Some things

1. Everything sucks.

2. I miss blogging. I have no time for blogging. But I do miss it.

3. Some time ago I was inspired by better bloggers to nobly intend to do “five things” posts. It seemed manageable. You’ll note I never actually did it, and this hardly seems like the time to start. Still, who can say? I might. Or I might just occasionally randomly post a random number of things. It is, however, extremely likely that if and when I do post, it will be in the form of random lists, rather than cogently argued and intricately constructed Discussions. I suspect you’ll survive. 

4. Unfortunately it is quite likely that these random things will, for a time, be excessively whiny. (See #1 above.) Only for a time. If you find this offputting (and who could blame you) I suggest you come back in a few months. Either I still won’t be posting anything ever, or I will have gotten over my whininess. I’m pretty sure that the ubiquitous suckage will be over in a bit. 

5. Why is everything about elephants? Eating an elephant one bite at a time (what we’re doing). Trying to align my Rider and Elephant (why being an expat is so hard). The elephant in the room (not at all relevant to my current situation, that I can think of, but a really common idiom). For a creature utterly unlikely to actually be encountered in most people’s everyday lives, the pachyderm gets an awful lot of linguistic play.

Advice for anyone considering a big move with a baby

Don’t.

In the land of cheese and chocolate

Where have I been? Good question. Here’s the formula, I’ll leave you to work it out. 

4-year-old
+
4-month-old
+
international move
+
too many public holidays (with all shops closed, AND a ban on drilling, hammering etc)
+
not enough lights
+
not enough furniture
+
not enough time (see 4-month-old)
+
not enough organisation (ditto)
=
???

“Frazzled” is a word that has some relevance to the situation. There are others. But we’ll stick with that. 

I will return. 

Creative endeavours

It’s been a big week for me. Two projects have come to fruition… one, a small but I think rather lovely pattern has finally been published. So I finally get to show off the fabulous photos of my fabulous daughter.

 

No false modesty here. Come on, she’s clearly awesome.

Also awesome: project number 2.

Introducing Maximilian Luc, born late on 11 January in a great rush, and taking it easy ever since.

I’d love to write much, much more, but this project is more of an ongoing thing and (funnily enough) taking up even more of my time since launch, so… later?

Hm… what is a very small messenger?

A pigeon, of course. (You were expecting a joke? Sorry.)

This is my latest self-published design (it’s a very short list!) – a simple mini messenger bag in two sizes, suitable for kids or adults who want to carry just a few things with the minimum of bulk. Linen stitch is pretty stable, so you won’t have to line it – and I’d highly recommend trying this with a variegated yarn, or striping to use up scraps, as this stitch also plays beautifully with colour changes!

Consider this as a quick Christmas gift, or a handy accessory for yourself. It’s free from Ravelry.

I feel I *deserve* a breadmaker, though. I really do.

The peculiar thing about our current home is that, despite being a generally well-proportioned four-bedroomed “luxury villa”, the kitchen seems to be designed for a childless couple who eat out a lot. It’s small, and even smaller when you realise that half of what seem to be cupboard doors are in fact hiding the fridge, dishwasher and washer/dryer. There’s quite the storage problem in the whole house, actually (the bathrooms have no cupboards whatsoever) but especially in the kitchen. I mean, one kitchen drawer. One. (One that is “kitchen drawer” sized, anyway, suitable for holding cutlery and all the usual kitchen-drawer crap; there is also a deep one for pots, and a medium deep one for plates. But that’s it. And no, they’re not wide drawers. They are titchy.)

So I find myself deciding on whether or not to acquire kitchen things based not on desire or cost, but on whether it’s worth cluttering up the countertop/fighting to squeeze another mug on the shelf. The answer is usually “no”. Which explains the large number of underlined items in the following meme-alicious list (purloined from extemporanea), and the pleasing paucity of italics. Underlined, as per her excellent suggestion, for “things I do not have but would like to”. Bold means I have and actually use (at least once a year); italics means I have but do not use. Strike through = had but ditched. (Huh. Apparently nothing? Huh.)

I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers,* blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese knives, electric woks, salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers,** martini glasses,*** tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers, sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation’s cupboards.

…added by extemp: mezzalunas, egg separators, nutmeg graters, egg timers, pizza slicers, cookbook holders, onion graters, fat separators, potato mashers and mandolins.

…and added by me: Kitchen Aid stand mixer! I admit, it’s hard to pin down why I crave one when I have a perfectly good food processor. I think it’s partly that I’m convinced the bowl shape of the Kitchen Aid would make for better mixing. But… yes… it’s largely the colours. I’m such a sucker for pretty colours.

The mandolin’s totally on its way out, I hate it. Strikethrough only a matter of time.

I’m quite inexpressibly baffled by some of these, really. Banana stands? BANANA stands?! I don’t get the point of rice cookers, either. It’s called a pot, surely?

_____
* Part of food processor, which I actually do use. I’d probably use the juicer more often if I could access it more easily, but the relevant bits have to be stashed at the back of a particularly evilly inaccessible cupboard.
** I had an awesome one from Ikea but eventually it broke. Haven’t found a decent substitute, but I truly miss it.
*** I will not hear a word against my beloved martini glasses, even if we haven’t used them since… since the cocktail party that happened when I was just barely (and unknowingly) knocked up with Elfling. They deserve their cupboard space. They allow me to kid myself that we could be glamorous if we wanted to. This is, sort of, important.

Good news about the sleep wars

Here’s a lovely, lovely post from Ask Moxie on a recent study that looked at sleep interventions and their effects after a few months and a few years.

What it showed was that parents who chose controlled crying or other interventions for their own specific babies felt better about how their babies were sleeping after doing those interventions and felt better about themselves. In other words, controlled crying doesn’t do harm to babies and parents when the parents think it will work and try it.

I think this study says way more about how beneficial support for trusting your instincts about what your specific child needs is than it does about any specific sleep intervention.

Do what works, people. Do what works. Science says it’s ok.