Bits and bobs

Gosh it's hard to pick more blogs for the Kreativ Blogger award. I am so behind on reading bloglines that I really have no idea who has or hasn't got it so far. Sooooo, I'm going to go the wimpy way and say that if you're on the sidebar and you haven't had it, consider yourself nominated. Of course, my blog housekeeping is as up-to-date as my real housekeeping, so there are many of you not on there yet. Sorry.

I had a lovely afternoon meeting up with my friends. They even remembered what I looked like, lol. I must make sure next year to try and set aside a time to meet everyone more often.

To address some comments:

Thanks for the thoughts about my Dad. It's very much appreciated.

Beangirl asked about my degree. Well, I finally have finished my Bachelor of Arts with a major in Education. More the theory and research of education than teaching. I've also added in Sociology and a couple of Politics papers to widen the theoretical base. Next year I'm starting my Post-graduate Diploma in Educational Research which will be followed the year after by a Masters degree. All going well, and my not having descended into a gibbering insane mess, I'm also planning on my PhD. Hence the 5 years my DH has to still put up with. I'm interested in research into social justice issues in education, especially the effects of socio-economic status (which ties into Bourdieu's theories of cultural capital etc.) and/or the role of gender in achievement. And that's way more information than many of you wanted I'm sure. :)

Mary Nanna - Wow it's a small world! My younger siblings went to St Joseph's and Kavanagh. However, we all grew up in Whangarei, I came down for Uni in the mid-80s, met DH and stayed, and the rest of my family followed on down around 1993. I'm guessing you'll have known teachers like Donna Booth, and Ken and Mary Fahey at St Joes?

Judy - Sorry, still gonna read the textbooks but I promise they won't get in the way of 'girly' days. :)

Rhoto - I totally agree that studying is fun. I get worn out at times and sick of it at times too, but it also makes me feel challenged and alive. I'm really looking forward to the next few years - although I guarantee that I'm bound to grumble at times. :)

And in the continuing quest to prove MP3s should come with warning labels after the cellphone and singing incident - yesterday I had music on in the car at traffic lights when a truck pulled up alongside, allowing the driver to see my fabulous drum rendition on the steering wheel. At least we both could laugh.....

And the Award goes to....

Exams are over! Woohoo! I celebrated with a glass, ahem, bottle of wine. Then I hibernated for a few days. At the end of semester we found out my Dad has cancer and between that and exams, I was left feeling decidely unsocialable. With the kids at school, I got to spend a few days lounging around in rumpty jeans and tees and reading totally trashy chick lit. But tomorrow I'm being sociable and heading off to meet up with my friends. I'm worried I may need a name badge to remind them who I am, lol.

Sue at Quilt, Sew, Sew Sue has been kind enough to award me this:

Thanks Sue!

As part of this I need to tell you seven things you may not know about me and then nominate seven other blogs I love to follow. What might you not know about me? (Some of these may not come as a surprise e.g. #4)

1. Well you may have gathered this already, but I have finally finished my BA degree and barring some catastrophe will have it in my hand within the month. :)

2. I dislike ironing. I really dislike ironing. To the point that I have been known to wet clothes and put them back through the dryer so I can pull them out and hang while hot. Consequently there is a large pile of clothes waiting to be rehabilitated into household wardobes. Or put through the dryer. ;)

3. I would prefer to clean the bathroom than iron 'the pile'.

4. I purchase on impulse. That's why I have a stash. A very large stash. Not just fabric but patterns too. Far more than I could ever realistically sew.

5. I have six brothers and 4 sisters. And I'm the oldest.

6. My husband is awesome. He truly is. The last few years I have been studying he has been my lifeline to sanity, whether it's proofreading, listening to my recap of lectures or sneaking me into the Uni staff club for cheap hot chocolates. So far he hasn't run screaming from the idea of my post-graduate studies which could take the next 5 years.

7. I have read all the Twilight series and enjoyed them. I also want to see the movies - yay for daughters which give me an excuse to go.

Now to nominate 7 others. I always hate having to pick just a few of the many, many blogs I follow, but I know how cool it is to receive an award so....

Everything Just Sew

Rhotos Rag

Quality Time

Beangirl: The Blog

Ummm, Ummmm, I'll come back and add the other three tomorrow. :)

Lost in the books

Ugh! I am sick of studying. Even studying fuelled by pineapple lumps, jaffas and m&ms. I have definitely decided that dry, dusty, memorize-the-facts politics papers are not for me. BORING!!! It really does spell out how different DH and I are as he did an entire degree in this.

At least this will be out of the way in 48 hours. Then just the exam on Sociological theorists Durkheim, Weber and Marx. Does it sound sad to say I find that more interesting? I'm actually looking forward to revising for that. I know. I've obviously been studying too much and have lost touch with reality, lol. Just to add to the geeky nerdiness look, I'll confess that when I was in the Uni bookstore the other day, I found at least 4 textbooks that I'm keen to read over the holidays. I soooo need to get a life!

Non-stash reduction

Sewing time has been scarce as the semester winds down with the subsequent increase in assignments due and then exams. However, only three weeks to go. I'm still checking in at Spotlight to see if the melton goes on special, but no luck so far. Wish they'd get a move on because I do like that purple, although I've found it will fray a bit. I might have to think about finishing the edges.

Meanwhile, I've succumbed to the joys of Trademe and bought fabric, plus I've visited Spotlight a few times ... - which I really don't need with the way my stash stats are going for the year! I will have to do some serious sewing in November and December to even this out a bit. Something stash consuming.... like bedsheets. Or a tent. Or a cover for the house. That should use up a bit, lol.

I bought 3 pieces of knit off Trademe as a test to see what the quality and service were like. I'd have to say thumbs up! Reasonable prices, very quick service ( I bought on the Tuesday, paid on the Weds and received the goods on Saturday) and the quality seems nice. Each piece came with a label with composition and care instructions which can be helpful.

Spotlight has contributed a couple of knits for cardigans for me, some nylon lycra for a swimsuit for DD2, a mesh for a top/jacket for me and a checked fabric for a shirtdress also for DD2. Photos will have to wait for another day as the camera batteries are all flat.

I'm looking forward to sewing some of this up. Just got to get two essays out of the way and 2 more exams. Sigh.

Tempted by the Ottobre Coats

Cold, snowy days remind me that I need a winter coat. Of course it's officially spring, the plum trees are covered in blossom, and we've had a few weeks of lovely warm days to end winter on. But today is cold and raining with hail and snowy stuff at times, and did I mention cold? I know that some of you have colder, like if you live in Alaska (Hi Dawn!), but I'm a wuss and I'd let the warm weather lull me into a summer mentality. So I'm declaring it officially cold here. :)


In the latest Ottobre Woman are a couple of lovely coats.

I love this coat and I think it would be lovely out of the navy wool cashmere I have in the stash. But it would need a "little" bit of fit adjustment which requires time.

In the same issue is this coat, which looks like it would be a quicker sewing project. And the sizing is closer.

I even found melton at Spotlight. And in purple. It's so tempting..... but it's $39.95m and this coat takes around 2.6 metres. Maybe I should sacrifice some of my navy cashmere ( I think I have over 6 metres, possibly 9 or 10m). But the purple just looks so cheerful. I will have to think about it some more.

Technologically challenged

First up - a big thank you for the kind comments and support after my last post. I guess my 'Mommy' panic gene kicked in big time for a bit. But, once I caught up on some sleep, had another chat with the doctor and been sent a whole lot of stats by a friend who works in oncology, I was much calmer. Now we're just waiting and seeing (and crossing fingers etc).

Today I discovered why some people (namely, me) should not be allowed to own modern technologies like mp3 players.

To understand why, you have to know some background - for instance, that I am tone deaf. Can't sing for peanuts. No really - I'm awful. Just ask my family. If I busked, people would pay me to stop. (In fact when I sing at home, my kids do ask me to stop - once they've stopped laughing). On a funny aside - I was in the school choir for years. How you ask? Well I'm also a dab hand at lip synching. :)

Anyways, I like singing along with songs on the stereo,..... and the radio,........ and my mp3.... (you get a hint of where this is going?)

Now we add in the wildcard. My cellphone, which has it's own resident gremlin. I have a tendency to shove my phone in my jeans pocket. Note, my phone is not a fliptop, so it can be very easy for the gremlin to 'accidentally' call someone (as Judy knows. Goodness knows how many times Judy has been rung by my phone, or how many dollars have been spent for her to listen to me doing my groceries.)

Soooo, today I'm driving home. I've pulled my phone out of my pocket and put it on the seat beside me; I'm listening to my mp3 and belting out a wonderful (well, if you're tone deaf it sounds good) version of Greenday's 'American Idiot'. All is going well.....

......until I stop at a traffic light and look down at my phone.... Oooops! Still if I had to embarrass myself, at least it was my sister on the other end. Although she's threatening to report me for the use of torture, lol.


Apart from humiliating myself, I've finally finished a cardigan. I blatantly copied a cardigan Judy had made for herself. Heck, I even borrowed the pattern from Judy and got her to explain the changes she'd made. Then for some insane reason I made it a size bigger than I normally would through the shoulders. Mehh, but it's wearable and seeing as we seem to have reverted back to winter, it'll get worn. I'm debating a piece of ribbon across the inside back to keep the shoulders from slipping further down.

This is adapted from Burda WOF 7/2007 #128 The Wrap Shirt. You can see Judy's sketch of how she adapted it. Isn't she clever! I love the neckline/collar on this. Lovely and toasty warm for wintery days.

A couple of blurry photos. I'm not sure what is up with the camera but it seems to be having trouble staying focussed. The dirty mirror didn't help either. I've also lightened these up considerably so you have a slight chance at seeing something....

And look - I even mitred the corners!

Well, I'm off to continue my Literature search (Yay for electronic databases!) and torture the cats with my singing.... :)

I need sleep!

This morning I took DD1 to the Doctors. Nothing too urgent we thought, but the only time we could get into see 'our' doctor. We ticked off the few things that needed checking and then DD thought to mention the 'stiff, lumpy neck'.
Now the Doc is great and very calming, but even though it was preceded by "I don't think we need to do a...", the word 'biopsy' is one word that a mother does not want to hear mentioned in relation to her daughter! Rationally, I know he's not too worried, that we're on a monthly check-up for 6 months and often they go away by themselves.... but in my sleep-deprived irrationality, all I can think is that the possibility is still there that in 6 months if the lump is still there, or if it gets any bigger, there will be a biopsy to check for the big 'C'.

I have been slightly freaked out all day. Luckily I had a paper to write to distract myself, although I'm not going to promote it as my best work.

Tonight I think a glass of wine and some mindless telly whilst cuddling with my kids on the couch might be in order.