Sunday, April 1, 2012
Thursday, July 28, 2011
East Africa needs your help
A terrible, terrible famine is killing thousands and could kill millions in East Africa.
Please help. They are, after all, our brothers and sisters.
http://www.unicef.org.au/Donate.aspx
Please help. They are, after all, our brothers and sisters.
http://www.unicef.org.au/Donate.aspx
Friday, July 22, 2011
If you always do what you've always done....
Do you know that one? If you always do what you've always done, you'll always have what you've always had. What do you think? What if what you've been doing is your best, and you don't quite know how you could have done differently, and you certainly don't know how to do different now?
Well, sitting at work at nearly 7pm on a Friday isn't going to give a girl a good time, is it? Got in horribly late, as has been the case all week. Except for when I wasn't here. Which was quite a bit, as it happened. So, it's good to be here when it's very, very still and oh, so quiet... as Bjork would whisper. I bet Bjork isn't sitting at work finishing stuff off. No. She'd be out at a party, or a new groovy bar, being interesting and arty and intriguing.
Where was I? Oh yeah, finishing stuff off. Got something off my plate partly - at least signs of progress conveyed, some conundrums resolved, and clearly flagged for myself where I need to consult with others to get things sorted. Finance, for example. What do I know about that? Not much. So I'll ask the Finance people to make some decisions. I know I'm always saying I have to do everything myself, but I'm not gonna, you hear me?
Decided to role play beautiful, poised, accomplished woman today. I managed it for the 10 minute trip from the doctor's to the pharmacy and back to work. There are going to be different components to this role play. B, P and A will be the core elements. I always want to be them. However, sometimes, I will add a handsome, rich and kind husband with intelligence, wit, a fabulous sense of fun and play (and mega-doses of integrity). I think that may come in handy. However, I'm sad to say, that component has not resulted in being picked up in a BMW tonight after work, so I must slog home through the dark and cold, where FH (fabulous husband) component will not have cooked me a beautiful imaginary, tasty and vegan meal. No. So I'll try to role play BPA cooks own dinner on Friday night - partly because she's eaten out at least two nights this week. BPA may just eat toast tonight. Coz she's all busy and socialising like. She might be, but I'm not. Which is where we started, right?
How do you do things differently?
Well, sitting at work at nearly 7pm on a Friday isn't going to give a girl a good time, is it? Got in horribly late, as has been the case all week. Except for when I wasn't here. Which was quite a bit, as it happened. So, it's good to be here when it's very, very still and oh, so quiet... as Bjork would whisper. I bet Bjork isn't sitting at work finishing stuff off. No. She'd be out at a party, or a new groovy bar, being interesting and arty and intriguing.
Where was I? Oh yeah, finishing stuff off. Got something off my plate partly - at least signs of progress conveyed, some conundrums resolved, and clearly flagged for myself where I need to consult with others to get things sorted. Finance, for example. What do I know about that? Not much. So I'll ask the Finance people to make some decisions. I know I'm always saying I have to do everything myself, but I'm not gonna, you hear me?
Decided to role play beautiful, poised, accomplished woman today. I managed it for the 10 minute trip from the doctor's to the pharmacy and back to work. There are going to be different components to this role play. B, P and A will be the core elements. I always want to be them. However, sometimes, I will add a handsome, rich and kind husband with intelligence, wit, a fabulous sense of fun and play (and mega-doses of integrity). I think that may come in handy. However, I'm sad to say, that component has not resulted in being picked up in a BMW tonight after work, so I must slog home through the dark and cold, where FH (fabulous husband) component will not have cooked me a beautiful imaginary, tasty and vegan meal. No. So I'll try to role play BPA cooks own dinner on Friday night - partly because she's eaten out at least two nights this week. BPA may just eat toast tonight. Coz she's all busy and socialising like. She might be, but I'm not. Which is where we started, right?
How do you do things differently?
Monday, July 18, 2011
A sloooooow Monday
Exhausted today, so spent most of the day in bed asleep. Work? Oh, yes. Not today thank you. Some unpleasantness on Friday, which seemed to portend badly. At least I think I could get a job at my nearest chocolate shop... apparently after 2 years you stop wanting to devour the chocolate. I'd have to go to the gym twice a day if I did that. Anyway, it seems talk of our demise was exaggerated. But it sure got me thinking and not all of it was nice!
Watching Pride and Prejudice again. How many times can it be viewed consecutively and it not become habit-forming, I wonder? Have I asked that before? Is that bad blogging, to not know what you've asked/said before? Probably, but never mind. We are practising self-kindness here at RTW. It may or may not be kind to be 2/3 of the way through a 200g block of Cadbury's Fair Trade. That's the non-vegan bit in my diet that I'm struggling to shake. Anyway. I think it may be time to stop as I feel sick!
I wanted to share this quilt with you... isn't it fab? Nichola has posted it on her blog, and I want one! Have I mentioned I was born in England? Though I've been here many years now, England will always feel like home. I dare say if I moved back there it would feel strange for a while and I'd miss Australia, so I suppose I'm in the happy position of having two homes! My feelings are sentimental and nostalgic, but I know there's a sense of belonging that I will probably never have here in my adopted land. So, it's probably time to show it on my bed, yeah? Imagine doing this in Liberty prints? I do like the faded Union Jack on the RHS, second from the top - you'd have to put one of those in somehow.
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I've only made one quilt so far - a strip quilt with a rather unfortunate ruffle around the outside that I keep meaning to take off. I have also bought Alicia's Ollalieberry Icecream quilt pattern, and I even have the batting/wadding for it. But I haven't yet assembled fabrics I already have (which would be a nice basis for the quilt), and couldn't see nice quilt fabrics at Spotlight a while back when they had a sale. I really need to get to GJs on Sydney Road... Boy, do they have quilt fabrics. One day!
Ok, just a couple more pieces of chocolate, thank you!
Good night, and I hope you are all well.
J x
Watching Pride and Prejudice again. How many times can it be viewed consecutively and it not become habit-forming, I wonder? Have I asked that before? Is that bad blogging, to not know what you've asked/said before? Probably, but never mind. We are practising self-kindness here at RTW. It may or may not be kind to be 2/3 of the way through a 200g block of Cadbury's Fair Trade. That's the non-vegan bit in my diet that I'm struggling to shake. Anyway. I think it may be time to stop as I feel sick!
I wanted to share this quilt with you... isn't it fab? Nichola has posted it on her blog, and I want one! Have I mentioned I was born in England? Though I've been here many years now, England will always feel like home. I dare say if I moved back there it would feel strange for a while and I'd miss Australia, so I suppose I'm in the happy position of having two homes! My feelings are sentimental and nostalgic, but I know there's a sense of belonging that I will probably never have here in my adopted land. So, it's probably time to show it on my bed, yeah? Imagine doing this in Liberty prints? I do like the faded Union Jack on the RHS, second from the top - you'd have to put one of those in somehow.
photo from The Aftercraft via Nikkishell
I've only made one quilt so far - a strip quilt with a rather unfortunate ruffle around the outside that I keep meaning to take off. I have also bought Alicia's Ollalieberry Icecream quilt pattern, and I even have the batting/wadding for it. But I haven't yet assembled fabrics I already have (which would be a nice basis for the quilt), and couldn't see nice quilt fabrics at Spotlight a while back when they had a sale. I really need to get to GJs on Sydney Road... Boy, do they have quilt fabrics. One day!
Ok, just a couple more pieces of chocolate, thank you!
Good night, and I hope you are all well.
J x
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Sunday, after nine o'clock. A winter's night.
A semi-productive day here. Am reclining with a mug of mulled wine (well, according to the book. gluhwein, but is there a difference?). Pretty delicious once you get into it. A bottle of red wine (a cab sav merlot cleanskin), a cinnamon stick, four cloves, a sliced orange, 1.5 sliced lemons, and 1/4 of a cup of caster sugar. Cook for 20 min on a medium heat - do not boil. Let it sit for 3 hours for the flavours to blend, then strain, warm in a saucepan, then drink. I could get used to this. A great flavour combination, though I'd be interested to try a few different recipes. The alternative in the book I used required 250ml of Brandy.
On the cooking front, another batch of Andrew's chickpea and vegetable curry, and a heap of roasted root vegies with balsamic vinegar and kecap manis. That takes the pressure off cooking for the first few lunches and dinners of the week, as well as saving money on lunches. Not that there's much I want to eat around work now that I don't eat meat. There are only so many times I can stand tofu and rice, and sometimes (OK, lots of times) I'm too lazy, lazy, lazy to walk up to my favourite nearby vegan cafe. As well, tonight I mopped the floors, did a load of washing and hung it out, washed the dishes.... quite the domestica when I wasn't sleeping half the day. I had hoped to bake a chocolate pecan self-saucing pudding, but ran out of time and motivation. Yes, it's an exciting blog, isn't it?!
My last chore is to go out and get a neighbour's cat's heat pad and reheat it for the night. It's cold here at the moment, so I bought him a microwave heat pad. Not sure he's using it, but just in case. Hopefully when my neighbour comes home, she'll keep using it if she doesn't let him in at night. He's a stray she's taken on, which is great.
Well, here ends my prosaic "dear diary" for the day. A final question: what is the name for a bellringer?
On the cooking front, another batch of Andrew's chickpea and vegetable curry, and a heap of roasted root vegies with balsamic vinegar and kecap manis. That takes the pressure off cooking for the first few lunches and dinners of the week, as well as saving money on lunches. Not that there's much I want to eat around work now that I don't eat meat. There are only so many times I can stand tofu and rice, and sometimes (OK, lots of times) I'm too lazy, lazy, lazy to walk up to my favourite nearby vegan cafe. As well, tonight I mopped the floors, did a load of washing and hung it out, washed the dishes.... quite the domestica when I wasn't sleeping half the day. I had hoped to bake a chocolate pecan self-saucing pudding, but ran out of time and motivation. Yes, it's an exciting blog, isn't it?!
My last chore is to go out and get a neighbour's cat's heat pad and reheat it for the night. It's cold here at the moment, so I bought him a microwave heat pad. Not sure he's using it, but just in case. Hopefully when my neighbour comes home, she'll keep using it if she doesn't let him in at night. He's a stray she's taken on, which is great.
Well, here ends my prosaic "dear diary" for the day. A final question: what is the name for a bellringer?
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
This is not the post that was...
... meant to be here. What did I do? Or not do? Even blogger is beyond me at 12.39 am, and won't I be grumpy tomorrow? Too late to write it again, and who could recapture its glories? Ha!
So instead, a picture of the darling three. Soon to be pin-ups in the 2012 calendar for Ingrid's Haven for Abandoned Cats, whence they hail. They are now at least three times this size!
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So instead, a picture of the darling three. Soon to be pin-ups in the 2012 calendar for Ingrid's Haven for Abandoned Cats, whence they hail. They are now at least three times this size!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Long time no see
Two months. Where have I been? Not to San Jose, that's for sure.
Things are tough. I won't talk about that here at the moment. I'm tired, struggling, and looking for a way through.
Some words have helped.
* Don't let fear drive out love. I woke up with that in my mind and on my lips one morning last week. I know this verse, in part at least: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." I John 4:18. But the way it was expressed in my sleeping and waking speaks to me in the current situation.
* I have started reading, again, Henri Nouwen's 'Turn My Mourning into Dancing'. I read a sentence last night that spoke to me, when Henri talks about the Beatitudes, and blessed are those who mourn. Henri writes that mourning is facing the pain in the presence of someone who heals (paraphrased).
And here, something beautiful, and tasty. A recent discovery - yummy pizza without cheese. I've never liked pizza because I don't like melted cheese. Really dislike it,. Makes me sick. Now I'm almost vegan in my diet, this is a revelation. It's also great comfort food.
It's called The Fuss. Name was a joint effort - me and one of the pizza guys.
Ingredients: tomato paste, garlic (lots), rosemary, pumpkin, potato, mushroom, rocket on top when it comes out of the oven. This pic is sans rocket. We nearly forgot it.
Though the pizza guys object to pizza without cheese, they think the name is so good, it may just go on the next print of the menu. For now, it's scribbled on a piece of paper and stuck to the side of the coffee machine. In pizza terms, I've nearly made it.
Things are tough. I won't talk about that here at the moment. I'm tired, struggling, and looking for a way through.
Some words have helped.
* Don't let fear drive out love. I woke up with that in my mind and on my lips one morning last week. I know this verse, in part at least: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." I John 4:18. But the way it was expressed in my sleeping and waking speaks to me in the current situation.
* I have started reading, again, Henri Nouwen's 'Turn My Mourning into Dancing'. I read a sentence last night that spoke to me, when Henri talks about the Beatitudes, and blessed are those who mourn. Henri writes that mourning is facing the pain in the presence of someone who heals (paraphrased).
And here, something beautiful, and tasty. A recent discovery - yummy pizza without cheese. I've never liked pizza because I don't like melted cheese. Really dislike it,. Makes me sick. Now I'm almost vegan in my diet, this is a revelation. It's also great comfort food.
It's called The Fuss. Name was a joint effort - me and one of the pizza guys.
Ingredients: tomato paste, garlic (lots), rosemary, pumpkin, potato, mushroom, rocket on top when it comes out of the oven. This pic is sans rocket. We nearly forgot it.
Though the pizza guys object to pizza without cheese, they think the name is so good, it may just go on the next print of the menu. For now, it's scribbled on a piece of paper and stuck to the side of the coffee machine. In pizza terms, I've nearly made it.
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