Forecast: 15-29
Attained: 15-25

I napped this afternoon and dreamt that Mum had come 'round for a visit. Was surprised to see her, but very glad, and not a little flustered. I called the cubs in to say hello, but they couldn't see her.
(There was also wet/drowned kittens and a flooded garage but I'm pretty sure that was due to something I've seen in the past day or so. Not sure where the seamen's hostel came in to it though...)

~=o>

I've crossed another thing and a half off the list today, in the course of which I further winnowed some bakeware. At the first sort through months ago, I'd got rid of most of the baking tins that were surplus and/or rusty, but I'd kept some of the less common shapes and forms. These were stored in two tubs under the kitchen table. (This is in addition to the frequently used stuff that fills a cupboard.) Anyway, this time I got tough with myself and got rid of basically a tub's worth. I've still got a tub of exotic forms left, but that's now sitting out in the shed. :) I might set myself the task of going through the drawers and drawers of kitchen gadgets next. Eh, I'll add it to the list.

~=o>

From Penny.
It's very funny. I giggled.


Rethink Breast Cancer offers this handy way to remind yourself about breast cancer checks.

Couldn't embed, so here's a screen grab.

Forecast: 13-23
Attained: 15-24

I made an optimistic list yesterday of things I should/could achieve this weekend. So far I've crossed off four items! I've tidied, and swept, and put stuff away. Didn't go so far as washing floors but soon, precious, soon...

One of my achievements was cleaning the 'fridge. I really like this 'fridge. It was Mum's, not very old, and started clean, unlike the last 'fridge which was already grubby and rusty and yuck when we got it. The seals were non-existent so mould grew freely everywhere. [shudder] The cubs' father offered it to me when I was moving last year (this was before I inherited all of Mum's good stuff) and I was very emphatic in saying 'no'. Would rather have gone shopping every day for fresh food instead of having to deal with that grotty thing.

The inside of my lovely 'fridge is now gleaming. I did consider cleaning the outside as well, but that would've meant taking off all the fridge magnets. I settled instead for just swabbing at the particularly noticeable smudges between the magnets. Not that there were many anyway. :)

~=o>

Memories are interesting things. Have you ever found yourself re-examining a memory cos you're not quite sure about it any more? Had you always remembered this event this way or had it changed somehow...?
What if... what if it wasn't you misremembering, but the memory had changed because your time-line had been changed...?

I probably shouldn't think too deeply on that just I'll just give myself the creeping horrors and won't be able to sleep. :)

~=o>

This is pretty darn kewl.

CSI: Season 10, ep. 1 slow-mo clip.

Forecast: 11-24
Attained: 12-23

So that was season 9 CSI, was it...?
I liked it! I miss those that have left but Ray's fabulous! :) I like that he gets on with everyone, even Hodges.
Dagnabbit, want season 10 now.

~=o>

Blimey, only 6 weeks 'til the end of year. Only 6 weeks 'til my next lot of time off, woohoo!

~=o>

[idiot grin...]



see more Set Phasers To Lol

Forecast: 14-23
Attained: 15-22

...
Hm.
This appears to be another one of those times when I think I have something to say, but it turns out I don't...

~=o>

This is going back a bit.
The cubs in 2008 at the Melbourne Aquarium (posted with permission. The cubs' permission, not the Aquarium's).
Not the clearest pic evah, but you can definitely see the 'twin' effect here. [g] In fact, looking at the pic just now neither the cubs nor I could immediately tell who was who! Consensus was that it was Vortex!Cub with the octopus...

Forecast: 19-26
Attained: 21-28

Victoria, and Melbourne, had storm and flood warnings today with the 'danger zone' between 5-9pm this evening. It had rained in the morning, but as the sun was shining for most of the day I didn't think the storms would appear.
But, the window in my office only faces northish while the storm front was coming in from the west - which I discovered after leaving work. :) Amazing cloud formations...
We did get some heavy rain and a bit of thunder and lightning, but the worst of it apparently passed us by. Cubs' father - who lives about 15 kliks from us - dropped by tonight with tales of lashing rain and windows cracked by hail. Kind of glad we missed it, in that case.

~=o>

Kittenkong, happy on her carpet...

Forecast: 17-26
Attained: 18-26

Hee, there was a storm early this morning but all the lightning had finished by the time I was heading out to work...

~=o>

Spotted on the front cover of a recent issue of BMJ. Why did this make me snerk?

Because I read the last two points as one.

[snerk]
There's a reason young robots' parents don't want them to go on the stage.

Forecast: 15-25
Attained: 15-28

(Tomorrow's forecast reads 'Morning rain then showers...'
Yes, I know they're two different types of precipitation but the apparent redundancy made me laugh...:)

~=o>

Kittenkong didn't turn up for breakfast this morning: it's ok, she's back now. It's not unusual for her to disappear for a day or so but I always worry when she does.
Last night there was a kerfuffle outside my bedroom window - sounded like a running battle with a possum - I suspect that had something to do with it. There were no bodies this morning, however, and no suspicious clumps of bloodied fur (too much CSI?), so I just had to wait for KK to come back.
As the car pulled in to the drive this afternoon my errant kitteh appeared from the neighbour's garden. Very happy to have her back, but I wonder if she's found herself a hidey-hole next door. Their yard is secure, our's isn't, she may just feel safer there when threatened.
That, or they're feeding her. She wasn't hungry when she came back... But then, she could be nicking someone else's food.
So many questions, such a lack of cooperation when I question her...

~=o>

Yay, found another supplier for skoosh canisters! Happy now. :)

Forecast: 19-32
Attained: 19-26

It didn't quite get to the expected top temperature today. Phew...

Kittenkong loves the new carpet. She's slept there exclusively since it went down. :)

[snerk]
The Dalek in the poke bonnet makes me giggle...

Forecast: 12-30
Attained: 10-30

Yay, it's been released! I have requested this from the cubs for xmas... :)
I've listened to previews of the tracks on ayetoons. Awesome sauce!

~=o>

Finally got the new rug down in the loungeroom. It's not perfectly situated, but I can reposition it when I've done some more tidying. At least now I don't have to worry about any more damage to the cheaparse floor finish. (I mean, seriously, soft wood for polished floor boards? Even I know better than that...)

~=o>

Finished watching season 8 of CSI. Hm. After a particularly emotional series of eps in the middle, I think they went a bit overboard in the counteractive light-heartedness towards the end and it all got a bit jump sharkey. But, as I discovered watching the extra bits, this season fell in the middle of the writers' strike so a little weirdness was sort of explainable. And season 9 is shaping up quite nicely, too, so I'm not complaining.


[snicker]
Thank you, Joules, for the mp3 of this.

Cameo - Word Up



(Why, Geordie, what big eyes you've got...!)

Forecast: 11-22
Attained: 13-20

Dagnabbit, the supermarket still doesn't have replacement skoosh cylinders in stock yet. [grumble] I am put out, I am.

~=o>

Quote from Jack London.

'You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.'

[snerk] And sometimes you can set a trap for it. You know, dig a big ol' hole along its regular path, cover the pit with twigs and leaves and jes' wait...

... good grief, my inner voice sounded just like Nick Stokes then!

Deliriously tired? Me...?

Forecast: 11-18
Attained: 11-18 (Spot on!)

Today I managed to give myself a paper cut on my nose. o.O
Really made my eyes water...

~=o>

Hippotherapy. Not, as one might assume, therapy performed with/on hippos.

Forecast: 13-16
Attained: 13-15

...
Nope. Can't remember what I was going to say.
Have a video instead.

Dr Who - Cast & Crew Special.



(Eeee, Jack!)

Forecast: 12-19
Attained: 12-17

Verrrry quiet day off today. I did intend to get back to tidying/sorting but didn't quite manage anything more than relocating a couple of piles of stuff. Not putting the bits away just... moving them. :)

~=o>

Some of my latest lot of plastic horsies, hee. :)
That's a pinto mare, a Knabstrupper stallion and an Akhal Teke stallion.
I now have all but one of the Schleich horses. Oh noes, I'll have to start collecting the dinosaurs or something!

Forecast: 9-20
Attained: 11-16

Tomorrow, (today, rather, it's gone midnight) is Cup Day. Cubs have a day off, as do I, which wouldn't really be that big a thing as I normally don't work Mondays & Tuesdays anyway, but as my Tuesdays have been work-filled these past few weeks, getting a four day weekend is cause for celebration. :)
I shall be sleeping in...

~=o>

(Spotted on the home page of the National Gallery of Australia. Detail of Giovanni Battista Moroni's Portrait of a child of House of Redetti, c. 1570. Amazing detail, astonishing eyes...)

Forecast: 12-17
Attained: 11-17

This time last year I was in Canberra on a Lib Studies trip, being a volatile bundle of differing emotions but having a good time for all that. :) Despite having wanted to go on one of these trips for years, I almost didn't go. I was only 3 weeks in at the new house, still grieving deeply for Mum and still working through the torturous process of settling her estate. Good times, good times. [mild sarcasm]
However, doing a roadtrip to somewhere completely different for a few days was just what I needed. I'm very glad I went, if only to realise that for the first time in years I was truly happy to come home. I certainly hadn't felt that way about the old place for a long, long while...

Some of my fav pics from the trip:


The foyer of the Pavilion Hotel (our group's accomodation). Real greenery, and the roof was canvas. Loved it!

"Still life with toilet paper..."
Inside the loos at the National Film and Sound Archive. Gorgeous Deco building.

Diamonds, by Neil Dawson. Awesome suspended statue outside the National Gallery of Australia.

Notice about not feeding the birds at the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

The library holy of holies, National Library of Australia [angelic choir], as viewed from inside a sculpture based on a bower bird's bower.

Detail of Leonard French's stained glass windows at the National Library of Australia.

T'riffic weekend. We packed in so much...! :)

Forecast: 16-21
Attained: 15-23

What? My angel, KittenKong? Nah... :)



~=o>

Stop motion animation isn't new in music clips but this one is fun. Filmed in one night, apparently. It looks exhausting! :)

Mutemath - Blood Pressure



~=o>

I was going to have a mini-rant about how I feel about Halloween in Oz, but I really can't be arsed, except to say: do not want.

Forecast: 16-27
Attained: 18-26

Drama!

Aww, look, a mummy duck and her babies...
Wait, there's only four ducklings! Where's the fifth?

Oh noes! The lost duckling is lost in a drain! Who will rescue the poor creature...?

She will! Yaaaaay, mystery rescuer...!

And a lap of honour for the spectators gathered to witness this heartwarming story unfold!

But srsly, was a very cute duckling :)

Forecast: 11-25
Attained: 12-26

Whoa, so very tired...
Cubs' father came back from o/s lateish last night. Cubs and I met him at the airport and gave him a lift home, problem was, we didn't get home 'til gone midnight.
Add to that another bad night for sleeping (no idea what's going on) and I spent most of the day trying not to nod off. Fortunately I was out at one of the quieter campuses so me almost falling off my chair wasn't quite so noticeable. :)

Bit of excitement there, though, a duckling got stuck in the drain in the fishpond! It was rescued, and I have pics, but I can't download them yet cos I need to steal back the camera/'puter cord the cubs nicked. (We did have 2 of the cords but one's gone mysteriously missing. Or missing mysteriously. Whichever.)

[yawn] Bedtime, methinks....

Forecast: 9-22
Attained: 10-20

Remember how I get very self-congratulatory a few days ago cos I'd put together a spread sheet for quarterly calculations...?

What's wrong with this picture?

Yes, indeed, in my world a year is 16 months long... :)

Forecast: 11-19
Attained: 11-18

Joules has been forwarding selected Transformer fics to me to read. Not one of my preferred fandoms, admittedly, but there's some engaging stuff. However there's one thing common to all these fics that makes me giggle: the exclamation (groan/cry etc.) of 'Primus'.

This is what I think of when I see Primus:

A Primus stove (image nicked from the Wikipedia entry, naturally.)
Ah, so many happy camping memories... :)

~=o>

And now, apropos of nothing, this is a neat costume.
Mmmm, swishy!

(Imaged begged from Penny, who found it while researching costumes for the Scottish Play...)