Not much, how ’bout you?
I haven’t posted because I haven’t been doing much. Getting through the days … trying to eat less and have the dog drag me around the block at least once a day. Trying to get something done in my art journal every day, even if it’s only gluing down an image. (BTW, if you’re looking for images and updates in my art journal, I’m “caityquilter” over on Flickr.)
I had to buy new jeans this week (thank goodness Target had them on sale!) and since there was nothing acceptable in the fat chick range, I bought mens’ jeans. BIG MENS jeans. Actually ended up with a size bigger than I needed (or wanted) but things were getting desperate so I grabbed what I could.
(clicky biggy but you still probably won’t be able to read some of the journaling)
It’s always harder to keep the weight off in winter – yeah, I comfort eat, who doesn’t? – but this year has been harder with the Seroquel coming into play. I know I’ve whined about this before, but it really does seem unfair that I have a choice of being mentally ok and fat or mentally screwed and maybe thinner. It’s all very well for the psychiatrist to counsel not having any “bad” food in the house, but carrot sticks and celery are NOT what I want to eat on a cold and miserable day! I’ll have to work out how to make long, slow cooked soup in the microwave – the stove is kaput, although the oven part still works – it’s just the cooktop that is not working.
That said, I’ve stopped buying the bikkies (cookies) I liked, and am eating green apples like they’re going out of fashion. Nom nom nom. I’m going to bake some bikkies or slice tonight (I’m limiting any baking to once a week) just so we can have something nice with our cuppas. Without the palm oil and other strange additives of the commercial products. A small treat while the rest of the food intake is so sensible … zucchini slice is a marvellous thing, lots of stealth veges and it lasts for at least 3 meals for the two of us!
Some of the stuff in my art journal has been too personal for me to post. I know, shocking – that I wouldn’t post something – it goes against my history – but there’s one issue in particular that is tricky and unresolved and I don’t want to expose it before things are sorted out.
(some info smudged for privacy reasons)
It’s been cold here. I don’t sleep well when it’s cold – my bones ache. Carrying all this extra weight doesn’t help that, of course, but July is always a tough month to get through.
I didn’t dust this week. I’ve only vacuumed the front and lounge and kitchen once. There’s only so much fighting against the dust monster I can manage!
Another art journal page waiting for the writing… my hair is reaaaaaaalllly bugging me but I can’t afford to go to the hairdressers – and so I’m just using a headband to keep it back off my face. I’m so grey now! (Even the vet commented on how grey my hair is when I last took Connie in.) Connie has to lose 1.5 kg (from her 7.5 kg total weight) and I am not even game to get on the scales (although I suspect my GP will make me when we go to see her on Monday…) – I’m back to needing to lose at least 20kg, though, I’m sure. I can’t afford the gym, so I’m trying to walk each day – even though so far it’s only for 15-20 minutes.
Another oddly proportioned gal, inspired by the styles of Teesha and Nancy B…
I’m very excited that my parents will be visiting for a couple of days in September! YAY!! And I was excited that I was going to be able to get some parts for my brother’s car from the local wreckers – except that when they quoted the price, we had to “tell ‘em they’re dreamin’!” – they wanted $260 for a coupla bits of trim!! Dad reckoned that he could make them out of gold for that price.
Mr Beloved also finds Winter difficult – his old back injury often flares up in the cold, and he just can’t get away from the pain. We move slowly in Winter. At least we don’t live in c-c-c-cold Canberra anymore – we think it’s dreadfully cold when the temperature overnight is 2 degrees C, but there were nights when Canberra had – 6… and I don’t think the houses we had there were any better built against the cold!
As you can see from my Shelfari widget (over there on the right if you’re reading this on my blog) I’ve been doing some reading. Thank goodness for the city library! I’ve really enjoyed “The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel” series written by Michael Scott: the whole series (three books so far) takes place in just over a week – it’s action all the way. I’ve also found some of the boxes of books that I moved with; some I’m probably never going to read again and can get rid of, and some books that I look forward to re-reading. I recently read “Cat in a Hot Pink Pursuit” by Carole Nelson Douglas – book SEVENTEEN of that series! I used to re-read all the previous books before I read the new one, but these days I just read the one before if I can get my hands on it – I stopped buying this series at around book “K” (they’re alphabetical).
And now it’s getting too cold again for me to write. Off to the house for some art journaling before an evening of couch potato-ing – Monk, Doc Martin, and The Bill.
Oh, and the election? Let’s just say that regardless of all the sh1t that happens in the (drearily long) 5 week campaign, my vote will be going to another party for the first time EVER. And it won’t be one of the major 2…
The Brisbane Adventure, and more
SO: Friday, we went to Brisbane. The plan was to visit the Queensland Museum at Southbank, then have a wander through the galleries and meet up with some friends from an online forum.
The one exhibition I really wanted to see was well worth seeing – but alas, due to the fragile nature of the objects, no photography was allowed – and I didn’t want to spend $10 on a booklet (I would have bought 2 or three postcards, had any been available, but ten dollars is just too much. AH, the life of the pov!)
Maybe I’ve just been at home too much, but I found the hoards of screaming children utterly exhausting. After 20 minutes (which felt like an hour!) I had to retreat to the cafe for a cold drink. I’m glad we avoided school holidays, I can only imagine what hell that must be.
I thought that the museum was very … empty. Mr Beloved was also quite disappointed. It was as though the entire centre was set up purely for small kids. Fair enough as far as that goes, but not the Museum experience we were after. I strongly suspect that the days of quiet contemplation of exhibits in cases are gone for good, more’s the pity. Interaction schminteraction. (And you kids, get off my lawn!)
We then wandered outside for lunch (mmm, love that zucchini slice – it’s even good cold!) then down to the Queensland Art Gallery. I’m very pleased I got to see the “Hats: an Anthology by Stephen Jones” exhibition, even though that was quite busy too. Mr Beloved noted that Stephen Jones’s own designs were very skillfully and beautifully made – often the best thing in the case.
By the time we left the Queensland Art Gallery and headed over to the Gallery Of Modern Art I was getting reeeeaaaaallly tired. We didn’t bother with the Ron Mueck exhibition because even the concession tickets were $10 each – and to be quite frank, his work totally creeps me out anyway.
I think we really tried to do too much in one day – about half an hour after this photo was taken (it’s at the end of GOMA, looking out onto the river) I just Could.Not.Go.On and so even though we were about an hour early for meeting the friends, we decided to go to the cafe and just sit.
Mr Beloved was wearing a recognisable hat – and was recognised (it was the first face to face meeting with online friends).
We made quite good time out of the city, and got home around 6 pm. On Sunday night the police came knocking on the door at about 20 to 9 – the business over the road had been broken into some time on the weekend, a big safe had been removed (probably with the aid of a circular saw) and had we heard anything?
Well, the neighbourhood dogs pretty much bark non-stop, every night, so the barking I heard on Friday night might have been relevant – or not. Talk about crying wolf…
Maybe now the business will invest in some proper security (although I doubt it.) As I remarked to the nice policemen, we get all sorts of cars and stray people down the end of the street because there’s no street light.
I called Mum and Dad at their new Adelaide house last night, too. Week one, so they’re still trying to unpack, but they seem to be going ok.
I’m still trying to get rid of STUFF – there WILL be books leaving via Bookcrossing this week!
Remember…
Remember travelling as a kids, and stopping at the various town parks for lunch/loo break/parent sanity break? I’m sure there used to be one of these rockets in every second or third park (the others having an old steam train or traction engine parked in the concrete, possibly with signs asking”Keep off” but inevitably climbed all over).
I knew there was one in Toowoomba! I even have a (very) vague memory of stopping here as a kid… the rope climbing structure in the background wouldn’t have been there, of course.
Sadly, the bottom of the rocket is welded shut – I guess climbing into confined spaces is considered too dangerous these days.
Mum and Dad are mid way through The Big Move. By this time next week they will have started to settle into their Adelaide house…
As you can see from the clear blue sky, it’s not a terrible day here – provided you can keep out of the wind. But at just on three thirty in the afternoon, it’s about time to start shutting up the house to keep the warmth in ….
C-c-c-cold!
I’m really feeling the cold today – the official weather site I check says it’s currently 13.1 degrees C but “feels like” 10.5 because of the windchill. It’s been a blustery sort of day. At least the washing will be dry (even if it’s difficult to tell because it feels cold as you take it off the line.)
You can see the length of our “lawn” here too – we’re currently without a lawn mower, and it seems to RAIN whenever we scrape the money together to hire one! Oh well, maybe this fortnight…
And I’ve had a weepy sort of day – I’m not sure why. Today is the last day Mum and Dad have in their home of 30+ years in Wagga Wagga before the removalists arrive to start loading. I’m thrilled for them that they’re moving on to a new adventure in Adelaide, where they’ll be close to my brother and his family; but I’m also sad that they’ll be leaving friends and networks behind.
Right now I’d give just about anything to be able to move close to them all, but it’s just not going to happen – even if we could sell our house, we couldn’t afford to buy anywhere else. I feel very isolated – which is weird, because they’ve been so far away anyway!
Mr Beloved has been working hard on building me a faster computer from spare parts (and from the care package sent by a good friend in Perth). He’s also built pelmets for the lounge and bedroom windows – hopefully once we get those up, the warm air won’t just slide down the cold windowpanes and back into the rooms. Pelmets are supposed to be one of those simple things that can make a huge difference to the warmth of a house… ours are just finger-jointed pine from the hardware store, stained with Mr B’s special mix of Black Japan and a secret ingredient. Nothing fancy – we thought about covering them with quilt batting and fabric, but since they’re going over existing curtains that we don’t have matching fabric for, the stain will do. And it matches the other woodwork in the house.
Half past four – time to get that washing in and start to close up the house – curtains drawn and blankets over doorways down (we don’t have many doors – that’s another story!) to keep in the warmth.
This is one of my favourite photos
… and a reminder of why using a mat in a photo frame is a Good Idea. This was taken before digital cameras, and is one of only two pictures I have with my beloved Burmese, Moët. All the others were lost in The Great Orange Juice Incident of 2005 (in which a laptop died, with its hard drive not backed up. I lost so many pictures that day…)
I was walking past this picture in its cheap little clip frame the other day and noticed it seemed to be resting on the glass … oddly. Yep, it had stuck to the glass, and very careful peeling off left only those few damaged areas, which I will repair on the digital image I now have. If only I’d used a mat to keep the picture even just a teeeeeeeeny distance off the glass, this wouldn’t have happened. Oh well, lessons learned.
The photo is from somewhere around 1994 ish. If I could remember what years my sister worked in Taiwan, I could pinpoint the timing, because that Tintin t-shirt was a present from her.
Moët made it to Toowoomba with me at the end of 2003, but died a few weeks later from kidney failure. She was 16 or so. I still miss her.
And I miss my sister, who died in 2005. Sometimes its the little reminders that make her death seem such a short time ago. Stupid brain cancer. And she never used a mobile phone in her life, it was just one of those random horrible cancers.
Not really all birds, all the time…
But they were being cute. These are Rexy’s parents: Dorian Grey and Bollinger B. Birdy.
(credits: everything except smudge brush in lower left corner: “Cutie Putie Birdie” kit by Kitty Designs at Oscraps.)
Digidare #157
(clicky for biggy, please!)
Credits:Template: Chrissy W Freebie 34 Amylift (modified); Michelle Coleman Bohemian Summer paper ( x2) from Little Dreamer Designs, ribbon from same kit; Fonts: Credit River, CK Wellington, Circus Ornate; Swirl brush from Celeste Rockwood-Jones “Blossom Brushes” freebie.
I’m not thrilled with this layout, but I am pleased to have captured one of our non-traditional traditions. And yes, Mr Beloved and I do get quite silly!
This was the brief:
Non-traditional!
This time of year is SO nostalgic for me. I have so many wonderful memories of my childhood during the Holidays. There are the typical memories of finding the perfect Christmas tree, listening to holiday music, making gingerbread houses … but there are so many more obscure memories as well!
This week I want you to think of a non-traditional holiday memory you have from your childhood (or even a more recent year if you wish)!
Here are some examples of my own non-traditional memories:
- Traditional would be decorating the tree as a family. Everyone does that. Non traditional would be that our family eats frozen peaches for breakfast on Christmas every year.
- Traditional would be singing Christmas carols. Non traditional would be the funny way my dad sings a particular Christmas song every year.
- Traditional would be opening presents Christmas morning. Non-traditional would be the year my parents actually put coal in my stocking.
Dare Flair:
- If you don’t have a photo of the event, it’s ok to use no photos or stock photos.
- Since we’re talking about non-traditional memories, let’s go with some non-traditional colors as well! No red or green allowed!
- Let’s see some white space! Your photo(s) & elements can only cover 1/4 of your layout. Journaling, however, can cover as much space as you want.
- You must use at least one swirl brush
- You must use some fabric of some sort (felt, fabric, ribbon)
Digital Card for my baby brother
[clicky for biggy - reduced size and pixels for web, unfortunately, the original is MUCH clearer!]
All papers and elements from the Steampunk kit by Maya from ScrapbookGraphics.com; except the fish, which is from Itkupilli’s Steampunk & Skellies digital design kit. (Why did I add the fish? I don’t need – it just needed to be there!)
Hard to believe my baby brother will be 37 on Monday… he was so very very sick when he was born, had his first major operation at just 8 hours old (and that was after being flown in the air abulance from country NSW to Sydney). He developed cardiomyopathy a couple of years back after a severe bout of flu (who knew that flu could trigger an underlying condition? We didn’t!) But these days he’s doing ok – it helps that his wonderful wife is a specialist nurse in echocardiography (I hope I got what she does right…)
My brother was always very close to our sister – they were “the little two”. He’s a brilliant man, very smart, funny, clever with his hands, and does a great job being Dad to his 18 year old son. Did I mention musical? He’s that too.
LOVE YA, GORDY!
(I don’t think he reads the blog, but the sentiment remains.)
