♥ Books, Crafts & Pretty Things Blog

Cat Thursday - Wine!

2013-06-06T18:45:00.002+08:00

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! This fun meme is hosted by The True Book Addict. Go over to her site to join in the fun.

One of the ladies from my Facebook reading group (Hi Catherine *waves* ) put this on Facebook the other day. Trust the Kiwis to have a good sense of humour.
(via Wine Searcher )

Slacktivism - helpful or not?

2013-06-05T11:38:00.002+08:00

Via: TakePart.com

Cat Thursday - Jigglypuff's a basket case.

2013-05-30T11:11:00.003+08:00

Good advice

2013-05-29T09:32:00.000+08:00

To the mum who's breastfeeding: Way to go! It really is an amazing gift to give your baby, for any amount of time that you can manage! You're a good mum.

To the mum who's formula feeding: Isn't science amazing? To think there was a time when a baby with a mother who couldn't produce enough would suffer, but now? Better living through chemistry! You're a good mum.

To the cloth nappy mum: Fluffy bums are the cutest, and so friendly on the bank account. You're a good mum.

To the disposable nappy mum: Damn those things hold a lot, and it's excellent to not worry about leakage and laundry! You're a good mum.

To the mum who stays home: I can imagine it isn't easy doing what you do, but to spend those precious years with your babies must be amazing. You're a good mum.

To the mum who works: It's wonderful that you're sticking to your career, you're a positive role model for your children in so many ways, it's fantastic. You're a good mum.

To the mum who had to feed her kids from the drive thru all week because you're too worn out to cook or go grocery shopping: You're feeding your kids, and hey, I bet they aren't complaining! Sometimes sanity can indeed be found in a red box with a big yellow M on it. You're a good mum.

To the mum who gave her kids a home cooked breakfast lunch and dinner for the past week: Excellent! Good nutrition is important, and they're learning to enjoy healthy foods at an early age, a boon for the rest of their lives. You're a good mum.

To the mum with the kids who are sitting quietly and using their manners in the fancy restaurant: Kudos, it takes a lot to maintain order with children in a place where they can't run around. You're a good mum.

To the mum with the toddler having a meltdown in the cereal aisle: they always seem to pick the most embarrassing places to lose their minds don't they? We've all been through it. You're a good mum.

(via Kirsty from Obsessive Creative Designs)

(via Pip from JustB )

(Via Samantha - amazing Mum and Disability Activist among other things).

Happy Towel Day ( #towelday )

2013-05-25T11:13:00.001+08:00

Lemon.ly infographics link here.

Cat Thursday - Rubbish Tip Cats

2013-05-23T11:43:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! This fun meme is hosted by The True Book Addict. Go over to her site to join in the fun.

We had a giant clean out of the garage/shed in the last couple of weeks, which meant a trip to the Rubbish Tip and Recycling Centre. While we were there we saw these kitties hanging around. It was almost the end of the day and it was very quiet. I guess they would have plenty of mice to eat, and the staff would be nice to them. But it's not the same as having a family and home is it?

Other Rubbish dump cats:

Aristocats

Cats

River Cruise through our city.

2013-05-22T09:10:00.002+08:00

A while ago we were given a voucher for a Twilight Cruise on the Swan River which is the main river that runs through our capital city, Perth in Western Australia. It was an Anniversary present. I thought I would share the pictures so I could show you some of the attractions around my beautiful city. Such a great idea for a present, I would give this as a gift myself because we thoroughly enjoyed it. (Thanks C, T & family.)
You can see further information and maps by clicking on the words below each picture.

Barrack Street Jetty

Looking towards Riverside Drive

South Perth

Heirrison Island

Crown Casino

Some of the famous Black Swans on Swan River

Riverside Drive again.

King's Park

This is an amazing park in the city which is 400 hectares, of which two thirds is natural bushland.

Narrows Bridge

Old Brewery

Cat Thursday - Family

2013-05-16T09:38:00.002+08:00

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! This fun meme is hosted by The True Book Addict. Go over to her site to join in the fun.

My Mother-in-law (who doesn't even have the Internet connected at her house) cut out this lolcat picture and brought it along for me to add to Cat Thursday. That's true love, taking an interest in other people's activities isn't it? Also, she would be that protective mother cat shown in the picture so I think that's lovely.

Here's some more pictures about Family:

Snuggle bags for my Guinea Pigs

2013-05-14T09:33:00.001+08:00

This is what I was doing last week between study. I sometimes think it's funny that when I get the prompt from the computer to take a break (I use Workrave ), then it's a bit naughty to go on the sewing machine or phone during my supposed "rests" isn't it? Well anyway I got 100% on my last assignment so I'm a bit chuffed. In between study this week, I am knitting and tidying the garage. Maybe slightly better exercises for real rest from the computer.
So here are the Guinea Pigs in their new Snuggle Sacks.
The Tortoiseshell is called Beatrix Potter and the chocolate one is called May Gibbs.

I based mine on this pattern over at the Guinea Pig Cages Page. But I made a plastic tube covered in wadding so the mouth would stay open and then I folded the outer bag forward and the inner bag back over the top.

Cat Thursday - Digital Forensics

2013-05-09T18:36:00.000+08:00

Easy Peasy Ponchos

2013-05-08T09:02:00.000+08:00

Back when I did a post about making some clothes for Barbie I mentioned that I would talk about how I made this cute little poncho and how that can be adapted for human sized poncho lovers. Everyone is always asking me about these ponchos and they are so easy to make.

Step One:

Make some squares. You need four. You can make granny squares, knitted squares, or grab four squares of your favourite fleece or knit fabric (something that won't unravel when you cut it).

For a spring option you can use four scarves or bandannas.

As a general rule I make the squares about the length of your arm, or the arm of the person you are making the poncho for. You can make it slightly shorter (like Barbies above) for little ones, so it won't dip in their dinner.

Step Two:

It's all about the joining. You want to have a diamond shape on your front and back. You want the other two squares to drape over your arms. Make sure you join the squares as shown below. with only a point under your chin, but a whole side of the square over your arm.

If you are handy at crochet, you can crochet the squares together. Otherwise whip stitch them (as shown in this link ) with a darning needle and some yarn. Fabric can be sewn on your sewing machine.

Step Three:

Embellish. You can see on the poncho below I have single crocheted around the neck many times to create a collar effect. Other ponchos I have made fringes like the hippy days. It's up to you. You can make a fringe using yarn cut to lengths (like in this tutorial) or you can sew on pre-made embellishments such as lace or fringes, depending upon your taste.

Here's a poncho I made which is modeled

by my gorgeous daughter from

Jessi in Wonderland.

You can see a couple of earlier ponchos

I made on my Flickr here and here.

Cat Thursday - Schrödinger's Cat again

2013-05-02T14:14:00.002+08:00

Prompted by this news article with more sciencey goodness about Schrödinger's Cat.

(via @magicchook @physorg_com @DoctorKarl @BadAstronomer on Twitter)

Physicists propose measure of macroscopicity;

Schrodinger's cat scores a 57

Despicable Me 2

2013-04-28T12:08:00.000+08:00

My friend Irene who knows more movie trivia than anyone I've met, put this clip up on her Facebook the other day. Which had me giggling.

I didn't see the first movie when it came out. But I heard everyone talking about these minions. So when we were at a friends house, I asked their two little girls about Despicable Me. They put on the funny short film about Bananas and told me that I should watch it.

After I finally watched the movie, I made them both a minion based upon this pattern over at WolfDreamer.

I don't think I got around to sharing these on my blog. But the new Despicable Me 2 movie, prompted me to show the photos. Below is the movie trailer. Enjoy!

Cat Thursday - ANZAC Day

2013-04-25T09:55:00.000+08:00

ANZAC Day is commemorated on the 25th April every year in Australia. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

ANZAC Day has become a National day of remembrance for soldiers in all military operations that Australians have been involved in.

(More info: The Australian War Memorial)

Soldier's goodbye & Bobbie the cat, ca. 1939 - ca. 1945

by Sam Hood

State Library of New South Wales

Soldier's goodbye & Bobbie the cat, Sydney, ca. 1939 - ca. 1945

by Sam Hood

State Library of New South Wales

Around our Garden

2013-04-24T10:09:00.001+08:00

Quite a while ago I posted some pictures from around our garden. (Here)

Since then, we have been trying to make the garden more edible and useful.

Here's some our efforts so far.

Thai Chilli

Thai Basil

Lemon Grass

You can see the influence from our trip to Thailand.

Mango tree that my hubby's boss bought him.

Nectarine tree from hubby's aunt.

First harvest from the Nectarine.

The chicken pen is now fox proofed! Such a lot of hard work on hubby's part.

It has passionfruit growing outside.

There is a fig tree growing inside the chicken pen.

I sprouted some pea shoots which the guinea pigs are going to love.

I have sprouted some cat grass for my cat Jigglypuff. The guinea pigs will like this, too.

Rosemary.

Lavender.

Cat Thursday - Scams & Hoaxes.

2013-04-19T11:00:00.001+08:00

My blood pressure is playing up, and when that happens I get really grumpy for some reason. Well today I have decided to hate on scammers. Those people who trick little old ladies out of money, send viruses and malware to your inbox, people who peddle nonsense to the public for profit, and people who clog up my news feeds and email with stupid hoaxes. But my biggest annoyance at the moment are those who trick people into liking something on Facebook by appealing to your better nature and using made-up stories of woe. They don't care who they hurt along the way or who they exploit as long as they can sell their page for profit.

My favourite sites for Mythbusting:

GLAM - EasyBib

2013-04-18T11:14:00.001+08:00

GLAM is an acronym for Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. It also incorporates other cultural institutions such as theatres, zoos, botanical gardens, public broadcasters etc. (Wikimedia Outreach)

While studying Information Science, I realised that I come across many interesting resources that some people may not know about. I will be sharing some of these on a regular basis, to spread the GLAM knowledge.

This week I will share EasyBib. It's a bibliography maker that couldn't be easier. Whether you are writing an article, a piece of non-fiction, an essay or helping your kids with their homework - this handy tool will help you get it right.

It can be very frustrating when you are reading an article and they haven't cited appropriate sources of information. Part of anyone's information literacy skills should include a basic method of citing. This website allows you to cite very simply, using MLA format. It is free to use this part of the service. You just fill in any appropriate information and it will format it for you.
Here's an example from a post I wrote last year. This is how EasyBib would cite it.

Campbell, K. "Out of Office with Chris & Gihan." Books, Crafts & Pretty Things Blog: Out of Office with Chris & Gihan. Blogger, 25 Jan. 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2013. <http://bookscraftsprettythings.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/out-of-office-with-chris-gihan.html>.

While you are on the site, have a play around with Research which is being Beta tested. You may just find the resource you need.

Underground: The Julian Assange Story

2013-04-13T13:30:00.001+08:00

This semester I have been studying Introduction to Computer Forensics as part of my post-Graduate studies in Information Science. When my lecturer referred to WikiLeaks during one of the lectures, it reminded me that I missed the screening of Underground when it had been on television and I wondered if I could view it on the TV's webpage or buy the DVD. Anyway, a bit of searching brought me to the Underground webpage and I realised that the film was currently touring. I bought tickets and my husband and I went to see it last night.

Luna Palace Cinemas

Despite a trek half way across the city during peak hour traffic, we arrived on time and manged to get into the theatre. Once we arrived we found out that the viewing was proving to be so popular that they showed it in two cinemas. Dispelling both myths, that there's never anything to do in Perth and that people don't support tours that do come here.

The movie stars Alex Williams as Julian Assange and Rachel Griffiths as Christine Assange. It covers the years when Julian was a teenage hacker in Melbourne and belonged to a group calling themselves "The International Subversives". Jullian Assange's code name was Mendex. They accessed many powerful organisations, secret files and information. But they never changed anything except logs to cover their tracks, never caused any havoc and never stole anything. The FBI contacted the Australian police, who consequently set up Operation Weather to catch the hackers. Anthony LaPaglia played Dectective Ken Roberts who headed the task force, but was essentially an amalgam of several police officers in real life. However, the lead officer was called Ken Day and he says he disputes the claims made in the movie, that Milnet was ever breached. We may never know the truth.

This movie brought back a lot of memories of Commodore 64's and the sound the modem used to make when you would dial up to the Internet. There were some laughable moments where things we now take for granted weren't yet invented or were just new to everyone. I especially had laugh that passwords were just a word from the English language that a dictionary attack could find. We were all pretty naive back then.

The film is based on the book Underground: Hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier by Suelette Dreyfus and Julian Assange. However, Connolly made it clear that he was making a film and not a documentary, so he took licence with dialogue and so on. Underground is mainly centered around the late teen years of Julain Assange, before WikiLeaks and before the World Wide Web.

I have read a couple of times before the Internet, but that is technically incorrect as the origins of the Internet go back to the 1960's.

I have read many reviews of this film and I find that many people (especially from my generation) don't really know the difference between hacking and other types of security breaches that are possible. They also don't know the different types of hacking, or the motivations behind it. I'm trying to educate myself about this, because in an information age where we use the Internet everyday, it's important. It's also dangerous to assume everyone is motivated by the same thing.

I think that people's views on things like WikiLeaks is going to be very skewed by what they are told by their Governments and what they are told by various media factions and other interested parties. It's our job to read all these things and think critically for ourselves about what we deserve to know, weighed against any associated risks.

Director Robert Connolly with actor Alex Williams, last night in Perth.

Director Robert Connolly was trying something different by holding a tour of screening events that include a panel talk with key people involved with the movie and a DVD with extras included with each ticket.

The panel consisted of Senator Ludlam (Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia), Omar Todd, (WikiLeaks Party) Alex Williams (Perth actor, portraying Julain Assange) and Christine Assange (by phone - Mother of Julian Assange).

Christine pointed out a few problems she personally had with the movie which are summed up in this article written after the television presentation.

Christine Assange on Underground,

the film about son Julian.

The DVD contains the "extras" you might expect on a special edition DVD. For example: Behind the Scenes, the Screenplay and songs from the musical score.

Below are my tweets. When I got home I saw that Christine Assange had re-tweeted my tweet about her.

Finishing the Series Reading Challenge.

2013-04-12T11:34:00.000+08:00

I never have much luck with Reading Challenges as I'm too busy going off on a tangent. But I will definitely be finishing The Southern Vampire Series this year, so at least I will reach level 1.

I only need to read 1 more book but since I have already read one this year it counts as well. This can follow on from my Sookie Stackhouse reading challenge from 2011 (hosted by Yvonne as well) because the rest of the series wasn't published then.

So I am aiming for Level 1 at the moment: Finish

THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE aka SOUTHERN VAMPIRE SERIES

Book 12 - Deadlocked

Book 13: Dead Ever After

To join in, even if you're late like me - go visit Socrates' Book Reviews with Yvonne, by clicking the link on the image above.

Here are the rules guidelines.

1) All books that are part of a continuing series qualify (i.e. Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, James Patterson's Alex Cross, etc. etc.)

2) It doesn't matter if you have 1 or 10 books in a series to complete it, it qualifies (i.e. if you only need to read one more Sookie Stackhouse book to complete the goal, that's fine) The goal is to complete a series from wherever you are up to until the last published book.

3) The qualification period is January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013. Books must be read during this time frame to count.

4) Take the button above and post about it. Use the Mr. Linky below to sign up and make sure you link it directly to your post about this challenge. (Note: I'm not going to be using the Finishing the Series Blog I created last year. I'm going to keep everything here.)

5) If you don't have a blog, that's fine. Just leave a comment to sign up and tell us what you are reading.

IF YOU WANT TO LINK UP YOUR REVIEWS OR, FOR THOSE WITHOUT A BLOG, LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW.

6) Any format of book counts - audio, ebook, etc.

7) You should choose the series you want to finish before the challenge begins, but it isn't necessary. It's fine to change series during the year - as long as you complete whichever series it is.

8) Choose a level....

Level 1 - Complete 1 series.
Level 2 - Complete 2 series.
Level 3 - Complete 3 or more series.

Cat Thursday - Cattitude

2013-04-11T15:37:00.002+08:00

At the moment I am reading this book by Geoff Bartlett with photography by Gudrun Reiss called Cattitude.

So I thought I would share some pictures about cattitude!

Guinea Pig update.

2013-04-10T09:12:00.001+08:00

My Guinea Pigs Beatrix Potter & May Gibbs have gotten really big. (See the pictures below.) You can see a picture of Beatrix when she was a baby here. You can see a picture of May when she was a baby here.

Genesis of Memory

2013-04-06T09:29:00.001+08:00

Background:

Way back last year, I went to the Charlaine Harris book tour with my daughter. We were waiting in line to get our books signed and as you can imagine it was quite a long wait. I was chatting to my daughter about some of the books I have signed that are a bit special such as Tom Hungerford and Elizabeth Jolley who have both passed on now, and were wonderful Western Australian authors. I wasn't having a private conversation just general chit chat.

Anyway, the nice lady standing behind me, whom I had noticed as she was wearing purple (my favourite colour), asked if I liked to support local authors. I agreed that I did, and that I enjoyed reviewing books, too. She told me she had published her first book and she gave me all her details. We had a lovely chat, then had our books signed and I promised to contact her.
Anyway, as I have blogged a little about, we have had a lot on our plate. So I did contact the author, and I bought her book from Booktopia. But it was a while before I got to finish the book, due to study commitments and the fact that my schedule ended up way out of kilter because we had many appointments and things to attend. So finally, here is my review of Genesis of Memory by the lovely lady in purple, Joyce P. Johnson.

Synopsis & Review:

Trish is just getting on with life. Not exactly happy, but she makes the best of things and tries to keep to herself and just get on with things. She has lost her brother, the only person on the planet she truly felt a connection to. Devastated, she decides to take a holiday in the country and has a chance meeting with a handsome stranger. This has all the hallmarks of a traditional romance, but it's definitely not that!

Slowly, and with Lucas's help Trish learns that this is not her life. In fact, her name is not even Trish it's Nareena and the reason she doesn't feel like she belongs is because she's from another planet.

Nareena discovers that she was whisked away from her home planet of Begaria for her own safety, during an uprising, because she is a member of the ruling class. Most of whom have been killed.

Now, with the help of Lucas (who's not a stranger but her protector and her betrothed) she must somehow get home and save her people from the threat which could destroy their entire culture.

As soon as I finished this book, I sent Joyce P. Johnson a note saying that I loved the carefully constructed world of Begaria. Johnson has thought of everything including customs, traditions, laws, and history and woven together an entire system separate to our own. You can see many stories waiting to happen in this amazing world. ( I have heard that Joyce is already up to book 4).

I also loved the strong female character of Nareena. Most of the Science Fiction and Supernatural Fiction I read is written by women, because they know how to write female characters. Nareena is tough when she needs to be, headstrong and intelligent. But she can be soft , loving and warm with those closest to her. I'm sure you will love her as much as Lucas does.

This is a very clever novel. Many of us feel like we are from a different place at times.

What if you found out you were actually from a different planet entirely?

Now go to Genesis of Memory's Facebook and "LIKE" - you might WIN a copy of Joyce P. Johnson's book.

Click here - Go Go Go!

Cat Thursday - Robots

2013-04-04T19:42:00.000+08:00

Jigglypuff is really not impressed with the robot vacuum cleaner.

It was a bit dark this morning, so I didn't get a very good picture.

But you get the idea. Not impressed!

Here's few more robot and kitty encounters.

Cat Thursday

2013-03-28T08:43:00.000+08:00

Sorry I missed this last week.

Here is a picture of Jigglypuff being all cute

and using Dad's hand as a pillow (to make up for it).

Here's a cute card I found on Etsy that I really liked, as I love Science & Cats.

Source: etsy.com via Kate Campbell on Pinterest

GLAM - Trove (Archived Aussie News)

2013-03-26T08:48:00.002+08:00

GLAM is an acronym for Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. It also incorporates other cultural institutions such as theatres, zoos, botanical gardens, public broadcasters etc. (Wikimedia Outreach)

While studying Information Science, I realised that I come across many interesting resources that some people may not know about. I will be sharing some of these on a regular basis, to spread the GLAM knowledge.

This week I will share Trove which is a project of The National Library of Australia.

I gave a sneak peak of this resource when I put up my post about Barbie clothes last week. I was able to locate a crochet pattern from an Australian Women's Weekly from 1965.

If you are researching anything to do with Australia whether it is a fiction piece or family history, or perhaps an article of non-fiction, then this is a great resource.

Trove is a digitised version of hundreds of newspapers, journals and articles that are held in archives in Australia. The theme is that they are all Australian. I did a search and was able to locate some articles about the infamous Australian Bushranger Edward (Ned) Kelly.

THE BUSHRANGING TRAGEDY: PORTRAITS OF THE FOUR CONSTABLES AND THE TWO KELLYS. 1—CONSTABLE LONIGON. 2—EDWARD KELLY. 3—CONSTABLE SCANLAN. 4—SERGEANT KENNEDY. 5—CONSTABLE SELLY. (1878, November 23). The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil (Melbourne, Vic. : 1873 - 1889), p. 129. Retrieved March 25, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60622471

THE KELLY OUTLAWS. (1878, November 12). The Colac Herald (Vic. : 1875 - 1918), p. 3. Retrieved March 25, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94717993