Grateful for ... my beanie. Kind of

Lately - meaning ever since the temperature dropped below 15 degrees - I've been grateful for my beanie. Even though it only cost $4 from Woolies and makes me look like I work for rentathug.com, it does the job on nippy mornings.
I'm also grateful for my ability to swallow my vanity and wear it. Especially as I have to team it with a hard hat, completing the thug/total nutter look. As demonstrated:
The beanie:

I don't want to write a caption because it would mean
having to look at this photo, and I'd rather avoid that.

The beanie-helmet combo:

And finally, I'm grateful for people who see me in it wait til I'm out of sight and/or earshot before wetting themselves with laughter.

PS Any of you clever knitter/bloggers out there who'd like to make me a more stylish one, feel free. I will pay!

Joining in Maxabella's lovely 'Grateful' link-up again.

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Grateful for ... coffee

Give me a hit.
Image source: www.ladyfabuloux.blogspot.com

I am grateful for coffee. Every week. I know, who isn't, right? Except weird other people, like my sister, who don't like it.
I'm a big fan of the stuff. Not merely for the caffeine, though at times that kick is appreciated. I just adore the taste.
And the ritual. The arrival of your flat white, latte or whatever, looking perfect and promising with its creamy fluff on top. The kicking back and shutting out the world briefly by letting your senses focus on your brew's aroma, taste and warmth.
I'm particularly grateful for coffee shops where you can eavesdrop and people watch (I've earwigged on some fascinating conversations in my time), or amuse yourself with a book. Or twitter or facebook or email. Not that I'd waste a good coffee break on twitter, you understand (ha!).
Everyone seems to have their own coffee idiosyncrasies, beyond the 'white with two' variety. Mine include a severe aversion to the instant crap version (my dad only drinks instant and will have a glass of water before going anywhere near the properly-made stuff, if you can believe that. Unfathomable.), as well as any meddling with it by way of 'flavours'. It's coffee I like and coffee I'll have, thank you - not coffee and hazelnut/caramel/vanilla/chilli specially harvested from a mountaintop in remote Thailand.
I also tend to avoid it in the mornings. Tea is lighter and easier to get down first thing. The only time I've regularly had coffee upon waking was when I had a job that required me to leave the house at 4.30am (and return at 7pm). Any kind of caffeine injection was welcome then.
In some happy coffee-related news, my workplace has just invested in a space-age DeLonghi espresso machine. Sweet! And they accidentally bought about 100kg of the dark roast, not medium roast, beans. Even better!

Are you a coffee person? How many a day? Or are you one of those crazies who can't even stand the smell of it?

This post has been part of the lovely Maxabella Loves 'Grateful' link-up.

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This week I'm grateful for ... time alone

Wine, chocolate, cheese and other goodness ... all mine
this weekend.
Image source: www.jean-cathy.com

This week I'm grateful for time alone. After months and months of being almost in each other's pockets - very rare for us - husband Paul and I will be apart for the weekend. And I will be on days off from work.
Now, I do love him. But ... WOOOOHOOOOO!
It's more that I enjoy time alone than I enjoy getting rid of him, for the record.
Because for the next few days I will have no demands on my time. And I won't have to share:

• the bed
• the Tim Tams
• the DVD player (no freaking Avatar this weekend!)
• the computer
• the stereo

And I can indulge, largely uninterrupted, in:

• trashy books
• trashy DVDs
• trashy food (except for chocolate. With him far away from the fridge, I can afford the good stuff)
• sleep
• long hours on the internet/twitter
• a kitchen that will stay clean
• a house that will stay tidy

What are you grateful for this week?

This post has been part of the lovely Maxabella Loves 'Grateful' link-up.

This week I'm grateful for ... a shiny new computer!

There's a new love in my life - my new computer.
Image source: www.sodahead.com

This week I'm grateful for my new computer. It arrived last week and I'm in love. 
It means we now have about 17 devices that can take photos. Which is probably why I needed a bigger computer - I have to store all those snaps somewhere because I never think to actually print the bloody things. 
I've long been a gadget girl and a new, whizz-bang laptop is the ultimate toy. It is, at least, until I can justify the cost of a longed-for iPad.
We bought the old laptop (the cantankerous one mentioned in my profile. Its days are now officially up) back in the olden days. Meaning, 2007. It's a little alarming to realise how quickly something can go from shiny and clever to old and decrepit in today's world, but that is a whole other post.  
It had served me well but it just couldn't hack it anymore. Too weak. Too slow. Too small. I could nip out the front door and save the world while Internet Explorer loaded. And I once celebrated several Christmases  while waiting for Photoshop to open a picture.  
This new one cracks along at lightning speed. Like a willing lover, or an already opened block of Cadbury, it's always ready for me. It has fancy yet easy-to-use software. A mouse that feels like an extension of my hand.
It is my new BFF. I've even kissed it goodnight. But that was only once.  


This post has been part of the lovely Maxabella Loves 'Grateful' link-up.

What are you grateful for this week?

This week I'm grateful for ... getting out of the kitchen

I don't actually hate cooking. Just cooking every day.
Image source: www.cafepress.com

This week I'm grateful for not having to cook dinner. The husband, Paul, and I try to take it in turns but recently (as in for-the-past-six-months recently) I was getting home a lot earlier so kind of fell into doing it all the time.
But now we happen to be on exactly the same roster, and Paul has got his butt back in the kitchen. And - bonus! - to play a bit of catch-up and get his dinner duty fortnights synchronised with his on-call roster he'll be there for One. Whole. Month.
He's just finished his first fortnight and for this blissful period whenever he has asked:
* "What should we have for dinner tonight?" I've been able to answer with an uninterested yet gleeful "I don't care. You're cooking!"
* "Do we have any soy sauce?" With "I don't know. You check. You're cooking!"
* "So we'd better write out a shopping list tonight." with "Probably. You work out what to buy though and write it. You're cooking!"
* "Do you think I should make enough rissoles (the man has anointed himself the high priest of rissoles thanks to his popular 'secret recipe') for us to have leftovers tomorrow?" With "If you like. I don't care. YOU'RE COOKING! AHAA HA HA HA!"
It has indeed been a wonderful time. And we're only halfway through. Aah. 

This post is part of the lovely 'I'm Grateful For' link-up by hosted by Maxabella Loves.



This week I'm grateful for... my age

Image source: http://www.intoxicatedabroad.com/

They say getting old is no picnic, but at the moment I'm glad I've left some aspects of youth behind.
A younger cousin of mine (she's 18) has recently started university. While she sounds to be having the time of her life, her facebook updates have reminded me of the less noteworthy experiences of being a full-time student:
* Drinking 'goon'. The lovely bottles of sav blanc I indulge in these days may come from the cheaper end of the Woolies Liquor shelf, but thankfully bear next to no resemblance to goon. I think I'd blocked the word 'goon' and it's associated memories from my mind, until this week that is, the moment I signed my first job contract.
* Having to do assignments on non-class days. I'm fortunate to have the kind of job where work is only done at work. Of course days off do involve housework, but you can get away with giving it some cursory attention and put off doing it properly almost indefinitely. Or at least until you have a rental inspection or the parents come to visit.
* Having to share with dorm or flat mates. Think kitchen pigs. Waiting for the bathroom (only to find the sink clogged with someone else's hair). Chocolate nicked from the fridge. Goon nicked from the fridge. Loud noises at all hours of the day and night. Noises you'd rather not identify coming from your housemate's room at all hours of the day and night. It's a list with no end, really.
My place is no luxurious haven, but I can keep it pretty much the way I like. The husband's attempts to get away with leaving everything from shifters to socks on the kitchen table notwithstanding.
* Not having a licence and/or not having a car. Many uni students do have both these days, of course, and this bit of gratitude is prompted by the experience of my sister-in-law who, for various bureaucratic reasons, has just got her Learners at age 21. I've always lived in regional areas where the public transport system, if it exists at all, involves a bus coming by about once every 10 days. I'm not a big fan of driving (I prefer to be chauffeured, darling) but I am a fan of being able to take off somewhere whenever I feel like it.

This post is part of the lovely 'I'm Grateful For' link-up by hosted by Maxabella Loves.



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