Yarnivorous

G'day all! What a fun time I've had recently!  I think I shall just launch into the current excitement.  Be warned, it is long, rambly and whiny.  TL;DR?  I'm whiny and pretty much housebound after weird allergy crap occurred and I can't do much knitting and my voice is shot. My tomatoes!  So proud of them :-) Friday I went to the doctor cos my sinus weirdness has not cleared up after two weeks (flying and many altitude changes may not have helped).  She prescribed antibiotics (ones I've taken before) and a nasal spray. After that, I took the car to the dealer to get a software module upgraded in line with a recall (stability control could fail on full steering wheel lock - not when you want it to go!).  They said it would be ready in about four hours, so I skipped off down the street (not literally).  I walked sedately, watching the pavement because the footpaths and sidewalks in Seattle can leave something to be desired. I love Rud...

G'day all! Well things continue on their craptastic way here.  It never rains but it pours.  We are expecting some not particularly happy-making news.  Once any and all of it happens, it will probably be a relief! (I feel a bit like the harbour seal on the left of the pic - no matter how high I hike myself up, I just keep getting inundated) I'm underinspired and quite frankly lonely.  In the last week, I've talked to my MiL on the phone and Nathan and to my workmates and bosses on the phone (thank you MiL and bosses for helping sort some of the crazy).  That is it.  I didn't really talk to anyone on Friday night because I was knackered.  It appears I have a pelvic infection.  I'm now on antibiotics and am regaining energy.  We usually have breakfast with a couple of Nathan's workmates on the weekend but we didn't have breakfast with either of them.  (Nathan had breakfast with some people he jams with.) (Boom, crash!  NB th...

G'day all! I've been walking a lot recently. I walked more than 7km on Saturday and Sunday and about 5km yesterday, and only 3.4km today. Today was a work day. Oh, but we will go for a walk soon and it will be about 2.5km or maybe more. I have decided I am in training for the Mother's Day Classic. I think Australia follows the US date for Mother's Day (second Sunday in May) (yes?). The MDC is a fundraiser for breast cancer research. As you very probably know, breast cancer is a subject very close to my heart (ok, it was the right boob but that is still pretty close). Plus my MiL was treated 10 years ago and my aunt died of breast cancer 20.5 years ago. Treatment for BC, or most cancers for that matter, tends to be a crap shoot - they blast the thing with whatever shotgun treatments they have (chemo, radiotherapy) and hope for the best. There are specific treatments for hormone responsive BC but they follow or are concurrent with the shotgun approach. Some chem...

G'day all! I cracked it today. All week I have been cleaning, cooking, cleaning up after cooking, managing to get work done in between shopping trips (we have cutlery and crockery here and a chopping board and one good knife and some utensils and pots/pans but no mixing bowls or stuff like that - the accessories), I've been encouraging DH through doubts and fears, I've worked like a navvy. I've dragged loads of shopping back from the shops at the other end of Glebe Point Road (and whilst it is technically is only 1.7km, or a mile away, but it is mostly downhill on the way there and uphill on the way back and on the way back is when the trolley weighs a bit. (better than having to carry it all myself though!) Today I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen - we were going to have a guest and I wanted it to be nice for him. We had breakfast out with some of Nathan's workmates and oh gosh, dullsville! They were excited about what they were talking about but they are co...

G'day all! Why is it the closer we get to the deadline, the further away the finish seems to be? I have been jointing plasterboard (drywall) for two weeks now. You would not think we have so many joints to be done but they keep on appearing. It takes three days for each joint - two of undercoat, one of top coat then they have to be sanded. I can't find a mask that fits me well so I will end up with silicosis at this rate... The house renovations are consuming pretty much every spare minute I have. Once in a while I get to knit or sew, like tonight when I decided that I needed to sew whilst DH and his friend tried to play The Swan (slightly beyond the friend's ability to play sweetly at this stage but practice will improve things). I have almost finished a new cardigan, short sleeved of course, just in time for the weather cooling down. Then again, we are moving to Sydney soon and it will probably be warmer there. Tomorrow I have to go back to the lymphodema clinic cos...

G'day all! Anyone got any suggestions for some good escapist stuff? I've found I am spending a lot of time online trying to escape from a half renovated house that has stuff everywhere. Yes I should be working on getting more of it done but y'know what? I'm knackered (aka very tired). I'm sick of it. I've had enough. I've been living with a kitchen that has a chopping board of bench space for 8 months now. My husband has the idea that I will magically make him yummy and nutritious meals in a kitchen that he "can't stand working in." I have no idea why he thinks it is ok for me to struggle but not him! (When I ask him, he says "Because you are good at that." "Because you cope with things better than I do.") Plus I feel totally ripped off by our lousy summer. Feb is usually one of our sunniest months, and we got almost 1.5 hours less direct sunshine each day than average. We've just had two whole days of no sun at a...

G'day all! You would think I had gone hog wild spending waaay too much or something over the last few days. I am having an attack of the guilts. I bought too many calendars (two for home, one for work, one as a gift and two wee baby ones that called to me, Lynne, Lynne, take us home! My goodness I am a sucker for a calendar at 40 or 50% off! I mostly do landscape calendars but quirky ones take my eye too. I bought two dresses and one skirt (cost me less than $100). I insured the car for third party property, fire and theft (umm $350 or $450? More than what the car is probably worth but if I run into a ferarri or a light pole, well we have to pay for it if we don't have car insurance). (In Victoria, every car has to have third party personal insurance - it is part of the registration fee. Our rego fee is over $500pa but for that we get no fault insurance for damage we do to other people or they do to us. We do not have to have property/car insurance - that is up to us t...

G'day all! As a born and bred Melburnian, I reserve the right to: whine about the weather happily (or not depending on my team 's winning status) discuss footy whine about the weather have the weather be the major topic of conversation lust after things I can't get in Melbourne (though it is a city of about 4 million people, we don't get the things that Americans take for granted and of course we want, ignoring our own local versions of said things) moan about the weather I think you get the picture! Earlier in the week, it was lovely and warm, if a little windy. On Wednesday storms pushed through. Yesterday was windy but not too bad (as long as having things blowing away in the wind is ok). Today? It has not stopped raining all day. We've *only* had nearly an inch since 9am but OMG! Over it already! Tanks are full, rain rain go away, come again some other day! (Haha, since I wrote this, it has stopped raining. The sun of course went down an hour ago.) I...

G'day all! I am bopping around to the happy tune of "My Sharona" done with new words. Yes, indeedy, I have a seroma (an accumulation of lymph/extracellular fluid that accumulates in empty spaces where tissue used to be) in my armpit. Most armpits curve inwards, mine bulges outwards. It is rather uncomfortable. It feels very like when your clothes bunch in your armpit, only you can't just pull the offending sleeve out or take that item off. It does rather hurt sometimes. Last night I had to sleep on my left side until it drained itself a little. And of course it puffed up on the weekend, as nearly every single one of my complications has. GRRR! So tomorrow I annoy the bc nurses again and then probably toddle off to the docs to get it drained. I can't do my exercises properly and if I can't do them, I can't have radiotherapy and I may get lymphoedema (effectively water retention in the operated arm). I'm alternating bopping around to My Seroma (o...

G'day all! I'm feeling a bit lost and lonely at the moment. It is weeks since I saw any friends - they were sick, this week I have a low immune system and shouldn't go out much. It's been months since I did much - a couple of weeks ago a lovely Raveller from California took me up to the Dandenongs with her Aussie friend (so nice to get out of the house and me not driving was even better!). The last time I went anywhere before that was in March. I'm not used to having to hang around home so much. Even on my good week(s) I still either don't have an immune system to speak of or I don't have the stamina to drive very far (and DH can't drive the car easily cos it is small and he is large and looks like a grasshopper behind the wheel). Gibbering is taking me out on Wednesday (cross fingers) so that will be good. Plus today I knocked a glass of water over on my laptop. I am pretty sure it survived the dousing as I frantically wiped water off it and hit ...

G'day all1 Having a bit of a pity party today. DH had a go at me about not being proactive in doing stuff around the house. He isn't happy with me barely managing to keep up with cooking meals, doing the shopping, doing some house cleaning, dealing with most of the dishes and clothes washing, sitting looking at Ravelry too much , kntting, generally trying to hold things together, not making any money, not going out and getting a job, not taking pressure off him . I apparently need to plan things like our garden and our new kitchen (we'd have to take money out of the mortgage to pay for that), etc etc. Sorry, don't have that much brain power left. I can still think about stuff but it takes energy that I sometimes don't have. I certainly don't have much volition beyond knitting and spinning and managing to get food cooked. It is odd how when your nearest and dearest have a go at you, you feel abandoned and unloved. None of this cancer business was in my plan...

G'day all! I'm crankypants today. Today I have had enough. Actually this week I've had enough. I'm sick of being on chemo, I'm sick of being restricted in what I can do, I'm sick of having a sore arm from the dressing around the picc line, I'm sick of the flavour of the stuff I have to use to keep my mouth "nice," I'm sick of feeling like my arms and legs and head are made of lead, I'm over getting indigestion, Nathan has a bit of a cold so I can't even hang around him, I'm sick of not seeing people, I'm sick of not going out cos I might get sick, I'm sick of not being able to find the ONLY important bit of paperwork that I can't find, I'm sick of my n key not working properly, I'm sick of feeling bad about to being able to help DH with his projects, I'm sick of being sorry about not being able to help like I would be, I'm sick of not being able to be a useful sorta person. I'm completely and utter...

G'day all! Am in an odd mood today. Lots of musings. Like realising that I replace human company with Stuff. I have lots of Stuff. I buy Stuff in place of having friends. I am not good at the friend thing it seems. Moving country and not having a job doens't help. I don't need so much stash or either yarn or fabric, not stuff that I don't have plans for. I have much more need to have contact with people than I have for Even More Stuff. I lurk around my email and Ravelry like a love-struck teenager waiting for a phone call, hoping someone will want to talk to me. Yesterday I bought more Stuff (yes I know I know - what did I just say?). It is Great Stuff. Really good quality yarn at the op shop. Don't be surprised if you end up getting some of it if you are on my PIF list. Yes, I am cheap but I am supposed to be saving for our big trip in less than three months! I would show what I got but umm well someone gave someone else the camera and someone else lef...

Bring me another week! This has not been a good week so far. It started off quite well, with me finding I can survive riding 25km dragging the bike trailer in various states of loading and not suffering badly the next day (unless you count the never ending EATING that followed for the next day and a half!). Then on Tuesday I rolled over in my sleep and managed to rotate my ribs on one side whilst the other side stayed put. I don't know how that is possible but two or three ribs were not sitting where they should be = can't breathe, shoulder whackiness and lower back spasms! Yay me! (Much better after seeing the chiro) Tuesday I had planned to go into town with Nathan and take pics of the jacarandas that I saw on Sunday. I got as far as the chiro (half a mile) and back. Today (Wednesday) I went into town with DH so I could take photos of the jacarandas. Aren't they lovely? I'll let you admire them. Some even had knitted tree-warmers on them! (more pics on flickr ) ...

I'm having a pout now. DH was going to drinks at 5pm. At 8:30 he still isn't home. He has probably had dinner after I've cooked an enormous tofu curry. He was out last night too. I am going out tomorrow night cos I am sick of being ignored. The fortnightly knitty get together beckons! I can go and TALK TO PEOPLE! My god. Imagine that! Real people! I talked to my chiro almost not stop today (apart from breath in, hold, all the way out...) for 45 minutes. In two nights I will be on the Amtrak on my way to Black Sheep. Wonder if DH will miss me at all?

G'day all! I'm sitting here, feeling sore, editing pics when I start wondering if I am going to do something like faint. Not that I ever have (though once was close!). I was seeing black spots before my eyes. Nope, not fainting. There are black spots before my eyes. They are known as flies. There's a bunch of flies that hang around under the shade of the birch trees. Sometimes they move along and hang around under the ornamental pears. Sometimes they come inside here cos I leave the door open cos it gets warm inside. Our place is not a meat safe. It also does not have anything to attract flies apart from shade. I've been beavering away at the Neatby Faroese shawl for my LYS. My progress up to today has been steady. I've now completed 40% of it and it is too wide to be stretched out on the 1.2m long needles. My knitting progress today is slow. My progress on anything is very slow. I did something odd to my shoulder or ribs last night and boy am I still p...

G'day all! Here's to June! May is not my favourite month. I've said that plenty of times before. Back 'ome, May is when winter can make its first appearance for the year. The days have shortened off and it can get cold (ok, the temp rarely dips below freezing and I am talking about the overnight temps here). But worse, May is the Deathiversary month for both my parents. Yesterday was a bad day, always is. I thought the Maker Faire would be good but with a husband acting like a hyperactive overstimulated child it was rather annoying. Plus something has come up Back 'Ome that I've responded to with a sense of abandonment. Actually two things. A couple of people have done stuff I didn't really expect and suddenly I am five (six, seven, eight, nine, ten, all the way to my late teens) and feel left out/unimportant again. Obviously I am not as over the past as I thought! I guess it is one of the dangers of being far away - out of sight, out of mind. Thin...

G'day all! There is nothing like a dame... and this is nothing like an FO! But it is moving right along. I knitted from the second aqua stripe whilst waiting for the bus, sitting on the bus, waiting for the bus, sitting on the bus, waiting for the bus, etc. The yarn is one of the Online stable. As with most of the German/similar sock yarns, I doubt I could wear this sock, so it is just as well that this is an Undeserving Husbandly sock. I have to put in a protest vote. I want a new body. Yep. My protest vote is against myself. I had a very nice, if late, lunch of left over mild curry from Sunday night. It was very pleasant and I gobbled it up, as much as you can gobble anything that involves lots of runny stuff that needs a spoon not a fork. Half an hour later? Bang! Two hours of extreme twitchiness and funny stuff happening around the base of my ribcage. I am starting to wonder if my gall bladder is dodgy, along with my gut and both my shoulders. (Shoulders? R bicep ...

G'day all! Here's some pretties to look at before the moaning and whining begins.... I am getting very over this cold (I just wish I would get over it!). It has settled in my ears. I feel like my head is full of wool. (If only - then I'd spin it!) Basically I am half-deaf. I feel like I am stuck in my own head - all those little sounds you take for granted like the tacker of the keyboard, someone's footsteps outside, heck I'd be glad to hear anything other than my own heartbeat and the whinings of my own ears....and the little man who is tapping the plate in my right ear? Please stop! My sinuses are unhappy but I have managed to get them clear on occasion. Most people take nose breathing to be normal, I see it as a triumph! I have a cough too but it is just a reaction to general irritation. Every time I take a Tylenol to help with the face/ear pain, it drops my temperature and I end up soaked in sweat. If I had changed the sheets every time that happene...

G'day all! In an unusual turn for me, I feel the urge to make a list. I don't like lists cos then they control me and I am obviously happier being a free-range knitter. But really I have to control the burgeoning WIPs and WIPs-to-be. If I type something nonsensical, please excuse me - my brain and my fingers are not cooperating this late... finish the baby pants and the singlet for A2's baby finish Nathan's Christmas socks start the shop sample for this month make at least four little birds to send to various families with new(ish) babies knit the rest of a bag for an AiL who turned 50 this year finish Icarus finish the scribble wrap finish a curtain so's we can hang it in the window (but not so's DH can clock himself again) knit another pair of socks for me knit up some extra dyed yarn to show how some of the dyed stuff looks knitted up dye up some yarn and knit DH a sweater That is just the knitting. I also have to do the Christmas cards yet, prin...