30 things

My online friend and inspirator (is that a word? if not it should be!), Kitty Pinkstars blogged today about the importance of finding things that make you smile and suggested making a list of 30 things, just as they come to mind and in no particular order.

So here goes. My 30 things that make me smile out loud are:

1. My nephew's infectious giggle
2. Beautiful sunsets
3. Pure white untouched snow
4. The first green leaves of spring
5. Snowdrops, crocus and daffodils - all the spring flowers
6. Cherry blossom
7. The perfect Cosmopolitan
8. Lunch with friends
9. Completing a project
10. Starting a project
11. A home cooked meal
12. Coffee and good company
13. Mastering a new step at tango
14. Candles and a log fire
15. Fresh sheets
16. A cosy hot water bottle
17. A crisp winter morning
18. Dawn on a perfect summer day
19. The seaside in any weather
20. Fish and chips
21. Tom & Jerry cartoons
22. Watching clouds
23. Bonfires
24. Singstar battles
25. Getting to the top of the hill
26. Misty mornings
27. Unexpected mail items
28. The end of a run
29. Holiday adventures
30. Being met at the airport

So what's your list?

Parenting Aunty B style

Of course Nessie comes to BC for her Christmas holidays every year - you just need to look harder!

One of the joys of being an Aunty is the reckless approach one can take to the part-time parenting that you get involved in.

I first met my nephew when he was about 8 months old and had started to crawl quite successfully on his own. He was safely corralled in what was known as the Baby Pit, the living area of the apartment that was 3 steps down from the rest of the ground floor. So what did Aunty B do - as well as starting what is now known as the Dinosaur obsession? She taught the Wee Guy how to climb stairs. Strangely enough, big sis wasn't too pleased. Can't think why! The only thing he could access was the kitchen, the front door and the vertiginous stairs to the rest of the apartment.

Eat up, it's ok Aunty B didn't make it this time

When he was a bit older I taught him what happens when you get sunscreen in your eyes - apparently it's really nippy and causes lots of tears - and also how to stick out his tongue, and blow raspberries. We also discovered that he has a really noisy neck, arm and belly. I think I tried to teach him how to say 'bollocks' but he wasn't having any of it - and since he already pronounced 'tr' as 'f' and loved pointing out trucks on the freeway, there was nothing new to teach there. 

Honest, if you sit there all night pointing the remote at the screen, Santa will appear even if you have been bad

This holiday I've taken to hypnotising him to eat his dinner - it's all about the eyes you know - and he now thinks I have reversey glasses that make me immune to his otherwise awesome hypnotic abilities.

Cultivating the mad scientist look

But the piece de resistance has to be Aunty B's strange but true scientific theories. So far I have managed to convince him that gravity is something to do with velcro, dinosaurs became extinct when they slide off the edge of the world (obviously before velcro was invented), things get hot by jumping up and down but it can only happen when it's light because otherwise they'd bump into each other (and that's why it's warmer during the day than at night) and that photosynthesis is caused by little pixies inside plants mixing blue water with yellow sunlight, making it into paint and then nipping out at night to brush it on the leaves etc. I'm working on a theory of evolution and what's causing climate change but I think they might just be too controversial cruel even for an Aunty...

Strangely my brother in law now thinks home schooling would be a really bad idea.

Yup, son. I think if you hold down the lid and I get the packing tape we should be able to post her back to the UK after the public holiday

Pooped

Another of my resolutions for 2011 is to take more exercise. It is somewhat ironic that while 2010 was the year I took up running and ran my first 10k road race, this is the least fit I've been in a long time. It hasn't helped that I haven't run since my 10k back in September (excuses being - needing new shoes, rain, dark nights, snow) or that the gym I used to go to closed down and I haven't quite got round to joining another. But the upshot is that I am so out of condition - and I don't think I can just blame it on the 'flu either!

So when big sis and I went out snow shoeing at Cypress today, it was a bit sore on theold (sadly true these days!) muscles - the gluteal ones to be precise! But it was also very very pretty, so it was all worth it - and heck, I might even have kick started my body into wanting more exercise. You never know!

I don't think the foot wear will ever catch on though!

Posted to The 52 Week Project on Flickr

Something new

One of my resolutions for this year was to learn something new. And while I already know how to knit, this definitely counts as a new variation if not a completely new skills.

So what is it? It's Moebius knitting and while it doesn't look like anything special, it's really quite freaky - you knit both sides of a twist at the same time and where you start from ends up in the middle of the piece rather than at an end. I know I'm not describing it very well, but effectively you knit, in one go, a moebius strip - a twist with no end and only one side. Hmm! Maybe you'd better just tune back in to see the finished article in a few days!!

And in case you think I'm neglecting my crochet, I've also started to dabble with freeform crochet - the ruffled items above being exhibits A and B. They're examples of hyperbolic crochet and incredibly easy to create - just keep doubling the number of stitches each row/round until you're happy with the end result. Hours of fun!


And now, time to get up and go snow shoeing! See you later, blog readers.

Traditions

The other day I blogged about traditional things to do on my PoMo holidays. Well, yesterday we kept up another (new) tradition - missing the New Year Penguin Plunge off PoMo pier. Perhaps understandably given the weather (much kinder to spectators than last year, but a bit on the chilly side for the Plungers - yes, that's ice you can see on the Inlet!), by the time we got there at 1.15pm (for a 1 pm start time) they'd all been in, were out and had rushed off to get warm again. To be fair, we hadn't really planned to get there in time but it was quite amazing how quickly the place had cleared.

What we were up to was gentle walking and some intrepid cycling by the Wee Guy. Followed by a restorative cup of coffee at Cafe Divano in Klahanie. Mmm, very yum! A wonderful reward for a very chilly walk on a beautiful crisp New Year's Day.

Then it was back home for New Year's Day dinner (very garlicky roast beef, thanks big sis) and the most beautiful sunset I've seen in a while (of which, more photos on Flickr). A perfect New Year's Day all in all - let's hope it's a portent of what's to come in 2011.

Now what?

As promised - having cogitated, ruminated and digested - here are my goals (aka resolutions) for 2011.

This year I will: -

• work out who I am and what I want to do with the next phase of my life. At the end of the year I'd really like to know what the answer is and not feel all freaked out when people ask me what my dreams are
• carry on picking daisies and trying to live a life less ordinary
• stop living small

 On the specifics, I'm going to try to commit to: -

• blogging more regularly - both on here and on my other somewhat experimental blog
• getting on with the online book writing
• rediscovering poetry
• learning something (anything) new - not sure what, any ideas welcomed!
• travelling more - again, suggestions for new destinations welcomed
• living more sustainably
• exercising more

It's a lot of goals, I know - but I think I'm up for them this year. And I promise to keep you updated on progress if you pop back every once in a while.

What about you? Any resolutions you want to share for 2011?

All in a day's work

So, how did you see in the New Year? I saw it in very quietly with my sister and brother in law at their pad in Canada - knitting since you ask! We (big sis and I) had been entertained earlier in the evening by Mr Ebb wrestling with a large box and 2 beautiful teak chairs. Sadly he declined to assemble the 2 flat pack flower troughs I'd provided, mindful perhaps of last year's adventure!! But as the bells tolled (or more accurately, the iPod alarm beeped) I was on the finishing stretch with the last of my Christmas hats. I started this one first thing in the morning and was trying to finish it by midnight. As it was I was only 15 minutes overdue on my goal.

So what else did we do today? Apart from knitting, we partook of another couple of PoMo traditions - a big box shopping trip followed by a visit to Value Village (thrift shop extraordinaire!). Otherwise it was a fairly quiet day, although the Wee Guy did find time to see the man with as many noses as days in the year and tell Grandpa all about it. Ah, family traditions handed down from father to daughter(s) to grandchild - the way life is meant to be.

I also spent some time ruminating on my resolutions for the year but they're still a work in progress on which I'll reflect overnight and blog tomorrow - maybe!

Meanwhile, goodnight to one and all. May 2011 bring all you dream for.