web-goddess

Friday Five:

1. How often do you do laundry?
Whenever A) the pile in the bedroom threatens to smother us, or B) whenever I have nothing to wear, whichever comes first.

2. What’s in a typical wash load?
Mostly just clothes. If it’s me, jeans and T-shirts. If it’s the Snook, work shirts and pants.

3. Front or top loader? Powder or liquid detergent?
Top loader. Powder detergent. The brand of detergent is a tricky issue, because Snookums won the State Science Fair when he was, like, eight, with a project on the effectiveness of various laundry detergents. So I have to get one of the good ones.

4. Do you use fabric softener in the rinse cycle?
Are you kidding? Once I close the lid that load is FINISHED as far as I’m concerned. You’re lucky if I remember to take the clothes out at all, let alone put fabric softener in.

5. Dryer or clothesline?
Dryer. We thought we might dry some stuff on our balcony, but the traffic from the nearby road generates a little too much dirtiness.

Ha! Korea helped the US team go through to the second round. Check out my two teams helpin’ each other!

Ladies and gentlemen… Introducing Couch Cam! You should be able to see it over there on the right. Yes, that’s my actual couch in my actual living room (and probably my actual ass parked on it). The camera is located on a shelf about two feet above our TV. It’s currently set up to upload a new image every five minutes while we’re online. Keep in mind, though, that Sydney is about 15 hours ahead of Indiana time, so you Yanks can only expect to see us during your wee morning and evening hours.

Since the home page was getting rather image heavy, I’ve broken the big repeating header image down into four parts, any one of which will randomly show up when you hit the page. It loads pretty quickly on my crappy modem, but let me know if you have any difficulties.

Ever have a dream so great that you got angry when you woke up and realized it wasn’t real? This morning I had a fantastic dream that the Snook found a “Two Million Dollar Golden Ticket” in a Hershey bar. It was so exciting, and when he gave his interview on the news he even mentioned my Dahl site. I was on the phone to my mom happily explaining that we were now fabulously wealthy when I woke up. I was so mad I swore. Not a good start to the day.

New Poll: Have you caught World Cup fever?

It’s meme time again, kids! Here’s “Me From A to Z”, courtesy of TD.

A – Animals/Pets: Four goldfish, all named after Star Wars characters (Admiral Ackbar, Porkins, Aurra Sing, and Grand Moff Tarkin). Unfortunately Salacious Crumb, our snail, died last week. *sniff*
B – Best Friend: Snookums. I’m not just saying that to be cute, either.
C – Cohabitants: Snookums and the fish.
D – Desire(s): To get paid well for doing stuff I like. To get fit and lose some weight.
E – Eye Color: Brown.
F – Favorite Food(s): French fries, risotto, Thai green curry, my Aunt Berb’s chicken and dumplings, cheesecake. (Basically, if it’s fattening, I love it.)
G – Games: Ms. Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros. 1-3, euchre, Trivial Pursuit, JewelToy.
H – Habit(s): Clenching my jaw and squinching up my forehead when I’m concentrating (Snookums calls it my “constipation face”), cracking my knuckles, quoting Pride and Prejudice.
I – Interests: Blogging, quilting, watching TV, reading, baking, Roald Dahl.
J – Job: After nearly eight months of unemployment, currently contracting as a web designer and developer.
K – Kitchen (Wonder or Blunder?): Somewhere in the middle. I’m good at some things, but others I really have to work at. I can generally produce edible, non-poisonous fare, though.
L – Languages: English (American, UK, and Australian varieties), German (conversational), and a smattering of Korean.
M – Most Valued Possession(s) (an item, not people/pets): My iBook. That sounds cold, but I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it. It’s my connection to the world.
N – Name (Named after?): Kristine Michelle. The unusual spelling of my first name was apparently inspired by my mom’s best friend.
O – Outfit You Love: I don’t really *do* outfits. I like jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers.
P – Pizza Toppings: Meat (any and all), onions, green peppers.
Q – Question Asked To You the Most: “Do you have a job yet?”
R – Relationship/Partner: The Snook and I celebrated our two-year anniversary last April. My Australian Permanent Residency was granted on the basis of us being in a “defacto” marriage, but as far as actual ceremonies go, my ring finger is still unadorned.
S – Sport: Currently limited to running and working out at the gym.
T – Television Show(s): Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, Buffy, Days of Our Lives.
U – Unsavory characteristic(s): Tendency towards inertia (staying home and being lazy), never answering e-mails, whinging.
V – Video (Favorites): Pride and Prejudice, Office Space, Clueless, The Stand, Mallrats, A Christmas Story.
W – Webpage (Favorite–not your own): Ahh, too many to list. The ones on my home page are the ones I visit every single day.
X – Xylophone (or other Instrument?): I used to play the trumpet, but it’s been years since I touched one.
Y – Year Born: 1977, the year of Star Wars.
Z – Zodiac Sign: Pisces. It suits me.

Good luck to Tara D, who begins the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk tomorrow. Sixty miles! I know you can do it, TD!

Hey Dad, I found an interview with Ted Nugent you might like. I read it figuring I’d loathe the guy, but he actually comes off pretty cool. I mean, he stands up for what he believes in. I had no idea that he was such an environmentalist. Plus he’s hilarious. I’m going to start “Nugetizing” my own speech. And his constant ranting about The Osbournes was priceless.

(P.S. Hey Pop, you want this Nuge cookbook? Sounds like a great Father’s Day present!)

Since Snookums is home this week, we happily accepted his sister’s invitation to accompany her and her son Kurt to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo yesterday. We figured it would be a pleasant morning of pushing the baby around in his stroller and pointing out animals to him. Man, we were so wrong. I had no idea how much energy two-year-olds have! We chased him up and down that place. (Our legs are sore today!) Everybody had a great time though. Here are my favorite three pictures from the day:

       

The first one is Uncle Rodd and Kurt in front of the chimpanzee island. What a bunch of monkey boys! The second is me, Rodd, and Kurt as a family of penguins. And the last is Kurt at lunch wearing my new red hat and giving us his beautiful big boy smile. Isn’t he a cutie?