2paw

And up through the ground came a bubblin' rude: health that is!!

I'm not exactly in rude health, lets call it slightly off-colour, innuendo laden, impolite health!!! I am back to being half way human, and life is bearable again!! I have had so many lovely comments and emails and some lovely gifts that have made me feel humble and chuffed at the same time. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword and words of comfort and cheer really work: Thanks!!!   LarjMarj very sensibly asked what was wrong with me: I have a Mystery Illness!! It's not on any list, Rich or not. My bone marrow is in permanent conniption, it doesn't work properly and I don't make anywhere near enough red blood cells and there are myriad other bits'n'bobs, but basically that's it in a nutshell. I have adapted to be able to cope, but suddenly I had a little crisis and there had to be decisions made. It doesn't sound much, but because 'we' don't know what's actually wrong with me, 'we' can't fix it. So I get to try a lucky dip of treatments, not hoping for a cure, but just for some quality of life. My lower drug dose has made a happy difference and though I am sluggish and slightly boogelly, I am able to cope again. There, unless I pop my clogs and am pushing up the daisies, we shall speak of this no more for now. We will live in the happy Land of Pretend!!!!

There has been a Gallifreyan celebration and I have made some things: 

• Egyptian Lounging pants from material bought and gifted last year, and found languishing in the fabric stash: inspired by Clickertyclick
• Tissue holders compliments of Tutti Fruiti's tutorial
• and a Chip packet pencil case!!!!

I have also started a little knitting project, not so much Fetching, as Carrying: with a holey pattern in a K2P2 rib background every 10 rows and I lengthened them too. I'm almost finished and I expect I will at the Knitting Coven tomorrow.

Peri has been her usual exuberant self, racing through the below zero frosty mornings, but she is a sooky lala too. Harki bravely (or not so bravely, she really didn't want to stay, but Peri and I gritted our teeth and left) donated blood to a sick dog at the Hospital who was waiting for an operation. Peri stuck to me like glue and followed me around the house for 90 minutes like a bad smell. She was ever so happy when we went back to pick up Harki. The nurse said she was very well behaved, but Dr Tim said she was a bit of a wriggler!! She also refused to eat the breakfast they gave her, or special treats!!  But when we came home she gobbled down her food with Peri!!!  Added a bit later on: Dogs do have different blood groups, but for their very first transfusion they can accept any blood type. After that they have to be cross matched like humans are!!!

Typepad has a new feature where you can add a page, so I am going to have a go tomorrow at adding a recipe page for Lemon Meringue Pie. Here's what was left after tea last night at tea last night at MrsDrWho's. She's ba-ack and she bought me some presents, as did her dad, the Timelord!! But more of that later.........

Just a Friend-ful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down!!!

Actually it doesn't really, but all the lovely comments and emails certainly gladden my heart and make me smile!! MrsDrWho poohpoohs my internet friends, in a Black Adder sort of way you understand.... she's home from Macau tomorrow just in time for Doctor Who!!! I must rally momentarily for that, and let's face it, she'll fed me!!! The drugs are boogelly and so I have, Florence Nightingale-like, taken to my bed. It is possible to sleep for 20 out of 24 hours!! My bestest friend is my new non-leaky hotwater bottle: green and cuddly warm inside it's green knitted cover. The Labradors are able to sleep faster than a speeding bullet, snore more powerfully than a locomotive and leap tall beds in a single bound: SuperLabs!!! I hadn't 'quite' remembered how horrid it was, but maybe I will assimilate the side effects and feel OK soon. I hope so!! But better sick than dead I always say.

Oh Specialist telephone update just now: my levels are waaay too high so I get to take less drugs!!

So Apron swap?? Yep, I'm in one and it's not going very well, as you might guess. I have bought, washed  and readied materials but there has been no sewing. I have emailed and asked for an extension!!

Bloggers have been tidying their craft spaces: Autumn cleaning here. I did know who they were but not anymore. I tidied out my bits'n'bobs tub. Yes, well 22 zips, over 60 skeins of embroidery thread still in the little paper holdery things, and more reels of cotton later than you can poke a stick at... I am the Ziplock Bag Queen now and I can actually find one of my 15 tape measures!!!

I didn't join in the WWKIP Day, I did pop into the Knitting Coven for 45 minutes or so (I was the 1/2 a small bowl of chips Toni) but I have revelled in Ravelry. I must have signed up quite early on. I have uploaded some socks but the pictures are all big. I can't smaller them at all, even though I did manage to upload them to flickr and then transfer them across: a Herculean feat in itself. And if you are 'In' be my friend. I'm 2paw: Ravelry Me!!!

Harki and Peri are keeping me happy with their lovely faces and waggy tails...now, if I could just teach them to make a cup of tea.....

Oh PS, I have over 100 Blogline post thingies to read, some people I 'know' Internetally are up to 4 or 5 posts waiting to be read. Believe me, I'm commenting on the 'inside'!!!

Unhealthy, Unweathly and Wise???

I was sitting this morning looking at the two grey coloured gelatinous capsules in my hand, knowing I had to take them, and not wanting to. There is something about deliberately taking a medication that you know will make you feel boogelly that feels so weird. Anyhow, the condemned woman ate a 'hearty meal' the night before. I can't always tolerate food so well on the boogelly drug, so I treated myself to a little feast of food that is not my normal fare: frozen meal lasagne, as I was too tired to cook or even defrost, sour bears, cheese snacks and raspberry icecream!!! From now on it's all about the good food, best nutrition and no grapefruit or sunlight.

OMGCB I want to say 'The Bloggers have Voted' or 'You are the weakest Pattern. Goodbye!!" The green tunic top won by a mile, so to speak. It gained almost 50% of the vote, so Green Tunic Top View C it is. I think it will have the little ties from View B as I need to define my shape, rather than have a too wafty top whereupon I appear to be an amorphous lump!! I loved having a poll. How exciting was that?  Just goes to show how sad my life is!! Thank you for your votes, your thoughtful comments and your kindness in taking the decision out of my hands!!! I shall make a toile and then I might whip up another if the fit is right. I plan to use the material draped fetchingly around The BareNakedLady(Enhanced Version 2.0). It has a little bit of stretch, I think it is a stretch poplin, so that should be somewhat forgiving!!!

I have knitted a sock I hate. I have named the sock Britney as it has obviously had some kind of breakdown. It needs to be put away where no-one can see it. It will never grace a foot. It will never be a present. I think it can be a Labrador toy. The crocheting has been going well. As it is a secret, this is all I can show you!! The Professor Plum socks are complete, but I think it's only fair MrsDrWho gets to see them first, so I am UpsideDown Baudelaire-ing along past the gusset on the second sock with just 36 rows and the toe to go!!!

Today The Labradors had a special treat: a walk with Wee Jock, his mum and Auntie StarskyandHutch!! How happy they were, although it has been icy and frosty in the morning,: Peekaboo Peri!! The days are crisp and sunny. Of course The Labradors found the only puddles around the whole reserve and got suitable muddy!!! We all tramped through the bush for about 30 minutes and then there was lunch at Auntie WeeJock's house, but the grubby Labradors had to be dropped off at home.

Five years ago, almost to the day, I was taking the same boogelly drugs and they made my fingers swell and so I took off my ring and put it away. Would you believe that a few weeks ago I tipped out a bowl of jewellery bits and bobs and there was the ring?? I put it straight back on, not knowing that I would probably be taking it off again soon!! It is my maternal grandmother's engagement ring and fits my right ring finger perfectly!! She was called Tiger Nan as she and Pop had 2 black Labradors called Tiger and Tara. I think they also had a few other dogs with names that would be considered inappropriate now, but were commonplace then. Labradors run in my family!!!

Oh look, no clicky links in this post...very strange. Back next time with my UpsideDown Baudelaires: Greenery Snicket, the apron swap, and my attempt at sorting out some of my craft resources after being inspired by a few organised bloggers......Oh and it's Knit In Public Day on Saturday: May the Knitting Force Be With You!!

And now for the recipes. The first is my own version of caramel slice, except you don't need to bake it. I don't have a picture as everyone eats it before I have remembered. The second recipe is  Fruit Salad Muffins and it is as easy as pie to make.

No Bake Chocolate Caramel Slice

• 200g pulverised sweet biscuits: I like oaty biscuits or gingernuts. Choose your favourite.
• 100g melted butter
• 1 395g tin of condensed milk
• 40g butter
• 40ml of golden syrup
• 150g chocolate, melted

You will need a large glass microwave-safe bowl and a smallish square or rectangular cake tin. I used a 15 cm square tin lined with baking paper: this means a high caramel to base ratio!! Mix the melted butter and biscuits and press into the tin, especially the corners, even out smoothly and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make the caramel, place the condensed milk, butter and golden syrup in the bowl and microwave in 1 minute bursts, stirring well each time. WARNING: This will be very hot so please be careful. It takes between 6 and 10 minutes until the caramel is, well, a caramel colour, and then give it a really good stir so it all comes together. Pour over the base and refrigerate till set. Then smooth over the chocolate topping and keep in the refrigerator. Cut with a long sharp knife dipped in hot water. You really only do need a small piece as it is very rich!!

Fruit Salad Muffins (Makes 12-18)

• 150g butter
• 150g caster or raw sugar
• 125ml liquid: half juice and half milk
• 2 eggs
• 300g self raising flour
• 1 400g tin fruit salad in natural juice

Drain the tin of fruit and see if you can catch 60ml of juice. Add enough milk to make the total up to 125ml. Preheat the oven to 200*C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin papers.

Melt the butter, add the sugar, milk/juice and eggs. Stir well and then add the fruit. Finally add the sifted flour and mix sparingly. Muffins should look unfinished and a little rough in the bowl. Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 15-20 minutes. These are un-iced but a little lemon or passionfruit icing would be nice. They freeze well too!!

Sgt. Pepper's Bonely Hearts Club Band

It's the 40th Anniversary of the UK release of this album. I remember the olden days of records, in fact, I still say record, and I also 'tape' with my hard drive on the DVD recorder!!! I am out of the Ark!!! I had just started Prep at school, it was the year of the big bushfires, and we didn't have this record at home. My mum did like The Beatles and I am on tape somewhere, reel to reel, singing 'She loves you, Yeah Yeah Yeah' in my very, very early years!!! It was the start of my love of The Beatles. I'm not a 'fan' in the true fanatical sense, and as referenced in my last post, I was born too late: in my teens, everyone at school liked, well, whomever it was who was popular, but I liked The Beatles and Paul McCartney and Wings and so on. I was a musical outcast!!!

Bonely speaking, I had a very nice meeting with the people from Melbourne who flew over for a Clinic this week. I will be taking The Cyclosporin again,and we all wait with huge anticipation to see what will happen.

There has been little knitting. I have been a little tired recovering from my boogelly cold, but I am on the home stretch of the Professor Plum socks: only about 20 rows to go, and then the toe!! AmandaJ and I are still having a Baudelaire-along so I will start Greenery Snicket #2 next. I have some secret sewing to do, and I also have some secret crocheting as well!! No pictures of that. Everyone is always waxing lyrical about the quick delivery of their Bendigo wool, but I ordered on their website on Tuesday night and alas, no wool has appeared thus far. It seems it will take a whole week. There is little or no chance I can knit MrsDrWho (Currently on a personal guided tour of China with her mum. They are at The Wall now) a cardigan before the 20th of June. Or is there??? Oh, and for AmandaJ again, photographic proof that The Coven exists!! Here we all are. Can you see my spot, with the lovely bag Donna made me and the teapot???

I have 2 new patterns. I'm not sure which one to make first. I have ventured into the big bad world of Widgets and added a poll to my right side bar. I value your opinion, well, until the 6th of June anyway: my D-Day!! Should I make a stretchy T-shirt type top in some nice lime boucle: there's a wrap around version and a knotted front type? Or, should I make a woven fabric tunic top, with gathering at the bust: there can be full sleeves or sleeves with a frill at the bottom?  It would be green too, of course. I am in a quandary.

Harki has been to The Vet for her annual Vaccination and check up. As her hips are boogelly now, she should lose 5kg, so both of The Labradors are on a diet. She has some ointment for FlippyFloppy Ear as well. Harki had taken to having a little plaintive cry every now and again in the evening, whereupon I pat her and give her a cuddle. Dr Tim thinks she is crying Wolf, and just wants a pat and is not in pain or unhappy. This seems to be the case. I have been ignoring her and in only 2 days she has stopped. Peri and Harki are very excited because there is a lot of water in the creek, a lot of chilly water surrounded by mud. This means that even this morning when the temperature was 3*C (37*F) they both jumped in with no hesitation. I would prefer they got wet at the start of the walk and then dried off a bit, they would prefer to cool off at the end and put water everywhere in the back of the car.

There is water everywhere at the dam, for the first time since The Twelfth Of Never, and that's a long long time, the dam is overflowing. At last, the drought might be thinking of being over.

Everyone was so kind and complimentary about my new vest!! Thank you!! I've added an 'About" page with a contact if anyone want to use it!! I don't know how to configure The Typepad so I can email people who comment, so I've done the next best thing: you can email me!!

Back next time with 2 new recipes: Easy Caramel slice with no cooking!! And Fruit Salad Muffins: officially declared Yummy by Cleo's Lovely House Sitter!!!