tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-101015982011-12-20T18:29:16.020+13:00A personal blog.Simonenoreply@blogger.comBlogger2161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-64243535843416525952011-12-20T18:29:00.001+13:002011-12-20T18:29:16.039+13:00

Kiwi had a rest.Originally uploaded by Simone HindinKiwi had a rest at Flavours cafe.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-82573825350405596892011-12-13T17:37:00.001+13:002011-12-13T17:37:05.579+13:00

I don't remember the source of this recipe but I do remember using it to make oven tray sized pizzas for friends at the house on Webb St, (now encased in scaffolding, I don't know if it's badly damaged) so its been around a while. Anyway I just wrote this up to email with Lu and thought that I'd share it more widely. 2 Tb = 28 gms dry yeast  1/2 cup warm water 1/2 cup + 1 Tb plain flour (I

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-90401474842081871422011-12-04T13:36:00.001+13:002011-12-04T13:36:39.179+13:00

I had my first season at the dentist on Friday, having my old amalgam fillings replaced with ceramics. This is not about how they look but is another hopeful attempt to do something about my M.E. Heavy metal toxicity ( or something) associated with amalgam fillings has been pointed at by several of the books that I've read and was even something that my pretty traditional doctor, alternative

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-82199669305007319482011-11-01T16:52:00.000+13:002011-11-01T16:52:20.857+13:00

Well our Halloween party went off without a hitch although we'd massively over-catered with plenty of food that ever made it out of the pantry. It was mostly SCA friends although Dad and Becky came and had dinner then left early-ish . Everyone left somewhere between 1:30 and 2:00 and we fell into bed although first I had to wash off a lot of black paint. t was quite odd as it dried entirely and

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-64587196559647092692011-10-11T16:11:00.001+13:002011-10-11T16:11:31.252+13:00

So we've finally signed off on our EQC repairs which is great, but the process leaves me with some serious concerns for the future. There were many items that required doing more than once. Some were just stupid mistakes or poor planning but other things were just covered up rather than properly repaired - one little aftershock up the road and the cracks showed again. I should clarify, I'm not

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-79195372724688996252011-09-14T14:43:00.000+12:002011-09-14T14:44:17.285+12:00

Its funny but some people have been taking it like its a foregone conclusion that I would turn up dairy and/or gluten intolerant after my month-long abstinence test. But I don't think so. Certainly bringing dairy back in didn't appear to result in any deterioration. The gluten is more difficult to judge as its complicated by a couple of other issues but if it has had an impact its been minor.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-57736863918318775542011-08-15T17:18:00.000+12:002011-08-15T17:18:20.656+12:00

So I am half way through my diary-free, gluten-free diet month and while the food itself has been fine, last week was the worst I have had in a very long time. The first week was fine. I made my normal muesli except with puffed quinoa instead of oats and the usual array of nuts. I had soy or rice milk in my morning mocha and used straight dutched cocoa instead of cutting it with drinking

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-33917899212121874482011-08-01T15:16:00.000+12:002011-08-01T15:16:00.741+12:00

Hi, it's been ages since I have posted. It's not that nothings been happening but more that I am finding it hard to fit in the extras. Even Kiwi's walks have been less than regular the last few weeks. So it's probably not surprising that I have come down with a nasty cold. The rotten thing is that I don't feel like I've been achieving that much either. Probably my big (health) news is that I

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-56989353400835038092011-06-04T15:29:00.002+12:002011-08-01T15:01:50.022+12:00

Well it's been a bit of a week of spending. I just bought a lovely full length lace gown with a deep red satin underdress from The Carpenters Daughter in Lincoln. They have moved there from Christchurch as their building there was in the red zone. It's been a while since I had a new dress and this one will be fun to wear. The skirt flares out at the base and it's beautifully swishy. But the big

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-3386199743519582772011-05-29T14:20:00.000+12:002011-05-29T14:20:52.709+12:00

Well we saw the guys from Fletchers the other week and over the past couple of weeks have had visits from the timber floors guy and bricklayer who had to scope their special work. So I'm hoping that sometime in the next couple of weeks they'll come back with a schedule and we'll get some kind of idea what will be happening when. Which reminds me that I need to check our insurance to see if we

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-1571477046089472992011-05-24T10:20:00.000+12:002011-05-24T10:20:02.028+12:00

Our friend Tess was down last week and it was great to see her as she moved to Auckland a while ago and the last time we saw her was when we were there a year ago for the winter coronation SCA event. She's going to Europe soon on a working holiday so its probably going to be a while before we see her again. Tess is a professional patissiere and made us these delicious fondants for which she left

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-68351404255162193702011-05-19T17:51:00.000+12:002011-05-19T17:51:41.926+12:00

So I said a couple of posts ago that I was getting more into SCA things and detailed some of my projects but what I didn't mention was that I have taken on an office again. I have been enormously frustrated by wanting to help & be more involved but at the same time worried that if I took something on that there would be times that I wouldn't be able to actually meet my commitments. Its one thing

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-24885679219098611862011-05-04T08:09:00.000+12:002011-05-04T08:09:20.212+12:00

We had a bit of a big weekend last weekend. Nick took the Friday off work to supervise the removal of our container. We had bought the container very early as a place to store stuff and feed and it had continued to serve that purpose as we built first Nick's workshop, then the house, then the hayshed. We had both agreed that it would leave one day and while we'd had a couple of folks interested

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-40415708350155512582011-04-27T11:04:00.001+12:002011-04-27T11:05:52.290+12:00

In the last few months my SCA participation has been slowly increasing. I am spending more time at home doing projects and have under-taken a few service activities including applying for an officer position, to be confirmed soon I hope. Arts Projects My Boy's suit for riding is progressing slowly. Slowly partly because I lack a lot of time for doing work on it, also because I am sort of making

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-40429037530206414472011-03-22T14:59:00.000+13:002011-03-22T14:59:14.553+13:00

So I have been avoiding blogging after February's earthquake because I don't know what to say. It more or less missed us - I think some of our gaps widened a little and there's a bit more mortar on the ground but that's about it. So its hard to contemplate what it has been like for many of the citizens of Christchurch. And I have little to say when my friends all talk about moving to Auckland, or

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-80195940957134953552011-03-04T11:44:00.000+13:002011-03-04T11:44:00.659+13:00

So the week after the week after Canterbury Faire was my annual trip to Wellington for the WebStock conference. I've been fabulously lucky in that my employer has seen fit to approve (and pay for) my going to every WebStock conference since the very first one. They never disappoint and this one was no different. I have made a couple of blogs about it on the libraries' professional interest blog

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-49129006384035695292011-02-10T12:10:00.000+13:002011-02-10T12:10:28.750+13:00

So I am in that in-between week between Canterbury faire (fab, hot, exhausting) and WebStock (fab, windy, exhausting). I don't know if it was over-indulgence in rich food and alcohol, the continuing stress of aftershocks, or just the extra activity but shortly after Christmas I crashed badly. I did get back to work in January but had several days off or shortened with sick leave. Which is a

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-33092040414655809982010-12-25T09:20:00.002+13:002010-12-25T09:29:53.765+13:00

So here I am at post 200, after, what - six years. That's not a great average but anyway, here is my Christmas letter: Dear Friends that I won't see at Christmas. I am forty two today which as we all know is a very auspicious number. Only it doesn't feel terribly auspicious. In fact I am struggling to find words to sum up this year. It was a bit up and down, both (mostly) figuratively but also

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-75101735100512661752010-12-12T20:20:00.000+13:002010-12-12T20:20:24.878+13:00

I just noticed that this is post 199. That's that only reason for the title. I will try to make number 200 the Christmas edition. Anyway I was have an odd wee think this afternoon. I was re-gluing the last batch of slides as they had separated out and the film had moved in them so if I was going to scan them I needed to get them back together. When I started this 'project' of scanning the slides

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-23111057759452710142010-11-30T13:49:00.002+13:002010-11-30T13:51:13.782+13:00

Just a quick note to say i am very busy at the moment. My back is mostly right and my walks with kiwi are back on schedule, although they are just walks now - I don't feel up to jogging at all. As of next week I will be doing four day working weeks as Nick and I are both taking all the Fridays in December off work. It will enable us to get some good work done around the house and I am hoping that

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-29812568990150052692010-11-02T17:46:00.000+13:002010-11-02T17:46:21.617+13:00

I can't get over it being November already, where has the year gone. I'm busy updating my wish lists and generally doing whatever useful operations can be performed from an easy chair as I have sprung my back again. I say my back but it's actually located a bit to the right of my spine so it's not a spine thing. After the previous two go-arounds with physiotherapists I'm not going to bother this

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-10587936914125460432010-10-15T19:38:00.000+13:002010-10-15T19:38:29.798+13:00

Whew, I meant to write this ages ago but I have been real busy and then not terribly well again. Anyway post-earthquake, not that they have actually finished, but we're mostly ok. The house has a few cracks, some bigger than others, and Nick is enjoying going around and pointing them out to me. We're still accumulating breakages as we find damage to things we missed before such as the tall

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-42758336242034214622010-09-09T17:51:00.000+12:002010-09-09T17:51:16.204+12:00

That's pretty much how the week has gone here post September 4 4:27am. Luckily not too much crash for us, others are not so lucky. Like most people I woke suddenly and realising quickly that it was a major earthquake I raced for the nearest doorway. Nick had a slightly different reaction: realising that it was an earthquake he reached up and removed the items that sit on the windowsill above our

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-57909472838247246612010-08-17T16:49:00.000+12:002010-08-17T16:49:47.566+12:00

So last weekend was Southron Gaard Collegium and I was teaching two sessions on Burgundian costume, one for men and one for women. I spent the last few weeks building on my previous research and its been fun reviewing old sources and finding some new ones. Its cost a bit because work no longer lets us interloan stuff for free so as our costume resources are not the best I had to interloan pretty

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-42318156792365045542010-07-16T13:58:00.000+12:002010-07-16T13:58:43.808+12:00

Nick, Bob and I went up to Auckland last weekend for what for me was the first out-of-town SCA event since  I got sick and it went really well. We flew up at about 6:50am Saturday morning arriving just after 8 and grabbed a car from Avis. Nick had taken care of the car booking and it was fine. We arrived a little early at the motel but they were cool about it - so we popped down the road for a

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-73354165449327818992010-06-15T17:01:00.000+12:002010-06-15T17:01:22.285+12:00

Well, i'm here in wellington again, staying at the Duxton in a fairly decent room with a bath which is nice, using their wifi, doing my email etc and also my nails. I'm up just for a couple of days for two webstock 'masterclass' sessions, tomorrow's on WCAG2 and Thursday on CSS. Its nice to have a couple of days away from the madness of work to focus on stuff which we'll be able to put to good

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-25395591300578825302010-06-06T16:23:00.000+12:002010-06-06T16:23:11.043+12:00

Its been a bumpy ride for the last month. I strongly suspect that I get SAD when winter finally kicks in and today I really seem to have very little energy for anything. Although I did take Kiwi out on a 40 minute walk in her new harness. The harnesses are an alternative to the collar as greyhounds' necks / heads are just one big funnel there is nothing to keep a collar on and if she bounces

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-17718574907440197342010-05-10T19:42:00.001+12:002010-05-10T19:42:55.459+12:00

Grey Velvet BurgundianOriginally uploaded by Simone HindinI am rebuilding this gown. It was made with a separate bodice and skirt and the skirt is full circle. Neither the bodice nor the sleeves have ever been quite right - the bodice laced up on one side and the sleeves are too tight at the forearm and have funny kind of latches as closures.Anyway I have taken it apart and cut enough out of the

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-33823947722193509502010-05-05T14:33:00.060+12:002010-05-10T19:30:15.288+12:00

Everyone's said that they need the gory details - well no actually they haven't but here they are anyway. Blogged with the Flock BrowserOK then, where to start.. So there were a few things that had to be done before hand - a mammogram to check everything was normal and a blood test to make sure I wasn't pregnant or had any nasty blood type things (hep, HIV etc). Also a measuring for the '

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-85868044009564869062010-04-20T13:31:00.000+12:002010-04-20T13:31:27.409+12:00

Well I've just bought my baby mattress protector, I have brand new Space Invaders pyjamas from Farmers and a good stack of movies recorded on the Tivo - I'm ready to go. On Thursday I'm having breast reduction by tumescent liposuction. I've wanted a breast reduction for a long time but over the last couple of years they've gotten bigger and I've been having more back and neck trouble and also

Simonenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-17870884800730639832010-04-07T09:44:00.001+12:002010-04-07T09:54:44.875+12:00

I don't read a lot of fiction these days. As a teen (and younger) I was ravenous, reading mostly fantasy and science fiction with some historical thrown in. My favourite authors were Tolkien (of course), Anne McCaffery, Andre Norton, Frank Herbert (Dune), Sharon Penman and then later Heinlein, Anne Rice, Terry Pratchett and eventually I discovered at Uni. Uni pretty much killed off my fiction

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-36115267153405565852010-04-05T13:32:00.000+12:002010-04-05T13:32:26.206+12:00

I'm sick again. Yes again again. For the last couple of months I keep having the odd couple of days where I feel increasingly ill and eventually vomit a few times. I'm feeling like that today. Headache too, a bit light sensitive. Am I beginning to get migraines? Other that that its been a cruisy Easter. Nick has had two riding sessions with Ian Loader which I gather went well enough. Lad had

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-42413199074986035102010-02-28T13:22:00.000+13:002010-02-28T13:22:56.826+13:00

This is the first weekend in February that we actually get anything done. This is because the first two are taken up by Canterbury Faire, then there's coming and going from Wellington for Webstock, so the month is almost gone before we have a relatively normal weekend. And even then I spent a good 2 1/2 hours doing ironing, largely of SCA garb. However we've also got a lot done at home this

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-75090323551313400772010-02-16T19:30:00.002+13:002010-10-15T13:24:12.180+13:00

DSCF0208 Originally uploaded by Simone HindinMy first day at webstock and here's this year's gear. The bag is the same configuration as last year's and the T shirt is the best yet. Also there's a yo-yo. Not quite as cool as the pink glowing yo-yo that Nick got at some conference he went to but a very cheerful yellow. WebStock was very awesome and ended with a bang - watch the video below.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-65707371014862004382010-02-12T09:14:00.000+13:002010-02-12T09:14:43.031+13:00

Its hard to believe that its been 14 years since I followed up Mistress Madelein's event Journey's End with a camping event that I called Canterbury Faire although my math might be off because on the Southron Gaard site it says 1995 so that would be 15 years. We had around 135 people show up including some from the US and Australia. I remember being quite bummed when the following year the

Simonenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-46865952270255596582009-12-28T12:58:00.001+13:002009-12-28T12:58:09.551+13:00

Why is it that even a few hours of family Christmas wears me out for days? I went splat on Boxing day and it was SOOO hot that I wasn't the only one. The cooler weather yesterday provoked me to do some computer stuff that I had intended to do for some weeks. Our PC had run out of space because the hard drive had been partitioned but everything was going on one partition. So a colleague at work

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-88577526770787502012009-12-15T14:41:00.001+13:002009-12-15T14:41:22.567+13:00

New Boots - LailaOriginally uploaded by Simone HindinWearing these new boots today - pretty comfy except that my toes went a bit numb over lunch today. You can't really see in the photo but they sort of change colour - purple to green and gold.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-55245338743302636922009-12-15T11:11:00.003+13:002009-12-15T11:11:48.858+13:00

We got our Tivo last week and are just loving it. Its already changing the way we watch TV and we haven't even hooked up the home networking side of things yet. If nothing else it has greatly improved the TV clarity even though Nick still has to add in the hi-def cable. We've recorded heaps of movies over the weekend and are getting lots of shows that are on at funny times. Its great just to be

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-88202982943717007542009-12-15T11:11:00.001+13:002009-12-15T11:11:34.276+13:00

Min's gift-list rules Cash is not a Christmas present, vouchers are OK in a pinch.Christmas/Birthday gifts are not a needs acquisition process - having said that practical gifts, and consumable gifts are great. The gift should speak to the giver as well as the giftee.Wishlists must include a variety of gifts at a variety of costs. For every item over $40 there should be a couple under $20, or

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-23678993661987978832009-11-28T15:04:00.001+13:002009-11-28T15:04:33.688+13:00

60 g butter1/3 C brown sugar2 Tb flour1/2 C slivered almonds1/4 C finely chopped dried apricots125 dark chocolateCream butter & sugar until just combined and add flour, then almonds and apricots. Drop 1/2 tsp on lightly greased (I would recommend using baking paper) baking trays allowing room for spreading. Bake in moderate oven about 5 minutes until golden. Remove from oven, loosen with spatula

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-90859158083492776992009-11-28T09:36:00.001+13:002009-11-28T09:36:22.827+13:00

So there's not a lot to say today. I'm really posting to try out the new Flock browser that I've been testing - it has a built in blog editor and many other very cool features and I am really liking it. Kiwi's leg is much better and today we're having a visit from the naked dog training lady. She's going to give us some games / exercises to play to teach Kiwi a few commands. At the moment Kiwi

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-86845354493463072172009-11-12T16:08:00.002+13:002009-11-12T16:21:03.752+13:00

Well the Crown Tourney site at Waipara should have opened about 10 minutes ago. But we're not on our way because we've decided not to camp. Last weekend it was a bit touch and go - I've had a bad few weeks and while I've had all week to rest 'it' sadly doesn't work quite like that (although I am feeling better than at the beginning of the week). Things were going pretty well until Nick decided to

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-63149242513303525052009-10-30T14:06:00.001+13:002009-10-30T14:06:10.457+13:00

Bling sandalsOriginally uploaded by Simone HindinCool new sandals - now waiting for a warm day :-(

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-84796378089148556032009-10-26T18:08:00.004+13:002009-10-26T18:32:49.762+13:00

Well its been an OK Labour Weekend. I was real sick last week and took half the week off and by the weekend was totally stuffed so Saturday was a bit of a write-off. Lovely day though, as was Sunday. Nick had riding lessons both days which despite only being 1 - 1 1/2 hours long actually takes all day by the time he's gotten sorted in the morning, picked up the horse (he was riding Lovejoy

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-7741227217335643112009-10-02T18:38:00.003+13:002009-10-02T18:50:50.954+13:00

Well Zoe had her foal (still nameless) a wee bay colt (yes another one) at about midday on Thursday October 1. Kiwi and I had just come through the gate back from our walk and they were both lying on the ground. The colt was still covered in the birthing sac but his face was clear so that was OK. Nick hadn't thought that she was so close to birthing so Twilight Escapade was still in the paddock

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-73979738078855811642009-09-30T17:16:00.001+13:002009-09-30T17:16:52.961+13:00

Kitchen splashbackOriginally uploaded by Simone HindinWell its finally in and I can say that I am very very happy with it. The colour (resene jalapeno) is just right. Its a bit hard to see in the photos because it picks up so much light - you can even see me taking the photo in the reflection. Also depending on the angle it picks up a bit of the blue from the cupboards but it all works.Also the

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-7827938220119525372009-09-14T13:14:00.004+12:002009-09-14T13:33:17.341+12:00

The animals are going through a bit of a bad patch. Nick had to dispatch our fluffy black silky rooster last week because it got sick and sicker. Then Twilight developed an infection post-snip. Lil has something in her mane and down her neck which we think is either a bacterial or fungal infection - its making her wicked itchy and she's got a couple of raw spots. Luckily because we had the vet

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-90970924043468036712009-09-09T14:25:00.002+12:002009-09-09T14:39:52.521+12:00

Well (again) its been a while since I blogged last. There are two real reasons for that a) I've been very busy at work and tired at home, and b) I've been tweeting all the wee things that happen so haven't felt the urgency to get it all down in a post. So what's been happening? Well Zoe's about 3 weeks due to foal and Twilight has finally been gelded so there's some progress there. No noticeable

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-86575530440521007862009-07-30T14:50:00.005+12:002009-07-30T15:04:11.056+12:00

Its interesting being in the book industry at the moment - stuck between a library community that varies wildly between head-stuck-in-sand, desperation and optimistic-early-adoption, a publishing industry that seems intent on the former, rather like the music industry and so-called tech companies suddenly getting in on mass-digitisation programmes. I've noticed that I hardly ever buy books from

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-29572673567171438292009-07-28T08:13:00.004+12:002009-07-28T08:22:09.593+12:00

Hmm, don't know what to call this one? We went out last Saturday night - went to Tony Astle's new spanish restaurant pre-movie. they were doing an early (between 5 - 6) set menu meal for $20 although I then had a cocktail and we all ordered an extra side dish so it came to more like $35 - $40 each ($109 for 3). But it was very nice. There was still quite a lot of options in te set menu which i

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-67405725704573983242009-06-22T18:48:00.004+12:002009-06-22T19:01:34.442+12:00

Well I'm on leave this week and so far am enjoying it immensely. I have finally finished the curtains in the living / dining room and I'm very happy with them. Here's a piccy of the dining ones up. I got the fabric from the Fabric House on Madras St and am hoping to find more for the bedrooms later. On the weekend we went out to Suzie's to pick up her car which we're borrowing for the week

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-49836001742249557362009-06-10T18:07:00.004+12:002009-06-10T18:19:56.935+12:00

Ha! I've figured out at least part of why I've been worse again this year. It's just seemed like I wasn't having the good weeks that I had a year ago. Anyway, when I was first diagnosed with CFS I stopped drinking alcohol completely - partly because the anti-depressants that I'm on say "limit alcohol". Then last year I found that I could have the occasional drink - more than one and I'd feel a

Simonenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-43636457765571080472009-05-22T15:10:00.001+12:002009-05-22T15:10:23.515+12:00

New shoesOriginally uploaded by Simone Hindinbeaut new shoes from Wild Pair - had a bit of a shopathon at lunch time. Also bought leather jacket at max and a new skirt.Completely unrelated but its easier for me to blog from flickr than to log into my blogger account and do it there - nuts! Also Telecom promised us a flickr pro account with our broadband account but now it turns out I have to get

Simonenoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-83474668756307310472009-05-22T14:31:00.001+12:002009-05-22T14:31:11.835+12:00

Buy NZ made goodsOriginally uploaded by Christchurch City LibrariesThis is such a great photo - I'd love to have this as a poster

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-86090481873728782072009-05-20T12:35:00.004+12:002009-05-20T12:59:59.959+12:00

Food is always fairly high on my mind. Lets face it no one like to be hungry and I find that getting really ravenous tips me over into fatigue pretty quickly - I guess I get a bit stressed about it. Anyway there's a couple of things that I've been thinking about with food recently. The first is that we had a fab night out with Jenni and friend at Restaurant Schwass last Wednesday evening. We all

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-56292946267652023852009-05-01T13:21:00.005+12:002009-05-01T13:36:14.821+12:00

So my big(ish) thing at the mo' is scanning slides. This may sound like a work task, and yes I'm making use of the libraries' A3 scanner as our at home scanner can't do slides. Scanning slides is a bit different because you have to have a light-source to shine through the slide. Anyway I have done three boxes so far out of, oh I don't know, maybe twenty or so. Its been quite interesting because

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-81018045754154445892009-04-13T11:15:00.002+12:002009-04-13T11:29:15.563+12:00

So its Easter Monday and back to work tomorrow. I've been pretty useless all weekend but did manage to go with Nick on Friday? to the Oderings sale with our hourse-warming vouchers and buy: 1 sweet chestnut, which has been planted down by the stockyards, two magnolias because they're my favourite tree and not everything has to be useful, a cherry (Dawson), two fern trees for behind the house (the

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-12728861469602731382009-04-08T17:51:00.003+12:002009-04-08T18:10:16.621+12:00

I'm prompted to write this post by an incident on my walk today but there are a few things that I've been meaning to mention about the walks. Today's Incident: so there are a few regulars that we pass on our walks - various riders, cyclists, walkers (mostly without dogs to Kiwi's distress) and joggers. Today we had just turned around and probably walked about 5 minutes towards home when we pass

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-48575525341860170352009-04-02T13:47:00.001+13:002009-04-02T13:51:14.243+13:00

Rowley sent me this a while ago. Generally I hate YouTube

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-68785391515276762882009-03-24T11:09:00.005+13:002009-03-24T11:20:57.505+13:00

Well this morning we had our first frost, but its turned out a lovely day. I'm taking today and Thursday off to relax - all the stuff in February (CF and WebStock) and then being two people down in the team has been very tiring for me and my energy levels have been steadily dropping. And then to make matters worse my back began playing up again. Anyway I have loads of holiday leave squirreled

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-39051176965523755132009-02-20T07:52:00.002+13:002009-02-20T08:01:14.281+13:00

Well its the Friday morning of the last day of Webstock 09 and its pissing down. I'm hoping that its raining as heavily in Canterbury as it is here in Wellington. Luckily Joan has left me an umbrella. Webstock has been pretty good. The Bag is similar to last year's but better and the t-shirt actually fits properly which is great as last year's was very tight and even the year before was a bit

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-54335556520776759252009-02-10T16:15:00.002+13:002009-02-10T16:29:40.217+13:00

Highlights Callum McLeod finally got knighted3! new Pelicans including the very long-deserving Taddea and Antonia not to dis' Sancha but Taddea has been cooking feasts and helping newbies so long that I can't remember Southron Gaard without herLad behaved himself (mostly) at the equestrian day which means we can bring him again - yay!Spending heaps of time with William up-dating my shoe-making

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-29940313090786762252009-01-28T14:51:00.002+13:002009-01-28T15:09:28.746+13:00

Urgh, I'm on a break on my working at home day. I've just made some form validation JavaScript work and its taken me the best part of the day, not counting previous days when I've been working on it. I'm sort of doing it because it needs doing but also because I'm going to a JavaScript workshop at WebStock in a few weeks and my skills are really pretty basic. I figured, when registering, that i

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-6441847980960103442009-01-05T14:46:00.002+13:002009-01-05T14:56:38.168+13:00

So we begin our first whole year in our new house in fairly salubrious fashion. We have Rowley staying with us and as a result are eating rather well. Its nice to have someone about who's really helpful in the kitchen and almost always upbeat. He made us a fabulous thai chicken salad that went us two meals. Tonight its Paella - yum yum. I've been taking Kiwi for walks, exploring the

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-86246292667472521382009-01-01T16:45:00.004+13:002009-01-05T14:45:12.602+13:00

Well I have begun my fortieth year. We had a lovely birthday party - Nick and Rowley with help put up our SCA pavilion to block the wind and it was a lovely evening. Sadly Becky couldn't come because she was sick but pretty much everyone else was there. I got some nice presents but the main one had arrived on Boxing Day. Nick and I headed out to Mead the day after Christmas to pick up Kiwi, a

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-9192620299268659432008-12-22T09:41:00.002+13:002008-12-22T09:52:06.153+13:00

Wow we've been so busy at work and not having usable internet at home is my chief excuse for not posting for so long. Also I've been really unwell since the Halloween party. Its been up and down as usual but more down than up. I'd like to be able to say that it was getting better but it isn't really. I've had to go back to sitting around most weekends and really working at not taking on too much

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-17530064597428735412008-11-11T07:51:00.003+13:002009-01-01T17:05:27.515+13:00

As requested: the recipe for the Double Diablo chocolate cake. The origins of this cake are lost in the mists of family history but we've been making it a long time. It does make a large and quite dense cake, almost brownie-like. You could probably use other liquors in place of the scotch but as we love scotch we've never tried. Our latest cake was made with Bowmore by the way. Ingredients ½ C

Simonenoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-54178899847455898302008-11-10T16:37:00.002+13:002008-11-10T16:53:47.914+13:00

Well its a new week and we're facing a National Government in the near future. I'll leave comment on that to the experts... I'm more interested in our new (naughty) baby who quickly developed a fondness for leaving his Mum trapped behind the (off) electric fence and going a-wandering. Because of this, and the timing of his birth, we have finally fixed on the name Twilight Escapade. He's also

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-58885602871278062452008-10-29T20:01:00.000+13:002008-10-29T20:04:29.731+13:00

Lightening has just foaled - about 45 minutes ago (7:20 ish). A wee bay colt with his mum's thin blaze and a couple of white feet like his Dad. Its a bit cold but fine. We're still waiting for it to get on its feet. yay!! Photos soon.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-46997236271515580502008-10-28T16:52:00.004+13:002008-10-28T17:05:02.400+13:00

Well I managed to drag Nick to the St Crispin's event and we took Zoe too. Earlier in the week he'd though that Lad would be OK but as the week went on Lad's "its spring and I'm horny all the time" behaviour made it clear that that would be more interesting than we'd like. The drawback with Zoe was that she's not exactly in work. In fact she's only been ridden about four times over the past month

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-44739137657047399082008-10-17T14:09:00.002+13:002008-10-17T14:19:17.324+13:00

Grumble, I've had a terrible cold/virus thing for the last week and have lost the best part of a week to it. Probably don't have any sick leave left now so it'll come out of my annual leave. Anyway, the wallpaper is up and looks freakin' fantastic. Especially with the blood red curtains next to it. I'm not posting pictures - you'll just have to visit. Hah! Well maybe after the housewarming.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-36786897794859460272008-10-07T08:08:00.004+13:002008-10-07T08:22:21.611+13:00

Over the weekend we set up a pioneer component stereo system that we have on loan. It came with a record player, which even had a needle on it. this wouldn't normally be worth mentioning, after all many hard-core musicos still play vinyl by preference. But for me its been very interesting. See as long as I've been with him (which by the way will be 20 years this time next year), Nick's been

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-27401549808569060042008-10-06T10:53:00.002+13:002008-10-06T11:04:35.989+13:00

Wow its been a busy few days. Last week Nathan called to say that he could come and do our fencing so Nick and I rushed home to make some decisions. By Friday it was all over and we spent some of the weekend hammering on rails and (well in Nick's case) string wires. Not a moment too soon really as Lightning is due to foal in a couple of weeks. Really a month ago I was still unconvinced that she

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-44456503909376555032008-09-26T12:49:00.002+12:002008-09-26T12:56:52.229+12:00

OK - that's just spooky. As noted in an earlier post i was particularly excited about next year's webstock because Bruce Sterling is speaking at it. So this morning I popped down and grabbed a couple of his books off the shelf at the Central Library here. I've just finished lunch where I began reading Shaping Things (2005) in which he coined the word SPIME - "manufactured objects whose

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-90257350463607390432008-09-23T09:51:00.002+12:002008-09-23T10:00:13.921+12:00

Nick and i had a very lazy sunday as he was feeling pretty rotten and I had a slight hang-over from the hen's night do the previous evening. So we sat around and read and watched about 4 episodes of Babylon 5 season 4. We're watching that again partly because we missed the odd episode when it was run on TV and felt that it was a series that we had to have. Other than that we've been emersed in '

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-81911222622799928152008-09-19T08:06:00.003+12:002008-09-19T08:16:48.134+12:00

Did you know that work can be incredibly tiring, or maybe I mean tiresome? Its not the work itself of course, that I can do more or less at home or in a vacuum. Its the constant negotiation of personality. I think that I'm just too tired to do it. anyway... Progress on most of the house stuff is good. JT came and finished hooking up the solar on Monday so we have now turned off the electricity

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-16722430415984147222008-09-12T16:08:00.002+12:002008-09-12T16:14:37.025+12:00

Well the webstock 09 conference programme is out and I'm blown away by the speakers that they've managed to get. I was pretty excited that they'd got Cameron Adams to do a workshop on javascript but then then I found out that they've got Bruce Sterling to speak... I'm also somewhat relieved that its the week after the week after Canterbury Faire. So I will have a bit more time to get my head out

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-45068412540239833752008-09-09T13:14:00.003+12:002008-09-09T13:28:08.029+12:00

Well it was a very busy weekend for us. I spent the morning at the Southron Gaard collegium learning naalbinding mainly. It quite enjoyed it but it wasn't a patch on the collegia that we used to have (and I'm not referring in any way to the quality of the workshops themselves but to the event as a whole). This was much more a couple of quiet workshops than a full on event. I don't think that it

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-86218897491123791592008-09-03T08:36:00.003+12:002008-09-03T08:49:50.594+12:00

Well its kind of nice to be back at work, although i really needed the week off - not just to deal with the move but also after the pretty intense few weeks before launching our new homepage and site templates. We're kind of settled in now. Nick spent half of Sunday on the roof putting the aerial up so that we could watch Dr Who on Sunday evening while I have filled in half of the trench (for

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-30433243414186954572008-08-29T16:22:00.003+12:002008-08-29T16:50:46.487+12:00

Well we've been in all of a week and I guess I should tell you how it went. Last Friday: possession day. It was a fine day and we got there at about 10:30 with a modest load from Madras St, and went through the house with Dustin. The builder was here busily putting handles on doors (all day) and the plumber was also here, making some last minute adjustments to nick's shower. Mostly things looked

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-54867409527509851512008-08-20T08:44:00.002+12:002008-08-20T08:53:42.129+12:00

Had a manic weekend but achieved a lot. We now have a letterbox, and by Friday will be able to receive mail. Nick's half-brother (?) Sam helped him him get the digger going on Saturday and ran it down our trench evening the surface out so that we could finally drop the water pipe into it. The digger had been broken down for a couple of months and until this was done we couldn't get Telecom in to

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-26636140435354644162008-08-13T08:24:00.003+12:002008-08-13T08:28:45.339+12:00

I think that I'm in shock. My arms feel like they're floating and the room is buzzing and I'm quite light-headed. I just got to work to be told that the last three weeks of work, wrapping new style-sheets and templates around the libraries' website has been lost. Over-written on a server that isn't being backed up. We were supposed to go live with it this Saturday ... well that ain't gonna happen

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-79832215358731195272008-08-11T14:10:00.004+12:002008-08-11T14:23:40.388+12:00

Yes that's right, we're supposed to move in in a little under two weeks. The painting is almost finished (they still have to do outside around the surfeits), the tiling is moving along quite well. We have been trying to decide on curtains and have found really nice fabrics that don't cost a fortune, including this one for the bedroom. This week they'll do the lighting and plumbing so by next

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-13364604693987870952008-07-24T08:52:00.002+12:002008-07-24T09:05:59.075+12:00

Well its been ages since I posted and we've been absolutely flat out. Nick's currently down at Benmore Power Station doing his training for the big job that they're doing down there. The house is coming along quickly now. The macrocarpa floors are down and looked magnificent (until everyone walked on them and got them dirty). The garage doors are on and also look great and the kitchen is in.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-20381662448808108332008-06-13T13:08:00.005+12:002008-06-13T13:24:08.783+12:00

Well we finally have a finishing schedule. We're supposed to have handover on August 22 which is just scraping in as our lease ends that weekend. I've started doing things like selecting the wallpaper for the theatre room. I've found some fabulous ones and some of them are quite expensive but my firm favourite so far is this design by Nina Campbell: Fleur de Lys Court from the Birdcage Walk

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-24529036689112488322008-06-05T13:25:00.007+12:002008-06-05T13:53:49.192+12:00

I haven't really said much about Lil yet, mainly because I've been distracted by Tybalt's illness (she's getting about now). We had a couple of nice rides last weekend and Jenni took some lovely pictures which I have put on my Flickr - tagged as Lil. She's settled down really well and while I haven't really been pushing her at all (or myself for that matter) we have tried a couple of new things,

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-17404251170453986762008-06-03T10:31:00.002+12:002008-06-03T10:36:49.836+12:00

Well after several visits to the vet it looks like Tybalt is on the mend. After leaving her at the vet's on Wednesday I called on Thursday and the vet expressed surprise with her recovery. We picked her up on Friday evening and brought her home for the long weekend. She's been eating well and drinking although its a bit of a struggle to get her to take her pills. I've gone to crushing them in her

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-1877614252197822082008-05-28T15:05:00.004+12:002008-05-28T15:23:23.894+12:00

I'm having the worst day ever. First of all my cat Tybalt is very sick, possibly terminal. This is the cat that I inherited from Mum. Over the last year she's really been slowing down but she must be about 20 so that is ancient for a cat. Because we were facing the possibility of frequent changes of address and possibly fairly crap accomodations I decided to put her into a cattery thinking that

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-1615651712784237372008-05-19T11:04:00.003+12:002008-06-03T12:24:40.286+12:00

Well my other bit of news from the weekend is that I've finally bought a horse. I first started looking for a horse a few years ago before my CFS diagnosis and my first attempt resulted in my finger being distorted (I still have a lump) after I got bucked off. That took months to heal and then when I found out that I was quite sick I stopped riding altogether apart from the odd casual ride out

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-4792164768094989802008-05-19T10:07:00.004+12:002008-05-19T11:01:39.882+12:00

Well the house is still moving slowly but we've just made the third payment and the bricks are all on and its looking pretty sweet. The pictures below look a bit funny because they've been pasted together with Photoshop and instead of taking 3 or 4 from a central position they're composed of 2 - one near and one far so to stick them together one has to get a bit skewed.We had a real funny last

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-3307931662421670952008-05-13T16:53:00.001+12:002008-05-13T16:53:45.708+12:00

House in Webb street, St AlbansOriginally uploaded by National Library of New ZealandCheck out this house - this is the house that we lived in in Merivale. I've always said that if I could ever afford it I'd buy it back again. I understand that its been subdivided since.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-15466426652863671462008-05-10T17:40:00.003+12:002008-05-10T17:52:39.254+12:00

Its our anniversary today :-) and its been a pretty nice day. We went out to try out a horse that is for sale, which went pretty well, then out to the farm - rode Lad a bit, attached the big water pipe for the house water to the pump, and shortly we're going out for dinner at Pedro's, a Spanish restaurant. House is still progressing very slowly. bricks are about 85% on - there's still some big

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-72882495587052312952008-04-27T13:41:00.004+12:002008-04-27T14:00:29.111+12:00

WOW that last post was optimistic ! Everything is finally moved but its was a real ordeal. I made about four trips back and forth on the Tuesday, moving all of our clothes, food, DVDs/CDs etc to our new (temporary) location. That was pretty tiring but then all day Wednesday and Thursday was spent sorting, boxing lifting and shifting almost everything else. By the time we got back into town

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-87233124273394583452008-04-21T16:44:00.002+12:002008-04-21T16:48:50.931+12:00

We move tomorrow! I'm kind of sad at leaving our first home but at least we're going to a place that's going to be comfortable and warm. Moving has been an enormous task but is almost over now - just some basic furniture and the essentials and a few smallish things left in the workshop. At least we only have to move once, well there is the moving of stuff from the workshop to the house but

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-40609347189078026632008-04-10T13:21:00.004+12:002008-04-10T13:30:13.492+12:00

A quick post to RAVE about Valrhona's Xocopili bitter choc spice balls. Tess gave a bag of these to Nick for his birthday and they are absolutely amazing. As the name suggests they're not at all sweet, although I wouldn't call them bitter by any means. I found this description " These marble-shaped chocolate spice

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-73591114058944256382008-04-07T16:39:00.003+12:002008-04-07T16:51:52.981+12:00

The move is going fairly well - I'd guess that we're about half-way there which is OK as we have until 24th and I'm taking most of that week off. I've got movers coming to do the valuable furniture and next weekend Nick will try to move the heavy workshop stuff. One wee problem is that the builders still have their stuff in the shed. This is actually a major problem as we can't put things

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-10156932953148920372008-03-31T13:11:00.003+13:002008-03-31T13:20:37.341+13:00

Well, that's it, we're moving out now. After a couple of moves to stay in our place and rent it from the purchaser he changed his mind. We think that he probably found out that there are additional costs over the mortgage, like insurance etc. Last weekend we started the move properly - Nick borrowed a box truck from Richard and Rob and Jason came over and helped move heaps of stuff. My loom has

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-56518043308142301592008-03-25T13:06:00.005+13:002008-03-31T13:11:03.176+13:00

Well, Easter has come and gone again, although unusually early this year. And of course Nick's birthday / baronial anniversary on the 23rd. The highlight of Easter for me was having our first SCA equestrian training day. We borrowed Suzie's (Nick's Mum) horses Sweet William (black) and Lovejoy (roan / grey) and Pixie/Louise/Jennifer brought her standardbred mare (whose name I forgot almost

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-80186540034040694642008-03-17T17:49:00.003+13:002008-03-31T13:11:45.090+13:00

Here's the actual house plan. Now we're working on the landscaping.This end is North aka the sunny side.

Simonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10101598.post-47393046967715558552008-03-15T11:17:00.005+13:002008-03-15T11:45:49.720+13:00

Well we've finally sold our house and just at the right time too really. It went unconditional yesterday and we have four weeks to settlement - which should be just a bit before we have to make the second big payment for the new house.The guy who's bought it has suggested that we could rent it from him while ours is being finished which would be great, so long as he doesn't want too much. We'd

Simonenoreply@blogger.com1