Saturday, December 15, 2012

I want to feel giddy.

(webnob.jp)

I have said before that,
apart from the inexorable progression towards death,
I am comfortable with getting older.

I am 44 next month
which I guess pretty much places me in the "mid forties" category.
It doesn't mean much more to me than turning 43 did.
I have more grey hairs, 
I am a bit more saggier and baggier than last year,
and I suspect, judging by the increased effort required by my knees for some Zumba moves,
my joints certainly feel like like they are 44,
if not older.

But you know what?
I am missing those giddy feelings.

Those feelings of your tummy churning, your heart racing,
maybe your cheeks flushing as you breathe a little bit faster.
I am not talking about menopausal feelings.
I am talking about those times where, at least just for a moment, you feel just so happy to be alive
and that all is good with the world.

They are different for everyone.
Sometimes they are big moments.
Sometimes just tiny ones.

That moment  when someone you had a crush on held your hand
or someone you loved kissed you
for the very first time.

The day you opened the envelope to find good exam results
or the offer for that job that you really wanted.

The time you stood at the top of the bridge ready to bungee jump.

That first glimpse of your spouse-to-be on your wedding day.

The time you finally found the best coffee gelati in the world. 

The moment you shared with your partner when that little baby arrived in your life.

Those giddy times are often first times.
But I have realised recently how much less frequent they are as you get older.

Weeing on a stick and waiting to see if you really have a little person growing inside you makes you giddy
but taking a sample to check your bowel health isn't.

Writing the guest list for your 21st or your wedding day fills you with oh-so-much anticipation.
but designing invites for your 50th birthday isn't quite as euphoric.

Breast-feeding your little one at 2am when the rest of the world seems to be asleep
fills your heart with love.
Helping your children deal with life and its stresses
fills you with worry.

A friend of mine,
a lady of similar age with young children,
has just been diagnosed with cancer.

I am pissed off with the world in general right now.
This is happening to someone young and someone who is one of the good people in this world
and it shits me at how unfair it is.

I have realised that there are going to be more times like this in my future
and that these moments are more than likely going become more frequent.

I know that there are still giddy times ahead.

A lot will be the firsts as a parent as my children grow and blossom
and make their own way, discover their own tummy-churning moments.

But they wont be so many of them
and they wont all be my own
and maybe they need to be sought out.

But I am going to embrace them and cherish each and every one of them.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Spam. Keeping life interesting.


Little Boozle 2012

From my in-box this week:


Dear Sir/Madam,
Good day, Hope you will be fine. We visit your website and its come to our knowledge that you are dealing in Boxing Equipment and Martial Arts so we  would like to introduce our company xxxxxxxxxx  as one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of high quality products of Boxing Gloves, MMA Gloves, Boxing Mitts, Kicking Shields,  Fighting Gloves, coaching Gloves, Punching Mitts, Punching Bags, Thai Pads, Speed Balls, Kick Boxing, and Thai Boxing,  Martial Arts,  Mix Martial Arts Equipments. For more details please visit our website xxxxxxxxxxxx.
We are really interested to start business relationship with your company so we can supply you best quality products with rock bottom prices to penetrate your local market.
Being a self manufacturer we can modify products as per your needs.  If you have any new design we welcome you, and will fulfill all of your needs under your target prices.
If you can give us a chance to be your suppliers we shell appreciate you, please feel free to write us all of your questions and inquiries.
Awaiting your earliest reply, thanks.
Kind Regards,
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Little Boozle 2012

Yes indeedy.

Little Boozle 2012


A whoooooole lotta chat about boxing and martial arts going on in this neck of  the woods.

Little Boozle 2012

...So I  was headed out with my kime bag the other day
when some idiot chototsu-ed me and I had to stop for a suwate and a kyeshi
before I hit him in the mata...

 
Little Boozle 2012

That should get the spammers excited...

Oh and the knitted scarf -for those of you who aren't here to discuss boxing and the like-
is Sugared Violets- Rose Beck- Rav here)

Friday, October 12, 2012

Love is...



(themorleyreport.com)


...never having to say that you are sorry
for biffing your husband over the head with a blunt instrument
when he asks you for your support in facing the dire reality of his first grey hair.
(that would be asking support from the same wife who stopped counting hers a few years back when she hit grey #735
and has been budgeting for hair dyes ever since)

Toughen up, princess.


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The moonlighting navigator

USA Sept Oct 2012

When hubby and I travelled around Europe in an old Combie van in 2001,
I had not yet become a knitter.
He was designated driver and I was designated navigator.
No GPS or the like.
A good old fashioned map book and off we went.

Even without the distraction of crafting in the front passenger seat,
I will admit to a "few" uptight and I might say rather terse moments during those 7 months
when Mr Boozle had NFI where we were going
and neither did his navigator.

Who would have thought Lyon, France, could be such a pain in the butt to navigate?

This time around, Mr Boozle was again designated driver.
(Designated by me.
No way I was driving a 29 foot RV on the wrong side of hilly, windy roads
with 3 children in the back)

That left me to navigate.
Just me and the GPS from hell (but that is another story)

So I carefully chose a relatively mindless project for our recent RV holiday.
Just my favourite colours.
A simple repeating pattern.
No sharp needles with which to stab the driver in an impetuous moment of nagivation rage.

A crocheted blanket.

It filled in those driving hours and those quiet early morning hours.
(For some reason I was bright eyed and bushy tailed between 5 and 6 most mornings)

So I present...The evolution of My Very Excellent USA RV Adventure blanket.
(More on Rav here)

blog 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012 607 (Small)

USA Sept Oct 2012 777

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

Las Vegas- Zion Canyon- Bryce Canyon- Capitol Reef- Canyonlands- Moab-Arches National Park- Mesa Verde- Canyon de Chelle- Petrified Forest National Park- Sedona- Grand Canyon National Park- Route 66- Las Vegas

Little Boozle 2 2012 056 (Small)

I started the day that we picked up our RV
and finished the morning that we dropped it back.
The 4 hour car ride from Vegas to LA
was spent "therapeutically" darning in the ends.

Little Boozle 2 2012 058 (Small)

Now if I can keep those sharp-clawed moggies away from it,
I have a blanket to keep me warm
and to remind me of an amazing holiday for years to come.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The bear is back from his travels...

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

IMG_1434

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

USA Sept Oct 2012

...and so are we.

(More to follow once I have caught up on sleep and washing)

Friday, August 31, 2012

Bear necessities

blog 2012

Interesting priorities emerge as packing for an overseas holiday for a family of five
draws closer.

Mr Boozle is reaching for his bike riding gear as his first priority,
practically salivating at the thought
of tearing wildly down mountainsides in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon.
(Yes, we have travel insurance...
though I reckon there is a clause which prevents middle aged men hurting themselves
doing stupid things from making a claim)

Eldest of the Boozle offspring is working out which books will
give him the most hours of reading time
and how many we can put on an e-reader.

blog 2012

Middle Boozle child has been persuaded that his rock collection
is perhaps not needed,
which is more than I can say for the littlest,
who is, at this point in time, insisting on packing her maracas.

(As you do when you are five apparently)

My first packing priority,
even before knitting,
(Yes, let me repeat that:
Even. Before. Knitting)

JS is a little bear that I bought from a Finnish kiosk in 1987
when I was an exchange student.

He is my travelling buddy.
My other travelling companions may fluctuate
but he is consistently by my side
(well, in my luggage)

He is a great companion.
Not too big, not too small.
Doesn't snore or fart or have toilet emergencies.
Doesn't complain about being snuck into hand luggage 
rather than getting his own seat.
Doesn't whinge or demand lollies or constantly ask
"Are we there yet?

He has climbed the Eiffel Tower and walked up to the Colosseum.
He has seen St Paul's cathedral and the gondolas in Venice.
He has seen Barcelona and the Norwegian Fjords.
Indeed, he has backpacked around Greece
and Combi-vanned around Europe.

He has been to numerous family visits home,
sewing weekends,
hospital visits,
school reunions.
You name it.

And, as a true cliche, he gets his photo taken whenever he comes across a famous land mark.
He has been photographed with the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Big Ben.
Amongst our (still yet to be sorted) 2001 overseas photos,
he was with us every step of the way.

So Jean Sibelius is my first priority.
He is out and waiting patiently.

blog 2012

Now, onto my knitting...

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Meat for non-vegetarians

blog 2012

I wouldn't make a good vegetarian.
I am a butcher's daughter and I don't like mushrooms. 
Not a good start.

If you don't like meat recipes, look away now.

This is seriously good.
I used to make it a lot when hubby and I were D.I.N.K.S,
before we lost our enjoyment and passion for cooking
as seems to happen when you are needing to feed 3 children
and try to get at least 2 out of 3 of them to eat what you are cooking.

I am a have-to-have-precise-amounts of ingredients kind of gal
If you are too,
tough cheddar.
You will have to forgive me as this is a throw-in-to-taste recipe.

BEST EVER THAI BRAISED LAMB SHANKS

Season Frenched (or not) lamb shanks with salt and pepper
then seal in a hot pan and remove.
(I don't use salt at this point as the later sauces 
cover any salt cravings)

Cook in a large pan:

chopped onions
chopped garlic
julienned ginger
whole chilli, sliced in half
chopped coriander roots
Stem of lemon grass, edge chopped

Add oyster sauce and ketjap manis
(lots)
(and then some more)

Return shanks to pot.

Add chicken stock and kaffir lime leaves.

Cover and cook an hour till tender
(I cook for hours.
I have tried this in a slow cooker and it doesn't work as well.
Best on the stove top)

Serve with rice (or even mashed spuds)

I serve with a side dish of stir fried healthy things 
like snow peas, capsicum, bok choy, baby corn etc.

blog 2012

Sorry that you can't photograph taste.
Lamb shanks are not the most photogenic food in the world.
They have a face only a mother shank could love
but man, they taste mighty fine.

Enjoy!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Green.

Little Boozle 2 2012

Unpicking seams and re-sewing a green op shop dress so that it fits.

Little Boozle 2012

Knitting more hats.
(Rikke hat- Sarah Young. Rav'd here)

Little Boozle 2 2012

Finally finishing a green skirt cut out months ago.
(Nicole Mallalieu's A Line skirt.
Fabulous pattern)

Little Boozle 2 2012

Sewing granny squares instead of crocheting them for a change.
(Ottobre women's tee 303)

Little Boozle 2012

Wearing my hat-that-looks-suspiciously-like-a-snail-having-a-snooze-on-my-head.
Cos everyone needs a hat that looks like a snail, right?
(Slouchy beehive hat- Flora Cheung- Rav'd here.)

Little Boozle 2 2012

Making clothes for holidays in the American desert.
(Hot Pattern's Cool, Calm and Cowl necked top)

Little Boozle 2 2012

Knitting a green jumper with lush, lime-ish yarn
that is beautiful to wear.
(Chandail cardigan- Triona Murphy. Rav'd here.)

I like green. 



Thursday, August 16, 2012

This week..16th August, 2012...Oh, who am I kidding?

This month...the past 4 weeks...

...My children are being overly gracious and very forth coming
with their "thank you"s for taxi driving them,
letting them go to the school disco
and even for their dinner.
All that whinging about not being appreciated
seems to have finally paid off.

JAS 2012

...We can attest that yes, indeed, live in Australia
and kangaroos will hop down the city streets.
Well, at least, koalas might climb (and pee in) your gum tree.

Little Boozle 2012

Little Winifred tunic-
Sarah Ronchetti

...Doing Zumba with a chair somehow makes me feel like I am pole dancing

...I am wondering if you can get banned from entering California if you arrive
with tan-free legs.

(mirror.co.uk)

...My oldest asked "Who won the Olympic Games?"
It is so good to see the end of that stupid Olympic Medal tally
where nothing counts but how many gold have been won.
How can society and the media dare make these athletes who are the best in their countries and the world
feel like a failure because they haven't won an Olympic medal,
let alone a gold one?

blog 2012

blog 2012

...I went on my annual interstate road trip
complete with op shopping, loads of wine and chocolate,
late nights and the company of gorgeous like-minded crafters.

(creativequiltkits.com)

...I am bemused that a fabric line called "Down Under" (Mint Blosssom Studio) has prints of  Kiwis
and, according to one review,  "spiny ant-eaters" on it.

(uncrate.com)

...the more that I think about my family in a 30 foot RV travelling around the Grand Canyon,
the more I worry that we will end up channelling the Griswolds from a National Lampoon's Vacation movie.

Little Boozle 2012

Liesl cardigan-
Ysolda Teague

...I finally beat my nemesis in the knitting pattern world
but I never want to make it again.

Little Boozle 2012

Little Boozle 2012
Funky Pants- Crafty Mamas

...I have been sewing. Lots.

...School bullies suck
and I want to take my beautiful boy,
smother him with hugs
and turn back time
so that he (and I) don't have to face the crap that comes with growing up
out there in the big, wide world just yet.