Sol Trujillo = sour grapes.

It really irks me when foreign egotistical arrogant greedy CEO's accuse Australians of being racist. Please remind me Sol...when was the last time we had a little tête-à-tête? Was this when you branded me a racist?

People in glass houses.....

Anyway. Work is foul. If anyone remembers The Pole...he is now my supervisor. Sometimes I think I must be repaying a huge Karmic debt.

The one good thing in my life is love and tenderness with weibchenwolf

It's colder than a witch’s tit outside. Lots of snow on the ranges...but I feel very warm inside. Thank you to all of my wonderful friends who have made it feel right to be back here. But I do feel bad. I have missed out on alot of what you have all been doing. Some long reading sessions ahead. And if you want to email and have an ether chat I would love it. pussyfoot at kittymail dot com

Anyway. Must be going bipolar. I have been drawn way too many times lately to the evil place called DFO (for those lucky enough not be in a 50 mile radius of one, the DFO stands for Discount factory Outlet...I think..lol). In this vast chamber of beige there lies an insipid den of loveliness that has a giant magnet tuned into my anorexic wallet.

Bloody buggery Alanah Hill. I hate that woman! lol. I hate her and her dreamy hats and gorgeous headbands. The glittery goodness of her costume jewelry. Oh and praise the lord her clothing is tailored on an emaciated LA starlet. My tummy saves me again!

It's so embarrassing when shop assistants greet you by name. Especially when you don't remember them. This is why I think I am possessed when I find myself behind the wheel of my car, heading towards financial ruin...again and again and again! lol. It's like my own twighlight zone hell. Maybe I am sleep shopping? It has been known to happen.

I had a friend who crossed a busy highway in his boxer shorts one winter night. Purchase a bottle of coke, a packet of smiths crisps and a strawberry doughnut and wander back home.

Anyway. I love my new red rose, black velvet and glittery sequin cocktail hat….JOY!

I have been hiding. The last few months have been a roller coaster to say the least.

I haven't had the heart to post in here. Every time I would log onto the net I would head straight to ebay for some retail therapy...lol. Love that instant gratification :) Live Journal just seemed too hard.

But I'm back (kinda). This post is short and sweet. Just to break the seal :)

To Miss Sim. I know you have the comments feature turned off on your last entry but I had to give you a virtual hug.

*HUG!!!!!*

Have started to obsess with looking for a flat to buy. I am actually seriously thinking of becoming one of "those" people....with mortgage. I have be known to muse over this subject in the past....I have never bothered to look at property, or play around with those naff loan calculators on the net.

Although I have enough for a deposit....I really am abysmal with money and petrified of being a home owner. I am also woefully ignorant when it comes to all the ins and outs of this sort of thing.

Still.....I have a while to make up my mind, get advice and plan. I think to wait in this current financial climate may be the smartest thing to do too.

What is it with all the cats around here? They scurry away every time I go out to the backyard for a refreshing ciggie. I have even tried luring them with goodies. There are not to many kitties on the planet who can resist Auntie Eddie with a slice of devon in one hand and a saucer of milk in the other.

There can only be one explanation. Our back garden is full of tasty wildlife treats. There is stumpy the blue tongued lizards mate, who’s torso became the unfortunate snack of one of the antisocial moggies…..what a grisly discovery that was! Then there is the menagerie of small australian marsupial mice things that live amongst the lavender bushes. Again…a rather disturbing discovery.

Thank god cats don’t hunt kangaroos, as there is a resident mob of them on the hill in front of our house. I love that we have kangaroos in our suburb. The joeys are so cute when you see their little heads poking out of the pouches. However….as you can imagine… it gets a bit hairy driving around here at night when they are roaming about. I realised with horror the other night that I scream like a man when a massive alpha male roo jumped in front of my car.

Oh the shame……lol

Watching the news tonight, two things outraged me. The first one was about a man with cerebral palsy that was fundraising for the Cerebral Palsy League of Queensland when four kids ran at him, punching him in the stomach, pushing him out of his motorised buggy, robbing him of his fundraising money! To quote Lilly Savage....lower than a worms tit! News like that just makes me want to punch something. Arugh!

Second stupid thing was the suggestion that a memorial sculpture should be set up for the whale calf that got put down today in Sydney. Ahem...perhaps money would be better spent funding research?

Hmmm...anyway. Not trying to dwell on the stupidity of people. I should be happy. I got the day off from work today, even though I was a prisoner in the house (looking after dad while mum was in day treatment at hospital).

I decided to clean up my desk and filing cabinet (jeez...this journal entry is about as interesting as the sex life of a ping pong ball). Anyway.....it occurred to me that I might just have a very shameful and bizarre paper fetish. I really must not be allowed near a printer unsupervised. The amount of crap I shredded today could keep an army of guinea pigs in clean bedding for a year! Not only do I have to print out almost everything I look up on the net, I feel compelled to hoard reams of crap cut from newspapers.....magazines.....brochures......flyers....la, la, la....

Do I really need a flight itinery from 2005? How many recipies for beans can one person cook in a lifetime? Will my world stop turning if I don't have a printout of every shoe I have ever drooled over on the computer?

Oh...yesssss....heres a good one. Does anyone remember Telecom? Miss E. M. Kemp - circa 1991 - certainly does! And do I really need NatWest telling me I have no money in my account...in the UK...which I have not used for the past 6 years? Why did I feel the need to haul that useless piece of paper all the way back from the UK? Souvenir?

I think it was a really bad idea for me to get a 4 draw filing cabinet....like it was a really bad idea asking my brother if I could use his spare room for storage. Now I just get stuff out of the way so I can fill the gaps with more stuff. I can't help but think that my talents are wasted in this day and age. In the time of hunter gatherers I would have rocked it! I would have been a success and one of the most valued member of the tribe. Not living from paycheck to paycheck like an 18 year old.

I am still here....or I should say I'm back. As a general statement; yes I am an appalling LJ friend. I tend to disappear when the going gets tough. I also can't bring myself to read my friends entries when I am in the depths of despair. It only makes it worse.

The last few months have been so so shitty so I have been very mindful of not using my journal as a dump. but bugger it! I will dump if I want to ;)

Once I have filled in a few more depressing aps job applications with a gazillion selection criteria, I might motivate my sorry self to post.

Just a short one as I still have over 170 emails in my work inbox!

Camping in Mystery Bay was really really good and really really bad. The goodness was cute possums and fairy wrens, beautiful scenery, gorgeous water to swim in and lots of snags to eat ;) Bad stuff was shetland pony sized spiders, 6 inches of rain in the first 2 days and Steve. I will post a bit more detail and lots 'o' photeys soon.....

I was going to write a huge post....but i'm just too excited and buzzy to do it. I am finally on holiday, and at the crack of dawn tomorrow I head south for Mystery Bay!

OH JOY! Soft sand, blue water and azure skies (hmmm....not sure about that last one....rain forecast for the week...bummer).

So toodle pipsky (you Red Dwarf fans will like that adieu) budskies!

See you in 2 weeks! *Mwah!*

Oooh ooh ooh! Have a look at a write up my friend Vicky got for her designer lingerie (pretty peeeektures and worksafe too!)

Oh and btw....can you see the drop tags? I eez designed them ;)

http://canberrasgotstyle.blogspot.com/2008/01/ooh-la-la-bombshell-design.html

Went and saw Sweeney Todd today. I have decided that I wish to be the filling in a man-sandwich between Johnny Depp and David Walliams.....*snigger*

I'm going to get in early and wish a wonderful & amazing happy birthady to similicious well....because she is.....well......wonderful & amazing. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Miss Sim *mwah!* Have a wonderful time in Melb!

And for natalya_dostova. Better late than never eh! lol....but not in time for the bash at Casa Dostova. Hope you all have a wonderful time....without me.....sob ;)

Eddie’s Tomato Sauce.

Ingredients:

2 Red Capsicums
2 Onions
2 Cans Diced Roma Tomatoes
1 Tsp Crushed Garlic
Pinch lemon zest
Splash Bitters
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Optional – Cayenne Pepper or chilli

Method:

Roast, BBQ or burn the skins of the capsicums over a naked flame. When the skins are blistered and black, seal in a plastic bag and leave to cool.

Finely dice the onion and sweat off over a medium heat in a saucepan with the olive oil and garlic. Peel and remove seeds from the roasted capsicums and finely dice.

When the onion is soft and slightly transparent, add the lemon zest, bitters and capsicum, Simmer for a couple of minutes then add the tomatoes and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Simmer mixture until it is quite thick with just a little moisture left (sort of like chutney).

Tis now ready to eat….hot or cold.

Also:

If you want a little heat in the sauce, 1/2 a tsp of cayenne pepper will do the trick, or if you want a lot of heat, some chilli.

This sauce is great with BBQ steak, snags, spooned on top of whole mushrooms (grilled/baked) or dolloped into soup for colour and flavour, but also wonderful spread on toast or foccacia topped with grated cheese and grilled.

YUM!

I am a killer.

The other day I made my first kill in the car. Although technically I did kill the bird, I have to say that I was on the highway and it flew into the front of my car. I did not swerve to hit it. I feel bad about it though. A friend asked what bird it was and I told her it was an Indian Mynor(sp?). She seemed to think that was ok! What? Would it be worse if it were an attractive bird?!

Another friend tried to make me feel better by telling me a story about when a friend of hers on her L plates decimated a whole family of ducks crossing the road (little baby ducks and all). Needless to say I now have a growing duck phobia when in the car. It doesn’t help too that I have to drive by a lake to get to work every day, and there are ducks EVERYWHERE! lol

I also think I killed my friends cat Strop. I was cat sitting her brood of 3 last week for 2 nights. Strop came for his feed on night 1 and as instructed by friend I was to leave him out for the night as he tends to pester the 2 younger ones.

Well....that night was quite warm. On night 2 there was no Strop to be found. Friend found him dead under a tree on night 3.

Yes.....My brain knows it's not really my fault, and my friend says she knows it's not my fault. But I feel really bad about it. Strop was such a lovely animal.

Good thing about my first weekend back from Melbourne?……Top Gear and Iron Chef…..Bad thing about my first weekend back from Melbourne?……Most evil vomit gastro virus known to mankind. But, with 2 eyeballs like pink marbles and laryngitis, I was able to chuck a few sickies. So it couldn’t have been all that bad? Thanks to everyone on LJ who wished me well. To quote Jeff Fenech, “I love youse all!”

I also have to say a big thank you and send a big kiss to mistressfi who sent me the cutest snow dome from Christchurch NZ to add to my collection. When I saw it was a glass one I had a little squeal. It’s so nice that you think of me *mwah!*

Melbourne over Christmas and New Years was a mix of really really good and really really bad. natalya_dostovas party was wonderful. I got really sloshed on vodka and apparently (according to natalya_dostova) I got all Dommy on her and told her to be quiet as I had not finished speaking! Lol. It was great to finally meet usekh. No I didn’t feel like running away from you. I thought you were fantastic, and will insist you take me for drinkies to that bar you raved about with drinks that cost a week’s wages. natalya_dostova sure knows how to throw a good barbie! Everyone I met there was so much fun. There was so much yummy food too, and tons of people there smoked so I didn’t feel like a lepratic pariah huddled in the corner trying not to blow smoke in anyone’s direction. Ah, the perils of being unfashionable…lol.

Other good stuff was going to the gallery for the 80’s fashion exhibition. Lots of Thierry Mugler and YSL. Made me a bit wistful for the days of Dynasty and shoulder pads so large you could land a small aeroplane on them. Went a bit bi-polar in the gift shop too.

Also went on a day trip down the Mornington Peninsula and caught the car ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff. Fauxance and decided that Queenscliff rocks with its old church converted to a bookstore. But as the foul weather was starting (40 + degrees in the shade) we didn’t stay too long.

The drive back to Melbourne was hell. I didn’t know the sun can sting like buggery. We got back to a really hot house with the only ceiling fan on the blink and a box fan that only really pushed the hot air around. We passed out on the sofa and tried not to melt.

New Years Eve was repulsive. It was 34 degrees at midnight! I thought that I had died and gone to hell. It had been a couple of days of this and Fauxance and I were getting really cranky.

I have known Fauxance since 1984 and I have never said so much as boo to him. But that night with the heat, and the fact that we had almost spent a whole week together (the longest we had ever spent together before was only a day) and in a little hissyfit I told him to fuck off. Well…..I owed him. He told me to fuck off in 2003! So now were even. I t will never be spoken of again….lol.

I must admit that when I got back to Canberra and my air-conditioned little cocoon away from Fauxance (I was still shitty with him) I was staring to think that perhaps moving to Melbourne was not such a good idea. But I have turned around since then. It’s just so scary…moving and all. Yes. This from a person who moved to London all by herself with only one friend there and no work. I suppose it’s just a matter of cold feet. I will move….I have to move. Mum was in pretty bad shape when I came back too, and that was putting me off moving. But as it turns out she was the carrier for the horrible lurgy and was sick from that. It was all her fault! Lol. Last week her doctor gave us the good news that her latest blood test is good and is showing a huge reduction of the cancer. So we can rest assured now that the chemo is working. I have also been on a mission to fatten her up on vegetable soup and rice pudding so she gets stronger every day.

Dear Diary,

I will post eventually. When I get over being ill....

Lots of love,

Eddie :)

Q&A for 2007 gacked from the_jester1

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?

Picked my nose…..lol….seriously, I really can’t think of anything.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Pretty much, though I tend not to make them and only get pushed into it at the last moment by my friend Vick who is really really into resolutions. Going from vague memories my list was as follows:

* Start life drawing again – Wellllll. I payed my course fees (access fees really) and for one reason or another (fear perhaps?) have not gone yet. But as my n.y.r for 2008, I will attend my first class in January, and will post the results in here. Promise!

* Get another tattoo – These plans were snuffled when I realised that “X (sp?)” is no longer working as a tattoo artist here in the ACT. She is now a painter/artist. Selfish *#%#^! Lol. I have moved this one forward for when I move to melb…..Hey….another recycled n.y.r

* Be a member in a TV audience - Okay. Yes there seems to be a reoccurring theme here. But this time, seriously not my fault! Part of this resolution was that I be an audience member with my friend Vick. But SHE can’t make up her mind which show she wants to go on. Personally my picks are “The Side Show” and “Spicks & Specks” though how difficult it is to get on these things is? I do not know. I just want “The Price Is Right” to come back. I wanna go on that! Lol.

Fauxance thinks I should go on “Temptation” because I seem to know all the answers. My response is that I do not know all the answers, and what answers I do know will leave my head the moment my hand rests atop the buzzer. Plus, I don’t want to be introduced as “Edwina Kemp, public servant from the ACT”. I might as well give up, wear red rimmed reading glasses, shop at Maggie Shepard for long flowing coats and take up scrapbooking.

* Go out with the first person who asks me – This would be all fine and dandy, but I only seem to get interest from 16 year old boys and I have a morbid fear of dates (job interviews with drinks) and anything to do with “relationships”.

I know there were more but I have conveniently lost the list. And that is only good and proper as I did write it when rotten drunk on fruit cup punch.


3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Naomi gave birth to Astrid. One of the only babies I have ever seen which didn’t resemble an alien and was so well behaved that I considered getting preggers. But only for a nano second. My mistake was telling her so. Talk about putting on the pressure to breed!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Thank god no.

5. What countries did you visit?

None.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

The health of my parents returned and my own place. I know I will get one, but wouldn’t even hesitate to drop it for the other.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

Nothing really mind blowing has really happened on any particular day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Managing to stay sane and positive with all the crap that has been handed to me over the past months.

9. What was your biggest failure?

No big failures….small ones though.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

The pcos has been making my periods and myself a nightmare. But at least I am having them now and not putting on so much weight.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My faux leopard skin bag from Hells Belles Finishing School for Girls NYC. Also a nice big bottle of Gucci for Men….Yes I know I am a woman….but the stuff smells divine.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?

My brother. Although he still brings his washing around he does it himself instead of asking mum to do it. He has been really helpful and considerate this time round. He even apologised for having a hissyfit. That is a BIG improvement for him.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

The Pole, but I try not to waste energy worrying about that idiot.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Car, gifts, smokies, travelling, cosmetics, clothes, friends...

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The Chemical Brothers touring….but now……I just don’t have the motivation, things have changed since then. More important things to get worked up about.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

That Ping Pong song.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) Happier or sadder?
Happier.
b) Thinner or fatter?
Fatter
c) richer or poorer?
Richer – I’m ashamed to say it but I was given some mullah. But make no mistake, I am grateful.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Sleeping, moving my butt, contacting friends.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Worrying, shopping, smoking, eating, procrastinating, feeling sorry for myself and working.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

With family and then to Melb with Fauxance.

21. Did you fall in love with in 2007?

David Walliams…..again. Every time I see that man I get all wistful and gooey inside. Computer says YES!!!! Lol

22. How many one-night stands?

Lol….I wish ;)

23. What was your favourite TV program?

Sopranos, Iron Chef (when SBS is not bumping it off! *grumble*)

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Hate is such a strong word.

25. What was the best book you read?

“Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse” by Paul Carter. It is possible to laugh from the first page to the last.

“Beginners Guide to Marquis de Sade” Can’t remember the author. Good read though ;)

“Journey Of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives” by Michael Newton. I know this may be a bit herbal for some of you, but I got a lot of comfort from reading this book.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Lilly Allen.

27. What did you want and get?

A new cinch.

28. What did you want and not get?

An aquarium.

29. What was your favourite film of this year?

Casino Royalle and Death at a Funeral.

30. What did you do on your birthday

Dinner with close friends.

31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Having my own flat.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?

Does it come any blacker? lol

33. What kept you sane?

Friends both near and far, humour, dreaming, vodka and retail therapy.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

See Q 21. Plus also……Eddie Izzard (hey…it could be Eddie & Eddie! Lol) and Joaquin Phoenix…Pwoar! A great quote from Joaquin: "When I'm out with the ladies, I don't try to make them pronounce my name. I just tell them to call me Kitten" *heart melts* :)

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

Election, election, election…..

36. Who did you miss?

Friends. *said in small voice* ” Why is everyone leaving?”

37. Who was the best new person you met?

All the Melb peeps! You girls rock!

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:

Do not take on people projects (ie: The Pole)...

39. How did you start 2007?

Can’t really remember. Probably involved swimming and a picnic...

40. How will I end 2007?

Don’t know. I usually hide away on NYE…..lots of idiots about who get aggressive after a couple of beers...

41. What are your aspirations for the coming year?

To have my own place again and to have a social life.

42. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

“If you leave me, can I come too?
We can always stay
But if you leave me, can I come too?
And if you go, can I come too?”

Mental as Anything