Baby Items Are Off In The Post

I posted off the baby cardigans to my niece this afternoon. The two knitted baby kinas (pattern by Muriela) and the two crocheted cardigans (patterns from Just Crochet). They are in two different sizes. I am hoping that they fit an 8lb baby. They should do :)

I know I've been making the seaside blanket but I really have enjoyed making the baby items much more than I realised. I don't know if I even want to go back to making the blanket right now. I only have three squares left to complete so maybe I need to psyche myself up to finish it. I really don't like leaving projects partially done. Someone please convince me that finishing the seaside blanket will be quick, easy and painless!

Who's That Knocking At My Door?

It was the postman! YAY for the postie & YAY for the parcels that he delivers!! I hadn't told you about the things that I had ordered over the past few days. You gotta love ebay! Some of the parcels started arriving yesterday.

Our server stopped working properly last week. It didn't recognise that there were two hard drives in it. I can tell you that we were bitterly disappointed because all stuff was stored on it. We didn't lose it all, well we didn't lose much at all really because I am lucky enough to have a 1 TB hard drive on my computer and everything was saved there. I hadn't deleted anything that we had transferred to the server.

Anyway, I bought, get this a 2 TB hard drive from ebay last week. It was even cheaper than the 1TB I bought for my computer! Mark started setting up the server again yesterday afternoon. Last night I began to transfer things over to it. Although it is giving me the pips because my computer keeps freezing after a while & I need to restart.

We also had a smoothwall running but we stopped using it due to the fact that it can slow our connection speed. Not only that we were hosting my incredimail website from home & since the server crashed my site was down (and it still currently is down - sorry) Thankfully all of my IMF files are over in my yahoo group for people to snag from there. Only problem with that is there are no previews.

So with our smoothwall (smoothie for short) not in use we no longer had a computer to cache all the sites that we all frequently visited. Which of course meant that our bandwidth usage increased. With this in mind Mark & I decided that it was a good idea to reset smoothie but there was a problem. The CD ROM died. Ebay to the rescue again. I bought one to replace the broken one.

I swear I am honestly getting tired of buying things that keep breaking down. I should just be grateful that I have the funds to do this and that I don't break the budget every week!

Ok, [insert brain freeze] here from getting side-tracked!

Also bought on ebay this past week was an Android Tablet for Brodie. He paid with it with his own money but since I am his 'finance manager' for want of a better term I bought it through my account. Since he isn't very reliable with money (& the fact he is under age) his pay gets placed into my bank account and I keep very detailed records of how his money is spent. Just in case Centrelink ever want to know where his money goes.

Brodie's tablet arrived yesterday and he is over the moon with it. Especially since he has broken his toughbook! Even though his laptop is a toughbook it is NOT Brodie-proof! The inverter has gone kaput so I've had to order a new one for him. Something else from ebay! It's coming from the US so it might a be a while before it gets here.

So you can see that I love my postie for bringing me all of these wonderful things. I'm just hoping that nothing else breaks. Ooops I've probably jinxed myself now.

**using those particular words for the title had me singing the Men At Work song Who Can It Be Now as I typed. I loved that song as a teen :)

Pen Pals

I had a couple of pen pals when I was growing up. Sadly I am no longer in contact with them but it really was great getting to know someone who lived on the other side of the planet. It made the world seem like a smaller place.

When I was in primary school my pen pal was from New England and her name was Diane. I don't remember an awful lot about her which is sad but I do remember that I loved writing to her. I'm not totally sure how we became pen friends but I have a feeling it was something to do with Possum Pages, a kids section in the Sunday paper. We lost contact after she moved house. I still think its pretty cool that I remember her considering my memory isn't always at its best.

My other pen pal was a Civil Engineer from Poland. I was in college when I began corresponding with her. For the life of me I cannot recall her name :( Sorry. Just call me an airhead! Although a few months ago while I was tidying up I did find the pretty purple folder where I kept her letters and postcards that she had sent. I put the folder in a safe place. So safe that I can't find it again. Remind me to tell you about my teaching diploma and how safe that is!

Anyway, I remember it became an important thing between us, this postcard swapping. Each new place we went to we would grab a postcard or two to sent to one another. I kept a list of where I went (its in the folder) and I tried to make sure that there were some cute Australian animals on them. I'm not sure why we stopped writing to one another. Perhaps it was because we moved. Who knows.

These days having a pen pal is so much easier, at least it seems that way to me. Especially with computers so readily available & being able to send an email or two is a lot faster and instantly gratifying. But there is nothing like getting a letter or a parcel delivered to your door. I can certainly uplift your whole day!

Did you have a pen pal when you were growing up? Do you have one now? I would love to hear about them.

North And South

My North & South DVD's arrived on Monday. You gotta love ebay & my postie for bringing them to me!

This was the first thing I ever say Patrick Swayze in. He was just so good looking in his uniform playing Orry Main! I was smitten! If he could've ridden up on his horse to take me away to his cotton plantation I would gladly have gone with him. Of course that was never going to happen but a girl could dream.
It certainly was the beginning of my watching every single movie he was ever in.

I have watched a little bit of the DVD's so far. I'm about 3.5 - 4 hours in. I only have around 17-18 hours to go! But seeing that its Patrick I'll just have to suffer through it all *sigh*

Hey Mr Postman Look & See?

I've been listening for the postie on his scooter all morning. He normally comes around by 10am but not today. You see, I was waiting for a letter from the hospital. I knew it would come today because the patient bookings clerk from the hospital mentioned it on Thursday afternoon & considering how close the hospital is to our home I just knew it would be here this morning. Not that I truly wanted the letter. In fact I would still love to not need to go into theatre but I have no choice really if I want a better quality of life.

I must admit though I feel much better today than I have since finding out that I was going into hospital next week. You see while we were at Church yesterday I asked for a blessing. I knew I needed one to help me feel more settled and less stressed.

I was prompted to ask a specific Brother to perform it. The way I see it not only do I get the bonus of the blessing he gets the blessings of performing it. I am one of the last people you would ever think of who would even request a blessing. Anyway he agreed, not that he would've said no or anything but I was relieved when he said yes. Two people need to be there to perform this ordinance so his brother helped. I am so glad that he did ask his brother as I feel that these two men really have a strong spiritual connection.

I felt such a wonderful feeling as they laid their hands upon my head. Such warmth seemed to spread throughout my chest. It was the most pleasant and comforting feeling. I just knew that I would be able to cope better this coming week. I am so thankful that I asked for a blessing. It has made all the difference.