Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A plea.

Hey everyone, I write to you today for the sake of your children. I've been entering year eight's names in a database and I want to make a passionate plea. Therefore I wish to simply list some rules when naming your children so that they may avoid a life of bullying, and just plain terrible names.

1. Avoid creating 'unique' ways of spelling a common name. Names spelt 'Rebekah', 'Candi' or 'Beki' look cheap and tawdry, and don't give a good initial impression of either you or your child.
2. When naming your little darling, play with their full name (first and last) in the fashion that another small child would. Make fun of the name and see what savoury combinations you can make. If the names come too easily, reconsider the choice.
3. Virtues like Justice, Reality and Charity sound nice as a first name, but if you really want adults to look your wee sweety in the eye and not laugh, consider using said virtue as a middle name. It will no doubt come in handy as a pick up line later!

I hope this doesn't sound too harsh, but this (dull) yearly ritual often presents classic examples of what I presume is a terrible thing to do to a young adult...

adios for now

Sunday, January 27, 2008

THe procrastination continues...

Hola everyone!

Still without camera (still bugging me something chronic too.. I want to take pictuuuress.. now! Grrr).

So here is a roundup of the crafty stuff I have done:
- beanie, for step mother
- Wheel spun some (rather badly) superwash fibre (can't remember if it's merino or just wool)
- Made a skirt using an easy peasy burda pattern. Planning to embellish/alter the next skirt I make with that pattern.
- learnt to make hairpin lace
- started a giant rectangel granny blanket for the sis. I think this will be done in time for her birthday, and I want to do a nice trim around the edges.
- Started the webs scarf from interweave knits using some handdyed cashmere (ooh the heaven!)
- Started a scarf using abovementioned handspun for father. Am thinking I will frog it, ply it/respin and see if I can get enough yardage/consistency for a hat.

Am thinking the next granny blanket I do will be a ripple blanket for myself. I'm also halfway through an art book cover for my swap partner in the reading rainbow swap on craftster (another reason I need a camera asap). I am utterly in love with what I've done so far, even if the colour scheme is not something I'd normally go for. I've pinned it down, and now need to start sewing those sections down. The final work is going to be a veritable masterpiece.

Also back at school, which is fun, and dealing with computer problems, which is less so. The new teacher librarian is ahem.. more teacher less librarian (for all teacher librarians looking for a job, there seems to be a shortage of such on the Coast. Do yourself a favour, get familiar with ALICE/Oliver, and get thee here!) which means I get to be a trainer of sorts. Fun, and time consuming. Time will tell.

Finally, I am doing the cheesy 'pass it on' thing that has been going around. I will make three people something in the next six months. All you have to do is leave a comment expressing interest in the comments and promise to make something for three people on your blog/Livejournal/whatever floats your boat.

adios for now!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

How terribly Austen!

I was bored this morning and came across this very cute test, especially with reading Persuasion and still reading Emma. Nothing like a practical personality!

I am Elinor Dashwood!


Take the Quiz here!



Also, it looks like I'll be getting my camera back on Australia day, YAY!

Adios!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Funny funny funny

Hey everyone, I STILL don't have my camera back, but shock of all shocks, have one FO (blocking as we speak) and some pretty in progress pics to share. I will also be receiving a few lovely things in the mail, courtesy of all these online aussie yarn retailers having sales that got me parting with my $$ rather quickly lol.

The past few days have also been rather amusing, with the onerous task of cleaning up my grandfather's vast and expansive library. (Since being in a high care home for Alzheimers doesn't free up a lot of time for housework). Ten boxes of varying size later and the task is about halfway done. After some really interesting discoveries in the collection, it does make me wonder... What does your bookshelf say about you?

I wonder because amongst the copious quantities of golf books (seriously, how many golf books does one man need?), to books on economic reform and Russian politics (These were in perfect nic, why buy them if you don't need the sleeping tablet?) there were some books that indicated a less than perfect marriage. Soft porn, hidden behind the old school magazines and 'how to please your wife' manuals right under the books on pet care. Funny no? I'm still cracking up with laughter. One dirty old man to go thanks.

Another ironic thing in the collection? No less than two manuals on 'improving your memory'. Icing on the cake. :D

Take care, sleep in and try not to laugh too much.

adios!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

I guess I'm not much of a holiday person

And before I get berated/harassed for lacking spirit of any festive kind, its mainly because at Christmas I get constantly reminded that I'm an introvert, and exceptionally talented at leaving my past (read: people) behind. In other words, I lack friends (much less people I'd drive an hour out of my way for) in the real world.

What has this to do with the festive season? The fact that I'm spending a lot of time, at home reminds me of one of the integral reasons why I love to go to work. People.

To stave off boredom (and kilos) I've gone and gotten a gym membership. The body balance is fun (legalised torture meets easy listening music) and learning to use a treadmill also a new experience. (Now I see why I want an ipod. Walking straight ahead watching/listening to pithy music videos isn't that interesting)

This isn't a pithy wingeing thing. Just an update, a hola, if you will.

Everyone has resolutions. I've been trying to avoid the resolution bug, but alas, there are some things I want to do. With measurable results. Arg.

- Get organised, in fact get so organised that I can tell you what I'm doing at what time in a month's time. This being rather necessary for study, of which I'm doing two subjects and full time work. This is also why I have stockpiled tea (survival!).
- save money for pending move end of semester/year. This will work very well with me studying my butt off.
- Try new things in the craft world. I MUST get around to trying canvas work on my plastic canvas...

That's it. Between trying to plan my life weeks in advance and blessing stockinette for the boring bliss that it is, I will be swamped.

And enjoying work. Now if they would only pay more... lol

adios for now!