Friday 31 October 2008

Divorce?

Not likely! Lucy & Harry delight in each other's company every moment of the day. Group photography is tricky at the best of times getting all parties to look into the lens at the same moment.

I feel sorry for celebrities under the media spotlight. A running commentary on one's life in the tabliods would be so difficult.

Sunday 26 October 2008

At last!


Thank you everyone for the wonderful support you have given me during this year's stitching. It has been a bumpy ride for me. For a while there I seriously thought about giving up my blissful creating for good & becoming a Stepford wife (read: card-carrying-tidy-house-nothing-out-of-place-mama) instead.

The good news is that the itch to stitch has returned and with it the ideal fabric choice for my Joan Elliott mermaid. My house is slowly deteriorating back to its usual 'creation inspiring' state.



I went to the craft fair here in Brisbane this week, and there it was. It's called iced blue by the vendor, but in fact it's closer to what 123stitch calls 'Miracle Mint'. It's both green and blue, if you know what I mean. It will look wonderful in my new bathroom!

Meanwhile, I'm stealing a wee bit of weekend time to do my scissor keep. I'll post some pics after the next lot of exams & assignments.

Happiness & laughter to one and all,

Bliss

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Itching to go!

Just a week ago I reported that I hadn't picked up a needle in months. The good news is that the stitching bug has returned with vengence. The bad news is that it's right in mid-semester exam week, so there's not a thing that I can do about it for now. Typical!

I'm 95% confident that the moment I press 'send' on that last exam question on Sunday night, I will be searching through the stash for fabric and floss. Can you tell that I'm doing stats this week? LOL

I've already decided what project I'm going to be working on. Sorry Margaret & Berta, it's not The Seasons Chair. It's the last of my three beach pics.



Another project launching next week is Renovations part 4: the ensuite bathroom. I'm shuddering at the thought, let me tell you! It requires concrete cutting & tile removal, so there's going to be a lot of dust.

Saturday 11 October 2008

Memories

It's going to come as a surprise to many of you that I spent a large part of my childhood in China.

In China?

That can't be true!

It is true, but not in the way you think.

My younger sister, Lisa (aka Moo), and I had very fertile imaginations when we were somewhere around 10 years old. We also went to bed at 7.30pm which meant that by 5am when it was light we were up and about but not allowed to make inside-the-house noise that would wake our parents or other 5 siblings.

This is when we used to visit China. Out to our back garden we would go and spend several hours each morning picking tea (read: pulling out dad's grass). Mum and dad never said a word about this weird exercise, even though we did it for several years and we did it right under their open bedroom window (I guess with 7 children born in 8 years one learns to sleep through anything).

But then again, perhaps this particular antic pales in significance to a few other things that Moo and I got up to during childhood (visualise kerosene & candle putt putt boats made of sardine tins in the bath, crab apple ripening under our beds in summer, midnight feasts under the sideboard in the lounge room after we had sung at the top of our voices every song we'd ever learned, and an imaginary fairytale world of autumn leaves in the adjacent park during the 60s and early 70s, and then hair cutting, perming, straightening, dying, ear piercing in the bathroom, and putting ourselves up for adoption when we were 14 because we wanted the romance of being orphans in the mid 70s).

Lisa and I often wore similar outfits made by mum from the same bolt of fabric when we were 13 and under, and then created (and let me tell you that the verb truly was 'created') our own wardrobes of clothes as we got older (I eventually settled on black stubbies and tshirts, Lisa had more designer clothes and thick shishado makeup).

I do remember that at some stage late in our years in Canberra, that my mother finally moved me out of the house and into the garage to sleep at night. It probably had something to do with getting everyone else to sleep at night, herself included. I also remember being shit scared of the dark and of rats (not that I ever saw any rats - it was dark. LOL).

Those were the good ol' days. We weren't Flissy and Lisa. We called ourselves Sallyanne and Geraldine (don't ask me why we chose these names nor why we swapped who was the older - I was Geraldine - but we did).

Our nocturnal restlessness abated somewhat in the mid-70s when we moved to Maryborough in Queensland. Lisa and I still shared a bedroom but we'd gotten over the desire to share the same bed and sing (well, most of the time). Life got more serious with high school and our mother's chronic illness, I guess. I got organised and tidy. Lisa did not (well not for a few years, anyway).

These days, it's me who wears dresses and uses makeup most often. Neither of us yet sleeps well at night (always made worse when we are doing lots of brain work - like I am now being back at uni) but we get by. We both like nice china and crystal and making afternoon tea (though neither of us actually drinks the stuff).

Our latest adventure together was a little more staid than our trips to China, though we both love to get on a jet plane and head off to far away lands. We popped over to Woody Point for Sunday lunch to celebrate Moo's birthday. Since those halcyon years of childhood, I've actually been to China and have my own brood of truly half Chinese off-spring. Lisa has just come home from South Africa where she helped save one of her students (Christian) from a group of stalking lions. Life's still full of adventure for both of us, it seems!

It's an odd sort of blog entry, but it's sure nice to remember the good things in life. I was an odd child (being almost deaf until I was 8 years old and not too good on the social skills side as a result). I was a very shy child to the outside world, but quite able to organise my little sister into lots of mischief at home. Lisa, who was bold and loud in public by comparison (or so she seemed to me), was a great companion. We complemented each other nicely.

Have you thought lately about what you did as a kid or with whom you shared it? Oh what tales one can tell when one remembers!

Bliss

P.S. Lisa called me today after I wrote this post. She denies the tea picking. She insists that the drugs must have kicked in and erased the memory.

Wednesday 8 October 2008

Finding the Goldilocks Planet


I'm so busy with life that I've not picked up a needle in months! So sad.

So what AM I working on that is keeping me away, you ask me? Would you believe an paper telling the world where to find our nearest neighbours (i.e. the little green men from planet x). It's amazing what one studies at university these days, huh?

Apart from that, it's a combo of statistics and psychology, and a killer exercise program where I try to get in a 7 - 10km walk each day with Lucy & Harry (when they are well). I keeps me sane and fit.



Tuesday 7 October 2008

Love, Laugh, Survive & Thrive Scissors Slide

Launched at the St Charles market in Missouri, USA, in September, this is a limited edition collaboration. Jo Mason from Dinky Dyes Threads has dyed a special silk floss and silk ribbon, Paula Sibbald from Kelmscott Designs designed the 'Pink Snip Scissors' and Janie Hubble designed and made the little scissor slide to recognise those who have survived breast cancer. Part of the proceeds from every sale will be donated to breast cancer research and education.

I'm going to stitch it for Christmas for my friend, Terry, a breast cancer survivor.

Have you planned any special Christmas stitching? If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Bliss

Love, Laugh, Survive & Thrive Scissors Slide

Launched at the St Charles market in Missouri, USA, in September, this is a limited edition collaboration. Jo Mason from Dinky Dyes Threads has dyed a special silk floss and silk ribbon, Paula Sibbald from Kelmscott Designs designed the 'Pink Snip Scissors' and Janie Hubble designed and made the little scissor slide to recognise those who have survived breast cancer. Part of the proceeds from every sale will be donated to breast cancer research and education.

I'm going to stitch it for Christmas for my friend, Terry, a breast cancer survivor.

Have you planned any special Christmas stitching? If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Bliss

Monday 6 October 2008

Understanding how teenagers work

How parents (and teachers) can understand teens? Learn about cats!

1. Neither teenagers nor cats turn their heads when you call them by name.

2. No matter what you do for them, it is not enough. Indeed, all humane efforts are barely adequate to compensate for the privilege of waiting on them hand and foot.

3. You rarely see a cat walking outside of the house with an adult human being, and it can be safely said that no teenager in his or her right mind wants to be seen in public with his or her parents.

4. Even if you tell jokes as well as Jay Leno, neither your cat nor your teen will ever crack a smile.

5. No cat or teenager shares your taste in music.

6. Cats and teenagers can lie on the living-room sofa for hours on end without moving, barely breathing.

7. Cats have nine lives. Teenagers carry on as if they did.

8. Cats and teenagers yawn in exactly the same manner, communicating that ultimate ecstasy–a sense of complete and utter boredom.

9. Cats and teenagers do not improve anyone’s furniture.

10. Cats that are free to roam outside sometimes have been known to return in the middle of the night to deposit a dead animal in your bedroom. Teenagers are not above that sort of behavior.

Thus, if you must raise teenagers, the best sources of advice are not other parents, but veterinarians.

It is also a good idea to keep a guidebook on cats on hand at all times. And remember, above all else, put out the food and do not make any sudden moves in their direction.

When they make up their minds, they will finally come to you for some affection and comfort, and it will be a triumphant moment for all concerned.

Author Unknown (Probably a parent with a sense of humor—and a cat!)

Source: English Teacher's Blog

Friday 3 October 2008

Harry at 6 months


Remember this little cutie?
This is Harry at 7 weeks.


This is Harry today.
He's done gone grown up!

Things to know about Harry
1. He's a Labrador, so he likes food.
2. He enjoys exercise, so he wants more food.
3. He sleeps in the kennel each night with Lucy, so he dreams of food.
4. He knows that 5am is time to wake up, so he expects food for breakfast.
5. He loved puppy pre-school because someone was always giving him food.
6. He continues to be Mama's good boy, so that he can get more food rewards.
7. He's is a skinny male, so he can afford more food.
8. He's learning how to swim - anything to get food!
9. Harry's real name is Henry Bullwinkle Davies - he eats to forget.
10. Harry simply likes to eat.


And, for those of you who don't follow my Daily Bliss site , here's a picture of Lucy.

My wee girl is 17 months old & a whopping, muscular 32kg.
We walk / run miles every day.
Lucy had a heart attack last weekend after she was bitten by a paralysis tick, but she's well again, just not allowed to exercise for a few weeks. She's also restricted with her diet so that she doesn't gain weight while she's not exercising.
Life is tough for a labrador on a diet, believe me!
LOL. I think it's also killing her to watch me and Harry as we leave for our morning walks without her.