Christmas 2010

At the last Friday get-together at Colours Down Under, Cathy gave these out to all of the regular stitchers.

I've been bad at documenting my presents this year and saying thank you to those who sent them. So here are my lovely Christmas gifts and the people who sent them.

Ice cream recipe

I had to trawl through the BAPXS back messages to find this simple ice cream recipe because I simply couldn't remember the proportions (see previous post).

So here is Mel's Classic Vanilla Ice cream

1 cup organic single cream (or half & half)
1 cup organic sugar
1 beaten egg
vanilla to taste

Lightly beat egg and sugar mixture, add cream and vanilla.  Bring to a warm heat until the mixture forms a thin custard and lines the back of a spoon.  All mixture to cool and then put in the ice cream maker :)

I have been experimenting with different types of sugar and different amounts of sugar.  I remember I could use half this amount of sugar and still make a creamy ice cream, but that depended on what other ingredients are used.  Unfortunately I cannot fond my notes of those experiments.

The SECRET to remember for home-made ice cream is use organic ingredients wherever possible.  The difference *can* be tasted!

Always make your custard sweeter and richer than you intend for the ice cream.  The colder it is, the more the sweetness and tastes are muted.  If you don;t believe me, thaw out some ice cream until it is completely liquid and room temperature and then taste it :)

Variation - Chocolate Ice cream
Leave out the vanilla.  Add in a couple of spoonfuls of organic drinking chocolate or organic cocoa.  I also add in a touch of cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper (sometimes also ground ginger) to make a spiced chocolate version.  Also while churning, add in dark chocolate and white chocolate chunks.

Variation - Tina's Buttered Pecans
Tina - do you wish to share your recipe here or is it a secret?

Mel.

Recipe - Almond Bisket Bread

Recently I've rediscovered my energy for cooking.  This is a good thing as I've been asked to make some of my well-known dishes for old friends.  Unfortunately as I haven't been cooking much in the last couple of years (and memory issues associated with the migraine) I just can't remember how to make many of these dishes I could just dash off the top of my head.  So, I'm going to be writing them down here as I use them, so I have a reference point for future :)

Recipe - French Bisket Bread aka Mel's Proto Macaroons

I made Rosewater and lemon variants of this recipe for the Midland Library Christmas Morning Tea and have been asked for the recipe.  Here it is.

A recipe from Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book

To Make French Bisket Bread (17th century)
Take one pound of almonds blanched in cold water, beat them verie smale, put in some rose water to them, in the beating, wherein some musk hath lien, then take one pound of sugar beaten and searced and beat with your almonds, then take the whites of fowre eggs beaten and put to the sugar & almonds, then beat it well together, then heat the oven as hot as you doe for other bisket bread, then take a paper, & strawe some sugar upon it, & lay two spoonfulls of the stuf in a place, then lay the paper5 upon a board full of holes, & put them in the oven as fast as you can, & so bake them, when they begin to looke somewhat browne they are baked inough.

Mel's modern version:
     100gm almond meal
     100gm sugar
     1 beaten egg white
     touch of rosewater

Lightly beat egg white, then add in almond meal and sugar.  Add in a touch of rosewater to taste and to ensure a good consistency. With damp hands, break over pieces of mix around a 50cent piece, roll into a ball and place on baking paper on biscuit tray. This size batch will make a dozen biscuits.

Put in the oven at 180C until the top cracks and turns golden brown.  In my previous oven this took 20 mins, in my current oven this takes 30 mins with the tray needing to be turned around at the 15min mark.

Variations:

• You can change out the rosewater and include lemon juice for example.  You can add cocoa for chocolate biscuits - the basic recipe can be easily adapted.
• The consistency and chewiness can also be altered by changing the type of sugar used - caster - granulated - icing.  I have had great success using demerara sugar.
• Grinding your own almonds for the recipe also changes the texture.

Play with the recipe and make it your own.  And please do tell me if you come up with any great variants!

Its been a good day :)

I've spent so long feeling drained and tired and headachey and yet not sleeping well - so today I said enough.

I have work reports that need to be handed in on Wednesday, so I worked all day Saturday and left them with various people to test and proofread for me.

So today I didn't touch work stuff. I got out of bed feeling miserable I put on the wii fit and for the first time in months, I managed to get all the way through my old workout without the migraine exploding.  In fact, I got my old endorphin rush so I was feeling happy!

God I've missed those endorphins!

Compiled and wrapped the last of the presents, grabbed all of the errands I'd been putting off (seemingly forever) and headed out to do them all :)

The post office hurt - but not as much as previous years so that's a win.  I claimed back a lot more on recent medical expenses than I thought - so win!

Used the medical rebate to buy work shoes (my old ones are an embarrassment) and a pair of slip-ons  so yes I replaced half of my shoes collection!  Both pairs were on special - so win!

I took the unexpected savings from there and faced facts that I am larger than I have been in recent years, I bought three pairs of shorts in larger sizes so I can be comfortable until my weight comes back down.  Get to the counter and find out that all three pairs of shorts are on 30% off sale - so all three came in at EXACTLY the amount I had left in the medicare rebate - WIN!

On the way home I bought expensive Abby cat food (budgeted for) hair dye (not budgeted for) and a chocolate muffin (splurge!)

So I have exercised, run all the errands, done some long overdue shopping, not hurt the budget and in actual fact still have some money in the bank to help get me through January.

A good day.

Ham and salad for dinner tonight.

Warcraft

If anyone has been considering joining us nuts in playing World of Warcraft Online, the game is currently on sale.

$5 for Warcraft
$5 for Burning Crusade expansion pack
$10 for Lich King expansion pack

For those with existing accounts, Stephen and I have set up a guild called "War of the Worgs" where all guild members will be running new Worg characters (available in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion).

If anyone is interested we will be starting and progressing the characters as a group on the Proudmoore server.  Let me know if you are interested.  This is not a hardcore group - just a bit of fun and games and stress relief. Contact me if you are interested.

Edited to add: Guild is Alliance only.  Guild portal (for joining us) is here

Humbling and inspiring!

Last week Claremont Public Library here in Perth, was destroyed in a fire. It was after hours so no-one was hurt, but I believe they lost everything in the building.

Staff from Claremont had been working through my Web 2.0 Basics course.This week I received the following email:

I work for the Claremont Library and we were doing the training on your blog. Thanks to lesson #2 we have learned to write our own blog. This skill came in handy to communicate after the tragedy of our library burning down. Our blog is http://claremontlibrarywithoutwalls.blogspot.com please check it out and spread the word.

Read their blog! I am humbled.  I honestly don't know if my workplace would have bounced back so positively from such a disaster. Claremont have taken the bull by the horns and turned disaster to opportunity; rather than  bemoaning "oh woe is us - our collection is our life" they have taken the opportunity to learn new techniques and new forms of communicating with their customers!  The workers at Claremont Library are inspirational!

Giving thanks

I'm Australian and not party to whole US celebration going on at the moment.  However there are a few things that I am thankful for ...

• My home is intact and I can use every room (first time since February)
• We have glorious Spring weather so I can use every room in my house without worrying about electricity bills
• My car is in getting fixed - so I will have a shiny new Salem again (first time since February)
• My car insurance comes with a free rental car so I can still get to work easily
• I stood my ground at a number of difficult meetings this week and although there were tears and feelings of frustrations, I won the concessions I needed.
• I now know my supervisor will stick her neck out for me. She is good people!
• I will no longer be working 30-50 hours unpaid overtime each week
  
• The implant I had put in my arm last week appears to be helping both my moods and my migraine. Its still early days but even with all of the work pressures this week, my migraine has been improving.
• My personal loan (first of three big bills I need to pay off) now has under $1000 to go.
  

The may have been a bad year in many ways, but it looks like it will end on an upward note :)

The cats in my life

Trubs
I have Trubs on the kidney disease approved kibble. It is unfortunately not Trubs approved. She will often sniff at it, growl at Abby and then try to take Abby's kibble.  I pick Trubs up, put her back at her own food dish and she glares at me before settling down to eat it.

We had a hot spell recently so I got out of the habit of warming her heat pad before leaving for work (the object was to keep the house cool during the day - not heat it further) but lately its been cool at nights again so Trubs is getting grumpy again at nights. I've also taken to feeding her on my desk, so I can keep an eye on her food so it doesn't get eaten by anyone else.  Trubs has taken this to mean that my desk is now hers, and she gets very nasty if any other cat comes up on the desk.

To be honest, she's been quite possessive about the whole house, which has Abby quite confused...


Abby
Abby has unfortunately been relegated to the bottom of the pack by the other cats.  Even Keifer seems to dominate her. So I've broken my own rule about not interfering in cat hierarchies and I've gone out of my way to cuddle her and pet her and bring her into the house and make her feel welcome.  She's on 4 pills a week to keep mozzie bites from becoming open sores (we've discovered she's allergic to them) but apart from that, she is joy to be around.

She's taken on the mantle of "mouser" and has been keeping the barns and outbuildings free of mice.  The girls next door have been quite appreciative as they buy food and hay for the horses in bulk and that is usually mouse-infested by this time of year.  Abby does eat the mice she catches, so she often isn't that interested in her kibble.

She's also completely uninterested in any of her toys or human-bought playthings. None of them are as interesting as catching and eating your own breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Keifer
Keifer is the ginger cat the girls next door adopted. He showed up one day as a half-grown cat wearing a large dog's shock collar.  Needless to say it was immediately removed and no-one has tried to find his original owner.  Monique loves him but she is a dog person, so Keifer gets left outside most of the time and fed when she remembers him.  He also hates the guy that has moved in with them, which is another reason Keifer is outside when the guy is home :( He's also found out I'm a much softer touch, have nicer cat food and no nasty people hanging around.

When I drive in of an afternoon, Keifer is the first to meet me at the car. When I call the cats for dinner, Keifer is at my feet (even though he doesn't get fed at the same time as the girls). Keifer is very small and seems always hungry so I feed him the girls' leftovers each day.  Mostly its stale kibble but occasionally there is the remains of stale canned food and very rarely I'll top it up with fresh kibble or some fresh canned food.

I am quite happy that over the last months he's stopped being scared of his own shadow and is actually walking around the yards as if he belongs, rather than fleeing at the slightest sound :)  I'm also happy that he looks disappointed when he's given stale kibble because it means that he's getting enough food from the his owners' now. Also I think he's finally understanding that he will be fed everyday; he doesn't have to beg for it and scoff everything in sight within 2 seconds of seeing it.

He is however, with this new-found confidence, lording it over Abby.  When they meet on the path, they touch noses and its Abby that will crouch low and present her belly.  i don't like that in our yard, and especially not in our house.  So I've been locking Keifer out while feeding the girls, and making a definite display of ignoring him and picking up Abby when I get home.  I don't know if this interference is helping or hindering to be honest. 



Bandit
Bandit is Alison's cat.  Alison is the friend I stayed with in Canberra for the week I was there.  She hates that Bandit always sleeps with me when I'm there instead of with her.  The furry ball of contrariness has quixotially settled down in the new house and hates being forced outdoors.  She's developed a much nicer attitude to life and is much more snuggly and ready for pats.  She used to be much more aloof before Lothario joined the house.

Lothario
I hadn't posted this before because I don't want to believe it.  Lothario was taken from Alison's place a week before the move. One minute he was there and the next he was gone.  She had turned her back to prepare dinners for the cats and dogs and we thought there would be no force on earth that would get between that cat and his dinner. We were wrong.

George
For the past few months I've had a lanky tabby intact male hanging around.  He's got a great temperament and is such a loving cat, but he is intact and he sprays. If I open the doors for the girls to go out and then I go back to bed, I will wake up to find him curled up on the bed.  When I get home of an afternoon he will be asleep in the sleep-out area. He thinks he belongs here.  Unfortunately, every time he manages to sneak into the house he will spray in every room.  He took to stealing Abby's food and then spraying over her entire feeding area.  The day I flew to Canberra he sprayed the wash basket of freshly cleaned clothes as I was getting them off the clothesline.  He would fight with Keifer in my ceiling at 3am.  In short he was a pest.

When I got back from Canberra, he sprayed the next morning all through the kitchen and my wardrobe.  I put him in Trubs cat carrier and took him to Cat Haven (a we-try-hard-not-to-kill shelter).

Two weeks later he was back.  Now Cat Haven is nearly an hour's drive from here over the other side of Perth. If he's back its because he is owned by someone here.  Someone who cared enough to bring him back, but doesn't care enough to have him neutered, micro-chipped, collared or even fed.

I've been very pointedly keeping him out of the house. To the stage that I've felt under-siege and can't leave the doors open for the girls to go in and out for themselves.  Then he stopped coming around a few days ago.  On Friday I received a leaflet in my mailbox.  Have you seen George? My son's one year old male cat is missing. If you see him please ring, my son loves him very much.  Underneath in pen was written: He is now micro-chipped and scheduled to be neutered soon.

So basically people that are simply clueless as to how male intact cats behave and just how far male cats consider their territory,  I haven't seen him this week so I wonder if he's found a new family to terrorise or if he's finally at the vets getting The Snip ...


So that's all of the cats.  I don't think Trubs will ever get along with Abby but I love them both and they are both on the bed with me when I wake up each morning and that's enough for me :)

Life Update

OK here's all the info that was left out of the last update ...

After each design was finished the words "and then the migraine got bad again" should be inserted :(

I tried stitching a gorgeous little design for Claire's birthday on 40ct linen and discovered that I could not see the holes.  I literally could not see where to put the needle :(  I figure the migraine is affecting my eyesight - or the tumor has enlarged and is now pressing on my optic nerve (it was a bare 1mm away from it at the last MRI) - or I'm just too tired from work - or my eyesight is going ..... or all of the above.  At this stage I'm looking to outsource this project and see if I can find someone else to stitch it up for me as I think Claire would love it!

I stopped stitching for quite a few weeks in between projects, wishing my eyes would stop hurting and the migraine would settle down.  Then I realised that my stitching is part of my meditation and relaxation program. I need to stitch to ease the migraine. 

In between each of the canvas work pieces I keep trying to stitch on Kay's RR but my eyes give out after half an hour and then they hurt for the rest of the day.  I'll give it another couple of weeks and hope that my eyes settle down otherwise I may have to send it on unstitched :(

Kay and Sisu - let me know how long I can keep Kay's piece before you need it sent on regardless of what I have or have not managed to stitch on it - please? I don't want to put anyone else's stitching rotation out. The next rotation after this isn't sent out until 1 February.

In other news, I won a door prize at the Arelate Designs booth at the October Online Needlework Show and I treated myself to a couple of small Passione Ricamo designs and some Lilipoints designs at Colours Down Under Friday night (they were ordered back in April).  The rest of my tax refund went straight into the bills fund.

The good news is that although I've had a few setbacks, the bills are on track to be completely paid off by October 2011.  The next bill is my personal loan, which should be paid off by February, the last bill bill being the $5000 I owe Debbie for helping move Stephen and my goods & chattels to Perth.

Unfortunately the big plans for losing weight and de-cluttering my life have been derailed - but its all a journey.  I figure its like juggling, you get one ball moving well and then add a second ball, when you have them down quite confidently you add a third ball.  And then you drop them all, pick them up and start again.

the big issue that seems to be knocking everything over is the migraine.  It was supposed to be history now, but it is still here. Stress at work is not helping and both my supervisor and I are at a loss at to what to do about it.

I'm running a state-wide training course in social media and online tools for public libraries in Western Australia.  Course is here if anyone is interested ... If you have any constructive criticism, please let me know!

I'm paid to work 3 days per week. During that time I'm expected to run this course (which NSW State Library said took 8 people full-time, other State Libraries had similar manpower), plus all the cataloguing for my library, plus cleaning up the library database plus everything else I used to do that filled my time.

So I'm working 60-70 hour weeks and being paid 27 hours, The rest is supposedly being accrued as TOIL (Time off in Lieu) but all requests for taking that time have been denied until at least the first of February.

We wont mention that my base wage of 27 hours does not cover my expenses (I regularly eat only one main meal a day).

My supervisor is trying to deflect the heat from inside the organisation because I'm not managing to get everything done.  Meanwhile I spend hours a day (on my days off) helping library managers and workers in my library and other libraries playing advocate, mentor, encouragement, support system etc.  You know all the things currently being denied to myself and my supervisor {sigh}

So yeah a little stress. A little draining.  Any and all advice gratefully received. It's driving my supervisor mental seeing me through this and not being able to help.  And it hurts me to see the amount of flack she is taking - she doesn't deserve that!  So yeah, any thoughts (legal ones please - I'm not allowed to physically hurt the other managers in my organisation) let me know ;)

Stitching update

How many months has it been this time :)

Back in July-August sometime I finished a JAR designs Christmas project as a model stitch for Colours Down Under. It was a great little project - stitched up in under a week (it took me nearly three weeks to get it beaded though!)  Unfortunately I didn't realise until recently that the batteries in my camera were low when I took photos of this one - so I'll put up a better picture when the I next see the bell pull in Colours Down Under shop.

After that, I stitched the little Inkcircles Halloween design from the 2010 JCS Halloween issue. I stitched it on a piece of Colours Down Under handyed 32ct jobelan. I have enough of the same piece to do up Inkcircles Masquerade when that chart comes in.  I originally thought that the Halloween freebie was a companion piece from Masquerade, but now I realise its actually a small piece of the whole design - oh well. 

Edit: This was completely wrong!  I received a copy of the chart as a surprise in the mail today - thank you so much Tracy!!!  And now that I can see it closely - I see there are differences, the Halloween small is indeed a complementary chart!

I stitched my version with Glow-in-the-Dark thread for the moon, but my little camera isn't good enough to photograph the luminescence, so you'll have to take my word for it that the moon looks awesome in the dark - especially as the branches look like assisi work :)

Then as a break, I started some canvas work needlepoint. Big chunky 18ct plastic canvas!  I've stitched up four of the Needle Delights Colour Delights series so far.

Tangerine was the first I stitched. I adored the different threads and the different types of stitches used!  

Cocoa took two weeks to stitch - my doctor had me on a completely caffeine-free diet for two weeks. That included no chocolate, so I stitched Cocoa instead. 

Pumpkin was so much fun - I loved that it started in the corner and radiated outwards. This was the first one that i didn't need to double check I had it the right way up.

Bubblegum (gasp its pink!) I survived :)

I've now stated Indigo. Its another concentric one like Tangerine.  I'm halfway around it and discovered that I've already turned it 90 degrees but meh - no-one will know I hope.

Each of these have had small issues, one chart didn't specify which thread to use in one of the rows, another kit had a couple of threads left out. Indigo has a Watercolour and a Waterlilies the same colour and I used the wrong one, so had to frog and use the other.  But these are small inconveniences. 

All in all - I'm having a lot of fun with these and I think I will do a heap more and eventually finish them into a wall hanging. I have a lot of different black fabric (black wool, black cotton damask etc) from my sewing days, so I thought I would use that to make the wall hanging from - each of these colours (even the indigo) will stand out on the black.

Catharsis - I haz it!

Late last week I was asked by a work colleague if I had any craft items I didn't want.  Her mum is going to East Timor on Tuesday as a volunteer to help  Kirsty Gusmao with her Aloha Foundation.  I asked what type of craft items and was told that although these women had originally been concentrating on making and selling their traditional crafts, many want to now branch out and learn new skills.

So on Friday morning, I opened 13 sealed boxes (many of which have been sealed through many moves) and I gave away two packing boxes of materials - lots of old braid and ribbons and trimmings, and my entire bead collection from my SCA days, plus a pile of Aida I had lying around, around 100 skeins of Anchor I had won on eBay a while ago, some needles and full set of Cross Stitch Magic and the kits contained within.

Most of the cross stitch stuff was items I don't use (except maybe the Anchor - but I was feeling generous and they can be replaced). However, the big AHA moment for me was the SCA stuff. I'd been lugging it around year after year. I didn't even look in my bead carriers, I just threw them in the boxes without backward glance.  All the braids and trimmings were items I dislike or had bought for projects I had (once upon a time) planned to make for people who are no longer in my life.

I looked through every one of those 13 boxes and found things I didn't know I had, and a heap of things I was happy to move on. Anything I hesitated over I kept and will go through again at a later date. 

I feel so liberated and free from that stuff. I have had an occasional twinge about maybe I should have looked through the bead carriers, but you know - if there were things in there I needed, I would have found them by now, or I can find a replacement.

I felt such joy in sending these items on as:

• I don't need them, I don't want them
• They are going somewhere where they can do some good and be appreciated by the recipients
• In a small way I'm helping others have a better life

And you can't get better than that!

Trubs Update

Just received a phone call from the vets with Trubs blood test results.

She does have kidney disease but it is in the early stages. All her major organs are working fine and her blood work is good.  She does seem to have a gastro-intestinal issues as she is intermittently bringing up bile.

So we are going to try her on a soft food specially formulated for kidney disease. If she will eat it, it will help slow the progress of the kidney problems and be easier to digest so hopefully less vomiting.

The vet recommended an endoscopy might be useful if the vomiting becomes frequent rather than intermittent.

So things to do:

• Stop using the arthritis pain medications (summer soon)
  
• Try more soft food in her diet instead of the kibble (difficult)
• Monitor progress - if vomiting bile resumes, then endoscopy (expensive)
  
• Repeat all tests in 12 months time (can budget for with annual vaccinations)
  
• Give lots of love and cuddles
  

Another whiny rant :)

The Good
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to run a Web 2.0 course for all library staff before the end of the year. Most other States in Australia ran these courses back in 2007,  But not Western Australia. So my work has decided to go it alone and gave me eight hours to put a program together.

I looked at what other placed had done, field-stripped their courses and assembled a 10 week package of Web 2.0 Basics with the really fun stuff to follow in a subsequent course next year. With the assistance of Mark (the eservices coordinator aka web guy at my work) it went live two days later.

You can see it here at: http://swanlibraries.blogspot.com/  If you are interested feel free to play along - you just wont be eligible for the prizes :)

I also sent a report to the State-wide Public Library eServices Working Committee explaining what we're doing, why we are doing it, why we are doing it this way, when we are doing it, a link to the course itself and a explanations of our measurements for success.

The PLWA committee rang me Friday afternoon and asked if I would allow them to copy my work and send out it State-wide in two weeks time.  Some negotiations were had with my managementwitht e result that Mark will be will be opening up our course state-wide tomorrow and I will alter the content appropriately on Wednesday.  I've also been asked if I would be a consultant to a couple of state-wide committees.

Which will all look good on the resume.  Especially as all of this has been in my own part-time work hours and around my usual work.  With a migraine.

The Bad
I have named my migraine Bruce in honour of Bruce Banner, Unfortunately Bruce has been getting too agitated lately* and has turned into the Hulk for the last couple of weeks. So I've been working with the lights off at work, wearing sunglasses and wincing every time someone laughs,  I also average 5 hours a week out with the customers.

I'm back to having broken sleep because the pain wakes me after an hour or so. The other morning I fled to work within 15 mins of walking up because the next door neighbours had their bathroom exhaust fan on, and the sound was making me scream. My short-term memory is so shot I can't tell you what I had for breakfast without looking at the utensils in the sink (and its only 8:31am here). In short its as bad as it has ever been.  My doc has also been off work ill so I can't get in to see her for another fortnight to change the medications I'm on.

I know that stress is a trigger or at least an amplifier for the migraine, and I've recently established that caffeine is another trigger**. I would still have expected the medications to be countering these negative influences, not have the whole mess spiral back into what it was earlier in the year.

The Ugly
Trubs has been diagnosed with kidney disease.  I had to fight the vets every inch of the way to get them to test for it, but yes it came back positive. I'm taking her in this week for the associated blood test to see how advanced it is.  Either way kidney disease is not curable or reversible so we are talking quality of life from here on in.

When I let loose on the vets for not agreeing to perform the tests earlier, they said they didn't like to perform kidney function tests because most people, on hearing the results, put their pets down. Well geez you fuckwits, if you administered the tests earlier maybe other responsible owners would have the knowledge to help their pets before it became too advanced!  Apparently not. Apparently treatments are considered too expensive and too traumatic for the owners so 99% to opt to euthanize their pets immediately.

Treatment seems to consist of changing Trubs to a low protein, low phosphorus diet and taking a pill every day.  From what I understand this reduces pressure on the kidney and reduce the build-up of toxins int he blood, dementia, glaucoma etc.  I say "from what I understand" because I've done all of this research on my own. The Vets haven't treated any cats with kidney disease because of the afore-mentioned immediate euthanizing.  They do have a dog patient who has had kidney disease for seven years and is now dying of cancer, but no cats.

So I'm also looking for a different veterinarian clinic, one with a bit more understanding of these specialist needs ... or perhaps its another case where the locals think differently than I do.


So to sum up ... I'm frustrated!

• I'm frustrated that I live in a State where all major decisions get briefly discussed a s a good idea or passed over once every eight-week meeting and then they pounce when someone actually does something. God forbid anyone local should actually use initiative.
• I'm frustrated that my work management are finding so many ways to capitalise on the work I'm doing, but they wont pay me an extra hours to actually do it well.
• I'm frustrated that my ex-supervisor is speaking to HR about all the tiniest facets of all the other parts of my job that I'm not getting to, in an effort to get me performance-managed out of the organisation,
• I am frustrated that my health is deteriorating and I don't know how to stop it.
• I'm frustrated that Trubs is dying and I don't know what I can do to make her pain less. I don't know what to do to give her good palliative care.

I just don't know what to do and right now I am not finding any support/advice in the areas I need it.

And I swear to God, if the next-door neighbour doesn't finish whipper-snipping soon - I'm going after him with an axe!

If the Police ask, this blog post doesn't exist :)



* maybe something to do with trying to run a state-wide training course, an internal training course, setting up two other training courses for next next month, all the cataloguing, setting guidelines for good cataloguing practice, training complete novices into the art of good cataloguing and completely re-writing the 200 page work manual for all facets of work in the library pending our software change in November - all in 20 hours per week.

** I don't drink caffeine regularly so this came as a bit of a surprise. I have the rare iced coffee milk or Coke about one every couple of months, so this one was actually hard to pin down.

Julie's Round Robin

Julie's Round Robin is Alchemical Romance by Inkcircles.

As you can see she has changed the background quite considerably.  She has also asked us to use whatever floss we feel best fits each alchemical symbol. Julie asked me to work the middle to allow everyone that comes after me the widest possible choice :)

This was so much fun to work on!

The middle nine symbols are all varying symbols for gold. So I took the project to Colours Down Under where Janine, Kathy and I played floss toss with just about every gold shade of floss in the shop :)

I wanted a variety of shades of gold: yellow gold, white gold rose gold etc.  I wanted a variety of matt vs shiny threads and I wanted a variety of textures - metallics, silks, cotton and wool.

Janine and Kathy put their considerable colour-matching skills to work and selected the shades that work best together.

So the threads used (left to right, top to bottom) are:

Top Row:
Rainbow Galley Petite Braid 01 Bright Gold
Gentle Art Simply Wool 0420-W Gold Leaf
Rainbow Galley Petite Braid 37 Dark Antique Gold

Middle Row:
Madeira Silk 2208
Kreinik Cord 102C Vatican Gold
Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colours SNC 175 Straw into Gold

Bottom Row:
Rainbow Gallery Tiara T119 Peach
Gentle Art Sampler Threads 0420 Gold Leaf
Rainbow Gallery Tiara T118 Gold

The Tiara thread was quite thick, as its used in needlepoint, not counted cross stitch. The Kreinik Cord, although I used two strands, was quite thin and may need to be re-done with three or four threads or perhaps back-stitched.

Either way, I feel I've achieved my range of colours, faceting and textures that I was aiming for.

This project is now winging its way to Sisu.

Round Robin - time to move on ...

It is September, time to send those Round Robins on (if you haven't done so already) :)

I believe we have Laura joining us now so the rotation is:

Mariann -- Rosanne -- Kay -- Julie -- Mel -- Sisu -- Laura

Is this correct?

I finished off my part of Julie's RR last weekend and posted it onto to Sisu on Friday.  Julie's ideas on Alchemical Romance are lots of fun.  I admit I spent far more time choosing floss and doing floss tosses than I did actual stitching!

I'll write more when I can get my freaking laptop and my freaking camera to freaking talk to each other {pant, pant}. And I will have some photos to share.

So how's everyone else going with their first round?

Some days it doesn't pay to bite through the restraints

After a few months of migraine-induced depression and apathy I finally decided recently to get my act together.

• I have created a budget that will see me debt free by end of October 2011.
• I am controlling my eating habits rather than cravings controlling me
• I am actively looking for ways to get fit that wont worsen the migraine
• I've decided to de-clutter physically and electronically
  

Exercise:
Anything that gets the blood pumping makes the migraine explode. For days.  So does any music with a good beat, And sunlight,

I'm walking around the property for 30-40 mins whenever I'm home around dusk on the theory that something is better than nothing. If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know. This inability to do anything physical is frustrating the hell out of me.

De-cluttering:
I work best by setting myself small goals and measuring progress. Setting down a series of steps/milestones and then focusing on achieving them.  I have no idea how to do this over the next 12 months because the de-cluttering is such a massive undertaking,

So decided to start at my desk. A while ago Stephen and I set up Evernote to keep electronic clutter at bay; and turn paper clutter into electronic files. I finally get around to setting up the docking station so very kindly supplied for my new laptop and discover it don't fit :)  My fault for not providing the model number to my kind benefactor (or attempting to use it before now).

Oh well I have found the installation/driver discs for all of my peripherals (printers, scanner, camera etc).  After four and half very frustrating hours, I discover none of them will work with a 64x machine running Windows 7.

After downloading driver updates, viewing microsoft help pages, Canon support pages and various forums I have discovered that although Canon are slowly updating the software for their older machines to run on Windows 7, they are not planning on updating them for use in a 64x machine.

So I have documents waiting to be scanned and photos of my stitching waiting to be downloaded and I have to show for 4.5 hours today is a mounting sense of frustration and a full-blown migraine,

And now its time to get dressed and head to work for the afternoon.

I wanted to send out a happy "progress is being made" post today, and pics of my stitching but instead all I feel is mounting sense of uselessness and frustration at myself.

Inkcircles Celtic spiral

I used carries creationjs fall limited edition threads klthat I had in my stash for a couple of years now.

Green -Spinach Leaf
Yellow - Golden Oak
Light Pink - Berry Smoothie
Was planning on using medium pink Mulberry Jam, but decided instead to go with the dark pink, Barn Rust.

Life begins at 40

Morning all,

I'm going to put up a fortnightly quick note to just to help keep me on track for the goals I have set for myself to accomplish in the next 12 months.

Goals for 15 August 2011:
Pay off /pay back all loans
Weight 69kgs (a curvy size 14 for me)
A BMI of 30 (my GP will determine this)
My possessions decluttered.

Yes I turn 40 on 15 August 2011 and I want to be ready to embrace the next phase of my life.  Even if I was turning 38 or 43 I still would be making these arrangement - I just figure that 40 makes a catchy title :)

My landlords return in February 2012, so I'm using that date for my exit strategy. I want to be financially, emotionally, physically ready to move on. I know that in the course of doing all of the above, I will be letting go of a lot of mental clutter and emotional baggage. Its all part of the process.

23 August Progress:
Loans: Behind schedule (current prognosis 15 October 2011)
Weight: Food intake and dietary changes are being arranged.
Fitness: Not yet arranged. Looking at best long-term options.
Decluttering: Not yet arranged. Looking at options.

I am officially an adult!

OK I turned 39 next week but I finally feel like a responsible adult now.

This post is only going to Debbie, mum and Julie (so say hi to each other) because its about money and finances and I really really hate having to admit to myself that I haven't been paying this as close attention as I should have been.

So feel free to ignore, otherwise I wouldn't mind any constructive advice or criticism - I'm open to suggestions. I'm also happy to send my spreadsheets if you want to see what I've done more closely.

Finally Wednesday night this week, I came to within a hair's whisker of coming a cropper financially speaking.  My pay comes through every second Wednesday night. Only this week it didn't.

Wednesday night found me with no food in the house, no petrol, no money apart from a few coins and a car registration that had to be paid *right now* or I couldn't legally drive it on the road.

So I sat and I got depressed and I wondered how I got to this place yet again .... it seems every few months I fall into a hole, then it seems to go alright for a while and then wham! out of nowhere I'm in a hole again.

So over the past few days instead of stitching or playing Warcraft I've set myself up a set of financial spreadsheets in Excel.  Its nothing fancy but it does the job.  I have all the raw data on the first worksheet, all the big money owing on the second sheet, and then all the regular and irregular bills on successive sheets thereafter one per month for the next 18 months.

Now I usually have a fairly good handle on my living expenses. I put aside money each pay for the regular and irregular bills so how come I'm getting in a hole?

By listing absolutely everything I pay regularly (loan repayments, phone, internet, electricity, cat food, vet trips, hairdressers, foxtel (cable TV) migraine medication) I've discovered the problem.

I'm used to receiving a much larger disposable income than I currently am.  When putting money aside for bills I have not been putting aside money for medications, hairdressers, cat food etc because that's just been paid as needed out of the disposable portion of my income.  I don;t have that disposable portion anymore.

So now I've included everything I can think of in that series of spreadsheets, no matter how big or how little, if its money I spend regularly, its gone in there.  And based on my current figures I will be $3300 short by August 2011.  I spent $3300 more on regular items per year than I budget for. 

So what to do to bring that figure into the positive side of the equation ...

1. I have not renewed my cross stitch magazines subscriptions. I have three UK mags I've been subscribing to and these are all due now. I'm not renewing any of them.
2. I've rearranged some payments, so I'm putting $50 more per pay into the ongoing bills and $50 less per pay into the big three.
3. I'll be cancelling the Foxtel. I have a big enough DVD library and my work gets in a large range of movie and TV series on DVD that I can cope.  I can also torrent any new stuff I can't wait for ....
4. Cancelling the hairdresser and going back to dying my own hair.

These changes mean that I will (with a little topping up on a couple of months) make it through to October 2011 with all bills covered and paid for and the big three paid off. Using the snowball method, working from highest interest rate to lowest, I should achieve:

• Personal loan paid off mid-March 2011
• Credit Card paid off late May 2011
• Debbie paid back in full in mid-October 2011.

Now all of this is worked on my current 54 hours per fortnight base wage.  It also includes allowance for:

• $50 or one tank of fuel per fortnight
• $28 for parking per fortnight ($4.00 per days for 7 days)
  
• $100 food for me and canned food for the cats per fortnight
• $40 for everything else

Everything else includes, buying lunch at work occasionally, going out with friends from work, buying cross stitch supplies, birthday presents, christmas cards, plane trip home to visit mum and Alison in October etc etc.

All this is worked on my base pay.  I am often asked to work additional hours and some weekend overtime shifts but they are additional so I can;t rely on them.  Any that come through will certainly be put towards plane trips, presents, framing costs and helping pay off the Big Three faster.

So now I have a proper plan.  Barring anything wayward like spending hundreds of dollars per fortnight on car repairs or medical specialists, I should be a ble to manage this.

Given that my fortnightly income should be around $1500 (subject to change - as they are in the process of reclassifying all of our positions!) my simple set up is:

Money goes in to a BankWest account.
Money goes out to:

• Bendigo bank loan account (personal loan)
• Bendigo Bank credit card (credit card bill)
• ING Savings Maximiser Account (paying of Debbie)
• Bendigo Bank standard account (where all regular and irregular bills come out)

Given the very small amounts I'm working with I haven;t set up any investment accounts or short term money markets or anything weird.  Just simple, money in and then money back out to where it needs to go.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

WIP - Wild Thing

Ruby Slipper designs

Ruby Slipper designs

A project for Alison's 50th Birthday in late August 2010.

Dragonfeathers Afghan

Fantacat Designs

I've had the chart for years but only finally acquired the afghan fabric courtesy of Colours Down Under in July 2010.

Mel's Sunday Update

To start I'd like to say "I'm sorry" to everyone who has been expecting communication from me and hasn't been getting it.  The migraine pain is back despite the meds. Also despite the meds, the migraine has. never. gone. away.

The combination of the two has made me quite depressed and miserable. I'[ve been faking it well at work but I just don't have the energy to fake it at home, so I am sorry.  I will get to that backlog of correspondence as I can :(

On a happier note, I did force myself out in the sunshine yesterday and went to the WA Craft Fair.  In some respects it seemed smaller than the Craft & Quilt Show I went to back in May but the vendors and crowd here seemed to be more serious crafters.

There are apparently only two major craft fairs in WA annually.  Having been to both it seems like the May fair is the "oooh look honey, you always said you'd like to try X, lets get a beginners kit"  whereas the July Fair is "here's my shopping list of things I need and a notebook to jot down this year's trends".

I could be wrong but that's how it seemed to me.

I took a certain amount of cash with me and spent the lot, mostly on consumables.  A couple of hand-made food vendors were there - including a bakery opposite the ColoursDownUnder stall who was selling gluten free food.  I have enough GF bikkies now to last me a couple of months worth of meetings ...

Janine also had in for me the black afghan fabric required for Fantacat's DragonFeathers Afghan.  There was also some joking around about if I could get this one finished in time for the May Fair next year.  I stretched the fabric out this morning - EEP!  There are 32 blocks to be stitched on this - that's more than one block per week! Especially as I can't even start it until October!  And you know how hot Aussie summers are .... somehow I'm not sure this will even get started before May 2011.

The only other stitching related purchase was one piece of royal blue fabric big enough to stitch Golden Cat and Golden Peacock.  OH and I gathered supplies for another birthday gift, but can't talk about that here {grin}.

At present I'm frantically stitching Alison's (Best non-stitching friend) Wild Thing.  It suits her to a T and she's moving mid August back to Canberra, so this will be a combined 50th birthday present and housewarming gift.

Unfortunately I was disappointed yet again at the difference between the cover picture and the Real Thing.  The recommended fabric is Picture This Plus Cashel Heather.  In the cover photo the fabric looks a mottled blue.  When the fabric arrived, it was, as you can see in the photos, a mottled mauve/pink color.It did disturb me when I started because the cover pic was of cool tones and there is quite a bit of black and ecru in the border, but the warm Heather does seem to be quite fine so far ....

After that its onto a number of round robins (one current one and a couple I'm behind on) and then another birthday present and then I can start thinking abort stitching anything else :)

In the rest of life I'm just plodding along.  Stitching or in World of Warcraft when my migraines allow it, picking up any extra work I can to make the bills and then Gusty getting through each day.  Today I have been productive: I have stitched on Wild Thing, made a large batch of fried rice to take for lunches all week. Done the washing (its out on the line drying) and I have a loaf of bread in the oven.

The top photo is of Trubs protecting the bread as it is out in the sun to start to rise.  Yes it is covered in plastic so it wont dry out or get covered in cat hair :)

Just to mop the floors and change the cat litter and that will do for the housework :)  Tonight some of us from work are planning to go out to the Hare Krishna's Food on the Jetty. Lots of good vegetarian food, mostly gluten friendly and you pay what you can afford.  A few of us decided rather than going to a mid-range fancy restaurant, we would go here and spend the same amount of money and feel good that we are helping a charity. Apparently the food is superb and there's lots of it!

So that's my update.  Mmmmm - that bread smells ready to be taken out of the oven now :)

Damnit!

I just finished reading the latest Jim Butcher Harry Dresden book "Changes".

I was hesitant to start this book because I had already read a couple of spoiler-free reviews where people went "wait, you can't finish it there... "

So going into this book I felt I kinda knew this in anticipation.  As I was reading I was mentally going "oh right, I see,  I see where we're going.  Yep that makes sense."

I feel I have a relatively good idea of this author. Most of the big reveals were "well duh!  That was obvious because ...." and still an enjoyable read.

Until the last page.

I'm not sure I can forgive Mr Butcher for the last page. 
For it BEING the last page. 
For making me wait until March 2011.

For using the last page of the book to define the title of the book.

DAMN YOU!

Stitching Update: May - July 2010

Due to many factors mostly stemming from my migraine still being with me (started late March and here still here) I have been very quiet on my blogs and with my stitching.

The treatment for my migraine revolves around short-term medication leading to regular sleep patterns and lifestyle changes (both work and at home). As part of this, I'm getting back into my stitching and  reconnecting with the world again.  Anyway enough whinging, onto the update:

Stitching update!



In June I finished off poor Jasper in Bloom.  Jasper was a project I cross-stitched in May-July 2008 as one of my train commuter projects.  Unfortunately the back stitching was getting me down so I put him away.  I found him last month while looking for a different project, and decided to "be good" and just struggle through the back stitching.  The struggle turned out to be a mere two nights in front of the TV, and he was done.

A lesson there in building molehills into mountains and the fear is worse than the event and a few other platitudes.


I then, flushed with this success, went back to New York and finished it off completely.  The silver scroll-work was a pain to do on Aida but well it always is :)  This Vervaco kit, unlike Moscow, contained enough fibres to complete the whole project.  I've included a photo of the finish here so you can see that Vervaco uses generous fabric sizes in their kits.  If only they included evenweave or linen as an option...

In late June-early July my mum visited for a fortnight. Mum brought over all of her finishes so we took them down for a Show and Tell visit to Colours Down Under :)

While mum was here, I mentioned that I had a "Fall limited edition" range of Carrie's Threads that was released in a collaboration pack a couple of years earlier.  I hadn't given away any of the threads because they all blended well together but I hadn't found a chart that I could use them on.  Coincidentally, the next day Tracy released a new free pattern, Celtic Spiral, to those on the Inkcircles email list.  Mum and I pulled out those threads and some fabric and started stitching!

Unfortunately for the stitching, I introduced mum to World of Warcraft that night and no further stitching was done for the rest of the visit.  The day she flew home I sat and stitched the rest of this piece, all except for the last 10 stitches.  You see mum and I both chose one colour the same in our palettes and I gave the rest of the skein to mum to take home with her.  I was a) quite sure I had enough and b) given our history mum always finishes our collaborated projects months ahead of me. In this instance, I was wrong on both counts.

Mum has popped a length of the thread in the mail and when it finally arrives I will finish off this poor thing.  Or not.  I just found out that the direction of the project should have been reversed for the Southern hemisphere.  {insert expletive here}.

After that I became all enthusiastic about our private round robin group starting up again, so I pulled out the Historical Dress Sampler that went around last year. I had great plans to stitch up the rest of the grey border pieces to make life easier for placement for the others. In the next four weeks I stitched precisely 10 stitches on it.  I gave up and just sent it on as is.  I feel so ashamed that I just couldn't motivate myself enough enough to stitch on it.

After it went, I started a new project, a piece for a friend's birthday in late August.  So this is my focus piece for the next few weeks.  I'll put up a separate blog with pictures and progress on this project on the weekend.  I was going great guns until I found one row of the wording was out of alignment, so I've unpicked it.  Hopefully I can have that area restitched before Sunday.  I will once again be using the Sunday updates to help keep up my motivation.

And that's it - all my stitching over the past two months :)

On the nature of love and friendship

At work this afternoon I was chatting to a customer who told me a story about how her hubby (then boyfriend) had surprised her as few years ago. She had had a bad week at work and he working at one of the mine sites and wouldn't be back for a another few weeks.  Just before 5pm on Friday, one of the other women she worked with let him into the work area, and came up behind her, picked her up, twirled her around and then kissed her senseless.  She said it was like something out of a movie and every time she remembers it she automatically adds in "that hollywood swell of music".  She and her hubby still look very much in love and I suspect this incident was from more than a couple of years ago.

Thinking on this afterwards, I became a little depressed as I realised there was no-one in my life I could even fantasise about putting in that role.  None of my friends, no hotties from work... no-one.  I think this is the first time in my life I'm not even having a fantasy love life!

Then when I got home this evening I caught up on one of my favourite blogs and read the following in the comments section to a post:

See, the wonderful thing about being grown-up is that other people have finally lost the right to tell you exactly what that means, and you're free to choose. Except of course for very close friends, but really, you have to excuse them because they are, after all, close friends, and there is a certain level of irreverence that's to be expected when they tell you you're being an idiot. Although often they are being idiots with you, so the whole thing's a rather moot point in the end.*

... and quite a number of names came to mind!  In fact I feel a few of you will be reading this and going "YES! YES!" in a non-Meg Ryan-ish manner.

So while I may not have any person to cuddle or even many to brunch with right now, I do have a heck of a set of friends!  Far more than I deserve, and I thank each and every one of you for being there! For being my friend, and for being exactly who you are!


* If you want some context, read the blog post and all the other comments here. 

If you're happy and you know it ...

... then you also know ignorance is not bliss.

So many stresses have been relieved in the past few days that I feel more cheerful and optimistic this morning than I have for quite a while. Mind you going out on the town last night with a gaggle of other single women (aged 30-45) from work last night and drinking cocktails probably helped too :)

Tumor on the Pituitary Gland. In summary, the tumor is a non-cancerous fluid-filled sack that is pushing my pituitary gland all out of shape,  However my pituitary gland is still working well, so no surgery.  Every 12 months I will need an MRI and some blood tests to confirm all is OK. As soon as the pituitary gland is not working properly, they will but me into surgery.  According to the neurologist that might be in 50 years time.

Primary Chronic Daily Headaches. Innocuous sounding name for something that has been so painful for over two months continuously. I still need to do a LOT of reading up on this one, but the basics as I understand it (and please anyone with medical background please correct me if I'm wrong):

Stress causes headache causes broken sleep patterns causes stress plus headache which then causes sleeplessness which then exacerbates stress and headache and sleeplessness and the whole circle goes around and around getting more and more severe. It also brings on "medically induced emotional incontinence"; translation: I cry at the drop of a hat.

The neurologist has given me some medication from the tricyclics family to help break this vicious cycle. I also need to reduce the stresses in my life and once we get the dosage correct, this should all be over within the next six months.

As a couple of you know I am having major problems at work with my direct supervisor. She has now admitted in a meeting with our manager and HR that she considers me difficult to manage so she stopped trying and just ignored my presence.

Unfortunately for her, she also admitted that whenever I tried to talk to her about my medical condition and how its affecting my work she said "I don't want to hear about your personal life".  This means she did not follow Occupational Health and HR procedures to inform our Manager and HR that I had a serious medical condition.  Both HR and my Manager are well aware that my supervisor has left the organisation open to litigation if (as it has now been determined) the work situation exacerbated the medical condition.

HR and my manager have decided that for the organisation to redress this issue, I will be moved to a different branch, given a different supervisor and given different work for the next six months.  The details are still to be negotiated but it looks like it will include a return to my forte of cataloguing and database integrity (work I love doing and can do in my sleep - yay!) and I will provide periodic written reports from my doctor to ensure that my work is not affecting my recovery.

I was also given on the spot approval for any leave I wish to take in the next six months. So I decided to take two weeks off work from the end of next week.  I have work to do that cannot be just left, and I have a BIG week of work in early July, but I'm taking the two weeks off in between.

So definitely a win and I should be back to the bouncy Goth Tigger you all know and love within six months.


Unfortunately, as I have a predilection to headaches* and I am in a stressful situation both at work and at home** this situation is very likely to reoccur, so I need to make changes changes in my life.

This is where I still need to do a lot of research on this condition. The neurologist gave me a couple of medical papers and details of a book to read*** but basically I need to start my meditation again, institute a regular regime of exercise (when I am capable and not before) and move back to Sydney or Melbourne (a cosmopolitan city which contains many friends and is easily visitable by family).

So time to now put some quiet music on and give my house a thorough spring clean.



* I can tell the difference between a tension headache, a dehydration headache, eyestrain and migraine
** apparently living on your own with no close friends or family and where the primary culture is an anathema to you is considered a stressful situation
*** because I'm a librarian he gave me the ISBN - he looked so proud of himself :)

Gordon and Abby

I live in a semi-rural area surrounded by vineyards and horses. The property I live on has two houses, the old rambling weatherboard house the girls live in, and the smaller but much newer brick house the cats and and I live in.

The girls look after rescued horses in the surrounding paddocks whereas I get all the freedom of the space without any of the responsibility.

The girls also have three ferrets, six dogs and a sheep they raised from a lamb called Gordon.

Gordon was raised with the dogs, came in every night and sleep with the dogs near the fire in winter and eats dog and cat kibble whenever he can get near it.

He also does an excellent job of keeping the girls' yard from needing mowing. Mine unfortunately was looking quite shabby as my gardener cannot visit any more.

So I had a chat to the girls and they asked if I would accept Gordon in to chew on my grass and I have such a think lush amount and, as it is coming into winter, there's not enough in their penned-in yard to keep him fully fed.  I was happy so every few days the girls lead him out of his yard and into mine.

The first time they did, Abby was very wary and cautious of what this animal was and why was it in her yard .... she slunk down in the grass and slithered on her belly all around the sheep. Then ran back to me meowing querulously but wouldn't let me pick her up. She then slithered back around until she was right in front of Gordon and then leapt up about two foot in the air all paws a'waving doing the best Scrat impersonation I'd ever seen.

The girls and I doubled over in laughter.  Gordon didn't even pause in his chewing. I ran inside for my camera, but could only get one shot in before another car pulled up and Abby ran off.

So now Gordon visits regularly and the girls and I make sure the door to the sleep-out is wired open just enough the cats to get through but not Gordon.  Turns out we were wrong.  Also turns out Gordon gets lonely.

He doesn't like being over here by himself, especially when he can see the dogs have been let into the paddocks with the horses without him.  So whenever I'm home Gordon wants to be inside and that would be fine if he didn't piddle and poo everywhere.

Trubs is not happy about him being inside, it makes her very nervous, so we're keeping Gordon outside now.  I can stand watching his big sad lonely sheep eyes more easily than I can stand watching Trubs being nervous and worried.

So there's the story of Gordon and Abby :)

Book Meme

I read this on LiberryDwarf's blog and couldn't resist doing it myself :)

Do you snack while reading? I do most of my reading at mealtimes. Yes I'm the kind of person who would read the back of the Cornflakes packet if there was nothing else around,

What is your favourite drink while reading? Whatever I'm drinking with the meal? Usually water.

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? I've only ever marked a book once.  My Year 12 copy of Pride and Prejudice and I believe we were forced to - to mark where Elizabeth's feelings changed etc etc.  Also I work in a public library; I am disgusted by people who deface books that other people are waiting to read.

How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat? I am ashamed to say that I have occasionally dog-eared a library book.  For my own books I usually memorise the page number I'm on. A trait born of too many years of running out of bookmarks and refusing to dog-ear or destroy the spine of my own books.

Fiction, non-fiction or both? Mostly fiction but definitely both.  As long as the subject matter keeps me interested I'll read almost anything.

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere? I stop only when an alarm goes off or the phone rings or the train reaches my station or any other form of interruption. Yes I set alarms when I start to read.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you? I have done so but very rarely. The most recent was with Twilight. Couldn't get past the second chapter, the actual writing was awful!

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away? I rarely find words that I don't know or cannot judge from context. When I truly am stumped I tend to be lazy and ask on Twitter :)

What are you currently reading? Pinocchio - Vampire Slayer. I kid you not, its a graphic novel I grabbed from the library - the writing is awful and the illustrations are mediocre, but hey with a title like that you have to at least give it a look!

What is the last book you bought? A Heston Blumenthal book for my Dad for his birthday.  Already planned the Kitchen Chemistry book and DVD set for father's day :)

Do you have a favourite time/place to read? Well I've just moved house so I'm still finding/creating favourite nooks.  Favourite time to read is over brunch on a day off work, because I don't have to stop reading.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?  As long as the subject matter keeps me interested I'll read almost anything. I do have issues with series books that really should have been condensed into one novel, or in the case of Stephen King, 1000+ page tomes that really should have been novellas.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over? I work in a public library, its my job to recommend books.  I find it a much more successful match to find out what the borrower wants and recommend books that match their desires, rather than to foist my own favourites onto them.

How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)? I spent many years as a cataloguer.  So just like mechanics have faulty car and plumbers have dripping taps, I have my books organised into "does it fit on that shelf?"

So .... who's next?

World of Warcraft

I finally succumbed and joined WoW last weekend.  The State Library of NSW is hosting a seminar on Online Gaming and Libraries at the end of the month.  This seminar is being held INSIDE WoW!  In Stormwind in the Saurfang realm for those who are interested.

From the FAQ page: Any library worker from any library, anywhere is welcome to participate. You just need to register, and set up a toon. So any librarians who read this and wish to join in, please do so!

So I succumbed.  With a lot of advice from friends and a bit of help from a great friend I used to work with and the seminar organiser, I now have a 13th Level Human Warrior.

I justify this to myself that to get the full benefit of the seminar, I should really get a proper understanding of the game functions and dynamics :)

So I was having a play this morning ... having given up on Westfall for the quests being too hard for a solo player, I ran back to the other side of Elysian Forest and started a few quests that were too hard a few days ago.

Got all the way over to the area, started killing things, and heard baaaaa! in my ear.  Gordon, next door's sheep had walked in the house and was eyeing off the couch.

Meanwhile my character had died, so I ran her back to where she died, resurrected her, watched Gordon piddle on the linoleum and used my hearthstone to get my toon back to an inn and left the game to take Gordon outside.

OK, Gordon is locked outside, he has lots of grass and fresh water and can't back in. I've cleaned up his piddle and mopped the floor, time to try that quest again.

Oh bother, my home inn is back in Westfall.  Run alllllllllllllllll the way back to the other side of the Forest, get set up with protective spells, start to fight the baddies and the phone rings.  Its my Dad wanting to settle in for a long chat.  OK, character is dead. Run back to where I was in the game, resurrect and hearthstone home before engaging in battle again and my toon appears back in Westfall.

D'oh!

So an hour later, I've finished my phone call with Dad, and am wondering whether to try for a third time go through all that rigmarole for those two quests ....

Its a fine day, perhaps I might join Gordon in the garden and read my book for a while instead .... 

Outlook 2007 Calendar help please?

Is there any way, using Outlook 2007 to set up a second calendar that can be shared with others in the same organisation.

As part of my work, I arrange training sessions for staff.  I also keep a record of who is offsite at seminars/conferences etc.  I also would like to block out periods of time where my management does not want any training being conducted because we have higher priorities, planning for Children's BookWeek for example.

A calendar would a perfect, at-a-glance solution for all of these needs, but I already use my Outlook Calendar for my own movements, meetings, appointments etc. Putting all the training data into the same calendar is highly confusing.

My work IT will not allow me to download applications or tools onto my desktop and my management are highly resistant to using tools other than the Microsoft suite of programs, so I cannot simply set up a Google Calendar. So any suggestions?

Work Questions: Housebound or Home Delivery Service

Morning all,

I'm thinking of sending this questionnaire to my library managers to help with a housebound review I'm conducting.  What do you think of the following questions? Have I missed anything? Does your library do anything different? Innovative? Is there something you wished your library did that it doesn't do?

Please let me know!

Mel..

I’ve been quiet on reporting on the housebound front because I’ve been mulling over issues, especially after attending the Community Engagement training last month. I believe instead of organising the sort of service we want to give, we should arrange a series of meetings with housebound customers and ask what they want from us. At present we provide staff- or volunteer-selected books, audio books and DVDs on a regulated, rostered basis. Is that what they want from us?

 

Before going ahead with that, I’d like to ask, what are WE prepared to offer them? Could the Library Management Team please think on the following areas and let me know which options we do NOT want to pursue …

 

WHO

The image of the traditional housebound customer is a frail elderly luddite who would prefer someone to work “that danged computer” for them.  I respectfully submit that this is a very low percentage of our potential customer base.

·         Do we want to advertise in hospitals to provide a short-term service for those recovering from surgery?

·         Do we want to offer our services to anyone who requires in-house nursing, respite or carer assistance? Including children?

·         Do we want to provide a level of support and delivery to remote customers (those who live more than 30 minutes drive to a library branch)?

·         Do we want to open up a tier of service (possibly with a nominal payment) for those who would simply prefer home delivery (ala the supermarket home delivery services)?

 

WHAT

We currently provide staff or volunteer chosen books, LP books, audio and DVDs.

·         Do we want include these customers on standing magazine reservations?

·         Do we want to teach those customers interested in how to select and reserve their own materials?

·         Are there any materials or stock we don’t want to send out to housebound or home delivery customers?

·         Do we want to invest in technology such as Audio-Read’s Navigator http://www.audio-read.com.au/hardware.htm for our print-challenged customers?

·         Do we want to send out flyers/informational brochures extolling the changes/improvements to our websites? Allow them use to and understanding of databases, tumblr etc accessible via our library website?

·         Do we want to provide information on audio download and eBook download when these services become available?

·         What other information or services could we supply from the library or from City of Swan with their items?

·         Is there anything that we charge other Council departments to include in our deliveries (thereby offsetting some costs)?

 

HOW

Under the present system the housebound customer usually contacts us and the local branch asks them a series of predetermined questions to determine their likes and dislikes. This information is stored somewhere for staff and volunteers at that branch to use to select items from.

·         Do we want to start visiting these customers for face-to-face meetings to discuss their needs? Should the person who has initial contact be a readers’ advisory expert to best gauge their preferences?

·         Should we include a feedback slip in every item so they can advise us in our selection?

·         For those who possess the technology (PC, smartphone, iPad, laptop etc) should we go out one-on-one and teach them how to use the library catalogue to place their own reservations? Should we teach these same customers how to use NoveList or other databases so they can feel empowered to select their own materials?

 

WHEN

At present items are mostly delivered on a standard periodic basis via staff or volunteer at each library branch.

·         Do we want to continue doing this?

·         Do we want to centralise and run all home delivery or housebound from one library?

·         Do we want to enter into an official contact with a volunteer organisation for them to provide regular, reliable volunteers to supply and collect the items?

·         Do we want to offer staff the option of changing their position descriptions to allow them to spend time each week supplying and collecting the items on a regular rostered basis?

·         Do we want to purchase a vehicle for a library staff member to use to supply and collect the items on a regular rostered basis?

·         Rather than using the standard library bags (or shopping bags) do we want to invest in courier satchels whereby we post out the items and the customer or one of their visitors returns the satchel to their local Post Office to be delivered back to us? (We enter into an arrangement with Australia Post to pay a monthly fee for this service) This would be more like Netflix, whereby we send out the next batch when the first batch is returned. This is more flexible as it doesn’t rely on rostered regular deliveries.

 

IN SHORT

·         If the community want these options, which are prepared to provide?

·         Or to put it another way, which of these options are outside the realm of what we are prepared to fight for?