What I did on my holidays.....

We're back. The washing is done, the sheets are flapping in the breeze out on the clothesline and spring has finally happened properly. In fact, although it rained all day yesterday, it is beautiful today and was every day we were away too. Well done to the weather gods.

We started out by having 2 days in Hobart, where I managed to catch up with the amazingly talented Ms Frog Ponds Rock. Pop over and visit her blog - she is a great potter and an amazing photographer. It was just lovely to finally meet her (and swap recipes and hit the spice shop!)

We also caught up with the Knightly Knitter and her family, where she prepared an incredible meal while also demonstrating superwoman capabilities by simultaneously cooking, wrangling children, talking about knitting, knitting and refereeing several disagreements amongst the junior set - and keeping the dogs outside.

Off to Port Arthur for 2 days and, truth to tell, I was a little worried, having not been back there since the events of 1996, but it retains the same sense of peace and tranquility I always remember. I was afraid it may have become something else.

Despite its dark history, I have always loved Port Arthur. I think it is beautiful. It is hard to believe it was a brutal prison for so long, housing convicts who had committed crimes after their transportation to Van Dieman's Land.

Probably the nicest thing about our stay down there was the fact that the place where we stayed was right across the road from the back gate to the site. Once we had paid the entry fee, we were given a key and could come and go as we pleased.


It was our domain. This meant that I could sorta run in the world heritage nominated area in the morning and be the only person in there, with all this beauty all to myself.

Then we headed up the East Coast and stayed at Coles Bay. We did some of the short walks and generally hung about.


The kids did some kids stuff (including mugging for the camera) and we all generally recharged our batteries.

We built sandcastles here.
And despite the Accountant suffering a major gout attack on the first day (which meant I had no time to knit in the car because I had to drive, and this threw my plans out dreadfully!), I finally finished the Cotty socks I started at Bendigo. Here they are, in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock, mediumweight in Koi Koi. Love them.
Now, I have to start looking forward to the next road trip!

Spring is Sprung! The Grass is Riz!

It's Spring, it's Spring! Or at least, it is spring today. The weather forecast is suggesting rain for the next week and for most of the rest of the month, but today it is spring. The bees are delirious with the beauty of the day - and so am I.

For the first time in weeks the washing is flapping on the line, the breeze is soft, warm and gentle, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the only clouds are the little fluffy sort. Life is good.

Life is so good, I couldn't resist sneaking on to the kids' trampoline for a bounce - which made me feel all dizzy when I got off!

In fact, life is made even better by the fact I have finally finished Tempest. The ends were a complete sod to sew in (and next time I will use Dr Bones suggestion and carry them up the sides as neatly as possible!), but she is finished and I love her. This is really the first time I have made such a form fitting knit - she is snug (and will become less so as I lose more weight - fingers crossed etc), and I'm not entirely sure about the buttons - I needed 16 - 15 plus one for luck or accidents) and they were probably larger than would be thought best because the buttonholes grew with blocking. The colours are vibrant, so I went with transparent buttons - because I couldn't find the mother of pearl ones I really wanted!




Children are on holidays and showing tendencies of becoming loud and excited, so they and the guinea pig will be outside for a fair proportion of this glorious day.

The Princess has expressed a wish to undertake some sewing, so we will be doing that shortly, and then packing will happen for our short trip. I finally have the wonderful Meet Me at Mike's book (a beautiful book and a must have for those who want to support Australian mde and especially Australian hand-made!), but todays small sewing will come from the 1970s books that have been hanging about since I was just a bit older than the Princess.

Yesterday was another rainy day, so we went to the Imaginarium, where the kids went wild, raced the (virtual) dinosaur and learned about bugs, space and puzzles. I knitted.

Have a lovely weekend. Enjoy the spring. At least until it starts raining again!

Random Friday

Thanks everyone for your good wishes - currently the lurgies are in retreat (fingers crossed, knocks on wood, does lucky dance etc). We have had a single day of sunshine in the past many, many days. Maybe that helped.

Random stuff:

1. Apparently, if it rains on St Swithin's Day (July 15), it will rain for 40 days. It rained on St Swithin's Day and we are now approaching a lot more than 40 days. I'm hoping I have time to go to a woodwork class, because I don't think my skills are up to building an ark, but it certainly looks as if I need to be able to. We may have had enough rain - just for a little while. In ultra-random stuff, St Swithin is also the patron saint of apples and apple trees. Who knew?

2. There is very little sign of it being spring. The bulbs are out and so are the early fruit trees, blossoming their hearts out. But it doesn't feel like spring. It's still cold. And wet (please see point 1).

3. Tempest knitting has finished, but there is still the matter of umpty zillion ends. I hate sewing in ends. I am sure there are people who can make their sewn in ends look great. Mine look crappy and I find that sewing in more than 7 in a session fills me with a level of unholy rage. I loved the knitting. If I make it again I will either make it in one colour, or I will work out a way to carry the yarn up the sides for 14 rows. I won't sew the sleeves in until the ends are dealt with. This may take some more time.

4. The Vine Yoke Cardigan is growing apace. Not only is Ysolda a genius, but I shopped from stash (or possibly from insulation, given that I have no stash, as laid out in the rules of stash), and am knitting it in the Naturally Sensation I picked up in Gawler, SA for $2.50 a skein. The yarn is gorgeous, the pattern fun, and I have a warm inner glow which only comes from feeling that you have a bargain. I even managed to get the perfect buttons for about 80 cents each.

5. The concentration on knitting large garments have meant that the enormous pile of WIPs is still sitting there, staring at me sullenly. I will get to them.

6. Stash honesty forces me to admit that some yarn may have entered the house during August, but I can't remember all of it. I know there was a little sock yarn. There was some Fleece Artist (around 3 garments worth) but I have absolutely no idea what else. I may have repressed the memory.

7. The children have been tending to act up. Part of this is from cabin fever because the weather has been so awful that they have been cooped up - although I drove them outside last weekend with a pitchfork - well, not really a pitchfork, but certainly with a high level of coercion. Partly it is tiredness. The circus school's major show is on now and over the weekend, and there have been long (and sometimes, late,) rehearsals. The concentration on one child, has meant the other child asserting rights to attention by being a right little snot. On various occasions I have comforted myself with thoughts of infanticide, child slavery or sale or return. Then they are nice, and totally disarm me!

8. On one of the nice occasions, the Princess (who spent some of her birthday money on a cookbook) decided to make breakfast, lunch and dinner. She did a wonderful job. She made pancakes, turkish bread pizzas and Tagliatelle Carbonara. Grownups did the stirring things on the gas stove, and the putting into and getting out of the oven, she did the rest. She also made little pink biscuits. I did the washing up. This behaviour is being highly encouraged. I have fantasies of never have to cook through her teenage years.

10. School holidays start today. Next week we will have a few days away, visiting Hobart (and seeing the Knightly Knitter), Port Arthur and Coles Bay. This may help with the cabin fever.

Will try a more organised post (possibly with illustrations!) soon.

Two Sleeps To Go!

It's Wednesday. It's winter. We had floods at the weekend. This meant I was the meanest mother on record, because I had promised to take my children to a lantern festival and fireworks disply.

The past weekend was our town's annual Chocolate Winterfest. We have a Belgian chocolate maker and his factory and restaurant nearby, and their chocolate festival merged to become our Chocolate Winterfest. One of the highlights is a lantern walk and fireworks display. But it rained, and rained, and rained.

And the river rose and rose.

The river burst its banks on Saturday afternoon and kept rising. This is a fairly regular event; local paddocks flood, creeks run through every slight gully and everything gets a tiny bit worse when there's a high tide (we live near an estuary).

The fireworks were postponed till Sunday night, but by then, the entire park and surrounding area where all this was going to happen was under about a metre of water. Fireworks and associated fun stuff all cancelled.

Luckily, I had left myself a caveat. "We can go to the lanterns and fireworks if it's not raining," I had said. Smart mother. Didn't stop the kids saying I was mean.

It's only 2 sleeps until I fly over to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep show, sans husband and children. This will be the first night I have ever spent apart from both my children - and I am really excited. I am even more excited to be meeting up with some internet friends, blog buddies and fellow Ravellers! It will be the first time I've met most of them in real life.

Next time I blog I will be tired, broke and home again.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. I am certainly going to!

Random Stuff

Random Stuff

We’re still waiting for news after another round of tests and so on – especially wondering when the radiation therapy will start. I can’t thank you enough for your wonderful comments and good thoughts. I want you to know how much we appreciate them – and you!

So I thought I’d follow Bells lead and blog some random stuff.

1. Suddenly, for the last couple of weeks, all the security letters when I leave comments are ALMOST words – today’s examples: ‘siting’, ‘yvolene’, ‘begest’. Very strange.

2. I’ve been loving knitting with Blue Moon’s Twisted. There’s 500m to a skein – I will finish Mr Green Jeans with less than 2 skeins. It doesn’t split at all, and the dark thread, so obvious when you look at the yarn, magically disappears when you knit. The knitted fabric shows no dark thread at all – weird.

3. My children are part of a conspiracy to drive me insane by ensuring a constant noise level of around a million decibels which never lets up unless they are asleep. I’m wise to them. When I can find the industrial ear-muffs I’m wearing them all day.

4. Watching little kids play cricket is hysterical. They had such fun and I laughed so much my stomach hurt.

5. I’m feeling smug because I am fitting into size 14 trousers. This is a good thing.

6. If you have enough caffeine, you don’t really need to sleep.

7. People are wonderful and kind. The Accountant’s step-brother and his girlfriend decided to ‘pay’ for the accounting work which the Accountant does for them by spending several hours mowing and whipper-snippering for us. There is a place reserved in heaven for them.

8. I’ve been to two sports carnivals in the last fortnights. The commentator said ‘ we take kindergarteners who are just developing coordination skills and tie them to other kids who are only just developing coordination and call it a 3 legged race, and then we watch them fall over and they laugh’. He was right. All the kids fell over and they all laughed. And so did we. And at least 2 pairs never made it to the finish line because they were laughing so hard they couldn’t get off the ground.

9. I have a lot of sock yarn. So I just bought 2 skeins of Malabrigo sock because I thought they needed some company.

10. I love the colours of Malabrigo. I love them so much I even like colours I don’t like.

11. Georgie is a genius. I’ve been using her meal planning and shopping method. I get out a cookbook, try to pick 5 recipes which I believe will use up some of the enormous pantry store I keep in case zombies attack and we have no food for a month or so, use only that cookbook for the week, make the shopping list and record the reactions. This stops me just buying vegetables I might as well throw straight into the compost and skip the intervening step where they go urgh in my crisper drawers.

12. I have startitis. Bells tempted me and I cast on the Shetland Triangle with the Indisch Rot Wollmeise. I have done the 20 necks rows. I will finish this cardigan before I do more.

13. I have managed 18 rows on the socks I started at Easter. I now have one and nearly a half socks. This is the first sock club kit from the Rockin’ Sock Club. It is also the only one I have cast on and the only sock knitting I have done since we returned from Fiji. In June.

Enough randomness. I’m off to feed lunch to Destructoboy, before heading out to the kindie information session. My the Lord have Mercy on their souls. He is looking forward to ‘big school’. So am I.

A Day in the Country

We had a great day yesterday. We visited Tasmazia, a maze complex and pancake parlour.

There are 4 big persons mazes and 2 kids mazes and a scale model village reflecting the owners sense of humour. Think Cockington Green but much larger houses (1/5th scale) . The great maze is huge, there's a replica of Hampton Court maze, a hexagonal maze and the confusion maze. It's all good, clean, outdoorsy fun.

The children ran and ran and got lost and found things in the mazes (the cubby villagem, the 3 little pigs houses, the 3 bears house and so on), ate pancakes for lunch and again for afternoon tea, crawled over the village, followed the yellow brick road and generally had a wonderful outdoor time. We last went there when the Princess was a baby, and the maze hedges are around 5 feet taller than they were then - and they were about 6 feet tall then!

I can't think why we've left it so long. It's only a bit over half an hour's drive away, it's no more expensive than going to the movies (not that we do that either), you can take a picnic if you don't want to buy pancakes, and it's such great fun for the kids.

Sprout is growing and I am all ready for the Selfish summer Kal and for the summer of lace and the summer of socks. I have tidied and catalogued the several forests worth of downloaded patterns and increased the favourite knitpicks harmony tips.

I am ready. Bring on summer!

A Life......Interrupted.

Sorry about that.

I have just had my witty and incisive post wiped by Blooer so I am cross. We'll try again.


I have been enjoying work and as a community paper journalist I get to talk to people about the things they love, and about gardens and food and prizes. This si great because it means I can come home at the end of the day and tell the kids about gardens and food and books, not car accidents, blood and crime.

I ahve been letting the washing up pile up for the last couple of days and seves it right. SWick of it. People are fed but the stuff which won't fit into the dishwasher is still stacked beside the sink.

I have been enjoying the few days of spring we have had. The trees are in blossom and the tulips are flowering, happily naturalised in the middle of what is now lawn and used to be a flower bed. The apple, pear and quince trees have been wrapped in vaseline smeared greasefproof paper in order to ERADICATE THE SCOURGE OF CODLING MOTH FROM THE UNIVERSE FOREVER!!! EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE!!

Ahem.

Sorry about that.

Kids are going spring crazy - and I have dug over what will be the tomato bed, so maybe I am a little crazy too.

I am still trying to catch up on all your blog posts - because you are all doing exciting fun stuff - and then you are writing about it! You are likely to only get a comment every few posts. Sorry, but otherwise everything else just falls apart!

I have done a big order to take advantage of a discount from a certain US enabler - I did this when the Aussie dollar had slipped, but before it tanked completely. Given the parlous state of world currency, it may be the last non-Aussie order for a while. However, Bendi is having a sale. So maybe it's not so bad.

As you may be aware, I do have a few skeins of sock and sweater yarn, so that should see me through until the economic situation improves. And the credit card is paid off.

Off to pick up the Princess and sweep her and Destructoboy off to circus school.

If my life were any more exciting, I'd burst!

In Praise of Spring!

I know, I know. It’s been a week. The weather’s been cold and mainly rainy and I haven’t taken photos. It’s been school holidays. I’m still not human (I sound as if I’ve been smoking 5 packs a day and 20 cigars – and I haven’t smoked for 7 years). Mind you, it’s a pack a day if we’re talking tissues. I’m feeling mainly better and haven’t taken nightime cold and flu tablets for nearly a week, so I’m basically drug free.

I bought some de-stash. I tried to buy yarn from 3 different places today and COULD NOT actually buy from any of them, despite my attempts. So today is obviously not the day to buy yarn. One place didn’t have the quantities I wanted, and then told me I didn’t qualify for the free shipping, at the next the shipping was as much as the yarn and the third kept throwing me into another site and not letting me log on. It’s a sign – and I’m am paying attention.

No yarn for me today. On the up side I did get my Rowan (finally), my Interweave (twice – finally), a new book (Custom Knits), my Wollmeise sock club parcel (mmm – pretty!), and Flair is likely to be finished tonight – and I will have a full skein of sunshine yellow Malabrigo left over!

I frogged both Wicked and Juliet, so will cast on (long after the KAL and general frenzy have finished) the February Lady Sweater. In green Malabrigo from the Wicked.

I am still loving work, and have lured my boss to the dark side, by showing her the forbidden delights of Ravelry, Knitty.com, and waving the Rowan 44 under her nose until she caved. She is in charge of costumes for a local production of Dad’s Army, so Pikey’s garter stitch scarf lives at work and we knit on it while waiting for things to upload/down load or people to call back.

The children are generally childish. The Princess is on an excursion to the northern Captial today (God help them) and Destructoboy has been trying to spell ‘rice’ using Scrabble tiles. For most of the morning.

We all had an excursion to the same northern Capital on Tuesday, mainly for the purposes of shopping. The Princess has suddenly decided that she either a) hates everything in her drawer; or b) that none of it fits her. So she was equipped with 4 long sleeve and 2 short sleeved tops and 3 pairs of legging things, and 2 pairs of shoes. The Accountant has needed new shoes for nearly a year, so he got kitted out. I bought 2 $50 tops reduced to $9.95 on a whim, and trotted into the Doomlight of Spot in the hopes of picking up cheap Jet. Instead, they actually had nice buttons and I bought 3 sets of 6, and 10 balls of Yarn Bee aran bamboo/cotton in a dark olive-y green. This is for ‘Hey Teach’ and as a project has been nominated it does not count as stash.

I’m about to tidy up, wash up, finish the second load of laundry and put on the dishwasher. I hate the fact the Aussie dollar has gone from parity with the US dollar a few months ago to less than 80 US cents today. It means I have to think a lot more before buying things from over there. Probably good for my carbon footprint and my wallet – but it does take a lot of fun out of it.

I’m slowly catching up with all the blog posts. I’ll get there eventually – probably by the end of the weekend. Or maybe not, as my weekend job is currently editing Amy Lane’s new book, Bitter Moon 2 – which is an absolute cracker and a great read. I managed (amongst the ironing, cooking, washing, washing up, children, gym and shopping for food) to get nearly 300 pages done last weekend. I will try for some more in a minute, before going to the library and collecting Princess.

Enjoy life. But don’t write too many blog posts about it – I’m having a hard enough time catching up as it is!

Unclean! Unclean!

Well, it’s a return to plague house conditions here, that’s for sure. I referred to the condition of Destructoboy and myself as Mucusfest – and really, that’s very apt.

We are not nice to be around at present, what with the coughing and the trails of tissues and the assorted leaks and swearing (from me) and complaints (from Destructoboy). I have the attractive pink-eyed and -nosed look of a rabbit with myxomatosis and the IQ to match. I can’t get through a whole senten…. Sorry? What were we saying? Oh, that’s right, how I can’t get through a whole sentence without being…something. Or other. Sorry, my train of thought just de-railed. Again.

So we’re a plague house and not taking it very well either. Princess swanned off to a Party Day at Vacation care in the Accountant’s car while those of us left behind snuffled and coughed. I really think she’s getting the best of it. Being sick tends to make me cranky. And grumpy. And more untidy than usual.

Luckily, I had a visit last night to cheer me up. The lovely, but blogless, Jill dropped in and we discussed nice adult things like knitting, and patterns and the Divine Norah (Gaughan). She was also there when my Rowan 44 finally appeared, nearly a month after everyone else’s. I am not sure whether it is the original or the replacement sent by Rowan – but it is certainly lovely.

Apart from a small amount of yarn acquired from a fellow Raveller’s de-stash, I haven’t bought any yarn for a whole 2 weeks. I think this may be some kind of record. Or it may be prompted by the dire state of my yarn budget. Or the fact that I’m saving up to do a big order in a few weeks. After all, I’m hardly deprived. I have the odd skein to keep me busy.

In knitting news, the end of Flair is in sight, and I have decided to frog Wicked. I adore the green Malabrigo, but the shape is unflattering for me. So it will become something else – hurrah for seamless top-down construction, which should make it easy to unravel.

Work is going well and I am thoroughly enjoying it (especially seeing my first proper story in print). There’s another week of school holidays to go. My survival is possible – though not assured!

Life goes on....and on....and on

It’s been an odd week. The first week of spring is always like this. The four seasons in one day weather (if you don’t like the weather now, come back in 15 minutes). The struck down by sickness feeling which regularly affects people – including me. I’ve been deep in a lurgy, which combines all the drama of coughing like an asthmatic seal with synchronised nose-blowing and general grottiness.

I’m still loving the new job and have been let loose on the unsuspecting general public to interview them and then write stories.

I’ve just received the e-manuscript of Amy Lane’s new book, Bitter Moon II and am dying to get stuck into editing it (and finding out what happens to everyone from BMI).

School holidays are looming and I will be lucky to see the Princess. She apparently wants to attend most days of the vacation care program, and the days she is not doing that she wants to visit friends and play.

Destructoboy has the same lurgy as I do and is much happier. As long as there is something to dismantle or a mess to be made, he’s a happy boy.

I have been knitting. I am so enjoying Flair, and knitting with sunshine yellow Malabrigo is guaranteed to lift the heart, even when the weather outside is cold, windy and wet.

I have managed extra knitting time due to the fact that the Princess has been having rehearsals for the major show for the Circus school. I get to sit in cold halls and theatres and knit while I wait for the three minutes my daughter is on stage along with 10 other 5-7 year olds, none of whom are entirely sure what they should be doing. Doesn’t matter, they all still look cute, charming and funny. This will not be the case when they are 10.

I received some not-stash this week from Wollmeise and from BMFA courtesy of the wonderful Rosered. I have not taken photos. Forgive me.

That’s it really. In between required duties, I have let the house run to wrack and ruin and the dishes pile up. I’ll do it when I feel better – or over the weekend. Whichever comes first.

And now, back to our scheduled programming....

I apologise for the break in transmission. Life has been topsy-turvey and I am trying to be super organised. I have always admired those women who had children, held down jobs, blogged and crafted (you know who you are), but now my admiration knows no bounds!

I would also like to point out that I work only 2 days per week in the actual office (which requires clothes which do not shriek ‘Mum at home with kids!’; and make up to hide time’s worst ravages, and because I really like lipstick!), and one day equivalent from home. This requires me to make 4 lunches and get three other people organised and dressed and out the door and dropped off at school and childcare and read to and kissed and goodbyed and ensuring I actually have the stuff I need and stories and notebooks and so on – is it any wonder I didn’t make it to the gym on Friday and Monday?

And that is just for TWO days a week. Imagine doing it five days a week? As I said, my admiration knows no bounds. I also said ‘women’ because, although I know some men do this – or share perfectly equally in this morning madness, the burden seems to fall much more on women.

In addition, there have been circus rehearsals (for the big show on the 5, 6 and 7 September), birthdays and various others bits and pieces to keep me occupied.

There has been knitting.

I finished a cowl and Le Slouch beret from the American Beauty Malabrigo I received in a de-stash.

The Gorgeous Francis is finished – in Crystal Palace Crème (a lovely wool silk blend).

I have increased my sock stash (because I have SOOOOOO much time on my hands – LOL!

I have worked. I love the work so far. I love planning stories and organising to interview people and then thinking about the best questions to ask them and sniffing around for things which might be interesting and trying to come up with more ideas to start the whole process again.

My boss is great – and also a knitter!

In addition to the madness that life has become (and which will soon, I am sure, fall into a routine), I spend most of any time at home fighting with Destructoboy over the computer. We gave him some really good educational games for his birthday, and he adores the Noggin site, and I can hardly get at the keyboard.

I also rather rashly, and in a spirit of optimism but expectation of disappointment, threw my hat into the ring of insanity which was the Wollmeise Sock Club lottery. And I got in!!!!

This means that unannounced parcels of Wollmeise will appear for me at regularish intervals. It also means that my credit card went into cardiac arrest - but hey!, that's how it is sometimes!

This is not stash because:

1. Wollmeise is too beautiful to be stash;
2. Sock yarn does not count as stash;
3. International yarn never counts as stash;
4. By the time the second one arrives, you've forgotten how much it cost, so it transmutes into a gift - and gifts are never stash

Have I forgotten any rationalisations, Zeph?

So hopefully, normal transmission will resume as soon as possible. Until then, blogging may be a once a week activity!

The Exciting News

Hurrah for knitters and crocheters (although the Political party is called Fibertarians and headed by Dolores the Sheep, I believe!)!

And a special thank you to Alwen - who remembered that it was Riga in Latvia (not Iceland) who did the mitten thing - and I should have known that, having read Folk Mittens!

Just a short post today (I know - and it's been such a long time since I did any photos - but I've been really slack about taking pictures of new stash - whoops - and FOs - of which I have a few - forgive me and I will rectify this soon). There has been a little accumulation of stash, from a number of enablers, and some books and some clothes - I've been too ashamed to blog it all, especially when Taph is doing such a great job with her de-cluttering. I'm also about to deal the the second birthday in just over 2 weeks! Aaargh!

So, just to let you in on the news......



I'm about to go back to work - a little earlier than I had planned, but when a fabulous opportunity opens up, it seems rather churlish to ask it to come back in 12 months. I'm a going to be (drum roll, please Maestro) a journalist!!

In training at first, of course, because I have lots to learn. I will be working for our local weekly paper and occasionally for the local daily and I am beside myself with excitement - and also as happy as a clam! Being paid to write and talk to people and think of ideas! How wonderful!

And strangely (or possibly not so strangely), this blog has played its part. The people who matter (PWM) read the blog and liked its style.

So next Friday I scurry out the door with a packed lunch and tidy clothes for my first day at work. I will update you with the trials of Tinkingbell the cub reporter (in general terms only, of course), but first I need to deal with Destructoboy's fourth birthday.

See you in a bit!

Deja Vu Strikes Again!

Welcome to Plague Central!

We have been badly affected by various lurgies and winter germ fests here – so my apologies for not posting the competition results for my blogiversary sooner. But you’ll still have to wait just a bit for the results!

I notice that my very first blogpost dealt with the joys of parenting, specifically the joys of dealing with – umm – gastric upsets - through the long cold watches of the night. To date, we have been spared this (except while on holiday in Fiji), and instead have varied our viruses this year by adding strep throat (me), colds (the Accountant), cold and grumpiness (the Princess) and our very first ear infection (Destructoboy). After 2 sleepless nights engendered by a throat apparently filled with shards of glass, I almost had some sleep, only to be woken by screams from the boy's room at 2am. This meant being up and moving from then on and getting him in to the doctors surgery as a sobbing, tired and crumpled mess (and that was just me) at 9am.

Luckily, our local health centre has a system on Saturday of ‘first come, first served’. Which meant we were second cab off the rank. Both the boy and I are much better now thank you, we are being very good about taking our antibiotics, especially as we both get jelly beans afterwards.

In the knitting stakes 2 baby parcels have been posted and the knitting in them was actually finished.

The first went to our friends who had their first child nearly 3 weeks ago – a little boy.



The second is for Georgie’s liitle girl, Grace, who was obviously drawn out by the yarn fumes generated by stash enhancement at Wollmeise while her mother was in labour. You have to be a really dedicated yarnie to be trying to buy hard-to-get yarn while in labour – my hat’s off to you, Georgie – I understand that QuiltingMick also helped a bit.

Now I’m just knitting WIPs and for the Cover Youself swap.

OK. Back to the competition.

And the winners are (from a random draw involving small bits of paper with everyone’s name on and a bucket – because I am far too technically inept to manage a random number generator – and besides – that way the spammer might have won!):

Drumroll please:

Bells and Geek Knitter.

Bells, I have your address; Geek Knitter – I will email you for yours – prizes will be sent when I get organised! (Soonish)

Thank you all for leaving a comment - see - all these sci fi and fantasy fans out there who knit and crochet and cook and read my blog - it makes me happy that I have met you in the last year and enjoyed your company - long may it continue!

Hurrah – all done until I next feel the urge for a competition! Hope to give you knitting updates soon – the Gathered Sweater is having its sleeves knitted, and when I can manage to count to 14 again, I’ll do some more on Juliet!

A Room with a View

Very quick update.

There’s been knitting happening. But the Gathered Pullover’s body is almost finished and a bit’s been added to Juliet. Some knitting has also happened for the Ravelry Swap – but no teasers in case the recipient reads this blog!

Some sewing has also been happening. I’ve finished some curtains which were started last winter and made some baby things (no spoilers for that either as I know 1 recipient to be is a reader). But it’s the first time the sewing machine has been out for a while.

This is the view from my window. Very wintry.

But here are the first of the (rather early) spring flowers.

And here is my camellia bush – or rather – my camellia tree – I have 2 of these and this is the larger. It has bright pink blooms (which you can’t see. And yes, that is our first floor verandah in the photo – and just remember, we have 14 foot ceilings! It is a VERY big camellia.

This is the other reason I haven’t been blogging or knitting much – these two rather fill up my days!



I will try to be more informative over the next few weeks once the immediate knitting and sewing pressure is off!

Honey, I'm Ho-ome!

Well, the washing is done, the kidlets are back at school and childcare, some of the catching up with your blogs is done, and life is returning to normal after the holiday.

It was a lovely holiday. I nearly finished the Dublin Bay Socks while we were away (did the toe decreases on sock 2 last night) and did half of 1 Francie.

I have discovered some important truths about holiday knitting.

You CAN knit when:
1. You are in a hammock;
2. Drinking cocktails (but don’t attempt lace after the second one);
3. Riding in a high speed ferry in rough weather;
4. Sitting by the pool;
5. Sitting on the verandah;
6. Waiting on the beach for the family to wake up in the morning.

You CANNOT knit when:
1. You are snorkelling;
2. You are eating dinner with your husband by candlelight under the stars (well, maybe I could have, but it just didn’t seem the right time somehow);
3. You are waiting at the bottom of the waterslide to catch children;
4. You are in the pool with children;
5. You are learning to dive;
6. You are clutching the sides of a speed boat;
7. You are cleaning up vomit;
8. You are vomiting;
9. You are making sand castles;
10. You are kayaking in choppy seas;
11. You are trying to climb onto a slippery pontoon because you have just discovered you are snorkelling alone with a largish shark and your powers of levitation have failed;
12. You are sitting on a pontoon a LOOOOONG way from shore trying to work out how to get into a kayak without falling into the water you have just got out of because you discovered you were sharing it with a 2 metre shark. (Granted, the shark didn’t seem that interested, but we’d like to keep it that way, wouldn’t we?)

We had fun. No-one got sunburnt, the children are totally waterlogged – every day meant time in the water until wrinkled and prune-like. Fiji is a great place to go with children – it’s pretty close so the flight is short, kids love it, the locals love kids, it’s really relaxed and the food is good.

Additionally, when we arrived home there were some parcels waiting for me.

The incomparable Donyale had returned some yarn which I had sent her for dyeing, but included a Berocco pattern booklet I was lusting after and some Knitpicks cables. You are a wonderful woman - and will be rewarded! She dyed the yak and wool sock yarn with her 'Wicked Witch' colourway.

My second order from The Loopy Ewe had arrived

My rash order from WEBS sale arrived in a big box (2 jumpers worth of Cascade 220 – a dark grey and an aqua and a jumpers worth of Gedifra cotton merino in bright red) .

And Yarn 10 – with my article in it.

A lovely holiday – but it’s very nice to be home!

That was the week (or so) that was...

Yet another week or so has zipped past! I’m sure someone is stealing my days and weeks – I can’t believe the year is nearly half over – and I’m sure I have no memory of February whatsoever – other than the Princess starting big school – but that was only one day – so someone has, yet again, made off with the rest of the month (and bits of April, and May as well)!

So the last week as a quick whip through, in the order in which I remember it!!

I have no idea what happened from Monday to Thursday. Use your imagination, make it as exciting as you like and then let me know – I’ll take it. I have the feeling that really I did Mum stuff – washing, tidying, cooking etc. Your ideas are bound to be better – I’d like to have jetted to the Bahamas for a secret meeting with Alan Rickman and Johnny Depp, whilst eating Beluga Caviar and drinking Tattinger, but realise this is unlikely to have happened. I think it was more probably the laundry.

On Friday we went to the opening of a friends microbrewery, Seven Sheds. He makes ale with his own hops, local malt and water, and sparkling mead (MMMMM!) with local honey. That was fun, even if I missed afternoon tea because I had to collect the Princess from school. As you can imagine, the event was groaning with local, state and federal politicians – if they’ll come to the opening of an envelope, how much more likely are they to attend an event with free beer?

The brewery is wonderful, the mead and ale fabulous and if you’re near Railton, Tasmania, you must drop in (beware though – both are extremely strong!).

Saturday was a girls day out to Agfest. A friend of mine and I callously abandoned our children to spend the day drifting about Tasmania’s premier agricultural showcase. We had great fun – we stopped and talked to people, only visited the stalls we wanted to see, had our hands done at demonstrations, our boots polished collected free stuff to make enormous show bags for our kids and husbands, ate exotic tempura mushrooms and drank homemade ginger beer, bought yarn, fibre, chocolate, soap and girl stuff. We patted alpacas, calves and goats, grabbed free fibre samples and bought fibre, rovings and tops (and yarn) from the alpaca tent, talked to llamas and men with fencing stuff and generally had a wonderful day. We got there at 8am and left at 4pm – we had about 10 free calico and coloured shopping bags, lots of handouts, heaps of stuff for the kids and sore feet – best day I’ve had in ages!

Sunday brought the in-laws over for lunch, which the kids loved and Monday was our 7th wedding anniversary. The Accountant and I went out to lunch at Anvers. This a the local chocolate factory and cafe - the food is fabulous, nearly all local and lots of it contains chocolate (including the home made beef, mushroom and stout pie - with chocolate and chili!).

The rest of this week has been mum stuff – especially today, which was the special Mothers’ Day assembly and morning tea at the Princess’s school – lovely singing and poems by the kids and the most beautiful picture of me by my daughter (I apparently have blue and green hair, triangular dresses and a big smile). – All in all and bit happy tearful at the loveliness of it all.

So now you’re up to date – knitting continues. Here, especially for Ms Madmad is the Slouch Rib Cardi

Admire the damn buttons please – they cost nearly as much as the yarn!

Tahoe is growing – second front is cast on tonight – I am deeply in love with the gorgeousness of Zara and want to wear it all the time – except when I am wearing Malabrigo, of which some snuck into my stash in the last few days. Mmmm Malabrigo!

Ciao! Promise to be a better blogger in future!

You Put The Hand In, You Take The Hand Out...

Just a short update today:

Knitting:

The scarf is finished and I will post photos later (given the fact I am posting the parcel today!)
The Slouch rib cardi needs one and a half sleeves and the bands – other than that it is all done (LOL)

I have been matching yarn and patterns and coming up are: Montparnasse, Tahoe, Cherie Amour and Pearl Buck – in no particular order. There are also unfinished socks, the Gathered Pullover and some requested mittens in there. And some baby knitting.

I have been spending too much time on Ravelry and lusting after other people’s knitting. And stash. So I’m going to make a huge effort to get more of my own knitting done, from my existing yarn-that-is-not-stash.

Other stuff:

In other news, the Knightly Knitter and her family are coming for the weekend. This is exciting, but also means I must tidy up some of the general high level of clutter around the place. I also need to terrorise the dust antelopes (some people have dust bunnies, but not this chicken, no siree!), and make sure there are some surfaces for cooking. Due to enablement by Ms Cindy2paw I acquired the AWW Winter cookbook and think some things from that may appear – last night we had chicken with olives and preserved lemon. Tonight it’s home made sausage rolls (full of cunningly hidden veggies!). Delicious magazine also arrived.


Fun in the Afternoon:

Now, I have discovered that having a good relationship with the reception staff of your local medical centre is crucial. Ask me how I know!!

For some reason, known only to himself, Destructoboy decided to put the teeny tiny little hand of a Lego man up his right nostril! Now, when a teeny tiny Lego hand gets put up the nose of a 3 ½ year old, it stays put – especially because his attempts to fish it out before letting Mum know drive it further up. Remaining calm (he wasn’t – he was deeply upset that he wouldn’t get the *&^*&*%%% hand back!) I whisked him into the car and off to the local doctors’ surgery.

Knowing all the staff really helps – when I explained the situation we were raced into an examination room, the first passing GP was frogmarched in, an examination assisted by magnifying glasses took place and anaesthetic was sprayed up Destructoboy’s nostril. It was really lucky the doctor could actually see the hand, because otherwise it meant a trip to hospital and a visit with the ENT specialist– but there is no ENT outside the northern capital – 100km away, and I don’t think they are there all the time – only some days! And an operation under general anaethetic – and wouldn’t THAT be fun!

A quick prod and grab with the tweezers and Destructoboy’s Lego man got his hand back. He perked up immediately (he had been very quiet and worried until then – said his nose hurt and was crying about the loss of the hand!), and promised never to put anything anywhere it wasn’t supposed to go. He got a lollipop to take away the taste of the anaesthetic. I really hope I don’t have to go through that again any time soon.

Just a quick update on the de-cluttering:

In

1 knitting magazine
1 Delicious Magazine
1 cookbook (enabled by Cindy2paw)
2 balls Moda Vera Sock yarn, 2 balls green variegated Jet, 3 balls of blue Jet to finish cardi, 8 buttons (Doomlight of Spot visit)
7 Buttons for Slouch cardi (thus converting a 20 dollar cardi into a 44 dollar cardi via 14 bucks for buttons and 2 extra balls of wool!)
7 Balls Bendigo - 3 wisteria and 4 sprite because it is discontinued and I love it!

Out

3 wooden jigsaws – to child care centre
6 shopping bags of stuff (clothes, boots, shoes etc) Lifeline
1 large bag boys shoes – gift
1 bag girls stuff – gift

Shake it all about

Vintage hues scarf – gift

Hope to have some pictures later in the week. There are some items on the way which have fallen out of other people’s stashes and into mine! Off to have lunch and recover from the flat out fun of being a mother!

In Which Things are Knitted and Others Picked!

I’m feeling a bit guilty as it’s a while since I blogged, but I’ve been either out or fighting for computer time with the Accountant and kidlets! I’ve been sneaking downstairs early to read blogs and email and catch up on Ravelry!

I’ve also been trying to limit yarn purchases since New Year (given that I knew the BMFARSC2008 bill was coming) but rather fell down with a small Bendi purchase (3 balls of cotton and a couple of other things ready for a certain Ravelry bag swap) and taking a skein of Ranco off Donyale’s hands (a civic duty, really!). I also happen to know there’s a sock kit on its way from Red Bird, and the RSC first kit will apparently be posted on Jan 21st from the USA, so it’s not really that onerous, except, well… I heard of a fabulous sale and had to ask a blogpal in that city and she bought me some of the said fabulous wool which was on sale and apart from THAT, hardly any wool has come in my door! (and technically, neither has that one because she is holding onto for me until I get there in March!).

Knitting has taken place. The Kaibashira socks are finished, the back of Bella and half of one sleeve cap is done (to check if I am going to need more Amerah silk), I’ve done the heel of one Vog On and am down to the heel of the spiral rib sock I’m making from one of my Noropups. I’ve started the bag for the bag swap (from stash – yayayayay!).

Now, no-one has responded to my Pay it Forward request!! Wouldn’t you like me to make you a something-or-other? Remember, the first 3 people who would like me to make them something in 2008 and will agree to offer to make 3 other people something in 2008 can participate. Let me know. It will be a nice something!

So, this week was enlivened by a day out in convoy with other mothers of small children (and my friend’s mother, grandmother, Mother in law and aunt) picking blueberries and visiting nurseries (plant kind, not the other). My children picked and ate enormous amounts (blue poo for a month) and I picked. We came home with more than 8kg of blueberries (at 4.50 a kg!!) and 2 tired and fractious kids!

There was also a birthday party of two of Princess’s classmates (twins) yesterday with a hired jumping castle! Princess had a great time, even though it rained – the first rain for ages and most welcome! It rained most of yesterday and most of the night – hurrah!

Now, I’m just going to pick my bonnet up and swing it by its ribbons, take a short ramble and hope to encounter Mr Darcy in wet clothes (shiver!). Enjoy your day!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

It’s been extraordinarily busy around here, for some reason. Yes, you-know-what is on the horizon (altogether now, fingers in ears ‘Laalalalalaala’), but it’s really all the other things that go along with the end of the year and the end of the school year.

In the last week or so, we’ve had the election, we’ve had the Small Schools Sports Carnival (try saying that 3 times quickly, especially after a couple of glasses of wine – or summer evening G&Ts), where the Princess came second in the sack race and in the relay, was given a sticker for participating in the obstacle race and the running and everyone had a wonderful time. In 10 days we have the playgroup break-up and visit from Santa and before that the Circus show in the park – Princess will be in this – as a clown (it’s pretty funny just watching 10 five year olds try to do anything – they don’t even need to do anything overtly ‘funny’) and on a trapeze – yup – one term of circus school and she’s going to be on a trapeze – I will try and remember to take photos – I generally forget – I’m such a bad mother.

Yesterday, I ditched the editing and took the plastic kite from 2 dollar shop which ‘Santa’ left in a stocking last Christmas and has never been out of the packet and flew it outside. I ditched the editing (sorry, Amy), and ran outside and we flew the kite (it flew really well – let me recommend the crappy plastic kites which look like octopi and jellyfish to you), played ‘Grandmother’s Footsteps’, swung the children dizzingly around in the air, spun them and chased them and generally had a great parenting time!!

We’ve also had swimming lessons and general madness (from the children – I just yell when the decibels reach unacceptable levels.). I have nearly all my postable Christmas presents ready to go, and have to write overseas Christmas cards to assure those people we only contact at Christmas that we are actually still alive. This means that they should be awake to the possibility that we will descend upon them at some unspecified future date and act like a plague of locusts, while lolling on their best furniture and asking them to peel grapes for us.

The In/Out/Shake it all about Challenge continues (in a scaled down form – but just you wait for a couple of weeks).

IN
3 Knitting mags – Interweave Holiday (Yes, it finally arrived), Simply Knits – with attached calendar and the new Vogue Knitting
I’ve already admitted to all the Op-shopping and the Lush package
A Rowan Studio brochure
A Red Bird Knits sock kit for November. This is absolutely gorgeous and consists of 2 balls of Lana Grossa Meilenwieit yarn – wool, silk, cashmere and polywhatsit. Yum!! And the pattern is great – highly textured and detailed – pop over to the website and check it out!

OUT
8 military books (eBay)
1 Parcel children’s clothes – eBay
1 box of china and stuff - Lifeline
1 magnadoodle – binned
1 Large pile children’s artworks (sshhh – recycled or binned depending on materials)

To prove that I am, indeed, the sad and tragic person the Accountant believes me to be, I acted in an uncharacteristically organised way yesterday. All day I’d had a really bad pain in my abdomen. ‘Goodness,’ I thought ‘What if it is appendicitis? I should do something.’ So I pulled out some sock yarn, matched it to appropriate patterns, popped each kit into a ziplock bag and all the bags either into a big project bag (4) or the downstairs stash cupboard (6). Into the project bag I also popped my knitting essentials bag – DPNs, darning needles, tape measure, scissors, etc. etc). This took around half an hour. At the end of that time, I looked around and thought, ‘There, if I need to go to hospital, I’m ready!’

The more perceptive of you may have noticed that here is no mention of underwear, toiletries or changes of clothes. That is because all I need for a hospital trip is KNITTING! Apparently.

To round out today, I would like to thank Raven from Trampled by Geese. She has nominated me for the Nice Matters Award – oi! You down the back – stop snickering – the Award is ‘for those bloggers who are nice people; good friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspirations. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.’ Thank you so much Raven, I’m very honoured. I promise to use my awesome powers for good - and I'm really very chuffed that she thought about this blog that way. Thank you again!

I also get to nominate seven people for this award. Here they are, in no particular order.

Taph, for Unravelled. Her knitting for the homeless and efforts to declutter her life and live better are an inspiration;
Bells, cooking and knitting and inspiring all those people with the Southern Summer of Socks (especially the newbies we have caught in our (knitted) sock net)
Jejune for living her life caring for others
Rosered, for the SSoS and for initiating Shoesday (and sending me telepathic vibes forcing me to buy footwear
Alwyn, for her knitting lessons and philosophy and ‘can-do’ attitude
MadMad Housewife – for her sharp and witty take on life and always making me laugh
Nora, for sharing her aesthetic, and proving that a thing of beauty is a joy
And (because it’s always worth overdoing)
Happy Spider, because she inspires me and got me into this whole blogging thing anyway!

I’d love to nominate Raven back, but the rules say the love flows outward – so there you go – have fun with it!

The Carnival is Over...

Well, the school fete is a thing of the past. The money has been spent by the punters, sorry, parents and raised for the school, the grounds are tidy, and the money counted. My feet are back to normal, and because the planning meetings are finished, my social life has been halved.

Because we were pretty well organised, rubbish-wise, there was very little litter. Much less than a rock concert or sporting event, probably a little more than a lawn bowls match. Easy clean up.

I have finished my tea cosy for the swap, and will get it away tomorrow or Wednesday (if I have the address). I have bought the Christmas presents which need to go overseas and may try to write overseas Christmas cards this week.

So last night, exhausted and footsore, I had to decide what to knit. Should I try to finish my travelling sock (ptooey!), cast on the second secret sock (with my brain?) or cast on the Silk Garden for another Swing Jumper – gorgeous simplicity, beautiful yarn, occasional counting? Guess which won? Yup, Silk Garden Swing Jumper it was. Lovely easy knitting on largish needles, beautiful yarn. Happy as a clam.

This morning I got to catch up on your lives and found that Amy had tagged me for this meme. So here are what I would laughingly describe as responses to these questions (read on – you may be tagged at the end!)

1. One person who made me laugh – Amy for making me do this meme after I had read it on everyone else’s blog and laughed because I hadn’t been tagged (Yarning to write is alphabetically last in my (mostly) daily blog check). Serves me right!
2. What was I doing at 0800? Making lunch for The Accountant to take to work and hoping the kids wouldn’t wake up for 3 more hours! Hey, I can dream!
3. What was I doing 30 minutes ago? Watching ‘Bear in the Big Blue House’ – What, you missed it? Well. The otters dressed up for Halloween, and Bear said we smelled like pumpkins……
4. What did I do in 2006? Isn’t it still 2006? AArgh..then um.. I can’t remember – Was a mother, did stuff – OOOHHHH yes – became obsessed with knitting after re-discovering it in May 2006 – see what knitting a little hat, then some mittens can lead you into? First it’s the soft stuff, mittens, hats, then it’s socks and finally, you’re into the hard stuff – lace knitting, subscribing to Interweave Knits. It’s a slippery slope, guys!
5. Last thing I said aloud? ‘What’s the rolling bounce thing?’ (It was the sofa – 3 minutes before that it was ‘NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!’
6. Beverages? Only 1 latte so far, but I’m just about to make another one.
7. What colour is my hairbrush? Hairbrush coloured – sort of browny black, with fluff in it.
8. Last thing I paid for? 2 beanie kids, 2 showbags, entry to the fairy tent, 2 giant bubble wands, a yoghurt semolina cake and a small wood fired pizza. And he asks where the money goes!
9. Where was I last night? That would be home, exhausted after selling beanie kids at the fair and then helping clean up afterwards! (Besides, I have 2 small children – 5 and 3 – I’m home almost every night!)
10. Front door colour? Ox Blood red with etched glass and a light smattering of dust and cobwebs.
11. Where do I keep my change? In my wallet and the ashtray in my car – and in my children’s hot little hands!
12. What’s the weather like today? Sunshine, late spring, going to be 21 decrees Celsius (no idea in Fahrenheit) warm, slight breeze, sunny – fabulous!
13. Best ice cream flavour? Well, had lemon the other night, and a few nights ago had macadamia, caramel and toffee. Last night was ultra chocolate with cherry and yesterday at the fair was frozen raspberries and cherries smoooshhhedd through vanilla – they’re ALL my favourite – just not any combination of chocolate and mint. The other night on ‘The Cook and the Chef’ they made Halva, mint and pistachio ice cream – that could be a favourite. I like ice cream!
14. What excites me? Having 5 minutes to myself, a quiet house and time to knit. Or great wine, beautiful food and great company. My children on a good day, my husband and a picnic. Sun. Fresh air. Winter fires. Someone else doing the housework. My standards are low. Lots of things work.
15. I want to cut my hair? Nup – did that, growing it back long again – short hair needs too much work. Long hair just needs a brush and a big toothy clip thingy.
16. Am I over the age of 25? Dear me, I’m so far over that if I were a bit older I’d be talking about the blitz and how much worse things were during the depression and how kids today are…. Sorrry. I’ll stop now.
17. Do I talk a lot? Oh no, reticent, quiet, obedient, that’s me. Oh alright – never stop, chat to children, dogs, cats, chickens and occasional adults if they don’t get out of range in time. I’m practicing to be one of those people who corners you on buses and in places you can’t escape from and talks at you about my operations and children and what the voices tell me to do. Ye Gods, I could talk for Australia, and if they’d make it an Olympic sport I could say I was in training!
18. There seems to be no 18
19. Do I know anyone named Steve? Lots of them, in most variations, Steven, Stephen, Steve and Stefan.
20. Do I make up my own words? I certainly do, and if I can’t invent one, then I turn to Douglas Adams and ‘The Meaning of Liff’, because he’s got a whole stack of great ones in there.
21. Am I a jealous person? About family, yes. About anything else, not really – I see it as an opportunity to learn from people better/different from me – think rivalry, and occasionally, gentle envy.
21. Name a friend who starts with the letter A. Amy – she made me do this, it’s only fair she’s named in it.
22. Name a friend who starts with the letter K. My sister in law, Kaye – we all adore her.
23. Who’s the first person on my ‘Received Calls list? That requires a cell phone which actually gets turned on.
24. The last text message I received? See above.
25. Do I chew on my straw? I don’t think so – I would however, try to knit it.
26. Do I have curly hair? Boo Hoo – no I don’t, but wish I did and the proof is a series of bad perms. Now I just live with straightish, slightly wavy, boring hair.
27. Where’s the next place I’m going to? Kitchen for coffee, then laundry for washing then outside to the clothesline….should I go on?
28. Who is the rudest person in my life? My children, hands down. Tact and diplomacy are foreign countries to them
29. What was the last thing I ate? A piece of organic wholemeal toast with berry jam. In a better life it would have been eggs Benedict with chilled champagne and fresh peaches and raspberries and grapes. Bah, humbug!
30. Will I get married in the future? Certainly not. Far too much effort, I’ll stick with the one I married last time, thanks.
31. The best movie I’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? Pan’s Labyrinth (again) And ‘The Princess Bride’ (Again to the nth power)
32. Is there anyone you like right now? My family, my friends and blogpals, and I’m a bit inclined to like Eduardo Verastegui. This is Nora’s fault. Take it up with her.
33. Did I cry today? Not yet, but the kids are working on it!
34. Why did I answer and post this? Because Amy tagged me and I’m a good person who does what I’m told. And if you believe that, have I got a deal for you…. No, I got tagged and thought it would be fun.
35. Tag 5 people I would like to see do this survey. Well…..
Ms Trampled by Geese

Ms Mad, Mad Housewife

Bells

Knights-Don’t-Knit

Ms 2Paw,

and Rosered (because anything worth doing is worth overdoing!)

I'm sure they'll have fun!
That’s it for today. I’m off to put the washing out and play with kids and roll in my stash. No, clean the house – ha – got you – of course I’m not going to clean the house! We’re going to play outside and get covered in grass stains!