Was I confusing or confused?

Did I make it all too confusing by listing all the not housework terribly important stuff I had done yesterday?


Today is my actual birthday so thank you all lots of very much for your fabulous birthday wishes you have left throughout the day.


It has been a working day but with just two small people it really wasn't very trying. I spent the morning dancing with a two year old - it involved buttons, toy dogs and Tom Jones and Jools Holland. Then the afternoon letting a four y.o. fester in front of the telly while I shared lunch and a character assassination with two friends.

Oh! May I just take this moment to say how fabulous my brand new toy is and just how much I have forgotten in the years since I owned an SLR!! Would someone please send info on the use of ISO speeds and light values?!?!?!?


I got very spoiled today by so many lovely people.

I can't decide whether my daughter (as I believe) really had this thought when she bought me a box of 'Heroes' bob or is stashing points for next time she is naughty and in BIG trouble. When I unwrapped it this morning she said 'I bought you those b/c you are my hero.'

Aaaaaaw, too sweet huh? I promptly felt a little mean for having made her cry while reciting her tables all the way from the 2s to the 12s last night.

One of my borrowed childer met me at school today with a big smile and a HUGE pink helium balloon. 'Mummy said you wouldn't like this one but I knew you would, that's why I chose it.' How right she was. Despite the cyclonic winds and sharp pointy bits of tree hanging over I proudly carried it out to my car showing off the entire way.

Look what my boy wrote in his card! I nearly had tears!

It has been a fabulous day with lots of love, international phone calls, quite importantly - presents



and most importantly - cake!

Thank you for sharing it with me.

So now on to the exciting part of this post.

It would seem that in just the few minutes that I have been writing TrashCan I have hit 100 posts!

(stolen from www.mamalisa.com)

Who knew that 'googling' the simple but somewhat bizzare phrase 'knitted monkeys' would result in meeting so many lovely real/imaginary friends and people with common interests.

So to thank all y'all for playing here and reading about life here at Trash Towers and for seeing me through the lows and even lowers of Hilltop Malaria I am having a little prize awarding.

Because today is a double celebration (if enough people leave their names) there will be two names drawn from the prize barrels and as I seem to have created some form of confusion over the road at the previous post I will be adding all names from both here and there to the draw that will take place on February 7.

So please say g'day, leave your name below and stop back after Thursday to have a look see in case your name comes up!

Things I have done today.

1. Finished the bag for Princess C-W's friend's birthday.

2. Posted half of the parcels I have had hanging around here (for several months!!!) to the Tropical family.

3. Made myself a birthday cake - pineapple and coconut since you ask.

4. Hoovered (vacuumed for any 'foreign' readers) the living room, hall and dining room.

5. Made two lovely knitted flower broochy/corsagey things. One of my borrowed childer helped choose the centres!

6. Bought my first ever balls of Noro - I have never understood the appeal but I think my friend will. I'll be making the potato chip scarf (we call it 'the chippie scarf' here) for her birthday.

7. Discovered three balls of wool I bought a few weeks ago. Two of my best and favourite Cashsoft in a lovely lime green and one of Kidsilk Haze (bleurgh, definitely not my favourite) in a vivid greeny colour. My plan is to knit them together - possibly in the aforementioned 'Chippie' scarf pattern [thanks WMK;-)].

8. Ogling the growing pile of birthday presents on the toy trunk in the living room. (Since you ask - No. The children may not access any relevant play things while MY birthday presents need a place to accumulate! )

9. Did an emergency lunch dash for Pr.C-W as she had 'left' hers at home and could I please bring it down before break as it had her apple in it! I scoured the house but nada. Naturally it was only after I had purchased & delivered emergency rations that I discovered it hiding behind the door in the dining room! Apparently she did not put it there........ perhaps monkeys?

10. Perhaps may have bought a special something for a Valentine's Swap personage of

great beardiness ;-))


Will edit later to add pictures.

Two more sleeps!!

There is an awful lot happening in just two more sleeps.



My tropical brother returns home from six months in a war-zone. (I believe my s-i-l (the nice one) is padlocking him to the house to stop ever going away again! )







His m-i-l returns home on the same connecting flight (they share a house. It's a big one!).








Some of us may be having a birthday!!! (I know I am on the mend to nearly full recovery as I am getting excited about my birthday again!)







It may well be the same some of us who have been juggling posting for the last three weeks to make birthdays and centenary posts co-incide!







It may be worth coming back on Thursday night to have a mooch around and share in some real imaginary cake! (I do quite good cake - check out here for references!) .



Just two more sleeps y'all and then the much beloved EOS is mine, all mine, mine I tell you (bwahaaahahahaha!)

humour is THE true blessing in life, the universe and everything.

My phone rang at 7:30 this morning.









That is never good is it?










A good friend told me her dad died last night.









It was his birthday.









I like the symmetry in that.








I went to visit her tonight.








In between the tears we laughed.








Join me in raising a glass of this


or this



to the dearly remembered.

*Reasons to be cheerful - part three.

I went out today with my children. Just for a walk along the hilltop here. The sun was shining, the dogs were sniffing about, the kids were on their bikes, we bumped into some friends and had a chat.

Doesn't sound much does it?

But given that a week ago I was expecting to perish from peritonitis at any second or at the very least wake to find myself suffering some nasty brain side effect from a simple virus (Seriously.

Happened to a friend of mine. He's better but will never be 100%.) I think it sounds bloody marvellous!

I am not getting all born again-y or hyper-Thanksgiving Thursday but acknowledging that in life

'A bit of grin and bear it, a bit of come and share it

You're welcome, we can spare it - yellow socks

Too short to be haughty, too nutty to be naughty

Going on 40 - no electric shocks

The juice of the carrot, the smile of the parrot

A little drop of claret - anything that rocks

Elvis and Scotty, days when I ain't spotty,

Sitting on the potty - curing smallpox

Reasons to be cheerful part 3'

Ian Dury & the Blockheads.

can take a person a long way.


As they arise I shall be noting down the 'Reasons to be cheerful, Part Three.

Cocoa Swap Question #3

For the interest of my fellow cocoa-swappers I have been asked to post about a random childhood memory.

Everyone else can feel free to come back another time, unless they are in the grip of the nosey bug and wish to find out odd random information about real imaginary people.

Everyone can remember their first ever day of going to school right?

The nerves, the excitement...... the dread. In my house, with seven hundred children older than me and a school teacher dad, there was a little of these but mostly an inevitability about the whole event.

I suppose there was a little thrill building because we had only been in my hometown for a few weeks and we really didn't know anyone. When we lived out in the never-never it wasn't ever a problem, there were always enough of us to get some sort of game going but school was a whole different excitement.

I wasn't the only one starting a new school; four of us kids and dad would all be out there in a brand new setting a loooong way from where we actually lived. I've never actually measured it in miles (and have forgotten the kilometres) but it must be about ten or more. And there was not much to this place.

I remember a zebra crossing (which in years to come would be staffed by Mr. Chong the lollipop man), a service station (gas or petrol station depending on which country you are reading from) and a hill on which our school sat above the road. I also remember pine woods walks, stringy bark trees, the old hall in which we played spin-the-bottle while waiting for staff meetings to finish and the crab apple tree. And those bizarre monstero cotton reels in the playground. But they came many days and weeks later.

The thing I remember from my very first 'first day of school' was being bitten by a swan.



Mean looking buggers aren't they?

I don't remember about the getting to school and only a little more about what happened when I was there but I clearly and distinctly remember having lunch with my Mum around at the picnic tables between the Ballarat High Boatsheds and the Pavillions restaurant-y place (did anyone ever go there?) and being harrassed by a socking great big swan for my vegemite sandwich. I remember his beak closing on my fingers, I remember it hurting and I remember my mother scaring the bejasus out of the sodding bird so it would leave me alone.

The reason it all sticks so clearly in my memory and that I was having lunch with my mother
1) all by myself
2) a looooong way from my school &
3) on a school day

was that preppies started a day later than everyone else. So I became one of the chosen few who have managed to have to 'first ever days' at school!

How do they do it?

Poor old Princess C-W didn't go to Brownies last night, at the very last minute we had to cancel and she was not a happy creature. However, once the quiet tears stopped she took it all in good grace; especially as I 'bought' my way out of it by

a) letting her stay up until end of Brownies time (late at our house) &
b) beginning a bag for her friend's birthday.

We had an old pair of CK's jeans (freshly laundered you understand), a not especially sharp pair of scissors, loads of thread, an offcut of red gingham (* sigh* just looking at that stuff is balm to my soul. Balm I tell you. ), my sewing machine and the determination of nine y.o. girl thwarted!

We interfaced, we appliqued, we seamed and then it was time for bed. And I have to say it was looking pretty good at this point, possibly good enough to shift from prototype to present! Of course I have no picture. That would be the work of a well person!

Having burned my brain out I gave up for the night & I took myself off to bed.

Feeling slightly more clever this morning I created handles. Lots of pseudo-overlocking on my machine, some bright red thread and an 'Oh that will do' attitude left me with two nice length, good width handles and a big fat offcut from the leg of a pair of jeans. Guess what I then spent the next fraught minutes of my life attaching to 'the bag'? Yes, it was the offcut and, despite having turned, pinned and stitched it, it was about twice the width of the handles! I threw it down in disgust at my stupidity and went to bed for the afternoon. Tonight the bag lies languishing de-nuded of all handleage but I shall be braver tomorrow.

So here is my reason for the title of this post. How do they do it? All those clever sew-er people out there in the real, imaginary world. How do you get your edges to meet, your seams to sit so or your thread to stay attached to the fabric? Because, despite four years of hard work by Mrs. Highway, Mrs Robinson and Mrs Hurley during my formative years, I am still crubbish at this lark.

Obviously it was a zeitgeist-y thing in the ether b/c my Mother (the woman who supposedly loves me. Huh!) sent me these pictures of her current W.I.P. just this morning.

Obviously I am not grumbling or anything b/c this is my (by that I obviously mean 'ours' and CK will be very welcome to share it!) apple quilt that now has a border and everything. She was even talking about doing the filling bit and possibly backing it in the next lil' bit! (See I know so much about quilting.)

And just a little happy note to finish on - this picture was taken back in November when I was touristing around the countryside with the tropical family. While I do not possess a knitted monkee to entertain and delight you with musical pop combos, tricks and suchlike - I am a good monkee tote owner. We go on regular excursions to both interesting and entertaining places. This was a good place for the tote - look the monkee is smiling, my 13 y.o. niece thought it was 'cold and old' - I don't think this was good!!!!!

Visual Acuity. (Or 'my poor tortured soul')

Did you know, while I have been thrashing around on my sickbed, just downstairs in the dining room has been something I have lusted after in one form or another for nearly 20 years? It is just sitting there, half in/half out of its box. Quietly sitting. Quietly teasing me. But I am better than that. I have (very nearly) competely ignored it and we are now on the downhill slide with just eight more sleeps until my birthday. (edited: it was eight when I started, technically it is now seven.)

But that doesn't mean I don't hear its siren song.

Ever since we agreed purchasing this camera would be a good thing I have started to 'look' at things. A billion years ago when I owned an SLR in a previous life I looked at things always 'through the lens'. This is neither as pretentious or selfish as it sounds because 1. I was young and excited about this amazing thing called 'photography' I had discovered and 2. I didn't have kids, dogs or a partner then so my time was my own.

In recent days, when I have actually managed to complete my share of 'white ceiling , pointless staring at' for the day , my focus seems to have been brought into clearer definition. Not because of the Zen aspects to the ceiling staring, rather I am thinking like an SLR user again. I feel my visual comprehension of colour and texture is being sharpened. This probably sounds like a 'Pseud's Corner' excerpt!

It may well be how all you sewers, quilters and proper knitters feel all the time anyway. Looking at how colours merge together or retreat quickly from one another depending on the light. The reaction of texture to shadow. Trying to fix whatever you have in your mind's eye so the finished piece shares the same clarity. Being open to the fortunes of a lucky accident. Honestly? It is a mindset I have been out of properly for many years.

This week's discovery is that my world around here is suddenly full of interesting angles.

I hope I can share them with you.

CK made danish pastries on the weekend with the kids.

I wish he had used butter like everyone else!

What can I say? I was sick!!

Did you notice the picture of glorious loveliness at the end of the last post? Was it not shiny and pretty and sparkly and floaty?

I bought it yesterday while I was waiting to collect my drugs from the chemist.

There isn't much of it and there is a six inch pulled section smack bang in the middle of what there is but... its prettiness just makes me smile.

Then of course I needed ribbon. I wanted something that would complement the material but not disappear, hoping it would act as accent for a flower colour. The nice lady in our very old-fashioned haberdasherey suggested this gauzy sparkly purple one. Pretty, no?! Hmmmm.. it looks kinda blue up there huh? Trust me it really is purple.

Obviously I am completely prescient and bought it b/c I knew ricrac would put up a post yesterday about her beautiful little purses.

Now in all honesty I will never make that purse and it is quite likely nothing will ever happen to that fabric either. But I can add it to my '*sigh* list' and imagine making it.

Look what came to live here!

Admittedly it arrived the other day but I have been a little pre-occupied to pick it up. Now the job has been done, the removals van has left and as I calculate the final tally for the insurance claim against that bloody infection I proudly display this gift from Miss Kitty.



Isn't that a lovely present to give someone?





I had an interesting time this afternoon, bloghopping the world. Via the Hot Cocoa Swap I found red shoes and she was having a little ideology questioning moment; very interesting it was and I have left a discussion point with her. But it got me further along a track I have been on for a while now and it seems to tie in with a zeitgeist trembling to life. Crafters are lovely people.

Seriously. People who are involved in craft are (by dint of choice of their hobby/outlet/desire/free time filler) inherently kind people. I recognise that as gross generalisation b/c there must be some out there who actually don't like other people's cats/gardens/whatever but when we craft it ends with a tangible result. A result we look to give away very often, to share. We use our time and skills to create useful, beautiful, functional, frivolous items to benefit the world around us.

Physically or emotionally. We invest time in creating things which can then represent so much to those who receive them. Imagine slipping on handmade socks - surely there is an automatic positive energy to your day b/c someone spent time and energy finding the correct yarn and colour to suit you. Just for you. An afghan for a friend's baby is more than to keep a child warm; it is an expression of friendship, of joy, of community and communion.

I believe that the ways of looking at the world as postulated by people like yarnstorm are simply the magnified voice of so many crafters in both the real and imaginary worlds. We want more than hyperbole and high life,in fact we actually want less. It is the things lying underneath the froth we look for - we want creativity and sharing and expression and support and recognition and laughter and guidance and learning.

It would seem to me that crafters have a recipe for a good life right to hand.

Seven things of interest (or..Once again it is all about me!)

I have been tagged to do this by the ever delightful Felicia from the Hot Cocoa Swap who was also my recipient in the scarf exchange. I have done one previously so I shall endeavour not to repeat but bear with me if I am so uninteresting I can only say the same stuff again.



Hmmmm.... how about we give this one a kind of a theme? Let's try and get seven things about me to do with names.



1. I am named after my Uncle, my Dad's oldest brother. (No he was not called Uncle Trash.)

2. My sister and I have the same confirmation name. My mum has it as her middle name.

3. My older dog was named for CK's favourite film.

4. My naughty dog's name was chosen before we even thought about getting another dog but it sooooo suits him!

5. People pronounce Babyman's name differently here than they would in Australia even though it is written exactly the same.

6. I do not shorten my name the way nearly everyone else does.

7. I am rarely called by my full name, unless my mother is very, very cross with me.

Hey.... not too shabby huh?

Okay, Felicia said I have to play properly and nominate seven others so here goes.......the vicious chicken ummm..working mom knits... I'm trying to think of people who haven't done it eleventy three times before... so how about something from
Missus Ricrac and Missus FlowerGarden. Perhaps they will give away sufficient information that I can at least put a compass point to where they are. (fiendish, no? we recuperators are clever you know...).In a final rush I am also asking
Lucy Recycled-Pocket Locket, Dr Moogsmum & the inimitable Monkee Maker. Good luck Bloggers all. Go at it and have fun figuring out SEVEN things about you. I look forward to reading them.



Mwah hahahah.


Mwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!




mWahhh, mwaha, haaaaaaaaa



MWAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!


(oh dear, I think she has become a bit unhinged. Yes, apparently she suffered some great disappointment early on in life. Well, (leans in closer) I heard it was something about unrecognised medical genius. All: *sharp intake of breath*

See! Doctors don't know everything!!!

Oh, yes. They will tell you they are jolly clever and how you have to have twelve A** 'A' levels, umpteen interesting experiences and hobbies outside school life and preferably be the child of a (better if it is two) doctor but the truth will out and I am able to tell you that doctors don't know everything!

I went and saw physician person today. Not only did he make me do the work (where was my contract I would like to know??)but his diagnosis was of a very nasty U.T.I. (acronym b/c I can't whisper on this blog yet), that is currently alternating between tap-dancing on my kidneys and flicking them with a wet towel. And we all know that is bad b/c Peter Hudson lost a testicle doing that in the Hawthorn dressing rooms! {little Aus reference. sorry, my mother made me say it ;-)}

I did say I had hoped he would be able to diagnose 'hilltop malaria' and that we could make our names scientifically. Do you know he had the gall, the outright cheek to ask me what that was!?Had he not just been listening, palpating and dipping into pots? Surely he had heard discussed the shivers, shakes, sweats and burnings that were my last week? Nope. Calm as you like he gave me a prescription for anti-biotics, suggested I would be all better by Thursday and would I close the door behind me on my way out!

So here I lie back in my bed, having done something just a little bit naughty while I was waiting to collect my prescription. Sadly I am upstairs beginning to shiver (god! I wish ibuprofen worked faster)and the naughtiness and my camera are downstairs so perhaps next time I will come with pictures.

Until then let me show you that in Engerland the sky is not always grey but perhaps they should keep their architects at home for longer!

hello..... did you come down this far? becasue I have figured out how to whisper - do you like it? U.T.I. stands for urinary tract infection. I maintain this is only a symptom and that 'the vicious and unpleasant hilltop malaria' is the root cause. We shall see - one day I shall be looked on as a visionary, not a fool.

Are things slipping?

Two very smart looking gentlemen out for an early morning mosey last Summer!

I think today I might be a little better. Or perhaps I hit the drug balance right?

Given that I am not curled up screaming under the duvet and (so much more importantly) have actually done some knitting today I have my fingers crossed. However I have cancelled work for the week because I think I just need to rest for a bit if this revolting and vicious 'hilltop malaria' is really making its way back to whatever sludge pit it oozed out of. (Yes I recognise the grammar is abysmal but in my defence we were never formally taught it at school!)

The other thing slipping that concerns me is homework. Not mine, although undoubtedly there would be lots left from when I was at school as I never finished ANYTHING, but Pr. C-W's. She has to do a river project on any river they choose in the whole wide world (purses mouth in ironic manner). For family reasons she choose the River Murray, Australia. Do you know how many books they have in our little country CofE primary school library with info about this HUGE river system? One lousy map. That is it!

Of course this perfectly reasonable and why would they have more but *phew* it sure is making our life hard. So my problem is.... how much help is too much and becomes me doing it? Because I don't want to be that parent who is cross b/c 'our' work only got a B. On the other hand I want her to learn the methods for gathering, identifying and collating information. For understanding the research and then being able to present in her own way so it is comprehensible for her age group.

This is something no-one ever explained to me and I spent years thinking that I was just supposed to know information b/c obviously getting it from a source would be plagiarism! I accept that she is only nine and therefore this is only Yr.4 but if she can learn these things now at the 'easy' stages it will make life so much more simple in the tricky ones. For both of us!

A reminder that it hasn't always rained!

Shadow Ballet

Tonight as I lie in my freshly made bed, my poor 'hilltop malarial' body racked with shakes and shivers, Princess Curly-Wurly has been entertaining me with shadow ballet on the ceiling. Both she and her shadow are incredibly elegant. As she is the daughter of a woman with all the natural grace of a mountain elephant I am continually amazed by how graceful she has become.


Shadow Ballet involves standing relatively still and dancing, mostly with your arms, in front of a light source. Having the light source at an angle gives for greater display of movement. Perhaps the best way to appreciate this art form is from a semi-prone position on clean bed linen having just had hand cream rubbed into your hands, fingers and arms by the performer. I certainly found it worked very well.

Some examples of skill & cleverness from those graceful hands. I know there is nothing to give these scale but they were weeny, free standing and completely self-supporting. Not an easy thing to achieve with plasticine!

I have been so proud of my girl since Wednesday night when the (by now infamous) 'hilltop malaria' first got up and whacked me about the head and shoulders.

On arrival home from ballet I collopsed on the yellow couch in a big heap with 750 different blankets and layers and coats and scarves and hats arranged about my person for shiver abatement purposes. My brave Princess Curly-Wurly Girlie said to not worry, that she would make dinner tonight. And she did! My baby girl made beans on toast for her and her brother. And ever since she has been looking for ways to help, stroking my head, bringing me drinks, sharing her sweetie-bobs with me and then tonight introducing me to the delights of Shadow Ballet.

For that if not all the other fabulous things she has done for me this week I would like to award to Princess Curly-Wurly a 'you make my day' award.

What a tease!

As I sit here sweating out this nasty 'hilltop malarial poison' that evil genius CK is getting out my birthday present and playing with it!

Can you believe that?

Cheeky beggar!

He claims he just wants to make sure that the battery works, the lens fits and the picture stores to the flashcard.

I think he is just a tease!

My birthday present - just in case y'all wanted to be teased with me.

Picky Tea.

It needed to be done straight away.

Picky tea is a CK invention and has, I think, been different in its execution to the concept but nye, what are you going to do?

Unless I have an active hand in the occasion it is a yellow meal - bread, crisps, sweetcorn, butter, cheese, potatoes, sausage rolls, eggs - you get the picture, right? But on my shift we add peppers, peas, grapes, yogurts, gherkins, apples and whatever I else I can find that will undermine CK's plan to turn his children into starch/carbohydrate addicts.

Once the varied and many constituent parts have been assembled they are laid out on the table on platters or little dishes and you pick out the stuff you would like to eat. For some it means loading your plate up until it threatens to throw itself into a dog's mouth to stop any more being added. For others it is nibbling away for six years on one crisp or the nasty horrible plastic stringy cheese your father has been conned into buying.

This Friday night festivity has become even more fun since Christmas because we gave CK a 'lazy susan'. Who knew what joy could be gained from introducing an element of Russian Roulette to a meal? Taking said 'lazy susan' and *ahem, blushing slightly says* 13 or 14 of these (I mean the ramekins not the puddings - that wouldbe shameful.) gently spin the 'lazy susan' until it stops in front of a small child and they have to eat whatever is in the pot closest to them. Great hilarity ensues as said child is forced to eat such poisons as cherry tomato pieces (pieces!) or peanuts. With much gurning, eye-rolling and sound effects the theatrics must be seen to be believed. Once I am allowed to have my birthday present I will have pics.

I should have been a man.

I really should have been a man.

Just think how easy that would have made the last few days.

I would have taken to my sickbed with out any regrets or worries. I wouldn't have spent the last 24 hours organising and re-arranging for my children to be looked after or even just brought home!

I could have cancelled work without a thought because someone else could pick up the slack, I wouldn't have been letting people down.

And then I would not have felt compelled to use up every shred of energy I possessed in my malarial-ridden body making the downstair of my house look less like an old-fashioned open air tip.

(Something lovely to distract from the above bile. Granma made this for BabyMan.)


Right. I feel better for having said that. Thanks for bearing with me.

Am currently very excited as CK has said my birthday present is on en route to Trash Towers right this very minute. It is the sort of thing that wouldn't really work very well as a surprise, not least because as a scientist he likes to do lots of research and discussion when buying the 'big' items. So for the past three weeks we have had magazines and online searches galore for comparative studies of (wait for it... oh I am so excited I can hardly breath) Digital SLR cameras!!!!!!!

Woohoo!! My birthday present is a new DSLR camera. I haven't used an SLR in eleventy million years and (since having a play with a friend's a few months back) I really miss it. In two weeks exactly I will become the proud possessor of a Canon EOS 400D.

Yes. It is on its way now and no, it isn't coming via the moon. But over the years we have become pretty good at anticip....................ation. What with all the parcels arriving from Australia. If my kids can get that when something arrives before their birthday it goes away until the day then I probably should too. Oh! But how exciting!!

And just so you know how clever Granma is - this is the piece she did for Princess C-W.

And as I am working on my birthday CK is going to take the next day off. He normally tries to have the actual day but this year he has plans which do not include other people's children [Monkee Maker stop it! And Miss Kitty - you too! ;-)].

Once we drop the childer at school we are off to beautiful Bath for a day of picture snapping and possibly some very yummy lunch somewhere nice. I might even have to head into a shop or two just for a little look around! Then head home for the Friday traditions here at Trash Towers - sweetie day and picky tea. But picky tea is a whole other post!

A day I could do without (or the joy of modern medicine).

Not that I wish this to be a whingefest but if you are expecting a pleasant post perhaps you should come back another day. Because I am sick.

No seriously, sick. In the past 24 hours I have contracted some form of hilltop malaria that leaves a girl shaken, aching, freezing and baking. All within the space of 30 minutes. I am sure it must be malaria as no simple virus would have me taking to my bed for a whole day! It must be said that HTW is very pleased to have a reason to lounge in bed snoozing next to me.

Of course the upside to it all is - as I have the 'hilltop malaria bug' the treatment is relatively straightforward and can be administered with very little outlay of energy. (Definitely a bonus.) It involves ginger biscuits, ibuprofen, quantities of water, paracetemol and Y.O.T.'s yummy red grapes. Quinine just doesn't make the grade. Sadly the effects take quite some time to kick in and don't last anywhere long enough but after a morning spent curled up under the duvet napping and freezing at the same time I rallied sufficiently to get clean, have some cereal for lunch and find clean pyjamas.

That is the odd thing about 'hilltop malaria' - my bones are exploding b/c of the rapid change in body temps but I don't have a headache and I still have some sort of appetite! How weird is that? Although I suppose it makes sense to keep the body energised so that some really good shivers and shakes can take place!!

Enough about that vicious yet amazing bug that I seem have contracted.

Guess what has happened with my cocoa swapper? She thinks I am sufficiently fabulous that she has set up a special blog for us to comminucate! No it has nothing to do with us being unable to talk via email - it is all because I am sooooo special. (You got that bit about me having a rare bug, right?!)

This week's question for the cocoa swap is whether your knitting has altered to meet the changing season and I have to say not. Because I am not one of those clever knitters (you met Mr. Snootyknickers) who make beautiful big shawls, jumpers, pullovers or socks. It doesn't seem to matter what the weather is when you are knitting toys! I just keep plugging along using wool, acrylic or cotton as the mood and creature takes me.

I am off now to create something lovely for someone in a port town and to take more of the 'anti-hilltop malarial' medications

Something new and delightful.

After the self-absorption of the last two posts I thought it might make for a nice change if I mention some lovely things. Or as the heading has it 'something new and delightful'.

Have been doing some of that fun blog-hopping this afternoon while the two 'big' girls (3&4) are busy magicking toy cats back to life using (obviously) dead cat magic that lives in a crown! And I have come across this great image. Miss Magda suggest using it for embroidery but I can see it painted onto all sorts of things.

And then just a little bit late I am able to show you the beautiful fabric I used for a borrowed child's Christmas present. (Good grief! These two are having an awful lot of death and dying in this game. Fortunately 'The Prince' is coming to make them alive again!)




(Who knew I would learn how to lay out a corpse from a four year old? A 4 y.o.who is the actual corpse!)

Then through the magic of scissors, (not living in a crown though)



and the joy that is iron-on interfacing



we end up with the nearly finished, seasonal baby bunting.

I wasn't actually clever enough to get a photie before I gave it away but I was really pleased with it and have enough prepped tringles (deliberate spelling - honest!) left over to do more for next year.

Over the weekend I picked up a pair of 3.5 mm needles and some fluffy pink wool the proceeded to knit out the spaces that were NOT pig-shaped. By Monday night I was left with this....

I feel he may have to be called Mr.SnootyKnickers because his nose is stuck way high in the air even though I got rid of all the not-pig space in the prescribed way.

And this is my favourite current way of painting backgrounds (the swoosh of colour, not with a pen). Do you like it?

I started creating a something last night that may possibly be for someone who lives up on the Severn somewhere. And I am really pleased with it so far. I have sneaking suspicion that I like my knitting just like my men - simple AND interesting.

One of the lovliest things that is possible in the land of Blogville happened to me the other day - the delightful Missus Moog gave me a 'You make my day' award! Me getting an award?! Dead chuffed I was and all I did for it was share my thoughts with y'all.

When I told CK he suggested the award be given to anyone who reads this page as he says he knows how hard it can be to wade through and make sense of my thoughts put onto a page. I believe after nine months of letters from Australia he was considering therapy!

Oo! Maybe I could use Miss Magda's lovely pattern on that little box?! Ooo!

Transience

Ever noticed how so much in life is transient?

Not in a nihilistic sense because who wants to believe in nothing?! But in a continually shifting way. At its most straightforward level my kids are getting older and perhaps I am too (only three weeks left!) and so we leave behind the 'things' (tangible and intangible) that were appropriate to who we were.


Princess Curly-Wurly is having her first proper grown-up sleepover tonight. Complete with make-up, independent walk home from town and dance routines! Last time a friend stayed the night it was 'Mummy what can we do now? Mummy, come play with us!' No more. And despite her father's reluctance I am pleased that she is experiencing her freedom. Albeit a little nervously (me not her)


Last night was a little weird. After putting Babyman to bed ~6:30 and going up and saying goodnight to Princess C-W I went in to my room. My bed looked so inviting that I just had to climb in. I lay there listening to 'The News Quiz' and vaguely remember hearing 'The Archers' but in a very hazy kind of way. The next thing I remember CK came to bed at midnight! By that point I had had five hours sleep and unsurprisingly was unable to get back to sleep! So from 12:30 - 3:30 a.m. I was wide awake. So I wrote letters - proper, on paper, with a pen letters! And I knitted (a pig's face - will post pictures later). And I read! Then I slept again until 7:00am.


I tell you all this b/c at that hour of the night there are some strange thoughts lurking in the ether and I have come to the conclusion that I am a 'transient friend'. Not one of those people who always looks for the next interesting person to speak with b/c that would be not very friendly (plus this is a small country town and such people are few and far between). Rather I feel I may be the friendship equivalent of the rebound boyfriend. I get people through a sticky patch and then they go out into the big wide world to a new and longer lasting experience.


It has taken me some years to come to this conclusion and CK suggests it is down to my life changing relatively dramatically every few years and points out that I do have several long term friends. However I think I am just the 'transient' friend.

Don't get me wrong, I am still in some sort of contact with many of the 'good' friends I have had in the gazillion years I have lived in the UK. But it is more the exchanging Christmas cards sort of thing.


Hmm, a little philosophical for a craft blog perhaps so let me show you a picture of contentment.

I like to earn my points.

I have been involved in this child-raising lark for some many years.

Not that I am a really old lady or anything but it is over 17 years now, with nine of those here with my own kids, and the one thing I have always held to is actions and consequences. In fact if you offer Babyman & Princess C-W the prompt 'actions', they will undoubtedly respond with 'consequences'. Via don't try this at home I found a mother who really practices what she preaches!


Sometimes I feel a little mean when I look at other parents relating to their childer - lots of laughing, funny games and general silliness but then I think that I would rather chew on my own elbows that put up with the rudeness, incivility and general pissiness I see the grown-ups get from these same kids.


Don't get me wrong - we have fun. We laugh, play and be silly. Quite often. (It is scheduled into our daily timetable under Spontaneity: fun variety).It is just that I have expectations. And they are set fairly high. I reckon that children will try and reach for the level you expect. Nothing clever or huge just the childcare antithesis of 'dumbing down'. I suppose another way of phrasing it is 'encouraging independence'.


As I say on a regular basis (whether to salve my own conscience or someone else's) "I like to get a tick in the 'bad mummy box' before breakfast." I like and encourage manners. Whether they are my own children or someone else's I like manners because from there comes a sense of self and your effect on others. It is also a fabulous structure for enabling a child socially. I would be mortified to think my children went out into the world and acted as wildly as I have seen some (and I include my 'borrowed' children, although to a lesser degree[in both manners and wildness!]).


Have you noticed this post is all about memememememe and I? That is a bit over the top and really needs to be addressed. So enough about me. Let me show you about some of the shopping I bought today!

Is it not truly beautiful? And a large thank you to our delightful hand model! The colour as shown in this pic is a bit dark. Really it is kind of a dark school trouser grey. And the sequins are almost dull brass. It is truly a beautiful thing and I love it. Not quite but nearly my favourite bit is that it cost me a whole £8!!! There is a little shop in town which has decided not to be there after Saturday. It is filled with beautiful things (well actually it is not filled any more - most of it is in my car!).

I would post pictures of the other things I bought to give money to the shop which is off on holiday on Saturday but I can't because a) they are for my secret cocoa swap and b) I didn't take the pictures!



As I type this 'Gallipoli' is on and they are just at the final scene. I don't know if any of you have seen it but for a whole generation of Autralians it is our equivalent of the final scene in Blackadder Four. All should watch it.

My mojo runneth over!!

First you need to assemble the basic ingredients.

Mix it all together with one of my lovely wooden spoons (does anyone else have a favourite wooden spoon? CK and my sister Giovanna think I am crazy!) This is actually my second fave but it is a very posh one from Williams-Sonoma.




Then add the bits that stop it all floating away.




(just in case Monkee Maker some may be confused - this is the bit you throw away.)




Once it is all hot and wetty stir this in to all the other ingredients.




Because you only have to stir for 23.8 seconds this is an opportune time to have a small break and enjoy every baker's restorative necessity!




Take a second or two to re-shape one of the secret ingredients




to look like this .....




Stir the other secret ingredient through in a gentle yet slightly haphazard kind of way.

Et voila.




Spoon it out like this.




After 15 minutes in a medium oven you should see something similar to ici.




And after half an hour you will have these delectable items .......

....... which (if sufficient pleading is exhibited) you may share with those you love.

Or not.

People intrigue me....

..... firstly let me thank you for all those positive comments. I'm quite happy with my swap and was just having a little bit of late night ironically written (albeit a little impressed)blogging.

Now, here's where I get intrigued by others....

Have been working my way down the swap list reading everyone's questionnaire answers and think that in some ways a) I may have cocked up a little on my answers
& b) been a little taken aback at people's very definite ideas! Some would possibly even say bossy (oh! but not I!!)
I figure I am just going to be happy with whatever turns up.

Does this post sound witchy? It isn't meant to and I am sure the people answering the Qs probably have no idea how it reads but wow!

As to getting the answers a little cock-eyed well, Question Six - 'What are your favourite treats?' I think I was meant to put down my favourite sweetie things but quite honestly I don't think blogger possesses enough hard drive/disc/brain space to accomodate that little lot so I'm just going to stick with what I have.

Independent in mind and action - that's me!

Oo 'eck!

I think I may be in over my head!

This evening I received an email detailing my swappee for the very lovely 'mmmm... hot cocoa' swap In a fit of great excitement I dashed straight over to check out the blog and returned home pretty sharpish with a worried face.

I think my swapee is a serious knitter. Who can do socks AND lace and has done eleventy million swaps before and so won't need anything that I may find to send her and I think I may be getting a little hysterical and what the hell are chibis anyway and how do I use them and doesn't anybody realise that I have only just figured out how to use stitchmarkers in the last few days?!?!?!?!?

Perhaps I should just go to bed now and sleep for a little bit before panicking too much.......


Night all.

HURRAH! The 'Mmmm Hot Cocoa Swap' is here!!!!

I am very excited to have been able to join the Hot Cocoa Swap which has been trailed on the sidebar for some weeks now. And the following has nothing to do with any swaps/sharing or other lovely 'innernetty/crafty blog thing' - it is just that everything really is all about me!!!!!!!


1. What is your favorite way to drink cocoa?
Hot. But not too hot that I scald my mouth so ideally I should invent a clever mug/cup that will ding when the hot chocolate is at perfect drinking temperature!

Prepared with milk? Water? Home made recipe or store bought? Tea cup or big mug?
Not too big a mug! I have recently been having pretensions about finally being a grown-up and wondering whether all the beautiful cups and saucers I see might actually be for me!

We tend to use store-bought because when we (and by this I mean me while they all watch!)make it at home with melted chocolate or thin ganache it never seems quite right. Perhaps I need an actual recipe?

2. Marshmallows or whipped cream?
Marshmallows all the way. If the ones in the cupboard are too big we just use scissors!

Yarn/Knitting/Crochet

1. What is your favorite type of yarn?
The pretty ones!
(I am an equal opportunities stasher - I like acrylic, wool or cotton in nice smooth or fluffy novelty finish!)

In what colors?
Pretty ones!
(Seriously? Warm colours.)

2. Do you knit or crochet (or both)?
I tried to teach myself to crochet last night. The first time in over 25 years. I put it down after an abortive and frustrating five minutes. So just knitting it is for another 25 years then!

3. What are your favorite type of needles?
Never thought of having favourite needles! Umm, can I say what is not a favourite? Those little spindly plastic ones that you just have to breathe on and they bend.

4. Do you have a healthy supply of notions?
Well, can I have clarification of notions? Got lots of beads, threads and buttons but always love me some more!

5. What one thing do you keep thinking you need to buy for your knitting habit (outside of yarn)?
Bags, containers, tins and other types of things such as may be useful in sorting/storing stash (hey did you notice the anagram?)

6. What is your favorite 'quick knit/crochet' pattern (quick gratification)?
I am all about the mouse pattern from 'Knitted Toys by Zoe Mellor'. I have done several of these for friends' childers. Great stashbuster and fun too but quick!

Miscellaneous

1. What is your favorite thing to do in the Winter?
Other than sleep? Walking with my dogs on a crisp bright day or night! NOT in the driving, freezing rain like last night! Too cold, wet and windy!

2. What is your favorite animal?
Domestic or wild? Ummm..... dogs, cats, tigers, lorikeets (for the colour). Cats fascinate me.

3. Do you get the 'winter blahs'?

Usually not until the very tail end of winter b/c there is so much to look forward to from November onwards. There are birthdays, then school plays, Christmas preparations, Christmas itself - all those presents to play with!! - we kind of sleep through NY here at Trash Towers and then we are in to a New Year and it is closing on my birthday! Yippeee!!! However by early February I am ready for the lighter nights and warmer weather to kick in.

4. What is your favorite way to beat the blahs?
A brisk walk. A trashy book. A fabulous fire. Baking. A board game with my kids. Knitting something new. Writing letters.

5. What is the thing you are most looking forward to this spring?
That we are one season closer to me going home for Christmas!

6. What are your favorite treats?

Beautiful stationery. Jolly Ranchers (or other fruit flavoured hard sweets). A beautiful piece of fabric (not that I do anything with it!) or some ribbon I may have fallen in love with. Simple things make me happy (yes I am stopping myself from saying - Reader, I married him!)

7. What is your favorite board game?
This Christmas we have been playing 'Junior Monopoly, Junior Cluedo and The Great Goanna Hunt'. CK says I have an unfair advantage as the latter is about the geography of Australia!!!!

8. Do you have any children (furry or human)?
Two of each. Princess Curly-Wurly is just nine and Babyman is six. HTW/dog is 13 and The BlackHound is 10!

9. Do you have any allergies or special considerations you partner should know about?
I have a partiality to diamonds and emeralds - does this count?


For all who find this really boring and only looked here thinking there may be more pictures of decidedly all too-tempting looking cake - Mea Culpa. But I want you to stop, take time to listen to that sound you can hear at the edge of your ear. Can you hear it whispering? Is it getting louder? And what is that we can hear it saying? Oh yes.... Tough! Because it really is all about me!!!!!'

She is a bad, bad woman!

Recently I have been surfng the 'innernets' and found this lovely place blindly, if you will. Oh but people, she is a bad person.




Missus 'I am a bad person' FlowerGarden had this posted out in the flowerbeds of her blog. And as my baking mojo has been on walkabout in recent months I was hoping it would get me kick started.



Oh boy. It did! I made it last night and must confess the first piece burned my mouth. It was just too yummy smelling to let it cool. Then CK and I had some for supper. This morning Pr.Curly-Wurly and Babyman had a taste for breakfast. She didn't like it. :-)) Yippee!!! More for us. Babyman loved it. :-(( Boo Hiss!! Then just to make things even I had to have some for breakfast and so here we are at coffee break time and this is all we have left.

She is a bad, bad woman. *shakes head sadly and shoulders slumped shuffles away*