Making up for lost (reading) time...

Image from DiggWhat

Sorting out my enormous bookshelf trying to make room for more, I discovered that I have actually read a heap of books in the last couple of months. Usually the only real reading time I would spend is during the school holidays - first day of the break we would go to the library and stock up on novels for two serious weeks of bookwormyness!

Today for my birthday I recieved an e-reader, so my bookshelf woes are all but over! Peter works at a printers and all his colleagues were horrified that he would buy an e-reader, and put them out of business... I will still buy arty and crafty books, newspapers, read junk mail and so on... What are other people feelings on the matter?

So, on my recently completed pile, are:

The Effects of Light - Miranda Beverly Whittemore

Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey (author of 'Rhubarb'- both HIGHLY recommended!!)

The Messenger - Markus Zusak, one of my favourite authors

Under the Dome - Stephen King (trite... don't bother. What WAS I thinking??? Aaah, yes - airport lounges.))

Book of Lost Threads - Andiee Paviour

Household Guide to Dying - Debra Adelaide (Lovely, consume with tissues)

The No1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith

A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon (Not as good as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, but still a decent read!)

I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes - Jaclyn Moriarty (My third reading of this... I love it!)



Currently underway and in the waiting pile, we have:

The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan

A Brush with Mondrian - Yvonne Louis

and Sister of My Heart - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (I've read this before, too)

Any other recommendations?

Aah, holidays!

I love nothing more than being able to sleep in to 7.30, eat breaky outside, running my feet through the new Astro Turf, sit and watch the budgies with their new friends (Fred and Ginger) in their outside home, bake delicious yet healthy cakes, watch whales at Port Elliot, and spend time with my family..... simple pleasures...

Ginger, Monty, Fred and Zeph settle in...

I had five days with my parents in Rochester last week and enjoyed my time with everyone. I visited several dear friends and family members, played a lot of guitar with my folks and even got to join them in a Fig Jammers rehearsal (that's their music group!!). I even even had a chance to teach my sister-in-law, Jess, how to crochet. She was a very quick learner, too! When dinner was ready, myself, Jess and my grandmother had to be levered off the couch away from our handiwork!

My current challenge is to draw up some large silhouettes of the three wise men on camels for the annual Rochester Christmas Exhibition. This is a Christmas Extravagance which my mother is heavily involved with, which sees the little old town hall magically transformed into a wonderland.

Crafty!

New Adventures in Crochet!

Whipped these up over the weekend... They were surprisingly easy, but it shall remain a teaset for one. Didn't think to make a pattern!

Timewasting 101

My latest distraction...

When he was very little, Liam had a fascination with succulents. Not just the prickly kind, but anything plump and juicy. He would secretly snap cuttings off as we walked down the street, and hide them in his pockets to be found in the laundry at a later date. Some got planted, and after many years we still have a small collection, but now we agree that these new ones are the best!

Queen of Procrastinate-y Stuff (That's me!)

Yup - the new semester at uni began yesterday. I have had the two chunky readers for my last course for, oooh, maybe a month and finally found time to read a measly 5 pages over the weekend! So much for getting a head start!

I did have a million other things to do though - like spending Friday night at The Gov listening to three brilliant rockabilly bands; hanging out with my sis and crafternooning the day away Saturday; and cheering very loudly for my (losing) roller derby team! So, it's not like I've been lazy!


PLUS, tomorrow afternoon, my yr 11 and 12 students have the opening of their SALA exhibition!!! So I had to bake. Any excuse. So I made cone cakes - we are a bit over cup cakes at our place. The taste-tester assures me they are good!


We have Grace Portolesi, Minister for Youth, opening the show, so the kids are a bit nervy and excited!

I also wanted to demonstrate the amazing cake decorating skills of the young bloke - not bad for a 13 yr old! He is a massive fan of Cake Wrecks, so carefully modelled the cake on all the best elements they like to talk about - crappy spelling (Hapey Brithday) and unidentifiable images, namely! (It is a birthday pony, in case you were unsure!) Both are intentional and were designed over a period of weeks...... Max was dubiously thrilled - after all - cake was involved.......

Home from a winter wonderland

sans snow, sadly for the boys! But that's ok... we made up for it with gorgeous blue skies and more birds and mossy things than a stick could be poked at!


We had two days in Hobart, two in Launceston, a night at Cradle Mountain, then back to Hobart for another two. All of our accommodation was terrific - our first place only a five minute walk from Salamanca Place, the city centre and Sandy bay.

We stopped to look at every old bridge and building we passed... we heard from the back seat at one stage, "Pete - do you realise you just drove past an old bridge built by convicts? Just checking..." Too many perhaps?!