Glammed up

You've got to love the ability of photoshop to make yourself look good! ;-)

DH has been playing with portraits and did one of me. He's removed the bags/wrinkles from under my eyes, smoothed out my skin, removed zits.....

Before












After (heh heh, if only this was really what I looked like!)


















Moral: This is why you should never believe those photos of models in fancy magazines. ;-)

Number 2 Baby

I'm "outing" myself and announcing that number 2 is on the way. Here it is at 13 weeks. :-)

Which wife are you?

Here's one of those cheesy personality quizzes you get sent now and again.

I found it via Rosina Lippi's blog - she writes as Sara Donati (the Wilderness series) as well. I enjoy her books. She's just brought out a new one called Tied to the tracks.

It is surprisingly accurate for me ! LOL!





Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?


this quiz was made by Lori Fury


Actually I don't press flowers... but I used to make pot pourri. Still do now and again. ;)

Heart-melting words

My baby has learnt to say it at last!

"My loves you Mummy." [usually accompanied by a hug]

Excuse me while I swoon with love...

It makes up for the times when he's less than good:

• Throwing toilet rolls in the toilet bowl
• Smearing arnica cream all over himself and everything else
• Undoing the zip on the beanbag so all the beans come out
• Having meltdowns in the supermarket

Speaking of supermarkets - I was in the local Kaitaone yesterday and trying to locate some gruyere cheese (ended up having to get an expensive Swiss one because their selection there is hopeless - I like to buy local NZ ones) when I see DS crawling along the floor beside the freezer. What on earth! You see - he has this "thing" about fans. And the freezers all have fan vents in their bases. So he was crawling along looking at each one and confirming to himself that they were working.

Does this mean I have a future ventilation engineer?

I am enjoying...

this book: The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater ( available at Amazon of course).

My sister got it as a gift and I have borrowed it for a little while. I know I'm kind of obsessed when it comes to food, but this is the type of book you could read like a novel. But then, I read cookbooks like novels too so I'm probably not the best person to make that statement!

I find his writing evocative. It is annoying that the seasons are all turned around for us in the southern hemisphere, but I've managed. There are a number of recipes I want to try and I'm pleased to see he uses lamb quite a bit . I do wish we had access to a Farmers Market near me that was open at a time I could go. The ones I know about are a bit of a drive away, and not on days that I'm able to visit.

It's that time of year. The rain is constant. The lawn is a swamp and all we need are some flax and pukekos and we'd have our own wetland out there. We wake up in the dark, and it doesn't get light until about 7.30am. Well okay - that's probably not so bad really. Imagine living closer to the pole - brrrrrr! Reading Nigel and the winter weather inspired me to make a spicy beef and carrot stew last night with apple & boysenberry crumble to follow. Comfort food. I made the stew using a recipe from Cuisine magazine and it was supposed to be for a pie filling, but I felt like having it with potatoes so I modified it slightly! Just as well our power was on unlike the rest of the city. Shocking really.

Spicy Beef & Carrot Stew
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Stewing beef (about 700g), chopped into large chunks
2 carrots, peeled, halved and sliced
1 tsp each of paprika, ground cumin and ground coriander
2 cups beef stock
2 T cornflour

Saute the onions in olive oil, and once the raw smell disappears, add the garlic. Stir a few times and then add the beef. Brown the beef (or at least stir it around so there is no red left). Add the spices and stir to cook them as well as coat the beef. Add the carrots, stir, and then the beef stock. Bring to boil then turn down to a low simmer. Cook, stirring now and again until the meat is soft. Mine took about 1 hr. Thicken with the cornflour and 1/4 cup water, and stir so the cornflour cooks.

Serve with mashed taters or rice. I also served it with cabbage lightly sauted with a few fennel seeds.

As for tonight - I've got some Boerwoers out of the freezer. I got them from a butcher down the way, so I hope they are "real" ones. They looked like it in the shop. Not sure what I'll do with them yet. Maybe Nigel will have a suggestion.

Temptation...

Made these Peanut Brownies in my new oven. I love the fan forced feature - it means I can cook 2 trays of biscuits without having to swap them over halfway so they cook evenly.

More list challenges

Alison S is at it again... setting list challenges!

List 1: List What's Wrong With Men.
Let me count the ways... LOL! No - seriously I love my man tho' he does know how to push my buttons at times [cough... that sounds rude].

1. Why can't they take hints? Why do I have to spell out things like what I want for my birthday. Sometimes it's nice to be surprised by.. I don't know.. flowers or summat.
2. Their awareness of housework that needs to be done is at a different level! [giggle]
3. One thing women do better is network and support each other. Men seem to find this difficult which is a real shame because they need to support each other to be men. The feminisation of our society bothers me at times (especially in our school system), and I think men need to be given permission to be male, to be different to women. To be a man is a glorious thing and nothing to be ashamed of - just like it is a glorious thing to be a women. We will always be different, better at some things than the other and why should that be a problem? Vive la difference! Can you tell I'm the mother of a son? ;)

List 2: List all the Ways the Government Lies to You.
hmmm. Don't know if I can think of anything for this one. It's more like they make grandiose statements which sound grand but the reality is far more in the range of mediocre. For e.g. they make a big deal about working families getting a childcare subsidy which is great... but there is a cap on the maximum you're eligible for, so essentially it works out (for me) to be about 2 weeks free childcare for the whole year. I realise they have to cap it, but it almost isn't worth me applying KWIM?

As for wiping interest off student loans... that made me so mad having spent all but 3 years of my working life paying off my @#$% student loan. Seems unfair that I essentially took a paycut for 7 years. Oh well... whinge whinge. I suppose I did get some parental leave payment out of my taxes during that time.

Enough of that.

All boy...

The other day Stihl had a brochure in the paper. I showed it to DS since he likes looking at mowers and weedeaters - he calls the latter "weetys". He spent hours looking at the brochure - talking about the different attachments displayed there. "Look! Weety!"

He was quiet for so long I went looking and discovered him in my bed reading the "weety book". So cute!

Couple of layouts

Did these the other day. Nothing spectacular.

First one was at Cathedral Cove, Coromandel. Second was from a visit to Butterfly Creek Farm.

What's wrong with women?

Alison S has posted a "list challenge" over on her blog. It sounds interesting so I'm going to join in. She randomly chose "What's wrong with women?" as the first topic. She says

(when I first opened the book I though NO WAY! but then I thought 'Why not?" - a bit of self analysis doesn't go astray occassionally

Soooooooo...... here goes.

1. Our downfall is chocolate. I just ate a whole packet of Malteasers by myself - how bad is that!!!!? I'm sure women have a chocolate centre in their brain that requires regular dosing.
2. We sometimes talk and analyse things too much. Some things just are the way they are because they are okay?
3. We can be horrible catty creatures at times both with each other and towards guys.
4. What is it about gossip and women... why are we so attracted to gossip? and related to that
5. Women's magazines - they make me gag.
6. Self-image and acceptance thereof. So easily affected by the beauty industry, media, social expectations etc
7. Body hair (see 6 above).
8. We just assume people know what we want and then get all snotty about the fact that others are not mind readers. Need to be more proactive or clear about expressing our needs and desires.
9. Some of our good qualities can turn against us at times. I'm thinking of situations where our natural tendency to nurture/empathise can actually be detrimental. Rather than getting out of relationships that are poisonous we tend to try and make excuses and think that love and care will "change" another. Sometimes it doesn't!

Hmmm very deep for Tuesday afternoon... think I need more chocolate! LOL!

The shock of the new

I'm so happy - I'm getting a new oven. It's so sad that something so mundane makes me excited! LOL!

It's a Fisher & Paykel "Oregano" one which has a double oven and a ceramic top.
That well known retailer Novell Lemming is letting us have it on their "3 year interest free" deal.

Goodbye rusting old Shacklock from the '70's! RIP in the kitchen in the sky.

The lovely delivery people will bring me the new one on Thursday, and take the old one away. I shall have to have a celebratory dinner... what should I make??? We got a pizza stone on the weekend too, and had nice homemade pizza. I had some trouble getting it onto the stone - I need one of those wooden paddle things. My dough stuck to the tray I used so I couldn't slide it off onto the stone. Needed to use more flour I think.

DH is teasing me he will expect 3 course gourmet dinners from now on.

Simplicity vs complexity

StevenB on the ACRLog has an interesting thought that pricked my interest in the light of our focus groups that we're going to run. He's been to a commencement ceremony and heard a speaker:

Among the points of advice he gave to the graduates he included “Do not be scornful of complexity.” We challenge our students too infrequently in their undergraduate education for fear that we will alienate them. I like that the president reminded the students that anything worthwhile they’ll achieve in their lives is going to take hard work and devotion - and certainly some complexity will be encountered. While academic librarians should endeavor to avoid making using their libraries unnecessarily complicated or complex, what more can they do to challenge students and prepare them for the complexities of life after college.

This is interesting. On one hand, I have had librarians arguing that our web pages should be as simple as Google. On the other, we have a University President encouraging folks to step up to the challenge of complexity. I wonder what our students will say.

Say Yes to Users

Hee hee - I've been wanting to use that title for a while. It sounds so ... evangelical.

Becoming more user-centred has been a meme on the biblioblogosphere for a while. As of next week we're going to be running some Focus groups which (I hope) will help us become more user-centred in terms of our web pages.

At the beginning of the year our marketing team created us a new "front page". We then created a bunch of pages "below" it. The layout and structure of the pages were the subject of intense scrutiny and discussion by the folks here. You can imagine the frank discussion that went on when you get a bunch of passionate librarians all with their own opinions about What Our Students Want!

Now, 5 months later, we are actually going to ask our students what they want.

I'm supposed to be running most of these focus groups which will begin next week. I'm a little nervous about it since it's the first time I've done this and all the literature I've read says (in tones of doom), that the focus group moderator should be experienced. Well, thats all very well if you've got the budget to hire someone. We don't, so they get me. Ha!

It will be interesting to say the least. If we get any students from our recruitment. So far we have the grand sum of 3.

I think I need chocolate.

Where oh where has my creativity gone?

If you've seen it, please send it back home.

Going to a crop tonight with my girly friends and I have no idea what I'm going to do. I hate not having a vague plan when I go to these things because I take too much stuff and waste time when I don't. I haven't touched my scrapping stuff for weeks. I even piked out of making Mother's Day cards and got DS to do it.

Even the smocking has taken a break. The garment I'm working on is using some old material I've had for ages and it smells musty. I should have washed it before I used it. Now (for reasons which will be revealed later tho' I'm sure some of you will guess) the smell is making me feel ill and I can't bring myself to touch it.

Need some energy....

Visited Sabato on the weekend (bad for the wallet) and picked up some yummy Almond Criossants to cook. Had one this morning and can I say YUM! Love that buttery, yeasty flavour and the flaky lightness of the pastry. MMMM... need more.

Conversations with a 2.8 year old

You know you've got kids when frank discussions of bodily functions become everyday topics of conversations.

In the car going home the other day:

DS: Yukky booger in my nose. Get it my finger.
Me (thinking ): How about I get you a tissue?
DS: No!
Me (handing a tissue over the back): Here, try this.
[...long silence...]
Me: Did you get it?
DS: Stuck!
Me (cringing): Stuck on your finger?
DS: No! Stuck my nose!
Me: ummm...ok.
DS (triumphantly): Got it!

Musings...

I think I'm going to change this blog into something more personal. So while there may be some thoughts about podcasts, librarianship and other serious (ha!) matters, I might write more about my other interests.

Naturally anything I say does not constitute the view of my employer, nor is it necessarily endorsed by them ... the usual disclaimers apply. To that end, I'm going to take off the links to my workplace on the side bar.

On to my current obsession:

I've taken up smocking again. I took a 2 year break after DS was born because it wasn't the sort of hobby you can leave out while a baby is in the larval/rugrat stage. But he's a toddler now, and while he's interested in what I'm doing he can also be told not to touch things. And most of the time he listens! I did make a few items for him but I have to admit that I was put off somewhat by DH's comments they looked "girly".

I started smocking about 14 years ago. At the time I was trying out some different needlework crafts like ribbon embroidery & stumpwork. While I still enjoy those, smocking quickly became the craft of choice. As I didn't have kids, most of my work was given away to people who did. Looking back now I pity them because the quality wasn't always good. It also meant I don't have a record of those garments because I rarely photographed them myself.

I'm hoping to help my friend A with a stall at a craft fair later in the year. She has a few things she wants to try selling and I'm going to take along a few things too. Including some smocked garments. I've no idea what I should charge for them, or even if people dress their kids in things like this. Seems like a lot of children are dressing like miniture adults earlier than ever. So it will be interesting.

So far I've smocked 3 fronts for 3 different rompers. I'm starting on a coat dress for an older girl, and I've got plans for more. I love the smocking part but the sewing up of the garment is something I dislike.

Here are some pictures of some projects I've done in the past.

Smocking is an art that could easily die out. I like to think I'm contributing to the continuation of this form of heritage embroidery.

Reflections on this course

Blogging

I like the idea of blogging. I do think it is a communication tool we could use to good effect with our students and on a personal level too. But there is no point blogging if one doesn't have something to say, so whether I'll maintain this blog in the future remains to be seen. I admire other librarians who blog reflectively but am not sure I'm capable of such. We shall see. I know I could do a personal blog but who would read it... my life isn't that exciting!

Podcasting

This was fun. I've just listened to the podcast Fran and I did as an experimental Library Tour. Fran sounds great, I need to speak up. We need to practice our speech too - some hesitations there. Also, I need to speak in a more conversational style as I sound too formal and like I'm reading something (which I am!).

I think we could do more with this. We need to look into some editing software for PCs though because that is what we use here in the library. As great as Macs are, I just can't see us moving to that platform when most library management software is wedded to PCs. (In fact, I can't think of any library system that uses the Mac platform but there may be one of course). So - that means using what we have.

Making a podcast that sounds professional is going to take some work. I'm going to have to learn more about audio stuff because it is an area I don't know a lot about.

Flock

Even though Flock is still in beta version I'm quite impressed. I already use Firefox pretty much exclusively at home and work so Flock is not "unfamiliar" and has some excellent adddional features. I suppose I'd better add it to the options in Deamweaver and test out our pages in it.

pdas, wireless, and technolust

The trouble with coming on these courses is I see all this funky technology which fuels my technolust!

PDAs

I know some of our students and staff have PDAs - particularly our nursing staff/students. I suspect we should try and cater to their needs a little more than we actually do. Our webpage doesn't look too bad on them, our catalogue isn't too bad, but some of our other pages don't look too good. Trying to search our databases is okay but reading any full text would be a mission.

Wireless

Think this is a good way to go, IF the connection can be stable. We already have a few dead spots around the library and suspect it would be the case if we had campus wide wireless.

blogs

We are already doing this and according to our site meter, people are reading them. We probably need to encourage our subject librarians to use them more.

Technolust

I know I suffer from this! LOL! But at the same time I do think we need to try a few things out and see if they work for us. Else we'll come to the edge of the "new technology" cliff and find we don't have a nice parachute to steady our leap into the new world!

Using a PDA

Using a PDA

to post this! pretty cool huh! 'cept my wireless cxn keepshing :(my wireless cxn keeps crashing. I think I need a PDA, wonder if I can persuade Judy to get me one!? I doubt it.... LOL!

And another one - bit more sophisticated

Maybe this is the sort of thing we should do. It's interesting playing with Garageband. More complicated for someone who hasn't had much to do with music making apart from playing the piano now and again. I've never had to think about outputs, inputs, echo etc. Some of the jargon is new to me.

Anyhow - here's the page with it on. Podomatic Page

And here is the link to the the feed.

Think it's time to go home now! My head is a bit sore.