Happy Happy Joy Joy

In that strange dreamy limbo between Christmas and New Year it is time to take stock of the year that has been and gird ourselves for the year to come. My buddy Andrew keeps telling me it it a fantastic time to be alive right now, and you know what he might just be right.

Here are some of the things about this year that make life worth living:

The Boys

Scott & GIR & Corto make every day a joy. I could complain about the the endless fur, dribble & scratching (that would be GIR & Corto not Scott), but really nothing beats dog love at the end of a crap day. Except of course Scott TLC which is always in abundance whenever I am sick or just feeling sorry for myself.

Star Trek Movie

I must confess I am a total geek for original Trek, not the movies or the beige spinoffs but the campy Shantnerific TV series. I really thought the movie captured the essence of classic Trek - funny, campy, grandiose without being pompous, and full of optimism for the future.

Un Lun Dun by China Melville

The best book I have read for ages, Melville manages to combine influences from a lot of my favourite authors without reading like a pastiche of other peoples ideas which is very rare these days. Plus his heroine is fantastic, a brilliant antidote to the hysterical vapid vampire fixated females you find elsewhere in fiction.

Team Winchester

I know they are pouty slashies with psycho fans but I have a soft spot for Sam & Dean ... well mostly Dean. Season five of Supernatural has been whizz bang, the best so far, introducing those bastard angels really got things going.

Ripe

This cafe in Sassafras does the best vegetarian platters ever - shots of fabulous soup, quiche, frittata, & salads in ever changing combinations. They also do a mean iced chocolate.

The Fall

A truly amazing visual experience and a beautiful heartbreaking story. See on the big screen if you can - maybe The Astor will play it one day, otherwise Bluray on a good size TV. I will not even try to describe it, words will never do justice just see the movie guys.

Monster Magnet

A favourite band for a long time we finally got to see them in concert at the beginning of the year. Sleazy stoner metal at its best.

Uncharted: Among Thieves

This game was so much fun to play, funny and exciting like watching a movie. In fact I played it all the way through on easy for my friend Wendy cos she got so sucked into the story.

Sherlock Holmes

This one just managed to sneak into 2009, a great way to see the year out. Interestingly enough it remains true to cannon while dialling up the action and excitement to 11.

Sunday Allergy Frenzy

I have a good excuse for being late this week, on Sunday night I had a super duper anaphylactic allergic reaction - very scary. Looks like my occasional attack of hives from eating prawns has turned into a full on extreme allergy, puts a bit of a damper on Yum Cha. I now have take super strong steroids with me everywhere just in case it happens again. I am on my second day home from work and my eyes are finally almost unpuffed.

Aside from all that drama I had quite a productive weekend, I made two batches of cherry jam and we have now finished all the presents and cards for Christmas - yay.

The Sunekosuri family continues to expand, here are photos of the last two from the first batch:

These are the ones that I made last week, travel time on the train can be very productive:

I will be at the Kallista Market again on Saturday.

Sunday Catch Up Frenzy

I had such grand plan to post a Sunday Frenzy every weekend but I got too distracted by everything going on and now I need to catch up.

Did my first Kallista Market a month ago and sold one Sunekosuri oddly enough it was the slightly lamish duck who cannot stand up on its own. I did not think it would sell, but goes to show what I know. Here it is in all it purple glory.

Although I only sold one thing I had a fabulous day, the weather was wonderful and I met some great people including the gorgeous Vicky from Nolly Posh who makes the most adorable dolls and is an all round sparkly person.

This weekend was my second market, on my own this time as poor Karen had the dreaded lurgy. It was a cold slow start to the morning and I was feeling a little disheartened but it picked up and I sold a grand total of five Sunekosuri and lots of people stopped by for a look and a chat. I have to say a big thank you to my neighbouring stall holders who kept an eye on things so I could go to the loo and helped me out with change when I ran out.

The most elaborate Sunekosuri to date who I've been calling Huff went to a new home, I hope he behaves himself.

The slight down side to selling things is now I only have two weeks to make more as they sneak in a extra market before Christmas so looks like I will be even busier over the next two weeks.

I did finish the cardigan for my mum and will post some pictures soon, had a text from Rome the other day she and the cardigan are having a good time.

I also did a class on making Temari Balls which are a kind of Japanese embroidery on, you guessed it - a ball. When I finish one I will post some pictures.

I guess it is just the time of year when things get a bit frantic but we are close to having this year's Christmas card finished Scott has done a fabulous design (once again based on something idiotic I said). I have figured out what to make for gifts (just have to actually make it) and most of the shopping is done.

Scott's 40th birthday in January has been giving me a whole lot of ponderation and I had come up with a crazily elaborate plan (involving 40 gifts over 40 days, kind of like Lent except with presents and no deprivations and a big party at the end) but a minor miracle this morning has seen a decision made and a whole lot of potential stress evaporate.