Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Chinese Charm Bag: Part II

And she's finally done!  Though I have to give my sister even more props, cause this thing was HARD for me to put together.  I can't remember the last time I sewed anything - I think I might have been 8 or so (I sewed my own barbie clothes.  I'm sure they were fabulous.) and this required me to sew together the lining and then sew it into the bag.  I had to do it all by hand, but I think it turned out OK.  Not great mind you, but I think it makes it look more handmade (or so I'm going to tell myself).  And, since its a present for my future sister-in-law, and she has been very well raised, she'll probably flatter it enough that I'll walk away thinking its a work of art.  


But then I'll always have this post to look back on to bring me back down to earth!

Anyway, without further ado, here is my version of the Chinese Charm Bag - TA DA:



And in other news, I made Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake this weekend.  And boy was it good.


So good in fact, that this is all that is left....


It goes without saying that I haven't been on the scale this week.  **Sigh**

Monday, November 10, 2008

Marathon

I completed a marathon yesterday....


A sleeping marathon.

I slept for 12 hours.

It was.......AWESOME.

3 cheers for semi-retirement (and Australia's incredibly slow visa approval process).

Sunday, November 9, 2008

The World According to Chops and Tilly

1.  Even one little patch of sunlight is enough.

2.  Vegetables are good!

3.  Anything can be a toy.

4.  You might fight with your family....

5.  But you love them anyway!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Saturday in Sydney

[Early morning, at the homestead:]

7:15 am:  Wake up to a dog laying across my face and pawing at my pillow.  Try to move dog over only to find that I have accidentally moved my face into dog tongue range.  Sputter and gasp as wet dog slobber drips down my neck.

7:17 am:  Realize that if I don't get up right now I will soon be lying in another type of dog fluid. Roll out of bed and curse at dog that there is a reason we put in a doggie door.

7:19 am:  Wonder if I can go back to sleep.

7:20 am:  Realize that is impossible.  Yell at JL to get up right now, the dogs need to be walked.

7:25 am:  Grumble because JL wants to take a shower(!) before heading to the dog park. Cleanliness is next to godliness, only on Sunday, I say.

7:45 am:  Complain because JL is taking the garbage out when we should be leaving to take the dogs out right now.  Am surprised by JL's negative reaction and his assertion that at least he is taking the garbage out.  Like that's any big whoop (he does it every day - what, I'm supposed to jump up for joy every morning?).

7:50 am:  Finally leave for the dog park.  Apologize to JL on the way over.

[A little later, back at the homestead:]

10:40 am:  JL suggests that he leave his work for a little bit to take me to a shop I've been wanting to go to so that I can get some Christmas decorations.  I happily accept.

10:45 am:  Get annoyed because JL has to go to the bathroom before we go.

11:00 am:  Leave for shop that I want to go to.  Yell at JL because he missed the turn and now its going to take an extra 15 minutes to get there

11:01 am:  Wonder if I should up my meds, but quickly shake that off.  This is clearly not my problem.  I was not the one that took the wrong turn.

11:15 am:  Arrive at shop.  Apologize to JL for being short tempered.

[That afternoon, at the grocery store:]

5:25 pm:  Walking down the aisle in the grocery store.  Notice JL glance over at the batteries and slow the cart down - quickly give him that look because there is no way we need more batteries and why does he always have to stockpile them; batteries and light bulbs - he could start his own dang hardware store.

5:25 and 15 seconds:  JL sees look and immediately steps up the pace.

5:30 am:  Apologize to JL and tell him that he can buy as many batteries as he wants.  One can never have enough batteries (but still feel at bit smug because for once we are going to get out of the store without any more batteries).

[A little later, still in the grocery store:]

6:10 pm:  Am breathing a sigh of relief because we are finally in the dairy aisle which means we are almost done shopping.  Ask JL if we should get cream to serve with the chocolate cake that I am making for lunch with friends tomorrow.  He says that he doesn't need it.  HE DOESN'T NEED IT.  Totally lose it and say that I didn't invite these people over - he did!  And now he has to work all weekend so I have to do all the cooking and the cleaning and all I want is a little dialogue (yes, I said dialogue) about what we should serve HIS friends that HE invited over, and really, IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK.  JL looks at me like I've got a head full of venomous snakes (i.e., fearful, very fearful) and carefully apologizes.

6:15 am:  Apologize to JL for overreacting.

6:21 am:  In the checkout line.  Unloading the groceries I find that another package of batteries HAS SOMEHOW MANAGED TO FIND ITS WAY INTO OUR SHOPPING CART.  Look at JL and find that I am plenty satisfied by the fear of God in his eyes.  Wonder to myself what could possibly have caused that?

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Whoops I did it again....

Yes, I have.  I have done it again.


In pure K-style, I have once again almost cut off a finger....I'm totally cool like that.  Luckily JL rushed home from work to assist me (in stopping the bleeding) and now it just looks like this:


On the up side, I didn't have to cook dinner after that (we got take-out Thai....yummmm) but it has made me even slower in both the typing and knitting arena.  But don't you fret yourself - I'm forging ahead as usual.

I think JL may be putting a moratorium on my use of sharp implements, especially since the great New Year's blender incident.

In other news, I am officially a Ravelry gal now.  I've already used it to find other knitty types that live in the lower north shore of Sydney so I'm pretty psyched.  Oh, and no, it does not escape my notice that I am psyched about something that involves yarn, but there you have it.  Frankly, I think I just like the excuse to sit a lot....

And FINALLY, there is good news on the visa front.  Everything has been put in to the immigration department and there are high hopes that I might be able to start work on Monday.  It'll be good to be getting a paycheck again, but I have to say, I'm going to miss all the time at home.  Not that I do much that is worthwhile but I have got a decent amount of knitting done, I get to spend a lot of time with the dogs, I learned to sell stuff on ebay (I'm getting that durn wedding dress if it kills me!) AND yesterday I made these:

Sweet.  

Oh, and I totally recognize that Halloween was like, ummm, a week ago, but for those of you that have been the lucky recipients of my Christmas cards....in February...you know this is actually quite timely for me.  Plus, they are so ARTFULLY RENDERED it really isn't important when exactly they were made (hahahah....sheesh).

And just for fun....here is my very artistic rendition of JL.   I call it "On the Weekend".  Love the polka dots/stripes combo baby!


[Apologies for the fuzzy photos.  I'm a very good photog too, doncha know.]

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

She might be cute, but she sure ain't smart

JL and I came home from grocery shopping on Saturday night to find this:

[My knitting wrapped around the chair legs]
[Yeah another view - how is this possible?]
[Oh, I see now.....]