For some time now, I've been thinking about moving this blog over to WordPress. After much sighing and many dramatic gestures, I've finally done it. The photo blog and this everyday blog have been combined and moved to here.
Could my loyal readers please update your links to the new blog? Thanks ever so much.
May Contain Traces of Nuts is where it's all happening these days.
Mellow Yellow Monday
Monday, October 5, 2009
It's been a while since I participated in Mellow Yellow Monday, mostly because I'd run out of yellow photos. But the boy bought these for me on the weekend, so here I am.
See more Mellow Yellow participants here:
By the way, I think I might keep him. He does good.
Book Review
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
As mentioned on the weekend, I bought a stack of books to read (and one cookbook). The book I chose to read first was The Time Traveler's Wife (is it just me or do they spell Traveller wrong in America? Anyway...).
So I started reading it Sunday night, read a bit more Monday night, then Tuesday night, then I finished it this evening.
Mind you, last night I was accused of not reading fast enough. Didn't know I was on a schedule. I was told that I wasn't reading as fast as usual, and that he watches how fast I am reading. I didn't know reading was a spectator sport!
Back to the book. I liked it, the concept was unusual which is always a nice change, but I have to say I did not like the ending. I know I know, it shouldn't always be sweetness and light but dammit! I read to be entertained and I want to be happy when I'm done. Actually, the ending kind of ruined the book for me.
I will say I could totally picture Eric Bana as Henry, and I think he will be very good in the movie, but I won't be going to see it.
So should you read it? Yes... probably.
So I started reading it Sunday night, read a bit more Monday night, then Tuesday night, then I finished it this evening.Mind you, last night I was accused of not reading fast enough. Didn't know I was on a schedule. I was told that I wasn't reading as fast as usual, and that he watches how fast I am reading. I didn't know reading was a spectator sport!
Back to the book. I liked it, the concept was unusual which is always a nice change, but I have to say I did not like the ending. I know I know, it shouldn't always be sweetness and light but dammit! I read to be entertained and I want to be happy when I'm done. Actually, the ending kind of ruined the book for me.
I will say I could totally picture Eric Bana as Henry, and I think he will be very good in the movie, but I won't be going to see it.
So should you read it? Yes... probably.
What I'm reading
Saturday, September 26, 2009
I decided to go book shopping today, instead of looking for some new shoes. I know, outrageous, right?
I bet you also thought that I would read really highbrow books, full of interesting facts and of great literary significance.
Wrong. I loves me some trashy novels. It's cold and wet outside and I can't think of anything better to do than read an entertaining book, whilst eating chocolate.
Oh, and I bought a cook book. Because I also loves me some cook books. If they weren't so expensive and didn't take up so much room, I'd buy new ones every week. Actually, it's more about the room a cook book takes up that prevents me from buying them. And I know, you all are "but you can download recipes from the interweb", but I love to have the actual book with a proper picture in front of me, so I can see what my culinary masterpiece is meant to look like at the end. I hate cook books with few or no pictures. I got Larousse Gastronomique for christmas last year, and although I am sure there are thousands of excellent recipes in it, I have no idea what they're meant to look like so I haven't used it at all.
Thanks to Karen over at Miscellaneous Mum for the book idea.
p.s. Deb if I don't like the Time Traveller's Wife you're in big trouble!
I bet you also thought that I would read really highbrow books, full of interesting facts and of great literary significance.
Wrong. I loves me some trashy novels. It's cold and wet outside and I can't think of anything better to do than read an entertaining book, whilst eating chocolate.
Oh, and I bought a cook book. Because I also loves me some cook books. If they weren't so expensive and didn't take up so much room, I'd buy new ones every week. Actually, it's more about the room a cook book takes up that prevents me from buying them. And I know, you all are "but you can download recipes from the interweb", but I love to have the actual book with a proper picture in front of me, so I can see what my culinary masterpiece is meant to look like at the end. I hate cook books with few or no pictures. I got Larousse Gastronomique for christmas last year, and although I am sure there are thousands of excellent recipes in it, I have no idea what they're meant to look like so I haven't used it at all.
Thanks to Karen over at Miscellaneous Mum for the book idea.
p.s. Deb if I don't like the Time Traveller's Wife you're in big trouble!
Weekend Report
Sunday, September 20, 2009
It's been a relatively quiet weekend. Yesterday we did not much during the day, although we went to the garden centre late afternoon and bought Huffle her new parsley pot. Actually we bought three pots and planted two of them with cat grass, catnip and cat mint. The other one has no plants in it so she can sit in it and not kill anything.
Then we decided to go to the movies. We saw the new Quentin Tarantino movie, Inglourious Basterds. It was a typical Tarantino movie, full of blood and violence, and a jumpy story, but I enjoyed it. Maybe it was a bit too long though, at just over two hours. I thought Brad Pitt was quite good as Lt Raine, but the boy did not like his character at all. I did like the fact that I recognised Harvey Keitel's voice in one scene (he has been in every single Tarantino film, as far as I know).
Today we went out for breakfast, that was a pleasant enough outing. I spent the afternoon planting out the companion parsley pots, then baked some brownies, then did the laundry, then the grocery shopping. Such excitement.
Oh I forgot to tell you about my Friday! I went to work as usual in the morning but the airconditioning vent above my desk was doing weird things and sounded like a jet engine was roaring above my head, so I came home again to do some work in peace. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but there is a very big mosque on the corner of the street I live in. Ramadan has been going for the past month, and every day at sundown approximately 1,563,289 muslims arrived to pray. Usually it doesn't bother us in the slightest.
Anyhow Friday is the big holy day for muslims and at lunchtime you cannot move in our street for all the cars and people. Again, not usually a problem because we're generally at work at lunchtime on Fridays. Except this week. Around 12.45pm, I heard a car pull up in our drive way. I decided it was way to early to expect the boy home, so I opened the front door to see who it was.
There was a car parked in our driveway. Not my car. Not the boy's car. Not the car of anyone I know. A random car. Tucked right in up against the garage door. What?
As I'm standing out the front, trying to work out what was going on, the annoying young man who lives across the street (he was out there smoking) told me he saw the driver run off into the mosque. So some random person thinks he can just park his car in MY driveway, assuming no-one is going to notice?
A couple of minutes later, the local council parking inspectors arrived. One side of our street is permit parking only, but some people attending the mosque don't seem to be too bothered by that fact. I called them over to ask if they could do anything about the strange car in my driveway. The more senior one called the office to see if there was any law that would allow them to at least give this person a ticket, if not get the car removed. Remember they were blocking the garage, so if I had some sort of emergency I would not have been able to get my car out.
Turns out the person was not breaking any council by-laws, which was a shame. The nice parking inspectors (bet you never thought you'd hear all those words in the same sentence) told me my only option would be to call the police, which I didn't want to do because it would be a waste of their time. By this time prayer time seemed to be over and people were coming out of the mosque. So I asked the inspectors to wait with me until the owner of the car showed up. With his two small children, both of whom tried to run across the garden (I told them off for that). When the man who owned the car showed up, I think he was a bit surprised to find me and two men in uniform standing in front of his car. Actually he looked petrified. I asked him if it was his car (yes) and then if it was his house (no). So then I asked who he thought he was to be parking in my driveway. His excuse was that it was his first time in this country and he didn't know.
Whatever country you're from, you do NOT park in someone else's driveway. That was the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard. I told him I wasn't interested in his excuses and if I ever saw his car in my driveway again I would call the police, and to get his car off my property now. No, don't talk to me, just get out of here. Now.
I was so angry I was shaking. But I didn't yell, and I didn't call him all the nasty names that were going around in my head. The parking inspectors told me I handled it very well. I thanked them for staying with me.
The nerve of some people!
(sorry this is such a long post)
Then we decided to go to the movies. We saw the new Quentin Tarantino movie, Inglourious Basterds. It was a typical Tarantino movie, full of blood and violence, and a jumpy story, but I enjoyed it. Maybe it was a bit too long though, at just over two hours. I thought Brad Pitt was quite good as Lt Raine, but the boy did not like his character at all. I did like the fact that I recognised Harvey Keitel's voice in one scene (he has been in every single Tarantino film, as far as I know).
Today we went out for breakfast, that was a pleasant enough outing. I spent the afternoon planting out the companion parsley pots, then baked some brownies, then did the laundry, then the grocery shopping. Such excitement.
Oh I forgot to tell you about my Friday! I went to work as usual in the morning but the airconditioning vent above my desk was doing weird things and sounded like a jet engine was roaring above my head, so I came home again to do some work in peace. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but there is a very big mosque on the corner of the street I live in. Ramadan has been going for the past month, and every day at sundown approximately 1,563,289 muslims arrived to pray. Usually it doesn't bother us in the slightest.
Anyhow Friday is the big holy day for muslims and at lunchtime you cannot move in our street for all the cars and people. Again, not usually a problem because we're generally at work at lunchtime on Fridays. Except this week. Around 12.45pm, I heard a car pull up in our drive way. I decided it was way to early to expect the boy home, so I opened the front door to see who it was.
There was a car parked in our driveway. Not my car. Not the boy's car. Not the car of anyone I know. A random car. Tucked right in up against the garage door. What?
As I'm standing out the front, trying to work out what was going on, the annoying young man who lives across the street (he was out there smoking) told me he saw the driver run off into the mosque. So some random person thinks he can just park his car in MY driveway, assuming no-one is going to notice?
A couple of minutes later, the local council parking inspectors arrived. One side of our street is permit parking only, but some people attending the mosque don't seem to be too bothered by that fact. I called them over to ask if they could do anything about the strange car in my driveway. The more senior one called the office to see if there was any law that would allow them to at least give this person a ticket, if not get the car removed. Remember they were blocking the garage, so if I had some sort of emergency I would not have been able to get my car out.
Turns out the person was not breaking any council by-laws, which was a shame. The nice parking inspectors (bet you never thought you'd hear all those words in the same sentence) told me my only option would be to call the police, which I didn't want to do because it would be a waste of their time. By this time prayer time seemed to be over and people were coming out of the mosque. So I asked the inspectors to wait with me until the owner of the car showed up. With his two small children, both of whom tried to run across the garden (I told them off for that). When the man who owned the car showed up, I think he was a bit surprised to find me and two men in uniform standing in front of his car. Actually he looked petrified. I asked him if it was his car (yes) and then if it was his house (no). So then I asked who he thought he was to be parking in my driveway. His excuse was that it was his first time in this country and he didn't know.
Whatever country you're from, you do NOT park in someone else's driveway. That was the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard. I told him I wasn't interested in his excuses and if I ever saw his car in my driveway again I would call the police, and to get his car off my property now. No, don't talk to me, just get out of here. Now.
I was so angry I was shaking. But I didn't yell, and I didn't call him all the nasty names that were going around in my head. The parking inspectors told me I handled it very well. I thanked them for staying with me.
The nerve of some people!
(sorry this is such a long post)
After the fires
Monday, September 14, 2009
Seven months ago, I blogged about the devastating bushfires that happened in Victoria. Since then, the people of Marysville and Kinglake (among other places) have been slowly rebuilding their lives. As I work for the government department responsible for protecting our natural environment, I was keen to see how the countryside was recovering from the fires.
So today I took a drive up to Marysville and Kinglake. It was a 320 kilometre, five-hour round trip. Here are some photos.
If you click on any of those photos you will be taken to my Flickr photostream where you can see more photos, and bigger versions.
So today I took a drive up to Marysville and Kinglake. It was a 320 kilometre, five-hour round trip. Here are some photos.
If you click on any of those photos you will be taken to my Flickr photostream where you can see more photos, and bigger versions.
A sporting post
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Normally I don't talk about sport here, mostly because I don't play a lot of sport any more and the football (AFL) club I support is one of those "love them or hate them" teams. However, it is finals season here in Melbourne and that means ALL talk is about the football.
Last night, I took my father to the Collingwood versus Adelaide semi final. A do-or-die game, if we lost we were out of the finals. And at half time, it looked like the Mighty Pies might be goners. Whatever the coach said to them at half time worked; as they staged a remarkable comeback and were ahead by five points when the final siren sounded.
It was wonderful. The end.
Last night, I took my father to the Collingwood versus Adelaide semi final. A do-or-die game, if we lost we were out of the finals. And at half time, it looked like the Mighty Pies might be goners. Whatever the coach said to them at half time worked; as they staged a remarkable comeback and were ahead by five points when the final siren sounded.It was wonderful. The end.
Kate Spade, she knows about shoes
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The wonderful Kate Spade made these shoes just for me! That's the way I like to think about it, anyway.
I was banned from buying shoes for a bit but I think the boy felt a bit sorry for me. Plus he spent too much money buying two new graphics cards for his computer so it was only fair that I bought some shoes too.
Food report
Last night, I went out for dinner. I know, on a Tuesday! Can you believe it? Anyway, one of these friends is moving to Perth this weekend, and this was our last chance to catch up before she left.
Three of us had arranged to meet at 6pm at Longrain. It's a Thai restaurant with a modern twist. Or something. I am allergic to peanuts so I try to avoid asian food as much as possible. The likelihood of asian food being cooked in peanut oil is too high for me to risk eating it. Clearly, I did NOT choose Longrain for dinner. But anyway.
I was a bit early, having spent the previous hour shoe shopping (more on that tomorrow). So I settled in at the bar with my vodka/lime/soda and played games on my iPhone for 15 minutes, waiting for the other two to arrive. Only I waited a lot longer than 15 minutes. It was more like half an hour. And I was not half an hour early. I was slightly annoyed by the time they showed up but I am nothing if not charitable and we were seated for dinner.
As previously mentioned, I am allergic to peanuts and sadly, 90% of the menu items had nuts in them. This left with me approximately three choices. I chose duck and sweet chili something-or-other. It was tasty but I had ignored the disclaimer in very small letters at the bottom of the menu which said that they could not guarantee that any dish would not contain traces of nuts. Wonderful. That explains the splitting headache I have this morning.
Oh and did you know that at Longrain, you can't have your own table? No, they believe in communal dining and made us share a table with another group of three. What a crock. If I don't know these people from a bar of soap what makes you think I would want to have dinner with them? It's selfish and lazy.
I will not be going back to Longrain.
Three of us had arranged to meet at 6pm at Longrain. It's a Thai restaurant with a modern twist. Or something. I am allergic to peanuts so I try to avoid asian food as much as possible. The likelihood of asian food being cooked in peanut oil is too high for me to risk eating it. Clearly, I did NOT choose Longrain for dinner. But anyway.
I was a bit early, having spent the previous hour shoe shopping (more on that tomorrow). So I settled in at the bar with my vodka/lime/soda and played games on my iPhone for 15 minutes, waiting for the other two to arrive. Only I waited a lot longer than 15 minutes. It was more like half an hour. And I was not half an hour early. I was slightly annoyed by the time they showed up but I am nothing if not charitable and we were seated for dinner.
As previously mentioned, I am allergic to peanuts and sadly, 90% of the menu items had nuts in them. This left with me approximately three choices. I chose duck and sweet chili something-or-other. It was tasty but I had ignored the disclaimer in very small letters at the bottom of the menu which said that they could not guarantee that any dish would not contain traces of nuts. Wonderful. That explains the splitting headache I have this morning.
Oh and did you know that at Longrain, you can't have your own table? No, they believe in communal dining and made us share a table with another group of three. What a crock. If I don't know these people from a bar of soap what makes you think I would want to have dinner with them? It's selfish and lazy.
I will not be going back to Longrain.
A book meme
I first saw this meme over at Miscellaneous Mum Karen's website, and as I haven’t done a meme in a while I thought I’d give it a go.
Apparently the BBC believe most people have read only six (any six, I think) of the 100 books on the list below.
- Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen -
- The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien - x
- Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte -
- Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - x
- To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - x
- The Bible - x
- Wuthering Heights -
- Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell - x
- His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman -
- Great Expectations - Charles Dickens -
- Little Women - Louisa M Alcott -
- Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy -
- Catch 22 - Joseph Heller - x
- Complete Works of Shakespeare -
- Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier -
- The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - x
- Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk -
- Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - x
- The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger -
- Middlemarch - George Eliot -
- Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - x
- The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - x
- Bleak House - Charles Dickens -
- War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy -
- The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - x
- Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky -
- Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck -
- Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - x
- The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - x
- Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy -
- David Copperfield - Charles Dickens -
- Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - x
- Emma - Jane Austen -
- Persuasion - Jane Austen - x
- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis - x
- The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini -
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres - x
- Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - x
- Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne -
- Animal Farm - George Orwell - x
- The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - x
- One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -
- A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving -
- The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins -
- Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - x
- Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy -
- The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood -
- Lord of the Flies - William Golding - x
- Atonement - Ian McEwan -
- Life of Pi - Yann Martel - x
- Dune - Frank Herbert -
- Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons -
- Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen -
- A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth -
- The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon -
- A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens -
- Brave New World - Aldous Huxley -
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon - x
- Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez -
- Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck -
- Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov -
- The Secret History - Donna Tartt -
- The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold - x
- Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - x
- On The Road - Jack Kerouac -
- Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy -
- Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding - x
- Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie -
- Moby Dick - Herman Melville -
- Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens -
- Dracula - Bram Stoker -
- The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - x
- Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - x
- Ulysses - James Joyce -
- The Inferno – Dante -
- Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome -
- Germinal - Emile Zola -
- Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray -
- Possession - AS Byatt -
- A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens -
- Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell -
- The Color Purple - Alice Walker -
- The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro -
- Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert -
- A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry -
- Charlotte’s Web - EB White - x
- The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom -
- Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -
- The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton - x
- Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad -
- The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery -
- The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks -
- Watership Down - Richard Adams - x
- A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole -
- A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute -
- The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas -
- Hamlet - William Shakespeare - x
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - x
- Les Miserables - Victor Hugo -
36. So that's not a bad total. But someone stuffed up; there are only 99 books on the list. Can I add one of my own? Where is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee?
This is the result of my poll
Thursday, September 3, 2009
You are all nuts! Check out the new title.
Hypothetically speaking..
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
... if you were going to think of a new name for a blog, what would it be?
Chuck Norris, my hero
Monday, August 31, 2009
If you have never seen The Delta Force, you are missing out on one of the greatest Chuck Norris films of all time. Seriously. You can't have much more fun with an action film. Here are some fun Chuck Norris facts for you:
Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.Just for fun, go to Google and type in the words "find chuck norris". Hit enter. Click on the first result that comes up. Laugh.
The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.
The Great Wall of China was originally created to keep Chuck Norris out. It failed miserably.
There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures Chuck Norris allows to live.
Chuck Norris originally appeared in the "Street Fighter II" video game, but was removed by Beta Testers because every button caused him to do a roundhouse kick. When asked bout this "glitch," Norris replied, "That's no glitch."
There are no weapons of mass destruction. Just Chuck Norris.
A Chuck Norris-delivered Roundhouse Kick is the preferred method of execution in 16 states.
Chuck Norris CAN believe it's not butter.
If tapped, a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick could power the country of Australia for 44 minutes.
The French surrendered to Chuck Norris just to be on the safe side.
Random Friday Facts
Friday, August 28, 2009
My new MacBook Air shuts down in four seconds. 1, 2, 3, 4. Seriously. I timed it.
Being sick is boring. See point above for proof.
I want to go back to Broome, where it was nice and warm, because I am sick of the cold weather.
Since I have been banned from buying new shoes for a while (that means til the end of September in my world) I am thinking of doing a shoe retrospective here. There are many pairs you haven't seem. Interested?
If it was a few degrees warmer, I would be able to spend some quality time out in the new backyard. But I can't, because it's too freaking cold.
Did you know that the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time is Pretty Woman? And you thought you wouldn't learn anything here today :)
Did you know there are no ants in Iceland, Antarctica, and Greenland?
Being sick is boring. See point above for proof.
I want to go back to Broome, where it was nice and warm, because I am sick of the cold weather.
Since I have been banned from buying new shoes for a while (that means til the end of September in my world) I am thinking of doing a shoe retrospective here. There are many pairs you haven't seem. Interested?
If it was a few degrees warmer, I would be able to spend some quality time out in the new backyard. But I can't, because it's too freaking cold.
Did you know that the highest grossing romantic comedy of all time is Pretty Woman? And you thought you wouldn't learn anything here today :)
Did you know there are no ants in Iceland, Antarctica, and Greenland?
What I did on the weekend, by Tracey
Monday, August 24, 2009
When your dear other half says to you, let's go shopping, don't ever say no. Especially if he is one of that common breed of man, a non-shopper.
So Saturday, we shopped. At Bunnings (that's a big hardware store). Not exactly my idea of fun, but oh well. What did we come home with? An outdoor vacuum, and a new clothes airer. I know, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm either.
Sunday was much better. It is well documented here that the boy provides me with a cup of coffee on bed on the weekends. Lately he has been bringing me my iPhone as well, so I can catch up on emails before I get out of bed (how very decadent). This weekend I decided I would use my laptop to read emails, it's just easier. Only tragedy struck. My faithful Sony Vaio, which I've had for quite some years now, is misbehaving. The battery is runing out after half an hour, sometimes it connects to the wireless internet but mostly not, the operating system is slow... you can see where this is going.
Sunday afternoon I had me an adventure to the Apple store. I love to go there. I love it even more when I am allowed to actually shop there. I returned home with a MacBook Air, and Apple TV. It took me approximately 68 seconds to set up the Air. The boy spent a bit more time setting up Apple TV, but he did completely restructure the media equipment while he was at it. I seriously want to marry Steve Jobs, even if he is sick and dying.
I did have to promise not to buy any shoes for a while. I think I can live with it.
So Saturday, we shopped. At Bunnings (that's a big hardware store). Not exactly my idea of fun, but oh well. What did we come home with? An outdoor vacuum, and a new clothes airer. I know, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm either.
Sunday was much better. It is well documented here that the boy provides me with a cup of coffee on bed on the weekends. Lately he has been bringing me my iPhone as well, so I can catch up on emails before I get out of bed (how very decadent). This weekend I decided I would use my laptop to read emails, it's just easier. Only tragedy struck. My faithful Sony Vaio, which I've had for quite some years now, is misbehaving. The battery is runing out after half an hour, sometimes it connects to the wireless internet but mostly not, the operating system is slow... you can see where this is going.
Sunday afternoon I had me an adventure to the Apple store. I love to go there. I love it even more when I am allowed to actually shop there. I returned home with a MacBook Air, and Apple TV. It took me approximately 68 seconds to set up the Air. The boy spent a bit more time setting up Apple TV, but he did completely restructure the media equipment while he was at it. I seriously want to marry Steve Jobs, even if he is sick and dying.
I did have to promise not to buy any shoes for a while. I think I can live with it.
Sign of life
Saturday, August 22, 2009
This is the miniature Japanese Maple in our new backyard. Look at the buds!
The finished product
Saturday, August 8, 2009
The front:
The back:
The side garden:
What a certain naughty black cat was doing three seconds after going out into the finished garden: (she hopes her best friend Zim is proud of her)
The back:
The side garden:
What a certain naughty black cat was doing three seconds after going out into the finished garden: (she hopes her best friend Zim is proud of her)
My new shoes
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Aren't they pretty?
Once again, it is very hard to photograph your own foot in a shoe.
Once again, it is very hard to photograph your own foot in a shoe.
The Front
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
I realised that I've forgotten to show you the front yard, which is also being renovated. I completely forgot to take a photo of it before the work started, with all the stylish weeds and such, so this one is from a few days after the work started.
I'm not sure if you can tell but that is our letterbox - the Leaning Tower of Preston - lying on its side ready to be taken to the dump. The stupid person who was delivering the junk mail that day actually put something in the letterbox. Look a bit more closely. What the...?
Garden Update
Monday, August 3, 2009
This is what the back yard looks like at the moment. The deck still has to be stained, and the plants have to go in, and then it's done.
This is the view looking back toward the house. Along that fence and solid wall will be three pots with miniature lemon, lime and orange trees in them.
This is the planter box. There are going to be tall plants across the back, then other things in front. No I don't know what any of them are.
The plants are going in this week so hopefully by the weekend I'll have some green photos to show you!
This is the view looking back toward the house. Along that fence and solid wall will be three pots with miniature lemon, lime and orange trees in them.
This is the planter box. There are going to be tall plants across the back, then other things in front. No I don't know what any of them are.
The plants are going in this week so hopefully by the weekend I'll have some green photos to show you!
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