Camping might not be our thing.

Having a lot of trouble doing this post using WordPress on the iphone. It will not let me preview so things might look a bit shit. Hard to tell.

We went camping for 4 days in Greytown. It rained a bit and then it rained a lot. This was a change from last time we went camping (nearly a month ago) when we had 150kph winds and rain leaving the tent needing repairs. Both times in Wairarapa, maybe not the best option.

We have quite a nice little setup now so it was a shame about the $&@# rain.

We went to the airshow practice day while we were there. Pretty amazing.

I tasted some very nice gin at the airshow & bought a bottle back in Greytown at the local 4sq grog shop. http://www.lighthousegin.co.nz/

Next, a post about my gin problem.

I am a dreadful blogger

I am baking a lot so I guess I could take pics and go ‘woo hoo’ lookie here. I think part of the problem is I think… Boring!

Cheese Scones (best recipe ever)
2 C grated cheese 2C self-raising flour milk until looks right. Smoosh to vague rectangle, cut into 8. Cook about 10mins at around 200C

The reason why I am useless (and boring) is the interesting little sconegrabbers I bred. I think they ate my brain.

Popcorn!

I grew popcorn in my garden! I got bugger-all, I will be lucky if it’s a decent snack. Not sure if it’s low yield or just a bad year. Next year I might plant an entire bed out, I only seeded 6 and 3 died.

Maybe it’s not dry enough yet? Pop yield is pretty crap; Maybe 20% popped. Next year might try and plant at least 20 plants.

Corn on husk

ready to pop

20% popped 80% poked

Chatroulette

I am mostly too nervous to go on here. But when I do, I find it quite interesting. I don’t get what people are so freaked out about. It’s actually ( as pointed out in some online articles ) safer than normal as you can see exactly who you are talking to and you can hit next if you don’t like. It takes away the a/s/l question that you would always get from certain males on irc (or asl if they were typing 1 handed) as you can see pretty quickly (they have no shirt on or cam is pointed at their crotch) if they are that sort of loser.

I must admit I used my gorgeous child as cover once and that actually seemed to work well as she is cute and it disarmed people and seemed to break the ice.  I am not brave enough to go on there without child or sober, which is a bit sad and pathetic really but that’s me.

The other night I put my son’s toy cat on my head. And, that seemed to work well. Anyone looking for p0rn next-ed quick. I got some hilarious faces then next-ed. And some gave me wry smiles and stopped to chat. I chatted to a few nice people that way.

But, even after they know I have 2 kids and am married and quite frankly not bringing the smut at all (and really being quite a ‘tard) they still (cos I have only ever spoken to guys, where are the girls?) offer to show me their penis or ask to see my boobs. And last night I was speaking to a seemingly nice guy in Vancouver and next thing I am speaking to his penis. I Next-ed real quick. But, I decided next time I am going to talk to the penis. That is if I can stop laughing my arse off.

Next time, I am going to take screen shots too. So anyone who is too scared to go on there can see the fun. I wasn’t overly impressed with the nightline story about it. The people who have used it were ok but it was very “OMG big scary internet thing is going to suck your children into the evil p0rn vortex”

Actually, I realised last night, I really don’t care so much for chatting with people on there. It gets very ordinary much too quick. I would rather try to freak people out a bit or just see the freaks.

Gin and Tonic

I like gin. I am breastfeeding a 7 month old but it is also summer so I have to drink gin. Thankfully she does go to bed in the early evening. Although she has been quite unsettled and cutting into my drinking time a lot lately.

I must have first tried a g&t at the southern cross which was the hose-it-out student pub when I was at Vic Uni. We were very dedicated to export gold by the jug so I am not sure what posessed us to hit the gin. I guess it was Gordons Gin but I have no idea; it was just gin.

I really don’t know why I liked it either and I recall thinking it was refreshing.

Two summers ago (between kids I think) I got quite involved in perfecting my gin&tonic. I may be a gin-geek. Mist people would not go here, even people who quite like gin.

What I figured out:
1. You must make you ice out of tonic water. Regular ice tastes like crap and dilutes the gin and general goodness.

Making ice out of tonic works out ok as the best value tonic is the schweppes 1.5L. The little bottles make more sense but the price is obscene.

So, after the 1st or 2nd night of the tonic being open, you make whats left into ice. Tonic fizzes up a lot when it freezes, so don’t fill right to the top.

2. Tonic stays out of the fridge (when unopened) use the tonic ice to make it cold. I can’t 100% remember why but I think it bubbles up more when cold and loses fizz quicker

3. Try and use lime not lemon. It tastes a lot nicer.

4. Aim for 40:60 gin:tonic. 50:50 is ideal but sometimes too much. My g&t is currently quite weak due to the baby.

5. Try some different gins (helps if you have family/friends willing to stock you via duty free), Bombay Sapphire is not the be-all end-all. It’s not my favourite by a long shot.

I used to like Tanqueray but like Plymouth better now. T10 I quite like, it’s very citrus. South is a gorgeous gin but sadly I have none. Hendricks is interesting with notes of cucumber and rose petal. It’s said to be a gateway gin to convert non-gin drinkers.

My Jordy bag

made a bag.

The Jordy bag. http://patterns.jordynnmackenzie.com/

very clever pattern. also added a magnetic clasp to close and a pocket.

The sweater curse

So it’s said it’s a bad idea to make a boyfriend a knitted item (usually something as big as a sweater/jersey). The theory is that you will destroy the relationship. But another thought is that if a guy can’t hack you knitting for him then you are better off without him. Another way I see it is that you should never knit anything big for the man in your life as if he never wears it it will just piss you off.

Which brings me to this vest. Knitted for husband (think we were married by then??). Intarsia (which is a right bastard) and I did it all on the quiet for him. He’s worn it maybe twice after I hounded him to. The ‘cool kids’ at his work thought it was awesome and one wanted me to knit her one too. He says he likes it but he never wears it. Grrrrr…