we have all the infighting that we have today? I would love to see the advancements in technology and wonder if people would truly believe where we are today. It also makes me wonder where we will be in fifty years time. I wonder how the next global crisis will be handled? Will we have hoverboards? What about Jetpack wheelchairs? Will there be world peace? What will the world look like? Will Taylor Swift have another Era’s tour in 20 year’s time? 
Keep being awesome and I’ll see you in the next life, ……oh I mean next week.
Ben1
 
Hey readers how are you today? Today’s topic is if you could go to another era what would it be and why?
I would go backwards to the year of Disco that is between 1970s to the early 1980s. The reason I want to go to the Disco era is because of the music and the clothes. 

To be in a disco with its loud music, strobe lights and mirrored disco balls hanging from the ceiling would be fabulous.  I would be wearing platform shoes and my very short floral dress. My friends would be wearing bell-bottom jeans with halter tops or a pantsuit or a miniskirt and of course platform shoes or long white boots. 

We would dance the night away, singing karaoke to our favourite songs such as Stayin Alive, I will survive and our absolute favourite is Dancing Queen. 

What an amazing time it would be to live in. Readers, have you lived in the disco era or know someone who did?

I have a question for you readers, if you could go back to any era what time would it be and why? Or, would it be forwards in time?
Please let us know in the comments 
This is bubbly Beth signing off!
 
In this week’s blog I was born in the summer of the 1880s. That’s the year of Ned Kelly and the Eureka stockade was happening and I was only 3 days older than Ned Kelly.  Both Ned’s family and my family where good friends and both of our parents were in the same prison cells and Ned asked me to be part of the Kelly Gang of course I said yes. I’ll be with Ned but they will sometimes be riding to Beechworth jail to get Ned out of the jail and help his brothers and sisters out with anything that they need. Sometimes I’ll be helping my family out as well and I’ll be riding to Albury to see Neds Aunty and Uncle as I got the news that Ned was sent to the old Melbourne jail to be hung. I told them not to hang Ned because he did not do it. I hope I could change history.
Such is Life, Ash.
 
Lets talk about Eras...
I want to start with a definition of Era, according to Oxford Languages on Google the definition of an Era; is a long and distinct period of history. Some examples of different Eras are; the Medieval Era, Victorian Era, Renaissance Era and The Cold War Era. Now our topic would be to talk about an Era or Eras that we might want to be in or are interested in. Maybe someone could make up a future era to write about that includes time travel and all the techie techie stuff.

When I heard the word Era, I immediately thought of Taylor Swift because of her Eras Tour. The Eras Tour was Taylor’s sixth concert tour that went from the seventeenth of March 2023 to the eighth of December 2024. This was a tour that celebrated and showcased the different eras of Taylor’s music. I believe that the tour started in America then continued onto other places in the world including Australia. Keeping in mind that the information I have might be off, I did my best to check reliable sources and I apologise if I have anything wrong.

Here are the different Taylor Swift Eras; Taylor Swift era, Fearless era, Speak Now era, Red era, 1989 era, Reputation era, Lover era, Folklore era, Evermore era, Midnights era and The tortured Poets Department era. Each one of you will notice (or not) is the name of her albums. Also it’s something special that Taylor can celebrate and share with her Swifties. The different Eras and the Eras tour gave Swifties (Taylor’s Fans) a chance to come together and share their love for Taylor and for their favorite eras of Taylors music.

​My favourite part of all of this is that each time there’s a tour bracelets are swapped, friendships are made and everyone gets to have a wonderful time just being their happy Swiftie selves. Maybe one day I’ll get a ticket and be able to see Taylor in concert.
BRING ON THE NEW ERA!
From your friend,
Shan
 
Dear readers, this week’s topic is an era of time   Let me start by telling you about an era of time that I would go to would be 2035. If I'm being honest I don’t know why I would go to 2035. It would be lots of fun. In my future there would be robotic cars, I would be much older and would be a professional chef and there would be jetpack wheelchairs too. As a professional chef, I would have my own restaurant and I would have all different dishes but my speciality would be Hungarian food. My restaurant would be in Garfield and it would be an inclusive workplace where I would hire people of all abilities.
What era do you think would be the best?
Written by Charlotte

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