Kill the Spam Monster

Ah my poor neglected blog! The spam monster has been chomping away at it, leaving a massive amount of wildly hilarious and off-topic comments. Unfortunately this means that I have needed to change my settings so that comments now have word verification. Boohoo. 

Below, a prime selection of some of my favourites (a mere handful selected from approximately 100 comments). Some are lovely and flattering. One, copied below, made me feel a little sad until I counted all the mistakes in the comment itself.

You can certainly see your skills within the article you write. The world hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren't afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart. my website :: borkum riff 

Definitely believe that which you said. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the net the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people consider worries that they plainly don't know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks Here is my homepage ... amber leaf

This design is incredible! You obviously know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost...HaHa!) Excellent job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool! Here is my blog - youtube.Com

And one which is totally ridiculous:

I think that everything posted made a great deal of sense. But, what about this? what if you wrote a catchier title? I ain't suggesting your content is not solid., however suppose you added a title that makes people want more? I mean "Spring Blossoms - Free Crochet Pattern!" is kinda plain. You ought to peek at Yahoo's front page and watch how they create news headlines to grab people to open the links. You might try adding a video or a picture or two to get readers interested about what you've got to say. In my opinion, it would make your posts a little bit more interesting. My site - Har Vokse Review on Spring Blossoms - Free Crochet Pattern!

In other news, sorry I have been so absent. I know some people who have left comments and I have not replied yet (I could not find them in among the jungle of spam).

My husband and I have been walking through a rather painful time, and I have not had the energy to keep up the blog. Also, for the last month we have been travelling around Tasmania in a hatchback car and a three person tent. Fun times!

Once we are in a real house again I am going to try to do some update-y posts and so on.

In case I am unable to get back here in the next few weeks, I hope you all have a wonderful and joyful Christmas and New Year!

 

Working Girl

Well, it's been quite a while since writing a post! This post is remedying that.


First things first, my camera and this computer do not like each other, so no photos sorry. :(


I have been fairly busy working (YAAAAAAY!!!) this year. Since the start of the school year I've worked about 20 days... oh wait, just checked my diary (now I'm grown up I have a diary) and I've worked exactly 20 days. Though two of those were half days.


So far, I have worked in four schools (one public, the rest private Christian schools) and I have taught each grade from kindergarten to grade 10 at least once. 


I have taught high-school maths, SOSE, Indonesian (a language I do NOT speak), MDT (Metal, Design and Technology) and Music (I do not play an instrument). Considering I am Primary-trained it's a fun ride!


I've had several early morning call ins (6:30-7am) but I've been blessed that a lot of the relief work has been pre-organised to cover things like paternity leave, camps and Professional Development (PD) days.


I have definitely started to notice an improvement in myself as a teacher: my behaviour management has improved, which makes a HUGE amount of difference. I also have far more resources now than at the start of the year and many more teaching ideas up my sleeve, which has improved my ability to quickly plan and implement lessons and cohesive teaching for one or more days.


All in all, I'm happy with how this year is going. I also appreciate weekends and public holidays about a 100 times more than I used to!

Attention Facebook-ers!

Finally the boredness (that's a noun) resulting from not wanting to clean or cook has resulted in me creating a facebook page for A Beautiful Ramble! (Hip Hip Hooray!)


If you're on facebook, please like it... there will be a giveaway when we reach 50 likes! (Don't ask me what the giveaway will actually be... but it will be good!)

 

Abalone and Flowers (a crafty update)

At last, I have been able to upload photos! YAY! I really need to find the software for my camera so I can use the desktop for photo-related-stuff. 


I've just realised how long it's been since I've done a knitting/crochet update post.


So, the latest thing off the needles is this beauty (excuse my dirty mirror), Abalone.

I have worn it out, and was even complimented, which is always nice. It's like wearing a big cuddle. I love how soft it is.

These flowers were a little 30min project: a blind-pull for my parent's new house. The flowers were made using my Spring Blossoms pattern.


And those are the projects this post's title was referring to.


Below are some more of my recent projects, for your viewing pleasure (and my showing pleasure) - which do you like most? 

Slippers for my mother-in-law, a birthday present, made using my own pattern.

A doily, made up as I went along, now living under my fruit bowl.

An angel (you can just see the gold wings).

A strawberry keyring, a present for a friend.


And lastly, two dolls dresses, one in lilac and one in cream.

(This picture was taken in a hurry!)

There's something so inspiring about looking at what you have made. I've been working on a few other projects for a while now, hopefully it won't be too long before I can share more finished things with you (such as an incredible stripy scarf!).

Fibonacci Blogging

This post is a testament to my strangeness.

The other day, while in the shower, I realised that I've been so slack with blogging this year that I've only done one post per month so far. I thought, Hey, that's sort of interesting! I should blog about it! Only, straight away I realised that posting about it would ruin - utterly devastate! - my blogging pattern. BUT THEN!! I remembered the Fibonacci Sequence! You know the one:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34... and so on. 

The pattern is formed by adding two numbers together to find the next number (i.e 1+1=2).

Totally worth clicking through to see the whole post this image is from.

Immediately, I'm thinking how cool it would be to blog this year according to this sequence (oh dear... nerdy me is emerging!) and I started adding up numbers to figure out how much I'd have to blog each month. As you've probably realised already , once you get to the ninth month (as I skipped the zero), that starts getting a bit ridiculous! THIRTY-FOUR posts in ONE MONTH? Yeah, that's not gonna happen!

So yeah... normal, sporadic blogging will randomly continue in this part of the world wide web... 

But to make up for that, here's a link to free Fibonacci-inspired patterns (knitting and crochet) (you have be a member of Ravelry to be able to see them).

Also!!!! I've finally uploaded pics of my last couple of knitting/crochet projects so my next post WILL be about that. Full stop.

It's been a while...

Hello!


I thought I should finally post something, seeing as it's been well over a month since my last post. (I don't think I'll ever quite succeed at this blogging game.)


Some catch-up:
- This year is going way too fast!
- I'm behind on my 'finish crochet/knit 52 projects in 2012' challenge
- I'm on track with my 'read 50 books in 2012' challenge (are you on Goodreads? Friend me!)


And most importantly of all, I'VE HAD WORK! Seven days to be precise! Relief teaching is at once more fun and infinitely more challenging than I ever could have imagined. I've already semi-lost my voice (happily now recovered). I haven't got any more days lined up the moment, so I'm enjoying my time off while I have it.


Also, the new Sherlock Holmes series is quite good - I am very pleased! And I've started reading Charles Dicken's Great Expectations (because I saw the first episode of it on iview the other night) and I like the book but the writing is so old fashioned I sort of feel like I'm reading by "squinting". Do you ever read like that? Where you sort of just read and let the writing wash over you so you get the general impression, and not letting yourself get caught up in the old-fashioned language and writing. It makes it a whole lot easier. I have just reached "The End Of The First Stage Of Pip's Expectations".


Lastly, I still need to either commandeer Julian's laptop or install the camera software on the desktop... until then photos are stuck on my camera. When I finally do either of those two things, I'll finally be able to do a crochet/knitting update post.


Until then!

Pinch and a Punch

... for the first of the month!

As you can see, blogging is high in my priorities this year. *Ahem*

January passed quicky and smoothly, for the most part. My husband is still limping from hurting his knee about three weeks ago. It appears that his cartilage is damaged, and according to his medical certificate there should be "considerable improvement" in approximately two years. "Rest" is prescribed. Needless to say, I'm being much nicer to him, mostly because when he walks it looks so painful it makes my knees start to ache.

In other (and much nicer) news, my teacher's registration was approved VERY quickly (in less than a third of the time it usually makes) and now I can legally teach primary school in Tasmania. I am extremely happy! Private schools go back on Febuary 9, and public schools on the 15th, so it won't be long until I have relief work.

Looking at my photos, it appears that January has mostly involved taking photos of Bumblebees and flowers... here are some of my favourites.

 Next post, I'm hoping to show you some of the stuff I've made this year... until then!

Happy (Belated) New Year!

I'm a bit late to the party, I know, but I really must wish you all a happy and fulfilling 2012!

This year has already been busy, though also very relaxed. We were away camping with friends from the 31st of December to the 3rd of January, and I feel like I've only just settled back in at home (probably because I've been on an uncharacteristc cleaning and organising splurge!).

The beautiful Gunns Plains, where we camped.

Now, I didn't even think of making any resolutions until a couple of days ago, but (truth be told) I don't usually make them anyway, because I don't like setting myself up to fail. So instead of listing my resolutions, here's a list of some 2012 firsts!

Firsts for 2012 so far:

- First celebration: My 26th birthday!

- First sunburn: Julian, though his wasn't as bad as mine, which I got the next day

- First bug photographed: Dragonfly - it flew past and landed right by me!

- First alcoholic beverage: merlot/baileys in milk (I was sort of alternating between them)

- First cooked meal: Eggs and bacon for a camping breakfast

Bacon clothesline!

- First crochet project started: Tiny Whale, pattern courtesy of PlanetJune.

- Books: first finished = Princess Charming; first started = A Woman's Place

- First movie session: Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: Chipwrecked, followed by Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (this was rather fantastic!) 

- First in-joke: POPPIES!!!

These are the opium kind - Tasmania is a huge exporter of these.

Records in 2012:

- I've worn a skirt everyday this year! My legs are looking a bit wonderful :D

- Rose early every morning while camping: 7am, 5am (!), 8am (this is later as we were exhausted from the early start the day before... air mattresses with leaks are NOT fun).

- Went as far along the north-west coast of Tasmania that I've ever been: Table Cape.

Table Cape Lighthouse

Stuff that has excited me so far:

- Swam in the same river my dad learnt to swim in (the Leven River, north Tasmania).

The Leven River, my husband, and two children who are not ours (though I boss them around heaps!)

- Visiting the Gunns Plains Caves (glow worms!)

"Bacon" - very cool cave fomation, the colours are from minerals.

And, Oh! I've decided to list my (very general) resolutions for this year after all:

1. Work hard but don't strive;

2. Be restful and peaceful but not lazy; and, most importantly,

3. Do everything with diligence and a happy heart (give, work, serve, create and play with joy!)

What are some of your firsts for 2012? What are some of your resolutions?