sigh of relief

I suspect a lot of people have been coming here over the last couple of days looking for my daring bakers post.

Sorry folks, there ain't one.

As you may have read a few weeks ago my cat Hester (known to those who love him - like me - as Mr Poo) was very sick. Well, Poo died a couple of weeks ago and there have been lots of tears chez BHG.

So I took my other cat Thurston (aka Birdie. Yes, I realise my cats have strange nicknames), to the vet to work out a diet for him. He was always partial to pushing Poo aside and finishing off his dinner. So he's always been a little, well, generous around the waist. Just like his mum really.

Anyway Bird's blood sugars were off the scale. There have been lots of tests, and lots of credit card transactions since then Tonight the word came through that although he's diabetic, the vet things he's been diagnosed early, and has a pretty good chance of having his sugars levelling out and him living as long as he should. It's twice daily insulin injections, but even they are nearly as expensive as I though they would be, although I would pay what ever it cost in a heartbeat.

On top of that I've been appointed to a project team to write a new strategic plan and organise the community consultation for same (something I have zero experience in), and have also taken on a major, major project with uni. However that latter is assessing the wine tourism industry in the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley, so that's slightly more exciting than strategic plans.

Anyhoo, as you can see one thing has led to another and baking complicated layer cakes has not been on the agenda recently.

Here are some random links to people who actually got it together:

BC at Beans and Caviar, what a great name
Karen at Do Better also has a fantastic header to her page (although she mentions exercise which causes me anxiety)
Elsepeth at So Familiar A Gleam completed her first challenge and has a kick arse name. Go Elespeth!

Also in my journey through the blog roll I found many others like me who hadn't managed the July challenge.

I did come across Caviar and Codfish. Who would have though I would have clicked on two blogs with Caviar in the title, but it was totally random. There are some great recipes and photos here, but most unusually one for pickled tongue. Just like in The Famous Five. Not something you really see anymore, so have a look, although I warn you the pictures are quite ... ... ... anatomically obvious.

So, in closing, thanks again to all of those who have sent kisses to Poo, Bird and BHG. Bird and I are looking forward to lots of years to go, and the August DB challenge!!!!

one party and a funeral

I've taken leave this week to stay at home and look after my little mr poo. this is a picture of poo taken last week. he normally looks grumpy in photos, but this is probably exacerbated by the fact that he's not very well at the moment. so a big thanks to all that have wished poo well, either via BHG, or through personal contact. he's a very special boy.

normally he's a bit of a sook and spends the whole day either on my bed or on the couch. since he got sick he's preferred to be outside (and it's freezing here at the moment), but last night he sat and watched crap movies on the couch with me a spent a good couple of hours asleep on the bed. I've always found it very hard to sleep without him in his normal position on my pillow, so i got the best sleep I've had since last Monday last night.

this Sunday I'm supposed to be doing the food for Luke's first birthday party. I suspect I'm not going to be in a party mood come Sunday, so I'm looking for stuff i can just drop off, say happy birthday to the wee one and then leave again (i hope mum understands). it's only for about 20 people, so i was thinking of doing filo triangles so that i can put them together there and then they just need to be heated when they're needed. mum really likes a chicken curry one i do, and a mushroom one and a cheese and spinach for the veggies. one of Luke's cousins has also demanded the sausage rolls that i made for Luke's christening. desert will be cake (no surprise). I'm going to do a version of the opera cake that was a daring bakers challenge a while back, but with different flavours. and cupcakes for the kids.

but I've had this idea in my head for duck filos. duck with black fungus and ginger and spring onions. I'm just not sure how to get it all together. any suggestions would be most welcome! I'm having problems engaging the brain at the moment

it's all gone quiet

it's been very quiet on BHG recently i know. This is partly due to the fact that I've had precious little to say. Life has been very ho-hum, and recently has been very sad with one of my beloved cats diagnosed with something I can't even bring myself to say. So I've been staying at home nursing and dispensing as many kisses as I can while I still can.

But today is was lovely and warm, which has been unusual recently, and he wanted to go out. So I did what any normal person would do, and painted my study. As you can see, it's red.

I've also moved my computer under the window, so I can see outside while I study/blog/play free cell/look at tat online. This picture belies just how much rubbish I own, and I still have several dozen books to move back to the shelves that you can't see in this picture.

I've slowly been painting the whole house, and this is the last room. It means that I can finally put away all of the rollers, brushes and tins of undercoat that have been kicking around since January (I've been delaying tidying the house on the basis that everything will get moved when I paint, I have no excuse now). But I also hooked up my old stereo, which I haven't done because it's a pain in the neck to do and I didn't want to have to do it twice. But now I have my turntable again. Hurrah! This means that I can drag out all of my old vinyl and dance around to all of my old Wedding Present albums. In this photo you can also see the two scratches I made in the pain, putting up the venetian blinds a mere five hours after I finished paining. sheesh!

But now I'm sitting here, at a desk that frankly is a little to short (or maybe it's the chair but something will have to change), and listening to John Safran and Father Bob on the radio. Its an out of place happy moment in a shitty week.