Crepuscular Ratel

Can't sleep - too angry

2012-01-29T01:33:00.003+11:00

Which is really irritating because I'm sure everything will seem better when I'm well rested. But every time I lie down I think of all the angry words I'd really like to say. It would be pointless saying them. It won't help. But they are in my head wanting to scream when I run out of distractions.

It can all just fuck off.

Flying Too High

2012-01-28T16:01:00.003+11:00

by Kerry Greenwood

A Phryne Fisher Mystery. Book 2 in fact.

Because this series has been made into a tv show to be shown on ABC sometime this year, and because I have met the author and know her partner reasonably well, and because some of our mutual friends read these as soon as she writes them, I figured I should probably give them a go. I own a bunch of other Greenwood novels but haven't read a Fisher until now.

It was entertaining. I wouldn't say there was much mystery to it but the main character is very bold and unconventional and always gets her way. And rich enough to afford indulgent things. There is a lot of talk of food and frocks and art and all things upper class and fashionable in 1920's Melbourne. It's an easy enough story in a period setting. And once I got into it, I got sucked into the descriptions of the life of the time.

There is a murder and a kidnapping and some incidental action involving a plane.

Now onto the next borrowed book in the series. I still need to find the first in the series since that is sure to be in the tv production.

Purple?

2012-01-25T21:45:00.002+11:00

It was so much fun last year we are doing it again. Except this year the adults are actually getting organised to fundraise for ourselves rather than letting the children do it for us.

World's Greatest Shave is the link to the team site if you would like to sponsor us and nominate a colour. Last year I went red and tinofbeans went pink. This year we are talking purple.

I could say it's all for a good cause but really it's about having an excuse to have mad hair again....

Hello? Is this thing on?

2012-01-23T20:24:00.002+11:00

Or is everyone still away on holidays?

I'm getting a little disheartened at the lack of comments.

I'm not doing this for the comments but the occasional one is nice. There haven't been many recently. The summer holidays are obviously far too exciting and no one is at the computer. Or there is a simultaneous attack of life rampaging about.

Is anyone out there?

Recipe 4 for 2012

2012-01-23T20:14:00.002+11:00

Chocolate and beetroot brownies
given to me by a preschool friend's mum although it looks to be out of a SMH.

4 eggs
440g caster sugar
225g plain flour
2 1/2 tbsp cocoa
175g melted butter
1 beetroot grated (approx 180g
60g cashews, chopped (I used macadamias cause I didn't have cashews)

Beat eggs and sugar. Add flour and cocoa. Add butter. Add beetroot and nuts.
Bake 55mins @ 160C in a lined 20cm square tin.

I love the idea of beetroot and chocolate but this wasn't it. I'm disturbed by the amount of sugar in this recipe. This needs much less sugar and more chocolate. The cake did taste okay, but it could be a lot better. I need to try a different recipe.

Here's a different one. This one looks a little evil. Another reasonable looking one. Anyone out there tried this sort of thing and could recommend a recipe?

sunday seven

2012-01-22T19:58:00.003+11:00

1/ new laptop - bought for work use. It seemed easier to get a new one to play with than fiddle with the existing machines to create a dual boot system. Plus it's a laptop so it will allow for portable entertainment of child when needed.

2/ MrTops setting up the new laptop to become dual boot. I've never been particularly interested in system administration. MrTops has more interest and a teensy bit more experience with it. So even though I'm the unix person, he is setting it up.

3/ ubuntu installation of Linux. Making it very easy to install all the extra bits of software I need to get working.

4/ empty sandpits left in the rain. The torrential rain filled the sandpits and child had a pool for a few days before the water got too manky. Child had great time in the large puddles of water.

5/ blender and pepper grinder from grandma. I cringe at the thought of someone on a pension giving me expensive gifts but these are two item that we will use. They were on the list of stuff that we sort of wanted but could live without.

6/ a house free of guests. I'm exhausted. I know grandma is exhausted. Guests are fun to have but you can never quite let your guard down. Certainly the midnight nude dashes to the loo were always a little chancy. And our household consumption of butter will drop dramatically now grandma is gone. And the rest of the diet will contain far fewer treats from now on.

7/ kid's dance and games day. Cast of thousands. Just about all the SCA kids we know in spitting distance were there. We successfully got all of them to dance two dances and then play tierce. The tierce was surprisingly fun. Mostly because we got to see excited and mostly bewildered kids running around like mad things. And then occasionally two adults would be in play and then no quarter was given. I'm glad there were so many people there. I think all the kids got something out of it and hopefully will want to play again.

Aran jumper week 2

2012-01-22T19:47:00.003+11:00

I'm quite pleased with the progress. Perhaps sleeve 2 will be done before school starts. Then the progress will slow considerably with the great width of the main parts of the jumper. The decreasing was a bit wiggly because I didn't understand the pattern instructions on the first or second reading but it turned out fine overall and I understand what I should be doing in the second sleeve. And sleeve two will not contain the cabling mistake that the first one has. I shall leave it as an exercise for the reader to find it... if you could actually be bothered. It doesn't dramatically effect the pattern and it wouldn't be noticeable on a moving arm when being worn.

There was some concern over the length of the sleeve but I'm trusting the pattern and the fact that the notes on the pattern from MissFliss suggest that we are on the right track - ie the arm dimensions I need to work with have to be smaller than the arm she has to fit.

So time to rinse and repeat. I have this cable pattern sorted. I can almost do it from memory. But I'll stick to the two post-it notes on the pattern just to make sure.

Recipe 3 for 2012

2012-01-20T12:37:00.002+11:00

From Jamie's 30 minute meals - Tray baked chicken, squashed potatoes, creamed spinach, strawberry slushie.

In honour of grandma's visit I thought I'd try another JO recipe. I had plenty of strawberries and potatoes so this one seemed an easy choice.

It was one of the easier 30 minute recipes I've done. Boil potatoes, chuck in frypan to finish. Brown chicken, chuck in oven to finish. Spinach wilted then add cream. Strawberries in blender.

It was nice but it wasn't the taste explosion we've had in the past from this cook book. I seem to be saying that a lot now. The first few recipes were miraculous but now my expectations are getting higher. Also, unlike other recipes we've tried in this book, there was only just enough food. Usually we cook a recipe for 4 and get two big dinners out of it. This one fed 4 adults and one child with room left for icecream. It's probably better not to be stupidly stuffed though.

A good feed but not desperately exciting.

Job started

2012-01-18T17:03:00.002+11:00

I started the part time job today. MrTops and Crankmaster took Grandma off on a cruise while I settled down to get brain working again. I say cruise but really it was a river cat from Circular Quay to Parramatta. But from all reports it was great. I usually find even a short trip on the ferry makes you smile. Boats are fun.

My day was spend logging in and changing passwords and setting up all the various utilities I will need to be productive - getting on the new unix box and pissing in all the corners and moving things around and generally getting comfortable. Several of the applications were a bit recalcitrant. The source control system is a little different to what I've used before so I needed to learn the new magic words to make it do what I want it to do. I know what it should do but each program changes the command names to make it slightly different.

After six hours, brain was well and truely tired but I did get a few things sorted and put new code back into the system. Things aren't finished but I have made a start. And I know what I need to work on tomorrow. There is still a lot to learn and things to configure so I can have a system to test on but clear progress has been made.

I must say Ubuntu is a cunning system. It was so easy to install the extra applications I needed. I'm not a system administrator but getting set up to work on this system was painless. I did get MrTops to install the Ubuntu in the first place since he has more experience with building machines in the first place. But now I have the machine set up it is lovely to play with.

Aran jumper week 1

2012-01-15T19:19:00.002+11:00

The wool arrived on monday and I couldn't help myself, I had to start knitting. So far I've learned how to k1tbl and p1tbl. I also seem to be getting the cable stitches working properly. At least they look right. I think my increasing is probably not entirely elegant but it too appears to be working. This is probably half a sleeve. It is one complete cable pattern. I'll probably need another whole pattern for the sleeve but there is supposed to be some decreasing in there too. I guess I'll find out how that works next week. Stay tuned for the next installment.

sunday seven

2012-01-15T16:57:00.003+11:00

1/ pants - I got new track pants from a swap evening. I think they belonged to Bel. She throws away very classy track pants. Much better than the sort I buy new.

2/ Hairy Maclary tickets - a rather cunning show that I'm glad I got to see.

3/ Very glad that the neices and brother slept at a nearby B&B. It was fun to see them but it was also such a relief to have a quiet house in the evenings. We could have squished everyone in if we had to but I think I would have also gone completely homicidal after a short time.

4/ found car key. I took everyone to the Armory Park. We flew kites and the kids had a hoot playing on the cunning swings and in the fountains. Somehow I managed to drop the car key during the kite flying. I noticed soon after and calmly collected the kids off the flying fox and started checking the ground where the kites were. Within a minute, Crankmaster found it. The child that can't find anything in his room managed to spot the key in the grass. Clever lad! He got an extra treat for that. Panic and crisis averted.

5/ new knitting project. Sleeve number one abut halfway there. I follow the recipe and the cabling works. It's cunning. I even managed to spot a cabling mistake and fix it without having to pull out the whole row. I feel like I can do this thing.

6/ gardening. I finally potted my catnip and the lemon verbena is in the ground in the front yard thanks to MrTops digging a big hole. We all had fun ripping out the massive jade plant that was there. There was a water meter under it. I never knew. I bet no one has read that for years. No wonder we never see any water bills. Mind you, if we were required to pay the water bill I'd be hassling the estate agent to fix the besquillion leaks in the system.

7/ Mini figure dalek. It was a silly spontaneous purchase but I used a gift card to buy it. Amusing gift for us all.

The newest creation

2012-01-13T19:52:00.003+11:00

The castle walls came down and now we have MrTops' latest creation. Yes, that is a dalek on top. The ABC shop has DrWho minifigures. I had a feel of a few packets and the dalek was so easy to pick so I had to get one.

Recipe 2 for 2012

2012-01-13T19:26:00.002+11:00

Instant strawberry icecream

300g frozen fruit
125g sugar
150 ml thickened cream

Blend.

This was pretty good. It was rather sweet though. I thought it tasted like a liquid pavlova - sugar, cream, strawberry - it just lacked the crunch. I think it would work with a lot less sugar. Or use yoghurt. I have made this sort of thing in the past with low fat yoghurt and as little sugar as possible. The high sugar, high fat version is much nicer but certainly not for everyday.

I have cream leftover from this experiment so tomorrow I think there will be an experiment with cherries and later another with mulberries. I have too much frozen fruit.

Clockwork diablo girls

2012-01-13T18:07:00.002+11:00

I mentioned this the other day when someone suggested that diablo was too hard for little kids. Now I see it again these girls are definitely older than six. They seem so tiny at first but I guess they are probably teenagers. But to be this good they must have been doing this for years.

More mysterious than cheese

2012-01-12T20:17:00.003+11:00

This is a line from the Sing 2011 song The Expanding Universe. It's a cunning song. But it keeps getting stuck in my head. And I find it mysterious that cheese is mysterious.

Hairy Maclary

2012-01-12T19:51:00.003+11:00

We got to see Hairy Maclary today thanks to cunning free tickets generously supplied by MzSpeedy. The catch was that we got to be test audience for their evacuation drill, which was thoughtfully left until the end of the show.

It was a hoot.

The dog costumes were surprisingly effective. Hercules Morse was really as big as a horse. And as I was sitting in the middle of the front row he kept looming over me looking for a pat. I was intimidated. At one point the audience was asked to call for their favourite dog. Mine is Bottomley Potts but she was already onstage so I called for Schnitzel von Krumm but I changed my tune when Hercules wandered over. No really Hercules. You can be my favourite. He certainly was my favourite of the stage dogs.

It was suitably pantomime where yelling from the audience was actively encouraged. There were hidden dog pictures which Mrs Plum could never find. "It's behind you!!". The kids got so involved and so loud and excited during those bits. Crankmaster laughed so hard. Oh to be a child again.

And of course, Crankmaster sang the songs on the way home.

Big decision post script

2012-01-12T19:44:00.002+11:00

The next day, job number two contacted me to see if I'd change my mind if offered more money. So that's rather nice to know that they did want me lots. But as lovely as they were the travel time was still the big killer.

Other stuff of note, I've started the first sleeve of MrTops' jumper. The cabling seems to be behaving itself. I follow the recipe and it seems to look like what it is supposed to look like.

The house is a little quieter now. Grandma has been here for almost a week. Brother turned up sunday night and neices turned up the next morning. Brother and neices headed off on their cruise around NZ yesterday. Two days of a full house was a little too full on. Coming down to one mostly self entertaining guest is much nicer.

Big decision

2012-01-10T20:28:00.002+11:00

I was very excited about the idea of having two part time jobs. It was going to be challenging to find time for them both. In fact, I realise now that it would be too challenging. I just wouldn't be able to fit in the work and travel without finding alternative care arrangements for Crankmaster at least for one afternoon a week.

I've since spoken with confirmed employer and his minimum hours per week is now 12 hours (possibly more if all goes well). The other unconfirmed job was for 21 hours per week. That's 33 hours. That's nearly a full time job. For less pay than I would get for full time. And add to that the travel time to get to job two.

So I'm going to tell write to the job to people and withdraw the application. It looked like a great place to work but realistically, my job, for now, is to look after the child, not be the bread winner. The job is to keep my brain ticking over and to provide cake, not the bread. The second job will get in the way of the school run and after school activities.

And if I'm not spending all my free time working frantically I will have time to get involved in the school canteen and whatever else there is to get involved in. And keep up the dance classes.

It's all far less daunting now that I've come to this conclusion.

sunday seven

2012-01-08T19:56:00.002+11:00

1/ ham! - On the market foraging trip we stopped past Moree Meat. Grandma looked at the hams which I wouldn't normally glance at. Then I took a look at discovered that they were being sold off at less than half the regular price. 5kgs of ham for $20! And it's triffic.

2/ Flight status updates on the interwebs. No more pointless laps at the airport. Grandma's plane was early. I was able to leave early to meet her. Brother's plane is delayed by the storms. I can sit at home and watch the amended arrival times.

3/ a pleasant breakfast party with lovely eggs benedict.

4/ that all my various joints are functioning normally.

5/ new Wii game. I've resisted buy console games in the past but this is keeping us all entertained. Hopefully this level of playing won't last. Well, when holidays end it will become a rationed treat but at the moment it is a good activity to do when hiding inside from the heat.

6/ Dakar rally. I don't know why but I need my annual fix.

7/ happy colourful sock wool. The latest pair are zooming by because of the cheerful colours keeping me amused.

The Ballad of Floor Buffer Smurf

2012-01-07T20:59:00.001+11:00

Axis of Evil Wannabees

2012-01-07T10:46:00.002+11:00

I was having a conversation and mentioned Chadguay and received a blank look in response. This did the rounds as an email 10 years ago. And so I've found a copy on the interwebs to link to and quote.

Axis of Evil Wannabees
by Andrew Marlatt
(wrongly attributed to John Cleese)

Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis
of Evil" club, Libya, China and Syria today announced
that they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil", which
they said would be more evil than that stupid
Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of in
his State of the Union address. Axis of Evil members,
however, immediately dismissed the new Axis as having,
for starters, a really dumb name. "Right! They are
just as evil . . . in their dreams!" declared North
Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. "Everybody knows we're the
best evils . . . best at being evil . . . we're the
best."

Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over
being excluded, although they conceded they did ask if
they could join the original Axis of Evil. "They told
us it was full," said Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. "An axis can't have more than three
countries," explained Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"This is not my rule, it's tradition. In World War II
you had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the old evil
Axis. So, you can only have three, and a secret
handshake. Ours is wickedly cool."

International reaction to Bush's Axis of Evil
declaration was swift, as within minutes, France
surrendered.

Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed
to gain triumvirate status in what has become a game
of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan and Serbia
announced that they had formed the "Axis of Somewhat
Evil," forcing Somalia to join with Uganda and Myanmar
in the "Axis of Occasionally Evil," while Bulgaria,
Indonesia and Russia established the "Axis of Not So
Much Evil Really as Just Generally Disagreeable."
With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the
desirable clubs filling up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador,
and Rwanda applied to be called the "Axis of Countries
That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be Asked to
Host the Olympics". Canada, Mexico and Australia
formed the "Axis of Nations That Are Actually Quite
Nice But Secretly Have Some Nasty Thoughts About
America", while Scotland, New Zealand and Spain
established the "Axis of Countries That Want Sheep to
Wear Lipstick." "That's not a threat, really, just
something we like to do," said Scottish Executive
First Minister Jack McConnell.

While wondering if the other nations of the world
weren't perhaps making fun of him, a cautious Bush
granted approval for most axes, although he rejected
the establishment of the "Axis of Countries Whose
Names End in 'Guay'", accusing one of its members of
filing a false application. Officials from Paraguay,
Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges.

Israel, meanwhile, insisted it didn't want to join any
Axis, but privately world leaders said that's only
because no one asked them.

Face palm

2012-01-05T19:31:00.003+11:00

My paternal grandfather was born in the UK! Why had it never occurred to me before today? Well, probably because he died before I was born. Even before dad met mum.

From what I understand, if I can get the appropriate documentation, I qualify for a UK passport. I know other people have these things. I have just always assumed that multiple passports happened to people with more interesting ancestry than me. I had always thought of myself as Australian for the last besquillion generations.

But no. I failed to consider the man who died over 50 years ago.

Of course, now I have this idea, I wonder is it really worth persuing. What does a UK passport get one? Is it a cunning thing to have?

It's all in working order

2012-01-05T17:23:00.003+11:00

Well, I've done the pre-employment medical and everything seems to be functioning as it should. My blood pressure is a little up but then it usually is. The weight is more than it should be. Dealing with the latter should help the former but I should still go to my doctor just to be sure.

The medical was pretty simple. It was just about making sure that all my bits moved in all the directions they were supposed to. And I passed with full marks. My left hand strength was 31 and the right was 21. I'm not sure what is average but it was good enough.

So nothing was very difficult but I'm pleased that hips, knees, ankles, back, shoulders, wrists and neck are all still doing what they are supposed to do. At my age I don't expect anything to be worn out. I plan to use it all for many years to come.

My DVD recorder doesn't like Dakar.

2012-01-04T21:49:00.002+11:00

It's bizarre but there is some odd glitch in the recorder where it forgets to stop and I have to turn it off to get control back. This results in the complete loss of anything that was being recorded. It happened last year at Dakar Rally time. I suspect resistentialism. The recorder doesn't want me to get my annual Dakar fix! Yay for the internet so I can catch up there.

Today, I took the child to the movies to attempt to escape the heat. We saw Puss in Boots. It was very cute and it was easy for Crankmaster to follow because it used so many other nursery rhyme characters and plots. It was one and a half hours. Crankmaster had just enough attention for make it although he seemed to be flagging at about the one hour mark. It's only his second movie at the cinema.

It's not a cheap outing. Next time I think we will go to the Reading at Rhodes. I think it would have been $10 cheaper than the local cinema. The upside of local is that we saw a school friend as we were leaving. They were heading to see Tin tin. That looks pretty cool but we will need to read some of the books first. There is also a new muppet movie coming out. I need to see that one.

And another cute thing was that they gave each child a Lego minifigure. We got a mummy. Which then resulted in a discussion of archeology and egyptology. This was helped by the recent Mythbusters episode investigating the movie "The Mummy" and their method of lighting the tomb using mirrors to reflect the sunlight underground. We will have to visit the mummy in the museum now and well as the dinosaurs.

Oh yeah, I probably haven't mentioned it here, but Crankmaster has been doing some archeology in the compost heap. He found a bunch of bones and a few broken things. MrTops went through his finds bucket and they sorted it out. The evidence shows that this civilisation ate turkey, chicken and pork. And they also had pottery (a bit of broken plate) and woodworking. And a few interesting rocks.... I love nerdy play.

Recipe 1 for 2012

2012-01-04T20:47:00.002+11:00

And the New Year's Resolution is off to a good start with this Spicy Chocolate and Zuchini Cake. The boyz are threatening a boycott over injustices to chocolate. I must admit it looked really dodgy as a mix, but I've just had a slice warm with ice cream and it's not too shabby. I'd better recheck now it's a little cooler. Just to be sure....

Socks 19

2012-01-04T20:19:00.003+11:00

Wool - Jigsaw 4 ply 100g, 75% wool, 25% nylon
Pattern - Barbara's pattern, calf length, lady

This is the christmas present for the lovely neighbour. These are made from the leftovers of socks 12 and 9. These were actually finished last year but it's taken me a little while to get around to do the finishing sewing. The next sock is already past the heel! The colours are so bright and cheerful. The sock production will slow considerably when the jumper wool arrives.

Hoorah for Wot Wots

2012-01-03T20:53:00.002+11:00

Crankmaster watched a spot of ABC Kids programming this morning. Apparently, this morning Spotty Wot had a strawberry and banana 'loopy fruity' drink. So Crankmaster asked for one too. As I had bananas and strawberries in the house, I made him a smoothie with the aforementioned fruit. And it was greatly enjoyed. In fact, his post dinner treat request was for another 'loopy fruity'. Hoorah for achieving all the serves of dairy and fruit for the day. I must buy more strawberries.

Other things of note - I put flea gunk on the cat.

I also finished the tractor jigsaw puzzle started at the New Year breakfast. I'm not sure all the grass pieces were exactly correct. The problem with cheap puzzles is that the pieces aren't entirely unique and can almost fit into multiple places. It looked convincing enough to be considered done.

Hmmm. I thought I had something more interesting to write. It seems I was wrong. Or just forgetful. Perhaps I'll remember tomorrow. Time to go darn some socks...

sunday seven

2012-01-01T19:41:00.002+11:00

1/ gift of 2nd hand bike from Fz. It is very shiney and goes really well. And more importantly, stops realy well too.

2/ very glad that I didn't end up given Smasha her extra bag of chook food. The produce store is closed for two weeks and we run out of food on the weekend. It's coarse rather than mash but I'm sure they will survive.

3/ cousin christmas. A fabulous day visiting sister-out-law and neices. Cool presents, fantastic BBQ lunch and a fun ride in the park. The kids get on so well. I really like chatting with sister-outlaw. I am all inspired now to get the kids out on a bushwalk up there. Our city kids are a little soft, I'm thinking. And it's all downhill from there so I'm sure they could manage it. Crankmaster is still light enough that I could carry him if it got that bad.

4/ running of the boyz in the park. Preschool mum called a bunch of us to meet in the local park. The boyz ran around the playground like mad things. Surprisingly, there were no injuries (to themselves or innocent bystanders).

5/ amazing fruit at the markets. So much is in season now! I just have to restrain myself and only buy as much as I am likely to eat in a given week. I think I need a watermelon. Well, I need only half really.

6/ a relaxed party to attend on New Year's Eve. The evening went so fast that the sound of the 9pm fireworks was there before we realised that we should have had the child in bed half an hour ago.

7/ fun riding bikes at the Armory with EvilStig and fambly. One path we followed was 3 times the length that we were planning but the kids had no trouble with the distance. There are so many cunning bike paths along the river these days. We should explore more of them.

Dueling blocks

2012-01-01T17:49:00.003+11:00

Crankmaster loves lego as I'm sure you would have guessed by now. The problem is, once something has been built, he never wants to pull it apart to make anything else. Usually I wait until he has forgotten a particular creation and disassemble it when he isn't looking. MrTops desperately wants to build stuff but is thwarted by the no-break rules. So he bought his own blocks. These are cheap compatible knock off blocks but they can be used to make this...

Crankmaster loves it and filled it with his soldier figures even before it was finished. We are now trying to convince him to allow the use of his blocks to build a central keep. The talks continue.

This is the revamped gate tower.

No fashion - first quarter

2012-01-01T15:23:00.003+11:00

DrQ has the goal of not buying clothes for a year and attempting to make everything she needs. I thought I'd at least keep a record of what clothing we buy for a year and see where we were in the karmic fashion stakes.

Apart from the tap concert silly stuff, I think we have done pretty well. We will take a big hit when school starts and there are uniforms to buy. I've made two pairs of pants for myself from stash material and also knitted bunches of hats and a few socks from stash wool. One ball of wool was bought to make Christmas presents and I've ordered several balls of wool to create MrTops' winter jumper.

October
Crankmaster
black vest for steampunk costume - $2
2 pair flannelette pj pants to replace the pair that he put a hole through - $4

November
MrTops
pith helmet from Western Plains Zoo - $25

me
Tap concert costume - $65
Fishnet stockings (for above) - $7
Singlet (ditto) - $12.95

December
nothing

Resolutions

2012-01-01T15:17:00.002+11:00

So how did I go with the resolutions of 2011

- declutter house - Achieved
Thanks to DrQ introducing me to the Flylady website, I can definitively say that I've got rid of a bunch of stuff. Still plenty of crap in the house but it's an attitude change and work in progress

- throw out jeans - Achieved
I didn't buy any new jeans to replace the ones gone though. I still probably have too many pairs but I'm not hanging onto the ones that are dead. I was appalled to read in a slow fashion article that the average person has 6 pairs of jeans. Six pairs sounded like a ridiculously large number. However, after throwing out the dead pairs, I am now MzAverage. Mind you, I haven't actually bought a new pair for jeans for years and three of the pairs I don't fit into at the moment. Two are close to fitting and the last is an old favourite pair that is probably a fading dream to ever fit back into. So 20 years ago. I will dream a little longer though.

- more embroidery - Partial success
I made more things than last year but I'm not convinced that I spent more hours sewing. I made more clothing this year than I've done for ages though.

- less time wasting in front of the computer - no idea
I suspect I spend less time in nerd land but I know sometimes I keep freshing facebook hoping for something exciting to come along.

- try new recipes - Achieved

- help more - fail
I had this great ideal but I didn't really have a plan nor any metric to measure by. I helped people but I don't think I was any more helpful than I would have been any other year.

- more garden, more cooking, more freezer - yes, yes, no

- lose weight and get fit, and win lotto. - no, yes (fitter compared to last year at least), no

- sew or read for 15 minutes everyday - the regime of 15 minutes didn't last long but I think on average it did happen.

- make something handmade for Wenchi - yes.

So that's mostly a successfully resolved year.

Resolutions for 2012
- keep up the new recipes - This has been fun.
- lose weight - I put on about 2 kgs last year rather than taking any off. I have to lose them at least. (Of course this is at odds with resolution 1). I have a rough goal of about a kg a month. That would be very achievable.
- more decluttering of house - It is strangely satisfying to get rid of stuff.
- throw away dead shorts - I use bike shorts for swimming and often I'll get to the pool and discover my shorts are full of holes. Or worse, one really large hole. I really need to cull.
- knit a jumper for MrTops - I have a plan, the wool is ordered, I have most of the needles I will need.
- keep dancing. I don't know how I will fit this around the new job and new school routine but I'll give it a good go. It was fun and good exercise.
- use up or throw out the odd ingredients hiding in the back of the cupboards and fridge. For example, the preserved lemons I made a month or so ago. And I have a bunch of homemade chutneys and jams that I've made or been given. They deserve to be consumed before they go feral. I shall attempt to do this once a week and thus perhaps work on resolution 1 at the same time.

Pocket money?

2011-12-30T20:05:00.002+11:00

Hey there parental units out there. During the pre-christmas wander the other kids had money of their own to spend and that reminded me that perhaps I should start thinking about providing Crankmaster with pocket money sometime in the coming year.

So, what sort of amounts and arrangements do other kids get? If left to my own devices I would be Stingy McStingy. I think there should be some sort of reciprocal deal where there should be token chores (doing violin practice and putting away toys) in exchange for the cash.

I can't remember when I started getting pocket money. I'm pretty sure it wasn't until I started high school. But kids are so much more commercial now than in the old days. Back then children weren't a marketing demographic of importance. I don't want my child to be a massive consumer but he should have some sort of parity with the kids around him.

So what is the done thing? Anyone care to comment?

More hats

2011-12-30T19:12:00.002+11:00

Nothing to see here. Just a record of more of the same hat in a slightly different colour to all of the others I've created. MrTops chose the colour btw. I've almost knitting 30 of these things. That would explain why I know the pattern off by heart. There are still heads without hats in the campsite so there is sure to be more hat knitting.

Creatures of habit

2011-12-27T19:39:00.004+11:00

The child has a little wheel barrow. Soon after we were given it, Crankmaster dropped a brick into it and cracked the plastic bucket. We were then given a metal tray for a wheel barrow which MrTops put on the old frame. I was keeping the old plastic tray to turn into a planter but it's just mostly been junk in the carport.

Recently I was using the little tray to store the excess straw that didn't fit into the straw box. The new girls like it and started laying there eggs there. The old girls liked that idea and are now laying there eggs in there too. I don't mind so much because it isn't as far to walk and at least they are laying in a reliable spot.

Last night MrTops fired up the BBQ to cook dinner. This required the moving of flamable material, for example, a large bucket of straw. He put it on top of Crankmaster's ride on car which is about a metre tall. He didn't remember to put it back on the ground when he was finished.

This morning I found the straw tray precariously balanced between the ride on car and the lawn mower. And there were 3 eggs in it. They were devoted to laying in that spot even though the spot had moved to a dumb location. Or at least one chook was prepared to jump that high and probably got quite a fright when the whole thing fell. But then it fell to a spot that the other girls could get to.

I'm glad it fell before the eggs were added. I don't think lawn mowers would work for well covered in egg. Cleaning off the straw was bad enough...

Dear lazyweb

2011-12-27T18:22:00.003+11:00

Does anyone out there have the technology to turn VCR tapes into DVDs? I've got a couple of cunning ones and I'm not sure they will exist in DVD format. Plus I'm kinda cheap and don't really care to buy them all over again.

It's the Nova Secrets of Lost Empires series. You might remember the one where they built a couple of trebuchets at Urquart Castle. And they built a section of Stone Henge and a Roman bathhouse and a few other cunning things just with the techology of the age and usually a bunch of local students as slave labour.

I have a VCR player that could be used in the process. It currently isn't hooked up to anything and I don't really want to incorporate it into the home entertainment system just for the few remaining commercial tapes that I have. The boyz got a games console for Christmas and that will be challenging enough to cable in.

Can anyone be of assistance? Or know who might know?

Thanks all.

monday seven

2011-12-26T15:34:00.002+11:00

1/ all the lovely things we got for Christmas

2/ that MrTops did a fabulous job on wrapping the christmas presents. They looked a million times better than I would have done them.

3/ also grateful for the wonderful presents that MrTops built for a few of the kids. I made as many things as I could and MrTops filled in the last few. I'm pleased that everything was homemade this year. It is less stressful because I'm crap at shopping and I never know what to buy. Most things seemed to be well received.

4/ for an potential new job and lovely ex-coworkers to be referees. It's very exciting to have work after so long thinking it was an impossible dream.

5/ lovely christmas lunch and swim. It seems odd that we only see these people one a year at most but everything just slotted into place once the conversation started flowing. I guess if they didn't want us around we wouldn't have been invited. I was delighted to have a swim. I was the only adult to just in the pool though. I don't understand why.

6/ Going Postal on tv. A good adaption of the book. Hogfather will be played next week and apparently by the same people so I'm looking forward to it.

7/ David Jones christmas windows - an amusing day out with tinofbeans and kids. Lots of people in town though. Crankmaster particularly liked the Little Drummer boy. He had to wait for the whole song before he would move on to the next scene.

Advent 2011 Day 24

2011-12-24T21:07:00.002+11:00

Day 24 is the big man in red, of course. With his own chimbley. No crowbars required.

And here is the assembled cast.

Advent 2011 Day 23

2011-12-23T19:42:00.000+11:00

Santa's puppy

Potatoes

2011-12-23T19:34:00.002+11:00

Remember those seed potatoes I planted months ago. Well, here is the result. None of them are particularly large but there is a significant increase in volume from the 4 potatoes I planted in August.

I'm keen to plant more now. There is a sense in achievement in eating something from the garden.

Note to self

2011-12-23T19:16:00.002+11:00

Don't discuss cosmology with child in the pre-bedtime chat. Child was worried about it all night and told dad the next morning.

I didn't mean to do it. I was just explaining about the solstice and then I started on eliptical orbits to explain that and then got on to orbital speed in general which led to the concept of the earth being swallowed by the sun in billions of years. I really must learn where to stop the blathering.

We had to explain dark matter this afternoon. The Sing 2011 Volume 2 CD has a silly and yet cunning song about dark matter on it and we had to explain what that was about. I like the Sing series.

I enjoy having nerdy conversations with the child. I'm sure he doesn't get it all but I know the information goes in. It comes out at weird times and confuses random adults and I have to explain what he's on about....

Advent 2011 Day 21 & 22

2011-12-22T20:32:00.001+11:00

Day 21 - a trailer for the snowmobile for those non-chimney house calls

Day 22 - police version of the snow mobile. For supervising santa's helpers.

I can haz another job?

2011-12-22T18:07:00.002+11:00

Well, I don't know for sure yet but I got a call today to say they were going to talk to me referees and send me off for a medical. I'm not sure how a medical is necessary for a programming job but this is the standard proceedure for everyone. I'm kinda thinking that this had got to be the last hurdle or very close to it. No stumbling allowed now!

So come the next year, I might be a very gainfully employed thing indeed.

Tuesday seven

2011-12-20T20:25:00.002+11:00

It's been such a busy up and down week. And now it's spitting distance to Christmas. Where has the time gone!!!

1/ For the invite and opportunity to head out to the beach for a few days. It was exhausting and it rained a fair bit but it was good to get out and hang out with friends and have a bit of a road trip with the family.

2/ Making friends with salad. I really enjoyed cooking and eating with everyone and especially the fact that people really liked the salads I threw together. It was a recipe concept that I got from BaggyT and it works so well. The garden is going nuts right now so there needs to be more salad.

3/ A successful dance concert. It was fun to do and it was the culmination of a years worth of learning. And it's nice to be done with also.

4/ To EvilStig for digging an impressive hole in his backyard for Fronti. It doesn't seem right to bury the cat in a rental property so he will now stay with friends. I gave Fronti my post apocalyptic jumper to cover him and we planted a catnip on top. It's good to have sympathetic friends to help with the loss of a well loved pet.

5/ To the pre-school for taking such good care of Crankmaster over the last two years. He has grown so much in that time and has become so independant. He should be just fine starting big school.

6/ A real christmas tree making the house smell nice.

7/ A new job to start in the new year.

Advent 2011 Day 18, 19 and 20

2011-12-20T20:20:00.002+11:00

Day 18 - Santa's helper. Or os I've been told. According to Crankmaster the crowbar is to help Santa get into houses without a chimney.

Day 19 - A safe with little gold bars inside. Note the lack of chimney.

Day 20 - a snowmobile. To quickly travel between places without the chimney....

A dancy thing iz me

2011-12-17T20:45:00.002+11:00

We had the dance concert today. And it turned out pretty well.

We left plenty of time to find the place and it was a good thing because there was a Wiggles concert in the showgrounds next door. There was a mass of traffic and we were pretty sure it wasn't to see us. Thankfully there were some lovely people organising the traffic and parking and let us into the free parking lot when we explained we were with the other venue.

I'm also thankful to the other ladies in the tap class who had all the gear to do my hair and makeup. They put little ringlets in my ponytail and everything. You wouldn't have recognised me in my dress. We were walking disco balls. Even in the dark as we went onstage you could hear people remark at the sparkle.

Crankmaster was pretty good in his dance. He wasn't spot on everything but his feet were always doing the right thing. The arms were sometimes behind but he was much more aware of the performance this year. Sadly he missed his cue to do his cute bit swinging a little girl around at the end but he seemed to cope and you probably wouldn't have noticed if you didn't know. Okay, there was a bit of bewilderment but the 1st years had that look already.

I wasn't nervous in the lead up to the performance but when I got onstage and the music started I suddenly realised I was shaking. And it was really messing with my balance. So I just smiled a bit more and breathed and started looking at the audience and I calmed down. The cheer from the audience when we finished was brilliant. MrTops quite kindly said we were once of the best acts but I think that says more about MrTops' taste in dance than our skill.

It was a hoot and I'm keen to do more. So is Crankmaster I think. And I think the more he does the better his stage presence will be. I'm happy to perform. I need to get more experience with the dancing.

Advent 2011 Day 16 & 17

2011-12-17T20:43:00.002+11:00

Parts 2 & 3 of the car. I forgot to take a photo yesterday and I couldn't be bothered pulling it apart to pretend that I did. Now Young Mr Pleeseman and Mr Pikey from last year's calendar are off to get the bad guys.

Vale Fronti

2011-12-16T12:09:00.009+11:00

Frontignac
aka Slugface, Fatboy, Lardarse, Trigger, Fang.
9/9/1995 - 15/12/11
A cat of infinite noises.

Mother - Nutmeg (Yseult's cat)
Father - random Kirribilli tom
Brother - Basil (also Yseult's cat)
Step-sister - Muscat

He was a fearless kitten. Muscat was so unimpressed to suddenly have a little brother and hissed at him for about a month. Fronti just ignored her.

When he was tiny Fronti could clear a room with his farts. That was when we discovered he was lactose intolerant. The farts stopped when the milk stopped.

He was also incredibly noisy for such a tiny creature. We used to have the cats sleep on the bed with us. Muscat would sleep near our heads but Fronti could only sleep at our feet. The noise of his purring would keep us awake otherwise. We thought the noise would decrease as his got older but we were very wrong.

At about six months old he was chased up a tree by a neighbours dogs. I had to call the fire brigade to get him down. I took photos of the event but the record was lost when the camera was stolen shortly afterwards. He happily rode on the fireman's shoulders down to my arms. I think the firemen were happy to have something to do at 6am in the morning.

We was a great catcher of mice, rats and birds. I didn't witness it but I was told that Fronti would sit in the backyard and taunt the magpies into swooping him. Fronti would leap up to try and catch them when they did. Fronti also loved it when Stig would give him fish heads to eat. Fronti would take them to the 'Fronti killing ground' and happily crunch them down.

At his largest, Fronti was almost 12kgs. But he was a cat with a large wheel base and while he puddled well he would never be considered obese.

At about seven years old Fronti developed a bladder problem which had him on special food for the rest of his life. This same condition killed his brother. Despite a few acute times, the condition was managed. At the beginning of this year Fronti suffered an injury to the edge of his eye which needed treatment. When he was a kitten he caused the injury to Muscat's eye which is still quite obvious as the cloud on her eye. In 2009, Fronti was diagnosed with a thyroid condition which had him injected with technicium and radioactive iodine to destroy the hyperactive bits of thyroid. Shortly after, he had a benign lump removed from his side. He has been an expensive kitty costing us probably about $7000 over his lifetime, but it's been worth it.

His most recent illness progressed much faster than I expected. Last week I noticed he had stopped eating, his meow was muffed and he seem to have a sniffle. The vet did a battery of tests which ruled out most common problems. We don't know exactly what killed him but it was likely some sort of tumour in the liver or kidney. Basically he died because he was old and the parts started failing. If we had caught the lung infection in time it was likely he wouldn't last much longer past it. It does explain the big cough he had during winter. I just thought it was an extra large furball but in hindsight it was probably the early chest infection.

Fronti was huge and cuddly and noisy. He was often the butt of many jokes and he was loved for it. He was greedy and lazy and warm and soft. We was also very gentle and usually obedient. He had a long and happy life for a cat.

Edit - I forgot to mention Fronti's drug days when he was heavily into the catnip. Those days he would head out before breakfast and lick the dew off the catnip and usually eat leaf or two. He would spend most of the day curled up around his precious plant. The poor old catnip plant was almost pruned to bonsai status.

Recipe of the week 52 and 53

2011-12-15T20:04:00.003+11:00

My Mother-in-law's Madeira Cake
p5, How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

Coca-cola Cake
p232, How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

It's last day of preschool tomorrow and it's concert and morning tea. Time to experiement on cake. The madeira is easy and tasty. There are some lovely sounding variations in the book. If I'd had more lemons and butter to hand I may have tried them today.

The coca-cola cake is at lovely moist chocolate cake. I didn't have buttermilk or proper yoghurt so I used a tub of the child's vanilla flavoured yoghurt. It looks to have worked just fine. The cola doesn't seem to have influenced the flavour at all. I wonder if Fanta would give a Jaffa flavour?

Cat news

2011-12-15T19:23:00.002+11:00

I don't think it is looking good for our hero. Fronti seems to have given up even looking at the food bowl. He hasn't eaten anything substantial for a week now.

I called the vet and he gave me some steroids to help the lungs and another tablet to stimulate appetite. About an hour after I gave Fronti the new pills he threw them up. I hope they stayed down long enough to do some good.

Basically, if Fronti doesn't eat something soon it will be all over in the near future. I guess pets don't last forever and sixteen years is a pretty impressive innings for a cat. I've always thought of Fronti as the young one and compared to Muscat he has always been the young and fit one. I guess there is no good time to have a pet die. I just don't want it to be now. But I don't want it to be next week or next month either. It's going to happen sometime. It's rather distressing to see a once happy, vocal and fat cat lying in the corner slowly wasting away. His back half is now just skin and bones. His face is gaunt. His shoulders still retain the shape of the cat that once was.

It's hard to watch him struggle to move. There really isn't anything I can do now but wait. I can hope he will get over this but it really doesn't seem likely now. Perhaps I should be hoping for the end to come quickly but I don't want that ending. But if it must come then perhaps is should be quick. Then I can grieve instead of worry. I don't want him to end this way but how should it end.

Poor boy. I miss you already.

Quotes from the boyz

2011-12-15T10:28:00.002+11:00

On the way back from christmas tree cutting, Crankmaster says "I've just thought of the best wrestler name".

"Tony"

It might not work out of context but the comment came from nowhere and we were preparing ourselves for somethong like "The Smasher" or "Grunthor the Mighty". There was no explanation why Tony was a good wrestler name either. We thought it was hilarious.
-------------------
And the other day, MrTops was worried that Crankmaster was showing signs of combining his toys in destructive ways... just like MrTops did as a child. On reflection MrTops thinks he is lucky to still have all his limbs and digits considering the stuff he got up to as a child. He says he was playing with petrol at the age of ten.

Personally I'm not worried. There is absolutely no chance that Crankmaster will be doing anything destructive without one or both his parents (or even a crowd of adult friends) watching on with interest and glee. MrTops' response was "I'm not helping him build a flame thrower".

I don't believe it for a second. Do you?

Advent 2011 Day 15

2011-12-15T10:27:00.000+11:00

Part one of a car of some sort.

Advent 2011 Day 14

2011-12-15T10:26:00.001+11:00

A tiny forensics bench. The magnifying glass actually works too.

I can haz job!

2011-12-15T09:20:00.003+11:00

Woo hoo! Happy dance!

This is one to two days a week so it won't pay the rent but it will keep me off the streets for a while. And it will buy toys. I start in the new year.

I will be greedy and do my best to get job number two at the interview today. Two jobs will keep me mostly employed. I could potentially work on one job while travelling to the other.

Yay.

Stuff in my diary

2011-12-14T19:37:00.002+11:00

I used to collect interesting words and quotes in my diaries and then transfer them from year to year on random dates. I'd turn a page and occasionally see something interesting. I think I shall start a new collection of quotes and put all the old ones here. (mostly because I couldn't be arsed writing them all in by hand again)

Pangrams
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow (27 letters)
How quickly daft jumping zebras vex (30 letters)
Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs (32 letters)

acritochromancy - colour blindness
darkle - to make dark
deuteragonist - 2nd most important part in a play
dipsomania - an insatiable periodic craving for alcohol
erythrophobia - hypersensitivity to the colour red, a fear of blushing
omphaloskepsis - contemplation of one's navel
periphrasis - a roundabout way of saying something, using more words than necessary
sesquipedality - the practice of using long words
struthonian - hiding ones head in the sand

Qualities of a programmer - laziness, impatience and hubris

I am a levitating super turtle (turtles all the way down) - something I wrote based on a story from Paul Davies.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested - Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Victories have many fathers. Catastrophes are orphans. - Hubert Caubergh, Belgian Sanitary Agent

Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat. - John Lehman (1942- ) Secretary of the US Navy (1981-7)

Advent 2011 Day 13

2011-12-13T19:33:00.001+11:00

New to the station, Mr Attitude. With radio and everythin'.

Advent 2011 Day 12

2011-12-13T19:31:00.001+11:00

The finished police station!!!

Cat update

2011-12-12T19:00:00.003+11:00

Fronti not dead yet. I must admit I half expected that he wouldn't survive last night. He still isn't eating but he seems a little happier. He has enough attitude that he bit me as I gave him his evening tablet. Then again, in the past he has only bitten me when he was in real pain so perhaps that isn't a good sign after all. I don't know. I'm clutching at straws. He looks like he is on the way out but will it be this week or next month. At least there is less gunk in his meow.

Positive news - I have another job interview. Less pay per hour but more hours than the other job. Best possible case would be to get both jobs which would mean I'd be almost employed fully but with very flexible hours. But of course the competition will be legion.

It's a council job which is requiring a whole bunch of hoop jumping. I have to bring the original copy of my degree (it's in a frame), and proof that I'm allowed to work in Australia. I guess if I didn't have a passport I would have to bring a birth certificate. No other job has ever required this level of documentation. Well, apart from that work experience job that required the security clearance.

But if I want the job, I have to conform to the letter of their procedures. I believe that is how things are done in government. The rules must be strictly enforced for everyone equally but the overheads in paperwork and procedure must get in the way much of the time. I've also never had to preface my CV with a page addressing selection criteria before but I believe for some people this is standard. Usually the jumble of letters on the CV speaks for itself. That's IT for you. Anyway, I shall cross fingers and gird my various bits for interview. Wish me luck.

And I need a new phone now. I thought I could get by with the old one but it seems it doesn't want to hold a charge for more than 12 hours. Luckily the woman left a message about the job interview. My phone rang once and then died. It's dead, Jim. Y'canna change the laws of physics.

Recipe of the week 51

2011-12-12T18:55:00.002+11:00

Christmas Pudding from the Victorian Farm Book.

About 2 kg of pudding got boiled up for most of yesterday. I've unwrapped it from the bag to store. It doesn't look very pretty but it tastes like it is supposed to. Cover it in warm custard and no one will ever know.

It is still very moist. I'm haven't made a pudding before so I'm not sure if that is normal. It will be staying in the fridge and hopefully it will dry out a bit. I don't think it will keep for months as claimed in the book in it's current form.

I expect I just need to make more pudding to gain experience.

Advent 2011 Day 11

2011-12-11T20:05:00.001+11:00

Police station part 3. And unless they are going to be extra tricksy, I think I know what tomorrow will be...

Advent 2011 Day 10

2011-12-11T20:03:00.001+11:00

It's a fish onna stick and a little fire for Mr Inexplicable Eskimo.

Eventful weekend

2011-12-11T19:25:00.002+11:00

The biggest event in the sudden decline in health of Fronti. He doesn't seem to be getting better. He sleeps a lot and barely eats. We think the prognosis is very grim.

On a more positive note, Crankmaster and I went to the big rehearsal for the dance concert. I'm feeling all inspired. Watching those fit young things dance so energetically makes me wish I was up there dancing too. Or perhaps I just want to be that young and fit. Depending on time and finances next year, I think I was to learn jazz next year and maybe do some sylabus tap lessons. The younger classes are still a bit bewildered about performing but all the other performances are wonderful. At least to my untrained eye.

And also this weekend was the traditional extended household christmas party. The kids were great and entertained themselves without requiring any parental supervision. I guess they are all growing up. I need to work on my party mingling techniques. I seem to be very out of practice. We did seem to get some suitably absurded conversations going still. I've missed those silly chats.

Still. Very worried about Fronti.

sunday seven

2011-12-11T19:18:00.002+11:00

1/ That my old phone still works and that the spare SIM can be reprogrammed to use the old number. I'm still miffed that I lost the shiny new phone that rarely need recharging but at least I've got the old one to use until I can bring myself to buy another one. Maybe I'm hoping it will miraculously come home covered in mud, having survived a snake bite. Oh wait... That's Lassie.

2/ job interview seemed pretty good for cunning work from home job. I must wait a few weeks while they discuss their options. Unsurprisingly, the demand for a part time programming job is huge and annoyingly the supply is bugger all.

3/ painless violin practices. Quite regularly there will be some resistance to practice but this week Crankmaster has been very willing to play even the trickiest tunes he has. I know this can't last but it's been wonderful. And since we are just about to add another four notes to the game, it's nice to know we have the current ones sorted.

4/ I found my umbrella. At least I'm pretty sure it's mine. I left an umbrella at the swimming pool about a month ago. And last week I found one that looked just like it on the lost and found table. I think that was the one I lost. Maybe..... Well, it's mine now... Bwah ha huh?

5/ a great multitude of eggs. As well as our chooks, we are babysitting 3 extras. Which means for the next two weeks we are looking at getting about six eggs EVERYDAY! Even after giving the neighbours a bunch I'm going to have to think of eggstrordinary things to cook to keep up. (Yeah crap joke but it works for me - I'm a nerd. I'm supposed to pun. You should think yourselves lucky I just choose not to most of the time.)

6/ soap stone box from preschool board. It's lovely and so smooooth. It was a thankyou for all the EA stuff I did this year.

7/ lots of excuses to cook. I enjoy baking but some recipes are far too dangerous to cook for just us. So I'm happy to have christmas parties to cook for. As it was there was a perilous amount of cheesecake that I brought home, so I'm going to see how it freezes. Mind you the recipe for the rum balls claimed they kept for ages in the freezer but they evaporated in a few days!!! My pudding is boiling away nicely and even tastes like it is supposed to and it filling the house with lovely cinamon and ginger smells.

To do term 4 week 10

2011-12-11T19:15:00.002+11:00

1/ make cake
2/ write will
3/ finish pants (because if I don't do it now it won't happen)
4/ look at flights for Grandma
5/ buy christmas tree (actually this will happen next week but I don't want to forget it)
6/ fix stuff on fix it table
7/ christmas present cooking and making
8/ buy ticket for cance concert
9/ send job rejection email for pre-school

Knitting to do
1/ socks for the lovely neighbour - halfway
2/ statute cap - test piece knitted and needs to be fulled
3/ hose for Crankmaster (then followed by hose for a bunch of other grown up boyz)

Recipe of the week 50

2011-12-10T21:06:00.002+11:00

Choc-Peanut Cheesecake
from Nigella Kitchen episode 1

200g biscuit crumbs
50g butter
100g dark choc chips
50g peanuts

Blitz in food processor. Push into springform pan. Put in fridge.

500g cream cheese
250 ml sour cream
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
200g caster sugar
3 tblspn peanut paste

Blitz in food processor. Cover base. Bake 170C for 50 mins.

200ml sour cream
100g milk chocolate
30g brown sugar

Melt together. Put on cheesecake. Set in oven for 10 mins.

Yummy but very solid. MrTops didn't like it but other people at the party seemed to enjoy it.

Fronti news

2011-12-10T20:57:00.002+11:00

Fronti is now home from the vet. He is still sick and wheezy but I think he sounds a little better than yesterday. He is pumped full of antibiotics and I will keep him inside for observation. He is sleeping a lot and eating very little. I shall buy him some mince tomorrow and see if that will tempt him.

The vet doesn't really know what is wrong with him. His iron levels are way down as well as his lungs being uniformly crap. He could have kitty lung cancer. He could be completely recovered in two weeks or he could also be dead. We hope the former, of course.

When it comes down to it, he is a sixteen year old cat so anything is possible really. It's not surprising that he is going to start to fall apart. Oh, and he has arthritis in several places in his back. Which explains why he hasn't been jumping any fences recently.

Poor fellow.

News from vet

2011-12-09T16:14:00.003+11:00

As I was leaving the vet, I asked if the problem could just be a chest infection. I'm not sure why but it sounded like Fronti just had a bad cough. Vet said unlikely.

But latest news from vet says that is exactly what it is. Heart, throat, nose, kidneys - all terrific. Lungs - full of crap. The only problem is, we don't know why. So we have to wait until the blood tests come back to see if there are any answers there. I guess the treatment is a whole bunch of antibiotics.

So it appears I was right. But it was a lucky guess. I hope he responds quickly to treatment.

Fronti is poorly again

2011-12-09T14:26:00.002+11:00

I feel like a bad pet owner. Poor old Fronti has been a little off his food for a while now but yesterday and today he ate almost nothing and he is looking really lethargic. Usually he looks pretty good for a 16 year old cat. He sleeps a lot but that could be said of all cats.

Today he is full of mucus and his meow is muted - which again, for Fronti, is a bit of a give away that he isn't well.

The vet was quite concerned about his breathing and suspects fluid on the lungs due to a heart condition. So he is in for a chest x-ray and blood tests and then more tests if the vet thinks he needs it. As usual I wish I'd taken a proper look at him before this morning and perhaps I could have saved him a little pain. Sadly with all the other people and creatures to keep an eye on in my life, I'm sometimes not as quick on the uptake as I should be.

Hopefully it can be quickly diagnosed and treated. I suspect the best I can expect is that the boy will be on medication for the rest of his life. He didn't seem on death's doorstep but because he was wheezing the vet considered the condition serious. Hopefully he will pass all his tests.

Triple!!!!

2011-12-09T14:21:00.004+11:00

There must be some sort of competition in the hen house because 3 of them produced massive eggs on the same day. This is the largest. I think Phyllis produced it but it might have been Dell. We were pretty sure it would be a double yolker but we were stunned to discover it was a triple! I've put a normal sized egg in the shot for size comparison. I now wish I had weighed it before it was cracked.

MrTops had the triple for breakfast and had a double for lunch. Eggs that is.

Advent 2011 Day 9

2011-12-09T14:19:00.003+11:00

It's a christmas homicidal axe wielding maniac. Or a chromatically challenged Kenny. I think it is some reference to fishing in an ice covered pond but the relationship between this guy and anything city or christmas is kind of tenuous.

Very pretty

2011-12-08T19:34:00.001+11:00

Found on this site, which BaggyT pointed out.

Recipe of the week 49

2011-12-08T18:23:00.003+11:00

Salami pasta
from Nigella Kitchen episode 1

Take one salami, slice thin and fry. Add a tin of tomatoes and half a tin of water. Add a tin of canelini beans and a bay leaf. Cook pasta (small shapes). Put cooked pasta and a cup of the cooking water into tomato mix.

Very quick to throw together and very yummy. I was surprised how much liquid the pasta soaked up. I thought it was going to be too runny but it fixed itself after sitting for 5 minutes.

Crankmaster resisted trying it because that's his job but I think we can convince him eventually. He eats all the bits, he just need to accept it as a conglomerate.

Recipe of the week 48

2011-12-08T18:19:00.002+11:00

Rum balls

1 pkt sweet biscuits, crumbed
3 tblspn cocoa
1 cup coconut
1 tin condensed milk
more coconut to roll

Mix everything together. Make into balls and roll in coconut. Put in freezer to set. Made 43.

Other people would probably normally put rum in this recipe but I'm not too fussed with it. Some recipes called for raisins in the mix. One suggestion was to put an almond in the centre and dip the whole thing in melted chocolate. I remember a version from my childhood which used wheetbix instead of sweet biscuits. I think I need to try that version too for old times sake.

Advent 2011 Day 8

2011-12-08T13:39:00.001+11:00

A little bed for the jail. And it just gets me thinking about this song...

Advent 2011 Day 7

2011-12-07T19:14:00.000+11:00

And what goes with a tree. Presents of course. And a skateboard and helmet....

Adventure

2011-12-07T10:16:00.001+11:00

All I want for Christmas is .....

2011-12-07T09:54:00.004+11:00

Umm errr...

Well really there is a bunch stuff I want for Christmas if I had an unlimited budget so I haven't even considered that. The list of small affordable stuff is small (as you would expect). Flylady says I should make a wishlist and thus, if you are thinking of getting me something (don't feel you have to) and haven't finished the shopping, here are some ideas.

- soap - preferably fruity smelling, particularly citrus
- underpants size 12-14 (I don't have a grandmother to buy them for me)
- tea - smokey. My favourite tea is russian caravan. Work from there.
- this Lego set. I saw it at MissKrin's housewarming but she didn't have the pieces or instructions in the box. It only seems to exist online. I think after Christmas I will be buying it for me. Not the child. Me. The little train is so cute.
- small amounts of good chocolate (no alcoholic centres). I do love it but you can have too much of a good thing.
- DVD of James May Toy Stories. I would love a DVD of the Supersizers series but they don't exist :(
- CD of Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra
- garlic dip. That stuff is fantastic!

Umm. That's all I got right now. I need a new phone since I've just lost mine, but I have the old crap one I can survive with. If I get the part time jobs I've applied for I will need a new laptop and some sort of tablet device, but I'll claim them on tax. Well at least the jobs will give me an excuse to buy shiney new tiny bits of computer hardware.

Edit 14/12/11
I've thought of something else I could use. Measuring spoons. When I bake I bake a lot and I've only got one tablespoon measure. Some spares would be very useful. I have many sets of measuring cups about the place but only one full set of spoons. Oh, and another measuring jug would come in handy too.

Advent 2011 Day 6

2011-12-06T19:44:00.003+11:00

A bit of a surprise today. It's not more police station!

Advent 2011 Day 5

2011-12-05T21:45:00.004+11:00

And no surprises here. Part 2 of the police station. But wait there's more.... Stay tuned!

Quote I found while cleaning up

2011-12-05T21:37:00.003+11:00

It's not important enough to keep the bit of paper but I thought it interesting enough to write down at the time. So I'll put it here to keep it virtually (until blogspot crumbles). I think I got this off a documentary about the Abstinence Only sex education movement in USA, probably particularly in Lubbock.

"Life in Lubbock, Texas taught me two things.
One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell.
The other is that sex is the most awful filthy thing on Earth and you should save it for someone you love."
Attributed to Butch Hancock, The Flatlanders.

To do term 4 week 9

2011-12-04T20:14:00.001+11:00

Arrgh. The end of the year is approaching rapidly!

1/ make christmas pudding
2/ darn socks
3/ write will
4/ finish pants (because if I don't do it now it won't happen)
5/ look at flights for Grandma
6/ make cheesecake
7/ buy christmas tree (actually this will happen next week but I don't want to forget it)
8/ plant basil
9/ fix stuff on fix it table
10/ christmas present cooking and making

Knitting to do
1/ socks for the lovely neighbour using some of the possum wool she bought me - started
2/ statute cap - test piece knitted and needs to be fulled
3/ hose for Crankmaster (then followed by hose for a bunch of other grown up boyz)

sunday seven

2011-12-04T20:10:00.002+11:00

1/ photos on facebook from the steampunk event. I now have a photo of my frock. I always forget to get the camera out.

2/ MrTops getting dinner started when I get home later than expected from Crankmaster's dance lesson. It's good to have a plan and have it work even if I'm not there.

3/ new pants for Crankmaster from BaggyT. And a pattern for some pants for me.

4/ potential job. It's a day and a half working from home. It may not happen but I still get excited about each suitable ad. I still live in hope that the whole work/life balancing job is out there for me.

5/ christmas plans already underway or sorted. Last year was so uncertain. This year I have lists and I'll be checking them multiple times. Some of the making and even some shopping has been done. The rest of the making will be dependent on free time in December. Then I will resort to shopping.

6/ on tap Christmas muzak. Well perhaps this isn't a grateful since it can be noisy. Crankmaster is constantly singing christmas carols at the moment. He's been learning them for the end of year concert. Some are even in Korean, Chinese and I'm sure there is at least one other language in there. Some of them I think he picked up from the Babies Proms or from the In Dulci christmas singalongs (cause I don't think preschool would do Coventry Carol). It's rather sweet though. I love the fact that he loves to sing.

7/ A lovely Yule Event. I had new pants which were mighty. I got a sing. Crankmaster got to dance (he's still talking about it). Great food. Apparently Crankmaster was a bit miffed that he didn't get to sing the Boar's Head, so I will have to teach him the songs for next year.

Recipe of the week 47

2011-12-04T19:56:00.003+11:00

It's getting close to the end of the year and I'm behind on recipes. That is now to be resolved thanks to the latest series from Nigella showing on ABC at the moment. I watched the first show with a pen and paper in hand because I wanted to make 3 of the 5 recipes presented.

Praised Chicken (combination poached and braised)
from Nigella Kitchen episode 1 - my notes from the show

Oil and crushed garlic in cast iron pot. Fry whole chicken breast down.
Turn over and add a cup of apple juice (she used white wine but I didn't because I don't)
Add carrots, leeks, celery (plus leaves) and parsley. Add bay leaf and salt and pepper.
Half cover with water and bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Serve with rice.

It's a very set and forget kind of meal, which is a good thing to have sometimes. MrTops only criticism was that I used defrosted rice and that was too dry. Crankmaster was over tired but did eat the chicken. Everything else was just too challenging at that particular time. I think on another day he would try more.

The meat just fell of the bones. The broth was fantastic. And there is a bunch of leftovers. My plan is to throw in some potatoes into the stock and have soup and chicken sandwiches to feed us for another meal. I'll probably get a lunch or two off the leftover soup.

Advent 2011 Day 4

2011-12-04T13:19:00.002+11:00

First quarter of a jail. I think I know what will be in day 5, 6 and 7.

Pants or enourmousnessness

2011-12-03T21:25:00.003+11:00

Based on MzTrousers pattern. I'm rather pleased with them and they work triffically. Curse you MsTrousers and Hunydeath with your wonderful seam finishings. After machine sewing, I felt had to handsew the seams down because the material was so nice and I wanted to keep it all neat. And the seams do look fabulous. Certainly worth the effort.

They still need a little finishing - like buttons. I'm very chuffed at making something so nice. I'm not very confident with the construction of clothes but I can follow instructions at least. I'm sure more than half of the sewing was by hand so I guess that made it seem easier for me. I'm a bit scared of using the machine. Well at least tentative.

These pants worked a treat. What a cunning plan, MzTrousers!

Advent 2011 Day 3

2011-12-03T21:24:00.001+11:00

Young gun Mr Pleesman with his trusty handcuffs will deal with Mr Criminal....

Advent 2011 Day 2

2011-12-03T21:22:00.001+11:00

Mr Criminal's maniacal grin is now explained as he reveals his snowball launcher of DOOM!.

Advent 2011 Day 1

2011-12-01T13:54:00.002+11:00

It's a Christmas tramp? With a keg of white? Or maybe it's a snowball. Or perhaps it's a festive burglar. And so it begins.

I've now discovered that apart from the two advent calendars we have, there is also the Star Wars, Pirate and Castle versions. I'm tempted to collect the whole set but it seems Lego will be bringing out a new one out every year, so we will always be 3 years behind (assuming we do this again next year). If only I'd known about the Pirate one a few months ago though....

And another thing....

2011-11-30T22:06:00.002+11:00

Just a pointless post to bump up the count of posts for this month. It's a dumb goal to say that I've got a post for each day. Most months this year I've had well over one post per day. On average at least. I don't actually post each day. I post a fair bit on Sunday nights, either reviewing the past week or planning the next.

So just ignore this post and go about your business and I'll feel somehow nerdily happy that I have the minimum posts for November. Once again, December will be a doddle. I have at least 24 posts already sorted.....

This post is even more pointless by the fact that I already have more than 365 posts for the year. I could probably take December off. But I won't. I have many more lists to write.

Lego Advent 2011!

2011-11-30T22:04:00.003+11:00

I'm excited. Crankmaster has been asking about it all week. He even asked to open it today but I was strong. Tomorrow the fun begins. (or some approximation to it)

Goodbye November

2011-11-30T18:57:00.002+11:00

It's been a busy month. December will be a doddle by comparison.

December will have it's own challenges - making pants for Yule, cooking for Christmas parties and performing in the dance concert, but that will be less work than November.

November included a three day camping trip, organising two birthday parties, a steampunk event out of town and a week of grandma with an added bonus weekend of little brother as well. And that's the stuff I was organising for myself. There was also Turkey Day, another birthday party and two concerts at the Opera House. Oh and two days of school orientation and a preschool board meeting to make things interesting.

In December I don't have to be responsible for much. I will contibute to stuff and participate in stuff but I'm not in charge. That should be easier for the stress levels.

And tomorrow we start the new exciting Advent Calendar of more Lego-y goodness. Stay tuned for the daily postings. It's the City series so it shouldn't be as bizarre as the Medjeeval one but I think there will still be a few surprises.

Babies Proms - Christmas Bells

2011-11-29T17:51:00.002+11:00

The last for the year and probably the last ever for us unless there is something particularly unmissable next year. We have outgrown the age range.

This was very like the christmas show last year, which is a bunch of christmas songs loosely strung together. Last year, it was the journey of the 3 kings, this year, it was about an elf who had lots of animals show up on his cottage on christmas eve. Crankmaster and I had fun singing. He seems to know most of the songs. I think they have been singing them at preschool because I haven't gone out of my way to teach him. He particularly likes the Little Drummer Boy but he sometimes comes out with the Tripod lyrics.

It was also a cunning morning because I persuaded Crankmaster to sit down for a milkshake at a cafe instead of running all over the Botannic Gardens. He also wanted to visit the Art Gallery. I'm happy to do both, but I don't think the distance can be reasonably achieved in one hour. The milkshakes were yummy.

I'm curious to see what the next season of shows will be. I'm hoping for another orchestra show and perhaps a little ballet. Who knows.

monday seven

2011-11-28T19:57:00.003+11:00

I was busy on sunday to the thankfuls are late

1/ four eggs!

2/ happy the house is empty again. It was great to see family but I am a touch frazzled after it all. There is no time to just sit and vege all by yourself.

3/ very grateful the rain stopped in time to have a dry Turkey Day.

4/ turkey carcass which became a large amount of stock. I also managed to find enough meat and stuffing still on it to become a dinner

5/ corn on the cob. Bizarrely the food I enjoyed most at Turkey Day. It was all wonderful but the corn was what my tastebuds wanted on the night.

6/ birthday present of a nerf gun from grandma and the invention of periodic table bingo. (We have a large poster of the periodic table on the loungeroom wall which is a convenient target for the little suction caps)

7/ seeing neice at the Australian Girls Choir concert. Well at least I think I squinted at the correct spot on the stage. There were over 100 girls in her section of the choir and there were perhaps 400 girls in total onstage in various ensembles. Very profession concert. Lots of movement and even some dance soloists. When they all sang and moved as one chorus it was fabulous. Impressive. And something I wouldn't have bothered with if a family member wasn't involved.

To do term 4 week 8

2011-11-28T19:49:00.003+11:00

Where did that year go??!!!!

1/ make goose boy pants for me
2/ darn socks
3/ write will
4/ buy chook food
5/ find house, hard disk and composure post family invasion

Knitting to do
1/ socks for the lovely neighbour using some of the possum wool she bought me - started
2/ statute cap - test piece knitted and needs to be fulled
3/ hose for Crankmaster (then followed by hose for a bunch of other grown up boyz)

Four eggs!

2011-11-28T13:38:00.001+11:00

Yesterday was a four egg day. All slightly different colours. Dell is now online. Yay!

Oh, and I put flea gung on the cats too.

New egg!

2011-11-24T20:10:00.004+11:00

Two eggs in the nestbox today. One of these things is not like the others.... On the left is one of Iris' whiter than white eggs. In the middle is Phyllis' more consistant effort for the week. And on the right!!!!!!! Liz!!! At least that's what I'm guessing from the evidence. I suspect it's a double yolker too. MrTops will test that theory in the morning.

Woot! Three chickens online.

And on the garden note - 50 grubs today. I got about 20 yesterday but it was just a quick search in the rain. Not as many small ones. I'm still hoping I'm winning the battle for the cabbages.

Pants!!

2011-11-24T20:07:00.003+11:00

As threatened, I have made pants. They aren't as baggy as I would like. In fact they aren't baggy at all. But they do fit (well currently at least... Tis the season for overeating...) The next pair I make will need extra material in the side seams to give a looser fit.

Socks 18

2011-11-24T20:02:00.003+11:00

Wool - Moda Vera Noir 100g, 75% wool super wash, 25% polyamide and Bendigo Mills 5 ply 100% wool
Pattern - Barbara's pattern, ankle length, lady

Do I really need to keep count? It keeps them ordered in my head. Another pair made out of leftovers, this time for me.

Socks 13, 8 and 4 are getting darned again tonight. I think part of the problem (apart from MrTops' mighty big toes) is that the Bendigo wool doesn't have any plastic in them to help take the wear and they are treated so they don't felt. So my plan is to darn them with baby wool (it's red at least) which I know felts up a treat. Hopefully it will make the toes of MrTops' socks a little tougher.

Recipe of the week 46

2011-11-24T10:13:00.002+11:00

From Jamie's 30 minute meals - Mustard chicken, Quick dauphinoise, Greens, Black forest affogato

In honour of the visit from Grandma (who was visiting when we first tried the book) I thought we should try another one. I even got Grandma to choose.

The chicken was fabulous. The mustard sauce was better (but then a creamy sauce is triffic). I thought the rest was good but not amazing but MrTops loved the potatoes (again with the cream).

This was tricky to cook, but then usually first time through a recipe is a little stressful, especially with one so time critical. The added challenges for this one was having Grandma helping (with is mostly a good thing but means that I'm not on top of everything.... and she kept skipping ahead in the recipe). Also the chicken pieces turned out to be twice the size specified and didn't quite fit into the pan. So there was a bit of juggling with extra pans. The dessert was pretty good. I used hot chocolate instead of coffee but I overdid the liquid over the icecream so it turned out more like a drink with lumps rather than a dessert with sauce.

A massive feed as usual. The leftovers will feed us again tonight.

More science

2011-11-22T16:29:00.003+11:00

This was a very quick one. It took us more time to get there and back than to complete the study. It was tricksy though. A picture was shown. One character would give a wrong answer and the other character would say a made up word. For example, the picture was an eye, first person say ear, second person said roke. So after a few iterations of this, we were shown pictures of internal organs that Crankmaster didn't know (pancreas, gall bladder and liver) and he was asked to pick which of the two characters gave the right answer. Both characters actually gave made up words. It was a tough call because from experience Crankmaster had learned that both characters got it wrong and now had to choose between two bad sources. So he alternated. And told the researcher that's what he was doing. Apparently that's pretty standard for his age group.

As expected Grandma is pretty worn out from day one of Crankmaster. I took everyone to Ikea for lunch. Grandma also bought belated birthday presents. After the presents were bought Crankmaster pretty much wanted to skip lunch so we could get home to play with new presents.

And on the garden front, 40 grubs this morning, 10 at lunchtime and maybe 15 this afternoon. Still plenty but maybe the counts are going down.... Once again I'm clutching at straws and hoping this is making a difference. No eggs. I think they are annoyed that I put too much straw in the chook house.

Breaking news

2011-11-21T22:48:00.003+11:00

Sort of.

- This morning the back step was covered in egg yolk and Liz was sitting the the nesting box. I'm guessing that means she is now officially in egg mode. She just needs to remember to put shells on them and also put them in the right place. Cross fingers for an extra egg in the morning.

- I pulled 60 caterpillars off the cabbages this morning and fed them to the chooks. At lunch time I pulled about the same number off again. This afternoon I got another 10 without looking too hard. I think my battle with the grubs is futile. They are getting smaller on average and are becoming harder to spot so perhaps I'm making a difference. Or that could be wishful thinking. The chooks are loving the extra protein though.

- Grandma is in town. Crankmaster was so excited to see her. Achieving bedtime was a challenge. Hopefully the novelty will wear down a little over the coming week.