Forecast: 10-16
Attained: 10-16

Owowow. Since yesterday I've been experiencing cramps in my ribs, of all places. Really annoying cos unlike leg cramps, which I can walk out, there's no stretching, no particular position that eases the owie. I just have to keep moving, swear a lot, and wait for it to pass. Fortunately they don't happen all that often. Not sure what set them off this time but I probably sat too still in one position for too long and let myself get cold. Tch.

~=o>

Staff meeting today but with more than half the staff away on leave there was only three of us. I volunteered to take the minutes and then, because the boss was going on leave tomorrow, I akshully managed to get the minutes written up and off to her for checking a couple of hours after the meeting instead of days later, as is usual. Go me. :) I don't like doing the minutes, I always feel I'm floundering and leaving vital stuff out. This time wasn't too bad, however, partly I'm sure because I got on to it straight away rather than procrastinating and avoiding, but also because, with such a small number of participants I wasn't scrambling to note down what everyone said!

~=o>

Pasta for lunch. Can you spot the dinosaurs?

Forecast: 7-16
Attained: 8-15

While idly google imaging tonight I came across pics taken by someone on their journeys to find 'caches'. Curious, I googled 'cache hunting' and discovered this:

Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.

Kinda looks like fun. Gets you out of the house... :)

~=o>

Awesome! There's a second series of 'Sherlock' under way! I shall look forward to that.

Forecast: 11-17
Attained: 12-16

Heh, cubs enjoyed their all-night laser tag happy fun time. :) They got in about 5, apparently, but I knew nothing about it, being asleep. Got them up around midday anyway so they have a chance of getting some sleep tonight. It's back to school tomorrow for them.

~=o>

Caught the last ep of Dr Who series 6. I quite liked it! I even liked Amy a bit, not something that's happened much over this past 2 series, though I continue to be awfully fond of Rory.
I'd like to watch the 11th Doctor's series over again. Haven't been overly impressed with the writing though the past few eps have been very engaging.

~=o>

Tch, not sure about this working an extra day. I've only got tomorrow off to do stuff, rather than two days, then it's back to work. Eh well, can't complain about the extra cash...

Forecast (yesterday): 13-19
Attained: 13-20

Forecast (today): 12-20
Attained: 13-19

So, I work a 4 day week and I'm shattered. No stamina, clearly. :)
Well, I've got a few more weeks of this. I'm sure I'll manage.

~=o>

Bwhahahahaha!



~=o>

Cubs will be going to a midnight-dawn laser tag session tonight. [g] Not sure that's such a good idea the weekend before going back to school.

Forecast: 13-20
Attained: 15-20

I really don't understand how daylight savings works. How come, when we put the hour forward, it's darker in the morning and lighter in the evening? Shouldn't that be the other way 'round? I'z confused...

~=o>

Spring, an' stuff!
Outside of work today: suddenly, purple flowers!

I love this Aus native plant. (Not sure what it is: olearia phlogopappa, perhaps? Not quite a brachycome?) We used to have one on the patio of a previous rental place. Fabulous spill of purple for months at a time.

And spotted in the carpark this morning.
These unprepossessing flowers of the port wine magnolia have the loveliest, sweetest scent that releases in the late afternoon. I was definitely looking forward to sticking my nose in there after work! Mmmm...

(Hee, Blogger is telling me I've used 8mg of the 1gb space allocated to me for pics. [snerk] Not trying hard enough, clearly...)

Forecast: 12-22
Attained: 11-22

Made myself a sort of stir-fry tonight for din-dins and tried some 'winter salad' of spinach and kale mixed through it. Nice thought but the spinach reacted to the heat much faster than the kale, already going slimy before it's hardier companion had even warmed through! (Was still nommy though. Forgot how much I like kale...)

And I tried a grapefruit/cola skoosh mix. Yum! The grapefruit lightened the almost cloying sweetness of the cola, while the cola countered the bitterness of the grapefruit just enough. Will definitely be having more of that.

~=o>

Elbow - Grounds for Divorce.

Feckin' fabulous song! I will be always grateful to my niece for introducing me to this band. :)

Forecast: 8-22
Attained: 7-22

I'm going to a work-related conference in a couple of weeks. I feel a bit like a grown-up. :)

~=o>

Dinner: frittata (of sorts). Zucchini, garlic & tomato.

Splort!
I can never transfer things prettily from frying pan to plate. Was tasty, though..

Forecast: 6-20
Attained: 6-19

Well, back to work tomorrow. I did manage to tick off a couple of things on my 'happy holiday fun time wish/to do list' but for the most part my down-time consisted of a lot of very relaxing nothing. :) Of course, I was poorly for a goodly part of it so couldn't have done much of anything anyway, but I don't feel the time has been wasted.

~=o>

This is a wonderful news article about mysterious paper sculptures being discovered around Edinburgh this year.

(Photo by chrisdonia, nicked from their flickr feed.)

Forecast: 8-18
Attained: 9-17

Eee, I'm quite excited about this!
The Wiggles have been around for twenty years now and there's a tribute album coming out next month!
The cubs grew out of the Wiggles about ten years ago but I've still got a soft spot for those Wiggly dudes.

I couldn't find the clip I wanted of my absolute favourite Wiggles song, "I am a dancer" ([snerk] blokes in blunnies doing ballet) but this is my second favourite song. I still know all the moves!



~=o>

One more day of holidays. I shall probly spend it napping... :)

[edit: in reference to yesterday's post about extra sleep. 'Twas not so, alas. An hour forward means an hours less sleep. Tch, have never been able to get the hang of daylight saving...]

Forecast: 10-15
Attained: 9-14

Was a bit chilly today, chilly and rainy. There's still stuff in the washing machine from yesterday, which will have to be washed again before I can hopefully hang it out tomorrow.

~=o>

... Does the hour go forward tonight? Better check...

Yes, it does. Woohoo, an extra hour to sleep!

~=o>

Avalanches: "Since I left you"
Awww... This clip always makes me sooky. :)



~=o>

Dang. Might have to sacrifice a chunk of my tax refund - still assuming I get some - to the gods of dental work. [grump] Would rather have a lap-top...

~=o>

Bwhaahaha!
Lifted from the 'Coming Soon' section at Hoyts.com.au:

33D Invader
Director: Cash Chin
Akiho Yoshizawa and Macy Wu

A beautiful woman from the future by time machine came to 2011, looking for what she needs to perfect genes.From 2046 years of future alien (Kato Taka) know the same beautiful girl from the future WuQing sunny to earth looking for good man away from the earth, and he immediately to stop, and the earth in a relationship, all women are supposed to his claws.

Um, what...?

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...