ants

Mr You is away visiting his family. It only took one day of him being gone before things started to come undone.

I got home last night to find ants on a mass migration through the kitchen. Taking over!

The strangest part is that their trail runs through the cupboards, past the normal flour, the self raising flour, corn flour, brown sugar, white sugar, raw sugar, castor sugar, cocoa powder, desiccated coconut, herbal teas, an aray of vitamins, cereal...
Then, get this, they end at the kettle. They can't need water, it hasn't stopped bucketing down rain here for days. If they were thirsty they could just stay outside, look up and open their itty bitty mouths.

What do they want? I wiped their trail away, swilled out the kettle, and left stacks of little lost disoriented ants raoming around in circles. Then when I came back there were even more coming out of the kettle. They're not in the main part where the water is, they're coming out from under the handle at the top. What doooo theeeey want? Mr You.....?

This morning they're back, they've created a new trail. What should I do? They are too cute to kill, especially now they're my only household company. But if they're not careful I'm going to end up accidentally swallowing a whole tribe.

last night

WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I’ve never seen them before, and I was BA-Lowen away. She was dressed in a circus leotard with ribbons hanging off, a pair of black stockings with the inner thighs cut out, one sparkly fingerless glove and a strange little brimless cap. Even her mic cord was tizzed up. She strutted and bounded around the stage with insurmountable energy, stopping in rock-poses that only she and Iggy Pop can pull off. Kicking off in a BIG way with Gold Lion and then Honeybear, she almost had trouble calming back down from Phenomena into Cheated Hearts, bursting into a giggle at one point when she almost raced ahead of the beat. Once she got into the slower songs she was poised and solitary.

I’d heard reports of her in previous times being surly, hiding behind her long fringe and clasping a bottle of champagne on stage - overdoing the cliché’d rock chick thing. But last night she was unique; giggling and smiling throughout the whole gig. She looked like she was having an absolute ball and was so much fun to watch, plus there’s nothing sexier than someone who clearly loves what they do (and don’t have too much of an ego to show it).

Her voice and band’s playing also surpassed expectations, but the band, in a still, humble manner left the showmanship to Karen. After all, if you were in a band and she showed up to join, you’d know life was about to change in a big way.

The whole thing was so great and so much better than I expected. I’m beaming!

(I forgot to take a camera, but as soon as I locate some shots, I'll be sure to let you know)
(Oh, and you'll be glad to hear Elton John has officially and thankfully been blown right out of my head)

change the tune

I can NOT get that annoying Elton John song out of my head. It's driving me mad! For days I've been singing "It's no saac-a-ree-fi-i-i-ice a-a-at all" but wait, then I launch into "doo do doo doo..." Driving me c-ra-a-a-a-zy!

My singing or humming it is also starting to drive Mr You crazy. This morning he counter attacked me with an equally sticky song, one that was bound to shock me enough to stop. (I think he was following the tip of frightening someone with hiccups).

So as I ramped up to the chorus "Well it's no saac-a-ree-"
He interrupted with "Don't want no short dick man"!!!!

'Nuf said.

sacrifice

My Illustration Friday attempt for "sacrifice".

Has anyone else had that Elton John song stuck in your head this week?

head band wagon

There are quite a few people out there making headbands at the moment, so this weekend I jumped on the bandwagon; the headband wagon that is. (As you can see it's still all about dots as far as I'm concerned, but stripes are good too!) In my incarnations of the humble headband, I've done away with the tie at the back because I always end up tying my hair up with it, causing myself pain and frustration. The ties have been replaced with a little elastic, mmmm custom built. Can't wait to wear them!

I know you're all wondering, yes my sewing machine is working superbly now after it had a service. So far I'm not regretting spending the shocking $85 at all. It's running so perfectly, smoothly and quietly, so quietly in fact that I'm convinced I could combine sewing and simultaneous cat burglary crimes without raising suspicion.

It's been a joy sewing today, relaxing, productive and very satisfying. So much so that I unpicked the parts of the Pink Trees Bag I made earlier and made some adjustments.



I adjused the size of the lining as it was a bit too baggy, then attached a button and elastic loop, and sewed it all back together. I also fixed the colour of the stitching along the top of the burgundy side. It was pink before and I didn't like it, but now it's burgundy too, and looks much better.



I made the button using one of those self cover button kits, it was easy and I love it! The button matches the lining, adds visual interest and serves as a functional closing device. Ahh buttons, so clever.

Now, the exciting news is that I finally got started on Shoofly's bag. We postponed our swap as she was on holiday and I had lost custody of my sewing machine for a while. But we've set a posting date now, so things are up and rolling once again.
I had been stuck for ideas, I wanted to do a sewn illustration for her and sew it into the bag, I wanted it to be something to do with Lebanon (where she's just been holidaying. Luckily she's safely home again now, hope her friends and family are too). Then I was thinking botanical, and windows and all sorts of stuff. The more I thought the less close I got to starting. I was trying too hard and putting myself off in the process. But now, it's all happening. I've steered away from all that stuff now, I have another idea, I'm keeping it simpler and have made a good start. I can't say too much about it because it's a surprise, but let me tell you, in my opinion, I think it's going to turn out to be the prettiest bag I've made so far. It's got me grinning.

stop reminding me

ooooo, scandal over at Illustration Friday! (not really I'm just being a tad dramatic). The new theme went up; "aging" but we'd done that one in August last year. It's usually against my self-imposed rules to submit old works, but this week I was going to break out and post my illo from last year in a desperate attempt to get a link up earlier in the week (and as a bit of a protest of being reminded that I'm getting wrinkley all over again).

BUT, luckily I checked again right before I was about to post, otherwise I would have looked a damn fool, egg on my face and all...
Someone twigged on, and the topic has been gazumped, it's now "sacrifice".
(I tell you what, they run a tight ship over at i-Fri don't they? They're amazing!)

Too bad for those early birds who now have links to an unrelated topic. Call me cruel, but I'm kinda looking forward to sitting back and watching the comments roll in from onlookers unaware of the topic mishap:
"Sick man, you think aging is a sacrifice do you? Well let me tell you something sonny boy, it's not by choice you insensitive little *&%*#@!"

hehehehehe. No, don't panic, I'm sure it'll all be fine, just fine.

skyline

My Illustration Friday attempt for "skyline".

The suburb I live in is not in the city centre full of apartment blocks, and long before the sprawling suburbs. It's inbetween I guess; where the streets become a little quieter and the scenery more green than concrete, but where you can still spend the afternoon in a cafe and get to the city centre in a jiffy.

You'd never guess that the skyline of tree silhouettes and red tile roofs would be interrupted by a flour mill.

It's completely unexpected and quite beautiful really. It's still operational, and I guess it must have been there a long before land and house prices in the area soared. Not sure how long it will last in the ever expanding sprawl, but for the time being it adds an impressive shape to our skyline.