I know you’re all on tenterhooks waiting to hear how our new cleaner is working out (after the whole Nurgul debacle). I’m happy to report that Annette ROCKS. Our kitchen, laundry room, and bathrooms have never been more hygienic. Last night I had the happy experience of repeatedly finding secret, non-obvious places that she’s cleaned that I didn’t expect (like under the sink, and around the silverware drawer, and on top of the water heater). I feel like Jerry Seinfeld (except that Annette hasn’t stolen any tchotchkes). The only slight weirdness is that we get the feeling she’s trying to, uh, correct certain things that we do. Like, we normally keep the eggs out on the counter. Yet when Annette first came, she put them in the fridge. Okay, we’ll keep the eggs in the fridge. She moved our rubbish bin in the kitchen; I guess she thought the new place was better for it. (We’re lazy so we left it there.) Yesterday’s discovery was that she’d switched off a bunch of the power outlets in the house. (Australian outlets all have a little switch next to them. I have no idea why; it’s probably some safety thing.) The kettle, the toaster, the microwave, my hair dryer… all switched off. I guess she thinks we’re a fire risk. And lastly, I went to heat up some chili in the microwave last night, and I suddenly realized that the bread was missing. We usually keep our loaves of homemade bread in the microwave as a soft of poor man’s bread box. I searched every cupboard in the kitchen til I found it, carefully wrapped up in clingfilm, sitting in the fridge. She must keep everything in the fridge at her house.

So overall she’s working out awesome. (She also says that Dr. Amy is a fine cat, and that Nurgul was talking out her ass.) And I can live with the little idiosyncracies. I like to think that she’s giving us subtle life lessons. Sort us out, Annette! We can use all the help we can get.

Just what I suspected all along… It was the Snook that made me fat!

I did have a loss! A teensy one. 100g. Which means I basically stayed the same for the second week in a row. I’m actually really positive about that. I mean, I’m so close to goal anyway, and the ultimate objective is not to lose weight for the rest of my life, right? It’s to get to my desired weight and then STOP. So the fact that I’m discovering how to balance my lifestyle can only be a good thing. I would still like to lose another kilo this month (only so I can enter the Slimmer of the Year competition) but I’m trying hard not to get caught up in how long this process takes.

Yay! Remember the cardigan I knit for my friends’ daughter Marianne? Well, Staci has posted pictures of her modelling it! This is the best part of knitting something for someone else, seeing them wearing it and liking it.

Me: Noooo! Phil from The Amazing Race was in Sydney today signing books and I missed it!
Snook: He wrote a book?
Me: Yeah. It looks like some kind of self-help thing.
Snook: Skivvies for Fun and Profit?
Me: BWA HA HA!

Note to Americans: Down here “skivvies” refer to turtlenecks, not underpants. That confused me for a long time.

Breaking Wool News: Because I love my w-g readers more than our normal customers, you guys are the first to know. Our big winter shipment of Noro and Debbie Bliss just arrived! We’re now stocked with Kureyon, Silk Garden, Iro, Kochoran, Blossom, and a new one called “Aurora.” We’ve also got Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky (along with the Baby Cashmerino), Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon, more Eki Riva Superbaby Alpaca, Natal, and Casual, and a few other surprises as well. Crap, I should get to work putting these up on the site…

Congrats to Helen for the capelet pattern she had published in the most recent Creative Knitting! I picked up a copy last Friday. I was most amused to read the article about “creative vandalism,” which cited the influence of the American group “Knitta” and interviewed an anonymous artist from a Sydney group. The Sydney artist sounded verrrry familiar as s/he described putting toys in random spots around town. Hmm, I wonder who that could be? *COUGH, COUGH*

STRESS!

• I called Mom this morning to find out that she’s in the process of buying their tickets to Sydney. She, Joe, and my little brother Joey get here on Good Friday. That’s a week from this Friday! We have to clean the whole house, do the laundry, get groceries, work out where everybody’s sleeping, plan activities, ACK! (But I’m excited. This is the first time anyone from my immediate family’s visited me Down Under.)
• Dr. Amy Jones has developed a bald patch under her right arm. I’m a little freaked out about it. She could have ringworm; she could just be stressed; she could just be stupid and overgrooming. Or maybe Nurgul put a curse on her. At any rate, she’s got an appointment at the V-E-T for Sunday.
• I’ve had a crappy couple of weeks now, diet-wise. I do all right through the week but lately I’ve been falling apart on the weekends. Plus the weather has just started to feel like Fall, and with the end of Daylight Savings I’m finding it (as expected) reeeeally difficult to exercise after work. I don’t expect to have a loss tonight.

And yet I’m strangely optimistic about everything. I think it’s because it’s so sunny outside. Is there anything prettier than a bright Fall morning?

The Final Countdown. I’m almost disappointed I’m missing Indiana’s historic Daylight-Savings switch. I wonder if the old people are freaking out? I can just imagine them lining up at the IGA right now for jugs of water and batteries. (I worked at a podunk grocery store for four years. Every time anything remotely problematic was predicted, old people would turn up to stockpile like it was World War III.) Ooh, I hope Moire posts some sort of recap!