Kitten Down Under

Monty Python - Spam

2010-01-19T11:37:00.001+10:00

Just call him Sir Spamalot ;)

I'm not sure I even want to...

2010-01-15T22:31:00.008+10:00

...do this. Write, that is. I don't know but it seems a bit pointless and also a mite arrogant of me at the moment. Then again, there are some things I've been working through lately and putting them down may be helpful.

I'm not depressed. In fact, just the opposite of depressed am I right now. I don't mean just this moment but in general. I feel pretty good and like I'm finally getting a handle on quite a few things in my life. Now I need to find someone to help me with the "un-shaming" process. Someone I can trust and who is non-judgmental. I also need to work with a 12-Step programme. At least the latest book I've read on this particular subject states that working on reclaiming my Inner Child and reintegrating said child back into a whole me takes doing a 12-Step programme.

To date, I've read several books by Dan Neuharth and Susan Forward and have found them helpful. Confronting, hard to read (hard as in emotionally painful and confronting), but very helpful. I'm going to keep trying even though I know it will be hard and perhaps I can use this writing to help me gauge what, if any, improvements have been made over time.

Feeling free-"er"

2009-07-25T13:53:00.003+10:00

...a friend made a comment about feeling much freer since moving away from the states and I must say that thought has crossed my mind quite a lot lately. Not only do I feel MORE free but also way less stressed.

I don't have cable tv so I'm not bombarded by news 24/7 nor do I watch much news for that matter, and if I do it tends to be either ABC or SBS, which seem to be less influenced by politics or wanton bids for ratings. I think it might be the ratings thing that happens in the USA that makes all those news channels go on and on and on forever ad infinitum about every trivial little thing they can use to grab more ratings and more headlines. I think this is one of the biggest reasons for people feeling so scared and stressed. They're constantly bombarded by not only what IS happening but what is GOING to happen or what MIGHT happen. Scare tactics seem to be the driving force behind keeping Americans under control.

One person made a comment on FB about France. Hunh. Well, here are my thoughts on France. Of course, don't take my words for fact but simply my theory based on what I've observed in the news (French news, btw). France's gov't seems to be slightly afraid of its people. Demonstrations, riots in the streets, strikes...hell, Frenchmen and women seem to strike at the drop of a hat. They also tend to get what they ask for, too. What government wouldn't give in to its people if the whole country threatened to shut down? I can only imagine (this makes me chuckle slightly) what would happen in the states if half the country (why not ALL of it, for that matter) just stayed home on Monday. What if they also stayed home the rest of the week too? Well, I can tell you that no one would lose their jobs, for sure.

Losing a job. How well I remember the days of being scared of opening my mouth at work for fear of not having a job the next day. Few workers have any rights at all in the US. Why is that? How did it get that way and why do Americans put up with it? What about demonstrations? Well, few Americans get off their bums to vote, why should they bother to demonstrate? What would happen if they DID, though? I'll bet fewer problems than most would think...especially if the entire country got together and started demanding what they see as their rights.

The way I see it, Americans truly have very few rights, privileges, and freedoms. They only think they do. If they DID have them, why are they afraid to use it to their advantage? Why not demand not only Universal Health Care, but also better work conditions, better education, better wages. Many would say it's laziness, I think it is fear.

I'm certainly not advocating large scale anarchy or even demonstrations on a large scale...I'm only suggesting what might happen if people actually started demanding better treatment.

More to think on and perhaps add to later.

Surprisingly, I have never really considered myself to be one for speaking out...unless an injustice has been done to someone. What better time than now? Especially when the greatest injustice of all is being perpetrated against the people of my own country. Perhaps leaving it has made me see how much better things really CAN be.

Loss of Freedoms?

2009-07-24T19:13:00.004+10:00

Just last night I was on Facebook and happened upon a poll about whether or not Americans believed that Universal Health Care should be adopted in the USA.

I was just floored at the amount of responses voting "No". I mean, WHY wouldn't someone want their health care provided out of their own tax dollars that they are already paying? One of the reasons I came across is (that for some strange reason) Americans seem to be very afraid of socialism and many wrote that giving the US government the right to set up a UHC system is tantamount to "starting a slide down the slippery slope to socialism" OR they are afraid of losing their "freedoms".

What is it about socialism that is so very bad? According to Wikipedia, socialism is defined as: Socialism refers to any one of various theories of economic organization advocating governmental or whole community ownership, and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a more egalitarian method of compensation.

To wit:

In 1989, at Stockholm, the 18th Congress of the Socialist International adopted a Declaration of Principles, saying that

Democratic socialism is an international movement for freedom, social justice, and solidarity. Its goal is to achieve a peaceful world where these basic values can be enhanced and where each individual can live a meaningful life with the full development of his or her personality and talents, and with the guarantee of human and civil rights in a democratic framework of society.^[40]

The objectives of the Party of European Socialists, the European Parliament's socialist bloc, are "to pursue international aims in respect of the principles on which the European Union is based, namely principles of freedom, equality, solidarity, democracy, respect of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and respect for the Rule of Law." Today, the rallying cry of the French Revolution – "Equality, Liberty, and Fraternity" – now constitute essential socialist values.^[41]

In 1995, the British Labour Party revised its political aims: "The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that, by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create, for each of us, the means to realise our true potential, and, for all of us, a community in which power, wealth, and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few."^[42] Cabinet minister Herbert Morrison said, "Socialism is what the Labour Government does."^[38]

Now, why would that be so bad? It achieves so much for so many, and considering that the vast majority of Americans are living at or below the poverty level, especially in light of all the recent lay offs, why would universal health care be terrible. Why would a small form of socialism be a bad thing?

One thing I'm quite convinced of is the loss of this ethereal idea that Americans (in general) have of "freedom" is very wrong. What freedoms do Americans have that citizens of other first world countries do not. Well, we're once again back to the battle cry of the French: "Equality, Liberty, and Fraternity". Or "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", if you will. Pretty much the same thing for the average Joe. Could it be the loss of gun ownership? Well, I can see problems with that one, considering how many people in America own guns...but is that what it is all about?

Or is it simply propaganda that is perpetuated by the American press? Again, back to the "ethereal ideal" business. Sure, I can see how most Americans have this idea in their heads about freedom and it is simply fear of losing something they feel is precious to them.

But see, Americans don't have to fear bands of roving, angry, hungry, and drugged children armed with guns shooting everything in sight because they've been told to and are afraid not to shoot. Americans don't have to worry about their homes being taken and given to government or party officials, or being forced to live in ghettos, nor even do they need to fear persecution for their religious beliefs.

So, what are they really afraid of?

I shake my head as I ponder this problem. Perhaps one day I might have an answer...perhaps it is just unanswerable.

Feeling blue

2009-06-29T22:07:00.002+10:00

I just got finished reading a bit of another blog. It made me a little sad. It's a young woman living with her BF. Apparently the 'rents are pressuring them to get married.

All I can say is, "Don't do it!". Never EVER let anyone pressure you to do something so life changing. It is one of the easiest things to do and one of the hardest to UNdo.

In many ways I'll always regret getting married when I was 23. It wasn't so much my age, but I was pretty naive and immature. I just wasn't ready for it, but I did it because that is what a young woman in the south DOES, isn't it? Hrmph I say. I WASTED 12 years of my life because of that one single mistake.

Oh sure, I did love my ex...until he changed. When did he change you might ask. I knew within 24 hours (on our honeymoon) that I had made the biggest mistake of my life. He had me where he wanted me and as far as he, and many other people, was concerned I was stuck. For life. I was screwed.

Oh yeah, he actually told me that the reason he married me was because I was a fantastic cook, he wanted a maid (and live in cook), and someone he could get pussy off any time he wanted it. Yeah, those were his exact words. Charming.

Ok, I learned many things from being married. The biggest lesson I learned, though is to never, ever allow any adult (meaning parents or relatives or friends) to pressure you. Emotional Blackmail is probably the fastest way they can get you to go along with them. It isn't worth it. What if you are with the right person. But what if this just isn't the right time for either of you. You get married, you get unhappy, you get divorced OR you stay miserable for the rest of your life. Marriage should be for life. You must be certain. This is your life not theirs. They've no right to tell you what to do or try in any way to influence your decisions. They cannot live vicariously THROUGH you, either. Tell 'em to get a life and let you get on with living yours. Be free. Just be. Revel in being yourself with only yourself to answer to.

My situation is probably nothing like this woman's but the end result could be the same. Years of heartache. Oh, and once the parents figure out that their little weapon works like a charm, they'll use it anytime they want you to do something, say something, or act a certain way. Been there done that with rellies on BOTH sides, plus the ex, Mr. Not So Charming. The trifecta of guilt.

Ain't I lucky to have gotten out?

Irritated...

2009-06-23T13:40:00.003+10:00

I am today (my Yoda impression for the day). Well, still irritated from yesterday in point of fact.

I was sent a picture. Of my ex-husband. It has me a little muddled, to say the least. I'm not sure why though. My feelings about it and my ex are varied right now.

I think that I'm mostly relieved. Relieved because I'm not still married to the jerk. On a much shallower level, I'm relieved because my ex looks closer to 60 than the 45 he is now. His hair is white. WHITE!!!! Yeah, ok. I'm no spring chicken, but most people consistently mistake me for being in my early to mid 20's. So sure that makes me feel good. I got CARDED the last time I went to the liquor store, so that's something.

So, what bothers me about this picture.... it contains my ex and his girlfriend and her two sons. Hrmmmm. See, he can't have children of his own. He refused to even consider adoption because he said he could not see himself raising "another man's" kids. Ok, fine. AI then? Nope. He wanted them to be HIS children. Well gee buddy, that ain't gonna happen with no live swimmers, now is it?

So, in this picture is a man who now looks old enough to be my father and his girlfriend (who is at least my size - which is to say a little on the not-so-skinny side). He said he'd never ever date another "large" woman again. Huh. All men seem to have this absurd notion about women they'd date or marry but reality bites them in the ass most days when it comes to not what they'd accept (they being men), but what woman will accept them.

I'm pretty thankful that I'm married to C~ and not my ex. C~ is wonderful. He's good to me AND good for me. My ex probably thinks I should be killed mercilessly and cut into a zillion pieces for gator bait. Then again, his opinion of me was never all that high to begin with.

Now I can add glad, thankfull, and happy that I'm not still in that place.

It's addictive....

2009-06-16T20:57:00.000+10:00

http://www.freeworldgroup.com/games8/gameindex/entangled.htm

Beware!!!!!!

Massage Therapy School

2009-06-16T20:02:00.002+10:00

Oh. My. God. I love it! I hate it! I cannot wait to be finished with it! Technically, I'll be finished in 2 days. But, I've only finished the Cert IV training. That allows me to work as a massage therapist and bill a few insurance companies, but not all of them. The vast majority require a Diploma of Remedial Massage Therapy.

This is what Western Sydney University has to say about Remedial Therapy:

What is Remedial Massage?
When muscles become knotted and tense or damaged, remedial massage provides a healing
treatment that can be gentle or strong, deep or shallow. Remedial massage holistically treats
the body. The massage therapist endeavours to identify the original biomechanical
dysfunction, thus healing the cause of the disorder, as well as the symptoms.
Remedial massage uses several specialised techniques to locate and repair damage to
muscles, tendons and joints. Massage therapy supports and speeds up the body's own repair
mechanisms. A lubricating medium (usually oil) is applied directly on the skin. This ensures
that the muscles associated with the disorder are deeply penetrated. Passive joint stretching
moves are also used.

Here is what I'm "supposed" to be doing now that I have a Cert IV:

What is Relaxation Massage?
Relaxation or Swedish massage is a smooth flowing style that helps reduce:
• stress
• improve circulation and range of movement
• eases and tones muscles
• provides the deep relaxation that allows our minds and bodies to recharge and rejuvenate.

However, I also do Neuromuscular Techniques, rigger Point Therapy, Sports Massage, Range Of Motion, and PNF and MET Stretches.

So, yeah I can get in there and work on stuff that hurts but I'm not always able to completely get rid of all knots and so forth. Basically, I know enough to be dangerous. LOL!

Not that I don't give a good massage, I do. But there's a hell of a lot more to be learned and even after I finish Remedial, I'll still need to keep on learning. In 10 weeks I have learned the basics. In 10 more weeks I'll know more basics (basics of Remedial Therapy, that is).

So, for now I suffer from extreme fatigue from giving 18 massages in the last week and a half. I had a small idea how hard it was, but this is ridiculous. Now, I'm certain I'll never do more than 4 massages per day and most likely no more than 3 days most weeks. Some weeks I could probably do 4 days but not too many. I now need a massage worse than I've ever needed one.

Water, water, all around, and not a drop to drink...

Lazy Sundays at home

2009-05-24T11:16:00.003+10:00

I'm having one today. Haven't had one of those in a long, long time. I tend to spend them catching up on all the missed housework, homework, and other stuff I haven't had time for during the week.

It's also raining. And cool. And, well, just one of those days you just want to snuggle up under the covers with a fire...except I don't have a fireplace, so I have to make do with a tv instead.

The picture to the left if what it's been looking like around here. It's been flooding....you don't say?

Hah! The storm drains in Brisbane just can't keep up with all the rain we've been having. Now, it doesn't really rain here like it rains during Summer storms in Louisiana or Texas but since the drains aren't equipped to handle it, then we get flooding that looks as bad, if not worse than, flooding I've seen elsewhere.

It's rained so much (200 mm of rain in just 3 days this week = 7.8 inches) that you get the flooding seen above. The power's gone out all over the place, though thankfully not mine, and people are freaking out! Schools have closed and businesses too! Though not my school lol.

Anyway, thought I'd give you a pic of what it's been looking like around here. Oh yeah, and we've had a few landslides as well...too cool to look at.

I am so annoyed...

2009-05-17T21:56:00.003+10:00

...Have you ever have one of those conversations with someone in your family? I had one with my dad last week. He actually blamed me for my sister not answering her phone when I call her.

Yes, Yes, Yes. I did have a few choice words to say to her about what she should tell her husband. She cheated on him. After he left her. He left because he thought she was cheating, she wasn't, she wanted to. Then he left.

I told her she should tell him when, though I didn't know if it would make any difference. She says she wants her marriage to work but then she went out and committed the most foolish of errors. Her husband deserved to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Anyway, dad skewered me and said that I abandoned my family by moving to Australia. It was my choice, yes indeed it was, but I certainly did NOT move here to abandon my family. I moved here to marry my Aussie hubby. This is where he lives and so now I do too. I don't consider that abandonment at all.

So, back to dad. He told me that the reason no one calls me, answers my calls (somewhat bs since my mother and sister (E~) call me on occasion...I do happen to be the one that calls most often. 1) I call E~ because she truly cannot afford international calls on her cell phone, and it's the only phone she has; and 2) my mom can't remember her own purse when she leaves home.

My family is strange. I accept that. If I didn't then, well, let's not go there. I accept it. They expect me to call, write, stay in touch, etc. They always have. *slightly Gallic shrug* No problem.

What I do not accept is the "abandonment theory" dad has hit me with. He is the one who feels abandoned because life is all about him as far as he's concerned, therefore, he takes it out on me. I'm annoyed. Well, more like pissed off, but I'm getting to be merely annoyed now.

Someone please tell my dad that it's NOT all about him. Maybe if someone else tells him he'll get the picture before he dies, when it really will be all about him and then it will be over for good.

Rotisserie Style Chikkin in a pot...

2009-05-09T17:44:00.002+10:00

...Crock Pot, that is. It was beautiful! Tender, juicy, and quite lovely. I made mashed taters and gravy with the drippin's and steamed some asparagus to go along. All in all a totally smashing dish and one I'll certainly make again. Before I give out the recipe let me just say that I got it from Stephanie's Blog and here's the recipe: (I have included her entire page with pics as she is the owner of this recipe and I want to be sure to give her ALL the credit! Thank you, Stephanie!)

The Ingredients.

--1 whole chicken, skinned (4-5 pounds)
--2 tsp kosher salt (if you'd like it as salty as the ones in the store, add another 1 tsp.)
--1 tsp paprika
--1 tsp onion powder
--1/2 tsp dried thyme
--1 tsp Italian seasoning
--1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--pinch of chili pepper (probably not necessary)

--4 whole garlic cloves (optional)
--1 yellow onion, quartered (optional)

The Directions.

I used a 6 quart crockpot for a 5 pound bird. It fit nicely.

Skin the chicken and get rid of the neck and other stuff from the cavity. This takes a while, and is gross. Keep small children away so you don't freak out about salmonella. I skin whole chickens because I hate the idea of the chicken fat simmering all day in the crock---it also looks disgusting when the chicken is cooked because it's all slimy and icky.

I get it that I'm weird. If chicken skin makes you happy, then by all means, ignore me.

In a bowl, combine all of dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Plop the bird breast-side down into the crockpot.

If desired, shove 4 whole garlic cloves and a quartered onion inside the bird.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 8. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

****
Me again!

I did mine for 3 1/2 hours as I had a smaller 2 pound bird, made it skinless and most certainly put it upside down on it's breast. This seems to keep the breast moist since there's no skin for that and what juices are released (about 1/4 cup or so for mine - I kept them to make gravy) and it also keeps the breast bathed in it's own juices while cooking. Please visit Stephanie's blog and try some of those awesome recipes! I can't wait to try more.

It's Sunday...

2009-05-03T18:36:00.002+10:00

and it's one of those days where the Winter chill is in the air in the mornings and evenings. It's the kind of night where I want to settle in with a bowl of Cream of Tomato soup and a grilled ham and cheese sammy.

Alas, hubby is sick and craving pizza so we ordered from Eagle Boys. Loveliest pizza we've had from there yet. BBQ meat lovers, a margarita style on thin crust, and a pepperoni pizza are what we ordered. Good Lord a'mighty! We'll be eating pizza all week! I think we had 3 small pieces each.

Now I'm off to check out the new show Merlin, then Masterchef. I'm hooked on Masterchef!

I dream of being good enough to do something like that, but unfortunately I'm not.

I missed the Fish Market Episode so I'm trying to catch up as I write this. I'm in a huffy, LOL!!! Next episode begins in an hour and Merlin is on NOW!!!! grrrr.

Week 3!!!

2009-04-28T21:08:00.002+10:00

I'm at week 3 and can now give a "1 Hour" massage in 1 hour and 20 minutes. I can't believe I can do an entire full body massage in that time. It is very hard, too! With the back issues it's been a stretch but I can just do it without falling over dead... barely *grin*.

I've got a pretty terrific class. There are 12 of us, of which 11 are women and 1 man. I'm also not the oldest person in the class, either. That shocked me, too. I thought I'd be surrounded my tall, skinny teenagers, but I got lucky I guess. I'd forgotten how much I actually knew (somewhere in that mushy brain of mine) about anatomy and physiology....or perhaps I should say how much I've forgotten? I dread origins and insertions of muscles - that was always my weak point. I know muscles, bones, and physiology of the human body like now tomorrow, though. Now I must learn mechanics...though that doesn't really come until the 11th week.

The first 10 weeks encompasses a Cert IV in massage, the second 10 weeks will give me a Diploma in Remedial Massage. Basically, I learn Swedish, Deep Tissue, MFR, Sports Massage, NMT, ROM, and assessment of dysfunctions to "fix" the dysfunction within the scope of remedial massage. It's sort of like Physio therapy to an extent, and certainly a lot more than most physical therapists in the US do.

Anyway, I'm wrecked! Long day at school, punctuated by giving and receiving a 1 1/2 hour full body massage. OH! I've also lost a little over 2 kgs, too! Hope I can keep it up...lots of veggies on the plate for dinner, but I love veggies so no problem.

Oh yeah, and we're (the whole class) are going to Blue Smoke for lunch tomorrow...it's 50 cent wings on Wednesdays. I've been dying to go since it's the only (American) Southern BBQ restaurant in Brissy.

Ya'll take care now.

Oh Hai der ya'll

2009-04-20T12:57:00.001+10:00

I wish I felt this way today. Some days are just so blah, aren't they? I'm not a morning person and to be honest there have been very few mornings in my life where I've woken up and thought, "Hey! I feel GRRRRRRRRR EAT! Let's get shakin my bakin!". I wonder why it is some of us love mornings and others need a caffeine infusion before we're even civil.

Truly, I like mornings when I'm on holidays at the beach and I get up early to watch the sunrise over the ocean. Other than those times...I suck in the ayem. In the meantime I'm just going to smile and fake it til I feel it.

see more dog and puppy pictures

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009 (With Lyrics)

2009-04-16T21:24:00.001+10:00

This woman is so amazing!

I'd love to post more, but I'm so wrecked from school. My brain is truly fried.

Back to Skool!!!

2009-04-13T18:53:00.002+10:00

Oh. My. Gawd.

I spent all day in a classroom. With other people in it. And I didn't lose my mind!!!

Ok, Yeah I am happy to finally get started with classes but the first day spent on my ass, granted it WAS a very nice leather swivel chair that leans back, but, but, but.... I sat in that same chair from 9 am til 4 pm!!!!!! Ok sure, there were a few breaks...but ALL FREAKING DAY!!!!! I was craving a drink when I got home, but made do with some chips and salsa thanks to C~ who lovingly gave me some really cool salsas with cute dip dishes in the shape of a cactus and a coyote. Cool, huh?

Anyhoo, time to relax with some tv and a nice Kathy Reichs book.

Ciao!

Gotta show off!!!!

2009-04-09T11:34:00.004+10:00

I've got some gorgeous new pics of Henry. He's my newest addition to our family. He's such a lovely boy, he never raced, and even though he's still a mischievous 3 1/2 yrs old he and Tiger get along like a house on fire.

Well, without further ado....I present HENRY!

I just love that cheeky little tongue licking the tip of his extremely inquisitive nose...sometimes I think he's as much a scent as sight hound.

I've done it!

2009-04-08T14:32:00.000+10:00

Yes, I've gone and done it. I've linked FB to my blog. I'm still scared witless by it, too.

Face Book

2009-04-07T16:12:00.002+10:00

Good heavens! I'm another person addicted to Face Book...well, perhaps addicted is the wrong word. Let's just say that I check FB updates when I check my email...but only if I've received an email from FB with an update and only if I really feel I MUST check it out.

It's the first time in 20 years that I have connected with a number of high school friends and even relatives I grew up with, so that's pretty cool.

I just don't know if I want to let my "friends" on FB know I have a blog. That's kind of scary. I mean it's scary in the way that I'm trying not to think about it too much. I'm trying to be objective and rational and find I can't be. I'm scared shitless, if I'm to be quite honest with myself.

Like Scarlett O'Hara said, "I'll think about it tomorrow".

Welcome back to my blog roll

2009-04-07T11:13:00.004+10:00

Just a quick aside to welcome back my blog rolls. YAY! I finally did it! This morning I've accomplished very little other than taking my car to the air conditioning shop, taking a taxi back home and reading (that's VERY important in my daily life) and WAITING!!! ARGGG! Yes, waiting, waiting, waiting.

I have added new blogs to my list and some old blogs that I still love very much. I've also renamed the categories, which I might change again, but just to make things easy I've separated them into Foodie Blogs and "regular" blogs. I guess that's what I should call them lol. I dunno how to label them right now.

I am still in the re-building stages, trying to make the blog look a little less dated and freshen things up a bit...still not sure about going to a 3rd party xml blog style as I'm afraid of losing my archives. Any suggestions for that? I know zilch about html, so I can only follow directions if they are pretty clear. I would dearly love to have a different style from what is offered by blogger and I have downloaded several, but I just can't bring myself to hit that change button!!! I'm so afraid of losing it all! Help?

PS: I did edit some of this post as it wasn't particularly germaine to the header.

Phil Collins "Gorilla Drummer" Cadbury Ad (Dairy Milk)

2009-04-04T21:25:00.002+10:00

I love this commercial for many reasons. Mostly it reminds me to close my eyes and FEEL the music in my soul.

My other favorite commercials are the Citroen ones. Check out youtube for those as well. Love the transformer ones the best.

Buying shoes

2009-04-02T20:10:00.002+10:00

I have been so VERY annoyed at all of the shoes I've bought since I've been to Australia. These are shoes I've had to buy specifically for work.

Gone are the days of wearing scrubs and tennis shoes to work. Here, one wears a uniform that looks more like a flight attendant and shoes that are dressy...which, to me, means damned uncomfortable. They're DRESS shoes for crying out loud. No one makes a dress shoe that's meant to be worn all day every day and not only be comfortable ALL day but also keep back problems at bay.

At the heart of this is workplace health and safety which maintains that shoes must be leather, fully enclosed, the heel should be covered, and the tops should come within 2 inches (or thereabouts) of the ankle. Also, the heels should be no more than 6 centimetres high. The height is generally ignored by most women and they wear high heels and get away with it....but I can't wear shoes that slip on with no backs, ie "mules".

Now that I'm going to be starting massage therapy school, I must buy new shoes. Firstly, the shoes I wear to classes must be the same as above, though I can get away with regular tennis shoes until clinics start and then I've got to wear the same as above. It's disgusting!! Come ON! As someone who will be on my feet all day, I need shoes that will keep me comfortable and keep my back from hurting.

Not only have I had back surgery but I also have congenital bunions. I had surgery on my left foot when I was 15 in an attempt to correct the worst of the two, but it's now the same as the right foot, which has never gotten any worse.

So, the hunt is on...AND I fully intend to challenge those workplace health and safety rules, too. It seems that the laws are open to interpretation and it depends on who one works for as to what is appropriate for that particular clinic or office.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do just yet, but for now I'm busily trying to find a Dansko dealer here in Oz.

Wish me luck!!!!

Cheers, Kimmie

This is my family

2009-03-31T11:22:00.002+10:00

I had forgotten just how hard I can laugh at some of the antics my family can get up to. In this clip is one of my cousins children and the peanut gallery you hear laughing is the rest of the family. To be honest, I don't know who all of them are, but I could tell from a quick view, that it looks like cousins and an aunt and uncle.

Let the spoon fights begin!!!

A continuation...

2009-03-29T15:22:00.001+10:00

I have not given up blogging, I have apparently taken a bit of a break. Now I fully intend to start writing again.

I feel much better and I'm glad that I'm finally back. The past year has not been easy and I thank all of my friends and family for their support. I couldn't have done it without you all.

Stay tooned, more later :)

Please bear with me as I attempt to redo the blog. I'm playing with widgets, colours, etc and the look may change a bit over the next few weeks as I doodle. If you have any suggestions I'm up for it! As for blog links...I'm restoring them slowly. I've had a bit of work to do to repair broken links and such and rearrange stuff.

Tiger's Birthday Party!!!!

2008-12-15T12:14:00.001+10:00

On December 27 we will be celebrating Tiger's 6th birthday a little early with some friends, will post pics later!!!!!

I'm Pissed off bigger than shit

2008-12-02T15:59:00.002+10:00

Yeah, you'll never guess why either.

My .... Frickin frackin, goshdarn farkin PARENTS have gotten back together!!! I'm horrified, mortified, and every other absofuckinggoddamnedlutely -FIED you can possibly think of.

Oh yeah, Mom said it's because she no longer feels bitter so now it's all OK. WHAT THE FUCK???????

What part of "Dad has not changed ANY since she's been gone" has she forgotten? Her answer? She can help him.

Please oh PLEASE someone deliver me from codependency hell before I lose my mind....again. Yeah, you know you thought that "again" part, didn't ya'll? LMAO

At this moment I shall say no more, except I think my sense of humour just might be returning.

I promised myself I would NOT write another poor me my life sucks nobody loves me no one understands why don't she write kind of post. Enuff wallowing, done over gone.

Love to you all for putting up with a dumbass like me for a half assed worthless blogger that I....pfffft fuck, ok last time I do that. pinky swear.

It's been awhile, eh? Shocking news, too!!!

2008-08-31T18:58:00.003+10:00

Yes, I know it's been quite a while since I've posted. A gazillion things have been going on...as usual lol.

I have some very good reasons, though. I haven't known quite what to say or what, if anything, I should post about. To say that there have been some personal issues would be an understatement.

About 2 months ago, my parents who have been married for 41 years separated. My dad, as I've written about before, is a very difficult person to live with. He was, and still is, a manipulative bully that always thinks he's right...about everything.

My mom finally had enough and asked him to leave...he refused, but luckily my sister and brother-in-law were there at the time and reinforced her decision to have him leave on that night. In fact, they (my parents) had been visiting my sister and brother-in-law and they were coming back from Florida and apparently dad was a real jerk on the way home and I suppose that was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, and so since his clothes were already packed, all he had to do was get in his car and go.

For now, he is staying with one of his sisters and my uncle and my mom is at home. Dad still kind of comes and goes as he pleases, which is a serious point of contention since they have been counseled and it was agreed that he would call mom before he came over. He says that no one is going to tell HIM he cannot go to his own home whenever he wants to. *sigh*.

He needs some real therapy, and some anger management therapy on top of it all. He just can't see that he hurt us (my sisters, my mom and I) and continues to hurt us. He thinks that everyone is against him but what he just doesn't get is that we WANT him to get help and we WANT our parents together. Even mom wants him to come home, but not until he sees that the way he has treated us and her all our lives was wrong.

He doesn't know what love is or even how to love. He thinks love is controlling everything and everyone in his life and if they don't do what he wants then they suffer his rage. Rage that gets out of control to the point of physical and verbal abuse.

I truly love my dad, and though I am trying not to take sides and have told him that I'm not, it's so easy to understand my mom's and be angry with dad. Right now I can't even talk to him because he is so toxic to my life.

Even though over the years I begged mom to leave him or make him leave, which she refused to do (because of us mainly) and because she thought she was doing the right thing by staying by his side to support him and help him, even though she finally did make him leave, it still hurts me to see them going through this. It hurts because I want a loving family. I want the family that I never had. I want this to be a wake up call to my dad so that he can get the help he needs so that we can be the type of family that discusses things together, not what we have always had which has been conflict, strife, abuse, and pain.

At this point, I'm not holding out much hope that dad will get his shit together and take responsibility for his actions, both past and present, and stop blaming everyone but himself for his problems. Mom is kind of taking it slowly and I don't think she will take the first step towards divorce, though. I think she is waiting to see what will happen.

To me, this is just not on. I think she should file separation papers and get on with things to force the issue with dad, but she says she's trusting in the lord to make things right and if dad doesn't make any changes then he will be the one that makes the moves. I honestly don't believe that he will, though. He's just not like that and it's just not his way. He waits for others to make the first move then blames them for not doing what he wants.

I don't know what else to say right now, except I'm seeing a therapist....well, I've been seeing one for a long while now to deal with those childhood issues so they stop affecting my life. I feel betrayed, confused, and then again I'm also GLAD they aren't together anymore and deep down I hope mom does get a divorce from him so she can finally have a peaceful life without all the shit dad brings to a relationship.

I guess that since I've been through a divorce, but then I'd been thinking about it for quite a long time before I did anything about it, I understand why mom is holding out hope.

My phone bill is pretty high, instead of 5-8 hours of phone calls per month to my family it's more like 5-10 hours per week now...slowly going down since I'm not calling mom every single day to make sure she's ok. Even though she instigated the separation, she's taking this very, very hard as she wants more than anything to have back the man she married.

Namaste to you all

I've been sick this month....

2008-06-22T14:39:00.002+10:00

And tired and a little down so I haven't had much to say. But I came across this youtube video that shows what greyhounds do in bed and it's too cute not to share. Plus the star of the video, Grace, looks like my boy Tiger.

New Discovery

2008-06-02T20:03:00.002+10:00

In my travels on the net I have found a cool new blog called The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. Mmmmm, such gorgeous pics, the recipes look awesome and I think I'll be finding lots of recipes to try out from her blog, the one that appeals most to me right now is the Thai Forbidden Rice salad.

It's made with black rice and I have some but haven't had a clue as to what to do with it. Sometimes I pick things up in the Asian grocery store and then come home to look for something to do with it...yes, yes, I do mean as in look for a recipe to use whatever food product I've bought. It isn't like I string raw black rice around the house for the hell of it, though it might make a pretty cool mixed media painting.

Hrmmmmm, decorating with rice...will have to give that some thought.

I has a flaver....

2008-06-02T19:22:00.003+10:00

..... and it's called bread. I finally got my new Tefal bread maker and boy oh boy does is work like a charm!

The hardest part is getting a good recipe though, so I thought I'd share. This recipe will work in at least 3 ways - with herbs, with milk, with water - so you can try it and see what you think.

I'm going to call this Kimmie's Bread because I've made some changes to suit me and it works all 3 ways, it's a superb loaf of bread, though smaller than most at 600 grams. My bread maker has settings for 750g or 1000g.

Anywho, here's the recipe

Kimmie's Bread:

235 ml milk or water (I think milk makes a better crust)
45 ml extra virgin Olive oil
6 g sugar
9g salt
.4 g Italian seasoning
.5 g black pepper (preferably freshly ground)
3 g dried rosemary
340 g bread flour
6 g dried yeast

place on white bread cycle and I put mine on medium crust as the light seems to be slightly underdone. Place all ingredients into bread maker in that order, making sure that the salt and sugar do NOT touch the yeast as it won't rise properly.

To make a plain loaf of white bread, just leave out the herbs but still keep the salt and sugar. If you use milk, use whole or full cream milk as skim or light will make the bread too dense.

This is the most awesome bread I've ever made! It tastes a bit like Carrabba's bread with the herbs already in it and all you need to do is spread a little butter on it or dip into olive oil to enjoy.

Tonight I made a meatball sub with it by toasting the bread (cut slightly thicker than a normal size slice - about 1/2 inch thick), then heated my meatballs in the nuker, spread leftover spaghetti sauce onto the bread (also had been heated in nuker), topped with meatballs cut in half - IKEA meatballs are a freezer staple in our house - roll up the sides and munch away!!!!!

Talk about yummay! Twas awesome in the most awesome way. Some days I rock.

PS: The picture is one I gleaned from the net just cuz it looked so yummy, that is not my bread...just so ya know, ya know?

I am so full of....

2008-05-26T19:59:00.002+10:00

Cheese and crackers I could burst. Some days I could eat cheese until I die, I just love the stuff. Lately I've been hooked on string cheese....it's just big enough to satisfy me at tea time with a cup of cream of chicken soup.

Tonight I had Tasty cheese with saltines...Yummmmm!

Loving to cook makes me......

2008-05-18T18:11:00.003+10:00

.... either crazy or one pretty decent cook. I'm no chef or gourmand though I do love gourmet foods, and have even eaten sweetbreads - cooked by my cousin who is a real true life chef.

This past few weeks I have been trying some new stuff to add to the "easy to cook" repertoire. You the the one, it's those recipes that you can fall back on when you don't really have much to cook around or aren't sure what you really are in the mood for, etc.

This particular recipe is not in that list, but only because duck is apparently quite expensive here. C~ paid $16.00 for a 1.6 kg duck a couple of weeks ago and that was a special from a local butcher (but I'll check out other butchers to see if I can get one cheaper later). Anyway, it's quite simple and I adapted it from a recipe I found online, all because I couldn't find my allspice or sage LOL!

Duck a la Kimmie or we could call the Super Cool & Tasty Canard....I like that better.

1 duck
1 cup of softened butter
3 tsp dried Herbs de Provence
1 tsp salt - regular table salt will suffice but real sea salt is better ( I prefer Celtic sea salt I crush myself)

Mix herbs and salt into butter thoroughly, preheat oven to 210F or 100C, place herb butter onto baking paper or cling wrap and roll into small roll, twist ends to keep butter from sliding out and place into fridge until solid again. Or you can stick into freezer for about 10 minutes which is the quick way (what I do lol).
Make sure to pat duck dry, remove any giblets if any are there, those can be placed in the baking dish for extra flavour or if you're like me, feed 'em to the dog or cat. Keep the neck, though, that's the tastiest of all and your canine or feline will love you for it later *grin*.

Ok, back to cooking. Place duck into suitable baking dish, get messy and put your hands into that butter and rub all over duck (don't forget to tuck the wings under the duck either - it just makes it look nice). Now stick it in the oven and forget about it for about 4 and 1/2 hours. Take a look, should still look uncooked :P lol, yes that's right, because it won't be. This is the time to take a knife and slash those drumsticks and then baste with all the cool juices in the pan, make sure to suck the juices out of the cavity (with the baster not your lips you nut!) or tip the pan slightly to drain them out....those are GOOD JUICES, even if they look yucky, 'k?

Turn heat up to 180C or 400F for about 1 more hour or until juices run clear when thighs are pricked and it's nice and golden brown.

Ok, so that's a bunch of directions for a little duck with some herb butter slathered over it, and yep that's all it is, but it's something you can do on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon while you're doing other stuff, just set a timer or something to remind you to turn up the heat and baste that sucker! Trust me, this is one duck you will love. I'm not a huge duck fan, or even a fan or dark meat, and a duck is both of those things but this is one of those recipes that had me gnawing on the leg and thigh bones, licking my fingers and being totally socially unacceptable, thank God I was in my own home!

Watchoo Fink?

2008-05-14T20:06:00.000+10:00

see more dog pictures

I feel better now

2008-05-11T18:11:00.002+10:00

Oh yes, I just read a bit of Mooselet's Musings and came across a way cool video, you have to scroll down a little to it,, don''t bother to try reading because it's in another language....just watch the video, which is in English. Here's the Linkage

Enjoy!

I hate Sundays!

2008-05-11T17:50:00.002+10:00

The reason I hate Sundays is because it means I have to set my alarm clock tonight so I can get up in time to make it to work, barely.

Don't get me wrong, I like my job, I just hate working. Why oh why can't we get paid to not work? Guess that's one of the mysteries of life. It's also why we will be able to buy a house - because if I work I get paid, hence money for house. Not that I'm the only one working, C~ is too. I guess I'm just sad that it's 6 pm, time for supper, haven't a clue what it will be, need to feed Tiger and then I'll be going to bed around 9 pm.

Not much time left....

We are 2 sick biyotchiz

2008-05-08T19:48:00.003+10:00

Ok so I'm the female one and C~ is the male one. He has had this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad chest infection that nearly sounds like peenew-MOH-nee-I-ay, but thank the Spaghetti Monstah there's no phlegm, cuz pneumonia phlegm is nasty, nasty stuff.

I should know, I've had it 3 damn times.

Anywho, He's much better but still has yucky hacking cough and moi....well, I have been blessed with a UTI. For the uninitiated, that's Urinary Tract Infection.

Apparently it can happen when one starts taking Pilates and Body Balance classes due to the exercises used ummmm well, to strengthen those muscles you know... down there (stage whisper).

I'm on my second go round of antibiotics, and to top this incredibly terrrible, horrible, no good, very bad week off!!!! Tiger is dirty and I mean so dirty that he has itty bitty mats of hairs stuck together all over him from getting hot, getting in his pool, then rolling in the loverly dirt under the house. If I didn't love him so much I'd go outside and hose him down in ice cold water from the tap, of course, I'd also have to have a hose too, but since we use buckets. You got it, I gotta stick him in da bafftub and baff his dirty bod and I just cannot do it at 8 pm, nor could I have done it when I got home at 5 pm either so, he'll have to wait till Saturday. Tough titties, Tigerman, you rolled in it you gotta live wid it till mummeh sez yoo getz cleen.

Peee Essss: I found mai bukkit!

I has a Ranch Dressing!

2008-04-21T20:58:00.002+10:00

Yup, das rite, I have REAL Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, which I made from a package sent from my mom this past week!

I ate my salad with relish and am trying to imagine how every food in the universe would now taste with REAL Ranch dressing on it!

Gas prices

2008-04-12T12:40:00.003+10:00

I couldn't believe it when just a little while ago I went out to the local and generally cheapest petrol station and paid an unbelievable $6.50 for a gallon of gas!!!!!! That's regular unleaded too, btw. It was for the lawnmower but I'm just , well I don't even know how to describe how I'll feel when on Tuesday (which is the cheapest day to go to the pumps) and will have to pay over $1.45 per litre for premium gas, which is what we have to use in our car...it's gets about 15% more mileage out of premium than regular so until now has made it worth it to buy the premium.

I can't wait to see what is going to happen next! I know American consumers are complaining that gas prices are the highest they've been since Katrina hit, but imagine how the rest of the world feels when we are paying double!

It's made me seriously consider looking at a hybrid. But then again I just love the Smart Car, but it seems that they are no longer either making or selling the Forfour Smart Car which is definitely what I'd need. Hey, I've got a greyhound and well, even curled up I don't think he'd go for sitting in the front seat of a Smart For2. But I CAN get a used ForFour for around $17K, and a Honda Civic Hybrid is around $32K, with the Prius about 5 grand more than that.

If I just were to go for looks, great car all around I'd give my left pinky toe for a Citroen C6 which I think is about the sexiest car on the planet.

Yup A Citroen, I can soooo see myself driving that one, can't you?

I have SO been there

2008-04-11T20:37:00.002+10:00

see more loldogs ask - i can has hotdog?

This is also what I probably look like after today as well. No worky for pay day, but worky for everything ELSE in the Bloody Damn Universe Day! Ha! Bumhug! I am the evil grinch starting early this year, if they keep pissing me off they get either coal in their stocking or greyhound poo in their wooden shoes for Chrissy. I'm checking that list thrice my pretties.

What is soft, round, and sore all over?

2008-04-09T19:14:00.002+10:00

Answer: MY Abs! Not ass you fools, ABS as in Abdominal muscles!!!!!!!!!! From all this Pilates and Body Balance classes I've been taking!

I did take a break this week as my IBS has been acting up and it's just not all that fun to be in the middle of a really cool warrior pose, get an odd look on your face as the pain (not from the warrior pose) rips right through you and have to exit as FAST and discreetly as I possibly can then haul boogie downstairs to the locker room.

So, yeah, I think I'll wait till Friday when I'm off, have a REAL psychologist appt, then a massage a little later and I think after that I might be up for a Pilates class, if not the main one I'm aiming for is a Fitness Core class which all activities are performed on those half ball shaped thingies in bare feet, supposed to be great for postural muscles and feet muscles too....oh yeah, just what I REALLY always wanted - muscular feet Pfffffffttt. Hey if if makes me have better balance then I'm all for it.

That's what these classes are all about anyway. Making me feel a bit better about myself by seeing improvements, and I am seeing improvement with each class I can do something that I couldn't do in the previous class and that is WAY cool in my book. The other motivator is that I wear the tightest clothing (comfy of course) so I can see myself in the mirror and push myself to NOT look the way I look now at some point in the near future, not that I feel I'm disgustingly fat but I am not happy at all with the way my body has changed since my surgery.

I'm also self correcting my posture as I walk, work, stand, or whatever I'm doing I keep remembering to keep the old hips neutral, shoulders back and low, pulling my shoulder blades down at the same time. It's cool and keep pulling for me. I've been a little "off" this week but I'm having a vegetarian Indian meal to make up for it *grin*.

Easter Feast aka Aussie "Thanksgiving" excuse for Turkey lol

2008-03-27T19:50:00.003+10:00

Thanks to Brooke nagging forEVAH (just kidding) we made a turkey feast if you doubt my culinary skillz just take a look at THIS!

Yup I can cook with the best of 'em. Just ask anyone, provided it ain't my Dear Hubby who isn't a fan of veggies even if they do have sugar up the wazzoo!

Easter has come and gone like a bad little bunny

2008-03-24T18:18:00.005+10:00

Easter has come and gone and I'm STILL waiting for Brooke to post her pics - or at least send me some! - from Saturday night. We did Easter Dinner thingy with the 4 of us: me, C~ , Brooke, and Matt....plus 3 dogs, Tiger, Gracie, and Banjo.

Since I habs no pitchers to show of my sticking my fingers under turkey skin to slide lemon slices underneath it, I am showing pics of the Spectacular Petacular Tiger and I spent last Sunday at promoting Greyhounds as Pets. As you can see from the pics below, no dogs were harmed in the making of these pics.

In fact, Tiger was getting a bit of a massage since he was so worn out from all the hugs, kisses, and general lub from all he could get any and all.

He does look stressed out, doesn't he? LOL! More like, po'd I'd stopped rubbing his leg.

And now for the pic of Brooke, Snooks is in her lap, and Gracie aka Baby Snorks is on her left.

Brooke and I had an agreement, she wanted American style dinner of the Thanksgiving or Easter sort and I had a turkey breast languishing in the frigamerator so I said, sure we'll do it, but ya gotta help me cook it! We had so much fun!!!!!! What a blast! She made the sweet potato soufflé all by herself! It even had marshmallows on it, it was sad yet so cool at the same time since the marshmallows here are white and pink.

We kept it simple. Turkey with fig & hazelnut stuffing, Emeril's Cajun oystah dressing, and a humongous salad with home made honey mustard dressing, I must admit, we were also gonna have Brussels sprouts but in all the excitement we forgot. Trust me, there was MORE than enough! I made her take most of it home with her! Hehehehehe, now she'll know the horrors of leftovers for days, and days, and days LOL :)

We got to play with all the cool kitchen implements like the food processor for making home made bread crumbs, and the mortar and pestle for crunching and grinding up nuts n stuffs. Then we ate like the little piggies we are and I'll be paying for it at the gym for the rest of the week, dont'cha know?

It's been a week....from you know where LOL!

2008-03-13T19:49:00.003+10:00

So far in the past week and 1/2 I have made it to 4 classes. They included Pilates, Body Balance, Yoga, and Body Jam (when they say Jam, they wuzn't kiddin!) . That Body Jam kicked my arse! 40 minutes and I had to stop because of a cramp in my butt muskels!!!!

Hey! No laughing! Butt muskel cramps no feel good! I've also done some rowing (on a machine not on a lake or anything cool) and lots and LOTS of walking on the treadmill. I feel powerfully inept when in the classes and pretty cool when I'm walking on the 'mill....just not near anyone running full out LOL!

Emotionally, it's been a bit of a roller coaster. I saw the counselor provided by work again this week, but didn't feel I accomplished much...it felt more like I was just chatting with someone new and telling them about my week. So next visit will be devoted to strictly one topic - the ex. Gawd, that's going to suck but I suppose I need to get quite a few things off my chest. I've just never really talked about how I felt about the whole shebang.

It's easy to say "get over it" or "move on" but it just isn't that easy. Well, perhaps it's easy for some people to just let things go and never revisit them again, but I'm not like that. I tend to examine them, turn them over and try to make sense of things...even if it is painful. Which is what I need to work on, the coping with the painful stuff. I'm coped out at this point.

But I still feel positive. I am also quite grateful to my sister who I woke up around 3 am her time to talk because I just HAD to talk to someone!!!!!!!! Thanks, sis! You're the best!

Surviving the day after in style

2008-03-04T19:01:00.002+10:00

Yes I have survived Pilates! WOOT! I Rock! Yes, I'm sore, but not nearly as much as I thought I would be. Mostly it's the Abs that feel like I need to bend over as far backwards as I can, which isn't NEARLY as far back as I really can since, well there's that whole back surgery thing and the fact that I've been a lazy couch tater since.

Anywho, we decided to have a nice dinner of steaks (well trimmed with little fat and VERY thin, almost see through kind on thin, but hey, they were still steaks). Plus I had some mushrooms I needed to use up, so sauteed them with a bit o gahlic buttah and celtic sea salt. Can you say, "yummy in da tummy?"

Anyway, it's easy, so easy in fact I'mma gibs ya da recipe for Tabasco Steaks with Watercress Butter. Don't let the Tabasco part scare you, I used the green Tabasco since it's milder in heat and longer on flavour - at least to my taste buds.

Recipe:

1 bunch watercress
85 grams unsalted butter
4 sirloin steaks (or your choice)
4 tsp Tabasco sauce
salt and pepper (to your taste)

Finely chop watercress till you have about 4 TBSP worth and maybe a little extra for garnish if you're into that sorta thing.
Fill small bowl with butter and either allow to soften or nuke in the microwave a few secs till sufficiently soft. Mix watercress into butter until well incorporated, spoon mix onto either greaseproof paper or cling wrap and roll up into a cute little sausage like roll and pop into the fridge to cool until needed (once the steaks are cooked).

Sprinkle each steak with about 1 tsp of the tabasco sauce, rubbing in well and season with salt and pepper.

Cook steaks on a griddle, grill, grill pan, or whatever method you choose over high heat until done to your liking. Transfer steaks to plate, garnish with watercress butter and sprinkle a few of the reserved leaves on. Voila! You now have a steak you shall remember fondly for quite some time!

Monday....

2008-03-03T20:38:00.002+10:00

It's Monday, not too bad a Monday at that either, but then maybe you should ask me tomorrow since I did my first EVER Pilates class.

From what I could tell it was a really good one - I have experience from videos and books before, but never in a class with a bunch of other people and an instructor pushing me.

Anywho, I can already tell my tummy and arse are gonna be killing me in the ayem...and probably the peeyem as well....hell, it ALREADY hurts!!!!!!!! Ok, so maybe not hurts so much as sore at the moment. But you can bet you sweet little tushies I'm gonna milk it for all it's worth, the sympathy that is, which I don't think there will be much of since my friends at work are all taking dance classes or work out at their own gyms.

I haven't yet decided to join this particular gym, but it's an all womens one with nice facilities, etc, but I'd like to look at one with the same facilities plus a pool. I like to swim and it'd be great for my back, too.

Ok, going before I melt off the chair and end up in a puddle sleeping with Tigez on the floor.

Feeling a little off

2008-03-01T10:44:00.002+10:00

It's Saturday and I decided last night to try my new medicine (Effexor XR) since it seemed to cause drowsiness from what I've read. Hrm, I dunno if that's such a good idea. I think I'll stick to taking in th morning with a big glass of water.

I can deal with sleepiness during the day, especially while I'm at work but I can't deal with waking up disoriented and barely being able to crawl out of the bed. I can say that I don't feel stressed or anxious...perhaps I'm just too darn tired LOL!

So, that's it for me this ayem...mayhap a little more later if the mood descends upon me once again.

I DID promise myself I'd write more, and so I am.

Easter is almost here!

2008-02-29T21:10:00.003+10:00

Today is Friday the 29th of February. It comes around every four years....or so I'm told. I have no idea why it's so special. I think it's a Gregorian calendar thing or not. Anyway, it gets too complex to wrap my mind around so here's a couple of links if you really care to check it out. Wiki is generally good, but I sometimes think it's a cop out to use it, but here ya go!

S0, for this up coming Easter I have decided a few things. First I am having guests over...at the moment it only consists of one other couple (one other I invited can't make it due to camping schedule conflicts - BOO!). Anywho, we are going to attempt another turkey and some cool dressing or stuffing of some sort. I am waiting for my sister to send me her sweet potato soufflé with coconut recipe (HINT HINT!!!!!! This means get on the ball, Miss Erin!). We shall have the obligatory broccoli casserole and a nice green salad with home made honey mustard dressing (C~ prefers to put that on his turkey as opposed to gravy) and I think I shall try to dig up the Emeril Lagasse creole or cajun oyster dressing.

It seems that I must cook to impress, cuz Brooke insists she is dying to try some awful gooey dessert stuff that is affectionately known as sweet potato soufflé (gag me with a ginsu, why don't ya?) I WILL make it, but it doesn't mean I'll like it LMAO!!!!! I am sorry if I offend lovers of the loverley sweet tater concoction out there, but for me, all they need is a little buttah, forget all that othuh stuff....HUNNEH!

I'm pretty sure that THIS is the recipe I'll use for the oyster dressing

Some days....

2008-02-25T20:19:00.000+10:00

you have fun and some days the fun has you....

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

My hero

2008-02-23T13:33:00.003+10:00

I've been thinking about my Great grandmother quite a bit lately. She is 101 and will be 102 in October of this year. This is a picture of her on her 100th birthday (and a gratuitous shot of my hunky cousin Jeremy hugging her).

She does quite well, lives alone but has either my great aunt Sylvia (Granny's younger daughter) or my grandmother, whom we call Mamaw who is the elder of the two daughters.

Anyway, Granny usually has either one of them stay with her or she stays at their homes.

Granny is quite independent, even being blind from macular degeneration and having a bad knee, she still gets around well enough to be able to cook, garden, and care for herself. Her mind is as sharp as ever and I miss her terribly.

The reason she is my hero is because of the incredible life she's lead. She was sort of engaged to a young man who never asked her to marry him...so they didn't marry, and instead she married my great grandfather, Levi. I'm told it was a whirlwind romance of 3 days - though this story varies depending on who is telling it.

Being born in 1906, she didn't have the benefit of modern conveniences, clothes washed by hand and all those other things we take for granted. At one point she and granddaddy owned a gas station, then granddaddy worked for the railroad and Granny went to work at Belk's department store. I believe she was there over 30 years.

After she retired, she went to work for my uncle washing dishes at his restaurant....I think she did this until she was in her mid 80's, perhaps even later. I'll have to ask her when I call her this weekend. She kept driving until she was about 95 when her macular degeneration got too bad, though she'd only driven during the day for many many years - I think she had trouble seeing at night due to cataracts that were of course removed in her 70's giving her 20/20 vision!

She dealt with a hard drinking husband who passed away in 1976, she bore 2 daughters, has 6 grand children, 16 great-grand children, and there are somewhere around 10 or 12 great-great-grandchildren, once again....it's way too many to keep count since I'm not very close to a few of my cousins and don't know exactly how many children they have....plus there might be a step-child or two involved as well.

Granny is amazing! The most amazing thing though is that just before I moved here, my Aunt Sylvia took me aside and told me that if I didn't already know it then she figured she should tell me how hard it was going to be on Granny for me to leave...because I was her favorite.

Whaaaaaa??????? Ok, I've come to terms with it now, but talk about shock! I've never been anyone's favorite anything. But knowing I was Granny's favorite great-grandchild made me feel something special. It's not a thing I can describe. It isn't tangible. It's just there.

If from this point on in life I was alone, I would still know that I'm loved by the one person who has had the most impact on my life. Heck, this is the lady that taught me that "you KNOW collard greens are done 'cuz they look slick".

Ok, so that doesn't mean much to most people, but when one's Granny teaches you to cook by taste, touch, smell, and sight it means a hell of a lot.

Exploring my inner kitten

2008-02-22T20:19:00.002+10:00

Ok, get your mind out of the gutter people!

Today I saw my new therapist for the first time. We seemed to hit it off quite well and talked for well over an hour and a half. He didn't suggest I journal or anything but gave me some things to think about until our next visit in 3 weeks.

So, I figured I would do my exploring here. It's as good a place as any and I can certainly type much faster than I write.

I expect some things to be a little painful, some to be disconcerting and others to probably be kind of funny. I also expect that going through the memories may make me feel a bit angry, sad or frustrated at times. But as I've said before, I'm going to keep at it. Hopefully I will be able to finally come to terms with a few things. My Therapist, lets give him a cool nickname...how about Freud? Ok Freud it is. He said that he feels he can help to change some of my perceptions about certain events or actions of others. If nothing else, give me things to think about in between sessions.

So far, I feel slightly more energetic...I'm hoping it will stay this way or even get a little better, if not I may suggest trying one of the new SNRI's instead of the SSRI I'm on at the moment. The problem with that is that since this is Australia certain ones aren't available here yet. Anywho, the only reason I bring that up is that I'd forgotten that some SSRI's (which I'm on one of them now) cause anxiety and, well....docs don't' really like prescribing a whole bunch of Valium and I also don't like taking it on a regular basis. I mean hell, it's GREAT for when I fly on planes and when I'm pretty highly stressed (ie, not very damn often) and need to relax a bunch before I get a massage but I don't really want to take it every day. So, we'll see what we shall see.

I'm keeping on keeping on.

Ta ta till later,

keep rooting, errrr I mean cheering for me. In case you aren't sure why I changed that from rooting to cheering, check Aussie slang for root :P

On the mend

2008-02-17T20:00:00.002+10:00

It's Sunday night here and the weekend has gone well so far. Each day is a little better. I'm not sure if it's the medicines or just the attitude. As if something inside snapped when I broke down and cried and from there it's just going to slowly get better.

I've had times like this in the past, times I can look back on and think Yep, THAT was the turning point. I'll never forget one of the most poignant was back in 97, when I discovered the ex was cheating on me. I remember looking in the mirror and what I saw scared the hell out of me... my eyes looked dead, just totally lifeless and I thought to myself, "This is the beginning of the end", and it was. How weird it it that I can remember the exact thoughts that ran through my mind at the time?

Anyway, back to this weekend. I've kept busy, cooked a bit. Made chicken and dumplings yesterday - home made dumplings with my own herbs... sage, basil, and chives that I grew here this year for the first time. Couldn't grow tomatoes for shit but the herbs came out great! I made a pan of lasagna tonight... C~ has never had lasagna made with ricotta cheese before. Here I guess everyone uses a bechamel sauce. It isn't that I don't like bechamel sauce but I prefer ricotta in lasagna, the way it was made when I was growing up.

As for sleep, I'm doing well considering I'm off the sleeping tablets - for the first time in 2 yrs. Back home I just took Melatonin tabs, but they aren't available in Oz (except in homeopathic strength which do nothing for me) so I'd been taking a Tricyclic antidepressant which has been used for ages as a sleep aid, and it also helps with back pain...but not so much here lately. So I've swapped to OTC Unisom tabs which are basically benadryl to see how I go with that since taking the TCA isn't recommended with Prozac - yup I'm taking Prozac. I've taken it before with good success and my only side effect was slightly elevated cholesterol, so we'll see how I go this time. I also start seeing a therapist this week.

Yes, I have issues. Don't we all? I think my issues have just come back to haunt me for a little while, at least I hope so...the little while bit, I don't like being haunted by anything LOL! Haven't had anymore nightmares since Thursday - Thank God! Those puppies were getting a tad too disturbing for my taste. Heck ANY dream with my ex in it is a nightmare, but when it gets to the point I'm dreaming he's holding me hostage and I'm trying to kill him with my bare hands....well enough already.

Yeah the dreams were so bad I wasn't getting more than 2 hours sleep at a time , my IBS kicked up full throttle - which it hasn't done in nearly 5 years - and on top of everything I got my period!!!! FRACKIN HELLFIRE!!!!!!! Can you say, "Straw that broke the camel's back?"

So anywho, I'm taking the tiger by the tail...and NO not MY Tiger silly goose, THE tiger and I swear I can see a little light at the end of the tunnel....errrr maybe that's a speck of dust? Not sure, but Imma keep going anyway.

Valentine's Day and the Black Dog

2008-02-14T16:08:00.004+10:00

I was super wowed last night when C~ got home from work. He brought me my early Valentine's Day pressies!!!! Last year I got Tiger and so as of February 10 he has been with us for one full year. This year (so far) I have gotten a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper....who knew you could get the rot gut here? Certainly not I. I also received my much loved Payday candy bar and also a Butterfingers....yummmmm cannot wait to get into those!

As for this year, I am finally facing up to the fact that I am depressed *sigh*. I should have done something sooner but , of course, waited until it jumped up and bit me on the ass, that DAMN black dog bites hard too! I've been ruminating since I saw Amy's post about it and what she has done so far to help herself and I feel so dumb for waiting.

So, today (after missing a week from work) I appeared at my GP's office and as soon as I sat down I started blubbering like a fool, I'd just had it up to HERE with my so called coping skills. I'm damned coped out. So, we have decided on a course of meds to help a little and also agreed that I will be seeing a psychologist, just have to wait for him to call me back to find out what I need to do since I will be going through the Employee Assistance programme that's been set up for Q. Health employees.

I hate taking medicine, hate it hate it hate it! But if it will help I'm all for it at this point as I just cannot go on. My creativeness has been on the fritz for many months now, I haven't been able to write, I haven't been myself and I want to get back to being ME. You know, the old sarcastic pain in the ass, me. Nevertheless it is me. I want to be creative again. I need to write, I need to do something. I don't want my blog to just disappear because I made a promise to myself that I would not start something and abandon it as I have projects in the past.

So, I'm here promising myself again that I will do whatever it takes, I won't stop until I can be as normal as I possibly can be - for me that just means being able to put more than 3 words together at one time. I've had a spell where sometimes I can't string 3 words together, make complete sentences, etc. I've been too scattered, unable to concentrate, and I am going to fix that asap.

So, now I'm going to check out this cool new recipe I'm going to make for C~ tonight, something about Asian grilled chicken in pitas. Sounds nice and easy to fix, hey?

Baby steps, one day at a time...Imma keep slugging away till I'm cruising.

The most incredible thing I've seen in awhile...

2008-02-07T21:06:00.000+10:00

I love greyhounds. I'm sure you've figured that out by now. My boy Tiger is the best! He loves me unconditionally, licks my plate clean when I'm finished eating, and snuggles up to me in bed at night and keeps me warm. I only wish he would grow longer so he could keep my feet was warm as my hands. Hahaha.

I swear, I get the coldest hands and feet at night and no matter what I do, I can't seem to warm them up. Tiger is a great bed warmer and doesn't mind when I slide my cold hands under his chest, or take his paws in my hands to warm up. There have been times in which he's been lying near my feet and I've slid my toesies underneath him for warmth.

Just love this video and thought I'd share. There's nothing better than the love and trust of a dog. When I die, I want to go wherever the animals are.

Guacamole, salsa, and pinto beans. Oh MY!

2008-01-25T19:26:00.000+10:00

I finally found pinto beans wahooooo! Oh yeah, Baby and I made me some refried beans tonight that turned out pretty darn good. Perhaps not as good as ones I've had back home but good enough for now!

C~ and I have been doing this thing each month where we decide just before the first of the month what we will be having each night, with a few "free nights" thrown in for leftovers and when we just don't feel like cooking. So, after planning 4 weeks meals in advance, C~ does all the shopping for everything except the perishables and it's cut our monthly grocery bill significantly and all we have to do each week is buy eggs, bread, milk, fruit, and veg. Oh yeah, and stuff we may have forgotten but we are getting much better at it. February will be our 4th month at it.

Anyway, back to da beans! Pinto beans aren't exactly a huge item here in Oz. Don't ask me why but they just aren't. I seem to be able to find pretty much every other type (except speckled butter beans and crowder peas) but pintos have been elusive. That is until someone on the Americans in Brisbane group told me to look at a health food store...so, I checked out the nearest Mrs. Flannery's and lo and behold! Got 'em!

Now, Mrs. Flannery's is a nice small 'neighborhood' kind of organic store that's only slightly larger than a 7/11 but it's no Whole Foods Market but I suppose I shall just have to suffer mightily and make do.

But I got pinto beans! I got pinto beans! Got me some pinto beans, oh yeah!

Luckily this foray into cooking refried beans for the first time coincided with our night to have quesadillas...also the first time cooking it. But they turned out great! I tossed the chicken breasts in some taco seasoning, sauteed them bad boys, shredded them, mixed up some cheeses, topped the tortillas with cheese, tomato, chicken, and onions, cooked them till done and served with freshly made pico de gallo (aka salsa cruda) some home made guacamole, and not so home made sour cream lol! Oh yes, and let's not forget the side of refried beans!

Heck I needed something to make me feel better. Ok, so not to make this too long a post but two nights ago C~ put the dog barrier up between the living room and kitchen. It's not a child gate, it's 2 pieces of x-pen that have been ziptied together and can be slotted between wall and book cases on either side of doorway.

I was following C~ into the kitchen at full tilt, completely oblivious to everything and so I missed what was right in front of me and bashed into the gate, taking a huge nose dive onto the tiled kitchen floor with a HUMONGOUS cup of Coke (Coca Cola you naughty minded people!) in hand - which of course, I spilled everywhere including all over myself. My toes got tangled up in the wires of the gate, my knees look like hamburger meat, and I have twisted ankles, toes, and knees. How lovely I must look!

And how STUPID I must feel!!!!!! Oh my god, I feel like a huge moron, but hey it could happen to anyone right?

When it first happened, all I cared about was getting the Coke off me and out of my hair! But then I thought my toes were broken. After bawling my eyes out for about an hour or so and scaring a couple years of both my dog and my husband I was able to take stock, figure out I was not all broken up and didn't need a trip to the ER. What I needed were strong drugs, ice packs, and some Voltaren rubbed into my knees.

So, two days later, I feel a little better after having some attention from the massage therapist and chiropractor, and lots of rest. Now I just look like someone tried to run me over with their car...or at least my knees do. The problem is that if I wear shorts people will see why I'm hobbling and not think I'm all weird and stuff and if I don't wear shorts I'll bet that people will think my husband beat me because I was naughty as evidenced by my hobbly walk and slight hunched over-ness.

But! I have pinto beans!!!!!! And the world is a better place!!!!!

I am sooooooo sick of being asked if I wante to be a better man

2008-01-14T19:13:00.000+10:00

Who thinks up this spam nonsense? As IF I'd reply or even bother to look at a very misspelled or grammatically incorrect email. One would think that with all the spam filters nowadays that spammers would get over themselves and go away.

***Sigh*** I guess not. I do suppose there could possibly be some naive person out there who really does want to see if they can make their penis bigger or boobs bigger, even though they proved that those creams didn't work way back in the 70's when they were advertised in the backs of women's mags.

And on that note, something cheerier....I was bitten by a spider on my FACE! Yup, on the right side on my jaw close to my chin. I have a gorgeous reddish purple bruisy looking thing coupled with swollen lymph nodes down the front of my neck.

You know you want to ask how in the world I noticed such a thing? Well, let me tell you. When I woke up yesterday morning I felt a little itchy, on my jaw. Not so normal, but hey, sometimes things get itchy for no reason, right? Hrmph.

Go look in the mirror to see what's what. I notice the horrible double chin. Ok, so maybe I do have a little double chin, there aren't too many of us nearing 40 that don't. But THIS was like a goiter!!!!!!! All the way to my collar bone.

Stunned, I asked C~ what he thought. He saw nothing. Hrmph! Men! They don't notice nothing. Once I ended up with Ronald McDonald red hair after a terrible incident at the salon - don't ask. It's a moment I can't bear to think about. I was scarred for life. Did the Dear Husband notice? Nope, he said it looked nice and shiny. Yeah, ok, nice and shiny I got...but it ain't what I wanted that's for sure.

Got to work this morning. All eyes were riveted on my face. I was asked if I'd called the doc. Nope, I figured it was nothing. Jude dragged me to the mirror. She asked if it looked so reddish purple this morning. Nope I said. Senior supervisor sauntered over. She inspected and declared that I might be unfit for work if I didn't ring the doc asap. So I did. They wanted me in the office asap. No can do I said. Have no car, can't get there from here (funny thing about public transport, some places are nigh impossible to get to)...so I made the appointment for the morning like a good girl.

Hopefully my face won't fall off. At least this isn't like the rash I had 2 weeks ago. At least I could cover that up with a shirt. Don't ask yet, I'll tell all later, but only if I have to.

Happy New Year and have some bread or errr not....

2008-01-01T15:43:00.000+10:00

Doesn't this face look ever so innocent? HAH! Just wait til I tell you of her evil deeds and nefarious plot against our household. She decreed that , "There shall be NO BREAD for the humans to eat!" Yep it's the New Year and what do I have to show for it? Hrmmmm let me see. I think I have some pictures. Not too many, though as I just didn't feel up to it. It's been raining for over a week, which meant that the Christmas Holidays were spent with moi having a tad bit of comfort because it was way cooler than the last 2 years. In fact, according to The Weather Channel, Queensland's coolest Christmas in 8 years. How about THEM apples?

Today I decided to make some bread, or rather, C~ guilted me into it lol. I'd been after him to get me some stuff to make bread with when he went shopping, and so he did. Lucky me. See, good bread here is kind of 'spensive at around $3.50 per loaf and if ya like artisan bread you can add half to double that. I thought, hey! I have an oven, a bread pan, what the hell? I'll bake some bread, can't be all that hard can it? Nahhhhhhh. And truly it wasn't.

So, first type of "bread' I made were scones or biscuits to us southerners. Not too shabby. I tried "quick bread" made with the same stuff as scones, plus a few other thingies and voila! We had ummmm Scone Bread rofl! Yup tasted just like biscuits made into bread, all it was missing was either bananas and nuts or zucchini and nuts *sigh*.

So, onto "white bread". Ok so it wasn't anything to brag about, a little too dense. So I probably (I'm guessing here) needed to knead it less and perhaps waited for it to rise more on the first go round - recipe says to let it rise, punch down, then shape and place in warm spot to rise again, then bake. Anywho, it was good enough to eat fresh out of the oven with a bit of buttah, slice some mo' and share with puppers. Go get camera to take pretty pitchers...and discover evil foster hound has swiped it off the counter, Tiger looked on

with feigned disinterest until I took it from evil hound and gave half to him. THEN he chowed down like the food hound he is.

*I've edited this so many times and right now Blogger is REALLY giving me the shits over it's complete lack of willingness to obey my simple commands. Grrrrrrr.

Long time no see ya'll!

2007-12-27T20:23:00.000+10:00

Good heavens! I forgot that I haven't posted in ages and ages. Christmas has come and gone and our household has been in turmoil! Bunny, sweet Bunny has gone to live in her forever home with her new brother Freddo, the gorgeous cream brindle. Tiger, below is lying around as usual
and keeping himself entertained. He is SO OVER having foster sisters. He had a blast when Freddo came to visit.

This pic is on Miss Bunny Boo's last roach on my side of the bed. Isn't she adorable? I like this pic because she was smiling, I'd been rubbing her belly.

This is Gypsy, our newest foster. Please ignore the tall grass, we've had so much rain there hasn't been time to cut it and finally C~ broke down and cut it in the rain yesterday.

Anyway, that's the back corner where the compost pile is, so it's not a high priority but it's where the greys love to graze on our "organic" grass.

Gypsy is a cutie pie. Tiger is still pissed off that Bunny is gone, he's been pining away. For Christmas we had a quiet time punctuated with a couple of family parties. C~ bought me some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, something that's really hard to come by - I'm guessing he found it at some specialty shop in the city. I also got a Butterfingers Candy Bar, greyhound t shirt and assorted other goodies. All were wonderful! Hubby got a Weber Smokey Joe grill and accessories. It's our first BBQ grill together. He was hoping for a big gas grill but I'd rather wait on the great big monster til we have our own house....plus I love charcoal grills. Maybe we will move up to the bigger kettle grill that can use both charcoal and gas.

We did our first steaks on it tonight and I'll be darned if they weren't the best I've had in Oz and that includes the one at Lone Star!!!!! Well, what can I say? I prefer my steaks with seasonings on them LOL!!!!!

I haven't posted lately...so here are some nice pics

2007-12-03T20:21:00.001+10:00

I haven't posted lately for no good reason either, except I've been getting caught up in Spring Cleaning, etc, lots of cooking and freezing and other stuff that just needed to be done. You know how that is. Plus it's also been slightly busier at Chez Kitten with the foster pup. Last Weekend we had the GAP Christmas Party and Tiger won Best costume

Below is Tiger and me (ignore the awful hair it was above 90 that day) with his Best Dressed Award - I made him a surgeon's outfit, complete with hairnet, mask, stethoscope, and scrubs.

Above are Tiger and Bunny together, She was a Fairy Princess. She didn't win, but we think it's because the judges didn't want to have 2 winners in the same family ;)

Lately this is my favorite pic of me and the boy. This is how we woke up one morning and C~took some pics.

This shows the whole bed with Bunny at the bottom being, well...herself LOL. After she's run around, bounced all over the bed barking and doing her damnedest to say GOOOOOOOOD MORRRRRRNING VIET NAMMMM!!!!!!!!

Yup that's what my bed looks like in the morning, a war zone. BTW, Tiger is wearing red pajamas to keep him warm - I like to keep the ac on at night and he gets quite cold, even under the blankets with us.

Giving thanks in a land without Thanksgiving

2007-11-18T13:21:00.000+10:00

Sexy Brett Lee - Australian Cricketer & fast bowler.

Yes, some of us in Australia do celebrate Thanksgiving. But that's most likely because we are either Americans living here or have someone in our family that is American.

Why doesn't Australia celebrate Thanksgiving? Well the short snarky version I generally give folks "back home" is that ummmm, there weren't any pilgrims nor were there any starving Indians to trade with when James Cooke sailed around mapping the coast. Aboriginals, yes. Indians, no. Hence, no Turkey Day.

Plus, who the hell wants to pay $45 for a 10 lb turkey? I've done it in the past and probably will again, but sheesh, I'm keeping that whole dang bird for myself. That's darned 'spensive for a bird don't ya think?

So, since we don't celebrate Turkey Day Down Under we don't get a day off work. Therefore, I don't gotta spend the day in the kitchen slaving away in the heat with no ac since we are kind of backwards (And intent on keeping the planet green!) by not having ac throughout the house.

So I sit here in the sweltering heat watching The Cricket instead.

Yes, I have come to love The Cricket as we call it here in Oz. Seems odd to say "The " in front of it kind of like saying , "I'm going to turn on the tv and watch The Baseball". Doesn't feel right, but anywho. HERE is a cool explanation of Cricket by a fellow American. Both the wiki and yank versions are fairly long but informative.

If you'd like to see where you can get all the info on Cricket go to Cricinfo.com .

Now pardon me but I'm off to hang with the puppers in the lounge room (living room) and watch The Cricket. Can't wait to see Australia beat the heck out of Sri Lanka.

Day of joy and nights of thunder

2007-11-05T19:55:00.000+10:00

We picked up another foster on Saturday. Her name is Ebony (UGH!!!) but I've been calling her Bunny Bunny. She seems to like it :) She is the sister of the monster child we had awhile back that learned to open the fridge. Bunny Bunny is smart and cool and Tiger LOVES her, not like the other girls we've had - he just tolerated them. Although he has also been playing "Fun Police" with her. When she goes running around the back garden he tends to growl at her a little as if to say" No running in MY garden! Only Tigers can run in MY Garden!"

THe pic below is of my VERY spoiled boy, He has his very own sofa, which is next to a window and a door to the outside, in front of the window, as you can see, there's a fan blowing cool air across the Tigerman. Look at the face - utter bliss.

Speaking of fun police, screw the blog title I wasn't thinking but wasn't that the name of a movie or somethin'? Ok so I was stuck for a title and it's been thundering at night with little to no rain, bah humbug! Ok So I've got another pic of Tigez. Earlier last week he cut open his leg. It's gross, it keeps being torn open and I keep bandaging it. Right now it has some cool hot pink vet wrap on it! He soooo looks awesome in hot pink.

The above picture is a close up of Tigers wound. He acts and sort of looks like he's been in the wars. Well, he acts like a typical male by ignoring it unless it's bandaged and he rips the bandages off then whines because it's bleeding and hurts. Typical male.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T18:45:00.000+10:00

On my way to the train after work today I was greeted by the sounds of funky music floating from the apartments across the street from my station. I looked up .... Lo and Behold! It was a bee. Ummmmm no it was a BIG BEE. Not exactly right either (BTW, I didn't have my glasses on). I heard "Trick or Treat"!!!! From this huge bee!!!!!

Ok Ok, I put my glasses on and looked up to find a young woman. I'm guessing about 19? Hopping down her stairs and across the street screaming "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!" at me and then she practically begged me to take some of her candy, though I tried to refuse. One nevers knows about taking candy from strangers....I'm sure I've heard that somewhere before.

Probably got drilled into me as a kid or something.

Anywho, said female bee approached with her plastic punkin and I peered inside to discover she had frosted gummy worms. WELL! I figured I'd better sample them worms just to make sure they were safe for the neighborhood kids, ya know? I mean gosh! What if they had pins in them or were laced with some psychedelic drug. Who better to sample them than someone whose parents grew up in the 60's? Or in my case , I think me growing up in the 80's qualifies me to be somewhat knowledgeable about a few illegal substances (but I'm not telling which ones :P).

Hey, it was the 80's and it's been so long I'm SURE it's out of my system by now. Well, that's my story and I"m sticking to it.

Back to the bee girl. She was happy I'd taken her candy and I was happy as I chewed the ever so sweet and succulent and frosted gummy worms.

My teeth are gonna ache for a week now.

Gawd I Love Halloween!

Innocent? I think Not!

2007-10-31T18:34:00.000+10:00

A boy and his bunny

2007-10-29T20:29:00.000+10:00

Here are just a few pics of The Tigez and his bunny. Him lubs hims bunny.

If you want to peruse something a little weird yet somewhat like a train wreck, go HERE. Or HERE for something even stranger than fiction.

Not necessarily the news

2007-10-14T17:57:00.001+10:00

A Currumbin Sanctuary kangaroo mum and joey still in pouch.

Oi! What a week! Busy, busy, busy little bee I have been. First we sent Phoebe off to her forever home with Gayle on Tuesday, then Wednesday was a meeting at Albion Park for those of us that will start doing home visits and dealing with the applications of potential adopters.

THEN! On Friday afternoon I got a call about doing 2 home visits! ACK!!!!!!! Talk about fast! Yowza, Kirsty doesn't let any moss grow on her stones do she? So now it's Sunday evening, both home visits are done and both get my vote to be adopters! They were awesome! Anywho, I did some laundry and other assorted housework (always a fav pastime here in Chez Kitten, dontcha know).

I have been playing in the dirt. What? You mean you didn't know I was that kinda girl? Whellllll, there ya go. I planted about 2 dozen tomato plants a couple of weeks ago and they were nearly ready to re pot and so I did about half to see if they would do ok before I re potted them all.

I have my greenhouse all ready for the plants to go in once they are big enough. I will probably have them overflowing onto both front porch and back patio, as well as the greenhouse. I have planted some cukes, bell peppers (assorted colours), lettuce of many varieties - mostly leaf - herbs such as sage, oregano, basil, and thyme, some coriander, and chives, garlic chives, and some other stuff I can't remember at the mo'. But it's all good, I've been a busy little bee getting my fingers dirty, composting, digging, sowing seeds, watering with some odd organic seaweed mix that's supposed to be da bomb! I'll let ya know once stuff starts coming in. If it all tastes like Nori we might need to back off it LOL!!!!!

Phoebe "pupdate"

2007-10-09T18:48:00.000+10:00

Dearest Phoebe, the reason for this post. I hope you have the most wonderful forever home, little girly girl. This pic is of a seriously tired pupster on Sunday evening.

Tigers nose inserted into couch cushions
I think that's what they call "dog tired"

A Grace of Hounds

Dr. Harry on stage with Harry the greyhound.

This morning Phoebe went to her forever home *pout* and I wasn't even here to say, "Goodbye"! I'll miss little Miss Phoebe, Tiger will miss her, and even C~ will miss her. She was a super foster dog to have, even if she did drag full 2 litre bottles of soda around. LOL!

She even dragged a full bottle of Canola oil to the dog bed in the bedroom. I don't EVEN want to know what she and Tiger had planned for that! At least she didn't eat a 5 kg bag of compost at our house (apparently she did at a previous foster home).

As you can see from the pics, Tiger and Phoebe were exhausted from the Gold Coast Pet Expo on Sunday. They got to meet Dr. Harry and Tiger and I got to be on stage with him as he taught the audience how to pet strange dogs properly....though I think he used greyhounds as demo dogs because they are fairly predictable unlike other breeds with strangers. Tiger just ignored the kids, and Harry (the dog not the Dr.) decided a nap on stage was in order.

When we got home, Tiger stuck his nose IN the couch and the Pheebster plonked on the floor and grinned like the looney toon she is.

Nuther attempt at this video thang

2007-10-04T10:21:00.000+10:00

This this is my second attempt at a direct upload from my computer. This is a short clip of the Pheebster (Phoebe) smiling. She smiles a LOT! Great girl that she is. She and The Tigez are getting along like a house on fire probably because he's getting to sleep on the bed ALL night

This this is my second attempt at a direct upload from my computer. This is a short clip of the Pheebster (Phoebe) smiling. She smiles a LOT! Great girl that she is. She and The Tigez are getting along like a house on fire probably because he's getting to sleep on the bed ALL nightsince she's been here. Gawd I'm so gullible!

My first attempt at youtube'ing

2007-10-04T10:18:00.000+10:00

This is my first attempt, I hope it works!!!!

Right now, youtube is telling me that it's STILL processing the sound swap I did, so ifn ya watch it soon, I'm guessing you'll hear my awful voice. Later it should have a cool song added to it.

Helluva day or day from hell?

2007-09-22T14:57:00.000+10:00

Me gettin luvin from blue greyhound puppy

I'm honestly not sure which it is yet as it's only half over with at this point.

This morning was up at buttcrack of dawn (aka 5:01 am) for no apparent reason but was awake, so I crawled out of bed to check on Tiger. He was on the couch in the living room as he's been doing all week. It's been hot during the days and nice and cool at night, so he likes to sleep on the couch near the open windows...but not TOO close like his bed in the bedroom is, which is just under the windows.

So, got dressed into some old jeans, T-shirt, and tennis shoes then off we went to Katy's where I had a quick showing of her home and petted Tamale and Omo, then out to the car we went where we discovered that her hubby Mark had taken the nice SUV and left us with the Jeep that was too small...whilst waiting for him to get back and trade cars with us we stood under the balcony.

Standing under the balcony we chatted for a second then BAM! I was hit smack in the face with a falling Pepper (cat) who'd fallen off after being chased off by the other cat. DAMN! My glasses were on the ground and Pepper had this laid back "I'm so cool" look going on. Damn feline! Ok, quick face check, no major scratches and no broken sunglasses (prescription Ray Ban's).

Ok so that's over with and off we go to pick up baby sitter and off to the farms. We petted quite a few greyhounds and other assorted canines being kept in the kennels. Picked up 3 hounds to drop off at the next farm, then onto the 3rd farm where we saw MORE greyhounds and 2 week old greyhound puppies!!!!!!

Ohhhhhhh poopies! Such loving has never been had by yours truly. What a bunch of luvable little guys they were. Until today I'd never seen a greyhound under the age of 2 and today I got to see them from 2 weeks on up.

Tonight I'm off to the Ipswich track to pick up a foster hound named Cherry. Still don't know if I am going to take Tiger, which was the original plan, but C~ is off at paint ball and I won't get to the track til late than we'd planned so Tiger won't be able to lead the greyhounds onto the track now - as we had originally planned *sigh*.

Ah well, at least we are finally getting a foster and I will get to see an actual true to life greyhound race.

Like I said not sure whether or not it's a helluva or a day from hell yet. Piccies will be posted at later date as I forgot my camera and have to get Katy's pics from her. I got pics of me getting all loved on by little 4 month old puppies! So sweet, even if they did try to take me down like they had 'obviously' done to that steer...there were cattle rib cages all over the runs (ohhhhh scary little buggers they were LOL).

PS Just kidding about the steers, those were bones they were given to gnaw on not real cattle.

Talkin' Turkey

2007-09-08T16:22:00.000+10:00

Today I made my first cup of real brewed coffee in over a year. Talk about yummy! Ok boring topic lol but serious business when one had a 3-4 cup a morning habit until almost 2 years ago. I only quit drinking coffee when I realised it was just too darned hot to drink it every morning.

I do have a coffee maker that C~ bought for me when I first came to visit him before we got married but it has remained packed away in a box until yesterday when I brought it out for dinner. We had dinner guests last night for the first time since we moved into our house earlier this year. I guess we just haven't had the time or the inclination as we have either been too busy or too tired or just plain didn't care too what with all the boxes hanging around that we had yet to unpack and didn't really have too much reason to get on with it, you know?

We knew we'd eventually get around to it, and so we did....eventually, which was last night. House was all cleaned up, boxes unpacked, turkey in the oven, and our guests thoughtfully brought a yummy pavlova for dessert. LUCKY US!

I LOVE to cook. Absolutely LOVE to cook, especially for guests. I like nothing better than to cook for holidays but here the main holidays happen to fall during the Summer which kind of puts the quietus on big, heavy meals that take hours to cook in an oven, but a few weeks ago C~ found a nice juicy turkey breast on sale ( about $20 for a 6 pounder - shocking eh?) and so he bought it knowing that I'd been wanting to cook one before Winter was over and he was also planning to ask a workmate and his girlfriend over to dinner.

So last night out came the good dishes -FINALLY! - and the turkey et al was prepared. We had roasted turkey with roasted pumpkin, fennel, and parsnips. Also broccoli casserole, salad, and mashed potatoes and gravy with homemade honey mustard dressing for the salad. Finished off with pavlova that our guests brought for dessert.

Honestly it wasn't my best effort where the turkey and dressing were concerned though they were both eaten with relish and C~ said he much preferred this style of dressing than the one I made last time. I found it too heavy and "cake like"...but he happens to like things "cake like" lol.
The gravy was also not the greatest but I was a bit rushed as the turkey took about 45 minutes longer than expected. I really hate it when that happens! Our guests had been here since 5:30 and it was nearly 7 pm so I was rushing things along as best I could. The tummy rumblings that could be heard from the next room were an indication I was about to have a riot on my hands if things weren't hurried along sufficiently....and that was just from Tiger.

Anywho, the table was already set by moving husband and I proceeded to load it down with about a half tonne of food which caused the guests eyes to nearly pop out of their heads (and Tiger's too!). So, The Tigez was ushered out onto the patio where he was temporarily pacified with a bone until about a quarter of said table food laden table was consumed and smiles replaced tummy rumblings. Even hubby who generally hates all things containing mustard, mayo, and sour cream ate the honey mustard dressing (on his turkey of all things) and proclaimed it very nice, indeed. My guests were astounded and complimented me on everything then lamented that they were wanting to reciprocate the invitation but were a little scared LOL.
Of course we told them that we'd be happy with tacos made from one of those Old El Paso box mixes. Hehehe, they didn't believe us til we showed them our stack of box mixes we keep just because we like them so much. Too easy!

What can I say? I love to cook and show off my skillz in the kitchen when given half a chance. Plus we have lots of leftover turkey and stuff to eat off the rest of the week, but I'm gonna have to get off my butt and make some better gravy, thank goodness I saved the rest of the pan drippings.

BTW, if you want an invite to dinner, just ask...but don't expect turkey for at LEAST another year or so cuz geez it's just a heck of a lot of trouble and once a year is more than enough for me to spend all frackin' day in the kitchen ya'll! Love ya, but NO! Ya'll will be gettin' frackin' fajitas or something easy like chipped beef on toast.

Interesting little doohickey

2007-09-01T16:51:00.000+10:00

I found this really cool thing called an interactive Johari window. I was wondering if anyone would like to go my mine and see what comes up. You can add to it and even create your own. Just follow the link and then the directions. LINKAGE

For being critical go HERE and criticize moi.

Ok so be honest and I'm honestly hoping for the best lol, but I would like to know for my own interst what my faults are (as others see them anyway) so that I can improve.

I iz Dun

2007-08-29T18:36:00.000+10:00

Yup, I iz dun, absoluteleh dun. Oh yeah, I've been reading waaaay too much lolcats. But that's how I feel after today.

Some days are just harsh, ain't they? "nuff said 'bout that.

Tigez heer agin....

2007-08-24T15:17:00.000+10:00

Mah mummy has lawst it yawl!!!!!! I showed herbz dis linkage I'z gotz frum mah frind Katy Da Greaty at needlenoses and welll....mum's a gawnah. Herbz bin laffin awl day. Gud to heer butt...herbz sownds kinda rattly like sumfins cummin loose inside.

I finks herz is still sik. So sad. But I fawt I'd gibs yawl da linkys too cuz dey is funny cat pikshurs.

Cute Oberlode

An mah fabrit : I can Haz Cheezburgahs

Tiger sez...."Woe iz me"

2007-08-23T16:33:00.001+10:00

The Tigez hear :

My mummy is sick so herz habs me to hep herz wite dis fuh herz. Pweeze escwuze da mizpellings cuz I's not berry gud at diz, but I's twying.

Mummy cawt a viwuss fwum sum bad persson at dat hopsitul last weekz win herz had to habs her spine injamectid wiv dem steroidz. I tode herz dat demz steroids wuz bad fuh herbz. LOL! Gud ting shez not gwowing inee hairs on herz face yet. Hahahah! Well, I's tawt it wuz funnee but herz din't beleeb me eever.

Inneehoo, herbz has a feber ob a hunnerd an wun tewday win herz wint to da doctuh ladee and lefted me at homez all by meself....INSIDE! Can yew beleeb it? Daddy tinks imma mess on da fowah (floor) but ima gud boy joo see so I dint go at all, I jus slepted on dat comfee bed mummy an daddy gotz fer us. Dey cawls it a Kings Eyes bed, whudebber dat meenz *shwug*. I certanwee dont nose whud a Kings Eyes bed iz...I'da tawt doze wuz on duh Kingz face? Who noze, but itz a big bed an Iz likes it lots n lots.

Well I bettah go now, mummy neez me to cuddle herz and keeps herz warm now.

Lubs an kissey lixxes to youz all,
Tigez

Feelings of inadequacy? Surely not!

2007-08-18T07:18:00.000+10:00

Do you have feelings of inadequacy?
Do you suffer from shyness?
Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about White Wine.

White Wine is the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. White Wine can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything. You will notice the benefits of White Wine almost immediately, and with a regime of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.

Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past, and you will discover many talents you never knew you had.

Stop hiding and start living, with White Wine.

White Wine may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use White Wine.
However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

SIDE EFFECTS
Side effects may include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, erotic lustfulness, loss of motor control, loss of clothing, loss of money, loss of virginity, delusions of grandeur, table dancing, headache, dehydration, dry mouth, and a desire to sing Karaoke and play all-night rounds of Strip Poker, Truth Or Dare, and Naked Twister.

WARNINGS
The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not.

The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a crazy person.

The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.

The consumption of alcohol may cause you to THINK you can sing.

The consumption of alcohol may lead you to believe that ex-lovers are really dying for you to telephone them at four in the morning.

The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.

The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.

The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.

I'd sell my soul for a jar of Grape Jelly, ya'll

2007-08-11T20:16:00.000+10:00

WOW !!!!! An entire week has gone by and I have zilch to show for it...no wait, I do have SOMETHING. I got a temporary contract with the government - doing the same job but in another location.

Hrmmmmm. Not too shabby me thinks. Also in my new place of employment, which we all know is the dental field, we don't have to see emergency patients. Yipppeeeeeeee kai yayyyyyyy! Nope , none at all. Good for me and good for you!

To make up for that this past week has been hell on wheels. I think I helped take out more teeth in 5 days than I did in the last 6 months. I think more fillings were done, too. How does that work? I dunno but it feels that way.

I even got a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from everyone on Friday at lunch...they even had lunch for me brought it. Ok, we all chipped in and paid $5 for a ginormous platter of sammies from Subway, plus all kinds of chips and dips and desserts, and choccies galore.

SO, I start the new job on Monday, but have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off. Hehehe, life is so unfair. Actually, those days were already scheduled off for me as I'm going in bright and early on Tuesday to have an epidural injection of steroids ... wait for it....

in....my....SPINE!!!!!!! Ewwwwwwww. Doesn't sound good to me either, ya'll. But the doc insists that it MAY work. I guess if it does work then I could get some decent pain relief for up to 6 months. Then Wed. is a public holiday for us Queenslanders for the Ekka. Then Thursday I'm taking off just to be sure I'm a-ok to go back to work on Friday. Then the next week I'm up for an MR, woooohoooooo...2 hours in a tube, what a day to look forward too.

Back to the spine thingy. Nope, I'm not looking forward to it, but I'll be seriously sedated so I won't remember a thang. How cool is that? Apparently it's conscious sedation so I will be a wandering zomberina afterwards LOL! Can't wait to see the pictures? Me neither, perhaps I can be persuaded to share... send me lots of get well packets of Ranch Dressing mix, Smucker's Grape Jelly, and a REAL Mars Bar and we'll talk, k?

Okies, Imma run now so I can go watch something on the tube before I crash cuz tomorrow C~ and I are gonna flaunt The Tigez at the Ekka - GAP is having a promo in the doggie arena. Hopefully I won't forget the camera!

It's warm again....I think

2007-08-05T09:28:00.000+10:00

Well, it WAS warm again - for a few days - now it's a wee bit chilly this morning. Not so good if one still has the snifflies from the flu, ah well. It will make it a good day to hang out and catch up on some tv. Not that I really need to do that since all I did while I was sick was watch tv and movies.

Went out to see Fracture with Anthony Hopkins last night at the cinema. Pretty good flick. Anthony Hopkins plays a good psycho. The ending was a little trite but how cool is it that they could maintain the suspense throughout when you knew in the first 10 minutes that the lead character killed his wife, admitted to it, went to jail, then played with the prosecuting attorney to make things go his way? HAH! Gotcha, now you must go see it!

Other movies I've seen recently are: 300, Sicko, Music and Lyrics, Miami Vice (for the send time cuz Colin Farrell is just too cute), Walk the Line, Children of Men, and the first half of Bowling for Columbine. I still can't figure out if Mike Moore is advocating guns or what. I hope not. The Sicko Documentary was awesome and those of us living outside America and know how great socialised health care is can definitely relate to what his message is.

Okies, gotta fly.

The Flu Sucks

2007-07-28T19:00:00.000+10:00

The Tigez impression of a sleeping Jedi - in plaid wool, of course.

Yep that's right, the flu sucks and I got it last week. One more thing to add to the list of what could possibly go wrong right now. Grrrrrr!

Anywho, other than that stuff seems to be moving along slowly but surely. Next month I'm scheduled for an MRI and an epidural injection of steroids to hopefully reduce the pain in my back. I'm not all that hopeful to be honest, but the insurance is covering it and at this point I'll try anything that will help, short of smearing goat poo all over myself. Oh yeah, and sex with goats is out as well, even as much as montchan seems to think it cures everything that ails you *snort chuckle chuckle snort*.

Last week was pretty nice, the weather is warmer and we had a GAP Promo at the Samford Show last Sunday. The dogs had a great time, I finally got to meet Katy the Greaty in person and not just read her blog. GuacOMOle still has a leaky willy. For your viewing pleasure I give you the linkage to Katy's manpad expose. Tigez missed Gracie who seems to be his favorite girly greyhound who belongs to Brooke. Tiger actually was SO OVER the standing up all day thing while at a Promo and he did lie down, hey! I have piccies to prove it, too!

It was great, especially after we found some spinach and cheese rolls (like sausage rolls without the sausage lol) and I bought 2 so I could share with my boy...and of course I had to share with the other food hounds as well *sigh*. But it was much nicer to intentionally share than what Mister Wally booger was doing. He tried to sneak our tea cakes off the table and ended up getting scolded but not before chomping on a mouthful of yummy plastic container whilst dragging the cakes off the table. Don't worry, the cakes were saved by yours truly and Wally was given a treat so he wouldn't think I was mad at him.

Other than that the day was nice, we talked to lots of potential adopters and Katy and I drooled over things remembered from back home that we just can't get here...you know, like REAL Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream or truly excellent Mexican food. What else are southern wimminses gonna talk about except food? Hehehehe.

Oh wait, And I almost forgot Banjo, another of Brooke's boys. He's "special" but seems to get along with Tiger nicely, they even had a bit of a snuggle during the show.

Pics later but now I gotta run. Master of the house, C~ himself calls, and we MUST watch Doctor Who episodes before we retire.

Just for fun....

2007-07-13T21:18:00.000+10:00

I was playing around on Dogster and found something I thought quite cute: This is Tigez' Peculiar Aristocratic Title:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Bishop Lord Tigez the Wholesome of Buzzing St Helens
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

And Mine LMAO!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Very Lady Kimmie the Coherent of Londinium-le-Thames
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

And C~'s (His is the best, I think)

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
His Most Noble Lord C~ the Evanescent of Leighton in the Bucket
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I'd like to thank the Academy... I mean uhhhhh Dupont ahem

2007-07-11T21:06:00.000+10:00

It's freakin' winter and I'm dreaming of salads?!? Just what the frack is going on here? I think this is Mother Nature's way of screwin' with my poor little mind in just one more way, LOL!

I've only been here a year and a half and my body still thinks it's time for Summer although at the same time I'm terribly grateful for the much cooler weather we are having. Or should I just go ahead and say it's FREAKING COLD!!!!!!! BRRRrrrr!

Yup, last night it got down to 6 degrees Celsius, for the rest of us folks that is 33 F. A Wee bit too cool when one has no insulation to speak of in one's house. At this time I'd like to take a brief moment to thank the Dupont company for making carpet fibres.... Oh hell yeah I'm grateful for that carpet in my bedroom because the rest of my house qualifies as a meat locker between 4 pm and 12 noon. I'd also like to thank my husband for granting me the opportunity to turn the teensy electric heater all the way up to maximum every night and tolerating flannel sheets as well.

Now I shall take a bow, exiting stage left. I'm off to snuggle up to my male heaters a.k.a. C~ and The Tigez ( better known as The Hubby and The Faithful Dog) cuz mah tootsies are coooooold, ya'll.

Celebrating July 4th Down Under

2007-07-05T10:21:00.000+10:00

I could have said Aussie style but sheesh all we had were some ribs I slathered with Emeril's Essence and some olive oil and baked them in the oven for a few hours. This we ate with relish and downed some Golden Grove Muscat Liqueur whilst watching the last State of Origin footy match betwixt Queensland and New South Wales. NSW won darnit but hubby shall live.

Hrmmmm, Tiger got in a very unfair fight with a cat a couple of weeks ago and he lost. When I got home from work I found a very small patch of kitty fur just beyond the back steps and Tiger was moaning and whining and all gimpy and refused to get off the sofa once he got inside, so what ensued was a long trip to the vet when C~ got home a few minutes later. After a checkup and some antibiotics, pain killers, and compresses were prescribed we got home with a dopey doggy that was mighty hungry and all sooky to boot.

Tigez is all better now thank goodness but he's been following me around like he's afraid of having me out of his sight. He even comes when I call him now, too. Dunno if the cat incident has anything to do with it but whatever, it's working lol.

I've been lucky enough to have had to call in sick the past 2 days with a bout of gastritis apparently picked up from work and today is my normal day off during this months schedule so I'm trying to get a few things done but all my body wants to do is take a nap.

It doesn't help that it went from nice and warm this morning to cool and windy, either. Feels like a knife cutting through ya when it blows....brrrrrrrrr. So, that's what I've been up to other than the usual housework on top of work work. GACK! Real life sucks sometimes don't it?

Ah well, life goes on and will improve I'm sure of it.

Oh! For the love of Cornbread!

2007-07-01T17:40:00.000+10:00

I have been having some serious winter food cravings lately and last night I made some awesome cornbread to go with tonights black-eyed peas and corned beef.

Well, it started out with C~ telling me that we HAD to use up the milk quickly before it went bad, so we started thinking of stuff to cook with milk. For my share I made some scalloped potatoes, he pulled out a corned beef so he could make some fritters later on this week....ugh! the thoughts of all that grease flying everywhere sets my teeth on edge! LOL. He does clean it up, though...that is AFTER he left it overnight one time and I had the mother of all conniption fits one morning upon discovering cold grease covering every inch of the counter, stove, and floor closest to the stove. ALl I have to say about that is EWWWWWWWW!

So, I made the cornbread. The scalloped potatoes took way too long to cook and I ended up not even getting to eat them with supper, but that's ok there was plenty without it.

I have had some dried black-eyed peas sitting around for ages and keep telling myself I'm going to cook them when I get the right seasoning stuff. Well, a few weeks ago I bought some Speck.
It looks wonderful...it tastes wonderful, too. The first thing I tried it in was baked beans, ohhhh yummo! It's this cured bacony pork stuff known most the world round as MEAT and oh boy is it ever good. Hey, I was looking for fatback or streak of lean but they just do not seem to carry that here, so I opted to check out this Speck stuff and am glad I did. Hey! I was about to steal one of Tiger's bacon bones but felt I'd make that a last resort, though I have found tons of recipes for their use in human food...so, bacon bones, not just for dogs anymore *grin*. Just check out any British or Aussie recipe site and you will find plenty of them ... something like a hock but not exactly.

Anywho, I firgured I'd share my cornbread recipe with ya'll since I've had to learn to improvise with stuff on hand and cornmeal is very difficult to find here and when I have it's so very fine it makes awful cornbread so I use polenta instead. This is a recipe I found on the net and have altered it to suit the ingredients I have.

Alber's Cornbread
1 cup polenta
1 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder (still use it because it makes it rise nicely)
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

PREHEAT oven to 400°F or 200 C . Grease 8-inch-square baking pan.
COMBINE corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Combine milk, oil and egg in small bowl; mix well. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until blended. Pour into prepared pan.
BAKE for 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Serve warm.

**I have also added 1 TBSP of honey to it as well to make it even sweeter and it is very nice.**

I am sooooo loving this! So far, my peas are boiling nicely and should be ready quite soon!

Ta Ta for now I'm off to speed supper up and check out the latest Torchwood episode and adventures in the T.A.R.D.I.S. . BTW, if any of you have never watched Dr. Who please check it out. You just don't know what you are missing. I feel so deprived to have had a childhood that was bereft of this wonderful show. Those in America will probably find it on the BBC Channel.

Back in the saddle

2007-06-18T09:01:00.000+10:00

I haven't been blogging lately, so sorry. But there have been many reasons for it. One of them being that I was being "stalked" by someone locally which was a little scary for awhile, at least until I discovered who it was that was doing it. They were making some pretty nasty comments and just generally making me dread logging in to see what was said *sigh*. Luckily this person seems to have lost interest in me and my little blog. Thank God for small miracles!

So here I am once again. I have had so much happen the past few weeks I don't even know where to start.

Last week we bought a new king size bed!!!! Yippeeeeeee!!!!!!! Now we will be able to fit the both of us AND Tiger into it comfortably. At least I hope so, it will be delivered on this Saturday, so we shall see, eh? This past weekend was spent out shopping for all the new bedroom stuff to fit the bed, like sheets (flannel ones since it's winter) and new doona and cover for it, mattress protector, etc.

We will also be moving my computer into the bedroom so I will have a warm place to sit, right now I'm in the kitchen dinette and it is damn cold!!!!! We have a small space heater that warms up the bedroom quite nicely but doesn't do much for the rest of the house lol.

Since I've switched medicines, I'm really feeling the cold like never before and even though it is a relief it has been hard to sit down and type with frozen fingertips like I'm doing now. SO many mistakes grrrrr that it takes twice as long to type anything. So now I'm off to move my bookshelf and its contents to make room for the computer and desk and also unearth more winter clothing to wear....hopefully I shall find my fleece pajamas and some nice warm socks for my tootsies.

Tata for now!
K-

Viewing life through a stained glass window darkly....

2007-06-01T07:45:00.000+10:00

Oh. My. Gawd! I have become one of THOSE people....you know the ones. The people that have no clue what the hell is going on in the world. I was reading something on a forum I frequent and was flabbergasted to read a blurb about Rosie not being on The View any longer....wait...since when was Rosie O'Donnell on The View? HUH?!?

I had to Youtube it to find the episode which has her and ELizabeth Hassellbeck fighting. Wait, who the FARK is this Elizabeth chick? All I can say for sure (from watching the clips) is that she's some right-wing blonde that thinks Bush hung da moon all on his own. Ummm yeah, I like Rosie, k?

Then I read where Isaiah Washington is back on Grey's Anatomy. He LEFT? When? Ok, that I can live with because those of us Down Under are behind a season or so when it comes to the most poopular shows in America and Britain *sigh*. I can even live with movies being released later over here. What pisses me off is that unless I sit at my computer reading all the American pop culture websites or stay at home to catch Entertainment Tonight (yesterdays show in America) that comes on mid afternoon...which, of course, I do not remember that it is on or even what channel it airs on sheesh! Gimme a break...I'm still catching up with what evil Sammie Brady is doing in Salem (from last year of course!)...yeah yeah, don't give me a hard time, I've been watching Days of Our Lives since I was 12 - ever since Bo and Hope got married.

I find it odd that living in another part of the world people just don't get that no one here knows who the heck Katie Couric or Jay Leno are. Americans just automatically assume that the whole world watches American television, even tv shows that are blatantly US-centric...like The Today Show or Good Morning America. Of course even in Oz we have our own Today Show...and even Big W (no affilation with Wal-Mart) has the big smiley signs the same as Wal-Mart does.

Another thing...of course I don't watch The Weather Channel (from the USA) because ummmm our weather channel shows only Australian weather here, so no I do not know all about the latest hurricane or tornado that hit Kansas. I guess I've become jaded and unworldy not knowing what the heck is going on all over the place at once but then when I lived "back home" all the international news was so skewed to portray Americans and America in the best light possible and didn't really realise this until I was over here during the English Subway Bombings. I was quite shocked to see the comments made by President Bush to the British people that quite clearly showed his lack of caring and concern when he obviously expected the entire freaking world to back us up when the World Trade Center was bombed. Not surprisingly this interview where GB walked out on a BBC reporter was not shown within the USA...but was shown on Australian tv.

That gives one a bit of insight into how things really are and it is also not surprising that most of the world views most things American with disgust.

So while I may complain about not being able to be very up to date on the goings on of the rest of the world I am secure in the knowledge that I now have a little perspective even if I do miss a few things "back home"....one of those things being Taco Bell, of course.

This post is most definitely tongue-in-cheek and meant as total satire. As you can imagine I am proudly American, a card carrying member of the Democratic Party, and cannot wait until I am also eligible for Australian citizenship. I like being a part of the entire world. Kind of like peanut butter and steak, you never knows what you are missing until you take a bite out of life and let the juices run down your chin.

Smiling in the rain, just smiiiiiiling in the rain....

2007-05-25T14:46:00.000+10:00

What a wonderful feeling....I'm hap-py A-gain.......wait, wrong words but what the hay!

Wow! This past couple of weeks has been an adventure to say the least. I went from excruciating gawdawful kill-me-now pain to less pain than I've had since '98. I'm feeling better, I'm smiling, and I've even laughed a bit the past few days.

Things are starting to look up but I'm kinda scared shitless that it will all end soon, that this is all a dream or a fairytale or something. I feel pretty cool to be honest. No ups and downs, well not many anyway and I can think clearly as well as get around and MOVE! Honestly, I do move kinda slow but it's gettin better lol.

I've done laundry and washed the dishes today and I'm still upright. I worked the past two days and haven't keeled over from walking home from the train station - which is a brisk 12-15 minute walk and believe me I walk FAST cuz it's dark early now and the streetlights aren't all that bright, not to mention we don't live in the safest neighborhood - not terrible like New Orleans, but not really great either.

Tonight I MUST get on the ball and order Tigez some pj's. He was SO cold last night after supper that he was vibrating!!! I guess that's the greyhound equivalent of shivering. Poor fella. So he slept in his coat but first I stuck him in the bed with me and covered hims up like an eskeemo, turned off the ceiling fan, and cuddled with him til he started panting from being too hot...poor thang! This took a whopping 15 minutes lol, then I had to uncover him - I was freezing btw. My new medicines make me cold instead of hot, which is a nice change of pace.....shall we say Whhooooopeeeeeeee? I'd rather be cold any day of the week than hot. I mean sheesh! one can only get so nekkid, ya know? I'd rather wear layer upon layer of clothing despite the fact that I do sort of resemble the pillsbury doughboy .... or maybe the Michelin Man? *snicker*

Blahhhhging

2007-05-18T09:30:00.000+10:00

I need a break from the pressures of trying to blog regularly. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop but it means that I may not be posting regularly until I get some stuff straightened out. My brain is mushy and all squishy...wanna poke it and see? Ewwwww you know you don't REALLY wanna do that!

I am having problems with my pain levels. I can't think clearly or do much of anything to be honest, just getting up in the morning and feeding my dog is about it. I have gone to my doctor and we are switching my medicine for my chronic back pain from a past surgery to remove tumour (just in case you didn't know what I was rambling on about).

Anywho, I have chronic pain. It makes me bitchy. It makes me cry. It makes me want to scream and somedays I get sort of left alone to do my thing. Not the past few months. It has just gotten steadily worse and worse so this past monday I went to my Doc and laid it on the line to her. Increase my meds, change my meds PLEASE! I am in pain, I need more, I need something because sitting hurts, standing hurts, and lying down hurts...basically just being hurts.

I have to live with this, I know it, I've known it from the day I was told I needed surgery or I would die. I consider myself lucky that I didn't end up a para- or quadriplegic which was a serious possibility after the surgery. So now I deal with pain every single minute of every single hour of every single day of my life. I try so very hard to not let it define me but that can be difficult. I know many people won't understand because they have never experienced pain to this degree but those who do will hope I get better soon *fingers crossed*.

I don't often talk about this pain with anyone and the only ones that have ever known just how serious it is is my doctors, family, and my husband. Why don't I talk about it I'll bet you're wondering. Well it's because most people can understand the pain of having a bad cough or an aching back...for a few days or maybe even a few weeks, but pain that doesn't EVER go away, and not only that but it pretty much guaranteed to last for a lifetime and get worse if anything, but never ever get any better.

The only things that have gotten better is the method of pain control. I don't mean an aspirin or even anti-inflammatories (which I'm allergic to - so that takes out an entire class of drugs for me), I'm talking about morphine type pain. Not the 5 or 10 mg someone might get for a kidney stone but 40-80mg per day and sometimes codeine to help with breakthrough pain. It's difficult to explain what knowing that I will always be in pain has done to me.

I have learned to accept it but it took months in therapy to accept that I even needed surgery and once that was over to accept my physical limitations.

I wish that having chronic pain didn't stigmatize people then more sufferers would be open and up front about it. But most don't understand that CP is as much a disease as diabetes is...it cannot be cured only controlled and sometimes control is very difficult. It causes depression and anxiety, which cause stress, which only serve to increase the pain and so it is a never ending cycle unless one can get (for a while at least) adequate pain control to break that cycle, but then tolerance sets in and the pain increases and the cycle begins once again.

Thankfully I have a wonderful, loving husband that is supportive and helps me out tremendously...even though I still have to do all the dishes lol.

I belong to a great support group which also helps me when I'm down and has been an invaluable source of information.

One of the reasons I haven't spent much time blogging is because I have been dealing with increasing pain and obviously I'd developed a tolerance to the medicine I've been on for the past year and some months. I had to decisions to make about my course of treatment, future plans, and whatnot. I decided to talk to my doctor about not only increasing the medicine but also changing it to something different (an equivalent) but different formulation that helps the medicine last longer. I was taking a med. that was supposed to last 12 hours but only lasted 8 for me. Through some research I came across one that is a sustained release of morphine that lasts the full 12 hours (for most people) so this is what I wanted to try, as opposed to what I've been taking which is basically a long acting percocet type of medicine.

The principle is the same with the long acting and sustained release but in reality it can work much differently for different people because of body chemistry, tolerance levels, and many other reasons besides.

I have spent the last few days sleeping, eating (barely), feeling nauseated, and very very dizzy as my bodybecomes adjusted which will hopefully happen REALLY soon! So until that time I'll be dragging my bum around attempting to continue a daily routine.

Btw, if this posts sounds self-pitying it wasn't meant to at all just kind of laying it all out there in the most simplistic manner to get it off my chest and also to explain what's happening to me at this time - and has been in the recent past.

Namaste,
K-

Dog Tired

2007-05-13T11:40:00.000+10:00

We awoke this morning to rain. Yippeeeeeee! Boy oh boy do we need rain and lots of it. But this made for a really tired puppers and moi. This is what Tigez looked like yesterday when we got home from the Ipswich Show. We went with several others to promote GAP to potential new adoptive parents and foster carers.

This is a REALLY tired boy and he doesn't mean to look so cute, but he can't help it.

Here we are just hanging out as the day sort of winds down, a few of the dogs were off for walks while it was slow. That's me petting Fred. You can't really see it well but Fred has the bushiest tail I've seen on a greyhound... it looked a bit like a possum tail, in fact, Fred was pretty fluffy ALL over. In the front of the pic as Taz (standing black female) and Amy (brindle lying down).

A good time was had by all, but it left those in our house kind of winded and down for the count. We got in, had supper and I started feeling a bit off, so I headed to bed and I think I was comatose for about an hour when I noticed that there was no hubby or pooch present. Hrmmm, a situation I needed to remedy fast. Tigez was passed out on the sofa, hubs in front of his computer. Tiger followed me back to the bed and curled up with me while I called out to hubby to come watch some tv whilst I was still sort of awake.

One out of two ain't bad in some cases. I fell asleep with Tiger on one side and hubby on the other only to wake a little while later with Tiger not having moved a muscle (unusual but not surprising since he was so tired) and hubby having rolled over and had my t-shirt pinned underneath him and I couldn't move. Aaaack!

Ok, shoved dog off bed, extricated myself from underneath C~ and drifted back to sleep. What a day, it was fun but I think I need a few days to recover.

Oh I'll bet you're wondering what happened to me. Well, last week a migraine had its way with me for 4 days and by the time I recovered it was time for weekly cleaning and back to work 3 days this week. I was pretty busy with all the stuff I had to do after being out of commission for so long. Not to mention I didn't want to read anything that might make that headache come back, so my online time was really limited.

Anywho, I'm back and feeling a bit better. I'm slowly catching up on reading blogs and housework (there's always more of that to do).

Da Plane! Da Plane!

2007-05-05T17:21:00.000+10:00

This is a cute shot of Tigez watching our lorikeet friends in the backyard. What's cool is that he is SO intent on them. He isn't afraid of birds if they come swooping over him - well, so far he hasn't been dive-bombed by pissed off magpies lol.

He is also attuned to airplanes. It's just cool as heck watching him as he first hears the plane thentilts his head up, scanning the sky until the plane is in his sights and he stands there like a statue watching the plane fly overhead until it's completely gone, then he goes on about his business of sniffing out every corner of the yard...which he MUST do at least 3 times daily lmao!
He's like a guard dog sniffing his territory - too cute.

BTW, this pic is in our backyard, so on the upper left hand corner you can just see the edge of a bedroom window. Not much of a patio, but the carport is nice and big, we never park the car in it to give Tiger more play room.

Run Free Sweet Fletcher...

2007-04-30T15:36:00.000+10:00

This post is just for Adele and Fletcher. Fletcher is going to the bridge this afternoon. He has cardiomyopathy and the little guy just can't get enough oxygen to support him. Adele took him knowing this day would come sooner than later, and today has become his day. I have never met either Adele nor Fletcher, but have read her blog and waited for updates on our yahoo group almost daily to see how he was doing. I will miss seeing pics of his big sooky and innocent looking face. Adele, please try to take comfort in knowing he won't be suffering or out of breath anymore and all the bridge babies will be there waiting to welcome him and show him what a great place it is. Fly free with the angels little one.

*pic taken from the Chicken's Blog since I don't have any of my own*

Bay City Rollers Saturday Night

2007-04-30T14:50:00.001+10:00

OMG LOVE THESE GUYS!!!

Response to comments:

2007-04-30T14:19:00.000+10:00

Mooselet: I try never to feed any of those darn trolls lol. Thanks for all the great advice!

Prof: Well apparently when one is the "owner" of a yahoo group people sometimes get upset with the rules. But rules are there to prevent chaos and thanks to Mooselet and Tors we have a good group of moderators to generally control things, but when one person grumbles stuff comes to a head at times.

Anon: I am very much disliked because I am honest, to the point, and try my utmost to be fair. They got my blog address because I do not hide who I am and in not hiding I put myself out there to be picked on.

There are a lot of reasons people get off on causing trouble, mostly it is due to lack of self-esteem, selfishness, and a deep seated need to be noticed. We have all seen kids that when they are good they don't get much attention but when they do bad things they get tons of attention, albeit the wrong kind, but it's attention nonetheless.

Since I am the owner I'm the one that gets blamed for everything lol. I have the final say in any matter and some people do not agree with stuff that I decree. I don't see why not, I mean sheesh I am the Goddess of Everything, aren't I? *falls on the floor lauging my ass off*
I am NEVER wrong, never, ever...but when I am, I do apologise - well, once I'm over the indignation of being found wrong!

And Now I have had a brain fart. I had all this wonderful stuff in my head to say and it went poof. Buggah! Que music as I toddle off dancing to my little tunes in my head...oh wait, that's my mp3 player, never mind.

Sing Along all you old folks who remember the Bay City Rollers: S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y.NIGHT...
S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y.NIGHT, dumm dee dumm saturday nighhhhhhhIIIIIITTTTTTTE saturday niiiiiIIIIIIIIIITE.

I've been a very bad girl...

2007-04-28T16:20:00.000+10:00

...And I feel ever so guilty. Yup, you got it, I've not been blogging. Why, you ask? Well a few things have come up like I was sick last week, then last weekend I was too busy cleaning house and doing laundry to make up for being sick, and this week I worked and I promised C~ that I would spend less time on the internet.

It was becoming "not a joke" according to him - referring to how much time I was spending on the internet between my yahoo group, blogs I read, and my own blog, plus the greyhound forums and whatnot I regularly read for info. Whew, that's a lot of time logged to be honest and lately it has just gotten out of hand.

Oh! And the few snarky commenters on a particular yahoo group that is by invitation only in which someone who shall remain nameless put a linky to my blog and then all those crazy bitches decided to come over to my blog and unleash holy hell and post nasty comments on MY blog not relating to my blog entries at all but instead related to some other total crapola that I'm glad to say is over and done with - Or it had better be over and done with, let's put it that way, because if it is brought up again in one of my groups discussions then those bitches are outta there.

Who in the heck posts anonymous comments on a blog and actually thinks they can accomplish something that a nice email cannot? I respond far more nicely to honey blah, blah, blah...
I don't tolerate bullshit and you will find that I'm totally honest in all things. Perhaps too honest - blunt may be more appropiate - but you will not catch me playing nice nice just to make someone like me, either ya do or ya don't and if you don't then I've got no time for you. Talk to the hand as the teenagers say.

As for comments, I disabled anonymous comments once, but won't do it again, as I have the power to delete anything I wish and as it's my blog I'll only have stuff posted that I like....so unless you want lavish praise upon me, tell me how much you love me and my witchy 'tude, send me choccies (cyber will do nicely thankya), or beg me for nekkie pix...oh wait, sorry off in my own little dreamworld there.

Cough, cough anywho, keep up the reading, I promise I'll try to keep up better and not take such long breaks again. Even if I have to sneak in here in the middle of the night while HE is asleep *grin*.

Still blogging

2007-04-26T17:50:00.000+10:00

Yes I am still blogging. I have just been really busy working and getting over a bug last week that really laid me pretty low for a while...hence the not being able to get out and about to have anything to write about.

I do promise to write something tomorrow!!!!

5 Questions: an Interview

2007-04-15T07:27:00.000+10:00

It’s not the sort of meme you get tagged with, you have to request the tag. It’s an interview meme. I requested that Avitable ask me any five questions, and I have to answer them here. If you want to participate, just read the instructions at the bottom. So here we go…

1. What is your favorite location and why?

My favorite location is New England because I love everything about it. I love how, in Maine, the mountains meet the coast and I love both the mountains and the beaches. I love the influence on culture Boston has had, I love all the cities and small rural towns. I love how they are so picturesque. I think Providence, Rhode Island is probably the most beautiful of all NE cities. My favorite time of year in NE is Autumn, but I'd go anytime of year if I could, and it is where I'd like to retire...not certain which city or town I'd like to retire in because they are all so wonderful...and I love the East Coast - it's just in my blood.

2. What is your biggest regret?

My biggest regret is that I didn't skewer my ex any worse in our divorce, I gave in too easily to his demands and he made out with far more than I did, even though I was the wronged party.

3. List your top five movies of all time.

This is kind of hard because I love so many movies, but I'll make a go if it.
1) Same Time Next Year - Fav Drama
2) Young Frankenstein & History of the World Part 1 - Fav Comedies
3) Godfather Series ( I love them all, I can't pick just one)
4) Black Beauty (hold over from my childhood)
5) Chocolat

4. What is your proudest achievement?

Graduating from College after working my butt off to pay for it myself

5. What is your worst personality trait?

My worst personality trait is that I'm extremely demanding of myself and hold myself to very high standards - I guess one could call me a perfectionist.

Here are the rules if you want to keep it going:

Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions.
You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.