Jack Frost has been visiting

Yeah yeah, I know you Southerners have to "lick motorway clean wit' tongue" and all but the frosty mornings have provided us with a bit of entertainment. DS claimed he was going to "tell it for news" when he saw the ice in his sandpit.

Parenting Fail

DD is toilet training her baby.

I had a little pony

I made a little pony
I hoped you'd let it stay
'Cause Mummy has been anxious
For some cute hair dressing play

I've seen you by the mirror
Admiring your pretty self
I think that you resemble
A pixie or an elf






























Oh - and that is a ginger beer bottle she's holding. An empty one.

Here are some layouts I managed to do on the weekend instead of weeding the garden.

"Bur-day 2u": this is what DD says when she sees a birthday cake. In fact, ANY cake is a birthday cake. If you ask her who's birthday it is, she will say, "Yidia!"

In case you didn't know you must sing "Burday 2 you, hip ray hip ray hip ray" whenever you have cake. I am sure you will do that now. Don't let me down.

I broke out the BG Lime rickey for this one. Love the paper, not sure I am happy with the layout.




























This one is an attempt to scrapbook those inevitable "school" photos. I've created a pocket for the class one to go on the same layout (behind the pink dot PP). They laminated the class one much to my disgust. Again, this one didn't really turn out how I envisioned but never mind!

making a pig of yourself

With the recent attention on the ethical raising of pigs for pork production I thought I would post about some sources of free range, organic suppliers that I use or have purchased from in the past (with good results).

This is by no means a post to induce guilt trip buying frenzies - what you do with your hard earned money is your business. But it does help to know of options available if your conscience is making you think a bit.

Eco-organics

I signed up to Eco-organics last year and have been happily munching their produce off and on since. You do have to register with them but once that is done, it's just a matter of filling in their order form and you'll get a delivery on either a Tuesday or Thursday depending on when you order. They will take internet banking or credit card (but you do need to wait for processing to get the latter set up).

I visited their farm just north of Kumeu last year. They send me weekly emails telling me what's new in the garden and what activities are happening. I rather like that connection with them. I've never had any issues with their services and I like knowing that much of my vege box is locally grown. Sometimes I've asked that certain veges are not put in (because we've got plenty in our own garden) and that has never been a problem. It certainly means I get a variety of vegetables.

I find this option works for me. I love going to Farmer's Markets, but I have so many commitments on the weekend when they are held, I find I don't get there regularly. I do grow some produce for our family but don't have the time or space to supply everything from my garden.

Eco-Organics are connected with Super-Janes Organic Meat. This is beef raised organically on the East Coast and it really does taste good. I've ordered packs from them quite a few times and been happy with the service and the cost.

Naturally Organic

Before finding Eco-organics I used Naturally Organic for a vege box. The quality of the produce was great but I found the delivery fee to be a bit steep. However, if you spend over $100 with them and live in the Auckland Metro area the delivery is free. They stock dry goods and other things as well, so it is easy to reach that target if you include things like flour, shampoo etc.

Their service is prompt and reliable, and they contact you if there is any problem.














Organic Direct

This website groups tgether a number of small businesses. Their aim is

"to assist organic and sustainable businesses to market and promote their products and services. With regularly updated educational and informative content, and easy-to-find business directories, we make it easy for consumers to make the conscious decision to buy organic".

I use them to order free-range eggs and chickens from Rolling Hills. Rolling Hills did a promotion via DH's work and I liked their eggs a lot. Of course, if I'm shopping myself I'll pick whatever free-range egg option is available. But if I'm also wanting to get a whole free-range chicken I can get a good deal through Rolling Hills: 2 Size 14 free-range chickens + 2 dozen free-range eggs for $44.70 (delivered free to my door). In fact, the last lot they sent me was actually 1 size 14 chicken and 1 size 16... so that was a good deal I thought.




















Havoc Pork

I've been impressed with the product from these folks. Their pork really does taste better than the stuff from the supermarket. Their sausages are great too. Unfortunately they don't have an online order option, but they are very responsive to emails. I notice they will now send a pack of a mixture of their products to the North Island for $125.00 (delivery included). I've also organised a pork fest with some like-minded friends and shared the cost of the delivery of a 20kg chiller box - we chose what we wanted, it was delivered to someone's house and we reimbursed that person. Works well.

These suppliers are just the few I know of. If you have any others you have used let me know because I'd be interested.

I'm also blogging at:

The Room of Infinite Diligence

I'm going to move my librarianship related blogging to the blog above. It's a joint blog with some other librarians. This is what we're about:

The Room of Infinite Diligence is community blog consisting of a number of professional librarians from around New Zealand. We hope that you will find our musings both entertaining and thought provoking. We also hope that not only will you read us, but will engage with us to create a community of thought, where librarians from all parts of the sector can discuss the issues and problems of interest to them.

This blog (Walking Upside Down) will be my personal blog for stuff about me, my family, crafts, reading round ups and rants.

And just for your entertainment:

DH to DS: Do the lions in Africa eat zebras?
DS: No. They eat meat.

bag winner!

Thanks to Random.org we have a winner! :-)

Step right on up

Beverley said...

rain streams down window
blurred lights shining through dark night
nice and warm inside

7:03 PM

Beverley - email your address to me at pdugmore2001 at yahoo dot co dot nz and I'll send them on down.

Thanks for playing gals ;-)

It's been 3 years

since I started this blog - my actual blogaversary was last month but what with one thing and another I didn't post about it then. So to celebrate (albeit belatedly) I'm having a giveaway.

I'm giving away a set of Onya Weigh eco bags. You can see a photo of them on the website.

These are really neat inventions to replace the plastic produce bags you get in the supermarket. They are see through so the checkout operator can see those pesky stickers on the fruit and what sort of vegetable it is. They weigh next to nothing so won't add anything to your bill. Mine arrived yesterday and I'm delighted to see these ones will fit in your handbag. I'm all for things fitting in my handbag.

You can read more about Onya bags at their website.

So if you'd like to be in the draw to win a set of 5 Onya Weigh bags you know what to do*.

Actually... since I don't think one should get somethin' for nothin' I'm going to make you do something!

*throws head back*
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA. HAHAHA. HA. HA.
*cough*

In order to be in to win you need to tell me what is outside your window while you write the comment. In haiku format.

*rubs hands together*

Here's mine:

Upright in stacked rows
Silent until opening
Reference books wait

*NB: I will post overseas. Comments close on Wednesday 13th midnight New Zealand time.

birthday suits

Me to son hooning around house after his shower: Have you got your pyjamas on yet?
Son: No! my skin is all out.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

April Reading Round Up | Book Circle book of the Month Review

Break no bones/ Kathy Reichs
Struggling with a lackluster teaching position at an archaeology field school in South Carolina, Temperance Brennan discovers a fresh skeleton among ancient bones and traces leads to a free street clinic where patients are going missing. ~ from the blurb
Anyone who has read Reichs before will recognise the typical style of the book. But even so, I enjoyed the twisty bits.

The wedding officer / Anthony Capella
Naïve and already war-weary, James Gouding takes up a position in Naples in 1943. What he doesn't anticipate is that this involves a limited menu of fried Spam fritters and interrogating the would-be Italian fiancées of members of the armed forces. James's chance at true heroism arrives when a German tank is sighted and he is caught in its path. However, it is the imperious and dogmatic Livia who opens the hatch and yells at him to stop being such an idiot. Livia gladly becomes cook, translator and general factotum to James. The two begin to fall in love, but the eruption of Vesuvius triggers a chain of explosive events that will force the two to flee behind enemy lines and will alter their lives immeasurably.~ from the blurb
I really loved this one. I want to have an Italian grandmother who will cook me Italian food that gets described in this book. Apart from the salivatious (is that a word? if not it should be) food descriptions I also enjoyed the realistic romance.

Cataloochee: a novel /Wayne Caldwell
Against the backdrop of Appalachia comes a multilayered post-Civil War saga of three generations of families - their dreams, their downfalls, and their faith. Nestled in the mountains of North Carolina sits Cataloochee. In a time when "where you was born was where God wanted you," the Wrights and the Carters, both farming families, travel to the valley to escape the rapid growth of neighboring towns and to have a few hundred acres all to themselves. But progress eventually winds its way to Cataloochee, too, and year after year the population swells as more people come to the valley to stake their fortune. never one to pass on an opportunity, Ezra Banks, an ambitious young man seeking some land to call his own, arrives in Cataloochee in the 1880s. His first order of business is to marry a Carter girl, Hannah, the daughter of the valley's largest landowner. From there Ezra's brood grows, as do those of the Carters and the Wrights. With hard work and determination, the burgeoning community transforms wilderness into home, to be passed on through generations. But the idyll is not to last, nor to be inherited: The government takes steps to relocate the valley's people to make room for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and tragedy will touch one of the clans in a single, unimaginable act. ~from the blurb
Interesting story. Found the muti-layered aspect to it a wee bit confusing at first but the characters are intriguing. Quite good.

The memory keepers daughter / Kim Edwards
In a tale spanning twenty-five years, a doctor delivers his newborn twins during a snowstorm and, rashly deciding to protect his wife from their baby daughter's affliction with Down Syndrome, turns her over to a nurse, who secretly raises the child.~from the blurb
I admit I've put off reading this book because I thought I might find it too sad. I have a problem reading about "bad-things-happening-to-children" so was a little unsure if I'd like the book even though it had been recommended to me. As it turned out, I really did enjoy the book. Bad things don't happen to the child after all ;-) The character development in the book is great. Highly recommend it.

Letters from the Bay of Islands: the story of Marianne Williams / edited by Caroline Fitzgerald
Previously unpublished letters from Marianne Williams have been brought together into this book. Combined with background history and snippets of letters from her contemporaries and friends/relatives the book portrays the kind of life this pioneer of New Zealand had. I found the book very interesting from both the point of view of a New Zealander and a woman. We have such a cushy life in comparison. I also liked the primary source viewpoint on the relations between Maori and Europeans.

---

Book Circle: Book of the Month

In defense of food: the myth of nutrition and pleasures of eating / Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan's bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we might start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives and our palates and enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy~from the blurb

I knew that Pollan's book would appeal to me but wasn't sure how the rest of the book circle would feel about it! His style is easy to read but I thought the topic might be onerous for folks who aren't as obsessed with food like I am.

Pollan develops his thesis by discussing how we got from food to their individual components (e.g. vitamins) and why this has created problems for our society today in terms of health, biodiversity and even our social culture.

I particularly liked his advice (in the last chapters of the book) where he details his opening statement of Eat food. Not too much. Mainly plants.

I really do recommend this one especially if you are concerned about your family, the environment or your health. It's not preachy, it doesn't advocate going back to being hunter-gathers and it's not filled with scare-mongering hyperbole.

Read other reviews - updated as I read them or remember reading them (please remind me if you've already posted!). Or by visiting the list of book readers on my side bar :)
Sharon, Suzannah, Mel, Kate,

You can find more about Michael Pollan from his website but you can also listen to him here at TED Talks.

thames layout & philosophical discussions with kids

P1010997
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.

A follow up layout for the holiday photos.
____________________________________
My grandma died on Tuesday which naturally involved some discussion about death and funerals etc.

Mr 5: Why did MummysNan die?
Me: Well, her body was so old and worn out that God decided it was time for her to go to heaven. MummysNan is Pop's mummy so he's a bit sad right now.
Mr 5: Are you sad?
Me: Yes, I'm a bit sad too. So now we need to get ready for the funeral.
Mr 5: What's a funeral? *he's been to a few already but I think the word was new*
Me: A funeral is when we put MummysNan's body into the ground because we can't have her body with us anymore.
Mr 5: And the digger digs the hole!

And as we drove into the cemetary he saw the plot opened...
Mr 5: There's the hole that the digger made! That's where we are going to put MummysNan eh? Because she died eh?
Miss 2: Digger!
____________________________________________

After a tanty incident involving an annoying little sister and the discman I was having a frank discussion with Mr 5.

Me(in a cross tone): Don't you know how to be good?
Mr 5 (in a small voice): Yes. But sometimes I forget.
Me: *melts*
Miss 2 (in the background in a smug, self-satisfied voice): Timmy naughty eh. Yes. Timmy naughty.

Stay tuned for Reading Round ups and the Book fo the Month review :-) Oh and a giveaway.. soon.

Choose - entry for final NZ Dare

Choose - entry for final NZ Dare
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.

NZ Dares is wrapping up and this is my entry for the final challenge - the topic "choices".

I used mostly stuff from the Scrapbook Outlet March SOS kit. BG Marrakech, Bazzill, Heidi Swapp butterflies, plus a few other things. The little book has the journaling about my career choice.

A holiday in Thames

After spending Wednesday morning filling up our car with gear and kids we set off for Thames.

View Larger Map

DD? Check.

DS? Check.

Kitchen sink? Check.










There was a bit of traffic on the road. We are used to having holidays outside of the school holiday period so there was some muttering about traffic from the driver. ;-)

Still, we made good time and audio-books are an excellent invention for keeping kids (and drivers) amused.










The appearance of clouds as we turned off Highway 2 delighted the Mad Photographer but didn't exactly fill me with joy.















The new tent got set up without getting rained on though. The kids were very excited about it. DS got into his bed as soon as I made it up! We found a leak in our airbed (just what you need to discover) - I'd foolishly lent it to some folks and they'd tried to mend it but not very successfully. So we had to head back into Thames to try and find a replacement. Fortunately the friendly Hammer Hardware folks found me one and even checked to see it had a bung in it ... no. So they opened another one and purloined the bung out of that one.










After the bed acquisition we set off for the Kauaeranga Valley. The autumn colour was lovely in the afternoon light.














We did a couple of short walks around the visitor centre and up further into the valley.

This one included a model dam. The valley was extensively logged for kauri to fuel the booming Thames goldrush in the late 1800's.















We crossed a swing bridge over the Kauaeranga River. DS was very brave - he did stop halfway over and say he didn't want to go any further but after a bit of encouragement he did go on. I hate these bridges. If I hadn't been carrying DD I'd have gone over it with my eye's shut! On the way back we decided to boulder hop over the river instead ;-) Wet feet seemed preferable!














The Billy Goat Falls.
Not the greatest of photos - difficult with the light. The falls are at the top of the picture, in the distance.















When kauri loggers tried to transport kauri over these 180 metre high falls they shattered. Doh. Eventually they built a tramway to transport them.

Another walk we did was to the Wentworth Falls over near Whangamata. You would think with all the stuff we'd brought that I would have put in the back pack for DD, but guess what? I didn't!

So she started off with lots of energy....














but quickly degenerated into lots of "Mummy up" requests...









The falls were nice though.














While Daddy went down to the bottom of the falls to take photos, we stayed at the lookout and amused ourselves with the self-timer and video function on my camera.









We also visited the Broken Hills area which was a thriving goldfield from 1893. By this time DD was over walking.










So the holiday was nice in parts.

On the bad side:

• DS managed to work himself up into puking after a coughing fit one night... all over the bedding.
• DD is scared of moreporks and anything that makes a sound in the night. Everytime they called she said, "No like dat sound" and came running into our bed. Most inconvenient. Especially when Mummy and Daddy had ..uh.. other plans.
• My ankles are a mass of sand fly bites.

On the plus side:

• I got to see my friend S who has moved to Thames.
• We did enjoy some family time and walks together.
• I didn't think of work at all. (Not looking forward to going back tomorrow).
• We had a swim at Miranda.
• I had the best sleep back in my own bed when we came home. ;-) For months I've been waking at 3am-4am and staying awake for awhile so it was nice to have a full night's sleep.

Day 6 & Day 8

Well, the deadline for layouts to be submitted to SBO's Amazing Scrapping Race has passed. It's been fun. :) I didn't manage all of the challenges but that is okay.

Here are the final two I did.
Day 8 (Japan) - went for the cutsey anthropomorphism of the kiwi fruit with the google eyes.

























Day 6 (UK, use time or a clock):Trip to Australia

Don't like this one, but the photos were difficult to work with. I would have binned them were it not for the historical significance of a few of them. My parents emigrated to NZ a few months after they married so all our relatives are over in Australia. My paternal grandparents eventually came over here to live. This is one photo I have of their Australian house, my grandfather's gladioli's and their cat Millicent. My grandfather's beloved V8 car was actually shipped over here when they came. It was sold when he became too old to drive safely and I've seen it out here in our neighbourhood which amuses me greatly.























So totaling up my entries:

5 layouts = 5 tickets
plus one bonus ticket for doing more than 4 of the challenges = 1
bonus ticket for making comments in the gallery = 1
bonus ticket for answering Nic's question first = 1
blog entries = 3
Total raffle tickets: 11

It only takes 1.....

Day 4 France

La belle France... how I long to go there.

Day 4 of the Amazing Scrapping Race at SBO, and here is my attempt at 4 layers. :) The challenge for France was to get layering! (Note I said layering and not laid. Although you could do that too if you want. Just don't blog about it ok? Ta).

This is a blast from the past as DH said when he saw it. While we were courting we went on some bush walks including one to Fairy Falls in the Waitakere Ranges. Nothing has changed since we got married. We still do walks in the bush only now we have 2 sprogs following us and we're not quite as slender as DH is in this photo. Hee hee!

Can you tell I've run out of photo paper to print on? I'm scratching the bottom of the barrel in terms of photos to scrap on 12x12 at present. (Apart from old school class photos which are so hard to scrap nicely). I'm digging out the real old ones.

Amazing Scrapping Race: Day 2 PNG Entry & Day 3 China

This is my entry for Day 2 of Scrapbook Outlet's Amazing Scrapping Race. The layout had to use the Papua New Guinea flag for inspiration.

I managed to upload the small version to my Flickr stream so it's hard to see the detail. The title is Family in Christ. These are some special people who I consider family even though we don't share DNA. I realised when looking at the photos (taken 2006 and 2008) that 3 of the folks pictured are no longer on earth.

And I'm pregnant in the top photo and DD has arrived by the lower photo.

*Faces blurred for privacy*

Day 1 (Canberra: Aussie Scrap Source) layout is done, but I need to take a decent photo of it.

Day 3 is China and we need to make our own embellishment - not too hard, but not sure I'll manage to get it done tonight since I have to do grocery shopping... unless I can sneak in an online order with Woolworths somewhere today. ;-)

Edited to add: well my Day One LO is a dead loss since I used Bazzill which ASS doesn't have so here it is for China since I did some simple hand made embellishing on it. There is some strange gunk on the left hand photo which I tried to get off but couldn't so I'll have to scan it and re-print it once I get some photo paper.

Enjoy the little things

Trying out the scrunchy rumbled look with my October Afternoon Detours paper and my Stampin Up! stamps.

Not sure about this layout, but anyway, it's done now and I'm not going to re-do it.

Far out! Awesome competition at SBO

Check it out!

The first prize is a chance to go to the Autumn Escape ... oh boy that would be awesome.

Even so - there are sure to be some great challenges for this one.

The Amazing Scrapping Race

Sounds like fun. I'm going to try and enter... not sure how I'll get on 'cause I'm no good at deadlines these days but we'll see.

March Reading Round Up | Book Club Review

The middle place / Kelly Corrigan
Autobiography of Kelly's fight with breast cancer in parallel with her father's fight with prostate cancer. Also about her struggle to deal with the fact her father hero is not always going to be around. I have to admit I did get a bit fed up with her angst regarding her Dad. But then I don't like to think about my Dad not being around anymore so maybe I should look to myself a bit more!

The independence of Miss Mary Bennet / Colleen McCullough
Lizzy Bennet married Mr Darcy, Jane Bennet married Mr Bingley - but what became of the middle daughter, Mary? Discover what came next in the lives and loves of Jane Austen's much loved Bennet family in this Pride and Prejudice spin-off from an international bestselling author Readers of Pride and Prejudice will remember that there were five Bennet sisters. Now, twenty years on, Jane has a happy marriage and large family; Lizzy and Mr Darcy now have a formidable social reputation; Lydia has a reputation of quite another kind; Kitty is much in demand in London's parlours and ballrooms; but what of Mary? Mary is quietly celebrating her independence, having nursed her ailing mother for many years. She decides to write a book to bring the plight of the poor to everyone's attention. But with more resolve than experience, as she sets out to travel around the country, it's not only her family who are concerned about her. Marriage may be far from her mind, but what if she were to meet the one man whose own fiery articles infuriate the politicians and industrialists? And if when she starts to ask similar questions, she unwittingly places herself in great danger?~ from the blurb.
Very much enjoyed this one, though there were a few dramatic turn arounds in thought/attitudes from some of the characters that had me a bit startled. P&P fans will like this one I think.

The uncommon reader / Alan Bennett
What would happen if the Queen became a reader of taste and discernment rather than of Dick Francis? The answer is a perfect story... The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She reads widely (JR Ackerley, Jean Genet, Ivy Compton Burnett, and the classics) and intelligently. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people like the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world, and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny.~ the blurb
LOVED this one. We were amused. A short one but a goody.

The various flavours of coffee / Anthony Capella
In 1896 London, impoverished poet Robert Wallis accepts a commission from eccentric coffee merchant Samuel Pinker to categorize the diverse and elusive coffee flavours, an assignment that will transform his life as he falls in love with his assistant, Pinker's daughter Emily.~ from the blurb.
Very much enjoyed the lyrical descriptions of coffees as well as the tangled love story. The ending is a little different but nonetheless happy and satisfying. Mmmmm ... coffee. I would recommend this one, and also his other book, The food of love which I read last year.

March Book Club Book

Extremely loud and incredibly close / Jonathan Safran Foer
Synopsis
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies, Beatles memorabilia, state quarters, miniature cacti and coral. When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, his inward journey towards some kind of peace takes him on an odyssey through the five boroughs of New York, as he attempts to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father's closet. ~from the blurb

Did you like/dislike the book?
I took a while to get into this book. There are several "voices" and stories running at the same time, and the presentation is different. Oskar seems rather precocious for a nine year old but then, I'm only used to pre-schoolers and 5 year olds so far! His search for what door the key opens leads him to meet all kinds of people and I liked reading about the characters he comes across, especially the old guy upstairs with the "magnetic" bed. I can't say I enjoyed this book as much as February's but they are entirely different styles. I found some of the story line a bit unconnected in parts and some of Oskar's imagination is pretty fantastic for what I remember thinking at 9 years old. Overall, I was pleased to read it but I don't think I'll bother chasing up the other books by this author at this stage.

I will edit this post with links to the other book circle member's reviews as they become available.
Janine, Sandra, Suzannah, Con, Heather, Sharon,

Did it affect you in any way?
I must say some of the stuff in there brought back memories of the 9/11 incident. Oskar's relationship with his mother is strained and that made me feel uncomfortable because I tended to identify with the mother! I found the grand-parents story irritating and frankly, I don't think I really got what the author was trying to do with it! Call me dense, but there ya go. It's all part of the fun of book clubs - reading things that you might not ordinarily pick up.

February Reading Round Up

The heart is a lonely hunter / Carson McCullers
A quiet, sensitive girl reaches for beauty in a small Southern town. ~from the blurb This one is considered to be classic American literature.
Started, didn't finish. Found this one hard to get into. The style of writing and the desperate lives of the characters didn't appeal to me at the time and then I had to return it to the library. Maybe I'll try again.

In search of Africa / Frank Coates
Kip Balmain, a young Australian boy taken to a small town in Africa, finds himself caught up in the violence of colonial Kenya. As the country struggles towards independence, Kip also struggles to understand his mother's vindictive hatred of the father he has never met - and resolves to uncover the mystery of his parentage. In Uganda, Rose Nasonga, a girl at risk after her idyllic village life becomes a nightmare of civil war, uses her beauty to escape into the world of fashion. Out of the horrors of war, across the boundaries of time and race, Kip and Rose discover that their lives are mysteriously linked. And that the paths they travel alone, and ultimately together, lead them inexorably to their greatest discovery.~from the blurb.
Quite a good story, typical star-crossed lover type scenario along the lines of Wilbur Smith but with more depth.


Shakespeare's wife / Germaine Greer
Little is known about the wife of England's greatest playwright; a great deal, none of it complimentary, has been assumed. The omission of her name from Shakespeare's will has been interpreted as evidence that she was nothing more than an unfortunate mistake from which Shakespeare did well to distance himself. Yet Shakespeare is above all the poet of marriage. Again and again in his plays constant wives redeem unjust and deluded husbands, but scholars persist in believing Shakespeare's own wife was no help to him and even that he hated her. In Shakespeare's Wife, Germaine Greer combines literary-historical techniques with documentary evidence about life in Stratford, striving to re-embed the story of Shakespeare's marriage in its social context.~from the blurb
Started, didn't finish. I really wanted to get through this but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to do it, and then it was due back at the library. Lots of historical detail, dates and connections are explored and I need to be in the mood for that sort of style. Will try this one again at a later date.

Barbed wire and roses / Peter Yeldham
They were our golden youth, seeking adventure on foreign battlefields. The First World War, everyone said in 1914, would be over by Christmas, and Stephen Conway rushes to enlist in the belief he should fight for King and Empire. Leaving behind a new wife and a baby on the way, he soon finds himself in the trenches of Gallipoli. Four horrific years later, Stephen is the only survivor of his platoon, shell-shocked and disillusioned, and during the heat of battle on the bloodstained fields of France, he mysteriously disappears. Stephen's ultimate fate is still a mystery when more than eighty years later his grandson Patrick finds a diary that leads him to Britain and France on a journey to discover what really happened. It is a journey during which he unexpectedly finds love, and the truth about his grandfather's fate that is even stranger and more shocking than he imagined.~from the blurb
This novel was very engaging. At first I thought it would be a typical coming of age type story set in WW1 but it turned out to be much more deeper than that. It addresses the sensitive topic of so called "cowardice" and desertion so despised at that time and it's affect on the person, their families and friends. Parallel to the WW1 story is a present day conflict between Patrick and his wife which occurs during Patrick's investigations.

Crossed bones / Jane Johnson
In an exclusive London restaurant, a gift is given that will change Julia Lovat's life. The antique book of Jacobean embroidery delights her, but when she settles down to read it more closely, she unexpectedly discovers within its foxed and faded pages; the extraordinary diary of a young Cornish girl, calling to her from across the centuries. The stories of these two women are destined to converge in an extraordinary and haunting manner.~ from the blurb.
Also enjoyed this one. It surprised me with the complexity of plot and I enjoyed the element of exotica that emerges through the events of the story.

Didn't manage to read so much in February. We spent a lot of time repainting our room so not so much opportunity to read.

Rumours...

there is something happening at SBO. On Friday.

Andrea is rubbing her hands over something! Not sure what it is but you may like to investigate.
I think it might involve Creme Eggs and scrapbooking goodies.

In other news...
Watch this space for

• Reading Round Ups
• Friendship tag post

I will post something more substantial once I've taken off Da Boss hat I'm wearing at present at work.

Stick Figure Family

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Taking the opportunity

Home with a little girl who isn't well today, so I thought I would do a blog post!

Excuse the black frame+husband's watermark on the photos. I uploaded them without noticing he'd turned on some settings. *sigh* I can assure you they are my photos! Can't be bothered redoing them.

There has been a lot of jam making in our house. So far I've made 46 jars. Some of which I'll be sending to Jenny as soon as I find a suitable box! Others I've sold at work.

This is my entry to the Scrap the Boys March Challenge. Go here for more details.

Used the lovely Snorkel paper from Cosmo Cricket.

Also managed to do another layout (don't fall off your chair) using my strawberry paper and Stampin' Up strawberry stamp.

We've finished the painting of our room and the curtains are up. :) Very pleased with the end result thought we did encounter some problems. We discovered the enamel tint was too different from the wall paint although they were allegedly the same colour. So we had a choice buying another 4litre tin of the correct colour and redoing the 3 walls, or painting the outside of the wardrobes in the wall paint (inside with the enamel). I'm afraid we chose the cheaper lazier option. I had bought the paint in 2007 so it would have been no point returning it and asking for a refund etc. This photo is of the feature wall.

cute things they say + make your own tartan

DD is coming along with her vocab and sentence making. She copies things we say - it's like there is an echo in the house sometimes.

With her face right up close to mine while I'm resting with my eyes closed she says in a big loud voice:
"Mummy seeping!" not anymore baby, not anymore..

Em, those little figurines from William's party now live in the dolls house, and get taken to bed on occasion which resulted in:

"Bob anna Wenny in bed!" (Bob and Wendy in bed!)
DH in the background: Naughty Bob!

DH had some music on:
"I yike mooscit" (I like music)

She knows most of the names of her little playmates at daycare.
Sheeta (Ashita)
Baco (Paco)
Connor
Yiza (Eliza)
and also her teachers
Yinda (Linda)
Bekky
Heada (Heather)
Manyo (Manjo)

It's funny to listen to the two kids play together. DD bosses her around a bit and controls the "game" but she certainly can make her opinions felt. The other day she annoyed DD, so he said to her, "I'm going to cross you off my list!"

I hope I'm still on his list. ;-)

Now to something completely different.

I subscribe to a blog called Popgadget, a blog about tech for women. Actually they have more stuff than that, but I digress. Anyhow, the poster pointed me to Pattern Pulp, a blog about... you guessed it ... patterns, by a New York designer. Fun!

She pointed me to a Stripe Generator site where you can make your own stripey patterns.

And it links to a Tartan making site where you can make your own tartan and unleash your inner Scott. Och aye!

today's post is brought to you by the letter S

DS had a mufti-day yesterday with the required .50c "donation" and $1 sausage sizzle.  So I wrapped up his money and told him what it was for etc.  When I got home I asked him:

"So did you get a sausage today?"
DS: Yes
Me: So you gave the money to Miss B___?
DS: No
Me: Well how come you were allowed a sausage then?
DS: You can't have a sausage unless you have an 'S' on your hand.
Me: *giggles* Right... so Nan gave Miss B___ the money then?
DS: No, she gave it to the office. *found out later this wasn't true, she did give it to the teacher*
Me: And the office ladies wrote an 'S' on your hand?
DS: No, the office ladies don't know how to write 'S'
Me: LOL!

Slandered!  Those poor office ladies ;-)  So if you know how to write an S on your hand you can have a sausage.  Just thought that little tip might be helpful.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Lego classics

V.J. Day Times Square
Originally uploaded by Balakov.

You've got to love these lego recreations of classic photos.

This one is V.J. Day Times Square. The set can be seen here.

Here's my baby in a dress I smocked way before I had any kids. Lucky I tried it on her because next summer will be too late I think. She will have grown out of it. It's supposed to be a size 3 I think. (Slightly differing colour cast due to DH manipulating levels. The bottom one is true colour but she wasn't smiling!) Photos by my lovely hubster who took my hint of "needing a photo" while I was rushing around getting ready for church yesterday and went ahead and took one.