Facebook

Emily invited me to join Facebook last year. I did, and then ignored it for 7 months. I think Emily has done the same.

I've rediscovered it over the last week or two though, and rock me Amadeus, I likes it! It is so much more visually appealing than dirty old Myspace, quite entertaining, and still seems to serve almost no purpose.

Go on, sign up, and then make me your friend and we can share ALL the important details of our thrilling lives.

Very very very very very sad

Mr Dodderyoldfart died yesterday. For someone I've never met, he made a big impression. He was a stellar gentleman and a great wit.

All my thoughts are with his family.

Random list of things because I have nothing especially cohesive to say (ever)

• I have been planting a lot in our garden. In one area I've discovered a concrete pad about 15cm below the surface. Is there such a thing as a shallow rooting plant (which sounds a little like Paris Hilton)?
• I made a leek flan for lunch. It was delicious.
• I have become an addict of tv-links.
• Florence is fabulous. We must be the only people in the world that had a crap time in Florence (the city), but we still like our dog.
• My car stereo has started telling me what songs are playing. I can't believe the age in which we live.
• Work has been quiet lately. I have been enjoying it, because I know that the beginning of the month will be nuts, and sure enough, a fax arrived today to ensure I won't have another quiet evening for a while.
• Strawberrynet gave me 17% off my last order. Soon I will be smelling very dishy.
• I gave up taking 7 vitamins a day, and suddenly got all my energy back.

Another opportunity for anonymous comment

Ana has just posted an amusing ad for colonic irrigation. Wild horses couldn't persuade me to undergo such a thing. So why do people do it? I really don't understand, and frankly don't fancy trying Google to find out, because I can live without pictures, which would linger in my head forever. Feel free to make yourself anonymous and tell me what the rolly people are doing it for.

And she spake, and she sayeth thou name shalt be-eth

Florence!

Thanks to my friend Tracey for setting her mind to the horrible task of dog naming, we now have a pup called Florence. It suits her well.

oooh, sometimes I'm brilliant

Who is the most famous person you've scored? Doesn't have to be third base.

Feel free to make yourself anonymous if it helps the story. I may just post an anonymous comment myself.

Extra points for foreign celebs, cos lets face it, Dancing with the Stars New Zild celebs are pretty lame.

Are you as clever as me?

Michael has a fabbadabbadoo contest. Please don't enter, because I would like to win.

The hand the hand the hand is on fire

I will never clean again, it is hazardous. I was wiping the bench, and lifted the toaster up (using my patented one hand lift, hold the slots), and wouldn't you know it, the damn thing was on. So now each finger and the thumb of my left hand are throbbing, and I'm feeling a bit pathetic. I need a nice snuggly warm hospital room, and a pile of magazines... except I'd be laughed off the ward if I showed up wincing at what is, admittedly, a fairly underwhelming looking injury.

In thrilling puppy news, she threw up today. Probably because we did this to her yesterday...

We're hot-housing her, she'll be able to play the piano soon and join the circus.

Hot dog

Am I going mental? This is about the most hilarious thing I have ever seen.

In a thrilling update of my thrilling life, the dog is good. Still sort of nameless, but possibly Rudy (small, youngest girl of the household, dad called Heathcliff Huxtable - Heathcliff!). I know you're loving the stream of consciousness nature of my writing...

And I went out today. To the pet shop. I'm not bowling tonight with the Wellingtonista, because of, well, the dog.

Man.

Schnoodelectable

Things may be a little dog-centric around these parts for a few days. Move along if you like, and I'll return to the usual boozing, womanising and gallivanting soon.

This morning I was wondering why the hell I wanted a puppy, when life was actually quite simple before. Why do we set ourselves these challenges? But that was after an anxious night of racing her outside every time she moved so she wouldn't crap in our room. It worked, and we haven't had too many accidents, but I'm dog (arf) tired today.

So that is all. Will resume with the talk of drug taking and rock n rolling tomorrow.

She's here!

May 2007 199
Originally uploaded by Wanda Harland.

Our lovely little pup arrived this afternoon. She is pretty awesome, and chewing our rug currently - the first of many I imagine.

We're working on the name. Will let you know as soon as we have something.

She is freaking marvellous. Cute as a button and as clever as any creature that ever lived, I'm sure of it.

Now if we could get her to pee outside, she could potentially take over the world.

Getaway/Gotaway

Yesterday we thought we'd make the most of our puppy-free-for-two-more-days status, and take off for a night in the Wairarapa.

We had a grand time. Grand. It was a goodly amount warmer there than in Sunny Petone, we had 8 episodes of Season 3 The Office to watch, we had spag bol by special request of handsome 4 year old, we had bike riding teaching, we had new gumboots in water-race walking, we had dreaming about country living, we had lunch at The White Swan and we had looking at puppies at the pet shop doing ("they're not as beautiful as our puppy though, aye Mummy?" "No, they're not").

And now we're home for the weekend, and hopefully some lotto winning.

Excitement in the 'burbs (without photos for now)

At the library the other day I got a book out about gardening. This is probably the most symbolic marker of my impending middle-agedness. I even read it and enjoyed it. It was by a stunning Irish bloke called Diarmuid Gavin, who I am reliably informed is quite hot. This possibly makes me more or less sad, depending which way you look at it.

Anyhow, it has lead to a radical transformation of our garden, based on.... da da da dah! Circles. It looks quite fabulous, although the lawn has the appearance of a middle aged man (ie balding) - speaking of which, I wept a little this morning when I saw the picture of David Bain. That poor young man has gone all middle aged himself, and it is just tragic.

Um, back on the subject. I decided to flog our old cobbles on Trademe, mainly so we didn't have to take them to the tip. When I got home from bowling last night they had sold for $200. This guerilla gardening pays. For days I'd been checking the auction and saying 'oooh, we're up to $37! I can't believe people would pay so much."

And this is why I love Sam Morgan. A lot.

TeeVee

It has been a while since we've watched anything on telly. Heroes has passed us by, and not much else piques my interest. We watched Series 2 of the Office (US) over the last few nights on dvd - from the library - how old skool is that?

Since the Buffy marathon of 2005 we haven't sat in front of the box much at all.

I'm very excited to see that Big Love is starting again in June, and so is Top Chef.

Japan calling

Japan calling
Originally uploaded by Wanda Harland.

My sister sent me these bento bits so that I can be an uber-mummy, and send my son to school in July (ack!) with the finest lunch box of them all. Check out the little animal bottles in the back for sauce, and the 3 pack thingy is rice presses. I can almost guarantee he will be the only kid at school with sushi shaped like a dog in his lunch.

My sister also sent some ace t shirts for the puppy, and I bought some pink gumboots so I can look a little like that dog lady on the telly when I'm walking her. She still doesn't have a name confirmed, but we have until Sunday to think of the right one.

Would it be strange to shape the dog's food like a dog? I suppose we can all be a little crazy.

Things that make me go mmmmmmm

I hooked up with a couple of friends last night at Floridita. I always like reading what people eat and drink, so for your edification I had:

One glass of Te Tera Pinot (link probably wrong year, no idea really).
Haloumi (spell check is prompting 'miraculous - quite rightly) with mint salad and toasted flatbread. OMFG. Go and get some. It was terrific.
Churros con chocolate for pud. They called them donuts, but they were so much better than the name implies.

When I win lotto I might move into Floridita's, it was bloody great.

Yippeeeeeeeee

I am as happy as a jay bird, as full of lilting song as a lark, and as delighted as a duck in muck.

None of that makes sense.

My 50 boxes of shirts have made it, and they're FABULOUS. My first major production run is a success.

Man, I've almost died with the stress. This business lark can be hard yakka.

And the best news? The boxes are TINY. For some reason I was imagining them arriving and being as big as freezers, but they're going to fit very sweetly into the space we've made, and won't have to line our hallway. Bless.

Heathcliff - Heathcliff!

Try and resist saying "Heathcliff" every 2 minutes after you watch this.

For some reason I'm obsessed with the Ukulele Orchestra of GB. Go figure. I just love them.

Michael Laws

They're talking on the radio at the moment about the trouble getting well qualified doctors to stay in Wanganui.

My feeling is that as long as Michael Laws is mayor, they will continue to lose noble citizens at a fast rate.

That is all.

Your absent friend

I'm not managing to blog much these days. I don't think I used to spend that much time actually writing, but I had a lot more time just thinking about it. Basically I had more ideas about what to write, because my head wasn't full of shipping logistics, and courier quotes and ird and all that stuff.

Last night was spent getting an order ready for a new stockist, and also rearranging all our furniture to accommodate 51 boxes that will be arriving today. Our kitchen is now very cosy with the couch from my workshop. Every kitchen needs a couch, it is helpful is you feel faint whilst cooking chillies, or need a moment to mull over a recipe, or indeed just decide to dispense with cooking and get stuck into the gin.

I'm not sure what 51 boxes will actually be like. It may lead to a hilariously Alanis Morrisette ironic situation where I have 10000 shirts, but all I need is a knife.

And something lighter for a Friday night...

I think James put this on The Wellingtonista a few weeks ago. I find it leads to a lot of perusing You Tube for other Flight of the Conchords clips, and I thoroughly recommend this as an excellent past time.

In response to Linda (serious-ish post)

On my Vegemite poll (oops, revealing my true colours), Linda asked if I'd been following this thread on Public Address. I did read it, and it was interesting.

I don't say much about politics on this blog. I've been thinking about this a lot over the last few weeks. Things have been getting me down. People really, in this quite often crappy world, have been getting me down. There was the smacking thing, neatly followed by some child abuse stuff, and a mass killing topped things off nicely.

Fact is, I have opinions, and I'm not going to change them. I'm not interested in engaging in debate, because I don't find it fun at all. As a student I thought arguing and all that was spendidly challenging and a good larf, now it just all feels too real. I don't know how people can handle all the online debates that must drive them crazy. These things spin around in my head too much.

I am very pleased that people are putting their thoughts and ideas into the world, and I can quietly agree and decide who is cool and all that, but I'm not going to add to it. It just gets me down.

For a very long time I wanted to get into politics. Even a Politics degree didn't put me off. I can quite safely say that there is no way I'd put myself out there now. No way.

Money honey

Our local bank was robbed this morning. It was quite action packed around here. There was a helicopter buzzing around, and lots of police cars, and for some reason quite a lot of filming. Maybe they're making a series about local crime? If you look carefully you might see my car whizzing past a couple of times (repeated drive bys eliminates the need for excessive rubbernecking).

What I want to know is why all the cameras in banks are attached to the ceiling? It means you get an awful lot of frustrating pictures of the tops of offenders caps or beanies, and no decent shots of their faces. Surely in this advanced day and age there is sufficient technology to tuck a few discreet cameras around at eye level?

Pup Harland

Pup
Originally uploaded by Wanda Harland.

Here is the wee thing, since there seems to be some interest in the pup.

I think she is exquisite.

Mini branded

Mini branded
Originally uploaded by Wanda Harland.

This is the post that took forever to write. First I tried to add text to the car using Gimp, then I tried to download a picture from my shoe phone and my computer refused to recognise it, then I tried to write a post on the laptop, which took approximately a life time to start up, and then promptly crashed.

So all my vague ideas about what I was going to write have expired. I'm exhausted by the whole bloody process.

The gist (jist?) of it is, when we got the car I was going to brand it hugely to justify such an extravagance, and it would have looked exactly like this picture.

I've finished branding it finally in real life. And it looks a bit like this











That is where my phone photo would have gone, should the thing have worked.

Basically, I have purchased one of those number plate surrounds. Not a personalised number plate, a surround. I couldn't bear anyone touch the lovely paintwork on my precious.

In other news, we bought a dog. She is still with her mum and dad, but we'll get her in 2 weeks. She is a very unlikely sounding Dr Seuss breed - I'll keep you in suspense until someone asks exactly what.

And she needs a name. Ideas welcome.

Brainiac

Arf, this test doesn't really show anything, except a ridiculous knowledge of trivia. And you know I wouldn't have posted the results if it showed my true IQ. Heaven forbid.


Big ups to Ms Cathi, who also has a fine knowledge of trivia.