Saturday, March 24, 2012

Quidditch through the ages...or not

Christian and I have some weird conversations whilst laying in bed. I have no idea how this one even started...somewhere in there we ended up getting onto the subject of sports.

Me - We could play Quidditch together!
C - Erm...
Me - No seriously, they have a Quidditch league here in Perth now and you run around on a field with a broomstick between your legs.
C - Pisses himself laughing It's retarded enough as it is in the books and movies, why would they make it even more retarded by running about with a stick between your legs.
Me - Quidditch in the books isn't retarded! It's a highly skilled game!
C - No it's not! They just all fly around trying to get that one stupid ball that wins the game.
I try and explain the rules of Quidditch to Christian as he has no idea.
C - ??? What the fuck? Why are there other balls involved? If getting the snitch wins the game, why don't they all go for it?
Me - Because catching the snitch doesn't necessarily win the game. If you've scored enough points to begin with, you can still win even if your seeker doesn't catch it. Besides, only the seeker can go for the snitch.
C - Why?
Me - Because they're the rules!
C - Where does it say that?
Me - In the books!
C - It specifically says that's the rule?
Me - Yes! It's the seeker's job to catch the snitch.
C - That's just his role, that's not a rule. Why can't they all look for it and whoever catches it just hands it to him?
Me - Because that's not how it works Christian!
C - Who says?
Me - Quittitch Through The Ages , that's who!
I go and find the book and throw it at him. Christian reads the book from start to end (it's not a long book).
C - There's no actual rules in here! Anyone could catch it.
Me - Gah! I give up! Flails arms around in the air.

Despite my exasperation with my husband, on Friday we actually got to spend some time together. I had arranged to have the day off so my car could get serviced and Christian came and picked me up and we headed down to Hillaries Boat Harbour to have some breakfast.
We went to Dome and they have these new fandangled electronic table trackers instead of the ye olde number on a stick. I was playing around with it and was musing out loud how it would work.
Me - So I assume they have like a map of the tables on their computer and a mini GPS thingy would mark the table that this is sitting on so they know where we are hey?
C - I doubt it.
Me - So how do you think it works then Mr Smarty Pants?
C - Not like that.
Me - So what, they just walk around and a little voice in their ear says 'Getting warmer, warmer, hotter, NO COLDER! COLDER! Warmer, warmer, hotter, hotter, BAM there they are!'
C - Neyh.
To take out my frustrations I pull faces at him all through breakfast, much to the amusement of other patrons.

After breakfast we headed out to the shops at Whitfords to kill some time before my car was ready. I bought a very cute 1920's (?) style hat (I'm not good with hat history, it may be a 1940's style hat) and we also picked up an awesome umbrella that has the handle of a samurai sword.
While we were browsing through a book exchange, my phone rang.
Me - Hello.
Voice - Hello, this is Louise from Big Rock Toyota. I've gotten the report back on your car and they suggest at 30,000kms that you have your Throttle Body Housing cleaned.
Me - I'm going to put you onto my husband because last time I got something like that done without checking with him, I got yelled at.
Pass the phone to Christian.
Me - Speak to this lady, she wants me to have the throttle housing thingy cleaned.
C - Why do you want me to speak to her?
Me - Because you know stuff.
C - How much do they want to charge?
Me - Just talk to the damn lady Christian!
C - Hi, so how much do you charge for that?
Christian's mouth literally drops open, then he starts laughing.
C - Ah no, I think we can give that a miss. Thanks.
After hanging up, I ask what she said.
C - Oh, it's normally $180 but she could drop it down to $110 for us.
Me - And that's...crazy?
C - They spray a can of stuff and run the motor for two minutes*. That's it.
Me - And this is why I give you the phone.

* This may or may not be how it actually works but this is how I remember him saying it. If it's wrong, blame me and my memory cos I'm 100% sure Christian knows what he's talking about.

Just on a final note, here are some photos of Molly. Just so you can all go 'Awwwww'.












Sunday, March 18, 2012

Time travel

The problem with always having been the 'good' kid growing up is that I'm finding that every now and then I revert back to my teen years and act like everyone else was doing back then while I was busy being responsible.

And so for the past TWO weekends (yep, count em) I've found myself getting rather pissed. The first weekend Christian had some people round to celebrate his last day at his job. I hadn't planned on drinking much because I had to have an early night for my market but I didn't quite pull off that plan. It made for a rather uncomfortable day in 40C heat at the markets.
Then last night one of Christian's mates came round to watch the footy and somehow we got to talking about which pubs and clubs we've been to in town and we decided to go out. Tash had had a bit of a rough weekend and so I called her and told her to come out with us. We had pre-going-out drinkies here and then headed out to The Court for several more.

Which leaves me at lunchtime on a Sunday feeling rather seedy and looking through the few random photo albums I have on the HTPC. I came across some pics I took last winter up at my mother's place and although I'm pretty sure I have them in an album on FB I figured I'd share them on here since it's my blog and I'll do whatever the heck I want lol.

Most of them are of old figurines and things from Mum's garden.

Owl!


Purdy flowers.


I just love the fact that I found a rubber duckie in the yard. Nestled against the decaying leaves it gave me a bit of a Chernobyl feel for some reason.

I'd love to say time and spiders wait for no man but considering this is a thermometer it's a bit pointless...


My fave photo.

There's a bear in there...

My mother's freaky ashtray.

This 28 wanted...

...this chicken. Nom nom nom cheeeeeeekan!


Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the blast from Nettie's past for today. Please remain seated until the internet comes to a complete stop and then make your way in a orderly fashion to the door. Thank you for frequenting The Natterings of Nettie and have a pleasant day.

Monday, March 12, 2012

A day at the markets

My cousin Sarah is one of these annoying crafty people who have awesome ideas and the actual talent to execute them. A while back she started making jewellery and accessories and started an online business called Bits and Bobs. As well as making items, she also started sourcing jewellery online to supplement the handmade items. I think it started by her sending me links to items she was thinking of buying and then me searching for other cool things but before we both knew it, I was also buying things to sell.

And so it eventually evolved into us getting a market stall up in Mundaring on the second Sunday of the month. We’ve just had our second one and it definitely seems worth the effort. The market is open for six hours and of course there are quiet times and so there’s lots of time for people watching. People and things we’ve seen include :

*A mullet on every second person.

*The mulleted women opposite us deciding that bras are so yesterday.

*The local church have a tent and they just love venturing out to hand out pamphlets and scare away customers.

*A lovely lady called Judy who is a newbie too and has been next to us both times.

*Irresponsible pet owners walking their dogs on hot bitumen on a 40C day.

*Two girls dressed in head to toe vinyl devil outfits, handing out pamphlets to a car show. I dared them to hand the church tent some brochures and they totally did! Best expressions ever on Churchlady’s face! I swear her mouth drew into such a thin line she almost sucked her nose off her face!

*A man with his beard dyed purple.

*A chain smoking grump who sells wrought iron candlesticks and snaps at you if you accidentally lean a table against his curbing whilst setting up.

*Gaggles and gaggles of teenage girls there for their cheerleading stand.

Things we didn’t see

*The git who nicked one of our rings.

All in all it’s a great day out and making a bit of cash on the side is always handy. I’m putting it aside for November because FLORA IS COMING!

NB - I have photos of the items I have gotten to sell (or some of them anyway) but my puter has been having some reconstructive surgery and is out of action at the moment and I can't be arsed uploading them to the HTPC.