You probably heard all about this

Some new Robert Burns poems have been discovered.

999 Challenge

No, nothing to do with emergencies!


Fancy an extra reading challenge for 2009? Over at the wonderful LibraryThing they are gearing up for the 999 Challenge ~ 9 books in 9 different categories, all read in 2009. There is only one rule and that is you can only have 6 cross over books in your 9 catagories. For an added challenge, try completing your books by 9/9/09! You pick the categories yourself, just post here and let us know how you're doing.

I was alerted to this by colleagues who are gearing up for the challenge. They are going to cheat ever so slightly by starting on their reading now.

Robin has chosen her 9 categories : *Books Made Into Movies *Short Listed and Man-Booker Prize Winners *Word of Mouth *Chic Lit *Classic Reading *Australian Authors *Biographies *1001 Must Reads *Crime Fiction.

Scarlett's lists comprise of : *Embarassing gaps in my reading *Stagnant bookself books *Orange prize winners *Man-Booker prize winners *Books made into movies *1001 must reads *Australian authors *Recommended reads *Crime.

The 999 challenge even has its own blog.

BTW : Have I told you about LibraryThing? It's a wonderful site where you can record all the reading you do and/or all the books you own. You can give them star ratings and write reviews. You can also see the comments and ratings of other people who have read the same books as you. The link above takes you to my LibraryThing page - get your own account. There's my LibraryThing widget way down on the right side, showing random books in my list.

All but finished with the kitchen . . .

. . . but it was a close call.

Sam came on Tuesday and put on handles, the bulkheads and other stuff. We are just one handle short - the kit came without all the pieces. The other problem is that one of the drawers under the cooktop is not fitting properly and sticks out about 5 cm so Sam will have to come back and fix that.

This morning Adam the electrician came. He had to rootle around under the house to get the dishwasher connected up. Had a horrid ten minutes or so after he went under the house first - he couldn't get under there. Had visions of having to remodel the whole kitchen! Armed with a torch, however, Adam went back in and under and found a way round what initially appeared to be a brick wall going the length of the house. Dishwasher connected and has done one wash successfully.

Next problem was one of the fans in the wall oven. It was rattling around quite noisily. Adam had the oven out of the wall and the lid off it trying to fix it but it still rattled and I thought at least one day of the upcoming long summer holiday was going to be spent waiting for an Electrolux person to see to it. However, by the time Ian came home and I put the fan on for Ian to hear the problem, it was gone - in fact the oven fans are so quiet I had to open the oven door to check they were on at all.

So! The slideshow has been updated and you can look at it here.

Party Boy

It was Jamie's Year 10 formal last night. He wore the suit he wore to Jono and Narelle's wedding last year. I asked him last week to try it on and ensure it still fitted since he's had quite a growth spurt.
Yesterday morning, rushing to get to work, I asked if he'd tried the suit on. Yes he had. Then I asked to see it. Good job I did. It had toothpaste-like marks down the front and on one sleeve which I sponged off and the trousers looked like they'd been chucked in the general direction of the coathanger rather than carefully placed on one. So I arranged to leave work early in order to help him get ready.
Good job I did. I ironed the trousers and while preparing to iron the shirt found the collar and cuffs were filthy. I quickly scrubbed the shirt in the sink and shoved it in the dryer. Not impressed.
Anyway, he finally got away ok and had a great time although he lost his wallet during the evening, found it later but by then the the money was gone.

Another busy weekend

My Book Thieves book group had arranged to have brunch and do some shopping up in Leura instead of having our usual meeting this month so I was up early to be ready to go after meeting the others at Mary's house. We had a lovely brunch in a cafe where I had my favourite Italian-style hot chocolate -it has the consistency of thick custard and French toast. Yu-u-um.

We then went shopping starting with the book shop. It was not easy to get everyone out again - there were 10 of us - and some people were a bit startled when I shouted, "Time's up Book Thieves!" From there we went to the stationers shop - no ordinary paper and envelopes here, it is absolutely marvellous. The candle shop also got a thorough going through before we topped ourselves up with another cuppa before hitting the clothes and shoe shops. It was around 4pm before I got home.

Meanwhile, Ian had stayed home to let the tiler in to do the kitchen wall and to take Ishbel to Ruby's for a sleepover. We had the Valley Heights RFS dinner to go to on Saturday evening and Carolyn had offered to babysit Ish.

But before that there was a street Christmas party. That was great for us, giving us an opportunity to meet more of our neighbours, all of whom were very friendly. Most of the others have been in their houses between 1 and 2 years, ours being the last to be sold to civilians. Jodie, who was the lady who greeted us during our first week, has been in Red Crowned Court for 6 years and had lots of gossip about previous owners. According to her, our house was where the high heid yins lived. I was sorry to have to leave such a friendly gathering so soon but off we went to the golf club.

It was the Valley Heights RFS 50th Anniversary dinner. I was on the organising committee and we'd worked hard all year to try and raise funds to pay for as much as possible to keep costs down. We didn't get a lot of support from the brigade when we laid on such events as an underwear party. The main organiser was Bec and she'd arranged for an old truck, which one of the ex-members has lovingly restored, and the current Cat 1 to be at the golf club and we had a big group photo taken in front of it. Unfortunately, the dinner wasn't great and it was a bit dull; wish we'd been able to stay at the street party.

Sunday had Ian and I back up in Leura early. We had a very odd breakfast in a tiny little cafe (Mum may remember going there when she came over when Ishbel was an infant - you can only fit about 6 people in there). The staff spent the time we were there grumbling about other staff. Not nice. We were up there to look at a coffee table that Ian had seen a while back. We didn't end up with it in the back of the car but we did find a lovely lead-light standard lamp and table lamp for the sitting room and were very pleased with our purchases.

From Leura we went up to Katoomba to the RSPCA/Council pound. The boys keep complaining that Bella is not a real dog and we're looking at getting them one. We'll have to get a young dog though that will not object to Bella being around. The pound didn't have many dogs available for adoption and we've decided we're going to have to let the kids (or Jamie and Ishbel at least) in on the decision-making - dangerous as that may be. We think we might also have to go to the RSPCA pound at Yagoona where there will be more choice - or wait until after Christmas - the staff said there would be lots of puppies then. :(

We picked Ishbel back up on our way home and I was looking forward to a quick snooze after lunch but Cathy rang wanting to borrow the car so she could pick up some furniture she'd bought so I chummed her down to Penrith. We could only get one of the two tallboys she's bought in the car so we'll have to go again next weekend.

After that the groceries needed shopping for so out I went again. I was knackered by the time Ishbel went to bed and wasn't far behind her.

I was looking forward to a quiet Monday morning but all was chaos at work. We've been moved about down in Library HQ and new desks, etc had been put in some of the offices last week. It didn't go very smoothly though - the Children's team desk was WAY bigger than anticipated and when I went in to have a sticky beak at Vicki's office it was to find that they'd put two bookshelves on the desktop - and IN FRONT of the only window!!! Things had to be moved again on the weekend. I arrived on Monday to find there was no power to my desk, or Gillian's, or Jenny's or Patou's - we were the ones who HAD NOT been moved the week before! It was after 4pm before the electricians found the problem and fixed it!

Google launches new thinking person's search engine

Google is set to launch a new version of its omnipresent search engine that will question the cultural validity of people’s enquiries. Rather than instantly offering a comprehensive list of the most popular websites and images related to the keywords, the new version will offer its opinion on the subject of the enquiry and if it finds the request to be intellectually vacuous, will steer the user clear of the original search altogether.

Click here for the full article.

Hairdos

I had a hairdresser appointment yesterday afternoon. On Thursdays I get away from work early (it was originally to get Ishbel to soccer training during the winter), pick up Ishbel at the bus stop and we also have Ruby for the evening. I had to take the girls with me to the hairdresser until Ian got home from work.

The girls behaved very well, playing with a book that contained puzzles. The salon wasn't very busy and the apprentice, Mary, and a Winmalee High School student on work placement were washing the hair of a dummy and the girls were watching with fascination. Then Mary started to put curls in Ruby and Ishbel's hair. My hairdresser, Laura, also did a fancy french pleat in Ruby's hair.

Unfortunately, Robbie is away with the camera so we were unable to take photos but the girls were absolutely stoked with their 'dos'. Ishbel brushed her hair as lightly as possible this morning in the hope of preserving as many curls as possible. I saw her 'plumping' her hair up as she walked in to school this morning.

It all reminded me of the time we had school photos taken at Camberley Infants. Mum put my hair in curls. Dedicated tom-boy as I was, I was not impressed and was teased at school. I think Ishbel's the daughter you should have had, Mum, she would have really appreciated those curls!!!

I don't ever remember seeing that photo though, have you got it?

Sad day today

Ian is away up in Queensland today attending the funeral of Jono's grandmother (and Ian's former mother-in-law), Lorna, who died quite suddenly last weekend. Very sad for Sarah and her brother, Steven, Jono and Jono's grandfather, Ken who has been married to Lorna for over 60 years.

Kitchen update

The kitchen sink has been hooked up to the plumbing and we no longer have to wash up in the laundry :
Kitchen renovation slideshow

And talking about reeks . . .

The library has just got in a book called Auld Reekie : an Edinburgh anthology selected by Ralph Lownie and with a foreward by Alexander McCall Smith. It contains a variety of writings about Edinburgh by a variety of writers. I've only read a few pages but it looks like a nice little book to have on the shelves - might go and see if my local bookshop has it in, I've been trugging around for over a month with a book voucher in my wallet.

I dipped into it yesterday lunch time and came across this little nugget:

"The first thing that must strike any stranger is that Edinburgh is both by natural ordinance and man's contrivance a Capital. It was made to rule; it did rule; and it was robbed of its command. Its kingdom was absorbed. It became the head-place of a province . . .

You can see at a glance that Edinburgh was meant to put its stamp on Scotland, not to take its orders from London. In appearance it is sovereign to the heart of its stones . . . It is the natural capital of a divided country." Ivor Brown, Summer in Scotland (1952)

and just one more to remind GD, GT, Karen and I what we're missing right now . . .

"But Edinburgh pays cruelly for her high seat in one of the vilest climates under the heaven. She is liable to be beaten upon by all the winds that blow, to be drenched with rain, to be buried in cold sea fogs out of the east, and powdered with the snow as it comes flying southwards from the Highland hills. The weather is raw and boisterous in winter, shifty and ungenial in summer, and downright meteorological purgatory in the spring." Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh : Picturesque Notes (1879)