Mental Whirlwind

I spent part of the morning helping B chop up the rest of the pig. I used about 1/3 for Winterfeast but bought a whole pig 'coz it was massively better value, and hey, I live in the country, that's what country people do! I guess. *shrug*

Now I have a happy freezer full of lovely pork products. *drool* Guess what I'm having for dinner! And maybe lunch.

OMG, I've never used the mood "Hungry" before, it's so cute!

Last Weekend was a full one!

( Debrief on Stormhold Winterfeast. )

I also got to hang out with the gorgeous mayela_delarue, kidnapped her for a little while and stole her away to my farm. Now I miss her!

Mayela and I went to see Wicked on the Sunday afternoon. I haven't been to the theatre for a very very long time, and it was just wonderful. Great costumes, great songs, amazing voices and a storyline that was filled with a blend of interesting and the familiar. I'd recommend it. Go see it if you can.

Now I have to unpack and clean up after my adventure-filled weekend. *sigh*

Constantly posting comic links is like cheating on the "stuff about my life" test on LJ. But this one made me LOL. It's just so...... wrong.

Explosm you are twisted, and how I do love thee.

I has pies! Lots of pies. Well, about a third of the pies I have to make for Winterfeast are done. I had to fend my family off with a large stick of rattan as the smell of cooking pies worked them into a pie craving frenzy! It was like defending a friend from a horde of zombies armed only with a baseball bat!

Ok. So that was an exaggeration. The truth is not nearly as interesting. There were a lot of comments like; "Those pies smell great Mum!" and "Are they *all* for the feast?" And my tallest child kept wandering past the cooling pies, sniffing deeply, going "Mmmm" and looking at me hopefully.

I think I need to make another batch for our freezer.

But I have needed the rattan to defend the 3 boxes of Gingerbread. Honestly! *nod nod*

I don't regularly read Watermark comic, but the link is courtesy of Whedonesque.

No, don't you dare take them away, they're my preciouses!

It's so cold out here in Rat-land! *shiver*

On the good side, the snowdrops have started poking out their green leaves. I went for a little walk today in the bush and saw that the wattle is wearing it's bright yellow buds. So while winter is here in all it's icy goodness, there are signs it will pass.

The girls are watching "The sound of music". Is edelweiss the same plant as snowdrops?

[googles]

No, of course not! What was I thinking?

I had a great weekend with lots of different friends and my darling girls.

The past 48 hours are a happy blur of spit roast pork, hobby horses, wood smoke, a horn filled with mead, reassurance, cold wind, warm people, fresh milk, stilt race, fire dancer, shiny armour, reminiscing, gratitude, lots of laughter, sharing, little pies in the shape of apples, kid cuddles, wool clothes, longing, joy, making plans, inspired chanting, writing letters, new projects, old projects, messy house, tales from afar, happy pony, tickling children, rain all night, blessings bestowed, contented chickens pecking by the window, warm doonas, bonding in the kitchen, hearing the voice that makes my knees go weak, contentment, new DVD's, excited children, roast chestnuts, reconnecting with old friends, meeting new friends, honouring God, speaking a common language, comparing different experiences, sharing like experiences, things to look forward to, things from the past accepted and much much happiness.

I didn't get the check-out chick job. It doesn't mean much, as I was the only person in the room over the age of about 24 (and that includes the "group assessors"), so I didn't expect to get the job. But I'm taking a break from job search this week. I think I need to reassess what I need and come back to it with a more clarified goal. Just randomly applying for almost any type of job is not feeling right anymore.

Today the girls are at my Mum's. I've slept in, laid around and daydreamed. It's stopped raining so I think I might stoke up the fire so my house is toasty, rug up and go for a run. Bal had the run of the house on the weekend, so there's a giant pile of dishes needing to be cleaned before I get to my next task, Winterfeast cooking. My house will smell uber yummy today. I think I'll make chicken stock and Gingerbread dough.

I might even find time to watch Xanadu and tackle some UFO's.

My girls love to sing. And their Dad loves to teach them songs, which is fantastic. But the kind of songs Bal really likes are Christian pop songs. *shudder*

So this morning I got woken up by 3 gorgeous girls cuddling me in bed and serenading me with Christian pop.

Now, I love the fact that my girls love to sing, and I will never discourage them. But I think they need to widen their repertoire a little. They may be a bit young for Aretha and Otis, so I've got them started on.....

The Wizard of OZ. They are sitting there watching the DVD right now, with printed copies of the lyrics, singing along. I was singing with them, but they decided that I was too loud and wasn't allowed to cheat and look at their notes and I kept getting it all wrong.

Musicals are great.

Why don't I have a copy of Xanadu? I need to rectify that, I think that might be lesson 2 in musical-movie appreciation.

Having Wiki-ed Xanadu, I now believe I also need to see Down to Earth, the 1947 movie Xanadu was based on, and Here comes Mr Jordan which apparently is the prequel to Down to Earth. My movie edumacation is sorely lacking.

Have you got any other good suggestions for music that my girls should add to their repertoire? It doesn't have to be musicals, it's just that they're an easy fix.

I think I need to keep an eye out for this:

Faintheart - a movie about viking re-enactors.

It could be funny. It could be a little too close to the truth. It comes out in September in England, so I guess it'll be here maybe around Christmas?

The hot water guy came, spent 15 mins tinkering with the service and happily fleeced me of a pot of money. I'm in the wrong business I tell ya. He was far too chipper, but I think I'd be happy at work every day if I got paid that much too. At least he was more personable than the scowly septic draining man.

[Happily conga-lining (on my own, but it works, really it does) all the way to the bathroom.]

Going to have a show-er! *kick* Going to have a show-er! *kick*

I've been trying to work out where my time is going lately. I've pared back and pared back my social and creative activities but I'm just not sure where the extra time is going.

I mean sure, I've been doing a lot more on the farm and that takes up quite a bit of time. Bal is doing less and less almost nothing except sleeping in my house (Welcome to Hotel de Aste!) so the extra cleaning up and maintaining his crap accounts for some. But there still should be more time.

I worked it out today. I spent about 3 hours applying for a few jobs. And I've been doing this a few times a week. I never really factored in how long it takes to tweak, write, be creative, sell myself and sometimes just downright bullshit out my resumes and letters. I can't bring myself to do it half-arsed and make it generic, if I'm gonna do something I want to do it right and that takes time.

Dear Job Fairy,

I'd like a job that is 9-5:30ish on Mondays and Tuesdays. I'd like it to be local, preferably with an in house daycare facility. I'd do almost any kind of work as long as it pays more than waitressing, and I'd even do waitressing if they offered to pay a decent wage.

Ideally it'd be in a medium to large sized workplace with a good boss and the opportunity to make a difference. I'd be happy to do contract or casual work as long as it was on these days as I don't give a crap about leave pay and I'd even be happy to do extra days in the busy periods.

No payroll, commission or telemarketing jobs please. I still have some shred of dignity left.

I look forward to discussing this position with you and may be contacted via the usual outlets.

Yours sincerely,
Aste.

I have a cattle-call interview with Safeway on Thursday. Dear Gods, it's come to this. Is it bad that I'm kinda hoping I don't get the position so I can continue looking for a real job?

It's not that I'd hate the actual work. It pays better than waitressing. It's not hard, and I like working with customers. Its just that I remember how crappy retail rosters can be and I dread being at the beck and call of the Giant Roster Monster.

"Come here man-servant! I want you to work two hours at 6am on Wednesday and Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday 10-3." GRM lets out a roar of E-vil laughter.

Aste bows and rubs his feet.

"Oh, thank you, Massah! Thank you for giving me the privilege of some hours to work so I can continue to eek out my meager existence at your benevolence."

The GRM booms, "Ahah, but that's not all! I will call you on Tuesday at 8am and expect you to do an extra shift at 8:30, regardless of the fact you have children and no access to daycare. And if you don't come in, I will cut your roster to shreeeeedddddsss!"

Aste simpers, "Oh no Massah, please don't do that. I'll do anything you please. Can I massage your bald, yet manly scalp now?"

I've been surfing some Swedish museum sites. It's very rude to admit this I know, but all I keep hearing in my head is the Swedish chef when I look at the written language.

*bork bork bork*

I should be doing so much today. *arrgh* I tell myself I can veg out a bit 'coz yesterday I loaded 2 mts of wood into trailer and unloaded 2 mts of wood into shed. A big wood pile gets me hot.

I also killed and cleaned two roosters for the freezer. It would have been more but the Tree could only catch two, they've gotten wise to us, I'm sure! I also dyed some fibre, cleaned and vaccumed the house, did the dishes, had a shower and bathed the kids. No! Really! It's important that I mention the washing! The hot water service is dead, so getting to wash is a great trial and pleasure.

One of my greenhouses got sold and picked up yesterday. I think I got ripped off, but Bal had brokered the deal and I didn't think I was in a position to re-negotiate. At least it should foster some good neighbourly relations.

I also fixed the mulcher's legs, and sharpened my axe and hatchet. I'm not sure how you're *supposed* to do it, but I attacked it with the angle grinder and that seemed to work. I love power tools. Arrrgh Argh.

Ok, now I've told you all how wonderfully hard working I am, I feel vindicated enough that I only really pottered about this morning, fiddling with armour bits and dyepots. I wish I could find the box of blunts, that way I could fix my arrows too.

I took the girls to the local underage disco on Friday night. They said it was too loud, too smokey and the other kids had ripped open the glow sticks and made a big mess which freaked out my girls. We left after just over an hour. Are my kids dorky or just conscientious? It doesn't matter. They are what they are and that is adorable.

They worked really well together yesterday. I bribed them with boxes of matches so they could start fires and chocolate. Thank goodness they have a farm kids understanding of "fire season" otherwise I could have some pyromaniacs on my hands. I'm sure they get that from their Dad, I suck at fires.

The girls are out with their Dad today. My house is quiet. I miss them, but it's kinda nice.