The Ginger and The Concise Oxford Dictionary

soon adv. 1. Not long after the present time ...in a short time ...

which leads me to:

short a., adv., n., & v.t. 1. a. Measuring little from end to end in space or time, soon traversed or finished.

and of course all of this relates to:

The letter

and a lack of:

patience (-shens) n. 1. Calm endurance of ...any provocation; perseverance; forbearance; quiet and self-possessed waiting for something; have no ~ with ..."

Apparently ...

Injuries sustained while trying to knee your husband in the bollocks* do not constitute wife beating.

Who knew?



* No bollocks were harmed in the making of this blog post.

How do I ...?

Make a proper linky?

I want my linkies to look spiffy. As in I say, 'Have a look at CNN today' and the CNN is underlined and you click on it and it takes you to CNN, instead of me putting a clunky hyperlink which displays the entire damn path.

There has to be a way, because other (less technologically challenged) people do it just fine.

Go on, tell me how. You know you want to.

On the perfect weekend

Life has been chaos the last few weeks, mostly courtesy of work, and I've been exhausted. You know that kind of tired where no matter how much sleep you get, or how little you do, everything still hurts and you just can't seem to catch up? Exactly.

Next weekend we've got family visiting and then we're heading away for a couple of days, and I really want to make the most of both, so my plan for this weekend just been was to chill, relax and regroup, which I think I did to perfection, or close enough.


Saturday I went for my usual bikini wax and eyebrow thing and then, feeling relaxed and fabulous (funny how getting your pubic hair ripped out by the roots whilst trying to be brave and not yell bad words can leave you feeling so chilled ... or perhaps it's more a state of catatonic horror? Either way, it works) I went and visited a friend and her beautiful new kitty, and we had tea and sticky buns for morning tea, and talked about shopping (heaven), ending the visit with a yet-to-be-designated future date for a shopping trip. Finished the day by walking the dogs, and then making an enormous mess in the kitchen which turned out to be very yummy cannelloni with home-made tomato, basil and ricotta sauce. Go me! And, of course, a good nights sleep.

Sunday was bliss ... I crawled out of bed at about 9, made myself a fresh coffee and a cream cheese and strawbery jam bagel, and then sat down and went through a great pile of Cuisine and House & Garden magazines, collecting recipes, and writing others that I've had lying about into my recipe book. I think it was about 11 before I finally climbed out of my PJs. I was taking the cat's lead ... she spent the morning blissfully stretched out on the kitchen table in the streaming sun, snoozing (I didn't have the heart to turf her off she looked so happy and cute - I'll just wash the tablecloth).


The rest of the day was spent baking chocolate brownies, walking dogs, house ordering, cleaning and examining the (much improved) household budget. I even thought about weeding the front garden. Thought, mind.

All in all, it's the stuff that great weekends are made of and I feel sooo much better.

The only problem with any weekend is that Sunday leads into Monday, and Mondays shouldn't be allowed.

And the winner is ...

Neither. I've been ruined.

Six months ago, I bought a new handbag for a quick $369.99 or something around that mark. Maybe $359.99? Anyway, I bought it without blinking.

Today, I stand before you a different woman in a budgety frame of mind.

I can't bring myself to spend $500.00, or even $400.00 on an overnight bag (helped along by the fact that I arrived home last night to a rates bill and a water bill, due one day apart). It's just an overnight bag. It's also $500.00 that we may need towards IVF.

But, on the bright side, because it's Friday and we're all about the bright side on Friday, Al's cousin flew up to Shanghai last night, and bless him, armed with pictures and guidelines, he is going shopping for my overnight bag. YAY for Al's cousin and his willingness to shop. We love that in a cousin. It's almost better than shopping myself because it's pretty much going to be a surprise, and, because it's China, it's probably only going to cost about 50 cents.

So, one for happy skippy joy!

Have a good weekend people! xo

Dilemmas, dilemmas (it's a tough life)

I mentioned the overnight bag dilemma on Tuesday (I think). I quite like both of these, though my preference is probably the Coast bag based on price. Buuuttt ... how cool is the Swannie one (in red and black check, of course)? Honestly, it's my favourite, but cheaper is better ... argh. So, I'm taking it to the vote. The husband prefers the Swannie one on the basis that the Coast one is too plain, and doesn't 'match' me.

Sooo ... Swannie one ($500.00)

(http://www.swanndribykarenwalker.co.nz/default.aspx?T=93&P=99)

( I should never have gone onto that website - they have the coolest tees, and there's a ranger jacket on there that I really like as well. And the hooded jersey ... Crap. Crap. Crap.)

Coast one ($414.00) ...





(http://www.coast.co.nz/Modules/Product/Product_Display.aspx?ID=10)




Thoughts? Anyone?

A picture speaks a thousand words

Two baths in two days does not a happy Jessie make.

What's a puppy to do though? Roll in lovely, stinky, disgusting things at the park and risk a bath, or not? Decisions, decisions.

The husband at least has learned a valuable lesson about puppy bathing. Or, more particularly, puppy drying after bathing ...

Day one

Me "Can you lift her out for me, and I'll towel her off?"

Him "Na. She'll be right. I'll just call her outside and she'll shake all the water off outside. Then we don't have to wash the towels"

Me "Uh, no, she won't. She'll jump out, shake it all over the bathroom, the hallway, me, soak the carpet, and then go and rub herself dry on the curtains in the lounge and then run outside and roll in the mud"

Him "No, she won't. See ..." and calls her outside (or rather, attempts to).

You can pretty much picture the trajectory from there. He calls her, she jumps out the bath, somehow transferring half the bath water onto the floor in the process (missing the towel on the floor completely), shakes off all over the bathroom, the hallway, me, soaks the carpet and then goes and rubs herself dry on the curtains in the lounge while the husband chases her around the house trying, in vain, to get her to go outside to shake off, while I chase him around the house threatening serious bodily injury.

Day two

Me "Can you lift her out for me, and I'll towel her off?"

Him "Ok" and lifts her out of the bath, straight into the waiting towel.