Sunday 17 June 2012 - in the sewing room

I call myself a quilter, I say I quilt, my hobbies include quilting. I just never do any sewing . However, Sunday afternoon I had a "must do" project. I had promised to 'test drive' a new pattern for a fellow quilter who runs Patchwork Promises. It was 'only' a pincushion, so I figured it wouldn't take long and it didn't. Just an hour and half.

It did; however, inspire me to get some small projects done that have been bugging me for a while. First, the minky blanket. It's lovely and soft and warm and snuggly. It's also two layers and during the night you realise that the edge is somewhere half-way down the bed and you're all twisted and tangled. My original plan was to run it through the embroiderer with a simple chain pattern, but it's too thick for the hoops. It is possible to embroidery thick fabric, but it's a hassle. So, Plan B - a single line of stitching about a hand's width from the top and bottom. And it worked!

Project number 3 was a draught excluder for the bathroom. When we renovated the bathroom the old concrete and tile floor came out and beautiful wooden floor went in. We haven't 'got around' to the door yet, which means there's a two inch gap between floor and door and there's 2 inches of cold winter air creeping around your wet toes this time of year. My draught excluder needed to be custom designed. Being a small family of three, in a small house of one bathroom (that's loo and shower and basin in one room; not common in Australia) people wander in and out all the time. Particularly in the morning. My draught excluder has a "pull tag". Too often I'm in the shower, someone comes in, leaves, the draught excluder (to date a rolled up bath mat) stays behind when they close the door; letting out all my nice heated air and letting in the cold stuff. This one has a pull tag so when the door is closed it can be pulled back in place from outside.

Draught excluder, with 'pull tag' on my lovely bathroom floor

And project number 4 - a mini draught excluder to make up for the not-so excellent fitting cat flap from Saturday.

Saturday 16 June - cats and cars

I had plans for Saturday, which included getting a lot of things done. Reality and plans don't always meet, not even halfway.
Our cat is an indoor cat, with a cage on the front porch accessed via a cat flap. When something spooks her or she suspects 'an invader' in her territory (our entire yard even though she's never been out there) she barrels through the flap at a million miles an hour. She finally hit it too hard one too many times the other day, and broke the hinge. A 20cm square hole in the wall in winter is not a good idea.
The issue with replacing a cat flap is that there is no industry standard size. The hole in the wall is a particular size, but it's not exactly easy to pop the wall into your handbag to take down the local pet store. And the hole is three dimensional, adding a measure (!) of complication.
Still cat flap was purchased and installed, after some perfectionist faffing about (and not by me). However, it took much longer than anticipated and that's when my plans to be productive were effectively ditched.

I also test drove a potential new car.

The Volkswagen, 90TSI Golf. Just in case there's any blokes out there - it's 1.4-litre, 4-cylinder, turbo-charged petrol engine with a 7 speed DSG transmission. What I noticed is that it is comfortable to sit in, smooth to drive, solid on the road, takes off when you expect it too, stops when you need it to, and would be really easy to get a speeding ticket in. I also noticed that the drive away price is about half what I owe on my house and I just don't think I'm prepared to spend quite that much on a car. Still, nice to dream.

The week that was

The perfectionist in me says I 'should' post a separate entry for each day this week. The woman in charge, however, isn't listening to the perfectionist.
Monday - we very briefly visited my nana. Crazy really. We drive 3 hours there and 3 hours back; spend so much time stuffing around that we barely manage to squeeze in half an hour with her before lunch. However, she turns 90 in a week, so we're going back down to see her next weekend.

Mum, me, nana and The Girl

Tuesday - was not well. Saw little silver stars while having a shower. Last time I saw those, the doctor had given me some prednisone (a steroid) to get my hives under control. Didn't ask me if I'd eaten before I ripped it out of her hand and gobbled it up (I was a bit of a mess and pretty desperate). Spent the day lying on the couch, generally feeling sorry for myself and moaning about how little the ABC had on iView that was worth watching. I'm pretty sure I remember thinking at some point "this is something positive I could blog about", but I left it too long and it's disappeared.
Wednesday - decided I was well enough to go to work. On the train on the way in I wasn't so sure I'd made the right decision. Then when I thought I was going to faint while waiting for the train to pull into my station, I decided I'd made the wrong decision. Still, I left the platform, thinking if I took some painkillers I'd be fine. After buying the tablets and some breakfast and getting half way out of the station, I had a flash of "you stupid woman", at which point I turned around and caught the next train home. When I got home I put MASH on the DVD player and promptly slept through an entire disc. I do love MASH. We've watched it so often that I don't need to "watch" it to be able to "see" it. I don't sleep during the day, but I find MASH keeps my mind occupied enough to allow it shut off (if that makes sense).

From our USA trip; we visited the MASH location

Thursday - thought I'd give the work thing another go. Survived the day, albeit exhausted by the end. Went to my singing lesson. Almost didn't, but decided it is a bright moment in any week and I needed a bright moment. My singing teacher has given me a lovely piece to prepare for Christmas. Yes, I know, it's only June. But unlike Glee, and a few other groups I've been involved with, she recognises that new material takes some time to prepare. You can't just have a dress rehearsal and then put on the show. I'm really looking forward to learning this piece.

Friday - another day at work. Today I got to send the email to the 'powers that be' on my current project, saying I would be handing over my role to someone else.

Which brings me up to date. Today I'm off to buy new winter sheets, a new cat flap (she broke it going like a bat outta hell through it), a water tank, and possibly a car. Variety is the spice of life.

Sunday 10 June 2012 - Assignment & Echidna

My assignment isn't actually something I wanted to do. In fact, I'm pretty sure this entire Masters' programme is not something I want to do. However, as of Sunday morning I had one assignment and three units/subjects left until graduation; seems like such a waste to give up now.
So, Sunday, the fam went off to church and I ploughed in. Like most procrastinated tasks I found it took a lot less time and energy to actually finish than it did to ignore it.
Sunday afternoon we headed down the coast to see my nan. My nan is one of my favourite people in the world and I don't see her anywhere near enough. She turns 90 in two weeks. On the way down we stopped to visit my uncle, who wasn't home. But while there I spied an echidna trundling along his fence line. When the Girl ran over to investigate, he started digging in.

Saturday 9 June 2012

I spent most of today avoiding my assignment. Why? I'm really not sure; it would be interesting to know. The only productive thing I did all day was cook. Seems to be a trend in my posts.
Several weeks ago I bought myself a new thermos. It's a single cup size; has a wide mouth; a tea leaf basket. The best bit is, you push a button in the top and can drink from anywhere around the edge. I hate normal 'make and carry' cups; I always seem to end up with the handle facing the wrong way when I'm driving. I've also realised that keeping my cuppa in a thermos on my desk saves me wasting half cups all day. I think I'm going to give up coffee cups completely.

Friday 8 June 2012

Not sure I did much today that I wanted to do. The Girl hit her head at school and ended up with three stitches in her forehead. Not on my bucket list.
After the excitement, spent the day driving out to Dalby and back, stopping to identify various trees and culverts along the way. Again, not on my bucket list.
Avoided my assignment, watched some TV, and went to bed early.
I did cook chicken soup for dinner. The Man had planned chicken and chips but that just didn't appeal. I took his BBQ chicken, pulled it apart. Sautéed some onion, added some veggies from the fridge, the chicken and a litre of chicken soup. Wah-lah, chicken soup.

(not my photo)

Thursday 7 June 2012

On Thursday afternoons I have my singing lesson. I've been going to see Angela since 2010 and she is wonderful. Like so many people I grew up with those around me giving me a hard time about my voice. As a particularly vulnerable teenager I took their comments to heart. I have always longed to be able to sing, but a life time of listening to the voices convinced me I couldn't.
Angela has helped turn that around. I am still working to overcome 20 years of negative voices, but slowly I'm winning. There have been some set back; insensitive people with natural talent who seem to think that if you can't sing naturally and easily you shouldn't bother trying.
The latest 'attack' set me back quite a bit and shook my confidence. However, as part of this new decision to enjoy life I decided (frankly) bugger 'em. Who am I going to listen to? My singing teacher - a conservatory trained professional singer? or someone with an inflated opinion of their own talent and importance? or 20 year old voices from insensitive teenagers?
I have decided to listen to my singing teacher. And for the first time in a long time I truly enjoyed my singing lesson and I've been enjoying singing at home a lot more to.

The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best. Henry van Dyke