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10 little postcards all in a row...

10 post cards made and sent for the My Little Mochi postcard swap.

posted by: blytheswideshut at January 29, 2006 22:09 | link | comments (10) |

the dog formerly known as...

Motchi, aka MoMo, also the dog formerly known as Romeo has gone all Houdini on us.

On Friday he took himself on two little expeditions.  The first one was over to our neighbour’s house for a quick visit – apparently he rocked up, happy and smiling at their back door trying to come inside for a visit. I'm sure he just wanted to have a coffee with them before they went off to work.   Sam, our neighbour, bundled Motchi the giant Greyhound into his car and drove him home.  A distance of probably 50 metres.

Later in the day, when I was otherwise occupied (in the toilet, no less) he made another daring escape.  This time wandering around the block, only to be intercepted by a crotchety old guy putting his rubbish bins out.

Said Crotchety Old Neighbour phones the Greyhound people who phone me, and my reputation as an irresponsible dog owner spreads further and further.

Then, with all the kids sleeping – and NONE of them willing to wake up and walk around the block with me to fetch the dog, I barricade them in the house and leave, in the pouring rain to retrieve the dog.

Crotchety Old Neighbour (CON) has Motchi tied to his front fence with a piece of rope, and as Motchi starts jumping and trying to spin in circles (as is his want) he almost tears down crotchety old neighbour’s fence.

So after enduring a lecture from CON, I trudge home, in the driving rain, with a crazy giant dog, to perform some hasty DIY renovations to our home.

Let’s just say that the “hole” Motchi escaped from was originally small enough for a cat to pass through, although after plenty of DIY from Motchi himself, the hole became large enough for a giant, crazy greyhound to fit through.

Fucking dog.

posted by: blytheswideshut at January 22, 2006 15:22 | link | comments (3) |

In which I confess that my husband drives me nuts...

I'm pretty much your basic, garden variety, slob.  I don't really bother to pick up my clothes, or make the bed, or even unload the dishwasher regularly, and I can admit that this must drive my neat freak husband bananas.

But even I've got limits.

He randomly changes the positions of the cutlery in the cutlery drawer.  For months the knives were in the slot on the left, forks in the middle, dessert and soup spoons on the right.  Teaspoons in the little horizontal tray at the front.   Then last week, the knives swapped spots with the forks and then the teaspoons and the big spoons swapped.  Now every time I reach in to the drawer to grab a butter knife, I end up with a fork, and when I want to stir my coffee I end up with a bloody soup spoon.

He fails to understand my consternation at this state of affairs.

As much as I am a slob, I'm also just a wee bit OCD about order.  I like things to be in certain places, to face a certain way, to be oriented in the manner I see fit.  AND TO STAY THAT WAY.  I might not put my clothes back in the wardrobe when I'm finshed with them, but at least I don't randomly put them anywhere that takes my fancy.  Scott likes to clean up.  A lot.  But in a haphazard way.  As long as it's put away he really doesn't care where it goes.  So I find tea-towels where the pillow cases belong.  Cutlery in the wrong place.  Clothes in sock drawers.  Of course the argument that I get (from him and everybody else) is that "well at least he's cleaning up - if it were left to you, nothing would be put away."

Which is, of course, true - BUT, when I get around to putting things away, I put them where they belong.

I said to Scott the other day "I realised today that I could never work (again) in an environment that required me to work to a timeline."
to which he replied "No shit, you just realised that?"

posted by: blytheswideshut at January 15, 2006 23:42 | link | comments |

It's only a month late...

Mum, if you're reading this (which she isn't, because, well, really no one is, certainly not my family - who are unaware of its existence), I'm posting your bithday present tomorrow!  This little bag took me several days to make...I had an idea in mind, and saw a pic in a Japanese craft book, but didn't follow any sort of pattern...I kind of made it up as I went along.  As a result it probably took 100 times longer than it should have...


My Mum isn't crafty or into sewing or making stuff, so I'm going to fill it with nail polish, emery boards, all that sort of fingernail stuff.  I hope she likes it, she's inordinately proud of her nails, and takes really good care of them.  Usually, when I give her something I've made, she says "That's very pretty, and creative", in a sort of teacherly voice as though I'm showing her something I've made and am seeking approval, instead of actually giving her something I made (with love) for her to have and to use - wether or not she thinks it's  "creative".  I have a hunch that is her euphemism for "not my taste and I'll have to remember to get this out whenever you come over.."

I did however take her taste into consideration - I used red (which she loves, and I can't abide), and florals (ditto), and made it as girly and feminine as I possibly could.

posted by: blytheswideshut at January 09, 2006 21:05 | link | comments (3) |

In which I try to become vegan...

It's coming to the end of my third week and it has been a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.  Some things will be quicker than others.  The food is the biggest one, but has been surprisingly easy.  To ease things along we've been eating "not-dogs", and other soy/tofu creations, and mountains of vegetables.  I couldn't go cold turkey on cheese, so with the small amount of cheese I have left I've been introducing soy cheese along with it - I'm at about 80% soy / 20% dairy cheese at the moment.  I've only got a small amount of cheese left, so within a couple of days I'll be 100% soy cheese.

The slowest change will be clothes and household items that are made from, or incorporate animal products.  I have a few pairs of leather shoes, and some wool clothing.  We don't have any leather furniture or other leather homewares.  My personal instinct about the shoes/clothes is to keep them, and wear them until they need replacing.  I feel that continuing to wear them rather than throwing them out is a measure of respect and honour for the animals that contributed to the shoes/clothes.  I almost feel as though I would be betraying the animals who suffered, died or contributed by just discarding these items.  I won't buy any more animal products, but I will make use of the ones I still have.  I haven't told anyone about this, because I have this idea that people might see it as a cop out.  But this whole journey to becoming vegan is deeply personal and I think I haven't told many people my thoughts and views because I don't feel that I have to explain myself, be judged or stand up for anything.  It's all too fragile at the moment, and I don't want anyone messing with it.

posted by: blytheswideshut at January 07, 2006 17:39 | link | comments (1) |

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