Teeny tiny beanie

While sitting huddled under a lamp because the crap energy saving bulbs put out less light than a birthday candle, I finally got around to crocheting some stuff for a friend who recently had a baby. Since I have about four friends who have recently had babies I am probably not giving too much away (with the exception that they all had boys except for one girl and this stuff is in pink...)
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So here it is (I have only got one bootie done and it will probably be months before I get the other one done, but you get the idea). I was thinking to myself how cute they are and everything when I got the idea that I should check to make sure they would fit a real baby. The short answer is no, they probably wouldn't. Hurumph!

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Here is a photo of them, but this time with something to give you an idea of scale...

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As you can see, unless its a premie baby it is all probably way too small. Shame I don't know anyone planning a premie baby because in about four years I might have the other bootie done. Anyway, I am now going to settle down and read the instructions properly and make another one and hopefully this time it will be the right size (its still raining). The instructions say a newborn's head is approximately 15". 15"! That's huge. This little beanie is about 10" and the bootie is about 2.5" (supposed to be 3.5").

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If anyone is interested, you can get the beanie pattern at Imagine and the bootie pattern at CrochetMe

Lightning magnet

I feel completely dudded by the crap weather we are having here at the moment. I had planned on playing some golf today (which makes me sound like a complete bumpkin, but I don't care. I also crochet stuff and have once listened to a Katy Perry song), but it has been rainy and drizzly all day. I would go anyway but I am completely paranoid about getting struck by lightning or something crazy. I'd be like that old guy out of Benjamin Button that got struck by lightning seven times. Then every one at work will use me as a 'safety share*'... again.

*Whimsical little tidbits of safety at the beginning of each meeting, kinda like Captain Planet's message at the end of each episode only lamer.

Bigpond logic

Bigpond makes no sense- I have to download some software to fix my wireless connection but need an Internet connection to do this. Spooty Internet!

A 5 ounce bird could not carry a 1 pound coconut

I am starting to get more excited at the prospect of moving. There are so many possibilities that open up when you're not on the equivalent of a metaphorical desert island with only the things you could save from your sinking cruise liner and what can be cobbled together from coconuts.

One of my grand plans to consume what must turn out to be copious amounts of free time is to have a go at building something from Ana White's website (have a look and see if you aren't inspired too). I'll soon be close to a hardware shop that perhaps realises that a 300% markup doesn't make sustainable business sense (no I am not making this up, they actually tried to charge $15 for a packet of out of date mint seeds). Then I will be able to use my husband's love of power tools to my advantage... mwah ha ha ha ha!

Finish with a win

I am dogless at the moment. Ickle Jack is in Darwin with Luke and I never realised how much I would miss the hairy stink ball. Its really very strange not to hear him rampantly scratching his butt in the middle of the night and to have to make the effort to wake up just enough to yell at him to stop before crashing back into the pillow and sleep. Its the same with the budgies and their antics at shoving each other off the perch and inexplicitly coming to life at 10pm as I am trying to go to bed. Everything is much quieter.

Despite all the doglessness and budgielessness, I had a rollercoaster ride of an afternoon that I think I will share in a 'good news, bad news' way. I have broken the world record for the time it takes to register a car. I was able to get the car inspected and registered in under 30min. Completely unheard of! Good news. Its just a shame I lost track of time and my car ran out of rego and was done at the last minute. Bad news. But when I went to put the new sticker on, the old sticker came off in one go- Good news. I lost $100 out of my pocket on my way to the driving range while someone from work called me after hours and yacked on about work despite me telling them that I couldn't do anything until tomorrow when I was back at work- Bad news. I wrote off the $100 never expecting to see it again, only when I got home and went to open the garage door, there was $50 on the ground... AND another $50 a few steps away. I found my lost $100!- Good news.

My kingdom for a pen

I have been meaning to put something up as a big thank you to my good friend who heard my lament at being unable to make it to an office works and sent me some fancy pens. They are brilliant, and I have been torn between using them and saving them for special things. Luckily she sent me two, so now I can do both (which is tricky since they are exactly the same and it can get confusing which one is being saved for special things and which one is being gluttonously used).

Being the tops chicky that she is (and knowing my irrational love of Christmas despite being so horribly unorganised and always sending out Christmas cards so they arrive some time in the new year... around Easter), she brought me back some gorgeous Christmassy candles. I am waiting until I move before I set fire to these cute candles and dance around pretending its December. I am a bit upset I couldn't get a good photo of them (I really must learn how to take decent photos), but you get the idea..
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One thing I am looking forward to is paying less than $2 a litre for fuel. I have been mocked in the past for exaggerating these things, but its true. And just to prove it, I took a photo of a fuel price that would make you wish a car that runs on love and happy thoughts was invented. Now here is a reason to sob uncontrollably when the fuel thingy doesn't click off in time and $10 runs down the side of the car, as happened this afternoon. I thought to myself, there goes what could have been three very expensive passionfruit bought from the local supermarket, spilt all over the ground because of a broken fuel thingy... *sigh*

I don't ever want to win the lottery

I am starting to think that I should never have promised to write something everyday. What a disappointment that turned out to be. Perhaps I should promise that I won't win a million zillion billion dollars in the lottery next week...

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I have been noticing that when I say I definitely won't do something, somehow I always end up doing it. For example, I once told some friends at uni that I would never move to the Northern Territory because that's what bogans do. Then I promptly moved to the Northern Territory the following year. Of course I don't like it, I knew that much before I moved, but still I moved here. Its an odd place to end up when I have always wanted to move to Tasmania, even before I visited it. Perhaps I should have said I never want to move somewhere nice and cool, I would much rather live somewhere where its possible to make your eyes sweat.

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So now I am moving again, this time to Jabiru a few hours from Darwin. It seems that I have gone about as remote as I ever want to, and am now slowly making my way back towards civilisation and perhaps one day a place with many different shops. Still I am getting ahead of myself here. For now I will be happy to be within driving distance of a small town (one that doesn't require a massive 4WD equipped with a winch, an emergency beacon and one of those wheel covers that says something pithy like "don't follow me I'm going fishing" as if people often just follow them around- which is just poor judgement really because what if they are going to the shops or something? Perhaps they have a few covers that say things like, "don't follow me I'm going to the shops for a pie" or "don't follow me I'm going to the dentist and he doesn't like crowds and its important not to upset someone who can pull out all your teeth then charge you for it" and they just put on the one that applies to the trip).

The view from the top of a mountain of batteries

After cyclone Yasi became big news in Queensland, people here started up on the excited discussions of whether it would get to us. I thought this was a pointless discussion since we are so far away from where the cyclone was, but that didn't stop excitable people stocking up big on batteries and tinned sausages. What we did get were impressive storm clouds one morning, which unfortunately for those with six cases of tinned sausages and a small mountain of batteries, flew right over us in about half an hour.
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Oh well, I am sure those tinned sausages will keep.
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Apart from a complete fizzer of a storm that was supposed to be the talk of the town (we don't have a cinema), there is no excitement here whatsoever. One of the guys at work caught a fish, and it clearly involved quite a struggle given how long it took to convey the story. I thought it was pretty lucky he wasn't hunting something like a whale or an ostrich otherwise we might still be there now.

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So before the camping season starts and I am regaled with exciting stories about sleeping with a rock in the middle of your back and getting eaten alive by sand flies while having a marvelous time sleeping under canvas, I have decided its time to leave town. Oh yeah, and I drew a picture of Jack....