protection...

Every good librarian knows that books are a precious commodity, and therefor should be treated with the up most respect (except for maybe those pesky Mills & Boons, the bane of a book lovers life!).

It was my friend JA who introduced me to the idea of the book-bag, kind of like a condom for your books when on the go (And one of my rules in life is that you must carry a book with you everywhere you go, because I always get stuck waiting for people!) So I recently knitted myself one;

Its easy, you just knit until your up to the desired width... then keep on knitting till you get to the desired length, then sew up the sides!

I was trying out knitting purple and pink wools at once just to see what would happen, then I felted it because I love felting, and whala! a book bag!

And speaking of Care of books, I've been working in the stacks lately and came across this Gem circa 60's Williamstown. Not such a bad idea to have a little reminder in all of our books the state they sometimes come back in, but the "Notice shall be given to the librarian... if books have been exposed to infection" bit is a bit of a worry!

Hello cruel world...

The thing I cant stand about self help books is that they are usually so fucking hard to read... I mean your picking the thing up because there's something not quite right going on in there, then they are usually so pretentious and full of big words, and just well, overwhelming to read!

My friend JA has told me a few times what an important book she thinks this one is (and I figure on such matters she should know!) and trawling though the introduction, which I'm sorry but really does go on a bit and is kind of a bit all over the place, and at times even a little melodramatic (You don't need to be on the edge of suicide to pick up this book, maybe more 'a little bit down' or a case of the 'mean reds' might be more of an appropriate time to read it!). I was beginning to think this was just another one of those afore mentioned pretentious reads, but then I got to this paragraph;

And what about anger? I think Anger is a whole lot more positive a feeling than depression. I feel a lot healthier when I'm angry than when I'm paralyzed in a deep funk. Other people around me might prefer it when I'm not flying off the handle, but most folks who know me now appreciate that my anger is a step up my own personal ladder to feeling better.

Wow, that really blew me away after the way I had been feeling lately! (not to mention my ranting blog posts!)

The Intro might be a bit of a hard slog, but you don't really need to stress about it too much, the 101 alternatives are kind of cute and endearing (mind you I'm only up to #20, They might get a lot more hot and heavy from here on in!), and some of them might seem deceptively simple but when your in that deep funk it can the little things that get you through. It's kind of like giving yourself permission to be kind to yourself and do what YOU need to do for YOU!

And the good thing about this book in comparison to those other heavy reading self help books is that I reckon in the middle of that deep funk you could just pick up this book and look at 2 or 3 of the "alternatives" and find yourself something that might just make that tiny little difference at that time in your life.

Just one little thing, this book is kind of aimed at Teens (Freaks and other outlaws!) but I'm pretty sure I would have found a lot of it pretty overwhelming at that time in my life, especially a lot of the sexual stuff, not the stuff about Kate herself (I say 'her' only because it says 'her' in the biographical info about her, she describes 'herself' as fluidly sexual, transgressivly sexual or a 'Traveler') But the stuff in part one about desire. But that might be just me! and mind you, its 15-20 years ago that I was a teenager (Scary huh!?)

The other book that made me really happy lately was reading Neon Angel by Cherrie Currie of the Runaways. (When is the film going to be released in Australia!!??) Funny that it made me feel happy, it's actually quite depressing all the bad shit that happened to her, makes me just want to give her, and all the Runaways a big hug and say I'm sorry you were treated like such crap! They were some totally hot chicks, totally exploited but totally Hot!

Cant stay at home cant stay... at work?

Sorry, been listening to a bit of The Runaways lately!

It's tough being a working mum, but I cant handle being a stay at home mum either! I'm doing a temp role at 3 full days a week, it's way too much what with traffic to contend with not to mention two sick kids! How the hell do others do it full time? And you cant win no matter what you do either. I guess all you can do is the best you can for yourself and your family hey! And be careful not to judge others for the choices (and sometimes lack of choices!) they make!

P.S. Feeling a lot better, think a couple of drinks and a lot of laughs last night might have done me the world of good!

I'd like to take a moment to apologise for the last tyraid of, well anger, that flowed from my keyboard earlier today. Not quite sure whats got into me at the moment... but it did actually feel really good to get it out there!

I just feel so discontented with my life at the moment, I feel like I'm stuck in a deep, deep rut and although I can see ways out, it's all a waiting game and I just wish something would hurry up and goddamn happen!!!

And maybe 35 is the new 30, or maybe I'm just 5 years behind the eight ball which wouldn't surprise me, I used to have a pretty good handle on what was going on in the world but feel like it's all passing me by, everything interesting has been and gone and revitalised again before I catch on these days! What I'm trying to say is maybe its the mid-life (third-life?) existential crisis I was supposed to have 5 years ago finally catching up with me.

Or maybe I'm just over the repetitiveness of life as the prefect housewife of the prefect nuclear family in the fucking suburbs!!! I thought I was going to be someone great, someone really special. I thought I'd end up with a guy who worshiped me. I thought I would be someone people admired and looked up too. Now I just feel like the most boring person in the world!

Now all I want is to move back to the country and be a hippie! I want to grow veggies and have chooks, pigs and goats. I want some space and privacy. I don't want to be able to hear my neighbors fighting or hoons screeching round the corner at all hours... I want some peace and quiet!

Problem being that these days we've got all these responsibilities we have to think about. Kids, Mortgages, half finished fucking bathrooms... seems like getting back to the simple life ain't gonna be so simple!

Angry!

I have to say it out loud... I have to say what I'm feeling even if I'm not supposed to... I'm ANGRY and I don't know why!

I don't have anything in my life to be angry about, I have a nice enough home, I'm healthy, my kids are healthy, everyone around me is healthy, I have a great job where I'm treated fairly and with respect, where I get paid an equitable amount. I have great Friends who I love even if I don't get to see as much of them as I'd like. Ive done a lot with my life and haven't ever really wanted for anything. So what the hell have I got to be so angry about.... I wish I knew!

Fucking Hormones!!! I wish I could just get over myself sometimes!

brief encounters with the rich and famous

I once stood behind Geoffrey Rush in the queue for the staff cafeteria at the Arts Centre. I thought to myself, 'only in this country would a best actor Oscar winner at the peak of his career have to queue in the staff cafeteria for this shitty food!'

When I was working at the NGVA shop, I was bending down doing something or other under the counter and when I stood up my colleague said "you just missed Viggo Moretson, I just served him." Pissed off or what, he could have given me a little kick!

Apparently Steven Sylvani was starring at my Butt when I was shelving books but I didn't notice.

I recognised the name "Adam Gilchrist" when serving him, but thought to myself 'that sounds familiar, is he a footballer or something' until all my giggly colleagues set me straight. Cricket huh!? means nothing to me! But I did notice he was a little put out when I asked for his name!

Saw Goldie at Camden markets in London in 1997, my boyfriend at the time pointed him out to me, and I said (a little too loudly) "Who's Goldie?" which was of course overheard by the man himself. we then played a little paparazzi with him and I have a great photo of him just laughing at us. Mind you I still have no idea who Goldie actually is!

I was working as an assistant for a photographer for TV Week for a while which meant a lot of encounters with the cast of Neighbours (Funny coz the first time I went to Britain, upon finding out I was Aussie, everyone would ask "have you been to Ramsay st and have you met anyone from Neighbours" and I would say "Nuh" in a rather patronising tone, second time I went to Britain I had been to Ramsay St and I had met several cast members but never got asked once!!!!) Anyways, the one that stands out for me was walking past Lou Carpenter in the hallway and going to say hi as you do when you see a familiar face but realising I didn't actually know him tried to suppress it and just looked like an idiot. He then made a point of saying hi as I slunk of Red faced.

It happens like that sometimes, you see a familiar face and think you must know then but cant figure out why, like serving a big fat sweaty politician and wondering if he's one of your friends dads who you've only met once or something until he hands over his credit card and you realise he's the deputy prime minister!

But my favourite on was when we had Eric burden from the Animals come to a signing at the Bookshop which shall not be named. I decided to get a copy for my Mum and put a sticky note with "Carol" on the front as is sometimes the done thing at such signings... lets just say he was a little out of it! (see picture above!)

The other Mr. Freud...

The best book I've read of late has been James Freud's I am the voice left from drinking (which I immediately followed up with i am the voice left from Rehab.) It'd been on my list for a little while but it was my friend J's facebook review that finally got me to pick it up. Lets see what J had to say:

"Freud comes off as a charming bastard, like so many junkies, but his tale of mishaps and hits during the eighties is a great story, both touching and hilarious."

The title of course comes from a lyric in Models (Note: not The Models) best song Barbados, (not that stupidly overplayed Out of mind, Out of Sight) and serves as a bit of a prophecy.

He has a lot to say about the lack of support from radio for Australian artists, and he asks the question, why, with triple J being a government funded radio station, why cant it be fully Australian content. It got me thinking, now that would be a radio station I would be loyal too, especially considering I don't have a favourite at the moment. And really, with such a great range of Aussie music going right back JO'K it could be a hit! Now if only I had enough money to start a radio station...

Sexy librarian...

Sexy Librarian

Now thats a flying broomstick!

Love the symbolism of the broom... don't use one myself, well I've tried but i just cant get it air born!

Anyways I bought my mum this old school witches broom to put by the door, supposed to stop evil entering the house. It's been there a few years but recently some flying friends decided to make it home...

I love it and guess it's the closest I'm gonna come to a flying broomstick!

Turns out Carrie Bradshaw's mum was a librarian!!!

Finished The Carrie Diaries last night in a bit of a marathon reading run... that's the thing about cheesy chick lit, it certainly sucks you in!!!! Look I know its a totally obvious money spinner, and... oh such convenient timing what with the movie and all... Well it was an OK bit of fluff, but there are a lot of anomalies from the TV show, such as in the show, Carrie didn't really know her father but in this book her dad is raising her and two sisters after the death of her mother. But then this is Miss Bushnell's character, not the TV/Movie writers and SJP's interpretation of her. So I guess I should just stop thinking so much and enjoy it for the bit of fluff it is!!!

Prom hiking the third....

Want to really get away from it all?

May I suggest hiking down to the Lighthouse at Wilson's Promontory for a couple of nights? No Phones, No Telly, Not much noise at all really!

The boy and I went on our (seemingly) annual Wilson's Prom holiday last week (seemingly annual as we have gone down three years in a row now!) This time we hiked down to the lighthouse which you can go straight down to with a relatively easy 20 km walk, but we took the hard way via the east coast staying a Refuge cove the first night and conquering several killer hills on day two! But I have to say it was definatly worth it for the two nights staying at the gorgeous cottages at the Lighthouse. We didn't really know what to expect, thinking it might just be basic cabins with a cold toilet block... no way! We are talking bathroom to ourselves with super hot showers, full kitchen facilities, tell you what, we would have packed very differently! so I guess we'll just have to go down again!

My friend Bonnie does good radio...

The whole idea of body image is hard to ignore, even for the most sensible hippest chicks around. My friend Bonnie is a 'plus-size' model, 'plus-size'! For godsake, she's size 14, that's smaller than the average! Hear her on ABC 774 discussing body image the other day. (she doesn't get nearly enough of a say in though!)

The whole body image thing is a friggin' minefield! I also hate the term 'real-women', I have another friend who finds it incredibly difficult to put on weight, is she not 'real'?

I also have a theory, (this is completely based on my being a complete tightarse of course!) There are no size 8 women in the world!!! Go to any sale or clearance type place and thats all you'll find is size 8's, with less and less sizes as they go up. And oh, while I'm on the rant, hows about all the clothes that I like that don't come above a size 14... just because i've had a baby and am carrying a few extra's doesn't mean I don't still want to be all hip, cool and funky!

By the way I'm still trying to lose 16kg's of baby weight! But one thing I have found that helps me to feel a little better about that is finding myself some clothes that actually do fit me instead of trying to squeeze into the oldies!

So anyways, here's my philosophy; eat a wide variety of foods, don't deny yourself what you really want (because you'll just keep thinking about it until you binge on it!), drink lots of water and get out into the fresh air! Oh and don't read friggin fashion magazines!

(not) Sorry...

No I'm not going to apologise...

I have no reason to...

Even though my plan was to keep this a fairly regular blog, like at least a couple of times a week...

But that's the whole thing about blogs, there are no rules...

Look, I've been sick OK...

Not that I need or want to make excuses...

The flu can take a lot out of you...

And I have two kiddies and work and and and...

I'll be back soon...

In the meantime here is a picture of a cute little kitty to keep you occupied...

Latest Project...

I've finally gotten over my fear of double pointed needles (DPN) to knit my first pair of socks. Not sure what I was so worried about, it didn't take long to the hang of, well apart from having to unstitch a few rows and realising on the second sock that I'd missed two rows on the cuff, but made up for it with two too many rows on the heel!

I'm now onto my second pair of Socks 101 (from Knitalong: celebrating the tradition of knitting together.) I guess you know what to expect for Christmas this year!

Sublime Library Stitching!

Check out these great, um, thingi's from Sublime Stitching.

M.I.A. and my friend A...

I feel like Ive been a bit out of commission for about the last month, I'm not really sure what's been going on though I guess Family medical drama's, Faux religious holidays, 2 kids, a home, the boy and Working where I can will catch up with you eventually.

Plus still feeling like a hormonal time bomb...

Will be having the dreaded Implanon out sometime next week as long as all tests are fine to put the IUD in... bloody thorough doctors!!! Of course I am expecting to immediately;

• lose 10 kg's
• stop yelling at everyone all the time
• have a restful nights sleep every night
• be full of energy and creativity
• feel like a shag

Well one has to have high ambitions!

I received a lovely email from my friend A in Boston the other day. She has this lovely way of putting things, she said (about having kids) "It seems so intense...in a good way, but it also seems like a big identity and lifestyle shift" I couldn't have put it better, but surely 6 months on (or 3 1/4 years on!) I should have gotten over it!

I met A under interesting circumstances... The first time I was working at Camp Becket I stayed on for family camp for a little extra cash (think the place they stay at in Dirty Dancing, but rougher and without the dancing part!) Anyways A was there with these two kids of family friends, story goes that they were booked to go to the camp but some overseas trip came up for the parents but they didn't want the kids to miss out so they paid A sort of like a Nanny to take them to the camp. She didn't really fit in with any of the campers who were all family's (surprise, it being family camp!) so she hung out with the staff and we got to know each other, found we had very similar interests and tastes in books and music (the important stuff in life!) Caught up again when I visited Boston a few weeks later. Kept in sort of vague contact, then when I visited Boston a few weeks later I ended up sleeping on her floor, and had such a lovely time with her I went back again a few months later!

She's hot too... reminds me of Alyssa Millano at her spunkiest!

She's really into female singers (I introduced her to Missy Higgins while I was there) and so I put a CD together of cool Aussie chicks as a (very late) Christmas present.

A's CD of cool Aussie chicks;

• Pictures - Sneaky Sound System
• My delirium - Ladyhawke
• One word - Baby Animals
• Ordinary Angels - Frente
• Always worth it - Sarah Blasko
• Divorce by 23 - Claire Bowditch
• Last day on earth - Kate Miller-Heidke
• Weir - Killing Heidi
• Island Home - Christine Anu
• Even when I'm Sleeping - Leonardo's Bride
• Buses and Trains - Bachelor Girl
• Breath in Now - George
• Standing Strong - Wendy Matthews
• Dirty Jeans - Magic Dirt
• Way of all things - Rebecca's Empire
• Coma - Max Sharam
• Cant touch it - Rikki Lee
• Voodoo Child - Rouge Traders
• Hook me up - The Veronica's
• There she goes - Sweet Painted Ladies

A bit too much embarrassing pop trash and really shows that the mid-late 90's really where my music glory days!!! I am currently working on another so any suggestions you can offer? I'm quite out of it these days when it comes to new music!

I am not looking forward to having two teenage girls...

For I remember what it was like to be a teenage girl!

I had an intriguing facebook friend request the other day from a girl who I treated very badly in high school. My so-called-best-friend-though-she-too-dropped-me-not-long-after-this-incident (I promise I'm not a bad person, just seem to pick bad best-friends!) and myself decided we didn't want this girl to hang around with us. It's a hurtful and painful experience, believe me I know as only the year before I was told by a group of girls "we don't want you hanging around with us anymore" and being totally psychologically scarred, distraught, lonely etc. etc. but then I go and do it to someone else!

All I have to say is...

TEENAGE GIRLS ARE HORRIBLE CREATURES!

With seemingly very short memories!!

So I accepted this girls friend request but I still feel awful about an incident that happened about 18 years ago!! Maybe I have grown a conscience with my (so-called) maturity. Or maybe I just need to move on and remember I am defiantly not 17 anymore!!

P.S. I suspect this is all going to come back to me again in about 13 or 14 years... I am defiantly not looking forward to having teenage girls!!

White Whales and Black Rabbits...

I think Ive talked about the boys hunting adventures here before, he's a 'traditional bowhunter' which means he uses the old 'Robin hood' style bow to catch goats, deer, rabbits, foxes and the like. Which you can imagine makes the hunting pretty difficult, you have to get really close to your prey and be a very accurate shot with old style equipment. Anyways, he was pretty happy the other day after catching a black rabbit he has seen many times up behind my parents house, it must be, or the decedent of, someones pet rabbit they let go at some stage and he has been after it for months!

Well done my boy... it tasted pretty good too!

Now thats a library I'd like to visit!!

Keith Richards wants to be a Librarian!!!

My hormones and me have never really gotten along...

I suspect my latest attempt at controlling my fertility is playing havoc with me, about 4 months ago I had the Implanon implant put into my arm, and now I just feel like crap ALL the time, I either have bad insomnia or I am getting 10 hours sleep and still cant drag myself out of bed in the morning (not great when you have two kids!). I have been having bad hot flashes... I'm only 34 so definitely not ready for Menopause... Grumpy and crabby, dizzy spells and NO sex drive whatsoever! All of these things are listed on various discussion forums and other sites as common side effects... so if its on the Internet it must be true! (just like if it's in the Herald/Sun or on A current Affair it must be true too!) but of course not listed in the 'official' literature which plays down any side effects at all.

I gave the Implanon a go on the advise of my obstetrician who doesn't like IUD's (the only contraceptive I have ever actually been happy with!) and reckons it's great for people who cant take the pill (that would be me! try having All the PMT symptoms ALL month long!) Ive also tried the Depro Povera injections but that made me totally blow up, played havoc with my skin and meant I didn't have a period for two years which sounds great but doesn't feel very natural to me at all!

I'm gonna go see my GP next week and see about getting the Non-hormonal IUD back in, I just cant keep going the way I am at the moment... my blog is suffering!!!!

Whippin' it

Finally got to watch Whip it, totally cool and inspiring... made me get the skates out of the cupboard and do a couple of laps of the kitchen before getting back to the drudgery of the housework!

Stick it up your arse!

Had a very different experience yesterday where I got to wake up and see the inside of my own bowels, not your everyday occurrence. Yours truly had a gastroscopy and colonoscopy to check out the state of the insides, fine by the way which should be considered good news that there ain't nothing wrong, but a little part of me was hoping something entirely fixable would be found that might explain why I feel like shit all the time... hey, feel like shit, thats kind of appropriate after all the preparations that go into it!

Anyways, they only give you a mild anesthetic and I woke up halfway through part two. I made some comment about this looking very different to my bedroom, then joined in the conversation about their kids going to schoolies (at least that was the conversation I took part in, they may have been talking about something completely different!) so that was my day, that and many trashy waiting room magazines and Days of our lives on the telly, man i never realised how much yelling goes on in that show, so wonder I couldn't concentrate on my book!

Mama Mia...

I love it when the readings catalogue arrives in my mail box at the start of every month, it always adds at least 10 books to my “books to check out” book. And that's where I read about Mama Mia by Mia Freedman.



I think I was attracted to the memoir from her history as a magazine editor. Magazines being a field I wanted to work in as a teenager, but growing up in country Victoria was a long way from the ACP offices in Sydney and I never quite made it there! But I found this memoir surprisingly engaging on so many other levels. There were many shared experiences I related to (the emotionally abusive Ex, losing a baby mid term etc.) But its also at times really really funny funny, especially the chapter where she describes the birth of her daughter Coco. She is also very down to earth and gives some very realistic insights into the joys and struggles of motherhood, I especially enjoyed the Smug and Crap lists in the last chapter, given that I had just added to the Smug list earlier that day (see last post) I just couldn't think of a name for it! (by the way, the home made Play Doh was crap and I'm NEVER making it again!)

well I made my own Play Doh...

I bloody hate those superior type Mummies with their "he/she's very advanced" or their "I never give him/her anything that's not organic" or "you have to stick to this routine" or "if you don't do this this and this while this music is playing your child will be a moron!" blah blah blah... making me feel guilty for daring to live in the real world!

Well I've done one of those superior mummy things now... now I get to say "well we made our own Play Doh..." and I can make the next mummy feel guilty!

2 cups bi-carb soda
1 cup cornflour
1 cup water
1 tbsp veg oil
A bit of food colouring

Put it all in a saucepan and stir over low heat for about 15 mins or until it looks right.
put mix on a plate with a wet towel over the top (I forgot about the wet towel bit!) and cool for about an hour.
Sprinkle with cornflour and kneed till it feels right.

By the way it was a bit of a pain in the arse to make and I think the bought stuff is still better!!!

Insomnia...

Although insomnia is nothing new or unusual for me, I am on my forth night in a row of it and I am seriously NOT HAPPY! Last night I got a grand total of 3 hours, I am grumpy and irritable and really not very nice to be around. And I wish I could blame the kiddies, but it’s not even them, just my stupid body!!! Ive tried all number of over the counter and prescription methods and tonight I’ve gone down the hippie herbal route with a double dose of Valerian but still no joy! Even the spare bed ain’t working for me this time... bloody mother... jkn;kljjjjj;;l/mm lhoujnnlk... ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Altona North...

The fabulous Altona North Community Library opened yesterday! Come check it out, not just for the great collection and gorgeous staff but also for the Innovative building design. The building is designed to work with the environment, the windows are arranged to catch the morning and evening sun while avoiding the strong midday rays. The courtyard doubles as an internal light well, the thermal mass wall acts as an insulator and the round ‘Swiss cheese’ window design matches up to the google earth image of the nearby petrol refineries... seriously!

I finally got yo watch the Hollywood Librarian (now available at HBL if anyones interested!) It was OK, the first half was entertaining and the second got a bit political and all a bit serious for me (there are libraries outside of the states don't you know!)

I enjoyed the representations of libraries and librarians on film but was disappointed no to see my favourite scene from Ghostbusters! I want to try and track down a copy of the movie The Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn (whose sister is a librarian by the way!) which explores (in 1957!) the impact computers are going to have on the workplace including the reference library.

babies and evil books...

Have I told you I have the perfect baby? She sleeps all night, only cries when she's hungry and is totally cute! Now I'm not saying this to gloat... believe me if I knew what i was doing right I would share it with you, write a book and make a million dollars! But boy, those books can be evil, full of contradictory information and advice and making their money out of making women question their own abilities and intuition. I read one recently that was so rigid in it's routines it would have stressed me out so much if tried to follow it I would be an absolute mess! You must do this and that at this time and not a minute before or later, I'm sorry but that's just not real life! Sure I know that routines can have their place and maybe I'm lucky that both my babies have fallen into their own routines (were allowed to fall into their own routines maybe?). Early on I read and article that said that it was a good idea to not have too strict a routine so your kid doesn't freak out if your out somewhere and am running late or whatever. It also advised that you sometimes give their bottles at different temperatures so that if you couldn't heat it when you were out and about they wouldn't freak out too. I have followed that one!

My advice... find what suits you and then don't read anymore of those books! and follow your instincts and intuition!

a week maybe a long time in politics...

But 2 1/2 weeks is a long time in blogging!

I'm a bad blogger... a bad bad bad blogger!

But Ive been a busy one what with starting back to work at the fabulous soon-to-be-open Altona North Library (2pm March 16th!) and with poor Little Miss having an operation to release of the right trigger thumb. Poor little brave girl will finally be able to give us the thumbs up!

As the Fonz says; EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH

Also been doing a lot of reading... someone asked me the other day at work how I'm able to get through a book a week with two little kids... I say "It's all about your priorities!"

Ive not long finished this cute book, A true history of the Hula Hoop by Judith Lanigan. It’s a very sweet book basically covering 3 intersecting stories as well as a little non-fiction research into... you guessed it, the history of the hula-hoop! And the little town about an hour from Melbourne with the historic cinema sounds VERY familiar!

I'm currently reading Stealing Picasso by Anson Cameron which I would probably be enjoying a lot more if I didn't keep picking bloody holes in it all the time! Its a novel based around the stealing of the Weeping Woman from the NGV back in 1986 (something which has always intrigued me and I believe makes the painting a lot more interesting, but I think it's funny that I worked at the NGV for over a year and you never heard anything about it nor found any mention in any of the books they produced!) anyways, I keep picking at things like when the book says its free to get into the gallery but back then it wasn't, and now there's this whole weird bit about a Michael Jackson impersonator who is struggling because of the child abuse allegations coming out but that wasn't until the 90's... why cant I just read it and enjoy it!!!!

Warman Special

The latest from creation from Hot Roddings mad genius...
You can also check out the Warman special in the latest Street Machine magaizine (Pg 60), it’s a sweet story of a grandfathers inspiration, especially when his own father said “those cars will get you nowhere boy!”

Just in case your interested...

http://www.rarespareslegend.com.au/Legends/Rod-Hadfield.htm

Happiest room in the house...

Regular readers of my blog will know I have traveled to several different countries. I therefore think I am in a good position to comment of the state of toilets throughout the western world... Not the state as in someone missed the seat and left the stall filthy... I mean the actual toilet itself...

The worst country for toilets would have to be the States... they seem to have a fascination with self flushing toilets, particuly in airports... maybe air travellers have a hard time remembering to press the button or perhaps its a germ thing I don't know, but if your anything like me who is a bit of a mover arounderer on the loo (especially with a number 2 where sometimes it needs a little help and guidance!) you end up with a wet bum. Not to mention if you accidentally drop something in and jump off the seat to collect it! Tip from me - you can trick them by holding your hand over the sensor, not always the most comfortable position but better than a surprise bidet!

Best country for toilets, Japan! Soft, heated seats. Washbasins that utilise your hand washing water, music, fake sounds for the shy... bottom heaven!

Another Seriously Hot Librarian!

If you think us librarians are all daggy nerds, check out Peggy Wilkins... Hot librarian and Playboy collector... my kind of lady!

Mr. Stubby Holder...

Kind of makes me laught that a man who doesn't drink should end up on a stubby holder!

No need to smoke them Winnie Blues...

Check out these super cute Cigerette sized literature... wear 'em in your rolled up T-shirt sleeve like a pack of Winnie Blues!

Pimped and in Print!

Check it out... my pimped up shopping trolley has made it into print!

(Cruzin Magazine February 2010 Pg. 6 )

P.S. Me and the girls made it into Rods Ramblings too!

Gems from the Bargain bin...

Picked up these two gems from the $1 bin outside Book Heaven in Campbells Creek today...

20th century woman by Dr. Eustace Chesser, A 1969 "Study of the English woman, a book which examines the sexual behaviour and conditioning of women today... their attitudes to pre-marital sex are shown in the light of the recent increase in sexual intercourse between unmarried couples."

But really I just bought it for the cover!

And...

The first Ms. Reader: how women are changing their lives - in work, sex, politics, love, power and life styles. An anthology of articles.

But what I really want to know is if I send off the card inside can I still get a groovy Ms. "The Liberated Woman's Bag!" complete with "The liberated Woman's Appointment Calender for 1974"?

Arrrr me hearties....

Here's an article on how Librarians are the "worst sort of Pirates" as their book lending practices are costing the publishing industry $1 Trillion!

And speaking of Pirates and Here's a blog called Confessions of a Book Pirate.

Oh and when I was trying to find that one again, I came across this one called The.effing.librarian who also wants to become a pirate librarian.

I love pirates... the old AARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH/Pieces of Eights/Jolly Roger kind of Pirates I mean.

I got really excited one day when working in the big-corporate-treat-your-staff-like-crap bookstore because this lady came in doing research on female pirates. Female Pirates!!! How Ace!! (actually there were a couple of famous female pirates including Mary Read and Anne Bonny) A few months later the same lady came in for an interview and when asked to describe a time that she received excellent customer service relayed the story of me and the female pirates. Hooray!

P.S. don't forget International talk like a pirate day is September 19th every year!

Keep walking...

Ive been trying to lose weight. I want to lose 16kgs of post baby weight. Ive always been one of those people who love 'Fat Chicks' (to an extent!) and bagged out people who are always obsessing about their weight. I'm so fat... boring boring boring! Just be happy in yourself etc. etc. etc. Unfortunately I'm not happy in myself at the moment. My self confidence is at second to all time low, lethargic, tired, depressed and just cant be bothered!

Anyways, was going for my every-second-nightly walk when someone yelled out to me... not wolf-whistled or even a "show us your tits", but yelled out "keep walking"!

soooo depressing!

Meet our new friend...

Kind of ironic really, that my father-in-law, who likes to hunt rabbits... as does the boy... should get a rabbit for Little Miss!

Obsessive/Compulsive Knitting...

Ive always had a bit of an obsessive, addictive personality, at the moment, it’s knitting which may come as a surprise to many people who have know me in my ‘past lives’. But you know what, I’m actually pretty proud of myself. I taught myself from a book and seem to be pretty good at it. I can just make up patterns as I go and they actually do come out sort of like what Ive seen in my head. It took me a long time to find anything that I felt I was good at (photography in year 11 media studies class was the first time I felt it!)

Combined with my other obsession at the moment which is reading, I picked up its my party and I'll knit if I want to (Sharon Aris) and Friday Night Knitting Club (Kate Jacobs), non and fiction respectively...

Oh and my latest project is knitting a book bag to keep said books from being torn/scratched/whatever in my bag (because one must carry a book EVERYWHERE one goes... if only I could figure out a way to read and knit at the same time!!!???)

Another Fab knitting book I discovered brings in another of my favourite things... Knockdown knits inspired by Roller Derby with patterns for slings and broken arm sweaters! It's just such a pity Roller Derby has only really started to happen in Melbourne around the same time that I had to go and have babies and stuff that are supposed to make you all grown up and responsible and shit like that... sucks...

all the way home...

Here's a story for you...

Little miss has been having several "accidents" lately. I put "Accidents" in "inverted commas" because they always seem to occur either when I am busy with bubba-ista or just after little miss has got into trouble for something!

I made a decision recently that instead of trying to get my stuff done and getting frustrated with a kiddy under my feet, I need to focus my attention on her, do lots of stuff in the morning to get her tired out so she will have a sleep so I can then get my stuff done!

So my big idea this particular day is we will go on an adventure to one of those indoor play centres where Little Miss can run (jump/climb etc.) wild. So she's happily playing for a while in the under 4 area's which is great considering she's 3... then she spies the big kids/over 4's area... uh oh... she takes no for an answer for a little while and goes off to play some more, at least that's what I think... but now I realise that little brain was just biding time and formulating a plan.

"Mum... I want a drink"
"OK out you come" (runs over to the other side)
"Do you need to go to the toilet"
"No"
"Are you sure"
"Yes"
"Are you really sure"
"Yes"
"You defiantly don't want to go to the toilet then"
"No"
"OK"

Then... RUN, off she goes, straight to the top of the big kids/strictly over 4's area. and... well... pisses herself.

So here I go, shoes off, leaving pram, baby, bag etc unattended, up to the top of the tower, trying to clean up wee with just a wet pair of shorts and undies. Then I have to go to the staff "um, well, my daughter has just pissed herself in the top of the area she's not meant to be in!..." then of course, after all that the toddler area just has no appeal and we want to go home. So big adventure that was supposed to take up our whole morning and we are home after 40 minutes.

But good things do come out of frustrating situations. I was telling this story to my friend C. Single mum of two kids (I do not know how she does it!) And she gave me a little pep talk. She said "we put too much pressure on ourselves sometimes, If your kids are safely in bed at the end of the day, they are fed, healthy and happy then we have done our jobs. The fact that you made it out to the play centre at all with a 3 year old and a 3 month old is enough to be proud of!"

OK so I am still going to try for the focused attention thing, but I need to give myself some slack too. Sometimes it's hard when your tired and your attention is being pulled in many different directions to feel you are doing a good job. We all need friends like C to remind us and put things into perspective sometimes!

X...Y...zzzzzzzzzzzz

Ive never really known where I fitted into the world, I seem to be stuck in the middle of everything from my star sign (right on the cusp of Cancer and Leo) to my generation, born right at the ‘crossover’ point of Generations X and Y. I always thought I was Gen X, 'the first generation not to be looking forward to having things better than their parents'. I came of age in the doom and gloom economic times of the early 90’s, where if you didn’t go to uni you would never get a job, and if you took some time off uni you’ll never go back. So I went, but never really knew where it was going to get me and spent my twenties wandering around aimlessly with a string of jobs that I certainly didn’t need my uni degree to get. I subsequently spent most my twenties feeling guilty. Now, apparently it’s an acceptable Gen Y trait to spend your twenties wandering the world and moving in and out of home.

And what of the generation gap? In XYZ: the new rules of generational warfare, Michael Grose tells me the generation gap has widened but my mum and I always felt that it had reduced from her own experience due to the shared “teenage” experience, and most of all, the advent of Rock and Roll. That music joined the baby boomers to all that came after. But then again I had a bit of an unhealthy fascination with all things 50’s and 60’s when I was growing up so maybe its just me!

So anyways, I still don’t know where I fit into the world but at least I don’t feel guilty about it anymore, oh and I finally went back to uni 10 years later when I finally figured out what I wanted to do and I actually have a job that I need my degree for. And if anyone asked my advice I would say to defiantly take time off between school and uni!!!

So now Mr Grose tells me there's generation Z, which includes all those 'tweenies' that marketers love so much. But that book is a few years old now and Douglas Copeland who started all this has bought out a book called Generation A...

Alli on the Telli

Check me out in my starring role (along with Katie D. in a cameo appearance!) in the "Making of the Librarians" special on disc 2 of the Second Series.

This is where I actually was in the TV show in the very back row of the awards ceremony.

Here's me and Miss D. sticky-beaking when they were filming on location at Newport library.

And here we are being interviewed...

Three good books...

I have been very busy reading of late... Iv'e been very lucky as three of my favourite Authors have released new books in the last few months;

Augusten Burroughs You better not cry

I came across Running with scissors purely by the book cover (yes you can judge... sometimes!) I bought it as a gift for my brother (but of course I read it first!!!) I love him! particuly his two collections of short essays Magical thinking and Possible side effects. (Stand out bit for me; when he's a kid and he wants to pray for something so he uses Jesus's full name which he has heard his parents use 'Jesus Fucking Christ'). My other favourite is Sellevision, his only novel (that I know about) which I think is the funniest book I have ever read, EVER!

Anyways, the latest is more short essays, this time about Christmas, which has always been a contentious time in my family... and with my brother being particuly scrooge-like, I got him this one for Christmas (and of course, again, read it first!). It's OK, I enjoyed it but I think only because I have read the others and know his background, I don't think you would get so much out of it if you came to this one cold. So read his others first, and enjoy!

I am kicking myself that I missed seeing Augusten at the Melbourne writers festival, last year? year before? due to my inability to get it together at the time!

P.S. Here's his website!

Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years

My Sister in law got me this for Christmas after I hinted to the boy... well told him I wanted it after he told her he didn't have any ideas of what she could get me! When she asked about it in the bookshop for 'the new Adrian Mole book', the young sales assistant said, hmmm Adrian Mole, Ive never heard of that author! Who the hell hasn't heard of the Adrian Mole books! (too many people unfortunately!!!)

Anyways, I have written here before of my love of these books, and my great disappointment of the last release The Lost Diaries which I believe was just cobbled together for the sake of it and which didn't even fit in with some of the details of the other books (man I sound like one of those science fiction geeks now!) So I was a little apprehensive about this one, but it was great! Certainly darker than the previous books, with many loose ends still hanging which makes me think/hope there is more to come! considering I heard that she said the after AM and the WMD's there would be no more Mole books, one can only hope!

PPS. Here's the Mole website...

Nick Hornby's Juliet, Naked

I only started this one today, but it's shaping up to be Nick H at his High Fidelity/Fever Pitch best. I haven't really enjoyed his last couple of books, well, they've been OK but only OK if they were were written by a lesser author.

I came across Nick Hornby, I am embarrassed to say, because of the High Fidelity movie, I went to see it with a new male friend who I had a bit of a crush on and made an embarrassment of myself because of! (who knew that going to see a movie and having Pizza afterwards could be misconstrued as a DATE!) Anyways... something good came out of it, I read the book of HF and Fever Pitch and was hooked!

PPPS. While I'm at it...