one knitted beanie

  
Thanks to chunky wool and fat needles, I've finished my beanie already!  Fast projects are the best.  I really could have finished it on Sunday night if I hadn't had so much school work that I had not done for the whole holidays - ahh well, serves me right for procrastinating. 

I had to look up how to cast off and my stitching up the seam isn't very neat but I am not at all concerned by that. I am concerned by the fact that I didn't arrange my beanie for the photo so the seam was hidden but I can't be bothered going and taking another photo now.  One very obvious seam.  Thankfully, this is just a beanie for MR to wear for work.  It doesn't have to be super perfect.

It's a bit long but I made it that way on purpose.  It fits me okay, I'm just covering up my very very red nose from the 9302 tissues that have been used on it today.  Poor nose.  You don't want to see it, believe me.  MR's head is bigger than mine and he shaves it so he likes his beanies to cover ears and go right down to the base of his skull.  Hopefully it is not too tight, which it might be because it is about perfect tightness for my head. 

I did enjoy learning to knit, now I'm ready to learn to knit something that I have to decrease - ooh scary!  But I will wait and see if the beanie fits MR, I might have to make another one yet...

more creativity
 

Day 90

Last night I took my 90th tablet.  Today I had my blood test for my first three monthly checkup.  And tomorrow is the four month anniversary of the day I heard those very unexpected words come out of the doctor's mouth "We think you have Leukaemia." 

Life has not changed very much.  Something you would probably not expect to hear when associated with the word Leukaemia.  Very luckily, I have a form of it that is managed by tablets and seeing as it was caught quite early, should never progress to a stage where I might need chemo or a bone marrow transplant.  Providing I take the drugs properly and don't miss any and that my body responds to them in the way that it should, all should be just as normal.

So far the main changes have been having to take a gigantic tablet every day.  And then getting low potassium and having to take an even more gigantic second tablet each day.  (I'm not doing too good on that front, supposed to take two a day but managing maybe one every second day - they are HUGE)  My white blood cell count has responded really well to the drugs, in fact way too well, and they have gone from 86,000 to at last check about a month ago is only 2200 (it is supposed to be between 4000 and 11,000)  This means I don't have enough good germ fighters and spent the holidays slowly recovering from a cold and cough only to have it come back with a vengeance after two days back at school with snotty children.  I can't really get drunk anymore either, this was tested a week ago when I went out and had five drinks over six hours, with a bush outside the Maccas drive through on the way home copping the results.  On a side note, how embarrassing is it to throw up in public?! Something that hasn't happened since my teenage years.  My sister (who picked me up) thought it was highly amusing.  Thankfully, I am not a huge drinker anyway and I can have one or two and not feel sick so that's not bothering me toooo much. 

I have an appointment in just over two weeks to get the results of my blood test, the first real evidence of whether the drugs are doing their job of killing the leukaemic cells.  I am not too worried, in fact, I am so confident that I booked my appointment for the day before my 30th birthday.  Possibly a bad idea but I am taking the mindset that I will get some really good news for my birthday.  Fingers crossed.

Really though, I still feel like a bit of a fraud.  I don't feel sick.  I don't look sick.  I'm certainly not suggesting that I want to feel or look sick but if I went around telling everyone I have leukaemia I'm sure they would look at me with raised eyebrows.  I don't often talk about it with people who do know (outside of family) because it feels like there is so little to tell and a little bit like it's all just made up in my head.  I'm sure this is me still coming to terms with everything but there you have it.  I haven't rung the Leukaemia Foundation yet either because I feel like I would be wasting their time when they have so many people to help who actually are sick. 

This isn't a fishing for sympathy post, it is just that, at day 90 I feel like I have hit some sort of a milestone and that maybe I should reflect on this.  And also let the world know how proud of myself I am for not missing a single tablet (we'll ignore those potassium ones) in 90 days, no matter how much I gag on them. (I am one of those naughty people who stops taking the antibiotics as soon as she starts to feel better).   I do wonder if I will ever get over my loathing of tablet taking. 
 

Write on Wednesdays #1

  
I've been following a weekly writing meme for a few weeks now, thinking that perhaps I will have a go but still waiting for that prompt that pulled just the right threads of motivation needed to get started.  I used to write a bit, here and there, and have half written children's stories all over the place in various scrapbooks, and one finished one that even got sent to a manuscript assessor a few years ago and has since been sitting around collecting dust.

Today's prompt was a photo, not just any photo but a photo of a tree, I was sold.  I do love trees.  My first thoughts were that there was a little crack down the bottom that looked just like a faerie door and I started my piece with that in mind but it sort of changed around a bit along the way...  It's my first time to join in so go easy on me, but honestly.

Write On Wednesdays Exercise 7 - Sit under a tree and write: Find yourself a quiet spot. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Take a look at Kristy's Tree Photo. Write the first words that come into your head. Keep writing whatever comes into your head. Stop when the buzzer rings. Do this exercise over and over if you wish. If like me, you struggle with visual prompts, perhaps try sitting under a tree to write. I have heard that changing your usual writing place can spark new inspiration. Try it and see. Do both if you please!

...

  

Dawn was breaking outside Woody Nook, the place we had called home for the past year.  I had grown to love our new home, a change from city living, all the lush green surrounding us and only the hoot of the owls to be heard at night.  That morning there were dewdrops on the leaves from the night’s rain and everything was sparkling and new.  A cliché I know but so much more true out in the country and I had never appreciated the saying before. 

I was all ready for the day, seated in my window seat filled with soft cushions, Enya playing on the CD player and a steaming cup of frothy hot chocolate next to me.  I had two options, the latest Maggie Alderson novel or my knitting.  Oh, the decisions.  Really, I thought, I should go for a walk out in the forest.  The sun was shining through the trees and hitting the raindrops still perched on the edges of the leaves drooping around my window sill, making rainbows sparkle around.

Throwing on a cardigan and picking up my mug I discarded the words and the wool and ventured out…
  
  
Thanks for inspiring us all to dust off that corner of our brain filled with stories Gillian from inkpaperpen!  If you are interested in finding out more, head over here to find out.
  

 

Knit, Purl, Increase.

Today at Brown Owls we had a learning to knit meeting.  My Mum came along as the knitting teacher and a couple of others already knew how to knit and were able to help out as well, thankfully because there were a few of us needing plenty of help!

Apparently, (so Mum shared with everyone today) I asked Mum if she could teach me to knit when I was just 2 years old.  Mum told me I could learn when I was 4 and then every month after that I would ask if I was 4 yet.  When I finally reached 4 I didn't want to open my presents, I wanted to learn to knit!  So Mum got out the needles and we sat on my bed in our pyjamas and she taught me.  Apparently I picked it up quite quickly because I had been watching Mum knit for so long, but it obviously didn't stick in the brain very well because I had to relearn it all again today! 

I couldn't remember how to cast on so I relearnt that, remembered how to knit and learnt how to purl and increase.  I'm following this pattern to make a beanie for MR and look how far I got in two and a half hours of knitting, gossiping and eating yummy treats!

I do love learning something new and having some moderate amounts of success at it.  Perhaps it was the four year old knitter in me oozing back up to the surface of my memory...

I've finished all the increases and now I just have to do about five inches of stockingette stitch, which I learned today is a row of purl and then a row of knit repeated.  I want to keep going but I have a bit of school work which really needs to be done before tomorrow... oh so tempting!
  

Decisions, decisions

 

via weheartit

It is just under a month until my 30th birthday.  Back in January this was a very disagreeable thing for me.  There was much denial.  But with all the things that have changed in my life since then, somehow I am much closer to acceptance about the whole deal now.

At this point, I am trying to decide what on earth to do to celebrate my birthday.  A big party is out of the question because I just don't have enough friends.  So I am playing with other ideas in my head. 

A bbq at my place with a small selection of friends.
A dinner out somewhere with friends and family.
A girlie pyjama pamper party at my place with someone coming to give us a massage and a pedicure with just my closest pals.
Just two quiet family dinners.
Nothing. 

I just can't decide.

It will be the middle of August so not exactly outdoor bbq weather. 
A dinner out at a restaurant sounds nice but do I invite my parents as well or just friends? My parents have not spoken to or seen each other for over ten years and Dad still refers to Mum as 'your mother' so I don't know that I want to deal with any fallout from that on my birthday (although after that the next time they have to see each other will be either my wedding or when I have a child, whichever comes first, so either way I'll still be the one having to deal with it)
Pyjama pamper party would be fun but somewhat costly.
Family dinners is what we have every year, out for dinner at a restaurant with Dad, dinner with Mum at her place. Same old same old.

It's a big number and I didn't do anything for my 21st (apart from the family dinners) so I should do something to celebrate but what?!  Also, MR won't be here for my birthday but will get home from work two days later so will be there for the birthday weekend.

Did you do something for your 30th?  Do you wish you did something as opposed to nothing?  Have you been to an awesome 30th and have some ideas for me?  All advice gladly accepted!
 

 

Look, a room!

Well, wonders of wonders I have a room clean and tidy enough to show you!*

And perfect timing, our new rug for the the lounge room came today.  On a side note, when I say rug, do you think of a smaller measurement of carpet for the floor or do you think of a throw rug for the couch?  I can't seem to call it a mat because then it feels like I am at school and saying 'sit on the mat' to my students.  And a mat is thinner (in my mind) this one is nice and thick and plush and squooshy.  I have tested it out with bare feet (briefly, before jumping back into the uggies).  Anyhow, back to the lounge room.  It is not finished my any means and needs a lot more colour injected into it but at least it is presentable.

 Lovely recliner couches, the big one is a a 2.5 seater and the two sections are really wide and both recline.  MR insisted on recliner, I insisted that no one had to miss out on reclining action.  I don't like it when only half the couch reclines.  Our new grey rug, hard to see but it has little dots, plain but not too plain.  My cheapy teal herringbone throw rug from coles for $15, how could I resist and a cushion I made last year. 

Please ignore the mess on the bottom shelf of the coffee table (an Ikea one left over from my old place until we can afford/find a new one) and the calendar picture of a snake which I am pretending is a lizard.  All the other months have lovely green rainforest type pictures.  Stupid snake. Need to find a new home to hang the calendar.

 

My first ever piece of original one of a kind art work.  Its a tissue paper, paint and charcoal collage, I love it! I got it for my birthday a couple of years ago from MR.  It doesn't fit in with the colour scheme but it is awaiting a new hook somewhere where it does fit.  (Notice a trend with the randomly hung things on the wall?)

 The requisite for a boys house, a humongous tv and sound system.  And a car.

 

We got these owls on our trip down south to Denmark at the beginning of the year.  They are handcrafted in WA woods.  Hopefully one day they will signify our little family.

 

This box was made my MR's grandad.  Very clever.

So there you have it, one presentable room.  Hopefully in the coming months there will be much more to show off, next week I should have a dining room photo to display after some more new furniture got snuck into the house yesterday as a surprise for MR when he is home next week.




* We'll stay quiet about the fact it is only clean and tidy because my new cleaner came for the first time today and I had to tidy up enough for her to clean...

Getting ready

Yesterday I got myself ready for this month's Brown Owls, which is on this Sunday.  We're having a knitting day and hopefully learning enough to follow a simple beanie pattern.  As you can see, we're going the chunky wool and fat needles option for easiness and more importantly, speedy crafting!  I got my lovely bamboo needles and chunky wool from Wooly Lattes, the needles were on sale for $5!

I've hooked up a few more big pink granny squares as well this week while watching Lie To Me on dvd, such a fascinating show, I find it so interesting I forget to crochet because I am too involve trying to pick the facial  expressions.  The count (of the squares) is now up to 16 and a half and I need 30.  So I'd say I'm maybe a third of the way, just?  (edited to point out that I do know my maths, I'm just taking into consideration all the joining together of the squares as well!! Honest!)

I've also done a bit of dabbling in graphic design, but not really because I used picnik, and whipped up this little flyer for our Brown Owls group.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out but I reckon picnik needs to do a sewing/craft theme of stamps and stuff, that would have been awesome!  On retrospect, I should have made the owl brown but oh well.

Today's plan (for the afternoon) is to get head down bum up into some school work.  Planning for next term.  What fun.  I'm being filmed a bit over the first three weeks doing my teaching thing for a course my school is running in language programs.  I am Really. Looking. Forward. To. It. (Where is that sarcastic font when you need it?)  I hate being filmed.  Fingers crossed I don't have to see the footage.  Eugh.  I want to be really organised so I don't freak out (which I'm sure I will do anyhow).

I'm off to explore the other creative spaces until afternoon kicks in and school work beckons.  Afternoon doesn't start til 2pm right??
 

The difference a year makes

via bahilkes42 on dailybooth

Back then I was in a very bad place emotionally, I was incredibly lonely and had no social group to rely on.  I look back now and wonder how I managed for the last 2 years.  I was in Limbo.  No way to move forward in any way.  The thought of going out socially left me shaking inside, anxiety levels skyrocketing. Heart wrenching tears at not feeling capable of conversing with aquaintances, of trying to make new friends.  Very low self esteem at my inability to make friends.  Was I boring? Weird? Unfriendly? A loser?

Now I am in a better place emotionally, I have friends around me, my family is close by, I have a home of my own with my wonderful partner.  My life is moving forward.  I have both joined groups and started a group, I do pilates, I try new things, I meet new people.  I have been out to places with people I have never met, with people I met at work, with my hairdresser.  I have not felt anxious, threatened, incapable or loser-ish.  I have made the beginnings of some new friendships.  I have accepted invitations and not cancelled last minute.  I have enjoyed myself while I was out.

I am learning to deal with a slightly different way of living with this Leukaemia thing.  And I am finding adjusting to that, the medical label now hanging over my head and what it means for my future a million times easier than it was to go out and talk to people where I was living this time last year.  To me, that says a great deal.  Not about me but about where I was.  I just did not fit in.  It was not me.  I can honestly say I tried.  I was there for a few months short of five years.  The horrible feelings grew slowly as the feeling of lonliness increased year after year.

I am not an emotional wreck from Loserville after all.  I have shed that suffocating skin.

I am happy.  I am my old optimistic self.

It's good to be back.

 

Tick tock

  
I've been making a little list (which is really not so little) of things we need for our home.  Not the big things like furniture, which has a separate and way-too-long-unless-we-win-lotto list, but the little things.

Like a full length mirror for behind our bedroom door.  Over the door hooks for my dressing gown, a square pillow for the European pillowcase I bought for the bed in the guest room, bedside lamps for our room and the guest room, a bamboo ladder to prop up in the walk in robe for scarves and belts, a clock for the kitchen.

The previous owners left their old clock here.  It is bronze rimmed and pale gold coloured face.  On a brick background.  We are not fans of it. But where do you find a nice clock?

I turned to etsy and felt (madeit was sadly lacking) for help because all I can find in the shops are basic plain or over the top fancy ones.  I want a nice one, maybe in blue but perhaps in white seeing as a search for blue didn't turn up very much at all, that is not too ostentatious or too boring.  A bit of a feature for our bricked kitchen walls.

 From L-R, top - bottom: plateclocks on felt, ArtisEverything, Making Time TC, 

uncommon, earthwood designs, uncommon,

Making Time TC, ArtisEverything, Making Time TC

My favourite is the tiny scalloped duck egg blue one which at 18cm is a bit small for the kitchen but is just perfect for the craft room...  (pencils in 'clock for the craft room' on home bits and pieces shopping list)

Have you got a lovely clock?  Where did you get it from?  Do you have any really good clock shopping links or locations for me?
  

The Nose Has It

How much do smells rule your life?

The ones we love, the ones we hate.

For me, the most wonderful smells revolve around food.  I do love my food.  There's the usual suspects in the love column - freshly baked bread, a roast cooking in the oven, garlic, a baking cake.  But I do have one strange one, I'm interested to see if anyone else is as obsessed with this smell as I am... fresh parsnip.  I used to work in a fruit shop when I finished high school and when the crate of parsnips came off the truck the cool room would smell so so very delightful for the next few hours.  These days, whenever I peel a parsnip I always (and MR will attest to this) hold up the parsnip to my nose after peeling it and stand there inhaling its fresh aroma for a good thirty seconds with an expression of bliss on my face.  Odd, I know.  It's not a childhood thing, I don't remember ever being served parsnip as a child but I just love the smell of it. 

And then those smells that I cannot stand.  The food ones (because there would just be too many otherwise).  Cooking mushrooms.  Yeuch.  Dad used to do a big mushroom fry up in the kitchen, filling the frying pan with just mushrooms.  The whole house would Stink.  For Hours. Raw meat sometimes has a very unpalatable odour (and I can't stomach eating lamb that tastes like the smell of a shearing shed)  Coffee is another thing I cannot stand the smell (or taste) of.  And burnt toast makes my nose crinkle.

What about you?  What foods do you love the smell of? What can you not stand?  And do you just love the smell of a freshly peeled parsnip? 
 
 
 
 
NB.  I am cooking a lamb rack roast tonight with, you guessed it, parsnip.  Tonight's raw meat smelled very oddly of coconut.  That's a first for me. 
 

Childhood delights

Tell me, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of what should be at a fun day for kids?

My Dad has organised a kids fun day for a company as a fundraiser for his Rotary Club.

He has done a great job organising everything for the day even though he is well out of the vibe with what kids do in this day and age as neither my sister or I have any kids yet.  Unfortunately he forgot just one essential thing.

My sister and I are going along to help out manning a stall and were talking about it tonight over dinner.

I said, "Oooh, I'm soooo going to get my face painted!"

To which Dad replied "There won't be any face painting.  Hrm. Didn't think of that"

Oh No!  Can't have a kids event without face painting.  (Because then the big kids at heart will be devo at missing out on joining in the fun)

But am I right?  Face painting is a neccessity at these sort of things yes?

Or if no, what do you think a kid's day wouldn't be a kid's day without?

This week I'm grateful for...

 via

... Holidays.

With the many subcategories of...

- sleep ins

- pyjamas and snuggly dressing gowns

- time with my man

- winter sunshine

- NCIS season 7 on dvd while seated on our amazing and wonderfully comfortable recliner couch that in hindsight was well and truly worth waiting ten weeks for it to arrive

- banana splits (with caramel sauce and lots of crushed nuts of course) and introducing MR to the absolute wonderfulness of them (he had never had one before!?)

- sherbet fountains for a bit lot of sugary childhood delight

- books to lose myself in once MR went back to work

- cuddles with my meow


so much to be happy about and grateful for!

 

Books vs Movies

 via weheartit

I know this is an age old argument but I much prefer books to movies.  I particularly don't like watching movies of books I have enjoyed enough to reread many times.  I understand that you can't fit a whole book into a 3 hour time slot and bits have to be cut but it's when they change very minor details that they really didn't need to change that I get grumpy.  I really am not the person to be watching a book-movie with, I would annoy you greatly. Little things like using a chain in the movie when in the book it was a rope (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).  Or giving a character blonde hair when in the movie she has black (The Golden Compass/Northern Lights).  It bugs me.

I saw the first Harry Potter movie at the cinema and I haven't chosen to watch one since.  I have seen bits and pieces of some of the other ones at friends' houses when they were watching it or when it was on TV and I was flicking channels.  With all the Harry Potter hype at the moment with the last movie coming out I have no desire to watch the movie but have instead started to reread the books.  I haven't reread them since the last book came out, so a while now.

They are still just as good.  Each time I read them I think about how much planning JK Rowling must have already done because there are things in the first book which don't become relevant until book five, six or even seven.  I love it.

Are there any movies you won't watch because you don't want to ruin the book?  What do you think is the best book-movie adaptation?  I quite enjoyed The Lord of the Rings trilogy and had read that series many many times before seeing the movie.  Although, there was some spectacular eye candy in those movies to take my mind off silly mistakes/details being left out.

Yesterday

I spend Summer hiding from the sweltering heat of the sun and Winter searching for moments to bask in its gentle rays of warmth.

There really is nothing quite like that moment in the middle of Winter when you are outside and it is sunny.  And you have nowhere else to be.

Yesterday, MR and I went to the Swan Valley (just a 15 minute drive away for us) and had lunch at Cape Lavendar.  We sat outside and basked.  It was glorious.  I should have taken a photo but I was too busy enjoying being warm, eating yummy food and spending time with my fabulous man. 

We stopped in at the Chocolate Factory for a few tasty little delights to nibble on for dessert and at Yahava Koffeeworks for a coffee for MR (his favourite brand of coffee).  And the whole time the sun shone.  And a few fluffy white clouds meandered across the sky.

Delightful.

pottering around

Today I am all over the shop.  There are attempts at some creativity in the kitchen, some massacring in the garden and some dreaming of future creativity

I have been in the kitchen baking anzac biscuits for MR which unfortunately turned out more like an anzac slab.  He likes them soft so I put in a bit of extra butter and golden syrup - turns out a bit too much.  But the slab was nice and soft and chewy and I just cut it into squares, thank goodness for unfussy boys.  I sent them back to site with him in a takeaway container with a little letter written on the cardboard inside of the foil lid for him to find when he opens them up.

I have been outside in the garden, removing a very annoying purple daisy type flowered plant that is trying to take over the garden, both back and front.  I pruned it back a while ago and then it rained and all these little baby ones sprouted up from around where I had pruned.  So this time I took out the whole plant in the front, the one in the back gets to stay for a bit longer, mainly because the rubbish bin is now full.  I am thinking of planting some everlasting in their place but I have a feeling it is a bit late.

I have also been dreaming about fabric combinations, in preparation for this course that I just signed up for in an effort to motivate me to use my sewing machine more often than never.  We will be making a table runner, placemats and napkin rings.  I'm looking forward to getting the 'book list' of what we need fabric wise so I can go shopping, both in my stash and in the shops for some pretty fabrics.  I'm thinking of a white, blue and grey/silver theme...

I've also been thinking of what I want to achieve with the last ten days of my holidays.  I think a list is in order!

More successful and photo ridden creative spaces here
 

grumpola chops

the original grumpola chops, my meow, queen of instant grump.

I woke up today feeling grumpy.

Goodness knows why, it's the first day of the school holidays and MR is home.

Really, it's quite ridiculous to be feeling grumpy and to make matters worse I'm adding to it by getting grumpy about being grumpy.

I've been trying to become ungrumpy but so far there's been not a lot of success.  I'm about to have a bit of quiet reading time and if that doesn't work maybe I'll do some baking, that often tends to be a good mood improver for me. 

Although, I'm thinking the best solution may just be to stuff the first two options and just go for option three, which is have a nap.

How do you get out of a grumpybum mood?

Finished!

 

Slightly pre emptive here, I'm not quite finished, I still have about 10 ends left to sew in, but close enough and by the end of tonight's tv it will be done!

  

I was aiming for a unisex sort of colour scheme but it's still ended up looking a bit boyish which is a pity because it turned out that it is for a baby girl.  Her Mum is not a girly girl though so I'm hoping she likes it.

 

I had a go at using Attic24's scalloped edging tutorial which was very easy to follow and just adds the nice little finishing touch that I felt the blanket was needing.

  

I'm pretty happy with it, and I'm even happier that I finished a crochet project because I have 3 or 4 other crochet things sitting in various states of incompleteness in boxes in my craft room.

  

 

more creative spaces here

 

Cleverly dropped pointed comments

 via weheartit

On the weekend I was talking to MR on the phone and telling him about an annoying thing that happened at school last week with my principal.  He told me that I needed to tell her I was annoyed by what she did because otherwise she would never realise/improve.  

His example was "What if I told you that your housekeeping skills weren't very good?" Of course, I immediately went into defensive sooky mood because my housekeeping skills are not just not very good but are really rather dreadful.  After listening to me sook about being sorry I am a crappy cleaner and organiser and tell him that he knew I was well before we moved in together and I had just been so tired lately, he eventually got out of me "that 'if' he told me that I would want to improve" (and hence I should tell my principal that I didn't like how she did something).  

So of course,  now that he was very sneaky and clever to use that as his 'example', I feel like I have been told that and I feel like the most slovenly person ever and want to improve and for him to come home to a home that does not resemble a war zone.  No doubt this will not last, but I'm determined that when he comes home this Friday that he will be able to look around and see evidence of unpacking and organising and cleaning.  

And then I shall demand that he takes me out to dinner as a reward.  Really, I would work well with a sticker chart on the fridge, I'm such a child.

So to assist in this urge to impress on MR that I can actually keep a house tidy and relatively clean (occasionally, when I put my mind to it) I have decided that, starting yesterday, each day I am home before 5.30, I will set the oven timer (because I just worked out how to use it finally) for one hour and for that one hour I must either clean, unpack or organise unpacked homeless stuff.  Yesterday I spent it doing washing, unpacking boxes of picture books and sorting through them to make a stack of ones I don't want to keep and moving things off a bookshelf in the lounge room that were put there when we moved in but really belong in the craft room.  Today I got in washing and put it all away, put the books to keep onto the bookshelf, did the dishes, sorted through some paperwork and tidied the bedroom.

I'm hoping my motivation stays strong for tomorrow because Wednesday is pilates so I won't be home before 5.30.

Have you ever had something like that happen to you?  A comment phrased in a way that you couldn't get offended/too upset about, or have you ever successfully done it to someone else?

 

And do you have any reallllly good tips on how to keep me organised?

 

Inch by inch

With all the rain Perth has been getting over the last few weeks my vegetables have been growing well beyond millimetre by millimetre or centimetre by centimetre (plus, inch by inch is waaaay quicker to say) 

In the last two months my tomatoes and snow peas have gone from this...

to this!

there are lots of green tomatoes of various sizes and about 4 orangey red ones, not long now til the first one gets popped in my mouth straight off the plant!

 

and the snow peas are creeping up fast, no flowers yet but I have my fingers crossed.

I love looking at how the tendrils curl around whatever's available.

Have you got any winter veggies growing?  How are yours coming along?