Self Portrait Tuesday - A Red Letter Day!

OK maybe I'm stretching this month's theme a bit far but All of Me is very happy that today was the day that I removed my P plates.* Yay!

I'm celebrating by driving myself, J and M to the pub where I will have a cider. Then drive home. BECAUSE I CAN!

Swap mystery number 5:

(Soundtrack: Ben Watt, Buzzin' Fly 2)

(* In Australia learner drivers have L plates on their cars to warn the rest of the world they are going to do stupid things.

After you pass your test you then switch to P plates to warn the rest of the world you'll occasionally do slightly dumb things. Usually involving stalling.

If you are under 25 you have to show your Ps for 3 years. Because I'm an old fart I can whip those puppies off Miss Daisy after just 6 months. P platers are expected to have a zero blood alcohol limit)

100 Random Things about me

Yeah I know it's Self Portrait Tuesday and I hope to get myself organised enough in amongst the myriad of things I have to do tonight to get one up but just in case I've swiped Pink Rocket's idea and created a list of 100 things about myself:

1. I buy my deodorant from New Zealand.

2. It's the same brand I have been using since I was 13 except for one deviation to Mum which smelt funny and was far too expensive and didn't last very long.

3. I also buy my laundry whitener, delicate laundry liquid and dish washing liquid from New Zealand and have asked friends heading there on honeymoon to pick me up supplies.

4. Just like I'm asking a friend heading to England to get me some toothpaste as the stuff I use comes in a cool black and silver tube over there.

5. Pretty much the only sneakers I wear are black Converse One Stars.

6. They're off the market so I trawl eBay for pairs in my size to stick in The Top Cupboard.

7. I only wear David Jones Home Brand black socks - cotton in summer and wool in winter.

8. I have 12 identical black boat neck ¾ sleeve T shirts. 5 of these are stashed in The Top Cupboard.

9. I only wear one brand of knickers and have a stash of them in case they go off the market, too.

10. I prefer hankies to tissues and have a collection of black and white plaid ones.

11. Speaking of black and white, I only wear black and white PJs..

12. I once came first in the New Zealand National Irish Dancing Competition 11 and under jig.

13. It was an accident - they had changed the official music that morning but I had learnt to dance by counting in not waiting for a musical cue so was fine.

14. If I get drunk at an Irish pub I have a habit of showing off my ancient Irish dancing prowess.

15. My friends used to take advantage of this fact.

16. I love Guinness. But only in winter.

17. I chose my wine at the bottle store by selecting a bottle on sale for under $10 with the most off.

18. If that doesn't work I buy Banrock Station because they support Landcare Australia and are working to bring a wetland on their property back to life.

19. I think their motto should be Kill a brain cell, save a duck.

20. I have two sponsored children - one in India through Plan International and one in Australia through The Smith Family.

21. I chose both organisations because they are non political and non religious.

22. Over the course of my childhood I went to Catholic school, Mormon and Anglican Sunday School and Open Brethren Youth Group.

23. I've never owned a Barbie doll.

24. Or smoked.

25. Or taken drugs.

26. I've always wanted to ice skate at the Rockefeller Centre on Christmas Eve.

27. A few years ago I decided to do it after a particularly good bonus at work and spent the evening online researching what else to do in New York at Christmas time.

28. When I got to work the next morning I discovered Sept 11th had been happening while I was researching.

29. I didn't go but ended up spending the money on my first cruise.

30. A complete stranger paid for half my cabin on my last cruise.

31. I went overseas for the first time just before I turned 30.

32. I moved overseas 6 months later. Without telling my parents.

33. But with my Vespa scooter which flew with me to Australia.

34. I tell people I moved to Australia for IKEA.

35. It's not far from the truth.

36. I tried to go to IKEA when I was in Stockholm but it didn't work out.

37. I buy dolls houses and dolls house furniture off Swedish eBay in Swedish.

38. I don't speak Swedish.

39. I own 11 dolls houses with one more promised to me next month.

40. When I visited Queen Mary's Dolls House and Windsor Castle I had it to myself for 15 minutes.

41. I want to visit every significant dolls house or miniature museum in the world by the time I die.

42. I travel for architecture and miniatures. I think Terence Conran is a God.

43. I only got my car license when I was 39.

44. After I had bought my first car.

45. I would love to own a Smart Car.

46. I want to go to circus school at Club Med Lindeman Island.

47. A picture I took of Mt Ruapehu erupting in September 1995 was published on the front cover of The Evening Post.

48. Several weeks later a blown up picture of my nose sporting a fake nose ring was published in the paper.

49. The only bit of the paper I read is the arts section on Saturdays.

50. When I remember to.

51. I don't watch TV news either. Actually, I don't watch much TV full stop.

52. I didn't vote in the last election because I realised I didn't know which party the Prime Minister was with and when I looked in the papers to find out they all assumed I knew.

53. I finally worked it out after the election by reading a dummies guide to politics in Dolly magazine.

54. None of this worries me.

55. I started my first business when I was eleven.

56. I have twin uncles who were born when I was four.

57. I got my first violin for my second birthday.

58. Now all I play is the stereo.

59. I DJed for 5 years through the late 80s.

60. And therefore have an impressive collection of records from that time.

61. I know that The Birdy Dance will chase any other song you have stuck in your head away. But the cure is worse than the disease.

62. I am unable to listen to commercial radio.

63. I met the Proclaimers and told a work colleague how I did it.

64. She met Bono from U2 using my tips several months later.

65. I think she got the better end of the deal.

66. I flatted with someone years ago who went to school with Larry from U2.

67. I owned the first of my two pet rats at the time.

68. Who I took to Library School with me one day. He spent the day curled up asleep in the kangaroo pouch of my sweatshirt.

69. The night before my final Library School exam I was out clubbing til 3am. The exam started at 9am. I passed.

70. I have membership to Club Retro in Melbourne. I live in Canberra.

71. I love The Eurovision Song Contest travelingly have been travelling to Melbourne each year for a friend's friend's Eurovision Party (and to go to Club Retro)

72. One of my goals is to actually attend a Eurovision Song Contest.

73. My favourite song of all time is Just can't get enough by Depeche Mode.

74. I play every fifth CD in my collection on rotation so I eventually hear them all without having to constantly chose what to play next.

75. I cannot see why anyone thinks Robbie Williams is sexy.

76. I can't sleep naked because I'm worried there might be a fire and I'd have to run out of the house with no clothes on.

77. I don't like sharing a bed because I know I'd fart. What really worries me is I might do it the other person's leg.

78. I always sleep with my windows open. Even when it's minus 7 degrees outside.

79. Except when I'm in a hotel or on a cruise ship where I dream of being underground in a submarine and suffocating.

80. I don't like staying above the fifth floor in a hotel because I once read fire ladders can only reach that far.

81. I also don't like travelling in front or back carriages on trains in case something crashes into it.

82. I will never bungee jump.

83. I have very boring dreams.

84. My spices and herbs are arranged alphabetically.

85. And my tins are in order of food type.

86. I don't eat meat or chicken.

87. I won't eat anything containing artificial sweeteners.

88. I've never had a Starbucks coffee.

89. Or eaten Subway.

90. The only cappuccino I've drunk was by accident.

91. I only have one can of Coke a year. Maybe two, if it's a special occasion.

92. I love dark chocolate.

93. And smoked salmon.

94. But not together.

95. I can't eat shellfish. I tried prawns for the first time a few years back - they were delicious but caused me to puke my way across Sydney for the next far too many hours.

96. If I don't eat lunch by about 12:30 I start getting really vague. And grumpy.

97. I hate violent or horror movies.

98. I'm a magazine addict.

100. I refuse to have a life plan.

What I did on my weekend

Taking my lead from Kath at Red Current's post today:

Weekend: - 5 things

(Apart from what you already know about from Saturday's posts)

1. I bought a filing cabinet off eBay for a whopping $31.99 (happy happy), drove and picked it up within two hours of winning it (joy joy) and it is exactly what I was wanting (grey, old fashioned with shiny metal sticky out handles). Except for it was three drawers, not two. But at that price, who cares? Especially as I was expecting to have to drive to Sydney to get one at a reasonable price (please don't let me get started on the prices of old beaten up filing cabinets from places like Ex Govie and Recon here in Canberra, OK?). Even better I managed to get it upstairs and into the study last night all by myself *flexes muscles and wiggles eyebrows suggestively*. I feel like a real business owner now. I have a filing cabinet.

2 & 3. I had lots of good fortune - friend M came for dinner last night (pasta ($1.50 for 2 kilos from The Warehouse) with free yellow zucchini and baby tomatoes courtesy of R&G's garden) She brought with her a bag of shampoos, conditioners and moisturisers her skin decided it didn't like which I'm sure mine will. In return I gave her a lovely picture of white Chinese lanterns for her birthday which she liked very much. We drank wine from my $6 for 1 litre on special bottle and sat round feeling smug and frugal.

4. I drove Miss Daisy over 150 km yesterday for business related stuff. No wonder I was tired last night!

5. My eBay feedback hit 500 and my star changed to purple. Hey, I thought it was an exciting event!

Tonight I headed over to Manuka to use my free Kinky Boots tickets with friend K. Arrived early so managed to get some quality time in browsing through the local knitting shop and then my favorite bookshop in Canberra where I was excited to see new editions of Richard Scarry's "What do People do all Day?" (only the best kids book in the world in my opinion - what other book teaches three year olds basic economics, how paper is made, how a house is built and where electricity comes from all in one tome with hundreds of details to investigate AND Lowly Worm?)

But Oh No! the pictures! They must have lost the originals sometime in the past 40 years and reproduced them from an existing book because they were pale and washed out and very very disappointing. My tip? Track down the original 1968 edition which is also unexpurgated (Oh no, I quote Monty Python even when I don't mean to!)

I also saw a very cooly illustrated book by James Stimson called Thirteen O'Clock which made me want to rip the pictures out of it and hang them on my wall (especially the one of the girl in the window on the second excerpt),or, at the very least, buy it and send it to my sister as inspiration to start drawing again soon.

Plus I visited my "If I had a kazillion spare dollars" book on The Case Study Houses (only $400 if anyone fancies getting me a little something to mark my 40th...). They have a sample copy on their table for people to browse and I try to read one house every time I go there.

Oh, and you're wondering about the movie? Uplifting and fun. Sort of a cross between Spotswood and The Full Monty. No suprises, but sometimes those are the sorts of rides you want to go on. And, as usual, I'm such a doofus when it comes to recognising actors that it wasn't til the end I realised Charlie was played by Will from Secret Life of Us (Joel Edgerton).

Swap mystery number 4:

(Soundtrack: Blue States, Nothing Changes Under the Sun)

(PS: You may have noticed for someone who supposedly has a new oven the lack of mention of it in this post. That's because I don't have a new oven. I had a call from the Electrician who said he was in the middle of my front lawn and had just unpacked it (odd place to install an oven, I thought but didn't say anything). Anyway, turns out the oven was a bit, well, broken. So the old oven went back where it was and the electrician and the new oven wandered off into the noon light, hopefully to appear again sometime on Thursday. Just once I wish my life didn't run like a Mystery Shopper's nightmare and things worked out first time round)

Technology is not my friend today

I should have gone back to bed when my internet connection suddenly died on me around 8:30 this morning. But no, I spent three quarters of an hour in the telephone hold queue for Ozemail support. Now I hate their hold system because unlike Canberra Cabs they don't give you an estimation of how long you're going to be stuck there or what number in the queue you are.

Instead they have one of those chirpy voices over utterly banal plinky music reminding you that "if you have an internet connection you can simply log on to the support website." I DON"T HAVE A CONNECTION! THAT'S WHY I'M STUCK IN THIS MOEIBUS STRIP OF A QUEUE!!!

Oh, and because of the music, I can't listen to my own music while I'm on hold because I (oddly enough) prefer to listen to one lot of music at a time.

Finally I give up, get on with all the other things I had planned to do and try logging on again around 2pm. And waste another 3/4 hour of my life on hold. But this time I was clever as I had a copy of Madison to read. Of course, after 3/4 of an hour on hold my internet suddenly decides to fix itself.

And to can my technobastard day off now I can't get the pictures on my blog to stay where they are supposed to be. I'm sure there's a very simple easy straight forward explanation (if you have one I'd love to hear from you) but I'm grumpy, hot sweaty, tired and realising there is probably a lot about how this blog program works that I don't understand. Why, for instance will it utterly refuse point blank to load some pictures?

Sorry, normal chirpy transmission will resume in the morning I'm sure...

Frugalling for friends*

I hadn't planned to go frugalling yesterday but V, who is due to have Little sometime around or after next Wednesday (and doesn't have a car license) asked in a hopeful sounding voice if I happened to be going this weekend.

Well I could hardly say "Well, no apart from popping into a fabric fair I've heard about" now could I?

So off we went - southwards this time. First stop Curtin Vinnie's where V found some clothes for Little half price at $1 each and two Thomas The Tank Engine story books for $1.50 total. She also stumbled across a Sylvia Plath children's book for 50 cents so spent the rest of the morning reading The It-Doesn't Matter Suit to me as I drove.

Onwards and downwards to Chifley and the Fabric Fair where I picked up some yummy upholstery sample books ($5 for both):
(I want to recover my armchairs in this delicious fabric but will console myself by making a cushion or a knitting bag out of the large brown leafy piece)






And some interesting bluey green fabric ($4.20) which I have no idea what I'll do with but I like it anyway. If all else fails I'll just list it on eBay!






And since we just happened to be in Chilfey and it was almost lunchtime we just had to stop at one of my favorite Canberra cafes, A Bite To Eat, for lunch. In keeping with the theme of the day, all the furniture in the cafe is second hand.

After a delicious caramelised onion and chickpea pattie and salad pide with coffee we were much refreshed and ready to face the afternoon's bargain hunting...
Next stop was interstate. I love saying that - makes us sound like such dedicated frugallers but the truth is the Australian Capital Territory is bang in the middle of New South Wales and so it is a mere 15 minute drive out to Queanbeyan, a country town just across the border which happens to have the only Spotlight craft store in the area and also some rather good op shops.

The Salvos did me proud:

Two large footed bowls ($2 each) which will go with my existing water glasses and wine glasses to put snacks in or would make damn fine trifle or pudding bowls.

If I ever make trifle or pudding, that is. Maybe I could use them as giant wine glasses for very bad days?

A haul for Lisa, my friend in Canada who is glum because she doesn't have a blog and therefore can't be part of the Vintage Vixen Swap ($7 for the lot)

Lisa pointed out the farmer is definately Australian. Check out the corks round his hat and the swag and billy. I'm just amazed by the well behaved sheep.

A black and white scarf ($1). I thought I could artfully tie it round my fake Birkin bag but alas it is too big (the scarf, not the bag)

An utterly funkalicious game which I got for $2 and is full of groovy images. I feel some serious crafting coming on.

The purchase of the day for me was a Nokia phone charger for a whole dollar. Mine died a year or so ago and rather than spend $40 on a new one I was using my British one with an Aussie plug adapter.

Finally Swap mystery number 3:

(Soundtrack: Angel Beach The Third Wave)

* God, that sounds like I was checking out Vinnies to see if I could buy a new buddy cheap!

7:47 am and it's a good day already

I awoke to another beautiful blue skied Canberra day (and am very happy that we had a wee rain storm yesterday evening to keep the lawns green), and an email from Greater Union cinemas saying I'd won free tickets to go see Kinky Boots on Monday. Score!

The very next email was from The Erasure Information Service giving the US tour dates for the release of Union Street next year - and they are playing New York when I am just up the road in Philadelphia. Is a little diversion in order so I can say I've seen Erasure live on three continents? (First time was at The Metro in Sydney in August 1997 then London in May 2003. I also went to a meet and greet at Fish Records in Oxford Street Sydney in August 1997 and shook Vince Clarke's hand. Didn't have a digital camera at the time so I linked to someone else's pics)

I checked my messages on my mobile which went flat yesterday morning and had been charging overnight and blow me down there's one from an electrirican who wants to come AND INSTALL MY NEW OVEN on Monday! Cupcakes here I come!

(Of course I spoke too soon as Nibbs just came in being oddly friendly and jumped up onto my white cotton doona cover, shook his head and now my white cotton doona cover is a white cotton doona cover with red splashes. Yep - the beasty has been out fighting so I've had to play Florence Nightingale with a wet cotton wool ball. Good thing I planned to wash my bedding today anyway...)

Here's a little something that came home with me yesterday, Swap mystery number 2: On a final note, I'm guessing Nibbs is feeling better. Or maybe he's just playing dead to try and elicit some sympathy and steak:

(Soundtrack: Suzanne Vega, Songs in Red and Gray)

*Insert evil laughter here*

My Vintage Vixen Swap partner posted lovely pics of the packages which will be winging their way to me in the very near future - propelling me into a frenzy of wondering and guessing and jumping up and down with excitement that such wonderful looking goodies should be winging (or sailing, depending on finances - can I just say now, GLOBAL PRIORITY?)

Sorry, where was I? Oh yes. So nasty wicked evil me thought it might be fun (who for, yet to be decided, but me at least) to post a picture a day of a hint of what I'll be packing up and sending to Chrissie over at Grace Space.

If all else fails it will keep her amused if I end up having to post the package sea mail which can take up to 16 weeks. And at the rate I'm collecting it may come to that - I went out at lunchtime today to get lunch and found myself at the op shop right round the corner from work - which, of course, had many things that would be perfect and ended up coming home with me. Oops.

Swap mystery number 1:

Oh, and don't worry - once I know that Chrissie has received the package I'll post a picture of everything and thus solve the mysteries for you...

On another note, finally made it to see Circus Oz last night. The "technical difficulties" I mentioned on Saturday were that the chap they blasted out of the cannon during the 1812 overture (oh yeah, we do culture here in Canberra) went a bit wonky and (to quote The Canberra Times article which wrote so eloquently) he ended up with a gashed leg and a brusied behind. Or bottom. The online article doesn't seem to have the same wonderful turn of phrase that the printed copy had when I read it at J's (who, incidentally, is not very happy that her posterior has been published for posterity. (Oh dear - I should stop blogging after work on Fridays, shouldn't I?) I assured her not many people actually read my blog which was a sad thing to admit.

Uh oh, I digress again... Oh yes. Be warned. I took my camera to the Circus Oz and took some photos. Until they did the whole spiel about "Photography is forbidden, especially flash photography" (err.... hello.. now I'm confused. Can I take illegal photos as long as they're not flash? Do I really want to be responsible for another performer meeting an untimely end to their act in Canberra??) I put the camera away. Oh - except for one sneaky pic of the woman hula hooping with a kazillion neon glowing hoops. Which didn't come out anyway....

So you lot with dial up, hold onto your hats. And I promise I'll finally learn Flickr soon!

(All very Seuss so far...)

V & M and (unborn) Little head up to the show:

And as we left (there's a cool full moon in the background but I'm not smart enough with Photoshop yet to make it stand out...)(Soundtrack: Ultravox, The Collection)

(Just did a spellcheck and was in stitches. Blog = flogging? Ultravox = ultraviolet? Seuss= soussa? Kazillion = gasoline?. Get me a new dictionary!)

Corners of my Home: Week 3

I've signed up for my first swap, The Vintage Vixen Swap run by Elizabeth over at My Own Lil Space (I'd add her official "Vintage Vixen Swap Button" but I think my brain is sick of learning new stuff and has gone on strike).

I'm sending my swap stuff to Chrissie The Grace Space and have had great fun picking stuff I think she'll like (and cheated wildly by buying some not vintage stuff - was tempted to beat it up and pretend it was bought second hand so I wouldn't get in trouble) and am looking forward to seeing her reaction.

And my swap partner on the other end of the deal is Pink Rocket who sent me some questions today about the answers I gave to the swap questionnaire. So I thought I could use Corners of my Home this week to show some of my corners with collections.

Pink Rocket asked, in reply to me saying I collected Black and white crockery from the 50s and 60s: "crockery, what is that exactly? I'm thinking like mixing bowls and heavy duty china. My husband is thinking more like vases and decorative bowls."

So here you go, pictures of the crockery:
Way way WAY too much for one person to use, right?

Here are some highlights:

Beautiful Homer Laughlin Confetti cake stand which I bought with a large lot of matching bits and pieces (including cool spotty glasses) off eBay. You'll notice it is empty. That's because my oven hasn't worked properly for almost 6 months so I've not been able to make the beautifully delicious cupcakes with the white icing and black daisies and dots on the top that are supposed to be sitting proudly on the empty stand. *sniff*

Various black and white tea cups, saucers and plates I've collected and been given over the years. I adore graphic designs - spots, stripes, checks etc.

Note they're all empty as it's not much use making tea if there are no cakes to go with it. WAAAAAHHH!

A recent accidental acquisition from Target. I had to have them - they had daisies on them! And I love the fact they're squarish and the daisies climb up different sides of the different sized plates. I have matching mugs as well but they're hiding in another cupboard. These plates look fab when I use them with black bowls with white insides, too...

My current fave set, mainly because it is such a quest to find bits that match and it has very funky black and white daisies on it. I found these Johnson Australia cups and saucers at Chapel Street Bazaar on a trip to Melbourne. Since then I've been lucky enough to stumble across some dinner plates on eBay Australia and the milk jug on eBay Canada. Now I'm after the sugar bowl (if there ever was one) and other bits from the set.

(The picture is taken after one of our Monday night Craft Catch Up evenings with the travel diary I was sticking pictures in)

Last china picture, I promise but these are so cute I had to include them - espresso cups and saucers. That's a teaspoon in front, btw. Do I have an espresso machine? No. The cups work well when filled with chocolate mousse, though!

I also collect round things, usually from my travels. The shell one in front is from Melbourne, the marble one to the right back of it is from Pisa and the one with the star and moon cut outs from Rotorua. Actually I should say I collected round things as I pretty much ran out of space where they live about a year ago so now it's only the really really (really) special ones that come home with me.

Letter As. Not sure when this started up and it's a bit mad as I can't actually hang them anywhere at the moment because I'm renting. Here's a peek at some of the collection:

And a peek at my scooter toy collection (just in case you're in need of some colour by this stage in proceedings):

And finally, the collection that isn't (as we all know you need three items for a collection!)

At the front is a pottery foot that friend Nic made for me years ago. I particularly love that she "polished" the toe nails with glaze to look like clear nail varnish. And behind is a shoe last I discovered when I was living in an old butchers shop in downtown Sydney. No idea how it ended up there but when I left, so did it and we've been together ever since.

Happy little vegemite*

Sometimes it's the little things in life which make a day particularly satisfying. I slept very well last night and since His Highness the Most Furry Nibbs was outside I wasn't constantly woken by his licking my arm at random intervals through the night.

Target has a manchester sale but I was strong and instead headed to Cash 'em in CDs at lunchtime to see what was new and interesting. I came away with 5 CDs for a total of $10 including Algorhythm 1 and Algorhythm 2 which I was particularly chuffed about.

In the afternoon I went to a very interesting presentation on "Emerging technologies: Blogs, wikis, RSS, Flickr" which got me all excited and buzzing with ideas and then to cap a great day off a friend and I went for dinner at APK (mainly because I was having cravings for their alcoholic ginger beer. Which had to be drunk with their smoked salmon and brie pizza. Of course)
On a random note, if you're taking pictures of Australia and belong to Flickr you might like to get involved with the National Library of Australia Picture Australia initiative. You could be responsible for recording your Australia for posterity. Interesting thought...


And on a second random note (more of a rant really) I get sick to death of headlines like this (in this morning's Australian) I can prove everyone in Canberra didn't know of kickbacks because I for one didn't. I checked with various workmates and they didn't know either. Oh! Maybe the writer thinks that Canberra starts and ends at Capital Circle because that's all they saw when they were on their Year 6 trip here? Meoooooow!

(*What are you talking about?)

Self Portrait Tuesday

I was due on May 8th. I finally arrived on May 24th with the help of a pair of forceps. I'm sure my mother was very relieved and I am happy enough to share a birthday with Queen Victoria and Bob Dylan and be a Gemini not a Taurus.

Unfortunately whoever handled the forceps got a bit carried away and I ended up with a damaged optic nerve in my left eye.

As a small child I had to wear glasses with a patch over my good eye to try and convince the bad eye it really wanted to work. I remember my Mum used to draw an eye on the patch. I'm not sure if it helped me much (the patch or the picture).

I had glasses (but not the patch) until the age of around 11. I hated them. I believe there was only one sort of glasses available for children at that time - or maybe that's what my parents told me so they didn't have to buy glasses more expensive than necessary.

On a family holiday to Rotorua I "accidentally"* left them behind in our cabin and didn't notice until we were some way out of town making me quite quite unpopular with my parents.

I think at one stage I got so pissed off with them that I snapped them in half. I believe they were replaced by an identical pair. I can't remember exactly as I seem to have blanked out most glasses-related memories.

One I haven't blanked out is the eye examination where I was told I didn't have to wear them anymore. To this day I feel like I was encouraged to cheat wildly. The doctor had the eye chart up and I was whizzing through it with my right eye. Come time to test my left eye it all became rather more difficult. The doctor was encouraging. "Go on! I'm sure you can work out what it is!"

I was going "hmmm.... two pointy bits at the bottom...... Is that three at the top? It's probably a W then....?" And lo and behold I passed. And the glasses were finally history. There was much jubilation all round.

Oddly enough in later tests it has been discovered that although my left eye is utter crap, my combined sight is rather good, especially in close up which is jolly useful when making dolls house stuff and tiny needlework projects.

(*whether that was conscious or unconscious remains to be proven)

This week's cravings

Monday morning's "If I won lotto" (which would be a miracle as I don't buy tickets) list:

1. Tickets for B and I to see Spamalot in New York on my birthday in May.
2.A ticket to see Simple Minds at their sold out May 7th Sydney "Black and White Show (hey - it's my list, I can dream!) I last saw them almost 20 years ago.
3. And one to see Jimmy Somerville this coming Friday, also in Sydney.
4. This fab doona cover I spotted in Target last week. Full price $89.95 (eek! and it's only Polycotton!) Think I'll wait for it to go on sale... 5. Villeroy and Boch's new Wonderful World bloom plates. In black, of course. The only decision would be do I go for plain black:
Or black and white?
6. Keeping with the crockery addiction, here's a new pattern I found this morning called Aster: 7. And two new lines from Eon Design Centre in Auckland, New Zealand:
Tapa serving dishes...
... and Kina serving bowls.

8. Finally, a boxed set of Eames DVDs as I didn't manage to see the films when they were playing at The Powerhouse Museum. (Let's ignore the fact I don't have a multizone DVD player, shall we?)
And a set of the new mini chairs from Japan to admire while watching the DVD.

(Hmmm, don't ask for much, do I?)