You knit where?!

RIP ToiletFrog

ToiletFrog is no more, and I have to confess it's my fault. We'd worked out a nice little routine where I would take him out of the toilet, put him outside by the water tank, go back inside, clean the toilet, and -importantly- leave the lid down while the cleaning products were taking effect (this sometimes takes a while- frog poo stains are a lot harder to remove than you'd think).

Unfortunately last night, I forgot to put the lid down, and ToiletFrog jumped back into his home which was awash with nasty chemicals. This is how I learned that ToiletFrog and ToiletDuck- despite the similarity in their names- are not compatible.

ToiletFrog, despite all the hassle I gave you about my need for privacy in the bathroom, I will miss seeing your little green hands hanging on for dear life as I flush the toilet. Rest in Peace.

* * * * *

In other news, I'm about to head to Melbourne to spend Christmas with my AwesomeBrother™ and other family. I will also be stopping in at The Woolbaa to do a little last minute Secret Santa shopping for Mt Lawley S'n'B. I haven't done any Christmas shopping at all yet, so please don't be offended if your Christmas presents are more like New Year's presents- it's hard when you have a choice of, oh, about three shops to choose from- and one of those is Mitre 10.

I did manage to make my mum something though. We have a family tradition where she gets a new Christmas ornament every year, so inspired by Craftster, I made her a button wreath.

I'm sure there are tutorials out there, but really, a monkey could do it- make a circle of card, cut another circle out of the centre of it to form a wreath, attach ribbon for hanging, glue a variety of buttons on, covering entire surface. Try not to get hot glue everywhere, burn self with aforementioned hot glue or glue wreath/buttons to self (all of which I did- red wine makes crafting just that little bit more exciting, you know?).

After my sojourn in Melbourne (shopping! Drinking! Festive family fun! Helping family move house! One of these things is not like the others...) I am heading to Perth for two whole weeks of more festivities- the aforementioned S'n'B Secret Santa party, hens' night, New Year's Eve, and most importantly, a wedding. I'm a bridesmaid! I've spent the past six months looking for the perfect shoes to wear with the bridesmaid dress (which is, contrary to tradition, absolutely beautiful AND flattering). I looked in Perth, in Melbourne and Sydney, I must have tried nearly a hundred shoe shops with no luck, only to find said perfect shoes in the bottom of my mother's wardrobe.

If you want to catch up with me while I'm in Perth or Melbourne, drop me a line, or give me a call. I can't wait to get back to civilisation somewhere with supermarkets that actually stock both vegetables and fresh herbs!

No animals were harmed in the production of this post.

It turns out L is fine with the internets seeing her face so here are some more cute photos (squee!):

"Hey, that's not a pouch!"...

Shortly after this was taken, the cat ran away and hid. Joeys make terrifying screechy noises and always look like they're about to attack. Well, maybe not attack, but perhaps just kill you with excessive cuteness overload. Yes, this interspecies interaction was being carefully chaperoned.

The joey has gone to a sanctuary now, so I'm sure he's now fighting fit and telling tales about these crazy critters who ran away every time he looked at them.

Not quite actual size, but probably close.

My housemate L and I have temporarily adopted a baby wallaby. Its mother was killed on the road, so L's boyfriend brought the joey to us until we can get it to the proper place (imagine this conversation: "No, honey, we can't keep it." "But Muuuuuumm... s'not fair!").

It's so tiny, but has massive, spindly legs. Sorry for the crap blurry photo- I do have better ones, but I realised as I was posting this that L may not want her face all over the internet, so will wait until I've asked her at least! But in the interests of scale, I will point out that L is not in fact a giant; that wallaby is just realllly, realllllly small.

The cats are fascinated (don't worry, it has a safe, cat-proof cage), and every feeding time they come up to try and make friends with it. However, the joey is not at all backwards in coming forward, and wanders up at them shrieking in joey-language. He could be saying hello, but the cats seem to take it as a direct threat, and back away fast, despite both of them being at least twice his size.

I'm really trying not to get too attached, cos I know we can't keep him, but at the moment I am totally channelling Ed Devereaux.

Whoops.

So it seems I haven't quite figured out this "posting from mobile phone" thing. Pictures come up, but no words. And I'd written the longest message ever about Spotlight and bamboo yarn. It went a little something like this:

"Oh my god! Nobody told me Spotlight has bamboo yarn! In great colours! And cheap too! I've never been so excited to set foot inside a Spotlight! Wheee!"

followed up with a:

"I just practiced remarkable constraint. I did not buy aforementioned bamboo yarn. I couldn't think of anything in aran weight that I wanted to make, so I put it back on the shelf. And now I am 50km from Spotlight kicking myself. D'oh! It'll still be there in a few months right?!"

But seriously, Spotlight seems to have turned a corner- first actual wool, then sock yarn, then bamboo yarn... it could be the start of a brave new era for craft superstores. Or perhaps I'm just saying that because an actual LYS is so far out of reach...