Donnelle's World

By the way: watch this.

Want.

Could someone who has Alison Holst's muffin books please give me her Blueberry Bran muffin recipe? Dunno if it's in the first or second one.

Ta :)

Modem, modem, modem!

*dances*

Our trip was fantastic. Because of the traffic we didn't leave until 8. We stopped at Wendy's for dinner. Xander reduced us (and a nearby Wendy's employee) to fits of giggles. He had a little pottle of tomato sauce. He was happily dipping his chips, but he obviously decided that it had its deficiencies as a sauce transportation method. Attempt number one involved trying to drink from the pottle, and ended in big gobs of sauce down his shirt. Attempt number two, he... well...

( Full points for creativity )

It was a significant squish fitting us all in the car, but we managed. We arrived at Mum's around 12:30. X woke up bright and early (*groan*) but we pointed him at the bedroom door and said "Find Nana" and went back to sleep.

We were so lucky with the weather. It was just fantastic. Couldn't ask for better. H and A tagged along on one of Jock's tours and came back beaming. I got to tag along the next day and got to see bits of Pouto I hadn't seen before. (I also got to sweep a lighthouse-- how many people have done that?!)

Lots of swimming, lots of walks, lots of games of Settlers, lots of beer and lots of good company. What a marvellous break.

( Pictures )

H has some nice shots too; I'll try to get copies of them.

I kept wishing zebraartist could have been there. I would love to see what she did with Pouto, compared to my pitiful attempts at photography. I love to see how she sees the world.

That would be me.

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

Would somebody please explain why I have the theme song for Dawson's Creek stuck in my head?

And would you please get it out?!

http://freerice.com/

Build your vocab and earn rice donations.

"Capsicum! I love capsicum! It's my favourite!"

*nom nom nom*

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I had posted my 101 list on GJ. Things have changed for me though; when I wrote it I was time-rich and money-poor. Now I'm time-poor and money-poor :P I want to update it, so I figured I'd bring it over here.


The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).


Start date: Thursday, August 24, 2006

End date: Thursday, May 21, 2009

38 / 101 (37.6%)

( My list )

( Order of completion )

We did it; we spent our first night away from the boy. It was desperately needed. I'm so burnt out that lately I look at him sometimes and it just feels like he's an annoying pet that I wish I could shut outside. Yes, yes, Mummy Hell, blah blah. I needed to get away. M has had weeks without him when we've been away, but I've never had a single night off. Add to that eight months of "morning" sickness... my time had come.

Dad came down Saturday morning and fixed the alternator on the car. Woo! He has been awesome lately. We've come a long way in nearly two years. It's his sixtieth birthday tomorrow. Scary. Once the car was fixed, we dropped the boy at Roger and Jodie's, settled him in and headed off.

We went down to Hamilton, for a school-friend of mine's (H) flatwarming. From quiet Catholic school-girl to polyamorous international jet-setter in ten short years :P We checked into the motel (which I recommend, by the way-- nice facilities and the best showers ever) then wandered down. We took Munchkin and Balderdash, and ended up going back to the motel to pick up Settlers.

I met lots of nice people (alasatyr and debxena-- always nice to meet friends of friends by overhearing "Livejournal" and then going "hmm, I know that username... who are you friends with?", as well as invisiblemoose and aj_dot_com) and had a great time. Just like old times, but with new people! Balderdash was terrific fun, such a great bunch of people. H catered from Not Your Mother's Cookbook, so we got to try blue cheese cheesecake and chocolate chilli with cornflake meatballs. You know you're at a geek party when there's multiple versions of Munchkin, and you have a group gathered around the computer suggesting youtube searches, which lead us to the either profound or profoundly weird sockbaby. Later entertainment included eye toy games. When we were down to the last four people (shush, we were making the most of our freedom!) there was Singstar. I thought it was fun, but I was pretty tiddled tired by then!

Stumbled back to the motel around 2am, where the Coke portion of the Bacardi and Cokes caught up with me and I lay awake for most of the night. *eyeroll* The customary McD's for breakfast, along with the customary McD's being incompetent and continually giving our ordered BLT bagel away to other people, and we delivered the required dose of salt and fat to H's house for hangover cure. Drove out of Hamilton for half an hour, then back in to pick up my bag which I'd left at H's, and then back out...

X cried for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. He was very very glad to see us and has been basically attached at the boob hip ever since. I left him in bed with M while I ducked out to the loo, and he started to cry "Mummy gone, Mummy gone", so I'm thinking it's not something we'll do again soon. He'd probably be much happier if someone stayed with him here rather than him at their house, but we're in no rush. Just knowing that the option exists makes a big difference. I feel... revitalised, despite the tiredness. I've not been a proactive or patient parent lately; my tank has been too empty. Bacardi A break has filled it again. I had a great time.

I've been needing one of these
No responsibilities
I've been needing one of these...
Saturday
-- David LaMotte

I just received a spam with the subject "Brazilian Weight Loss".

I don't know about you, but I'm not so hairy that a Brazilian would make a noticeable difference o.O

As part of my computer-sorting-outednessity, I organised Xander's photos and videos. Watching them all has really brought home to me how much he's changed.

(Quality varies; some have sound, some don't).

1) Two months: Random talky noises

2) Two and a half months: A geek-to-be

3) Three months: Getting more active

4) Four months: Rolling over

5) Five months: Jolly Jumper

6) Six months: Sitting up

7) Eleven months: Learning to sing

8) Twelve months: Dancing with Mum

9) Thirteen months: Walking

10) Thirteen months: Trying grapefruit

11) Thirteen months: Walking without hands

12) Fourteen months: Fun with a sprinkler

13) Fourteen months: Sleep-eating

14) Fifteen months: Playing with seaweed

15) Seventeen months: Costume peek-a-boo

16) Twenty months: Sleep-eating finale

17) Twenty-seven months: Riding a trike

Yes, you read that right-- this recipe does indeed have chickpeas in it. I needed to make a low-fat birthday cake for my brother (his wife just had gall-bladder surgery), and it sounded intriguing.

I found the recipe here.



( Recipe and pics )