What-cheeses-me-off Wednesday

Yes it's hump day again, and appropriately, I'm getting the 'ump:


1. Apparently our office is the last in line to be visited by the lunch van.  I didn't know this and have been resigned to having only 4 things to choose from every day, all crappy. That's because every office on the old lunch van trail before us gets the good stuff.  Not happy, Jan!

2. Socks that after one wash shrink and go all tight around the lower extremeties threatening to cut off your blood circulation.

3. My hairdresser of 23 years who has decided to abandon my hair and seek greener pastures in Queensland, where she intends to grow garlic.  What am I going to do?

4. People who sniff and don't have the wits to use a hanky.

5. People who speak loudly and have loooooong conversations on their mobile phones on trams/trains, making it impossible to read a book and keep your train of thought. We are not fascinated by your banal conversations - get over yourself.

6. People who have had a humour bypass and look at you blankly when you throw them your wittiest joke of the day.

7.  Spiders.  Small, large, black and/or hairy.  Get out of my house!

8. Shops that announce their opening hours and then don't open on time.  A fact you only discover AFTER you have filled the parking meter with coins.

9. People who send you terribly nice emails pointing out that word capitalisation is apparently email-speak for YELLING and even BULLYING.  Apparently no-one has told them that once-upon-a-time capitalisation was used for, um, capitalisation. This meant that you were em-pha-siz-ing something.  Who decided it meant yelling, I'd like to meet them really I would.  Was there a vote? If so, I missed it. 

10. I didn't think I'd get to 10, but hey, piece of cake!

And speaking of cake, my daughter in France sent me a lovely pic of what those lucky Frenchies get to eat.

That's all folks!

Inspirational Wednesday

...as opposed to what-cheese-me-off-Wednesday.  Let's alternate, shall we?  One week to let off steam, one week to get over yourself and think of lovely and inspirational things.

I've just joined Pininterest and hey, I'm still learning how to 'Pin' things I like.  Apparently it's easy, but we'll see.

Anyway, here is one thing I found when I had a present for my friend who has just had a baby and decided to get it gift-wrapped from Wen & Ware in Ballarat (they have a store in Malvern, Vic too).  I must confess I sometimes just buy something from their store because their wrapping skills are to die for.  Nothing fancy, just simple elements put together with great style, whether the gift is small or large.




Sweet



I see red, I see red, I see re-ed!



I'm not angry, it is not Wednesday - yet!

I'm literally seeing red as I have just completed a red bag trimmed with faux black leather, here. I'm very excited about it - it's a great size, not too big, and comfortable to wear on the shoulder.

Sadly I have used the last remnant of men's black shirt ruffle - none left boo hoo

Inside has a ring for keys, a phone pocket & a zip pocket (not shown)

AND NOW FOR THE FRENCH BIT

I'm delighted that my other half has brought me back some beautiful red fabric from Paris (name-dropper, I hear you say).  He touched down at Tullamarine last Friday.   I just can't wait to make it up into a bag for some lucky person (me?). It is from Tissus Reine, 3-5, Place St Pierre, Métro Anvers / Abbesses.
I have been to this store on a previous visit in 2010 and it is right below the Sacre Coeur, in the main fabric area in Paris.  The link above or here will hopefully take you to their page which at the moment is featuring some mouth-watering Liberty print fabrics. Check them out at   http://www.tissus-reine.com/

But here is the divinely red fabric.  I think you'll agree my other half has excelled himself.




Ever so slightly naughty - and very French

 

and here it is echoing the shape of my jewellery stand

  Hmmmmmnnn, I wonder if fabric buying trips to Paris are tax-deductable??

  I love Paris in the springtime.....la la la la la la la

What-cheeses-me-off Wednesday

Okay, in the absence of any pics of any (finished) bags to show you, I’ve decided to have a what-cheeses-me-off Wednesday.

These are 10 of my current very un-favourite things:

1.       Channel-surfing with my remote night after night on free-to-air TV only to find the same things are on again and they weren’t even that good the first time around.

2.       My daughter and my husband having a really fabulous time in France while I am stuck at my desk, AND reminding me with photos. Thanks

3.       Food writers and food presenters referring to the good old Aussie biscuit as a “cookie” TIME AND TIME AGAIN!  Repeat after me, we are not Americans, we are not Americans!  Once upon a time not so long ago, saying cookie was the preserve of the cookie monster on Sesame Street. Wake up to yourselves please and be proud to keep our Aussie vernacular alive.

4.       The person who ran into my new car and then mentioned he didn’t have comprehensive insurance.  Thanks, I can sure pick ‘em.

5.       Strange people who sit next to me on Melbourne trams. They seem drawn to me somehow. Again, I can sure pick ‘em.

6.       The person who invented the self-clean oven.  I bought one. They don’t self-clean, in fact the self-cleaning bits of the oven need to be cleaned periodically in order to practise their self-cleaning technique.  Irony, anyone? When I find the aforementioned person, I’d like to hit them over the head with their own oven.

7.       The oven griller – even more difficult to clean than the oven.  See suggested solution in 6 above.

8.       Trying to work out ADSL-1 and ADSL-2 broadband  provider for regional areas.  Harder to come to grips with than trying to juggle knives whilst riding a unicycle. Wireless modem, anyone?

9.       Medical and dental receptionists calling you sweetie, darling, dear, pet and being thoroughly condescending when you reach a certain age, as though your brain has suddenly gone into meltdown the moment you turned 49. Remind yourselves to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  You will be 49 one day and then look out - karma will bite you in the bum!

10.   Offshore call centres.  Enough said, you’ve all been bitten!

I'd love to hear your own very un-favourite things.  Have a whinge on what-cheeses-me-off Wednesday!

And so we mourn Davy Jones (1945-2012)

I want to dedicate my page today to Davy Jones, who died yesterday (29 Feb 2012) of a heart attack at age 66. What a shock!
My sister and I used to rush home from school to watch the Monkees and never missed an episode.  We joined the Monkees fan club and listened to their records over and over until the grooves nearly wore out!  We collected Monkees buble gum cards and swapped them with other devotees until we had a full set, then carefully pasted them altogether until we had a giant-size poster of them.

Monkee swaps

When the Monkees toured Australia I saw them on 19 September 1968 at Festival Hall in Melbourne, 2 days before my 14th birthday.

There were 2 concerts in Melbourne, I went to the 2nd one on 19 Sept.

It was overwhelming to be in that hall of teenagers and we stood on our seats and cried and screamed for 2 hours.  When it finished I was deaf from the noise for hours afterwards, and I suspect that probably affected my hearing to this day.



Mike, Davy, Mickey



An early pic from their TV series

Ah.. if only we could stay young and beautiful for ever !

So - thank you for the music Davy, the fun, the thrills and your contribution to the mad and wonderful Sixties for those of us who were lucky enough to be there and enjoy it.

Davy Jones - gone but definitely not forgotten