It’s been three weeks since I re-commenced applying caster oil on my venous lake morning and night – for 5 minutes each time.

Verdict?

i really wasn’t as pained as i look

Definitely faded, though probably more in the photos than in real life. There are some quite small lighter patches developing, but the overall size is unchanged. It really does look like a GiantHideousDeformity in the mirror, so it is difficult to tell which is reality. Probably somewhere in the middle.

It is still pretty tedious – even more tedious when you leave the cap off the caster oil overnight and spill half the bottle over your bedside table.

It was a little while after this that I plateaued, then abandoned, my last attempt – this time I’m definitely going to power through (for science!) and see where it takes me.

During the week I read that coursera was moving to a new platform and that many of the courses were not moving across and were up for grabs, so I grabbed the chrome plugin and downloaded a whole bunch of lectures for Don and I to watch at some point.

Among other things, I snagged:

computer science 101

greek and roman mythology

foundations of business strategy

machine learning

model thinking

social psychology

(more) machine learning

new models of business in society

introduction to cryptography

fundamental of electrical engineering

solid science: research methods

I’ll leave it as an exercise to the reader which belongs to whom!

xxx

While I was downloading, I received an email from the Ever Evil Amazon offering me up to 80% off selected kindle books, so there was nothing for it but to add these mostly unknown to me authors to the ever-growing unread stash. But, hey, bargains!

elizabeth edmondson: a man of some repute (a very english mystery – book 1) – $1.49

elizabeth edmondson: a question of inheritance (a very english mystery – book 2) – $1.49

matthew fitzsimmons: the short drop (the gibson vaughn series) – $1.49

the best australian essays: a ten-year collection – $4.09

gunnar staalesen: the writing on the wall (varg veum) – $1.09

peter corris: the marvellous boy: cliff hardy 3 – $5.79

viveca sten: still waters (sandhamn murders book 1) – $1.49

Not a bad haul! Of course now I need to actually read them.

Well that was unexpected.

NewKitty is taken aback

I’ve been agonising for a good while about precisely what to choose for #30: Cook something ridiculously complex. We cook a bit of complex stuff already, are reasonably adventurous and have a pretty varied repertoire, so there’s not a huge amount that we haven’t done. I was considering a complicated dessert or something silly like peking duck, but I wasn’t really jazzed by any of the options.

Then on Wednesday night while making (slightly modified) quiche with prosciutto and gruyere, I had an ephiphany: I will perfect my blind pastry baking because Holy!Goodness! I need it:

bad pastry case: mostly unfilled

bad pastry case: filled

I have pastry weights, I do all the right things and shrinking and puffing invariably happens. I am determined to overcome this!

Fortunately, despite the underwhelming photo and shrunken pastry, it was the best version I’ve made and very delicious – the secret was replacing the cream with crème fraîche. Much less rich and so so good.

So yes, I’ll be spending the next [however long] attempting to bake a spectacular, non-shrinky pastry case. This will be quite a delicious undertaking!

I’ve been reading kate davies blog for years and years and have watched with interest her transformation from academic to full time knitwear designer and wool purveyor after experiencing a stroke. 

I was really excited when the haps book was announced – finally something non-sweater(ish), but sufficiently complicated to be a challenge! I pre-ordered as soon as I was able and the book arrived today (hurrah!). 

I was really taken by uncia and so grabbed some yarn at lunch today to give it a crack – I think this will definitely serve to fulfil #45: knit a complicated garment if I can pull it off.

As an aside, amazing how I follow so many knitting blogs when I so rarely knit. Aspirational?

Behind advent door #7 was – surprise, surprise – another revitalizing oxygen fluid

I didn’t hate it, but I really couldn’t get past the idea that I was applying hair conditioner to my face. Which I’ve never tried, so perhaps I could save a small fortune by grabbing a giant bottle of tresemme.

It lasted a full week and there is still a little left in the ampoule. Because the serum is so thick and the ampoule made of glass, knocking it repeatedly again your palm in order to extract the last skerrick is not really a viable option without inducing bleeding. 

xxx

Door #8 revealed Triple booster fluid:

Reorganizes skin function! I’m sad to report that my skin is still functioning as skin and not as, say, a screwdriver or a campervan.

I think this could be my second favourite – it firms just a little and my skin seems brighter (but not in a gross shiny way). Whether I would want to lash out the cash for a box remains to be seen – it’s terrifically expensive stuff.

It has been a fun journey so far – rather makes me want to stockpile advent calendars and bust them out throughout the year.

The ever excellent anyresemblance was pondering which artworks I was coveting in this post. What an excellent opportunity to resolve the mystery and to fill the daily posting quota. 

Note that I did try to crop the artwork and drag them into google image search, which has worked at times in the past – but alas, not on this occasion.

If you’ve any ideas, I’d be happy to hear them – NOT THAT I AM IN THE MARKET FOR EXPENSIVE ART. I am compelled to repeatedly yell this to myself as a reminder.

xxx

From this listing. Shown in situ here

xxx

From this listing. Shown in situ here

xxx

From this listing. Shown in situ here.

(I actually like this a little less now that I see it again, I remembered it as less controlled and more energetic).

xxx

I was also apparently mad for this at some point, but I have absolutely no idea where I even saw it:

I’m still mad for it – but again, no art!

It did rain like anything today, though very fortunately not until after I had squeezed in a mood-improving 5km run.

We then went out to quickly grab the couple of vital ingredients we’d forgotten in our shop yesterday. This was the second such trip – I had to run out last night to grab coriander (and came  back with a whole bunch of off-list items, as was the case today).

Then I cooked a 5:2 chicken & bacon casserole and the always awesome red beans & rice while watching more sewing bee. I’d have to say I’m quite underwhelmed by sewing bee this season, but it does kind of make we want to whip up a couple of garments, perhaps even break the overlocker from its box.

I’m really not sure what else I actually did. It felt like I was busy. I did do those things in the title and drank a few glasses of wine to celebrate the (enforced) departure of an incredibly ghastly woman from SML. I did not do any worky-work which is probably a good thing as it is about to get a bit all- consuming in the next few months. 

I suspect I’ll get to wear my wellies to work tomorrow, but that it will be lovely weather for the clomp home – making me look just a smidge ridiculous.

As an experiment I’m going to not buy lunch or breakfast next week. This will be a breeze on Tuesday and Thursday because I don’t eat either breakfast or lunch on those days – we’ll see how the others go. I think I’ll just be pleased to not have to pay $12 for a sandwich or salad and to avoid lunch decision anxiety/paralysis.

I know I say this every weekend, but how can it already be time to go back to work? 

It was forecast to rain like anything today, so we planned accordingly: no bike ride, no run, no golf, all hearty meals and coziness.

When I woke up, okay, when the kitties woke me, up, at 5:30am it was dark and (I think) raining. When I woke after the post-feeding snooze at around 7am, it was definitely raining.

But, in probably good news, the rain soon ceased and it ended up being a pretty lovely day. For better or worse though, we stuck to our plan and bunkered down (after a bit of hunter/gathering for food supplies). That is until Don could bear it no longer and went for a hit.

I stayed home and pottered and did a bunch of ironing while watching the great british sewing bee. It was very comforting. My past self is boggling at the idea that ironing could be soothing.

Don spent the evening making homesick texan: sour cream chicken enchiladas while I continued to potter.

The enchiladas were amazing. So amazing, I actually busted out the decent camera.

xxx

This week I’ve really truly ramped up my old lady by:

✚ texting the breakfast host from one of our fave community radio stations because he was using “boffin” incorrectly – repeatedly. Honestly, kids today …
✚ emailing three separate real estate agents featured this post to see if they could source the artist name from artworks in couple of interior shots from their separate listings
✚ wearing pretty much the same outfit as three (thankfully, super-stylish) older ladies spotted at my ultra-wanky supermarché

xxx

It is also supposed to rain like anything tomorrow. I plan to do much the same as today.

4I’d been slacking on the buying new music front, so I acquired 3-months worth in one sitting (hey, they are my rules). The theme for this period appears to (unintentionally) be All Australian All The Time.

So for March, April and May we have

Scott & Charlene’s Wedding: Any Port in a Storm
(digital album)
Low-fi, garage(ish), totally Aus. From 2013 – remembered that I wanted to buy this when heard a preview of the new, not-yet-released EP.

Richard Cuthbert: Swimming Pool
(digital EP)
More low-fi, more totally Aus. Heard this once on fbiradio and took forever to track it down.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: Nonagon Infinity
(digital album)
Totally 70s psychedelic

All bought from bandcamp – who try to do right by artists