Go Go Gadget... Knitting Needles?

Could this possibly be the second-best knitting book ever???


I cant decide who I think is cutest... Postman Pat (complete with Black and White Cat of course!), Inspector Gadget... But I would have to say the winner is... Mr. Squiggle! Check out the stoned look eyes!!! too much puffing on Bill Steamshovel methinks!

Lovely Linda...

Ive not long finished Linda Jaivin's A most immoral woman. I love Linda, she's such a spunk, I fist discovered her about 10 years ago when she was doing a reading at an Express Media Spoken word event (same one that I discovered another favourite book, Even cowgirls get the blues, and my Ex-best friends duo performed at it too... man that was a big day!) I loved her on sight (at the time she had blue dreadlocked pigtails... who could not love her!!!) and I have to say Eat Me has got to be the most erotic book I have ever read (ohhh that supermarket scene!) I also love Rock and Roll babes from outerspace just coz it's such a cool concept!!!

A most immoral woman is a Historical romance and quite a departure from her previous work (Comedy/Erotica/non-fiction about China) though I guess it does still have that Chinese theme running through it, and I guess it could be considered erotic in places. I'd love to get her in to speak at the library... hmmm must look into that!

Warning! Blow my own trumpet moment... Last year I made to suggestions to add to the standing orders list of Authors at the library, Linda being one and Christos Tsiolkas being the other, and both have released books in the last 12 months which have been really popular... Jeez I'm great!!!

P.S. If you do nothing else, check out the chapter titles in a most immoral woman!

New addition to the family...

Eggplants!!!

I thought the veggie garden was pretty much dead and buried, I have totally neglected it since most of it died off during February's heatwave. I ripped up some of the Zucchini plants which had totally taken over the other day and look what I noticed the other day, my Eggplant plants must have finally been able to flourish!

This means I will have gotten to eat 2 Tomatoes, 1 Zucchini, a (small) handful of beans, 3 potatoes and hopefully now some Eggplants from my experimental Veggie garden.

I tell you what, it's all gonna happen this spring, now that I actually have some idea of what I'm doing!! Its all part of the plan to become a self sufficient hippie! Next stop... Chooks!

My New Wheels...

So it's not quite a Hot Rod... Maybe I should change the name of my Blog to UteDrivingLibrarian

Quiz Time!

I think It should be called The Little Red Truck but the boy thinks that The Uterus would be more appropriate! What do you think?

Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah.......

Ive discovered a new library blog by accident (well actually because I was googling myself in a complete act of narcissism...) The Miami Diaries: Dispatches and insights from the secret world of librarians... :)~ Lots of pictures of Sexy Librarians... but with one, major oversight...

Batgirl was a librarian! She's Barbara Gordon, the daughter of the Police Commissioner Gordon who works at the Gotham City Library. And she's about the only person on the show who looks good in a jumpsuit... except Catwoman of course... no one was sexier than Catwoman!!!!

Funniest street name in Scotland!

Walking on the Prom...

The Boy and I went for a 4 day/40km Hike on Wilson's Promontory...

We saw nice Beaches...

One day it was even warm enough for a quick Paddle...

The next day it was pouring!

We saw some Critters including Wallabies, Wombats, Emu's, Dolphins, Black Cockatoo's, three dead penguins and a snake!

Wombats may look cute but they will eat your food... apparently they really like muesli bars, two minute noodles, BBQ shapes and dried pineapple!

But we still had plenty of food left...

This is me cooking in the rain...

We saw some Boulders at Boulder Saddle... (This one looks like a bird)

And it was Windy at Windy Saddle...

We had a nice time. Boy does this sound like a grade 6 report or what!!!

Mummy!

I have always had a bit of a thing about Mothers day and how it really shouldn't be necessary blah, blah blah... I am very close to my mother and often buy her things I think she would like just because I saw them (this used to happen more when I worked in retail, now I just borrow stuff for her from the library!) In fact I gave her a present this Saturday night... wrapped in Merry Christmas paper... And said "Happy Birthday"! All to disguise the fact that I had actually bought her a Mothers Day present!!!

But of course my rants do often turn around to bite me on the bum, especially when the shoe is on the other foot and now that I am a Mum I gotta say I love a bit of acknowledgement (and that's all I would ever want... though I will admit I do love a good present from time to time!!!)

It was so cute... Coffee and Breakfast brought up to me in bed! (Breakfast consisting of a freaky looking smiley faced bickie that Little Miss had picked out at the bakery) along with a rehearsed "Happy Mothers Day Mummy, I Love You" which went out the window as we were so focused on this bickie which she immediately picked up and ate the Raspberry lolly nose off then spat out because she didn't like it!

She is a chip off the old block!

Ive actually got a Mummy week off this week! The Boy and I are off to Wilson's Promontory today for a 4 day hike. (yeah yeah, I know, I'm up the duff and I'm being careful and all that!) I am so looking forward to it as it's years since Ive done any major hiking and I've been so bored with life lately that I just want to get out and be somewhere different! Look out for photo's next week!

Thats 'Rat' Rod Hadfield to you...

Here's another Video for you...

Unsolicited advise from a novice knitter who really just makes it up as she goes along...

How did I turn this tangled mess...

Into this?

Via this...

See it turns out that learning maths in school really does help with the important things in life...

I am not very good at following instructions, recipes, directions, and as it turns out... knitting patterns, but somehow I usually manage to get there in the end!

I was getting a little bored with the repetitiveness of knitting my cardi (see recent post) and decided I needed to be knitting myself a super-cool laptop bag for my impending arrival (that being my new laptop which you will here more about later!) and have always wanted to try Picture knitting (Intarsia I think it's called). I decided I wanted to go for a bit of a pirate theme and had two different patterns, neither of which were really doing it for me, but I used them for the basis and with the help of my very useful Stitch N Bitch Journal decided to write my own pattern.

Check out the almost finished result which I also felted and with the cheating help of an old jumper turned into a pretty cool bag for a beginner. Hey it may look very unprofessional to some of you... and if anyone asks I was going for the rough homemade look! But I am pretty proud of it, I'm just going to give it another felting and add some zips, and then hope that my Laptop will actually fit into it when it arrives!

So here is some unsolicited knitting advice from a complete novice...

• Yes you can teach yourself to knit from a book.
• When I was teaching myself I just happened to buy this multicoloured yarn which turned out to be really good coz I could see where I was at with it as the colour would change with each row.
• Just get in there and experiment coz you can always undo it!
• Its easier working with medium sized, wooden needles.
• Those fancy yarns that are actually a couple of different things in together make it kind of tricky!
• If your gonna try some Picture Knitting, Knit a few rows of the main colour first so you get past that twisty up stage which is where I was getting all confused!
• I also found twisting the two colours together when changing colours helped keep it strong at the joins.
• If your doing stocking stitch and you cant remember if your up to a Knit or Purl row - if the 'tail' of your wool is at the pointy end then you Purl. if its down the blunt end then you Knit!
• Felting can help to disguise holes.
• You can also say you are a punk knitter and made the holes on purpose!

Don't forget... World Wide Knit in Public day is coming up in June!

Whatta man...

You wanna see how much of a man I have?...

Check out these pics from his latest Hunting trip to Lacola in the Victorian high country, that they posted on a bowhunters forum. No bleeding carcasses were dragged home for me this time but they had a great time... Yup that's right, my man goes hunting with a "traditional style" (AKA Robin Hood Style) Bow and Arrows. He's pretty good too, they didn't get any animals on this trip (they were hunting Deer this time but he also hunts for Goats, Fox and Rabbits) but that is secondary to them just enjoying being in the outdoors.

Next week the two of us are going hiking in Wilson's Promontory for 4 days, I am really looking forward to it, Ive been feeling very bored and stagnant in my life lately and think I need to get into the outdoors too!

You may here me having a bit of a winge and a rant about him from time to time, but he really is a lovely person and really comes through when the chips were down. When we lost the baby and we went to the hospital we figured he'd pretty much be dropping me off there, but we were given a double room and he pretty much literally didn't leave my side for the two days I was in there.

And he's hilarious! He's got this thing where he likes to make up new words to songs... usually involving Sex, drugs or violence! Here's a few choice numbers...

"She licked my knob and I liked it, the taste of my hairy chapstick" (Katy Perry's I kissed a girl)
"Sucking on my dickyballs" (Robert Palmer's Simply irrisistable)
"And the man at the back said I'm gonna crack a fat coz your playing with my balls and dick" (Sweet's Ballroom Blitz)

Do you see a theme forming?

It maybe my pregnancy hormones making me all gushy, or maybe it's that I actually got a bit of my own space this week, or maybe just that he's on holidays and not getting up at 4am everyday is agreeing with him... Just don't tell him I said all these nice things about him OK!

Shhhhhh....

So this crazy old lady came up to me in the library yesterday to tell me she felt I was speaking too loudly and to quote her "all ha ha ha like" and that she didn't feel it was appropriate conduct for working in the library... WTF!

I wish I had've made some comment along the lines of "well I'm sorry if my joyfull attitude to life offends you!" but of course I was too shocked to actually be able to say very much at all...

Library Jo reckons she will probably get a letter as this is the same lady who wrote to complain that storytime was too loud as well!!! Stay tuned, I will try to steal a copy of the letter for your reading pleasure!!

Why I think Bubba-chino's are ridiculous...

OK, off on a Rant now...

I remember the first time I heard of a Bubba-chino, I was working in a cafe and someone ordered one and I had to ask them what it was...

"An Espresso cup with some foam and chocolate on top so the child can feel involved."

I looked at them with a look that I hope said what I didn't actually say out loud;

"Are you serious?"

JA and I went out for a fancy pants Devonshire tea today... (oh posh!) and on the next table were a family with two small children. The two year old was not concentrating on his Bubba-chino (in fact I think he and Little Miss were having some kind of secret toddler language thing going on) and spilled it, on himself, Hot Milk. Who the hell gives a two year old a hot drink??? This is after Little Miss had spilled her (Cold) milk three times and this was after the waiter had had the good sense to put it in a paper take-away cup with a lid on!

Get it people... Kids don't need to drink substitute coffee to feel included!!! Give them a Kids drink and if you want them to feel included... Talk to them!!!

Mind you they were probably thinking I was a bad Mum when Little Miss got her hands on the Jam and Cream pots and started eating them straight...

P's and Q's... and M's

If anyone is wondering what to buy Little Miss... Here's a couple of book suggestions!

Hippie food...

I love the Blue Train Cafe's (at Southgate) Golden Dahl... Finally came by the recipe and made a big pot of it last night... Bloody Hippie Food...

50 grams Ghee
1 Onion, diced
2 Sticks Celery, diced
4 Garlic Cloves, diced
Teas. Ginger, ground
1 Tbls. Gram Marsala
1 Tbls. Cumin
1 Tbls. Coriander
1 teas. Chilli
2 Cups Red Lentils
1 Tin crushed Tomatoes
3-4 Cups Water
Salt and Pepper

Slowly cook Ghee, Onion, Celery,Garlic and Ginger approx. 10 mins.
Add Spices, Cook another 10 mins.
Add Lentils, Cook 2-3 mins.
Add Water and Tomatoes and leave to simmer for about an hour. add more water if you need.
I like it mushy so I blend it up when its all done.

Make sure you've got plenty of Air Freshener handy coz' you'll be farting like a trooper!!!

Bubba-ista

We have an in-utero name! Little Miss has finally understood the concept that she is going to have a "Brother or Sister" but it comes out "Bubba-ista".


We hadn't come up with a name last time, but Anouk's was "Wibbler" which came about one morning when the Boy and I were laying in bed and, do you ever have your words mash together like when your thinking about two different words at the same time and they kind of come out together? Well I went to say it's "Wiggling" and also it's "Wobbling" and it came out "Wibbling" so form that point on she was "Wibbler". It actually took us a long time after she was born to break the habit. We were actually starting to get a little concerned that she wouldn't learn her own real name!

Kitt Happens...

Or is That Knit...

Well we all know that Spit Happens...

Most sports only require one ball....

Check out these pictures of my dad drag racing at Heathcote Park, December 1985... The Throttle Jammed on and he lost control... The starter is still talking to him!

These pic's made it to the paper...

Just another day out for Rod Hadfield! (or more evidence of Rod's trail of destruction hey mum!)

No eating in the library?

I have been searching everywhere for the clip of The Fonz when he gets his library card, but I cant seem to find it (can anyone help me please???)

So you'll have to get by with this one for now!

Sick Day

I was sick the other day, I don't do sick very well, I get miserable and am not very nice to be around!

But here are two things about that day that cheered me up quite dramatically!

Funny story about Not Quite Hollywood. I requested this one at the library for its social, educational and cultural value. (Oh and by the way it also fits very well within our collection development criteria) Apparently the day it arrived there was much discussion amongst the resource services team because of the image of a naked woman on the back. Now, this image was inside the inserty bit of the cover, but the image was deemed inappropriate (though no discussion actually took place with any library coordinators who I am picturing sitting in their offices sniggering at the absurdity of this discussion!) Our Libraries copy of Not Quite Hollywood now has a lovely, very noticeable cut out bit in the cover! And here I was thinking that libraries were not into censorship!!!

Kat Von D's book is great, I devoured it in two days. Lots of glorious pictures and background story... she seems a bit up herself, but I don't care, I still think she's a bit of alright! (I think the yearbook tattoo part of her leg is pretty gross but... oh well, there is always laser removal!)

My favourite sox

I have a foul headache and don't feel like posting tonight... so here is a picture of my favourite socks...

I bought them off the Emily the Strange website before Emily stuff was everywhere!!!

(she can still come under the banner of chicks I think are great though)

... It's twilight time.

The afore mentioned Lovely Miss Jayne has written a hilarious analysis of the Twilight phenomenon. Personally I have only seen the film and thought I must have been missing something because I found it SHIT BORING! Maybe you need to be a teenage girl to appreciate it... funny coz I thought I still had the brain of a teenage girl but somewhere along the line those 3 braincells must have disappeared!

P.S. Jayney I love the reference to my favourite Platters song!

You can't phase me... for I have worked in retail!

I have been meaning to tell the story of one of my weirder requests at the library recently. One of the serial pests was in... you know the type... where you see them walk in and you just know its gonna be a long shift!

Anyways, the conversation went something like this;

Her: "Um, I couldn't get my footy tips to go through on the Internet coz it's on my work intranet so can I use your phone to ring my work to call them through"

Me: "No, but there is a payphone less than a block away"

Her: "Yeah but it's raining and I have to call them in today"

Me: "No, piss off"*

Her: "Well you need to sort out your policy because some people let you use the phone and some don't"

Me: "#$%@ off crazy bitch"**

Come on lady, there is no need to get all agro and weird on me, considering you are constantly on your mobile when your in the library, come see me when you've got real problems... Oh yeah, you do coz you do all your kids homework for him which isn't helping him at all... and you've got a nasty attitude and... and... um yeah!

Can you tell I'm feeling grumpy today!

* Not actually what I said but what I wanted to say.

** Also not what I said.

For the ultimate in crazy retail horror stories check out my friend Neonfaerie's Blog. She always seems to have weird things happen to her including having a book thrown at her... twice.

Picking up the sticks...

AKA: K is for Knitting!

My latest hobby only started last year when I bought myself a $5 book on knitting from The Warehouse and taught myself to knit. I haven't been doing much of late but picked up the sticks again today... actually it was Vicroads fault for having such a long wait and being right next door to Spotlight! But I had been meaning to get back into it, and of course, have started my most ambitious project to date (in fact all Ive really made so far have been bracelets and a rather wonky bag.)

It's called the Go-everywhere-go-with-everything cardigan which you can see the lovely Debbie Stoller, Editor of BUST magazine wearing on the cover of the bible (AKA: Stitch 'N 'bitch, Pg 96 for the pattern.)



I have heard that knitting can be quite a relaxing pursuit, well we'll see... (as the knitting needles fly across the room!) I'm also not very good at following directions so don't expect too much of me!

Allison's recipe for the perfect easter breakfast!

Make Pancakes (flour/egg/milk - I don't think I need to explain this one!)

After the first flip, put a line of broken up Easter eggs to melt.

When pancake is cooked, roll up and enjoy!!

Repeat till you feel sick...

Bye Bye COOOL1...

In the words of Vyvian from the Young Ones... "My car, my beautiful beautiful car!"

Yesterday was a sad day, after 15 years, I sold the only car I have ever owned!!!

She's a 2 door 1972 Ford Escort with Purple interior, soon she will no longer have purple interior and will be a reproduction Rally Sport Model with Racing Stripes!

Goodbye COOOL1, I hope you are treated well!

Oh so tired...

I am feeling constantly tired at the moment, not surprising really, I mean, I'm growing a whole nother human being inside me!


Yep that's right folks, for those who don't know, that belly is not just from too much chocolate, but rather... here we go again!


Something never felt right last time. For a start the pregnancy didn't show up on the tests for a start, even through I knew I was. Then there were problems with the blood test, and I remember at this stage (11/12 weeks, I'm not really keeping good track!) last time feeling really down and just like crap all the time. I felt paranoid all the time and put that down to that being a planned pregnancy, where as with little miss who wasn't planned I was so relaxed and chilled out.


So lets see how things go this time around, I'm feeling very positive about it all, and am trying to remain relaxed.

Neighbours has officially...

Jumped the Shark!

Not that I watch it of course, its actually my partner that watches it... dont tell anyone! Of course any time I tease him about it he points out (quite rightly!) that I am the one who went on the neighbours tour!!!

I love a good bit of dyslexic graffiti!

I do have a funny story about Dyslexia, not that I think Dyslexia is funny!

I have super-bad spelling, in the words of one of my favourite philosophers;

My spelling is wobbly, its good spelling but it wobbles and the

letters get in the wrong place. - Winnie the Pooh.

I was at the information counter of the bookshop-that-will-not-be-named when someone came up tot he counter asking for books on Dyslexia. I began typing and had to say "your not going to believe this... but how do you spell Dyslexia?"

P.S. I am really glad Blogger has a spell check!!

P is for...

Pini's

I love these kind of Cute Retro Pini aprons and tend to collect them, never wear them so I then sell them on ebay!

I think they bring out the domestic goddess/50's Housewife in me!

These two are currently listed for sale on ebay if your interested!

Big word of the week...

Did you know the word SESQUIPEDALIAN is a big word that means 'A big word'?

Are you a Chocoholic?

Do you need to attend Chocoholics Anonymous?

If so, be at the Altona Meadows Library at 7pm this Tuesday to receive all the help you need!

Things I know to be true about being a parent...

The Myer toy catalogue provides just as much entertainment as any of the toys in it.


A little bit of TV/Naughty food/being put into the cot for half an hour will not do any harm... you going insane will!


Its a hard job, everyone feels the need to tell you so when your pregnant, but they forget to tell you how much fun it is too!


You have to look at things from their perspective.


They don't need the latest wizzbangwhatsit to be happy, a box or a bit of paper does the trick!


Grandparents/Babysitters/Childcare are wonderful and certainly nothing to ever feel guilty about!


You can always take the batteries out!



The best thing I ever did for Little Miss' relationship with her daddy was to go back to work, It forced him to have to do stuff!


The best thing to do when they have a tanty is walk away.




They will never stave, sure it's frustrating when they wont eat, but they will get hungry eventually.


Kids don't care if their clothes came from the Op Shop, Big W or Pumpkin Patch, they all get dirty the same way.



Yeah sure Breastfeeding is probably the ideal, but a stressed out mum on the edge is not, the best thing you can do for your kids is just the best you can do.



They are pretty hard to break.



Routine may have their place, but kiddies also need to be adaptable.

Instincts are amazing things.

Its not only little boys who wee on their mummies, or poo on them for that matter!

It can't be all bad if I'm going back for a second... or third time... however you want to look at it!