Easy pasta sauce

Take 500g of frozen mince and put it in a heavy cast iron pot that you've got a lid for. Add a jar of pasata, a tin of tomatoes, a tin of chickpeas, a tin of kidney beans and a sliced onion. Add a tablespoon of stock powder. Add about 1 can extra liquid - water and red wine in this case. Put the lid on and put it on a low heat for an hour. Squash the mince with a potato masher, not minding if you get some of the peas and beans. Adjust seasoning. Let sit overnight for best flavour.

*****

Yes I'm a lazy cook. I'm trying to do my tax and TheHusband's as well and it's not easy to concentrate when I need to also cook food for us. I have coconut rice in the oven as well: 1C brown rice, 1 tin coconut cream, 1/2 tin boiling water, 1T vanilla sugar. Bake for 90 mins on 200C. Adjust so that it is creamy and sweet enough and yummy and eat.

I've been everywhere man...

I've been away for the last two weeks. I went from Adelaide to Hobart, then to Melbourne, Bendigo, back to Melbourne and back to Adelaide. During that time I decided that I hate Tiger Airways and will never fly with them again, I sang in 2 concerts, got notSwineFlu, spent several days in bed, went to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Festival, did some shopping and generally relaxed.

Now that I'm back here in Adelaide I'm glad I have an extra week before going back to school next week. I have another year and a half to go at school though. At least I have placement to look forward to, and can now once again follow women through their pregnancies and births, right? Well, I don't know. It means going back into the hospital system, which I detest. It also means a lot of on call for no/little reward, and having to pimp myself out to people to pick them up.

Placement details:

Start Date: 14/09/2009
End Date: 20/09/2009
Area: Antepartum
Allocated Site: Lyell: Outpatients Department - Antenatal
** Cushy placement as it's during the day only, and the Lyell is a shortish drive from here, with the chance of parking.

Start Date: 21/09/2009
End Date: 4/10/2009
Area: Postpartum
Allocated Site: North Eastern Community: Maternity
** Cushy placement as it's close by as well, parking is available, and I've been there before! Plus they don't like having students on overnight, and I've been offered a position there. It's a private/community hospital with obstetrician-led care but eh, in the maternity ward it's mostly postnatal care anyway.

Start Date: 19/10/2009
End Date: 8/11/2009
Allocated Site: Lyell: BAUL (Birthing & Assessment Unit Low Risk)
** Potentially awesome placement because it is back at the Lyell, and the low risk birthing and assessment unit is the place for lots of births, which is what I need at the moment. The downside is though that I will be required to do nightshift.



I now have a long list of things to deal with before school starts though:

• do tax return (yay! Am I the only person in the world who loves doing this?)
• write to the House of Bun with new availability
• unpack the last of the stuff from my trip
• download photos
• find and update my portfolio
• organise an Easterfest meeting
• harrass gym
• start a blanket
  

What's this font?

Ideas? I'd love to know!

Collaborative workings...

From Midwifery Times' E-News 11: 13

OSU Study Reveals Conflict between Doctors, Midwives over Homebirth

CORVALLIS, Ore. Two Oregon State University researchers have uncovered a pattern of distrust—and sometimes outright antagonism—among physicians at hospitals and midwives who are transporting their homebirth clients to the hospital because of complications.

(...)

The findings revealed that assisted homebirths did not appear to be contributing to the lower-than-average health outcomes and, in fact, that the homebirths documented all had successful outcomes. But even more importantly to Cheyney, discussions with doctors and midwives uncovered a deep mistrust between the two groups of birthing providers, with doctors expressing the firm belief that only hospital births are safe, while midwives felt marginalized, mocked and put on the defensive when in contact with physicians.

(...)

Cheyney, who is a practicing midwife in addition to being an assistant professor of medical anthropology and reproductive biology, said she was surprised that physicians, when presented with scientifically conducted research that indicates homebirths do not increase infant mortality rates, still refuse to believe that births outside of the hospital are safe.

"Medicine is a social construct, and it's heavily politicized," she said.

(...)

"I do get some pushback from physician friends who say that I'm too open and too supportive," he said. "My answer, to quote (President) Obama, is that dialogue is always a good idea."

Qualtere-Burcher said he believes that if midwives felt more comfortable contacting physicians with medical questions or concerns, there would be a greater chance that women would get medical help when they needed it.

"Treat (midwives) with respect, as colleagues, and they'll not be afraid to call," he said.

While Qualtere-Burcher believes it would be wonderful, but Utopian, for all midwives to agree to seek medical assistance under the guidelines they're proposing, and for all physicians to learn to deal more collegially with midwives, he hopes that if a small group on each side agrees to the plan, it will provide more evidence that a stronger relationship between physicians and midwives will lead to better outcomes for mothers and infants.

Last year the American Medical Association passed Resolution 205, which states: "the safest setting for labor, delivery and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex" The resolution was passed in direct response to media attention on home births, the AMA stated.

What is interesting, Cheyney points out, is that 99 percent of American births occur in the hospital, but the United States has one of the highest infant mortality rates of any developed country, with 6.3 deaths per 1,000 babies born. Meanwhile, the Netherlands, where a third of deliveries occur in the home with the assistance of midwives, has a lower rate of 4.73 deaths per 1,000.

(...)

Meanwhile, the patient, whose intention was not to have a hospital birth, is already feeling upset at the change in birth plan, and is now watching her care provider come into conflict with the stranger who is about to deliver her baby.

Wantage and todoage

I am big enough to work out the difference between "need" and "want" so here is a list of things I want (and won't go out of my way to buy but keep coming back to wanting):

• Knitpicks interchangeable needles - I have some Denises but I dislike them as the plastic flexes when you use them
• Jigsaw so I can cut things up - I have a heap of mdf that I want to make things out of.
• Steam mop for the floor of doom (big house = lots of floors).
• SLR camera
• cutting board for sewing
• overlocker
• body form
• this pattern:
  

Things to do around the house:

• Decorate the purple table some more. I'm working with Eve to develop some decals for the table and it is so exciting!
• Make some new curtains for the back area.
  The walls are painted in Pantaloon which is a yellow based paint and the curtains are a revolting gold colour and they clash and they are BORING so I want to update
• Make some foot pooffs for the placing of feet on. Chez Larsson has inspired me to change some of our milk crates into foot stools.
• Tie backs for the curtains in the kitchen. This will involve improving my crocheting skills though.
  
  
• Sort out superannuation
• Harrass the gym to refund my personal trainer $$
• Go to Hobart, Melbourne and Bendigo!!!! Which is where I am at the moment btw...
  
• Organise the spare room for our housesitter
• Paint the chest of drawers that currently hold my stash
• Finish Sabrina
• Paint the little chest of drawers that holds our IT stuff
• Paint the mdf bookcase that I've had for since 19mumblemumble - I'm thinking white
  

Just another variation on the cycle of life

For the cycle of being-doing is also the cycle of remembering-forgetting. Like Persephone in the myth of Demeter and Persephone, you blossom, you die, you are reborn again and again. You contact the knowledge of who you are and what you need, and then slowly, bib by bit, you forget, eaten up by life again. Then you descend and reconnect with yourself. You come back from a week's retreat full of love for yourself, your life and your relationships, and for a few weeks you meditate every morning, you eat well, you take a few hours once a month to be alone, do yoga, and write in your journal. But then you forget, get lost, lose consciousness. That does not make retreating worthless, nor does it mean you have failed. It is an organic spiralling process, and each time you retreat you retain another piece of knowledge, courage and purpose, slowly honing your life into what you want. It literally takes a lifetime. It is the process of life.

From Jennifer Louden's The Woman's Retreat Book

Table conversion - "before" and "during"

I took this table:



Applied this:



And painted on some of this:

More photos later as it's not quite finished!

A walk in the park

x

You're doing it wrong bitches

Ok so if I sign up for something that requires me to attend the gym every week for 12 weeks if I want a refund on my fee (incentives, I has them), and afterwards I find out that to get a refund I have to put my name on a list and get contacted for it to be processed (and I do that), and you DON'T CONTACT ME for a month, I'm going to be PISSED when I turn up to the gym and get told:

1. there has been a note on the system since the end of May stating that I needed to provide them a copy of my receipt;
   
2. that I should have contacted them to follow-up despite them not having a direct number for me to contact;
3. that there is no record of me signing up for the program;
4. and that it was entirely ridiculous that I was annoyed, given that MidwifeA managed to have hers sorted out a week after filling in the SAME FORM

given that the woman that was talking to me didn't at any point say "wow I'm really sorry - can I check we have the right number for you?".

Meme about me

I've been tagged by noone but what the heck - I'll tag myself.

The rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.
2. Tag eight other people (if you feel so inclined).

So here goes:

What is your current obsession?
Hair clips, and stalking various yarns that I want to knit with my copious spare time this year. And a few other things that I try not to obsess about but I guess I am obsessing still.

What is your weirdest obsession?
What, apart from being obsessed with all things women's health / birth / babies and yet not being obsessed with my own procreation? And saying loudly that I love women and think they're gorgeous in an amazingly functional way?

What are you wearing today?
Orange bra, wonderwoman underwear, yellow and orange striped socks, mary jane shoes, white 3/4 shirt and a grey overdress. It looks good, really.

What’s for dinner?
Penang diner tonight - I'm in the mood for massamum beef. Which is nothing like the yum that I could get at my local Thai place in Sydney (am I the only person

What did you eat for your last meal?
Two crumpets - one with Vegemite and the other with golden syrup, and a cup of Lady Grey tea.

What’s the last thing you bought?
Um - two handles from Bunnings to redo my childhood chest of drawers.

What are you listening to right now?
A report on a train crash in Washington. Go NewsRadio.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Somewhere warm - Bundaberg, just to visit with my grandparents.

Which language do you want to learn?
French! Immersion style please.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
That's hard - so many things. I live with the love of my life and my kitty and a very close friend who's almost like a sister to me. The house is amazing. It's in a great location. I'm 15 minutes from Kate's place ;).

What is your favorite colour?
At the moment that's a hard one. I've got a purple thing going on, but also loving on teal/sapphire coloured things.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
At the moment, my Rogue sweater. In general, probably my purple coat given that it's winter here at the moment.

What were you doing ten years ago?
Hmmm 1999 - I was halfway through my third year at uni, living in the southern 'burbs of Adelaide, driving a 1983 Mistubishi Colt and working at Hungry Jacks.

Describe your personal style?
Preppy, or unique - lots of colour, lots of unique accessories, lots of handknits. But often a pair of jeans and a tshirt.

If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Knitpicks Interchangeable needles.

What are you going to do after this?
Go to the gym for a session of aqua-aerobics, then to Target to buy a new pair of shoes as mine are dead.

What are your favourite films?
Love Actually
Changeling

What inspires you?
Colour and movement

Your favourite books?
Isobelle Carmody's series

Do you collect anything?
Hair clips, tea cups...

What makes you follow a blog?
The writing, how regularly it is updated, whether the topics are mostly things that I am interested in.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Slept in

What new skill would you like to learn?
There aren't any that come to mind - there are a few things that I'd like to improve though. Preserving, painting, decorating, sewing for example.

Recent FOs

I'm knitting a square shawl, have just finished Sabrina, and finished a triangle shawl the other day as well (it's a triangle, just badly blocked).

The square shawl is being knit out of this, which Zaria found fascinating before it was wound into two balls:



And I FINALLY finished my Rogue:

Isn't it gorgeous?

Friday fill in #2

1. She had a great idea to make pikelets for brunch.

2. My arm is by my side, always.

3. I know this: my time will come and I probably won't even notice it.

4. I have some of the best years of my life to come still.

5. These words apply to me: suck it up, princess

6. Today I am happy because the sun was shining.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to cocktails and a surprise, tomorrow my plans include breakfast with a Kate and Sunday, I want to be at the airport early for our trip to Hobart!

Evil plan for world domination (well, Wednesday domination anyway)

Today is my Day Off - the one that I get this week. So I am still in my pjs and it's after midday. We will ignore that I was awake at 6am and took my houseguest to the hospital for her early shift this morning and TheHusband to work, and then crawled back into bed with a migraine that felt like a coach screw was being thrust through my right eye and *that* is why I still feel like poo in the bottom of a rubbish bin.

Ahem.

So the plan for today:

• go to an antenatal visit (last one I attended was at 16 weeks, and she's now 35. Not my fault in this case! I can make changes to my plans for work if I know 4 weeks in advance, but as the midwife involved keeps changing the appt times at really short notice, and as I can't do that for work, I have missed a lot of them. Which makes me sad. Add to that that I've had the Hacking Worst Cold Evah (tm) and it's little cousin Awwww Do I Have To Have Another One (tm) in quick succession and there is the reason for it being months between visits)
• go to Target and get new shoes ($6.36 in Coles Myer voucher, $30 in Westfield voucher - I can probably find something for that, and my last pair of everyday shoes has just decided to leak)
• get my eyebrows waxed
• put the washing away
• put a load of washing on in preparation for...
• packing! for our trip! to Hobart! in just 4 sleeps!
• print out save the date cards for Easter2010