ugh, alcohol is bad for me. we had a housewarming/ dan's birthday bbq yesterday, which started at 2p and went until nearly 1a. so i'm feeling hard done by. it was heaps of fun though, lots of people i enjoyed hanging out with. a lot of people i didn't know very well (dan's cool young friends), that didn't really mingle but just hung out with each other, so it was a bit like two different parties for half the day. and for the first time, we had a gate crasher that wasn't invited by us. it only mattered because we don't like him. which i'm sure he picked up on because i'm really bad at hiding stuff like that.

there were lots of kids, which was heaps of fun for ruby. it worked out in one way, the young cool people that were here don't know how to say 'no' to children, which makes children immediately latch onto you, so all the sensibly aged people could have children out of their hair for awhile. awesome.

ruby was so exhausted by the end that she freaked out and went hysterical at 7.30 and i had to put her to bed. around that time i was feeling really done, but then the rock band started up and i got my second wind and sang for the rest of the night. my throat hurts today, but by god i love to sing.

i made a chocolate cake that was amazing if i do say so myself, the moistest cake i've ever made, i wish there had been leftovers but c'est la vie. it was fun but we won't be having that many people in here at once again anytime soon.

i've been exploring around our area a bit. the big giant shopping center near us has pretty much everything you'd expect, plus some interesting restaurants, including a tea house which is nice. and a 'burgers and pancakes' diner. and a bagel place. so ya.

the smaller village shops just nearby have lots of shops, a good grocery store, a good butcher, good bakeries, a good deli, and adequate fruit and veg. a hardware store which is a big plus, post office, bottle-o, library which looks nice, a doctor, a chemist, everything you need really. people out here call you things like "luv" which i'm not crazy about, and there's definitely a bit of nosy suburban queen culture. and i feel self conscious to talk out here because i'm always remembering i'm not australian, which didn't happen in the city. it's weird, but i can get used to it. it's just very much a place where people notice a new face.

today i'll go check out the mid level shopping center. i won't have a lot of reason to go there unless i really like it, but it does have a play area, which is a big plus on days like today when it looks like it's going to rain any second.

australia day was pretty great, even though i got sunburned and then had a mystery sickness. i feel better today, but sad i missed my high tea yesterday. i think sleeping heaps helped, which i could do because dan came home halfway through the day, he is very nice to me.

so the move went well, it cost less than last time. and it looks like we'll get our deposit back on the old place, which we didn't last time.

but we did have to take a go-get car a lot, so there'll be a big bill there. we were talking briefly about getting a car, but i think we're going to try really hard not to. the shopping area just close to us has pretty much all the shops we need, and it's maybe a 10-15 min walk. a car would no doubt be useful, but the car we could afford would not be great, and then you have the stress of break downs, and petrol is expensive, and it's like 1500 dollars a year here just to register and insure a car. the whole point of moving out here is to save lots of money, so i think we'll table a car for now.

i really like the place. fiona and adam came last night, and fiona remarked that it's the opposite of our old place, which i think is right on. where our old place was dark and cave like and dank, this place is light and airy and feels just cheery and nice. i think it will be much harder for me to get down here, and the lack of bugs is really just comfortable. i've been sleeping heaps better, and the air smells better too. there are trees everywhere you look out the windows, it's pretty great.

we're having a lot of trouble with services not having any record of our address, which makes us wonder if something shady is going on, but it's not really our problem so whatever.

so all is happy, unpacking proceeds apace!

so yesterday was the packing party. i'm still of two minds about it, i think asking people to help me pack and calling it a party is kind of lame. on the other hand, a lot of people don't hate doing things as much as i do. and they were generally the people that came. really packing was done by 3 or so anyway, and there was indeed real partying.

dan made perhaps the most lethal beer i've ever drunk, you could actually taste the liquor in it, which is crazy. between the dozen or so people that were here, we drank the entire keg. people were so so drunk. one friend actually puked. messy drunks everywhere! it's really lucky there was no more beer or things may have gotten out of hand. as it was it got just to the verge and then most people went home and passed out. i'm super grateful to everyone who came and helped. i have some ace friends.

and most of the packing is done now! of course there's still more to do, but the end is in sight. we move on saturday.

on wedenesday i go and take the citizenship test. wish me luck!

ugh, i feel simultaneously full and hungry this morning from the obscene amount of food i ate yesterday. one of the most delicious thanksgivings ever! one of the best turkeys i've ever done, and possibly THE best gravy i have ever tasted, period. we only had a few people over and everything people brought was absolutely delicious. so yum.

the turkey is always more expensive than i think it's going to be and it split our budget wide open.

i'll be writing up my turkey on my baking blog, but it might have to wait. i'm way behind on nanowrimo. i have about 20,000 words to do in the next 4 days. i got the last pep talk letter and he talked about how people in my position were the comeback kids, and how it seemed impossible but we could do it. maybe that was supposed to make me feel better, but i hadn't really considered it seemed impossible until he told me it did. anyway, i'm also kind of stuck on my story as well, so i guess i just have to push through. i'm pretty determined to do it though.

it's not, however, going to make me miss the official launch of the first ben and jerry's store in sydney tomorrow. free tasting of every flavor! and we ride the ferry to get there. fun saturday here i come!

here comes thanksgiving!

also, a certain something arrived in the mail for dan yesterday, that may or may not have been my xmas pressie. i'm trying to figure out what to get the people we're getting for, which isn't many. do you think it's acceptable to get someone something you've gotten them before? if it's a usable object i mean.

i'm trying to decide what to get ruby. i have a long list of things i'd like to get her, and i can't afford to get them all. i really want to get her one of the many other tmbg children's albums that i didn't realize exist.

we're getting xmas plans all worked out. we're going to be at home this xmas day, which will be so relaxing and unstressful, not like spending half the day driving with ruby cranky and no nap like usual. i'm going to glaze the holy fuck out of a ham. on boxing day we'll go up to dan's grandma's house and see his dad, which works out well for everyone. not sure what's going on with seeing dan's mum, hopefully we'll see her on xmas eve. i'm really looking forward to xmas this year, and i'll be putting up the tree on friday for sure!

i'll also be making my xmas fruitcake friday, which is the very limit of having enough time to feed it up right.

tomorrow my friend catherine comes and we'll go have a nice day, go to the museum, hang around the city. lovely.

we got up somewhat early and took the bus to the beach. we were able to do this with no stroller, which definitely equaled more freedom i think. it was an absolutely perfect beach day. ruby swam and swam in the kiddy area and made sand castles, dan swam in the too cold for me water, and i just hung out and wrote a bit. no one got sunburned.

then afterwards we went and had ice cream, which was a giant treat for ruby. then we came home and hung out while ruby failed to nap, then went and had pub dinner. it was just really nice and somehow felt like how things used to feel, pre-ruby and money stress i guess. maybe we can get back there permanantly.

i've written very little the last two days. i've got some catching up to do!

tomorrow night friends are coming for a mini supernatural marathon! new episodes exciting!

i'm going to try my hand at making homemade corn tortillas tonight!

ruby's audition was fine, and she got a book about fairies which she is really into. this is backlash. you'd think i'd meet all these crazy stage parents at these things but they all seem pretty much okay, and don't try to destroy me or anything.

i've been making yarn out of old t-shirts. it's really pretty cool. i'm going to make shopping bags out of the yarn, call them 'upcycled' and sell them at the market. upcycled.

we've been doing this thing where we always shut the lid of the toilet before we flush it. it's made our toilet get much dirtier much much quicker. so all that was just going out into the air i guess. grody.

i've been so tense while i've been sleeping. i need to solve that.

i'm pretty pleased with my story. it's coming together well.

i'm about to put in my application for citizenship, as soon as we get paid. then i'll have to take a citizenship test to see if i have satisfactory australian values. and then an interview, and then wait for the cermony. then i take an oath in which i promise to continue having australian values. THEN, i can apply for school, to get my bachelor of arts- INTERNET.

we've started watching the venture bros. it's good!

tonight i will hopefully be eating japanese food. gaaaaarrrrrrrgggghghhh.

i'm going to start writing here more. which will be easy since i've pretty much quit.

i've been talking to ruby a lot about potty training and tomorrow we're going to go pick out some big girl underwear, and on monday we're going to forego the diapers and begin the potty training. i'm expecting to clean up epic amounts of peepee and poopoo. joy!

i had a dream the other night that i had this long ugly hippy braid that i'd been growing for years, and it was all snarly and loose, so i was going to re-braid it, and when i starting undoing it, it was all filled with roaches.

i might have dreamt that because i just got my haircut. i really like it, it's like shorter but not really short, and kind of grown up, but cute. kind of 60's mom/housewife. i'm growing out the bangs.

we had one of dan's new friends over for dinner last night. he's made all these new friends, slotted himself into a whole group of people. i don't know how he can stand it. she's really nice, but i'm not really taking applications.

last weekend we went away to seven mile beach to spend the weekend for suneeti's birthday all together in a holday house. i hadn't spread it around the internet because it was a surprise for suneeti even though her husband stu is the worse ever at keeping a secret. it was still a little surprise though. mostly it was the old crew from the coogee days minus garth, and it was really cool to all hang out. plus, the house was pretty great, and cheap too since it's the off season. it was just across the street from the beginning of 7 mile beach, which really is like 7 miles long. long enough that you can see it curving away from you in the distance.

we cooked and ate a lot of delicious food. we lazed about. we walked on the beach. we made sandcastles with ruby. we drank a lot and went out on the beach at midnight and looked at the crazy crazy amount of stars. you could see the whole milky way super bright. we talked and talked and talked. it was awesome.

when we got back we all got sick. it sounded like a bunch of people that went got the same cold, but apparently dan and i got it the worst. we were pretty much down for two days. and to top it off, the projector bulb blew and we don't have a new one yet, so we have no t.v. which i'm not dealing with very well. plus ruby has been really whiny, i don't think she feels good either, and i find it really hard to be patient when she's like that.

not long till many people arrive i want to see! exciting!

i'm not really sure if i'm supposed to use pictures i took, but i didn't really have a lot of other pictures, so i used a few. also, in other news, my mom's coming in september!

• Post ten of any pictures currently on your hard drive that you think are self-expressive.
• NO CAPTIONS!!! It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words.
• They must ALREADY be on your hard drive - no googling or flickr! They have to have been saved to your folders sometime in the past. They must be something you've saved there because it resonated with you for some reason.
• You do NOT have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like.



( cut for your convenience )

well i just talked to my mom about how i'm not going to be able to afford to go to the u.s. we tried to figure out a way, but the only ways are wildly irresponsible, if even possible, and we'll never get to where we want to be if we go that route. so instead, hopefully, we will fly my mom out here. i feel many different ways about this.

-really crushed that i'm not going to see all the people i wanted to see. i was really looking forward to seeing evil jen, and wade, and will, shaun and rachel and garth and vanessa. that's a lot of people i miss a lot.

-sad that the time frame will be so much shortened. i would've spent a month in the u.s. and my mom will only be able to take two weeks at the very very most.

-sad that it means ruby still won't meet her grandpa lonnie or her great grandma bonnie, both of whom i'm sure are dying to meet her. (i'm also sad i won't get to see them either).

-relieved that we won't be placing ourselves further in debt by going. especially since we'll be moving again at the end of the year.

-relieved that at least my mom might be able to come and i will still get to see her, because i miss her really badly.

-guilty that i wasn't able to get my shit together and make it happen. i guess now we're paying the price for a lot of stupid decisions we've made in the past, so we have to suck it up. but i wish that didn't affect ruby and the people that love her this much.

anyway, sorry to disappoint anyone disappointed by this. rest assured i'm very disappointed as well. if anyone would like to throw the entire economic system into the sun, feel free.

this last weekend was our second market, which went really well. we didn't sell as much as the first one, but on the other hand it was less full on. from now on we're only doing every other month, so we don't have to spend every free second of our lives knitting furiously. i'm starting to design some new summer hats, knit out of hemp straw type stuff. it's pretty cool the way it knits up, and i have lots of good ideas for the design, so that's fun. i'm also designing in my head a bit of a summer top and nappy cover set as well, knit from this really sleek bamboo cotton blend jo sharp makes.

we really need to get a website and some cards going. we can't decide if we should set up an etsy shop or not. hmmmmm....

tomorrow we're having a bit of a german dinner thing at ours, with kransky and spaetzle, and some kind of dessert i'm responsible for. i better get on that.

there's a lot of house cleaning to be done. lazy angela, get to work!

well we've pretty much decided we'll be moving to ryde when the lease is up, as much as the thought of moving again fills me with horror.

we went to the sydney winter festival on the weekend. it was raining off and on, which was appropriate for a festival celebrating sydney winter. but apparently they were actually celebrating some other imaginary winter that happens somewhere else. in july, but with xmas carols and andre rieu. they had an ice skating rink set up, but it was pretty small. mainly we went for the food, which was really good. we had some gluhwein, and some baked brie fondue (which i will definitely be making), and they also had lots of other yummy things that looked good but we didn't get. like strudels and german donuts and such.

they had a petting zoo we took ruby to, which she was into at first, until this llama got up in her grill and really scared her and she cried and cried. after that, she wanted nothing to do with the animals even after we talked to her about it for ages. if you started walking towards them she would just cry. i hope it's not like permanent. who puts a llama in a petting zoo if they aren't sure it's nice? i mean, they usually aren't very nice at all. it kind of made me mad. especially since i heard the woman tell quite a few customers that he wasn't trained well yet. ah well.

then we walked around quite a bit in the city and got a donut. it was pretty nice. i've hurt my foot though, and walking on it so much was not a great idea. it's like i pulled something in my heel. it's slowly getting better, i'm trying not to walk around on it much.

then on sunday we just sat around and played the sims all day which was pretty nice. oh and we also took one side off ruby's bed so she can get in and out by herself now. she fell out once in the night, it didn't hurt her but scared her. but she went back to sleep really quick. but! she hasn't had a nap in it yet, which if she's going to keep getting out and not sleeping it will be naptime. so we'll see!

a woman just came and picked up one of the hats i took an order for at the market. she was so weird, at the market she paid up front for the hat, but when i tried to give her my details she waved me off and wouldn't let me. so i had her money and her number and she had absolutely no way to contact me. then she rushed up this morning, took the hat and left without barely looking at it. it's interesting how different she is from me, i wonder what it would be like to be her.

i feel like i'm not cranking out these hats fast enough but i'm trying not to freak out about it.

we're contemplating moving somewhere cheaper. maybe ryde, which is near dan's job, and a shopping center, and pretty much nothing else. but there is good public transport, and rent is like 150 cheaper a week. basically, we're going to have to make a big sacrifice somewhere, and we're trying to figure out where.

even so, i don't really know how we're going to afford some kind of daycare so i can go back to school. the daycare at the uni is like 70 bucks a day. unbelivable. the crappy one near our house is 50 bucks a day. which is still an awful lot. if i could work it so she was in three days only, which would be the minimum i imagine, 150 a week, man, i don't know where that's going to come from. bleah. money is depressing.

this weekend is the sydney winter festival. i'm hoping it's not outrageously crowded, the way every free outdoor festival in sydney is. maybe since it's cold, people will stay home. maybe. but there is a petting zoo, and also mulled wine. i'm quite looking forward to it, but not so much that i'll be disappointed.

the tanglecats went to the craft convention on sunday. it was pretty good, although there were a lot less yarn stalls than there used to be. but we did find one that has just the best, most beautiful, reasonably priced yarn. and they had cotton tape that was lovely and perfect for the bathroom rug i want to make. there was also a lot of cotton and stainless steel yarn there, which is really interesting with it's moldable properties. i'm thinking you could make really cool knitted lampshades with it. and from a different stall i finally got the yarn for the jumper i'm going to make joanna. although my knitting of things that aren't hats is severly limited now.

we also had tangelcat high tea, which was super yum. in my little world, it was the social event of my season. and it was fun!

well i'm finally not sick anymore! i have some lingering congestion, but i'm feeling well instead of bleah. i've been sicker, but i've never been sick for so long. did not like.

i feel bad for dan, he's been working so so hard lately, trying to get all the work done that needs to get done for us to be able to go to the u.s., and having brain problems from exhausting his brain monkeys. i try to be mrs. welch's, and help him squeeze the most from his mind grapes he can.

ruby has grown again. my mom sent her a box of clothes and books. the clothes are very cool, my mom made them. especially cool are the paisley pants and the stripey dress. the bee nightgown is awesome but still a bit big for ruby to wear. and ruby is unsure about footy pajamas. i think it both confuses and pisses her off that she can't get her feet to come out the bottom. thanks mom!

stuneeti is coming tomorrow! they'll stay here tomorrow night. dan's dad will babysit and we will go out to this cool beer place with boutique beer they match to yummy food. i'm very excited. then on sunday we'll see dan's dad for brekkie and go to shaun and vic's for dinner. so basically, i cook tonight and that's pretty much it for the weekend.

i'm getting the knitting needles of my dreams soon. i am so so excited. i will pretty much never need to buy knitting needles ever again.

we've been watching heaps of arrested development. i know, pretty late to that party, but i live in australia, so what do you want from me? at first i really liked it, then i liked it but thought the narration was annoying and that it didn't live up to the hype. now i think it's totally awesome, the narration is awesome, and it definitely lives up to the hype. although i still like the office and 30 rock better. or peep show. but it bears much repeated watching, which is important to little old knitting me.

something most of you probably haven't seen that is a "sensation" here. it's clare the racist bogan. i find her to be completely fake, as in, that is an act and not a genuine interview at all. also, as an internet viral video goes, not very interesting or funny. but whatever, i thought some of you might find it an interesting piece of australiana.

i've been reading a lot of crafty type feeds and zines lately, and while i really enjoy some of the ideas (especially the video game related ideas), i find some of the ideology really inane. there seems to be a lot of feeling of reusing, and a move back to a more non wasteful lifestyle, where you throw away less and use more. but then this manifests as making "decorative" crap out of stuff you would normally throw away. i just don't see how filling your house with recycled crap is getting back to a less wasteful lifestyle. instead of making ugly chicken statues out of old magazines, you could just not buy the magazines in the first place.

the only reason i take issue with it is that there seems to be some underlying mission type feeling of all these crafty internet people having some crafty type club that accomplishes something. all these people are trying to make it into a movement. come on guys, just because you like to make picture frames out of old milk cartons doesn't make you a groundbreaker.

this all sounds a bit unnecessarily grumpy, and i think that's because i'm not expressing myself very well. but maybe you get the gist.

there are some good ideas out there though, and for just the idea sharing i enjoy the whole thing. i saw a great pattern on how to make a skirt from old t-shirts, and as i said, lots of video game goodness. this blanket in particular makes me really want to learn to crochet.



i would also like to be able to crochet amigurumi, although i feel i may be coming in a bit late on that whole thing. but the free formness of crochet as opposed to knitting really appeals to me.

i'm still feeling sick. i'm not sure i've ever been sick this long before, it's been like a month since i first caught the cold that started this fantastic snot journey. i get a day every once in awhile where i feel better, and then the next day i'll feel worse again. i thought the antibiotics would make me feel better faster than this. i started them almost a week ago, and yesterday i felt probably the worst i've felt the whole time. i'm kind of tired of whining about it, yet also i feel bad which makes me want to whine. i'm mostly really tired.

ruby is supposed to have an audition today, i'm trying to decide if i feel up to it. i'm sure i could do it physically, like i said i just feel so tired i just want to curl up and sleep and sleep. bleah, i'll try not to whine about it anymore.

in knitting news, i love fisherman's rib.

in gaming news, resident evil 5 is awesome fun i think. we had to take a break last night, because i needed a night without resident evil dreams. getting it has meant that our animal crossing town has been completely abandoned. i sort of dread going back and seeing the damage.

woo, i'm getting worse and worse at updating this journal. i must make some sort of concerted effort.

we acquired a karaoke program and downloaded heaps of songs, and then hooked the computer up to the projector and had a karaoke birthday party on saturday night. very fun, and much cheaper than going out to karaoke. especially with home brew on tap and a homemade pizza bonanza. it was big fun, and the singing went on late into the night. i was just happy i got to sing 'silent lucidity'.

it's been a house of sickness around here. i have a sinus infection and dan has a middle ear infection. he's been home sick for two days. it didn't stop the stitch n bitch last night, which had boys this time. we finally watched some arrested development, which is as enjoyable as i was led to believe.

yesterday ruby had a casting. i don't know how well it went though, because it was right at her nap time, so she was super agitated and sort of grumpy. she has another on thursday!

for mother's day i got a garlic press. i used it last night, it was AWESOME!

we go see yo gabba gabba live this weekend. exciting!