KnittingNatty

On life etc

It has been mad around here! No knitting to report as it has been crazy at work and I have been travelling away with work too, which means its catch up time when I am at home.

We finally got around to painting DS Ian's room. This is before:

and now it is (mostly) finished:

Can you tell DS's favourite colour is blue?

So, sorry for the blog silence - it's been a tough couple of weeks to get it all in, but even so, there's not a lot that is blog worthy!

Someone told me that it shouldn't be called work life balance - it should be called work life juggle!
Amen, sista!

But look, anyway, I have a couple of days at home now with the kids (remember my story about the day care centre closing for a couple of weeks?), so hopefully, some knitting time will be in there for all our sakes!

Explanations

Under the category of "spit happens", our modem broke. Bad.
Under warranty. Good. Or so you would think.
No service under warranty. Bad.

This is in essence the reason for blog silence. I ended up losing patience with the modem supplier and the warranty process and buying a different modem and installling it.

Things have been a little bit mad around here in other ways too. Our daycare centre is closing for 2 weeks whilst it gets a new roof installed. It will be classified as a demolition zone, and so there is a ban on the little 'uns being around whilst they do this. So I have been working longer hours to try and save up some time, as I will be needing lots of my annual leave to cover the school holidays  next year.

The daycare committee has also decided in a fundraising rush of blood to the head, to ask parents  to assist with 5, count 'em, 5 fundraising drives at once. I'm not exaggerating. Three of them are due on the same day (27th July) and one is already past due and one is ongoing past July. Now I know that they need to raise cash in a hurry, but sheesh! Don't they realise that parents are working full time cause they are not already millionaires? (I shredded two of the fundraising drives - photos and book club; the chocolates are selling themselves at work, and I am ignoring the fifth one: "Stuck on you" labels. The one that is past due is the "Cheeky monkeys Club" where someone comes to the daycare dressed up as a monkey and entertains the kids for a fee. And which parent amongst us is going to let our kid be the one sitting out in the hall missing out?)   

I have also been relieving for my manager, and so, was also shouldering some extra responsibilities for 2 plus weeks. Ian got sick, then Caitlyn got sick, then I got sick. I'm just getting better now.

But you did not come here to hear my rantings! You want photos. Of Knitting. So here goes:

Pattern: Robbyn's beautiful Leaves and Vines socks, a free pattern, and one that I can happily report has been justifiably queued in Ravelry already! Go Robbyn!!!!

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill 100% merino sock yarn - colour "Spring Frost". Luscious yarn, produces a soft light and warm fabric. Not itchy at all. I used more of the skein that I usually do, but I think that is due to the increases. This is quite a loosely fitted sock for me.

I can report that I have also knitted Caitlyn a pair of pink socks - just have to graft the toe - photos soon, and I have started Ian's last pair of socks for this winter. It is still really quite cold here at the moment - time to rug up and enjoy all the fruits of our labours!

On other news, my baby is growing up - she now sleeps in a big girl bed, and is potty training! Yay!

I know I said this last time, but I really missed you - reading blogs is forbidden at work, so I havea a lot to catch up on... I'm sorry to have neglected you all so, I was thinking about you all and wondering what you were up to. So, hi, it's lovely to be back!

What's in a name?

Nathalie -- [adjective]: Banshee-like 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Seven random things

1. I hate poor formatting in template documents

2. I throw myself 100% into everything that I do

3. My new favourite album is the new Missy Higgins one. It's great!

4.  I rarely get enough sleep

5. I love T bone steak. I always comes back to food, hey Robbyn!

6. I hate tim tams (choc coated biscuits)

7. I love kitchen gadgets - my new one is a dome shaped tea strainer with a hinged handle, to go with my new tea pot:

DD is growing up

Do you remember when your kids learned to sing "twinkle twinkle little star"? And how cute it was? And how they watched your mouth to help learn the words? These are precious things that are whizzing by at the speed of light.

I went outside on Saturday to take pics of the sky, but ended up taking some of our dear little Scootie instead. I'm glad I did.

When I was home full time with the kids, I would take few pictures every few days or so, but since starting work this is one habit that has fallen by the wayside:

I miss that.

Newspaper ad, part 2

Entitled: Attack of the killer sheep, no less!

You can read the text of the article here.

Can we talk about one more thing before I get back to knitting?

So, I am sitting at my desk on Monday last week, and suddenly I think: "Hey I don't seem to be able to see...". Geez did that freak me out! Anyways,  I called the Hubster, who dropped everything and came and took me to the doctors. Concerned workmates, the full deal.

Do you know where this is head-ing? (Nyuk nyuk)...

Diagnosis Migrane. And from the doctor, a half hour lecture about how to be more organised: buy the kids more clothes and a bigger washing machine and do washing on the weekends and stop trying to do anything during the week. Well, I can tell you, that just is not going to wash (so to speak, nyuk nyuk). Maybe I do need to cut down on stress. I wanted to say "I'm workin' on it, dammit" through gritted teeth. I mean this doctor really made some assumptions about how our lives are set up at the moment. I did not  have the heart to tell her that we still use cloth nappies on DD Caitlyn; or that we only have 1 car...

If you know anything else about Migranes; you'll know that the next thing they will tell you is "no more estrogen". Hmph. Can we all say "cross your legs" together? That thing I said about stress? I'm trying to work on it. Dammit.

The good news is that all the tests came back normal and so did the CT head scan. I've had 2 massages. I have also done a lot of work to set up my workspace in such a way as to minimise eye and neck strain. Things will get easier as time goes by. I feel much more used to this new routine  than when I started back at work. The kids are more settled. I get to exercise, not often, but some days. I am meditating, and listening to  my favourite podcasts more often. I am going to cast on some things for me - big things - lots of things. I take time in the evenings to water the garden with a hose. Time to enjoy the simple things, when its not a work day, like a hot cup of coffee and a modest sleep-in. It will get better, I know. I just think we were never meant to work and parent this way, so isolated from each other and so alone. I'm left with this feeling of how does everybody do this??

Comments welcomed.

Saturday, including sky

First, let me apologise if I owe you an e-mail or comment response. I have a good reason, as the computer was in at the shop Thursday - Saturday. To my shame, I have let the e-mails accumulate and it is not for a lack of tinking about the poeple that email me regualrly, it's simply a lack of time and then, the computer just refused to work at all and decided to try an alternative career as a large white paperweight.

Now, onto the business of the day: Sky!

One of my favourite views of one of the geographical features of the area, with my favourite tree in our garden, a Bangkok Rose.

My dear Husband has finally set aside time to pull apart the kitchen to put in a dishwasher.

Strangley, I'm not feeling scared. Should I be? He has pulled off some enormous renovations in the past. I have every faith in him!

And here he is, hard at work, (and aware his pic is being taken for the blog) in his enormous shed:

Let's all hold our breaths for the "hip hip hooray!"... (And I must say that cooking dinner each night on the BBQ has been just a godsend!)

I also  showed a dear friend and one of our bridesmaids how to knit today. No pics, as I did not to freak her out! She wants to start with a sock, which may sound ambitious to start with. All the same, she  seemed to hold the yarn like a pro, despite not having done it before, and I think she will be a real natural. Will report progress. I got to knit a little on the tweedy sock, but not enough to warrant a photo at this stage.

No sign of the books from the book depository. Have any of you looked at the site? What do you think? I particularly like how you can look at the Amazon site and just go back to their site to compare prices etc.

Hopefully, knitting content tomorrow/ next time. In case time really gets away from me, the blog will be quiet Tuesday & Wednesday as I will be away on a field trip.

Later, dudes and dudettes :)

N + 1

I'm a year older today! I am going to work as well, so if you all leave me a nice comment, then if my day is crap then I have your comment to look forward to!

PS No surprises in the present department. And no yarn. It's a BBQ. Sigh. Don't bag the Hubster out, guys, it was one (of the many) things on my list. Still, I'd prefer a surprise!

These are a few of my favourite things

I love collecting tins. All my knitting bits and pieces are kept in a Darrell Lea chocolate caramels tin with a cow on the lid. You can see it in the recent photos of my coffee knitting table.

Last year, after one of their trips, my Mum and Dad brought home this beauty as a present for me. (And look, she's even knitting a sock - priceless!)

Question is, what have I been keeping inside?
Why, this!

Secret knitting, hidden in plain sight.

You see, another of my favourite things is spoiling my sweetie with handmade presents and remembering the courting anniversaries, like the date of becoming boyfriend and girlfriend, and, of course, Valentine's Day.

Karen and I have been knitting our sweeties a secret pair of chocolate coloured socks; at first they were to be completed by Christmas, but then, as I ran out of time; the deadline was pushed back to Valentines Day.

Sorry, Karen but I ran out of time. 

I know.

Again.

I'm a bad KAL'er.

And a bad sock present knitter.

The navy and lime ones were  "due" for the  Hubster's birthday last October.

Just turns out that trying to knit the chocolate socks in secret with the little 'uns under my feet combined with some other deadline knitting proved to be too much.

I did fill the single sock top with Lindt chocolates (my favourites) and gave  it to the Hubster this morning, regardless. And  he loved them. And he had a big grin on his face. All he says about these kind of things is "No doubt about you" which I take to be a compliment.

So,  there's only one thing left to say: Happy Valentine's Day sweetie!