Forecast: 9-16
Attained: 10-17

The apple tree's coming in to blossom. The bees are loving it, and I saw a small flock (3 individuals, I think) of honeyeaters. They didn't sit still for pics - zippy wee things - but the apple blossoms obligingly didn't move.

The orange tree is coming in to blossom as well. Smells wonderful...

~=o>

There was a little bit of creaming soda flavoured skoosh syrup left - not enough to make up a bottle - so I added it to some cola skoosh. Flavours combined to something not entirely like vanilla coke.
I want to try a grapefruit/cola mix. That could be interesting...

~=o>

I don't think I'll be going to see this.



Not a big fan of Tin Tin to begin with, but there's also that creepy 'uncanny valley' thing going on... [shudder]

Forecast: 12-16
Attained: 12-15

We've had two days of steady to driving rain, high winds and a cracking thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. Just a comment, not a complaint... :)

Well, ok, some sunshine would be nice so I could get some washing done before I go back to work.

~=o>

I've had the box set of American Gothic for a couple of years now and today I finally got 'round to starting to watch it.
Whoa. I haven't seen most of the eps and it's creepier than I remember! Good stuff. :)

Forecast: 16-23
Attained: 20-22

Hee, I introduced the cubs to some old-style Dr Who today with a couple of series of the fifth doctor - Peter Davidson, my favourite of the classic doctors, incidentally.
They really enjoyed it, and then we moved on to watching Series 1 of the new Dr Who. Happy times. :)
(And it's now gone 11pm and we've been watching Dr Who for 9ish hours! One more ep then we'd better go to bed!)

~=o>

Aww, I like this one...

Forecast: 12-25
Attained: 12-21

My boss has suggested that I might like to consider doing a 'Training & Assessment' certificate course, funded by work with study leave thrown in. Tempting, I have to admit, especially if I don't have to pay for it. It would be useful, too: a large portion of library work is training. I'm somewhat flattered that my boss considers me an appropriate candidate.

~=o>

Skyping with Joules (edited for clarity):

Lutra: hm, can get the Dr Who specials box set (Ten's last hurrah) on ebay for about half retail.
Flare: that's good!
[nods] think I'll treat myself
yeah, gwan.
[bg] ok, you've convinced me
that was easy!
LOLOL! I'm putty in your hands when I really want something
[smirk]

Mind you, try getting me to do something I really don't want to do...? Whole 'nother story. :)

Forecast: 9-22
Attained: 7-21

Oh, teh dramaz...!
Last friday the cubs had to stay back after school to do some catch-up homework. I didn't know anything about this until their teacher rang to confirm. All fine and dandy. Yesterday, Sunday, cubs inform me they have to take their overdue classwork in to school by midday and please could they have a lift? Again, fine and dandy, but this morning while I was shopping their irate teacher called me around 10 to say she'd been expecting them at 9 and they now had 15 minutes to get to school. [sigh] (This is the term hols, remember.)
Zoomed home, growled at the cubs - who fortunately were awake and mostly dressed - then zoomed them out to the school. They were there for an hour, finishing stuff off, while I napped in the car...
They still need to go in to school again tomorrow morning to hand in the stuff they finished at home today but they're on their own with that cos I'm working.

Forecast: 7-20
Attained: 9-19

Finally got 'round to doing my tax today. Was able to do it online, which was t'riffic for a few reasons one of which was that my income details had already been given to the tax office by my employer/s so I didn't need to input those. The less I have to do myself, the less chance of mistakes. Second, if there's any discrepancies, or a section overlooked, the program prompts you to check. A good thing for my peace of mind, as with the paper version I'm never quite certain I've filled in everything properly.
Oddly though, the initial assessment that occured sometime during the process was telling me I owed money - enough to bite - but the final assessment said I was due a refund. Tch. Well, I've submitted it, let's see what happens.


~=o>

Ah, good, the Tutankhamun Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum is on until early December. I might ear mark some of my supposed tax return so the cubs and I can go and see it.


~=o>

Nothing odd about the juxtapositioning of these products on the supermarket shelf...

Forecast: 7-17
Attained: 9-15

First day of holidays:

• Did some washing
• Picked up parcels from the post office
• Shopped
• Read some books (finished Behemoth,* got half way through First Born **)
• Napped  

Excellent. : )

(* Fabulous AU/Steampunk series from Scott Westerfield. Third book has just been released and all being well I should be able to get it this pay day!
** One of the three official prequel novels for Torchwood: Miracle Day. The thing I keep forgetting about the official TW novels is that they aren't, essentially, fanfic so I'm always vaguely disappointed by the lack of smut. : )


~=o>


Parcels I picked up today contained books! One of which was One hundred books in Haiku (David Bader, 2010). I knew it was going to be amusing, but damn. First one in and I couldn't read any more because laughing hurt too much!

The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer

Pilgrimmes on spryng braecke -
roadde trippe! Whoe farrtted? Yiuw didde.
Noe, naught meae. Yaes, yiuw.

I shall read this one slowly, methinks...  : )

Forecast: 11-17
Attained: 11-16

Yay, me, I made it through to the end of a long(er) work week, despite being ill.

When I got home tonight I changed out of my work clothes, as per usual, and I was just about to bustle out to the kitchen to do something constructive when I couldn't help noticing just how inviting my bed looked. :) Well, no harm in a nap - thought I - there's absolutely nothing I have to do right now...
So I curled up quite happily for a couple of hours. Felt much better when I woke up, though of course, it's now almost 1.30 a.m. and I'm not sleepy yet.

I consider myself on holidays now even though I do have to go in for one day next week. Iz good. :)

~=o>

[enchanted] I've just watched an episode from Lost Gardens (oooh, the series is on dvd! Excellent, that's going on my list of do wants) and I'm squeeing over the wee little bridge over the moat...
(screendumps from iview:)

Eeeee!
Unfortunately, water features - let alone full-blown moats - are not terribly practical in Aus but a bridge over a symbolic representation of water, like flowers, or decorative gravel, could be gorgeous! All I need now is a garden of my own. :)

Forecast: 12-25
Attained: 13-25

Decal spotted on the rear window of a young guy's car:

"If it's too loud
your too old."

>:(
That's the actual spelling. He'd bought the decal ready made or had it designed, either way, did he never notice the mistake? I wonder if he gets pulled up on it?

~=o>

I like the Foo Fighters, not least because they will not tolerate bigotry.
This is something they put together when "... On Aug. 30th, 2011 Westboro Baptist Church called for a picket of the Foo Fighters show in Kansas City..." (lifted from the YouTube intro blurb.)

Go, Fooies! :)





And now something else they did, in the same vein, to just rub it all in... [smirk] You'll see what I mean.
Warning: naked bums!

(Ah, this is the uncensored, age-restricted version so you might not be able to watch it unless you're signed in to the toobs. I'll pop the censored version underneath that, just in case...)






Still giggling... :)

Forecast: 9-21
Attained: 10-20

I am so tired of decent food. I want chips, with salt, and a fatty steak, with salt, and mushrooms and garlic fried in real butter, with salt. It'd probly make me sick but I can dream... :)

~=o>

I've worked an extra day this week - yay, cash! - but now it feels like tomorrow's Friday instead of Thursday.
Only two more days then I'm on hols! Sort of. I'll be doing an extra day again on Tuesday but the rest of the week is mine, all mine! Mwahahah...!

~=o>

Wow, Nirvana's Nevermind was released twenty years ago today. Fantastic album: one of my favourites. I'd heard it on an independant radio station down here and was really impressed. Impressed enough to not only go out and buy the album but pay full price for it. [solemn nod] Yes, I thought it was that good...

Forecast: 11-17
Attained: 11-16

... when was 'Talk like a pirate' day?


~=o>

[snerk]

"You have millions of transactions flowing in the health-care system and this is an opportunity to mess them all up..."

Ooh, yeah, you don't have to be a genius to see the potential for amusing mistakes with this new system... Let alone ask '...Why?'

Forecast: 11-29
Attained: 10-28

28. Hmph. Wasn't sure if I was sweating because it was hot or I was feverish.
Heh, it's raining now though and s'posed to be cooler tomorrow, hoorah.

~=o>

Inside my locker at work...

[snigger]

Forecast: 12-21
Attained: 12-19

Bloody hell. The cold I thought I got off lightly from is back. That or it's another strain. No sore throat/runny nose this time, just straight to the chest. [grump] I hate coughing...
On the plus side: one week 'til hols! Hopefully I'll be over it by then and can have some fun rather than sleeping.

~=o>

I'm rewatching TW4 - one good thing about buying from eyetoons - and it's not as bad as I remember. I think I was too impatient to find out what was going to happen and resented having to wait for the next ep.
Rex is still a dick.

~=o>

WTF? Forecast for tomorrow is 29! Screw that shit! >:(

Forecast: 10-25
Attained: 8-25

Egad, 25 degrees? No wonder the washing dried so quickly...

~=o>

Spot the difference!

Before:

After:

I sorted out the pantry! There's room in there now! :)

[edit: oh for... >:( I really couldn't be arsed trying to fiddle with Blogger's screwy pic/text spacing. Will just have to remember to upload from flickr instead of using the 'insert image' function.]

Forecast: 10-22
Attained: 10-21

Wow, a year already.
Miss you, Mum...

Forecast: 7-19
Attained: 6-16

Cat was looking very pleased with herself last night and by the time I'd worked out she was missing her collar it was too dark to go looking for it. I tracked it down this morning, though, underneath the washing line. It'd snapped but her tag was still there so at least I didn't have to get another one of those.
I bought her a new collar tonight: lime green, with diamantes! And a merry, tinkling bell... which is driving her nuts. I give that a week before it disappears. :)

~=o>

VortexCub has been growing his hair for a while now. It's down past his shoulders, lovely and thick, but he'd developed a nasty birdnest at the back - a result of not brushing and just bundling it all back with a hair tie. So I sat him down tonight and brushed out the mess for him. He was good, lots of flinching - anyone who's had to get rid of knots knows it hurts - but he sat still and let me finish. It didn't take that long and I advised him to brush his hair morning and night, and use conditioner. That should help...

Forecast: 11-17
Attained: 12-18

Ahaha! Leaving work tonight the car park boom gate was stuck open, so I didn't have to pay! A little moment of win to end the day. :)

~=o>

[guffawing!]
Brilliant...



"Cyborg...?"
Thank you, Shaun Micallef, thank you...

Forecast: 7-19
Attained: 11-19

Kewl!
Now that's an awesome kittypalace! (click on pic for link)

Forecast: 6-17
Attained: 10-14

Tried a new flavour of skoosh today: grapefruit. Iz verra niace! Limited edition, apparently; I'll pick up another bottle soonish.

~=o>

I've unearthed some of my ballet exam certificates, and comments sheets, from 25+ years back. Wow. You know, I'd forgotten I'd failed my teacher's exam the first time 'round. I was probably devastated about it at the time, but reading the examiner's comments... yes, there were valid reasons for failing. But, I took the exam again the following year and got a credit so I obviously benefited from the extra study. :)

~=o>

The Gruen Transfer is a panel show here about the how's and why's of ad-making. Each week they have a segment called 'The Pitch', where a pair of ad companies compete to 'sell the unsellable', like child-labour, discouraging tourists, eating whales. Some of the results have been disturbing, some hysterical and some that have almost had me convinced that the idea is a good one. Last week's theme was 'banning all religion'.



Interesting. Very interesting...

Forecast: 10-15
Attained: 8-15

Hm, ok, TW4. The last two eps were engaging but I think the whole thing could've been done in 6 or 7 eps. It dragged a bit there in the middle...

~=o>

The rainbow folders of organisedness. :)

These are the third level of archiving, ie: that which is being kept but isn't needed to hand, like bills from previous houses. This lot will probably, eventually, be archived digitally but for now can go in to the shed.
Second level will be that which encompasses old and new but may need to be handy for reference purposes, ie: cubs' school reports, medical stuff. That can stay in the house but can be tucked away somewhere unobtrusive.
First level of archiving is basically the 'working' paperwork from the current financial year. That'll be kept handy, will take up the least space, and most of it will siphoned off to second or third level at the end of the year.
There's still more to sort properly but the bulk of the twenty years of paperwork is under control now. Mwahahah

Forecast: 9-15
Attained: 9-16

What did I do today? Surprisingly, I resisted napping in favour of doing the washing up while listening to a Torchwood audiobook (Department X, not bad...) then settled down to several eps of season 4 Dr Who while sorting out paperwork.
Excellent season with some great writing, and Donna as my favourite companion. The double eps in The Library are fantastic, and wow, I'd forgotten what happened to River Song the first time we meet her...

~=o>

Two yootoobs things. The first a criticism of FaceBook, the second, a reply. Both quite thought provoking.

Forecast: 8-13
Attained: 8-15

Well, we've had some lovely, sunny days, but the weather's snapped back to winter. Not a bad thing, really, considering it's winter.

Hee, in the mornings the radio station I listen to (triple J!) announces the weather forecast for the capital cities around the country after the news. At 7:30 Melbourne was forecast 'possible showers and 16...'. This made me snort as it was pissing down with squally rain at the time, so I texted the station and said as much. After the 8am news the presenter said: "Melbourne, were it's raining hard...16." I giggled.

~=o>

Gratuitous pussy shot...

[snerk]

Forecast: 5-17
Attained: 5-16

Woohoo, fingers crossed I might be picking up a few days extra at work! Temporarily at least. Now, I shall make a list of indulgent things to splurge the extra cash on, like food that isn't just essential : )

~=o>

The boss sent around today copies of the incident reporting policies we're sposed to be getting to grips with. Oh good gods, instasnooze! I couldn't read more than a paragraph at a time before I found myself falling sideways in my chair cos I'd nodded off.

~=o>

Hee...

(Nicked from somewhere on the 'net. Click on the pic for biiig image.)
Going to have to reread the book before seeing the movie, obviously...

Forecast: 7-16
Attained: 7-15

The year moves on, the days lengthen, and I don't have to switch the lights on while getting ready for work in the morning...

~=o>

By chance I listened to a voice message I'd left for one of my colleagues last week. To me my voice always sounds a bit shrill but apparently it's sort of soft and gentle.

~=o>

I don't like robots but at 0:37(ish) I was convulsing with laughter... (not to mention 1:40 and 1:54 : )

Forecast: 12-17
Attained: 14-17

Well, I finally managed to not put off clothes shopping again today and akshully visited a shop. Still didn't find any work clothes but did pick up a couple of new t-shirts and summer-weight trousers at reasonable prices. Hopefully my work stuff will last another week or so. [touch wood]
Hm, wonder if there's any dressmakers/tailors nearby...?

~=o>

[giggling]



"Meeeeeeeeeeee...!"

Forecast: 9-21
Attained: 9-21

Woohoo, we haz skoosh again! Cubs are happy. :)
That's about it really...

~=o>

Hedgehogs! As made by VortexCub a few days ago...

Mmmm... meaty...

Forecast: 15-20
Attained: 18-20

Yay, my local supermarket supplies refill canisters for the sodastream! Excellent, I shall pick one up tomorrow. We've gone without the - as Joules call it - skoosh for quite a while cos I wasn't able to find a local supplier and I don't have a credit card so I couldn't order online.

~=o>

Father's day, and the cubs and I went to their dad's for dinner. We brought dessert and presents. :)

~=o>

Torchwood season 4.
So. Episode 9 of 10 and it's finally exciting. One ep to go and I can't help feeling that'll it'll be rushed and not terribly satisfactory...

Forecast: 13-22
Attained: 11-22

Yes! Got the shed organised!

(This is the 'before' photo...)



(Photo set on Flickr... Click on pic.)

It took at least 2 hours - I think, I wasn't paying that much attention to the time. Looking at the before/after pics it honestly doesn't look that much different. But I know better.
I got rid of some rubbish and reorganised a bit: the picnic and xmas stuff are now all in the one spot and within reach. Sort of. The xmas stuff is accessible by dismantling part of the chaos corner, but that's better than having to eviscerate the entire shed just to get to those particular boxes! : )
I have 38 tubs of assorted materials/wool/wadding/toy fill, and I'm almost certain there's more material lurking underneath Soulsis' house. I really, really do need to do a proper sort of that lot...

~=o>

After all that hard work I was too tired to do much else than veg on the couch. The dvd of Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift was nicely brainless.
Not especially engaging, though there were some pretty cars and some amazing driving, and the ending was cute. Oh, and slash. Well, I could see it and in light of that there was a line at the end of the movie ("I didn't know he was in to American muscle...") that had me rolling around laughing. : )

Forecast: 6-20
Attained: 9-21

I met the cubs at their dad's place after work tonight. VortexCub cooked, practising a recipe he'll be using in his major Food Tech assignment later this term: hedgehogs.
Mmm, spikey... : )
Not real hedgehogs, of course. They're not native here and so would be stupidly expensive. No, these were made using a medieval recipe of spiced minced meat stuck all over with slivered almonds for the pointy bits. Quite tasty, very easy to make, and quick to cook. Cub was duly praised for his efforts. (I have pics, but they're on the phone, which is in the other room, and I can't move cos I have a cat on my lap...)


~=o>

Inbetween work and dinner I dropped in to the local branch of a craft emporium. I picked up things, interesting things. I have plans...


~=o>

Well, saturday at least is forecast clear. That will probly be a good time to start on the shed.

Meringue duck. Just because.

I really must get back to that bakery some time...

Forecast: 9-17
Attained: 10-16

I had to do a little bit of shopping on the way home from work tonight so I decided to pop in to the new supermarket that had opened nearby. This was a mistake:

• New supermarket - didn't know where anything was so it took longer to find stuff.
• New supermarket - with twice the floorspace of my regular supermarket. It takes time walking up and down the aisles...
• New supermarket - opening day and it was teeming with people looking for bargains.
• Let's not mention the parking.

 So, despite the fact I'd been working at the campus that's nice and close to home, I got home later than I usually do.


~=o>

Oi, cat! I was emptying that box!

Honestly, I turn my back for ten seconds...  : )