Goodbye Rebel Youth

When I was 18, I made a decision that brought a certain something into my life...

For the past 16 years, this thing has been my constant companion through all the ups and downs of late teens/20s/early 30s. It has traveled to Asia, South America, Central America, Europe and throughout North America with me. It has been witnesses to puppy love, break ups, moves across states, new friends, weddings, and moves to other countries.

It saw high school graduation, college graduation and law school graduation, 2am nights out on the town, and 2am nights stuck at work.

But, due to a minor procedure that I have to have done tomorrow, I finally had to say goodbye.

So, goodbye dear belly button ring. Goodbye my rebel youth! Thank you for the memories...

PS. Upon removal of the ring, hubby's first comment was, "You have a really deep belly button!" So, I put down the carton of double fudge ice cream and got on the treadmill....

Laundry Day

Today is laundry day.

Which is not usually the best day in the world.

But then the laundry fairies came, and left me something...

in amongst the clean laundry...

Can you see it?

Can you see it now (the little devil)...

Oh my, such a trying day for a little doggy.

A Valentine's Day Love Story

Once upon a time, a boy from Australia...

met a girl from California.

They spent many hours writing emails and talking on the phone. But it wasn't enough.

So the boy from Australia headed out to California, so he could see the girl again. And the ups outweighed the downs...

So the girl from California got a job transfer, packed her bags, and moved to the other side of the world (showing strength in the face of potential giant spider attacks).

They did lots of fun things together. Like canyoning in the Blue Mountains....

horseback riding in New Zealand....

and even a Lakers game in Los Angeles.

They were awfully silly together...

and so they fell in love.

But just the 2 of them didn't feel quite right.

And neither did just 3...

So one day the boy from Australia and the girl from California decided to take one more trip...

where they made their family of 4 official.

And they lived happily ever after.

Why Australians don't need Halloween.

I think I may have mentioned before that Halloween is not really a holiday that Australians as a whole embrace. Oh, you do see the random plastic pumpkin display at the local supermarkets, and on the day you might see a stream of partially costumed college-aged kids heading down to the local pub....but on the whole, its not common.

Its really an American holiday I'm told.

I never could understand this. Halloween is one of the best holidays out there! I mean, what's not to like? You get to dress however you want (without being mocked, for once in your life. I mean, one year I was one half of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and I was cool. Now I'm not even cool in my regular clothes.) How often do you get to say that?

Oh, and did I forget to mention the candy? The candy! As a kid, there's nothing better than staying up late with a sugar rush. Oh man....the memories.

Anyway, I have FINALLY figured out why Australians don't need Halloween. And it is because of this:

"Fancy-dress" Christmas parties.

In other words, Australians love themselves a good THEME!


Office Christmas Party 2009. Just might beat out Halloween every time.

-KLo

PS - Bedraggled "fruit basket hat" for whoever can guess what we were!

Thank you for your patience. We will now return to our regularly scheduled broadcasting.

Hi there.

Its me.

Miss me?

I've missed you. And you look good. I mean, really, really GOOD. Have you gotten your hair done? A personal trainer?

Well, something sure has changed.

Me?

Oh, me. I'm fine.

Married now.

Yep, can you believe it? Me? Married! I'm someone's wife. Yes, it is odd. Thank you for pointing that out.

No, I haven't tried the "barefoot and pregnant" thing yet. You'll be the first to know.

Well, it was nice catching up with you.

Thanks for popping by.

Excuse me? What was that? Oh! Yes! As a matter of fact, I do come here often, so maybe I'll see you around here again soon.

[Hugs and kisses]

KLo

Just one thing to say....

My beloved JL went to work today without any pants.

The end.

I love me a theme....

Valentines Day (Breakfast)

St Patricks Day (Green beer)

New Year's Eve (Mexican Style)

Not. O.K.

Dear Five Fingered Shoe Wearer,





This.....

is NOT OK.

There was a reason we dragged ourselves out of the primordial ooze and onto dry land all those millenia ago.... And it wasn't to wear these. Really.

Sincerely,

Ms. K

It could be worse

Work doesn't hurt quite so bad, when this is the view from your office window....

Happy Friday!

Excuses, excuses

So here they are..... (the excuses I have for not blogging for, oh, I don't know, a really long time):

1. We got robbed. Yup. The lucky ducks got both our computers (including my brand new Mac Book (*sob*)), our stereo, both our IPods, John's passport, some cash AND our camera. And I found subsequently that it is very hard to blog (1) without a computer and (2) without a camera (cause as you know, I am a fantastic photographer.)

2. I started a new job, and have been working a LOT. But still....waaaaayyy better than my last job.

3. I have nothing interesting to say. The dogs chewed up all my knitting, and my sewing machine is still in its box. The garden is dying (damn scale) AND I don't know nothin' about politics.

So there you have it. But I vow to write again....soon....well, someday.

-K

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**

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).

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 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?

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.]

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.....]

Chinese Charm Bag: Part 1

Two Christmases ago, my little sister gave me a lovely hand-knit bag.  It was from a pattern in "Stitch-n-Bitch - The Knitter's Handbook".  I loved it so much, I decided to make one for my (future) sister-in-law for Christmas this year.  It was really easy, just a simple garter stitch knit in the round.  So easy in fact, that I cast on yesterday, and bound off today!  And I loved loved loved the yarn, so it was pretty fun too (which is always a good thing).  I still have to put it together (i.e, put on handles, and a lining), and today I found an online shop that sells Japanese silk remnants.  I got a whole load of beautiful silk fabrics for so little money (but now, of course, I am going to be knitting Chinese Charm Bags for like the next 9 years)....

Anywhoo, here is Chops modeling the completed knitting portion of the bag (doesn't she look happy?):

Pattern:  "Stitch-n-Bitch - The Knitter's Handbook", p. 169, Sylvia Mahoney's Chinese Charm Bag

Yarn:  Noro, Silk Garden, 1.5 50 gram skeins

Needles:  US10 circular

As an aside, I just got back from driving myself to and from the doctor's office - BY MYSELF!  And I didn't even hit anything!

Don't forget to scrub behind your ears!

As you can see, I finally finished my facecloths (washcloths if you are American).  I don't think you can tell in this photo, but the brown Debbie Bliss yarn (being a little bit thicker than the Jo Sharp yarns) made a slightly larger cloth so they could possibly benefit from blocking.  But eh....they're just for us so I won't bother.  (Plus they are made to get wet so what's the point anyway?)  I do love the way the colors turned out though.

On a slightly related note, JL and I have been on a bit of a home improvement kick.  It all started with a new lamp for the bedroom.  Once we got the new lamp, the room (of course) had to be rearranged to show it off to maximum effect.  Then my shoes needed to be organized (because, the closet is right next to the new lamp, doncha know), and then my jewelry and pictures, and then the madness seeped into the office and the bathroom.  Next thing I knew I was buying a fake plant for the bathroom counter.  Its pretty cute though if I do say so myself.

The lamp that started it all.

The new bathroom plant - yes, I'm now that girl.

And on a totally unrelated note, check out this week's flowers from JL**!  The yellow was just what I needed to brighten my mood!

**For those of you that don't know, my lovely fiancee gives me flowers pretty much every week.  Just one of the reasons I'm the luckiest gal in the world!

Totally Uneducated Post on Politics

JL has been quoted (on numerous occasions) saying "You are the most well educated person I have ever met that knows nothing about politics."  

Rude!

But totally right.

I really don't know anything - and worse(!), I honestly don't care.  Yes, I know what that says about me.  I know it is my right and responsibility to take part in the political process, to take a stand where a stand is needed....but frankly, I just can't get up the energy.  It is a terrible fault in my genetic make-up...which makes me think I really must be the daughter of the milkman.  My family cares a lot.  

Now don't get me wrong, I am terribly thankful to all the people out there that do educate themselves, and do care, and do go out and try to make a difference.  But the whole thing makes me feel a little bit sick to my stomach.  The amount of anger that goes into the process is frankly terrifying.  So I guess you could call my politics, the I stick my head in the sand party.  And hey, it works for me.

And I know (I really do know!) that this is a bad bad thing.  I completely recognize that.  And I have no excuse.  Period.  But there it is.

That being said, I absolutely ADORE Australian politics.  I am totally enamored with the whole thing - and again, because I know nothing, I can just love it without feeling too invested!  

To me, an American, everything seems twisted up and backwards here.  Australia is both a federation AND constitutional democracy.  The "Liberal Party" is actually right-center.  You don't vote for the Prime Minister - you vote for the party and then whoever is head of the party becomes the PM.  Oh, and the PM LIVES IN MY TOWN!  (And you can go tour his gardens every September.)  It is a sweet world over here.  Plus everyone calls the PM (Kevin Rudd) Kev.  I love it.  Good ol' Kev.  JL and I are going to send him a little note inviting him to lunch - he is our neighbor after all!

Summer in Sydney

It was a gorgeous summer weekend here in Sydney. 

Saturday morning we took a long walk down to the harbour with the dogs.  Around McMahons Point there is a huge Mulberry tree right along the water.  It had been picked pretty clean, but we were able to get enough (semi-)ripe mulberries to make a tart(let).  The dogs had a great time running on the beach, and climbing in the dirt near the Mulberry tree.  No pictures as I unfortunately forgot the camera - but I did get a shot of the Mulberries.  Yummmm.

And after such a long walk, we then had to have a rest in the garden.

Sunday, JL and I went to Balmoral Beach.  On the plus side, it was great beach weather, not too hot and not too cold, with a bit of a breeze.  On the minus side, my butt got severely burned and I'm in a bit of pain today.  But super loose velour pants make it all ok....

[Knitting update to come later today!]