Sooo sleeeepy

I just made a batch of soba noodles for lunch, now carbohydrate digestions demands sleep.

Since I am on holiday I will be taking an afternoon nap whilst I direct my husband to go to the supermarket to buy a box of beer for tonights festivities.

In other news I got a free painting of a cabbage today. Savoy cabbage.

That is all.

Rain day for BBQ date

I am supposed to be going out for a BBQ laze in the sun lunch type thing today.
Alas, it is raining. Good for the garden, not god for BBQs. Believe me I know rain is not good for BBQs. I have a very bad habit of grilling and then leaving the lid off the BBQ. Three days later and rain has done its damage. That's the danger of BBQ in winter. Still that baby got a lot of use. Even in winter we would crank er up EVERY Thursday for steak night. Often in deepest darkest winter I'd be out there in the drizzle cooking by the light of my cellphone. I'll get out there and clean it soon, its probably nothing a good scrub with a wire brush wont fix (fingers crossed!) because dammit, I miss steak night.

Having trouble getting traffic to your blog?

Then put a freakin lol cat on it.

Free teeth

Its only a small amount of swelling and pain to go through to get the free teeth. So far I have three (well two and a bit).
The third ones just peeking out of the gums. Sure it bleeds a bit and hurts like FARK if I accidently chew with it, still a lot of swollen gum covering that sucker but my dentist says there is enough room to let them come up. The more molars the better I say!

So I have insight on what its like to be teething, and if I couldn't gargle (err drink) whisky to numb the pain I'd be grumpy too. Bloody top ones didn't hurt this much, grumble.

So in the meantime as much quaffing whisky as I can handle!

Facebook Stalker

I am a facebook stalker.

My trombone tutor moved to the other side of Auckland, and it was a bit far to travel for me, so no more lessons until I can find a local trombone tutor. I was gutted.

I had this nagging thought that she dropped me as a student because I don't practise that much and I sometimes cancelled lessons. Adult students are probably a bit harder to reign in as I have no mother driving me to lessons and nagging me to practise. So to get rid of the doubt I did a little internet stalking.

Okay not really. I just looked her up on facebook, to see if she was really moving. Smart cookie has her profile set to private, but I could still look at her friends list. I've had a feeling things were not right at the household where I went to have my lessons. She seemed tired, upset. Her husband wasn't around as much.

So I looked through her friends list and saw her husbands profile. I always thought she was too good for him. (but what can you tell about a person through weekly 1/2 instruction? not much but it was a hunch I had) I went to her husbands profile and he was listed as single. WTF and had written an update about what an "exciting night" he'd just had or some other bullshit. What a wanker. He had barely moved out!

Now I see hes in a relationship with someone else (its been less than two months since he left!). Thanks bastard. You lost me my trombone teacher. They had only been married for a short time too. So I feel bad for her. And that I turned into an internet stalker and surmised the private details of someones life. Bad me. But hey, you put it online and I will find it.

Hey I'm ALL over the internet.

A Day On holiday

I get up, my phone is dead on the nightstand. I ran out of credit just before christmas, then it went flat. I am considering leaving it off.

The damn thing is usually my alarm clock. I'm glad its off.

So I wake up with the light, wander outside and look at my garden. Tomatoes are still green. Leaf hopper nymphs still killing my cucumbers. Courgettes abound.

I dig a few holes and plant some stuff. Ponder digging over another vege patch, it gets hot, I get tired. I go back inside

I have some breakfast, cup of tea and a fruit mince pie. There is still dirt under my finger nails.

I go back to the garden and lug buckets of weeds up to the garden bin, they are not good enough for my compost. Dig another hole, plant more things. Get a bit hot and sweaty. Head back inside for an 11am beer.

Feel sleepy but decide to drag Zed out for a walk round the beach. He agrees heartily. 3 hours later we leave to enjoy the seaside for a bit and then head home for a late lunch/early dinner? (4pm) of bacon and egg toasted sandwiches. I have mine with tomato sauce.

Watch a bit of telly in the nude, decide to have a nap.

Head back to the garden at 7:30 (with clothes back on) for a water and another inspection of my still green tomatoes. Pick a few caterpillars off my self seeded broccoli from last year. Really must eat some lettuces.

Have a whiskey and browse the Internet.

I love being on holiday.

My Garden Dinner

Tonight it was stir fried snow peas and corgettes , both home grown! With some chicken onion and baby corns. Which I paid hard earned money for! The humanity.

jeebus.

am I on holiday yet?!

Fueling my book addiction without leaving the house

My new find is swap club.
Its so under promoted you might think that the first rule of swap club is, don't talk about swap club. Maybe its a good thing because the layout is still a bit clunky and large volumes might make the site a bit unwieldy.

Anyway on to the nitty gritty..
Swap club is a website where you offer things to"swap".
Every time you give something away you earn points.
You can then "spend" those points on items from other members.

E.g today I offered an old Dean Koontz for two points. Yay someone wanted it and I earned two points. I can then spend my two points with any other member, not just the one I swapped with.
Its a great way to get books for free (well other than postage)

I just ordered Banner of Souls by Liz Williams and I'm browsing for some more summer reading.

I like free things!

I corgette down - 4 to go

Well I got back from my lightning trip to Kerikeri to find 4 more courgettes on my plant ready for the picking. So far from one plant 546g of courgettes. Considering the seedling cost me $2 Its already paid for itself.

I made myself a really nice lunch too. I had some Wonton soup stock, so I boiled it up added some onion and a few prawns dumplings. While they were cooking a sliced a courgette into super fine ribbons using my best christmas present ever, a slicer thingee!! I think its know as a mandolin, anyway near the end of cooking the dumplings I added my thin ribbons of courgette and mmm presto I had delicious dumpling soup. It was really yumy. I also have a recipe for courgette fritters thats super easy and quick. Hopefuly I won't get sick of them, I mean how productive can one zuchinni plant be!?

Will eat all my garden!

I will eat everything from my garden this year!

First off the production line is misshapen courgette. Taking photos at night results in strange blue tinge. Yummy. I really like roasted courgette, with melted cheese on top. But then I like anything with melted cheese on top, hence my current condition.

My potted potager

So, I have gathered the old recycle bin from the old house and put it to a recyled purpose! Growing my tomato plant. I grew this baby from seed y'all! Props to me and all that. Of course with all the wind we had last weekend I lost a couple of branches :-(
But it is recovering well.
On other gardening issues I have seen ONE bee this year. ONE! we used to have a wild hive down the back of the property when we first moved in. We have a small patch of bush down the back and some hideous privet that I am always cutting back and trying to kill, but the bees thrived, I guess that damned veroa mite has hit them too. Still seeing lots of bumble bees around though!

The cat with no name

This is why I love my cat. (Dangerous to admit I know, once you admit to loving a cat you are inevitably bound to a childless spinsterhood). who can resist that pink tongue cuteness!

She is still the cat with no name. Arriving skinny and all angles, kittens recently departed one way or another. This weird little cat decided as soon as she saw us she was home. And who were we to name her? She's just our sweet girl. That's what she gets called most days, except when I'm finding dead skinks under the washing machine. Then you don't want to know what I call her.

I was going to write something real smart!

but I got distracted by icanhascheezburger.com

I have no idea what I was going to write.


*sigh* I really shouldn't have taken up drinking again

Bought a Car!

Yay and its blue, so thats a load off. But thats all our savings gone too. So much for my dreams of a Wii fit. But one must be able to traverse the modern motorways. So for the car nerds its a 1999 freshly imported Mazda familia 57,000 km on the clock, very good condition inside and out.

We have got to buy a car

Our car, its falling apart. But how I dread finding a new car to buy, well a new used car anyway. Car yards, the internet, and publications galore. I just want something that goes and wont break down in a major way for a few years yet.

Sounds like an impossible dream.

To make matters worse I dont really like cars. The more of them I look at, the uglier they all seem.

Ugly metal contraptions on wheels.

Introverted with schizoid tendencies.

Socialising holds less and less appeal the older I get. Its not that I don't like people, I am no misanthrope.

I'm just an introvert, I like hanging out in small groups, as long as you don't expect me to say anything or are willing to have a meaningful conversation and not just "chit chat".

I fell sorry for the poor guy who got stuck talking to me at the conference. Pre dinner drinks and mingle. ARGH. Luckily he was a sales rep I'd just met last week at work and I guess he had to talk to me or I might not buy any more of his products (oh the power of purchasing MU HU HA HA HA!) I only seem to cope at these things by finding one or two people in a quiet corner to talk to about something interesting.

Anyway, its got to be challenging being my friend, as I never want to hang out. I never call you or drop by. (that's because I hate it when people just drop by so I never do it to other people). But being my friend has its perks! I am extremely low maintenance. You don't have to call me.....ever. No obligations to make sure you have caught up with me this month. I may not see you for months or a year and will still count you my friend.

I do care deeply about people. I am always thinking about my friends and family. Its just hard for me to visit or pick up the phone. Its like a disability. You would not expect your physically disabled friend to go mountain biking or rock climbing with you at the drop of a hat. And its the same for me, you shouldn't expect me to go socialising at the drop of a hat either. I can't do it easily.

I know it doesn't make sense but I still like to be invited to things, occasionally I have to fortitude to go out and I do enjoy myself! I do like people and being with them, its just hard for me.

As for my schizoid tendencies, they scare me the most. All the personality tests (woo INTP) I take show this small leaning towards the schizoid type. I fear as I get older, it will consume me.

But you can be introvert and schizoid and still be happy, different things make this personality type happy.

"I have no ill intent toward those choosing a life of socialization. I prefer to be alone. Do not pity me. Do not judge me as a freak or loser. I am a loner, as you will, a person who simply prefers a lifestyle of solitude. This preference does not make me pathological."

Okay so I'm not quite to that stage yet, but its a quote from a paper I read on the Internet about people with the complete schizoid personality type.

I avoid writing or talking about this too much, its hard to explain that I still like hanging out with people and love having friends but I am also quite introverted and prefer usually to be alone. Introverted doesn't mean shy. Its just different, in a world dominated by extroverts, it is the perceived normal way to be or desire to be. But I just am what I am and it feels normal to me.
Also I avoid writing about it because I don't want to come across sounding pretentious or self absorbed (after all its a post all about me, me, meeeee!). Or precious about my personality type, "oooooo look at me I'm an introvert, tra la la, I'm alone and everyone should feels sorry for me, la de da." Honestly its not like that at all.

I just want everyone to know that I don't hate them and think about you often even if I don't always seem to act on it.

I am no girls blouse. I'm tough!

I faint when I give blood, not always, but often. Especially if it takes a long time. Its strange because I am not afraid of needles. I get injections all the time (I am vaccinated regularly because of my job, no hepatitis or flu for me!) I've even had a TB test without fainting and that's when they inject fluid under the skin to form a nice blister. Oh the perks of my totally awesome job! I also see lots of blood at work, I used to sort all the blood specimens at my old job, if I had a problem with blood you'd think handling 8 tubes of thick still warm blood would get me to pass out. And I'm not the one who has to change the channel every time there's some kind of needle or operation on TV...... not naming names or anything ;-)

I only faint when my blood vessels are involved. And apparently its fairly common.

Vasodepressor syncope is caused by a reflex of the involuntary nervous system called the vasovagal reaction. The vasovagal reaction leads the heart to slow down (bradycardia) and, at the same time, it leads the nerves to the blood vessels in the legs to permit those vessels to dilate (widen). The result is that the heart puts out less blood, the blood pressure drops, and what blood is circulating tends to go into the legs rather than to the head. The brain is deprived of oxygen and the fainting episode occurs.

So its a nervous reflex from having my veins fiddled with. My little vessels don't like being prodded! The solution is to give blood lying down with your legs elevated. How dignified. Come to think of it, when I have had a blood test lying down its been okay. Still felt a bit woozy. In rare cases you can DIE! Your blood pressure gets so low and your heart stops! Death ensues! But that's pretty rare. apparently.

I killed them ALL!!!!!

whoops

This morning was grey and cloudy and I was running late so I missed the early morning watering of the seedlings. I also didn't open the vent on my improvised green house. Today was hot. Real hot. The cloud cleared the sun beat down, and beat my poor seedlings to death. Luckily I have planted out some them in the garden already, but I lost my heritage awesome variety seedlings.

The humanity. I shall console myself with this wine, and this chocolate and drink to their memory!

Body Tech Gym

Across the road from the hospital once was a field full of cows blowing in the wind. Now its a "commercial" area, with trendy bar, sushi place and poser gym.

But a gym close to work could be just the incentive I need, so I went to check it out.

Its small, very small, but they only encourage an intense 30 min weights work out with as much cardio as you want. Each weights session is fully supervised, so you get a trainer to make sure your form is good and to push you to your maximum effort. So its a gym where you get a personalised trainer for every session. Sounds good, but the catch is this, the trainer only works with you on the circuit, which is all machines. Now I'm no gym expert, but the machines are designed to isolate muscle groups and be pretty fool proof. The machines have a limited range of motion so poor form is actually pretty hard to achieve. So why do you need a trainer for that? I need a trainer when I'm doing weighted lunges and squats to make sure I'm keeping my back straight and to yell at me "SUCK IN THOSE ABS!". I need a trainer to show me how to dead lift safely. I don't need a trainer to set the weights on a leg extension machine. Jeebus. I is not a moron!
But the showers and lockers are heavenly! Free shower gel and shampoo (no conditioner) and free perfumes! oh la la.
Only $150 for two months special offer. Should I take it up and try loose a few kilos for summer? Maybe, I'll see what moneys I have lying around. Maybe if I hadn't got that $200 ticket! what a dumb arse.

I am a dumb arse

So my warrent has expired. eh, whatever I say, we are buying a new car soon, no point spending the money fixing up this pile of crap.

But finding a car to buy takes time. And motivation. And more savings. But its okay because we are finally there. Enough moneys now! and this weekend we can go buy a car.

So I'm taking a day off work, and I'm driving to the mall. A van flashes his lights at me, but before I could say "what the?" I was over the crest of the hill and there was a damn check point.

At first the officers were all confused because my rego is all up to date and paid for. I guess the usuall derros with no warrent have no rego either. So I only get the one fine. $200. So I can finally join the ranks of my brothers and cousins as a card carrying fine gatherer.

Did you know you can pay police fines online with a crdit card? You can do everything online these days! Its wonderful.

I'm quite moved

I can't help it, I'm caught up in the Obama fandom. I am relieved McCain lost.

Obama has so many hopes to fulfil, and many world issues that I didn't believe will be fixed in my generation to face. I wonder if he will still have the support 4 years from now.

I'm a science fiction nerd, I've read many idealist visions of the future. When I saw how the world got behind Obama, I felt for the briefest moment, what it could be like under a united earth. Sci fi gets a bad rap, but those novels featuring a utopian earth were amazing to me even a a child. Even then I thought it a beautiful yet impossible dream.

Dare I let go of all my genX cynicism?

Sweet deals on Zillion.

Just scored me some "Very Irresistable" by Givenchy for only $24 (including postage) on the alternate trading site. Trademes main competitor, not that anything can take that institution down. But I like to try all things. I think Zillion is a site where you can still get a bargain, a real one. Trademe has the numbers for sure, but good deals are usually snapped up quick.
Yay Zillion!

Time to test out my overly sensitive skin on some perfume. I miss wearing it!

Sliced and Diced

I have been working with sharp blades for almost ten years now. Fast paced cutting action, slicing your body parts to a fraction of a hairs breadth. 4 microns even! I have mad skills, least I thought I did.

Today for the first time, I cut myself. Not bad, but deep. And the bastard would not stop bleeding.
It was one of the cuts that creates a nice flap of skin, I jammed it back down hard and kept pressure on it, so I think it will be all good. I think the flap has stuck down :-)

No I am no hard arse, but I see quite a bit of gore and gross stuff in my job, and I am used to that. But seeing my own vital fluid rapidly ooze out of me left me feeling a little queasy. Also that I could easily have lost the top of my finger had I been any slower, that contributed a lot to my queasiness. Cup of coffee and a sit down cured me of that and back to work I went. I fainted last time I had a blood test, I didn't even look at the blood! I had not fainted since I was 19.

I cut myself because got out of rhythm, cut, turn, pull, blow. Its an OSH nightmare actually . A lot of us use our fingers to pull the sections, as it requires dexterity. Most of us don't wear gloves while doing it for the same reasons. You need those ridges on your finger tips, then applying the most delicate touch, pull the sections away from the blade as you cut slice after slice.

Don't worry about me going gloveless, all the bits of body are nicely sterilised by an overnight process involving dehydration, solvents and petroleum products. Yay Chemicals!

I have voted

I'm going out of town voting weekend, so I placed an early vote.

Yes, I'm going to be in exciting Hamilton for a conference. A Histology conference.

Yehaa.

As you can tell I am very excited :-/

Wasabi Peanuts

I loves them.

First its all like OW OW OW EYEs! NOSE!! ARGHHHHHHH!! The PAIN the Hideous HIDEOUS PAIN! My tongue........its dying OH GOD THE HuMaNiTY

then its like mmmm delicious ...Moar!

then its all like OW OW OW EYEs! NOSE!! ARGHHHHHHH!! The PAIN the Hideous HIDEOUS PAIN! My tongue........its dying OH GOD THE HuMaNiTY, why oh why didn't I learn the first time!

then its like mmmm delicious ...Moar!

thens its all like OW OW OW EYEs! NOSE!! ARGHHHHHHH!! The PAIN the Hideous HIDEOUS PAIN! My tongue........its dying OH GOD THE HuMaNiTY, why oh why didn't I learn the second time! I AM a MorAN!

repeat. with beers.

things that grate my nerves

People who talk to themselves.

Not just once or twice a day, but constantly, narrating their whole life.

People who whistle, hum, sing, tap things all the time.

Not just every now and then, but constantly filling the silence.

I sometimes wonder if these people are afraid of silence, if perhaps they have an evil interior monologue that tells them nasty things, or are their heads otherwise empty.

Automated Phone Survey

I get a stupid amount of survey calls and telemarketing calls. A stupid amount.

But tonight I got my first every automated survey. To paraphrase...

"This is an automated political survey, it will take about 1 minute,
If the election was tomorrow who would you give you party vote to?

press 1 for Labour

press 2 for National"

etc.

Actually I preferred it to speaking to a real person. I didn't have to sit through the painful introductions and thank yous

"Hello, my name is blah blah blah, I represent blah blah, we are doing a survey on blah, this call may be recorded for blah.
Thanks for all your blah, I hope you have a blah evening, we appreciate you blah."

Blah

As seen on the stairs

Ready for pouncing action

As seen in traffic

Next to me at the lights.

As seen on the beach

Sad remains of jelly fish.

Mini Sushi and molded rice balls (Onigiri)

Here's my first go at making sushi, I made mini rolls with a bit of ginger/soy flavoured tuna(Trident Tuna Asian Delights Range, very very good for when you are sick of boring tuna. I really the teriaki flavoured one) in the middle and Some molded rice balls flavoured with shrimp Furikake (Flavoured sprinkles to jazz up rice.) I used a bit too much rice in the sushi, and yeah I could have made the tuna look better by taking more care in the placement, but it was YUM!

The Onigiri was also delish. In fact it was 10% tastier due to being heart shaped. I think I will use more furikake next time cause that's damn tasty too!

The rice molds are super easy to use and are only $3.50. I got a set that makes three different shapes, but I didn't want to completely overload on rice for lunch so I only made two. The Japanese store in Wairau (set of asian shops behind the Burger King) sells a whole range of them, very affordable and very fun.

I have been hugely inspired to create Bento Style lunches for myself and so today and tomorrow I'll be trying out the techniques so I can have some Cute lunches next week. Of course it require such Japanese type things such as patience, dexterity and skills to create a really great Bento. So I'll just have to settle for kinda good.

What a crazy couple of weeks.

Middle aged people at work having mid life crises, or having big bouts of paranoia. Suppliers trying to bribe me to promote their product at the conference as long as I stick to their scripts. (uh no thanks, I have ethics and your product is mediocre at best).

Purchasing departments making critical errors leaving me high and dry for essential items. Endless phone calls to sales reps at bio tech companies asking where my orders are. Endless phone calls to purchasing, endless emails, endless blah blah blah. Absolutely far to much talking for the average introvert.

THANK HELL ITS THE WEEKEND.

The crazier my work week is the crazier I want my weekends to be, well not crazy but action packed.

First to the albany farmers market and bought some feta, lemons and veges. Yummo.

Then to the asian shop at albany mall to buy dumplings, assorted goodies and furikake. Yee ha.

Then a stroll around the beach and over the hills soaking up the sunshine.
Ah Sunshine, how I missed you.

So now for some lunching I may attempt to make sushi
and after that some gardening perhaps.

My garden is A HUGE disaster.

Weeds, lush vibrant weeds. You could say they are the area of my gardening expertise. Note the dense oxalis and abundant onion weed. Spectacular.

So I thought I should do some weeding. I think it looks worse! Mostly because I did a half arse job. (what do you expect, I don't exactly love gardening, I do it because its good for ones constitution.) Oh well if its fine in the weekend I'll get back out there.

It amazes me that things I could NEVER grow as house plants thrive in my garden which I carefully neglect. For example I have a massive maiden hair fern growing next to that black taro.

I hopped on trade me and bought a whole bunch more of those black taro plants. They seem to thrive under neglect and give a vague tropical look to my bog (winter) slash desert (summer).

More Dinners - Bacon and Asparagus Strudel

First take your asparagus goo slime mixture and lay on a sheet of pastry. Be amazed at how disgusting the mixture looks and wonder if chicken bacon is any kind of substitute for the real thing.

Second, freeeeeak out becuase the mixture is only just going to squeeze into one roll of pastry.

Then bake. Till delicious! (and it is!)


Look at that massive air pocket! Was I supposed to stab it to make a steam hole? I'll never know.

Morrocan spiced chicken - My dinner let me show you it.

I cook dinner. Quite often actually. Some nights I've been known to cook it twice. Just to prove it here is some morrocan spiced chicken with red onions beans and apricots. I served it with fluffy cous cous made with vege stock for actual flavor. I quite like cous cous, I am a recent convert, for some reason it was only ever served cold when I was a kid, but served hot it has a delicious melty yummness that I can't quite describe.

A recent tip I got off the internet for cooking small chunks of chicken is to dust them in cornflour first. So in this instance I coated the chicken in morrocan spice (thanks masterfoods!) and let sit for an hour in the fridge. Then just before frying I tossed through a couple spoonfuls of cornflour.
It keeps the chicken bit real moist!! The cornflour seal keeps all that goody good chickeny moisture in, and the dryness out. Awesome.

Its raining again and I want to retire

Another Monday and all is well in the world. I say well, but what I mean is everything is the same, and change is bad, apparently.

I work with women twice my age with chips on their shoulders twice the size of mine. I really thought they were supposed to get smaller with age.

Then my car wouldn't start. Then it shuddered all the way home. I think the damp has set in.
It is growing a small amount of lichen on the rear window.

I still long for my bach by the sea, rural, but with superfast broadband access, isolated, but a bus stop at the end of the road. A patch of land for growing things, chickens and three cows. Which I will eat. Yum. A room to make a mess in (you know a "studio") and a medium sized shed. Views but a flat section. I will work two days a week and earn just enough combined with the royalties of some great thing I create to live comfortably for the rest of my years.

Yes, yes its true, my wants are simple. (Sure man keep buying those lotto tickets!)

Oh Glorious Sunshine

Wow, I went down to Mairangi bay today, and the sun was shining. We walked around the rocks and watched people fishing, then back over the cliffs and a leisurely coffee watching the waves roll in. Two mad people swimming, some not so mad people kayaking. Almost feels like spring.

dumb personality test on the radio

Sometimes my work is a little mundane.

"But don't you get to see all the cool gross stuff from operations and surgery and stuff?"

Yes this is true, but once you've seen one hundred colons, 200 gallbladders, 500 "wombs" not to mention the thousands of vas deferens fragments you get a bit blase. er well everybody looks the same on the inside dear reader.

We had the radio on at work and the "host" invited us to close our eyes and imagine ourselves on a journey through the desert.

Suddenly you come across a cube, what does it look like, what colour is it, how big is it?

Well it fits in the palm of my hand, its shiny and hard, it feels like stone, looks like hematite to me.



Next you come to a ladder....

okay I see a rickety wooden ladder, tied together with handmade rope, it descends below the desert into a cavern.

now you come across a horse.

okay there's a horse in the dessert, I'm cool with that. Its a big freakin white horse, it bounces up onto its hind legs, but its silent.

Righto, now what?

listener this was in a way a simple personality analysis, the cube represents your ego, the ladder represents your ambition, and the horse represents your partner.

Whatever.

But thanks for taking my mind off work for a few moments. I suppose.

wait WHAT does it mean about my ambition then? my ladder went underground. I have NEGATIVE AMBITION?! oh wait, actually that's kind of accurate. cool.

Painting with Acrylics, and some guy called Ken

Yes the clouds look a little spastic, but hey, its my first attempt. Its a lake with trees. Amazingly i'll admit to painting this one when people stop by. All my other attempts may well be confined to the cupboard under the stairs, we will see.

Ken whatsit is our painting overlord. He's enthusiastic, but forgetful. He drives me crazy and is quite useless as a teacher, but a pleasant human being. I think he was an architect in a former life. As in most classes there are rules, no decorative panels, and no paintings of rangitoto. Fair enough.

Its quite realxing and a peaceful way to spend 2 hours once a week. Its gets fairly quiet and only a few random explosions of force against canvas ripple the calm. Oh and the drama class next door. So i'll probably sign up for another class next term, but I am severely tempted by the mosaic course. I want to make mosaic sculptures for my garden. Since nothing will grow in the wild jungleness.

Oh boy its the weekend

Got to love Fridays, the free expanse of the weekend lies ahead and all plans and ideas lay perched waiting to take off. And fly away they do, quite often into 'I didn't quite get around to it" land.

I saw these used wooden freight crates on trade me. They are heat treated only and come in a range of sizes that would be quite suitable for a raised garden bed. I just need to convince husband to go buy one for me. And borrow a car with a tow bar and borrow a trailer. And carry it down the steep steps to my garden. Wait, uh,....oh it sounds all to hard. Perhaps I can bribe with chocolate and wine.

WHAT THE FUCK ATE MY DAFFODILL?!

yes I can swear because its my blog. avert your eyes children from the foul mouthed harlot.

not even close

Dont even try tell me spring is here.

Well I'm thinking of attempting vege gardening again. I had random successes last year. Sweet sweet lettuce, bitter capsicums, abundant apple cucumbers and sporadic tomatoes.

To start I have just put some seeds in my "improvised green house". Lets just say it required no monetary outlay and thus is perfect for my needs. I am of course trying to do it on a budget so any thing free I can get my hands on is all good. So far I've sprung for some seed raising mix. What a sucker. Of course all my seeds are last years leftovers stored in dubious conditions all winter. I'm praying for any kind of germination (plant related).

Capsicums will be attempted again and cherry tomatoes. I want tons and tons of them. I want to bath in them, I want to squish them under my feets and toss them into the air letting the little bubbles rain down apon my head. I am so in love with cherry tomatoes.

Auckland weather is Icy icy!

Thrilling wee thunder storm going on here, lightning hail, ridiculous amounts of water. My poor little plant, which I should have put in a nice container by now got to bear the brunt of the ice.

However this excitement has broken up the afternoon. I don't why I feel so blah this weekend, I haven't been able to drag myself out of the house and I've worn nothing but slippers. I am inclined to put it down to the weather.

sigh

Yet another Saturday in which I am in danger of drinking too much tea.

Finally found my matcha!

After much searching I have finally found some matcha. (Thanks asian grocery store tofu shop!)

One teeny tiny tin set me back $6.99 but it was worth it!

So whats so great about matcha? Um everything! But seriously its very finely powdered green tea, no bags here ladies, tea goes straight in the bowl and just add hot water (not boiling, too hot and the tea will be bitter!), then whisk with your authentic japanesse bamboo whisk. (One day I shall find you bamboo whisk!) You're not just drinking an infusion its every bit of the tea as well, so you get ALL the goodness. mmmmm green tea goodness.

I am supposed to be doing housework, bugger that.

You know whats good?

Chicken, garlic, bacon, and white bean casserole.

You know whats not good?

Droping the casserole dish lid and smashing it.

le sigh.

Ze gods! Zey do not want me to cook! no?

Woe!

My stick blender died a tragic death! I am so bummed, it was real good for making soup and things. And wouldn't ya know it, I can't find the receipt or the warranty card or even the manual anywhere. THE HUMANITY!

Reading why not

Ah reading, the ultimate slacker hobby that also gives one a smug feeling of being somewhat intellectual and much better than those movie, popcorn chowing, "buffs".

I've been trying to remember a name of a book from my childhood. It was about a steam powered shovel, a little crafty googling came up with its number

Mike Mulligans Steam Shovel. And of course while browsing my other favourite childhood book My cat likes to hide in boxes. There are about four books that stick out from my childhood. After that I dont remember much of what I read till I was a teenager.



Lately I've had trouble finding anything good to read. I blame Robin Hobb entirely. Damn assassin series ruined me for all other books. Last two books I bought from Borders "Hidden Talent" shelf left me cold and with no real desire to finish either of them. In order to avoid the pile of unfinished books on my beside table, I will drag my eyes over the remaining insipid chapters and enjoy barely drawn characters (whom I care little about) doing almost arbitrary tasks which seem irrelevant.
Last good book I read was The Lies of Locke Lamora. Damn thing was on that Hidden talent shelf too, How easily I was fooled into parting with good money to buy two mediocre at best paperbacks.

So I gave in and paid my $30 library fine. Borrowed an unreadable amount of books considering my lifestyle and am hoping against odds to find something good.

So far I've read "Affluenza" - summary - we are all unhappy and distressed because we can't be rich and famous. And if we are rich and famous we are unhappy because we are not rich and famous enough.
I guess its true, I'm pretty distressed over my lack of new car buyingness. I don't want a loan to buy a car but trying to exercise my limited purchase power has been grating on my nerves. I thought it was a buyers market. So much for a recession. And my negotiating skills are crap. Sigh.

Spicy Rustic Red Lentil Soup

Food Gawker is the place to go for foodie inspiration.
While there I came across spicy rustic red lentil soup.
"I HAVE RED LENTILS!
I COULD COOK THAT!"

I said to myself.

After all I quite like dahl, I made that once. (True bro!)

And while my picture is not very inspiring, it is proof that I cooked something off the interweb. Trust me it was delicious. Red lentils cook super quick and go very mushy, I always chuck half a cup into beef stews or the chilli con carne, and no one really even notices them. But they add bulk and texture and other goody goodness.


A recipe and a much nicer picture is this way at A Life (time) of Cooking. I added turmeric and cayenne pepper and used about three times as much tomato paste and used half chicken stock and half water. Also I'm eating it unadulterated. I'm brave that way.

gull

Mr.

Dear NZ politicians

Where are your charismatic figures?

Where are the awe inspiring speeches?Actually where are any speeches. If I went by the media, I would believe that no one had given a speech since Don Brash at Orewa and that the closest thing since was the "diddums" comment.

Did you notive we are having an election soon, I want policy, I want inspiration! I want to see someone passionate about leading this country.

If I hear John Key fob off one more interveiw question with "we will be releasing policy closer to the election" I will be only mildy annoyed and not surprised. You've had four years to work on policy. What are you afriad of?

My worst habits

I know I shouldn't do it, but I love eating in bed. Hot chocolate and shortbread, toast, crackers while I'm reading my book, chocolate when i'm watchig a movie.
Everytime I change the sheets I mentally remind myself not to do it. But I do anyway. Then I find myself waking in the night covered in crumbs and then making a futile attempt to sweep them out of the bed with my hand. Sometimes not even out of the bed, just away from me. And away from me sometimes means my husbands side of the bed, I'm an evil evil wife.

Bed For Sale! Make us an offer!!

Zed and I have a queen size bed that we need to get rid of so we can convert the downstairs bedroom back to a useable space for the teenage boys.

I'm afraid I cant give this bed away (as much as I would love to!) as I have to recoup costs from having zeds parents stay.

So its a queen size slat bed with very comfy pillowtop mattress. This bed is probably medium to soft. Solid wood frame.

This bed cost $1455 new as we upgraded to a high quality mattress.

Only used as a guest bed for 3 months so its still in tip top condition.

So make us an offer! or it goes on trademe! Horrors!

Malls

The Glenfield mall really is quite dismal. All malls are to some extent, but Glenfield mall really is depressing. A huge monolith painted industrial non yellow-yellow that could almost be a colour if you squinted. At least it was appropriate to my mood, after a dismal day at work where better to go and console oneself with blatant consumerism than the soul sucking edifice of the mall. Inside is no better, beige, bland, beige lack of light and full of people just as sad looking as me. A multitude of stores selling nothing I need or want inducing an hour long search for something to buy to make working for a living seem all worthwhile.
But alas, I leave with only chocolate in hand and head off home to eat my feelings. I must have an awful lot of feelings.

I'll put that down to being a passionate person.

more on the old days....

People were not just frugal during the depression, it carried on a lot longer. My mum was a child of the sixties and she emailed me a few memories of the lifestyle they had growing up. It bought a smile to my face so I had to post it ;-)

I read your blog the other day and what a great discussion Harley and I had....we were remembering how our parents saved paper, strings, rubber bands, butter wrappers were reused to line cake tins, jars, bottles, no jersey was given away it was passed on to the next kid and after that the jersey was unpicked wound into a balls till they had enough to knit up something else, all clothes were recycled....had no spray and wipe, oven cleaners etc just good ole vinegar and baking soda...the local tip to the men was the equivalent of Bunning's..the paper was saved for sending parcels, the string to wrap them up in..sellotape was far to expensive......knitting is now a persons hobby and why bother when u can go to the warehouse and buy something for under 40 dollars. Sewing is a hobby, but so glad I have those skills under my belt. Of course gardening was a main stay and alot of bartering went on. there was also alot of sharing,.....just thinking about those times brings a smile to my face, I remember grandma, mum and I driving out to taheke to pick blackberries and wild apples, next day would be pie, jam,jelly applesauce making, wonderful times, and if you are doing it with people you love its so not a chore.....the freezer was your friend, mum and grandma always grew enough for the table and enough to freeze till next season....

Marathon Madness

My co-workers are all signing up to run the Auckland marthon, well half of it anyway. The thought of running 21kms scares me. But the thrill of running over the harbour bridge might be worth it.
I've done running before, but the best I ever did was a steady 5km.

There are more than 20 weeks to train in, so they might yet twist my arm. HA!

all your bases are belong to us

We don't know how to live in a recession.

My generation is more likely to rack up $6000 in credit card debt rather than live frugally during a recession. Acess to credit is easy and ubiquitous. So why go with out when you can just put it on the credit card.
The skills of living within your means and thrift have long gone. We grew up in times of plenty. We got all the gadgets that we wanted and now expect to have the latest HD widescreen LCD home theatre HD DVD when we want it and all on store credit (but interest free for the first twelve months!).
I imagine most of them live paycheck to paycheck and don't know where all there money goes. Low levels of savings and investment are probably the norm.
If we are really going to be hit with a recession, some of us will get into big trouble. Young people, quick, find an old person who has lived through a recession!!! Old people, educate the youngins!
Not that I think we are heading towards a major recession anyway. There are still plenty of jobs, sure things cost more and we will be seeing a lot more mortgage stress but it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Getting dumber all the time

Recent articles have suggested that having a mundane job makes you stupid.

Every week, I feel a bit dumber. I find myself unable to construct sentences and struggle to find words that I swear were in my vocabulary a few years ago.

It really hit home when I was cleaning out my CV folder. Man, I used to write the most erudite application letters ever! I was like some kind of job applying genius. This was of course in the first month or so after finishing university. Studying really made me smart.

Now boring conferences and B.S. 3 day "quality management" courses (that do little more than teach jargon and blame) have left me a shell of my former educated self.

I bought a bus ticket

Peel p50

10 ride card - $13

Will get me to work and back.
Will save the environment.
Will drive me insane as I finish work the same time school does.

Maybe I should buy a bicycle and tempt death instead.

My car is billowing massive amounts of white smoke when I start it. Not good.
If I had the funds I'd buy a hybrid. But fundless as I am, its going to be a very small economical car.

Expensive Food and Petrol. Get Used to it.

Some people are carrying on, blissfully unaware.


Me: I can't believe I just paid $2.30 for a litre of milk.

L: Oh really, is that expensive? I wouldn't know what a litre of milk costs

Me: Well its was only $1.79 in December.


Meanwhile my mind boggles at being able to trot around the supermarket not caring about the price of things. Who can afford to do that?!

We've had it good, for so long, foods been cheap and plentiful. I think we are entering a new reality or I am entering a new reality all by myself. Whatever.

India stops exporting wheat and rice, China increases its demand for dairy. Haitians resort to eating dirt(but don't you feel too bad about it). Food riots in over 20 countries. Drought in Australia.

No point in complaining about prices, they are here to stay and will probably get worse.

Another birthday passes by ...

Thanks everyone for all the birthday texts and messages. My phone is being a complete dog at the moment and only sometimes lets me answer phone calls. All other times it jams and plays a one second loop of the ring tone for a minute before turning itself off. Very annoying.

In other news Zeds parent flew back to Canada on Wednesday and I begin the slow process of putting my house back together after 12 weeks of house guests.

Waiter Rant - Should Bloggers Become Authors?

This has been one of my favourite blogs for a while now. Good waiters should be all about excellent service, a little bitter, smoking cigarettes and having witty conversation out the back.

The waiter rant, is short tales of waiter life, sometimes outrageous and sometimes sad, usually witty and dry. And joy of all joys he is writing a book. While I don't know if I could take a whole book of the blog style of writing, it will be interesting to see what the transition from blog to book is like.

Just like in the nineties where being a good stand up comedian would land you a TV show, the 2000 equivalent is a book deal from your blog. If the TV shows are anything to go by, you usually get a watered down family friendly version of the once edgy comedy that got noticed in the first place. Books are less likely to be dumbed down and censored so with any luck some of my favourite bloggers will be making the transition to off line media and having their writing mettle truly tested. Writing for the web is a completely different kettle of fish than writing a book. Web browsers typically have a short attention span and don't want to read anything that requires scrolling. Short and snappy works well, but would that work for a book, I might feel a bit assaulted if I read 400 pages of "short and snappy" or would it work? Would it become a page turner allowing my TV/Internet generation addled brain to really work in the niche it has become molded too?

I don't know.

A POX! A POX on us ALL!!

My co - worker has had a weird rash for the last two days. Turns out its chicken pox. CHICKEN POX. (Pox is a good word it would be in my top 50 words for sure.)

So shes been at work, contagious, spreading the germs everywhere, Poxing all over the place. (From now on pox gets a capital letter.) 5 pathologists couldn't diagnose her so she went across the road to the white cross to see a real doctor. Its says a lot that the hospital employees got to the medical practice across the road rather than see anyone in the hospital.

THATS BECAUSE ITS WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD DO! Seriously, if its not an emergency, see your GP or go to an after hours medical center.

But I digress. POX. So I'm at the gym (I go sporadically) and I have this massive headache. I still have it now, I tried drinking beer but it didn't help. I am full of pox paranoia now.

POX!

I don't know If I even had the Pox! However, it may be irrelevant as it is possible to get the pox twice.

Motorola V3.x Worst cellphone ever.

Mostly I think cellphones are dumb. Not that its dumb to have one, that they are themselves stupid.

Modern Cellphones are laboured with poor operating systems, pathetic light capturing devices that they pass off as a feature camera and claim to be mp3 Players but have no headphone output (because really what I want to do is either listen to through the tinny ringer speaker or fork out $80 for blue tooth headphones)

Why I hate my cellphone.

1. Its ugly.

2. It randomly turns itself off.

3. Sometimes crashes during an incoming call.

4. Randomly decides not to play the programmed alarms.

5. Has horrible predictive text.

6. It takes forever to do anything because you have to wade through so many menus.

7. Basically, poor usability.

8. It promised to be so much more.


Reasons why (I have to) like my cell phone.

1. I can't afford a new one.

2. The camera isn't awful

Motorola have been on the down and down since the RAZR, when that first came out, it was awesome, but everything since that has been a razr re-hash, chunkier and crappier.
Read about motorola and why they are now crap.

Pepino - Sub tropical fruit for the kiwi garden

I get the "Get Growing" email newsletter from New Zealand Gardener and this week they featured PEPINO! Actually they featured them a bit late, because if I'd planted them a couple of months ago, I'd have a nice little crop. Lucky for me you can find them at the garden center with a few fruit on them. Also if you keep them protected from frost they will grow year round and produce a massive crop next year.
I purchased the Pepino Incredible Ruby variety and I still want to get a regular Pepino as well.

All I need now is a nice big pot and some trellis or gutter guard and some sticks to make a support for it, otherwise the weight of the fruit becomes too much for the poor little plant!

I'm quite enjoying edible gardening. Its practical and a satisfying hobby. This year I was getting lettuces and cucumbers everyday and I even got tomatoes despite planting them in terrible spots and not trimming the laterals and not feeding them. Things that grew really well were the regular cucumbers, lettuces and apple cucumbers. I have now planted spinach and silverbeet for winter greens and my late beans are throwing me a handful every now and then though they are in a far too shady spot.

What I really need for next year is some raised garden beds for the middle of my tiny back lawn. The little garden of to the side only gets full sun for about 6 weeks of summer then the house shades it a lot in the mornings. So I need to get some scrap wood and get to work so I can fill it with compost and get it ready for spring!

Freecycle - For stuff you can't sell on Trademe

I recently upgraded (Zeds hand me downs!) to an LCD screen for my computer. My eyes are thankful and so is the planet. Throwing my old monitor away would not be good for the planet, so after looking on Trademe and seeing that CRT monitors were lucky to sell for $1, I decided the best course of action would be to freecycle it. I listed it, someone emailed and said they would take it. They picked it up, they were happy, I was happy!

So what is freecycle? Well its a website where you list stuff that you are prepared to give away for free. Its excellent for things that are not really worth selling, but there is still the possibility that someone one there could use it. Its stops a lot of junk ending up in the landfill and it gets rid of clutter super quick.

The Auckland group is managed as a Yahoo group, so if you have a yahoo ID or are prepared to get one its quite easy to join, or you can just join the email list. Heres the FAQ on joining.

Freecycle is a nice philosophy too. I like the idea of passing on things I can't use at no cost. I've seen a lot of community groups get much needed computer equipment, kindergartens get art supplys, a solo mum get some work clothes and so on. So do it for the planet, do it for the community and never throw away anything useful ever again!

OMG Peoples have been protesting about my site

Check it out!

Save a Kitty!

Dear friends,

Please consider donating to the Auckland Cat Rescue or your local cat rescue ;-)
Here in Auckland they regularly trap cats at the stray colonies and de-sex them. Hopefully reducing the number of unwanted kittens born each year and reducing the stray population. They also find homes and foster stray kittens.

You can donate a little or a lot with your credit card online.

Or buy a cat bowl designed by Trelise cooper, Liz mitchell or Cybele, very fancy! Proceeds go to the cat rescue.
You can buy them at Animates and Jansens stores or order them here.

and then theres......

Kitten Adoption Day

02 February 2008
So many kittens needing new homes, so The Lonely Miaow Association, one of the countries biggest rescue groups is holding an adoption day at the Girl Guide Hall in Mt Eden, Auckland.

Best Bus Experience EVER!

I live in Auckland.

You may know that it has one of the sloppiest public transport systems (although its trying to be better).

Today after the trauma of the first day back at work, I was walking to the bus stop, it was a hot sunny day, birds were singing and no children were laughing. While contemplating my sneakers demise and how long I could continue to wear the sad dirty looking things I pressed the crossing button and prayed to the traffic gods for a quick light change, before my gaze could return to my decimated sneakers I caught a glimpse of the Bayveiw bus, Oh god, the lights were still green! I am 50ft away from the bus stop but the road was busy with traffic and I was never going to make it. I waved a "sad little depressed oh god there goes my bus wave" to the driver.

Then O frabjous day, the bus driver waves back and points to the bus stop. He's going to wait for me!!!!

Best bus driver ever.

If I had small asian children.......

I'd do the same. Possibly the cutest costumes I've ever seen.

The mineral deficiency thats making you FAT!

High Blood pressure is sometimes treated with calcium supplements. Why? Well when you have a calcium deficiency you body releases calcitriol (a vitamin D metabolite made by the kidney), which constricts blood vessels (as well as promoting calcium absorption from the intestine and leaching calcium from your bones to restore low blood calcium levels). Constricted blood vessels = higher blood pressure.
Scientists have been discovering that people on this calcium treatment are also losing weight. It turns out that calcitrol also acts as a metabolic switch in fat cells, signaling them to hold on to fat. Getting plenty of calcium means that calcitrol production is supressed and that "hold on to fat" switch stays off.
The effect is more pronounced when you take in extra calcium via low fat dairy products (Leucine and other peptides found in whey can enhance the weight loss effect.)

Its a bit of a fad these days to avoid dairy, but it is a great source of calcium. One low fat fresh and fruity yogurt has 40% of your RDI for calcium and only 72 calories. You body can only absorb small amounts of calcium at a time so a few small servings spread through out the day (and not taken with coffee!) will give maximum effect.

Article in psychology today

Stay in school, just for the holidays

One thing I try impress on the younger generation, is how important it is to stay in school. Also to go to university. Because frankly, nothing will beat those months of summer holidays.

when you are all grown up and stuck in your desk job, with your pitiful holiday leave, you will dream back to those carefree summers. Even if you were poor it didn't matter, you'd never know a full time wage before so you had nothing to compare it too. Lazing about, spontaneous road trips and working a few days here and there for beer money. It was all good.

I have only two weeks off.
I want to drink beer, eat avocados, watch crappy TV till 2 am, play hours of warcraft, read books and go to the shops and to the pub and to the movies.
I don't really want to be digging holes.
I want to have a good time!
So i'm going on strike. Only good times from now on! No more holes.

Spice Rack Solution

Spices, I have some.
Mostly they are still in those little boxes or I've bought them bulk from the Indian shop in Wairau. Handy they are not. So I've been searching the internet for elegant solutions.



One that caught my eye is the magnetic option. I especially liked the idea of mounting a magnetic whiteboard to the inside of a cupboard. Great for writing down the perfect spice mixture to add to the chilli.

Another option was to mount them to the wall. aka this photo. Which I quite like, but I have a huge lack of wall space in my tiny little kitchen.

So I'll be keeping an eye out for cheap containers I can glue magnets to. And I might have to borrow a hot glue gun too.

Recently I implemented the Charge Station idea I saw on some website. All the chargers are inside a breadbox along with all the messy ugly cables. Any our phones and other charge-needy devices sit on top and charge away (see the cables come out a hole in the back of the breadbox)
We had to buy a special multibox to sit inside the Breadbox. The transformers for all the chargers are to wide to sit side by side on a normal multibox.


Inside view: I do plan to tidy up the cables with some handy cable ties. he he

Thrilling Moments - Or Inane tale?

I may be a jinx to motor vehicles.

Since my car is getting surgery of the most deep and troubling kind, I had to take the Inlaws for an outing to the mall on the bus. The bus of course is many minutes late and 3/4 of the way to the mall there is a loud BANG!

The driver hopped out of the bus to look, he must not have seen anything out of the ordinary because he hopped back in and carried on driving. It was however immediately obvious as we began up the hill that a rear inner tyre had blown, the rollll FLAP rolll FLAP sound was a dead giveaway. So we limped to the top of the hill and were ejected from the bus and we had to walk the rest of the way.

I also got a clock at the mall. Which Zed's Mum Liz bought for me.

Its so Zed's dad can know when its beer O'clock. He has been lamenting the lack of clocks in our house. Not even the microwave clock is going (we have regular power outages so it mostly reads 00:00). I don't even wear a watch. Its like we live in a time free zone.