Disco Knitter

The silkies. There are three of the there, though it is hard to see with all the fluffiness going on. A good thing they are different colours!

Robyn Nevin

Lois O’Donahue

I’ve been on Freecycle for a few weeks now, and got some cool stuff. Last night, I got home from the Opera (thanks Bev!)to see an email listing three Chinese Silkie Hens, looking for a home.

Since our flock is now reduced to two approximately eight year old girls, we’ve been thinking of getting a few more, and this looked like a good way to get some fabulous chooks and a good match for our family. So I emailed the woman making the offer, and told her a bit about us, and that the girls would have a forever home with us, whether they were laying or not.

Usually, there is quite a bit of competition for freecycle items, especially things that have a high value, like purebred chooks. Anyway, I got an email this morning, the chook lady decided that we were offering the best home, so Inigo and I went to pick them up this afternoon.

So please welcome Lois O’Donohue, Robyn Nevin, and Meryl Tankard. Their previous people named them, and I think we’d better keep the names

Video from TED. Surprisingly, happiness has nothing to do with circumstance, it really is about resilience, or manufacturing happiness.

There’s just something so engaging and expressive about Auslan. And I have to confess a soft spot for this song. You wouldn’t think that a woman doing a signed translation of a trashy pop song in her bedroom would be so compelling and beautiful.

But it is.

Thanks to the Hoydens for the link.

And the ringlets bounce as he runs up and down the hall. We nearly died from the cuteness.

Now, instead of going to the AGM, I’m off to ride a steam train with Iggy and his best mate.

Late Thursday afternoon I got the email I’ve been waiting for – I have been accepted as a volunteer Breastfeeding Counsellor for the Australian Breastfeeding Association. I spoke to the roster co-ordinator last night, and have been assigned my first helpline shift (2nd Friday of the month, starting in April). And this morning I logged in successfully – and logged out again quickly before I had to take a call. There is not enough caffeine in the world to make that first call easy.

So wish me luck, between now and the 9th of April I have to take lots of calls to get myself ready and comfortable enough to tackle an entire 4 hour shift on my own.

There is other (huge) news around the corner too, but I don’t want to say anything until it has been confirmed and I have more information. But needless to say, there are exciting times ahead!

But press play for the clip. You’ll thank me.

When needs must, a glass table and a dolphin torch do quite nicely.

Sad, but true.

The Lactation Resource Centre put on a conference/seminar every year for health professionals working in lactation, and every year there are exciting international guest speakers. Last year I saw the speakers as a webcast, but I really wanted to attend this year. Of course, registration fees were beyond the meager budget, so I was really excited when an opportunity came up to volunteer (and possibly sneak into the sessions).

And then a week passed, and another week, and I hadn’t heard from the organisers, so I figured I’d missed out. No friends Nigel once again.

But yesterday I was emailed a registration confirmation, and I’M IN!

I used to get excited about going to concerts and parties. Look what I am reduced to.

A new ad featuring Pamela Anderson dressed in a gold bikini, rubbing herself against another woman in an office environment, and being splashed with a white liquid has been taken off air. Crazy Domains (the company being advertised) managing director Gavin Collins said the ad was “tongue in cheek” and blamed feminist bloggers for stirring up complaints.

Because of course, it’s UN-AUSTRALIAN to complain about women being objectified.

SMH article here. Can’t wait to read the Hoyden on this one!

Link here.

It is common for women to believe that there will be a problem with their milk after a natural disaster, that the stress, or lack of adequate nutrition will make their milk “bad” or somehow unsuitable for their babies. In fact, the human body will provide milk for an infant even when the mother is malnourished.

And with the influx of foreign aid comes powdered infant formula (PIF, sometimes referred to as artificial baby milk or ABM), with the inference that this is better for the baby than what the mother is already providing.

And in a disaster, where there is a lack of clean water, giving a mother powdered infant formula often means she has to make it up with dirty water, leading not only to introducing infections to the infant, but by depriving her of breastmilk, she is also deprived of a natural defence against life threatening diseases.

In normal circumstances, breastfeeding needs to be protected. In a disaster, it is vital.

My first FO!

Water droplet at 2000fps.

40.

I do hope to get a lot older, but 40 has a certain gravitas. I do feel that 40 year olds should have a certain amount of their shit together. Not all of it, of course, or you might as well give up, but 40 means goodbye to nightclubbing (at least the way *I* used to do it), and hello grown up and responsible.

So I am planning a party. A knitters house party. Mum and Dad have said I can have the house at Pearl Beach for the weekend of my birthday, so people can come and go all weekend, and hopefully some people will want to stay over, so we can all sit around and watch movies, drink wine, knit, and chat.

Sounds like a proper grown up part don’t you think?

And this is a bicycle built for two. Perfect t-shirt for a small squishy boy?

And our group is awesome.

We have a landscape architect, a few designers, an art director, a pattern maker, a career coach, a rare book maker, and a lawyer. And three of us used to work in the film industry. It’s an ecclectic group, but mostly with a strong design/art background, or at least a strong interest.

I did some sketching/doodles the other day and I realised that I haven’t done anything like that for about 20 years. So I got to class early, and sketched away happily, absorbing the “studio air”.

We have about 6 weeks of school and I may not produce anything I’ll want to share with the world, but I know I’m going to have fun!

I took some pics for a newborn baby and her family a few months ago, and word got around, and now I have my first paid gig.

Check out the rest of the shoot here.

Greetings:

Mrs. Rosario Ana C. Labindao.

At least this one will only be attractive to particularly selfish and greedy people who deserve to get scammed!

• Vanilla vodka makes a surprisingly good Gimlet (though my favoured version has equal parts vodka and lime juice – half cordial and half fresh
• Cooking with a child that hasn’t had a nap is quite like going to a teppanyaki restaurant. But much less fun
• When said child that says “I’m not going to sleep”, and I reply with “yes you are, you’re so tired that you’re almost dead”, and he picks up the chant “almost dead, almost dead”, it’s not exactly funny, it’s hysterical
• Parents and children have different needs, sometimes they intersect, sometimes they collide
• The bunny is now unofficially named Carrot. Inigo insists that his name is neither Vizzini or Tiberius, but it is most definitely Carrot. I have been told, but I am a recalcitrant type
• I am loving TransUrban beyond words. Yes, I know it’s unusual to profess undying love for a company that builds toll roads, but if it means that my husband is home BEFORE 5pm to deal with the feral offspring, then build me another M5
• According to Head Office, I have completed my last unit, and have now applied for a volunteer position with the Australian Breastfeeding Association. I now have a Certificate IV, I did it in under 12 months, and I have proved to myself that I have a small ability at this study thing. Now I just need to apply myself a bit more and do other interesting things. What next? Is there a diploma in World Domination?

…that he isn’t always a toad.