glory day

But don’t try any of the moves at home

A while back David and I went to see Boy, a really sweet New Zealand movie set in the 1980’s (which you should totally see if you get a chance.  It contains the classic line “Ohh no, crayfish for dinner again!”).  The end title sequence had me screaming with laughter: it was an unholy mash-up of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Poi E -

Wait.  Unless you were brought up in NZ in the 1980’s you probably don’t know the awesomeness that is Poi E.  I think you’d best describe it as a fusion of traditional Maori singing and hip-hop (for a less musically-unaware explanation can be found here).  Most Kiwis think of Poi E affectionately – the video still makes me a bit teary and nostalgic.  You should go and watch it now because I can assure you that the chances of seeing anything like this again are slim to minimal (David’s face when he first saw it!  I have never seen a jaw drop so low.)  The break dancing is omg, so special.

So now that we’re all on the same page regarding Poi E, back to Boy.  The end title sequence features a nod to the lead characters’ love of Michael Jackson and it’s FANTASTIC and EPIC and HERE.  Please go and watch it.  If you can sit through it without falling off your chair because you’re laughing so hard you’re a stronger woman than I am.

Summer: 1; me: 0.

Summer has absolutely kicked my arse this year - I don't remember it being so humid and cloying since 2000 (my first Sydney summer).  I don't cope well with the heat - I don't like my make-up running, I don't like sweating and I'm NOT a fan of sunburn.

And the heat has leached all my motivation/creativity/spirit/will to live.  I haven't cleaned the house for ages, I can't be bothered cooking, my sewing machine has cobwebs.  De and I are walking once a week rather than every night.

Then there are the mosquitos (to which I am allergic).  I spend most of the summer with painful and inflamed bite marks on my legs (and arms, and face, and chest.  And pretty much everywhere else).  And the fleas!  I have NO IDEA how my cat gets fleas - he has supervised access to the enclosed front courtyard which has no lawn, and has no contact with other animals - but oh hell yeah, he gets the fleas.

OK, so 'funny' story: we were going out the other night, and I could feel a hair brushing my cheek, but couldn't find it to touch it.  I looked in the mirror and discovered that there was a flea on my face.

Let's do that again, shall we?  I was about to go to a nice restaurant for dinner and there was a FLEA ON MY FACE.  Seriously, that was one of those primal moments from which I may never recover.

I mean, I Frontline, I bomb, I lux, I powder, but the little buggers are still there!  And nobody else ever gets bitten or anything (and I'm fairly sure David's never see a flea) but because I'm so allergic to the bities they lurrrve me and lie in wait for me.

Thankfully it looks like the temperatures might start dropping over the next few weeks.  I've been taking massive amounts of B vitamins to combat the blues and started planning what I need to do next.  I refuse to be beaten by a season.

Oh actually I have done something - I made a lap blanket for De.  Here Mr Puss indicates that my colour blocking is simplistic and jejeune:

But he has fleas, what does he know.

A story of lamb

This year my brother (the chef) decided xmas dinner would be lamb cooked over a spit.  So he swapped some whitebait for some fresh Southern lamb from our family farm, and had my BiL build a firepit:

His research showed that bits of lamb generally fall into the fire during the cooking process, and this was not something he was prepared to accept (he is quite exacting).  So he came up with the great idea of wrapping the meat in chicken wire before cooking:

which I thought was fairly genius.  Then the lamb was slowly rotated over the fire pit for four hours:

(here my dad points sternly and managerially, David labours under the weight and my BiL is bemused). 

After 4 hours we took it off the spit, cut off all the wires and carried out a taste test:

As ChefBrother said: "I don't know if it's cooked, or cooked to perfection".  Delicious.

~~~~~

In unrelated news I had another tooth removed on Wednesday.  While dental extractions pretty much hold all the physical and emotional weight of stubbing my toe, the recovery on this one is a bitch.  Chocolate Sustagen FTW!

Strange and sort of creepy. And December.

Yesterday I was at the hairdressers having the back of my head dyed purple, as you do, and I noticed another customer staring at me.  She told me she had finally worked out where she had seen me before: in the crowd at a really busy trade fair back in April.

Seriously, what?  Trust me I am not that memorable, and to have someone describe what I was wearing nearly a year after the event sort of freaked me out.  Strange.

~~~~~

When will I remember that I never get anything done in December?  I can successfully get the presents organised and pack myself off to wherever I need to go, and the rest is more luck than good management.  Having a to-do list is pointless after November!

~~~~~

A propos of nothing, here's a photo of a choker I made years ago:

 

THAT was deeply unpleasant

You will be surprised to hear that surgery was NO FUN.  They were running about two hours late, then the anethetist spent the best part of 20 minutes trying to find vein in my hand - to no avail. 

By that time I was just so over it I started crying, and the darling receptionist held my hand while the doctor mined my forearm for a better vein.  I swear I gripped her hand so tightly that something broke (so I'd best bring some peace-offering muffins next time I go).

After that things got done fairly quickly and with the help of my trusty Panadeine Forte I've had a fairly drift-y time ever since.

My face is all puffed up like a wee chipmunk, and - worst of all - my speech is pretty unintelligible.  Why does virtually every word I need to say have an 's' in it?  And I have a huge bruise on my forearm.  I have to say I'm not at all thrilled with how things look at the moment, although I know! I know! I have to wait til all the swelling goes down.  Just, you know, not so happy right now.

A Tale of Blue and Gold

Here is a picture of the lovely irises De bought me when I got home:

and look!  My Dianella longifolia flowered:

I feel so proud.

~~~~~

David has been a complete star throughout this whole process, from letting me rabbit on about the process to picking me up to making sure I have chocolate Sustagen on hand at all times.  I'm not quite sure what I can do to show him how grateful I am - is this maybe a situation for a hand-made shirt?

Maybe I'll go shoe shopping on my way to surgery

~ 2½ hours to go ~

Some things, briefly, to stop me dwelling on my impending surgery:

I helped to co-ordinate our op-shop's involvement in the Under the Blue Moon festival last week.  I'd been bringing bags of clothes and things home for the past few months, and here is everything washed, ironed and packed ready to go:

I must admit to feeling a tiny bit daunted at that point.

We had two days of really hard work - Friday setting up, Saturday working the shop - and while there were some stresses [we work for the same organization, quit your bitching] everything went really well.  We got a good crowd, the shop looked great and the lucky dip thingie totally went off (who knew?).

Obviously the best part is that we raised nearly $1600, which is a) the first time in well over a year we've hit the 1K mark and b) believed to be an all-time record for one day's takings.  So yay.

~ 2¼ hours to go ~

A whole heap of the work done for the festival wouldn't have happened without De, who was just a phenomenal helper.  Everyone at the shop loved her, and really I couldn't have done it without her.

And you know what else I couldn't do without her?  Listen to my new iPod Touch!  In a moment which rendered me speechless De and J gifted me the iPod Touch J had won at an event - isn't that just an amazing thing?  And I was actually speechless, and you know that doesn't happen very often.

OK, 2 hours to go.  I'm going to go get it over with.

And full of woe

I have tried twelve gazillion times to write this, but I can't seem to do it right.  So here is what is.

The [very few] teeth I still have in/on my top jawbone are coming out.  One has been falling out for the past year; the other one came out (with all roots attached, no blood and no pain) when the dentist was making an impression for my denture.

Yes, my denture.  After 12 years of worrying about the worst that could happen, the worst has happened.  All the teeth from my top jaw are coming out.  Full denture.

And I know it's a first-world problem and all, but for me it's dreadfully, dreadfully sad.  No top teeth.  No pretending the problem will get better any time soon.  Gone, done, over.

Next Friday they all come out, then the next part of my life starts.

There has been much crying (the ugly. snotty crying) and railing against the world.  I know that losing all your teeth is not really that bad in the scheme of things, but for me it's really, really sad.

I am really, really sad right now. 

I always seem to get sick in August

I've had the most brutal head-cold for the best part of a fortnight and I would be seriously quite thrilled if it stopped right about now.

De gave me 'get well soon' daffodils:

which not only look gorgeous but make our downstairs rooms smell amazing.

It's funny, I could swear I do pretty much fuck all most of the time but I seem to have missed a whole pile of deadlines/obligations/meetings/whatever.  And I'm still not 100% well so even doing fairly little things leave me wiped out and kittenish.

Mutton shaved as lamb

Look at what my hairdresser did to me:

I am unaccountably delighted!  I had never pictured myself as the sort of woman who would shave designs into the back of her head, but I think it's marvellous - I feel like an All Black!

Just one of those days

NOT LOVING:

The PMS that kept me away from the op-shop today GRR.

LOVING:

This photo of David's parents garden:

They live on the edge of a National Park and the scenary is really quite spectacular.

MENDING:

~ boots ~ belt ~ frock ~ socks ~ bag ~ picture ~ watch.  It's been just one of those days.