Pink Ribbon Stuff

I didn't realise until I thought about it how many things I currently own that are pink ribbon fundraiser items. I'm sure someone else has already blogged about these, but because I'm new to Pink Saturday I haven't seen one yet. What better way to add pink to your life than by purchasing lovely and practical pink items that also help raise money for a good cause?

I'm very excited about my new pink video camera which came earlier this week! David and I will be going to pick up the new data card for it tomorrow, so hopefully I can make a start on making little videos for youtube, although I think I have to clear a lot off rubbish from my computer to make room first! And I particularly LOVE Dove pink soap, it feels so nice and soft and best of all it's pink! I just stash up on that whenever it's on special which happens from time to time.

I've already blogged in "Pink  Ribbon Toy Shrug" about the gorgeous little furry friend for whom I made a little crochet  jacket! That was fun to do, lol. And I really like my very first labelmaker which still smells like a brand new barbie doll. It really should have the pink ribbon logo on it, but I'm pretty sure it was on the packaging, which I might add there was waaaay too much of, and needed industrial strength scissors just to cut open. Why do they have such impractical packaging, it really is silly imho.

Although I've never purchased anything from the pink ribbon store, they do have one online. All of my pink ribbon purchases have been incidental from the grocery store, chemist etc, in my endless endeavor to add more pink to my life!
Amen for Pink Stuff!

And don't forget to stop by Beverly's blog for more details on Pink Saturday!
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Lavendar-edged Facewashers

Oh no! I did say "Somebody Stop me!" Here is another pair of crochet-edged facewashers, this time I edged the white ones in lavendar coloured cotton. Because why? Because I am bored! Yay for frilliness!

lavendar-edged facewashers

I just copied this pattern by looking at an edged face washer David's mother did.

round 1. using 1.5mm hook (slp st, ch 1) slp st
round 2. using 2.5mm hook (sc ch 1 sk ch sp) slp st
round 3. using 2.5mm hook (sk 1 ch sp, 5 dc, sk 1 ch sp, sc), at each corner 8 dc in corner ch sp

Adventures in Movie Making

One thing I have been up to over the last few weeks is to start fooling around with movie making software  so I can download some little videos to youtube! I feel terribly productive learning a new skill and having something to show for it in such a short time.

Windows Movie Maker was the first software I tried, and I found it very easy. I posted about the first video I made in Yulara and her horse, Whiteowl. It was heaps fun and very simple to make, that 5 minute video took me less than a day to do, including the time it took to work out how to use the software. But the downloading didn't work until I split it into half and downloaded it as two separate videos.

The second little video I've completed and downloaded to our Bloodlust of Nagrand page on youtube is called "One Dozen Wipes" and is only 1 minute long to avoid the troubles of  my first video. I'm not sure if the quality is actually any better, if it is it's only minimal. The intro has "welcome to Bloodlust of Nagrand" spoken by our co-guild leader, who is some guy we've been playing this game with for three years yet we don't even know his real name, which I think is pretty lame! All I know is he makes a great guild leader, so what if he doesn't want to tell us his real name? Virtual reality is like that, I suppose.

getsome says

These videos use footage from us playing World of Warcraft, but yesterday my new video camera arrived! Soon I'll be buying a data card for it and working out how to use it so I can make little movies using RL footage! FTW! lolzzz

Free Product Samples

It's one thing to get given rubbish that you have no practical use for so it merely adds to the junk in your life, it's quite another to source free stuff that is actually practical and saves you money.

I've been getting Coles Online for 12 months now, and although it's helping me avoid the outside world, I absolutely love it! At least I have to shower and dress a minimum of once a week when the delivery guy comes :P More times than not, the delivery contains a free sample, some of which are pictured here. I've also tried signing up for free samples from Mysavings.com I've only done it a couple of times, and only sent away for samples from companies I know, like Palmer's and Nestle. Both companies sent the samples, although each took a couple of weeks.

And don't ever pay money for a calendar! Many businesses hand them out for free, like Robin's Kitchen which we used in 2009. This year we're using a calendar from our local Turner's nursery. It's useful because it has extra gardening info month by month, and best of all, it was free! <3 <3 <3

Journey Back to the Outside

I guess I don't have to say what happened to get me to this point, needless to say the life I'm living now is in stark contrast to the frenetic and busy life of my past which was full of people and activity.  I think posting about my progress here would really help me for a start, it's so easy to loose track of what I'm doing to manage change. My goal is to get out of the house on my own at least once a week for a couple of hours..

Progress made in the last few days include ordering my "Go Card" as buying train tickets is annoying and an excuse to not get on a train, but now I'm looking forward to using it. Hopefully I'll get to the point where I can get on a train by myself to go to the doctor instead of making David take the day off work to drive me and wait for my appointment to finish, which I know is absolutely ridiculous. Knowing how silly this all is makes me annoyed at myself, hopefully enough to move myself into action, but knowing its silly doesn't make it any easier either. The other bit of progress was to make an appointment with a new local psychologist. Oh, /sigh! so boring as I feel like I've heard it all before, but I know I have to go and give this new one a chance. It was particularly hard as the receptionist made me wait a while, but instead of putting me on hold I could hear a baby crying in the background. It was very tempting to hang up and give up, but I didn't.

After searching on the internet, it seems the City Councils have a lot of free activities on in the Libraries and Parks, so my short-term goal is to find something to do that is free or very cheap while David is at work. I'm going to pencil in the possibilities into my diary and see if I can get myself along to something. So far the most interesting is a free workshop with a local artist at the Logan Art Gallery. So today's challenge is to ring them up and book a spot ... wish me luck!

Anzac Biscuits and Rosella Jam

Today is a very sacred day in Australia and New Zealand, which we call ANZAC Day. ANZAC stands for "Australian New Zealand Army Corps", and the annual holiday is to celebrate and remember all Anzac soldiers who have fought in any war.

There's lots of ways to celebrate Anzac Day, in the least most get a day off work! Recently, there's been a rise in those who attend the Dawn Service and Parades. The Dawn Service traditionally is a solemn military occasion where wreaths are layed at Anzacs memorials (there's almost always one in major cities and towns) and the Last Post is played by a solo bugler. In the past, I've attended these as a member of a performing choir which sang spiritual songs. The Anzac Day Parade is often held in the streets of major cities and towns, where returned soldiers, their families and descendants march in a parade. These are usually held later in the morning, and are followed by drinks at the local RSL club.

David loves to bake and makes a mean batch of Anzac biscuits, this year they turned out fantastically!  These were traditionally made by wives and mothers during WWI and sent to the front-line in food parcels. They are sweet, nutritious and filling. The recipe David likes to use calls for macademia nuts, a native Australian nut, but we didn't have any so he used cashew nuts instead. The Anzac biscuits with macademia nuts recipe is from www.taste.com

Another thing we did for Anzac Day was to make up a batch of Rosella Jam. Now, I'm not sure if the hibiscus rosella bush we got from the local nursery is a native plant, it might be, or it might the introduced species. It's in a pot, scrawny and about as tall as David. It was laden with fruit which we picked this morning, and made into jam. We used the Rosella Jam recipe from Eumundi Papers. Thankyou heaps to Wendy for the recipe on your blog, it turned out a treat! The red from the rosella fruit was very bright and beautiful looking, too.

Like the biscuits, the jam turned out deliciously, and we are very proud of our Anzac Day cooking adventures! At least David isn't that keen on the Anzac Day sports match, watching it is apparently a very popular pastime for Anzac Day celebrations. It's very common to hear boisterous males in neighbouring homes enthusiastically cheer for their team, whatever it is, playing whatever they are, just like we could hear today! Thank goodness for my non-sporty, clever husband! <3 <3 <3

What Pink means to me

It wasn't until after I left my first husband and found myself living in a strange city after living in a small town for 23 years, that I remembered when I was a little girl my favourite colours had been pink and silver.

Somehow I forgot this while growing up and studying at university, fervently avoiding anything pink, dressing all in brown, black and navy with stripes, never anything frilly, accompanied with gold jewellery. Because I had to take myself oh-so-seriously, I was terribly grown up and professional! Then I started to develop a fancy for strawberry flavoured milk of all things, how strange! I never drank that stuff before? I found myself referring to it as "Pink Milk" and felt a need for it every now and again. Then there were the pink milkshakes, and I started to remember as a young child my favourite flavoured ice-cream had not been chocolate at all, it had been strawberry. Ever so slowly pink started to creep into my wardrobe when before this shade had always been shunned. In my old life, the colour most represented in my closet was black. Now, thankfully I've been working hard to fix that, although I still do have far too many black shoes and jackets ...

Pink for me means a return to 'me', remembering who I was and what I wanted when I was a little girl, when I was  not concerned with how other people saw me. It was my pure, untainted  self, free of expectations. Pink for me is more than just all things girly and pretty, its more than getting in touch with being female. Its about surviving the trauma of a broken marriage, grieving my hometown which I loved dearly but simply had to leave in the end, its about getting away from all the things I thought I was expected to be, a modern professional career ice-woman, and just starting to enjoy life for what it is.

Blessed Be All Things Pink! see more pink stuff on my blog >>> PINK
This is my first post for "Pink Saturday"! For details check out "How Sweet the Sound" at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Yulara and her horse, Whiteowl

[This is an RP story for the MMO I play, World of Warcraft]

He was not a white horse. Whiteowl was named for his strength, sturdiness and silence, and also wisdom. She would often talk to him, when he ignored her she imagined he replied.

Yulara is a spiritual name which means 'howling dingo'. A befitting name as she was rarely quiet herself, when in the company of only her horse she would still chatter away.

When Asandrian left, saying "you don't really know me", she took up the only thing left she could truly rely on, her trusty steed, and rode aimlessly, along the long, straight road.

The morning after Asandrian had said goodbye, Yulara received word her grandmother had passed away. It was all she could bare, spontaneously bursting into uncharacteristic sobbing, all the while people hushed and looked away. Atop her speedy champion, the wind whooshing past her eyelids and into her ears, his hooves clumping heavily, rhythmically, upon the cobbles, she yelled into the wind "I didn't really want it anyway!" Her pain fell discarded upon the side of the road, unheard and unnoticed.

So urgent was her desire to be gone, Yulara sped her mount without stopping right past the large rock she used to visit for meditation and prayer. Several months earlier she had already made the pilgrimage to the sacred place and laid her hand upon the red ochre, finding the monolith surprisingly cool in the midday heat.

She had never seen snow and neither had her elderly grandmother, having lived all their lives in a hot and humid climate. Yulara finally found herself in a cold place. Yulara climbed up on a perilous precipice, swallowing her own fears to reach a place as far away as she could possibly get. When she reached the summit, she lay her hand on the snow, remembering her grandmother and her lost love. 'Maybe this place is far enough away ...' she whispered, and she imagined even her horse had nothing to say.

The Journey, part one
http://www.youtube.com/user/MaryofNagrand#p/a/u/1/HHjpKqOePzI

The Journey, part two
http://www.youtube.com/user/MaryofNagrand#p/a/u/0/c_h4DIn0Pvg