rwrylsin

Toy catalogs are scary things. I really shouldn't look.

What do we think folks?
Toy Cleaning Trolley, is it better or worse than the toy McDonalds set?

I think I may have had a toy vacuum cleaner at one stage, my mother missed a trick by not handing me the real one. Somehow a cleaning trolley seems worse though. More obvious I guess.

I also can't believe that McD's set is still around. I was boggled enough when I first saw it in the UK.

On the plus side, it's not pink.

Just photos of Abby, Ella isn't as much of a poser.

( Photos back here )

A couple of people at the last games day asked about the marmalade cake. ( Here's the recipe )

July 1st marked the second year in our own house.
1st year review was back here

( And now a 2nd year retrospective )

My grandparents had an outdoor dunny of the classic variety, connected to a sceptic tank.  It was the one thing I really didn't like about visiting them, the little outhouse with it's cobwebs and spiders.  As a mild arachnophobe night time visits were particularly awful, but the experience probably did help me HTFU.
( long post cut back here )

Edit: Yay, Raquel made good in ep 3.

Conquilt - the ultimate Aussiecon 4 worldcon souvenir: Ebay Auction

2 days left, spread the word.

Hmmm, I don't seem to have updated in a while. Might be something to do with the fact that every time I sit at the computer I end up holding a kitten.

They are still cute little charmers, despite today pulling the tablecloth off the table, along with everything sitting on it. Abby is still physically smaller, but seems to have become the dominant kitten now.
I've been keeping some catgrass inside for them since they gnawed through my chili plant.

We had people over for a games day on Saturday. Went well, lots of people, I played Settlers of Catan, En Guarde, Mu and Roborally after a break for home made pizza and Dr Who. Eventually got to bed at something like 2am.
The kittens were a bit overwhelmed to start with, but mostly stuck around and allowed people to admire and pet them a little. Earlier in the afternoon Abby went AWOL outside for a couple of hours which had us a bit worried since she normally doesn't like to be alone and will come looking for us if we head inside.
Definitely need to get the cat-run finished.


The fencing club is going well, still slowly growing so we have a pretty good crowd at Saturday training now. This means people are more interested in spending time free-fencing and I can do some individual lessons, but I do sort of miss having time to talk to everyone individually.
Looks like we'll be doing two or three more public demos this year as well, so I think we're doing well for our size on that front.


Sunday was mostly slept through, with a bit of shopping and starting to watch the DVD stack I want to get through before Continuum.

Don't think anything has happened house-wise since the last update, we're in savings mode.

Most work recently has been focused on the garden, to the detriment of routine housework.

( Cut for your convenience )

Meanwhile, back in the UK they're apparently in the final days of campaigning in a referendum to change the voting system. Instead of First Past The Post (where you only get to put one mark on the paper, something I found very unsatisfying) they're considering a preferential voting system like ours (where we get to pick 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices etc).

Out of curiosity I had a look at someone's link to a "No to AV" leaflet. After all, what's not to like about preferences? Apparently 6 out of 10 Australians don't like our system and want to switch back to the UK system. I am boggled.

Mostly I'm boggled at the idea that 6 out of 10 Australians would even know what the UK system actually is.

Before I get to the holiday post, which will be very long, a quick update on the house.

( And this got pretty long as well )