Me Piles (of books)

A little while ago, Fairlie issued a challenge to show her our piles.

I don't actually do a lot of reading, but once upon a time I was very bookish, so I always look at everyone's bookish blogs/posts and book memes with a little wistfulness.

I cannot put a book down half way through, I won't do it. I don't want to. I want to find out what happens goddammit! Unless it's a history book or something... I am halfway through "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes, I will finish it one day.

The fact is I transform into a total bitch to the outside world if I am lost in a book. Not a good look when the baby wakes up from her nap. Theoretically I could read at night but then there is still the problem of putting the book down...even with my collection of P. G. Wodehouse's short stories, it doesn't work. Just one more story. I do need sleep. You get the picture.

So, this is beginning to get very long winded, the point is these piles are not my reading pile by the side of the bed, they are; firstly the top layer of the box of books that until last week had remained packed from when we moved in, and secondly, the pile of books on my husband's chest of drawers. (Beats me why Husband was suddenly possessed to put the books away given that we'll be moving in January.)



Top to bottom:
1. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
2. Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
3. The Gnomes Kitchen by France Lloyd Owen
4. Biggles Gets his Men by Capt. W. E. Johns
5. Tales of the Fish Patrol by Jack London
6. Divine Mistress by Frank G. Slaughter
7. Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne (and NOT by Disney!)
8. River Road to China by Milton Osborne
9. Poems of Keats
10. The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
11. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
12. The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
13. The World's Best Fairy Tales Reader's Digest
14. Tales of Long Ago by Enid Blyton
15. Heidi by Johanna Spyri





Top down and from left to right:

1. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
2. Brief Candles by Aldous Huxley
3. Poems 1956-1960 by Leonard Cohen
4. The Oxford Library of Short Novels
5. Journey to the Source of The Nile by Christopher Ondaatje
6. A running magazine
7. India Lonely Planet
8. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
9. Marathon by Higdon
10. Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
11. Children of the Sun by Morris West
12. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
13. The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
14. Down Under by Bill Bryson


As you can see, not a lot of recently published tomes in that collection.

Went to the Op-Shop Looking for Ramekins

Came home with all of this. ( The thongs, pink teddy bear and blocks are just our normal mess.) No ramekins. Actually the ramekins were my excuse to go to the op-shop, but I also had in mind dress-up shoes and some summer clothes for the girl monkeys. Middle Monkey chose those hideous blue and yellow beach shoes for dress-ups. I went with the intention of not buying anymore toys, but failed. Boy monkey requested a t-shirt with a jungle animal picture, and even though he doesn't need clothes he gets all indignant if the girls get something and he doesn't, anyway there were no such t-shirts, so I got him a jungle animal instead. Oops. I also went a bit nuts buying stuff to alter and/or for the fabric, thinking about clothes to make for my "make kids clothes from recycled materials" business idea. Anyway I ended up spending $126.00. I justify this by saying to myself, if I'd gone to K-mart, and only bought the kids clothes it would have cost the same, and anyway I was in a bad mood with Husband because he is going hiking for 10 days in February just after we move house, and he just bought a $600.00 kayak without asking. (made possible by a tax return, nevermind the stuffing spilling forth from our couches, or the new fridge seals we really need.)

Part of my haul was 6 magazines, they were the last thing to be checked out, and I erroneously counted them as five for the checkout chick, trying to be helpful. Another lady came over to re-count them, "There are six magazines here", pursed lips, hoity toity tone. Oh yeah, 'cause I counted them myself to rip them off $1.00. I just relieved them of a garbage bag's worth of stock for Fark's sake. They should have given me a bulk discount.

So here are all the lovely things I got for the business idea:

Some merino,



















Some cotton,


















Some silk,

















and some more cotton.










The thing is, when I surveyed my purchases, I realised they are all perfectly good, gorgeous clothes. A Kookai silk top, a Cue silk/cotton cardi, some other brand merino top and I'm planning to butcher these? Then I started thinking, ebay.

Then I thought, hang on, silk is no good for kids clothes, you can't throw it in the washing machine. Some of the wool might be machine washable. Bugger. Ebay?

And what about that skirt in the last picture, cute huh? Too short for me to wear, but I thought it could be turned into two skirts, or dresses for little people. Is there any legal reason why you can't do this, if you plan to sell it under your own label? I wonder.

What to do, what to do, someone please tell me what to do.

Anyone for Corn on the Cob?

What gets me is not so much that this happens, but that I don't see it happening. I mean seriously, she had her chair pressed right up to my leg. She couldn't have been much more than 30cm from me. Little monkey. I was going to boil it for a few minutes and serve it with butter, along side the sausages. I salvaged what I could and added it to the salad.

The other day it was sugar, carefully spooned into the vegemite. Again, practically under my nose, without me noticing a thing and while I was cooking sausages.

I don't actually eat meat, but I do cook it for the rest of the gang, and I am very particular about the sausages being evenly cooked, which can be quite challenging, and absorbing apparently.

I Think This is Amusing

There's Always So Much Knitting To Be Done By Everyone

As you can see, as soon as I weave in the ends my organic coloured cotton top is finished. It was looking too long as I was knitting, so I shortened it a little, and now I'm concerned it is going to be too short because the label says it will shrink. I knitted it with bigger needles/looser gauge than recommended and I didn't do a proper swatch. I have never blocked. The lace edges definitely need blocking, but this is cotton, and it is going to shrink. Help! Any knitting people care to offer me some advice?

On the plus side I like the way the colours look, one row each colour, the gentle gradation reminds me of lizard skin.


Here is the beginning of a little vest I am knitting for my newest nephew. I am knitting on circular needles so I won't have any seams to sew up when I'm finished. It is also knitted from the organic cotton, only it is with the recommended needle size this time. Still didn't swatch though. Babies grow and this will fit at some time or other so I figured I could get away with it. The pattern is a free one from the lion brand website, I haven't linked it because you have to sign up to access the free patterns.

Next on my list is a white cotton baby hat, something classic, and unisex.
Or perhaps I will use this, I bought one ball to use as an accent on something and I was sent the wrong colour. I was kindly sent the correct colour and allowed to keep this. Do you think one 50g/100m ball would be enough for a baby hat? And which do you think would be more to H&B's taste?


Then I am planning to do some knitting for my monkeys, this ankylosaurus from Patons Dinosaurs,
and these little vegetables from Jean Greenhowe's Little Dumpling Dolls, Part Two - The Village Men.

Then, I have plans to knit the short sleeve version of this for myself, with this silk/viscose blend:

And that is only the half of it.

Where do I find the time you ask?

I have a secret, you should see my house.

PS. The title should be sung to the tune of a children's song, that can be frequently heard on Play School, can you guess the word substitution?

Where Have I Been All My Life?

Had my first life drawing class last night.

I was ridiculously nervous. It being a small group, and tutored, and it having been a while and all. And I was a bit worried I might blush.

I learned something. As much as knitting, spinning, crochet is meditative, therapeutic and I couldn't imagine living without making -something- with my hands; this drawing thing feeds my soul. In a poetical justice kind of way I feel so raw and naked telling you this, and scared, and teary.

I have done life drawing before, 14 years ago I did one year of a graphic design degree, it wasn't for me. I hated it, and I was very bad at it. However I did enjoy the illustration class, part of which was life drawing. Since then I have done casual un-tutored classes here and there, but nothing since having children.

The class finished at 9.30pm. It took me until midnight to wind down enough to go sleep, I was wired.

Now for the funny parts.

When I showed my husband he said, "You drew his doodle."

Which is funny for lots of reasons, but also because I was -this- close to leaving the poor man with a gaping blank space, and whilst most of the time apart from the initial two seconds, you just don't think about it, I still don't like to stare at that particular bit*, but you kind of have to, to get it right.

I think because of the way men 'work' my husband assumes that the sight of doodles excite me. He is SO wrong.

He mentioned it again this morning, trying to think of something funny to say to his work mates about how his wife was off drawing penises last night. I mean, really!

I suppose I am fortunate that he is not the jealous, over protective type. Which brings me to a question, is it safe for me to walk home at 9.30pm at night, even though it is only just around the corner? Husband thinks I'm a lunatic to even consider taking the car, but then he also expected me to walk 20 minutes in the middle of the night through a park, when there were reports of a serial rapist in the area. I point blank refused to walk on that occasion, but he makes me feel as though I'm being a silly scaredy cat when this thing is just around the corner. What do you think?


*I had a very sheltered good christian upbringing. Church every Sunday. Hardly ever allowed to go to parties. Not allowed to listen to secular music. Not allowed to have boyfriends. So, I had reached the ripe old age of 18, without so much as kissing a boy, I was a good obedient child, unwilling to rock the boat. (Once I left home I made up for lost time fairly quickly, I might add.)

So, when confronted with a naked man, in my first year of university, I looked every which way, except the direction I was supposed to look, and for the first pose he was standing full frontal in my direction, he had 360 degrees to choose from, the class was in a circle, and he faced me, dear God!. I think I spent the entire first life drawing class as red as a beetroot. I favoured drawing their faces, neck and shoulders. Suffice to say, I much preferred the female models, which I didn't find so confronting. I am not so concerned now, but I still feel a little self conscious about drawing doodles. Silly.

What's in a Name? Meme

Before I start, I need to say a huge thankyou to H&B, who gave me a much needed kick up the bum to get my blog fixed (by basically doing it for me) so now everyone should be able to comment. Yay.

Now, I first saw this at Shula's and liked it, then I saw it at Bec's and decided to tag myself.


1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)

Midnight Falcon

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)

Rum N. Raisin Macaroon

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)

Acro

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)

Red Elephant

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)

Wagga Wagga (Ha ha! I don't have a middle name actually, this just does not work.)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

Croal

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The")

The Orange Gin

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)

Jim William

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)

Sandalwood Truffle

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names )

Mary David

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)

Kembrey Kalgoorlie

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)

Autumn Blossom

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)

Mango Jeanie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),

Pine Nut Citrus

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour")

The Spinning Balmy Breeze Tour.

Nothin' Really

Oh, man, I don't know if anyone can read this, because even though I can log in and write this post, I can't actually view my blog.

I am at my wits end with my littlest Monkey, she has just discovered a way to get to the top of the bunk without the rungs, via the window sill.

Also, she has been escaping under the gate, and I caught her halfway up the gate this morning. It is a big gate, twice as tall as me. Sigh.

Anyway, I might get around to trying to fix my blogger problems, but I might wait til after the school holidays, so see you then.