Random thing #4
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Mum was initially reluctant for me to blog the story about her failure to link up with her Linking Tasmanian Seniors group the other night on account of how friends of hers read my blog and it could be a little humiliating. Actually when I say 'initially reluctant' I mean more sort of 'continuously reluctant' but hey what's done is done. Anyway - this random thing is my own humiliating moment that occurred a few weeks ago in a park series orienteering race in Launceston. I had been given the same handicap in a chasing start as the 18 year old girls who train (which I should really be flattered about ) which meant I had to start at exactly the same time as them and after the rest of the field. After the first few hundred metres I put myself a comfortable 20 metres behind them with the aim of cutting all the corners and sticking with them. After punching the third control both of them spied a shortcut between a wall and a building which was possible to squeeze though. Unfortunately it turned out it was only possible for them to squeeze through - I got decidedly stuck and had to reverse out the way I had come (while having visions of having to be freed hours later by firemen) and by the time I had run back and around the alternative longer route I'd lost sight of them all together and had the run the rest of the race alone. Luckily I had sensitive and understanding house mates who took it upon themselves to kindly advise me to avoid narrow gaps before every race for the rest of the weekend. sigh.
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Random thing #3
Sunday, 28 June 2009
  The week before last was a big cake week what with the penguin cake and a Robin cake which had been booked ages ago for a boy who loves Robin (as in Batman and Robin). Strangely I also got a last minute Batman cake order (for a friend from work) so once again, Robin is unable to strike out on his own and must forever exist in the shadows of Batman.
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Random thing #2
Sunday, 28 June 2009
 Zali and Jett have 'tick charts' which is as any parent will know is basically a chart which is filled in with ticks as the child behaves above and beyond basic requirements. Normally when Zali gets to the end of her tick chart she asks to go to the fairy shop where she buys a tub of glitter or something small and cheap and pink. This time though Zali has asked for a gun. Maybe whe would like something like this..
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Random thing #1
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Last night Mum went to Wrest Point casino for her first get-together (a movie night) with 'Linking Tasmanian Seniors', a group that aims to bring seniors together to improve computing skills and make connections.
Unfortunately she couldn't find the group and watched the movie alone.
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Midwinter Dinner
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
 It's been a busy cake week this week and it's not finished yet.. This particular one is for the Antartic Division's midwinter dinner - Apparently it's a traditional celebration they have in mid winter at the Antartic bases - they sing, perform skits and generally celebrate passing the halfway mark of winter. In the older times they also used to dress up as women as there weren't any on the base (hence the penguins in drag). Unfortunately I won't be required to deliver it to Mawson, Davis or Casey as they have a dinner in Hobart for all the returned people too. The client let me have free reign with the design so I hope she's pleased - I certainly spent much longer on it than she is paying for as it was quite a lot of fun!
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Black and White
Saturday, 13 June 2009
 This is the cake I delivered today. It's a little bit different to what I've done before. I looked everywhere for something that would help me with the baroque style but it turned out the most useful thing was from the kids sprirograph kit - although I had to make my own templates for the larger bits.
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and
Friday, 12 June 2009
 Now I don't want to sound bossy but if you are reading this blog and you have a blog of your own and you haven't updated it for a while I think you should go and update it. You know who you are.
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
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blast off!
Friday, 12 June 2009
 One of the things I like about my job is that I never really know exactly what is going to be going on each day, and often it's a matter of just getting in there and trying to be useful in whatever crazy activity it is. Yesterday we needed some ideas for a Blue Rocket sponsored kids activity afternoon (happening in a few weeks time) and drawing on my experience from the creche at the Easter orienteering day I thought that kids might like to make and decorate their own rocket. So then I spent half of the day designing a fold-up rocket that fits onto an A4 sheet of paper and is as un-fiddly as possible. The nose and body of the rocket is just one piece and the fins slot into the body. Even if it doesn't get used I'm pretty happy with the results and it was 1/2 a day enjoyably spent. I must have been channeling dad with the design as I remember he went through a period of making dodecahedrons and things out of cardboard back in the days when you had to draw up your designs on an abacus and cut them out with a pointy rock stuck to a stick.
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Just ask Cathy
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Dear Cathy,  Is it a good idea to leave my child to go to sleep with one of those stupid little self-inking stamps hidden somewhere in his room?
Un Sure,
Lane Cove NSW Dear Un Sure, No. He will find it. He will use it, and then he will go to sleep holding it. You must destroy this stamp and every souvineer and stationery shop that sells them.
Cathy
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and on the subject of telecommunications..
Friday, 5 June 2009
My phone seems to have decided it is no longer working for me. It has disabled
the keypad and now it just sits by itself beeping sporadically and occasionally
switching to camera mode and taking photos. Quite frankly it's a little
creepy.
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It's not personal..
Friday, 5 June 2009
Dear Telstra, I'm sure that all of your employees are lovely hard working people. However a lot of the time you (as a corporation) are really annoying so we think that slight modification to your logo might create more realistic customer expectations.
love Cathy 
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Logo-Jamming
Friday, 5 June 2009
Dear Jetstar,
A friend of mine thinks your logo could do with an update and as I'm the only person she knows with a decent graphics program she asked me to assist. It only took me a few minutes so you can have it for free.
Love, Cathy
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Job Title
Thursday, 4 June 2009
 Anyone who has received an email from my work account will know that I have a pretty cool job title. I'm almost used to it but I did laugh recently when I got an actual letter with it on it!
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Gnocchi
Thursday, 4 June 2009
 I made my gnocchi and it was delicious - so much softer than what we get from the supermarket. The individual pieces didn't end up quite as uniform as I had envisaged - that's because anything involving dough attracts the children to the bench like moths to the lights - but at least I had some helpers.
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Week of firsts
Friday, 29 May 2009
 This week I've done quite a few things I've never done before but the majority of them were work related so they aren't that exciting unless you are particularly interested in stationary. The most interesting new-thing was making sushi tonight with Jon. Both of us were new to this art and as you can see from the photo the results were slightly raggedy. However it did taste delicious and I think you have to work at skills like this to reap the full rewards (I remember my great Caramel Slice Quest a few years ago). In keeping with this weeks theme, I'll be attempting to make gnocchi for the first time ever tomorrow night. If anyone has any tips please feel free to email me!
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