Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Christmas dressing.

 Given the horror stories I've heard about the so-called celebration of Family Christmas I think this should be put on a T-shirt, apron or tattooed across the forehead of the family pest and there's always one family pest.  In my case, it was my Father-in-Law who walked in with hand at the ready and mouth open for business. We always had to keep an eye on the sharp knives and my father's temper as the afternoon wore on and it was wearing. Dad was a very slow eater. He never had  Christmas as a child so he used to enjoy every minute so mum learned to give him a small meal and hide a bigger one for after the walking stomach left. And it had to be hidden well, that man had a nose for food. Not only did my F-in-Law eat us out of house and home for Christmas lunch but had to race off later in order to reach a friend's place for their Christmas tea of fresh seafood. My poor M-in-Law would be exhausted but she trailed after him without complaint. Even the dog breathed a sigh of relief when they left. They never bothered my dear Ex, he was usually too pissed to know what day it was, bad luck having a birthday on the 24th of December.

This goes on my T-shirt on Boxing Day.  I am exhausted just thinking of those days and so glad I don't have to bother now. I plan to have some Bombay, a book and a mince pie and no visitors.

And the sewing machine is working. People (some) will get the promised last year's Christmas Presents. I had it serviced in February 2009 and hadn't had a chance to touch it since then but she started up and ran like a Ferrari. The only problem was the huntsman wandering around on the ceiling. He's now in the bedroom and even the cat is wary. At least he's out of the way of the machine and the five dresses I've already cut out. And I'm adhering to the traditional Copperwitch Christmas of every room in the house being in a complete state of chaos and mess but there is hope that the Christmas Brooch tree in the frame will be up, even if it's not quite in the frame. I intend to have a bash at that this afternoon and I mean bash with a geologist's pick since it's just 2mm out in one corner so if I smack it hard enough it'll fit. 

Sunday, November 24, 2013

WBD





A columnist at the Daily Mail referred to these dresses as WBD as opposed to LBD or Why be Bothered Dress  as opposed to the Little Black Dress.  The little black dress is standard in any wardrobe, classy up dressed or day time down dressed. The why be bothered dress looks as if they couldn't be bothered putting on underwear and our last image of Jennifer Lawrence really shows why it looks trashy. How much more elegant it would have been with a full length underskirt instead of her all-in-one which must have been hell to get out of in the loo.  Second image down did have skin coloured mesh keeping back and front together but what an ugly get-up all over.



Would image 2 look graceful without those silk net petticoats? I don't think so. Of course I had to put in one of my favourite colours, that plum is gorgeous. Not fussed about Anne Hathaway's bustle but Sandra Bullock looks tall and elegant in non see through red. 
Call me old fashioned but I love beautiful gowns on the red carpet so girls, look in a mirror before you leave home and if you can see too much then so can we.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Still with the penguins


I love this photo. Very much in da 'Hood. "Hey Bro, dig the weird fat chick dancing the Watusi with the Rochester".

Mother's very tired and after being down at the Home every second day since last week, so am I.
She's okay to talk to but she's having problems that have never come up before like her breakfast coming up. Pain control is not controlling the nerve pain and fluid is building up in her chest but she's still giving me orders. She's happy enough and is in bed more often than out in the wheelchair. If she wants a jam sponge for afternoon tea because lunch was swill then as far as I'm concerned she can have it. It's not going to make much difference to her quality of life except to make it happier.

About the photo, see how he's leaning back on his tail, penguins have fat stubby tails like this or they have feather tails and now you'll never look at a penguin's face first again.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Still angsty, more penguins needed




Smiling now. I just love the penguins of Madagascar but don't the mob above them look as tough as.

Snow in November???

Miserable day, 12 degrees and raining. Mother not well. Watched first half hour of Parliament, vomit.
Bronwyn, 'oh the shark has pearly teeth dear' Bishop as Madame (make a good one) Speaker so impartial in keeping the Chamber's dignity. Cyclone damage horrendous but to climate deniers it was all done in a Hollywood studio. Qantas closes down maintenance at Avalon to shift it offshore, never flying now.  Scallop boat skipper in Tassie ships his scallops to Thailand because workers there don't ask for much money, never eating scallops now. Gov. outsourcing Centrelink to Post Offices?
Science grants, well two of my scientist friends are holding their breath as their applications are on hold. What did I expect when there was no-one smart enough to be appointed Science Minister or a PM not smart enough to know we needed one. It's enough to want to crawl under a rock  so let's look at penguins.




Sunday, November 03, 2013

Catching up.

After saving up for so long to have this canvas print framed you'd think I'd remember to go and pick it up. I had the wooden frame and glass but the photograph that was in it looked much better in its original frame and I wanted something soothing and calming. It's always taking a chance buying from ebay but this was right but the other I bought, not so right. The picture was okay but the canvas it was printed on wasn't quality. The Framer rang, very apologetic as he'd had it finished for a couple of weeks and it had been hidden behind a larger painting. I hadn't worried as he'd told me he had 12 football jumpers to frame for the local team and since I'd already paid, it was out of sight, out of mind. The BOH had to hang it for me and on new hooks. The old hooks were put in by my ex who never bothered with such things as finding the studs and I'm surprised the heavy frame hadn't fallen. I like it, it is soothing and the inside mount picks up the soft apricot pink in the sky. It reminds me of holidays on the 90 mile beach, in the days when no-one thought of letting us roam for miles by ourselves. My mother might have but she didn't know that her sister was content to stay home and read a book while we wandered.

I have finally caught up with my blog reading although it's too late to leave comments on some posts. I visited a site which has not seen me for some time, long enough for the blog owner to start another but he left up the posts and I found  one of his posts very interesting. It linked to a privacy blog where you could check how secure your user name is. I won't hide the link but put it up in full http://planete.inrialpes.fr/projects/how-unique-are-usernames/ 

I am still being plagued by malware/adware problems and have downloaded several "free" removal products that have not performed at all. Apparently this malware which I picked up at a blog and it was just an ordinary blog I visit and immediately got the pop up windows and redirected pages. I'm still trying to nut out Firefox's blocking mechanisms but according to information this malware comes from going to dubious gentlemen's sites or teenage music downloading sites and it's very hard to remove. Swearing at it isn't hard at all and I'm doing that a lot. The Malware removal product that I did purchase was uninstalled, the free ones were also uninstalled. I've also discovered that AVG which I've always used has, for 2014, downgraded its free programme. What I need is a 10 year old nerd who'll work for Coca Cola and crisps to overhaul everything. I really do need a new CPU, this one is so old it doesn't have a dvd burner. Just as long as Blogger doesn't lose my blog. And does anyone know why the previous tries at a new template come up before the final final template does every time I log on?

Saturday, November 02, 2013

And room for a Pony.

From the top, we have a 69 Falcon with no wheels but an American Mustang engine ready to be put in place. The BOH wanted a nice strong car for driving the precious child around. Kid will be 18 and driving it himself. We had a chap come down from Wodonga to buy the second hand gas tank and while he was here poking around the detritus, BOH sold him a bumper bar and several other bits and bobs. He puts everything on ebay and somebody is always looking for a part for an older car.
Next in line we have a combivan. This is now a national treasure as they've stopped making them. This will be a museum piece by the time it's finished. He does have half the interior done, bought a microwave and small oven, sink is in place and he needn't think I'm making the curtains. He has decided on a blue bottom with white top, blue interior and deep blue seats. Last week his aesthetic soul was outraged when an owner wanted black shiny thingies that go over the wheels when he had painted the rest a gorgeous metallic blue. I told him the payer was always right.
Next up should be the bottom photo. His first purchase of a soft top in metallic purple with celtic silver swirls along the sides.  It has fat wheels which means fat thingies over them and even I admit it looks awful, squat and not elegant. He's selling the wheels this week and the thingies. He's agonizing over the colour and I want it in the metallic swizzy purple and he says it's girly. Well, guess who's going to buy a swizzy purple convertible VW? I still have the purple synthetic leather I picked up at the hard rubbish collection last year but he's too caught up in the soft top manufacturing process to think of interiors.
So, third photo down. I wish I had taken a photo of this when it arrived in all its pale greeness, rust and general "Oh god, don't look at me I'm a wreck!" delight. He showed it to Himnextdoor who couldn't believe it was the same car. A random bloke walking his dog stopped in his tracks and drooled. My taxi driver this morning who is a VW tragic took 5 minutes to drive away. It's an almost Mercedes Blue he tells me but with a drop of this and a drip of that to make his perfect shade. $8,500.00 and it's yours.
I also had a silver something or other but that's gone to the factory for a makeover. Once he would have left a mess everywhere but now he comes and sweeps up the dust and parts are neatly stored ready for the next wally who can't resist a bit of car that might just come in handy. The convertible was wrapped tightly when rain was predicted and just as well because the local possums haven't forgiven him for removing the last combi. It had no windows and they loved partying the night away in the warmth.
He is an absolute perfectionist. The last VW, brilliant post box red had a minor defect on the engine cover where it just hit the carbie in the wrong way so he fixed that and re-did the cover. I couldn't see it but he assured me it was ruined. And this from the kid who loved nothing better than to take the wheels off his matchbox cars so they'd zoom better in the sandpit.