The Meaning of Life

And as of yesterday, that's me.

I don't feel 42.

And I'm sure when many sci fi geeks like me turn 42, they often ponder whether they should know the answer by now. Or even just think they should wear some kind of Douglas Adams badge to be clever. If anyone is vaguely impolite enough to ask my age, I think I'll let Sonofagun No.2 answer for me.  He thinks I'm 14.

Apparently that's REALLY OLD when you're 6!

I feel like I'm still in my early 30s. With the mind of a 26 year old. And the habits of a 50 something year old.

But it's all good. I had a lovely extended weekend of birthdayness with the family and close friends as well as some time off during the Spring school holidays.

It was my Dads birthday last Friday and my Super Bro in laws (the Bro with the Mo) birthday this Friday so we kind of roped them all into one.

I received some gorgeous gifts and cards. I won't share all of them with you. Just one or two!

The Blonde Bombshell delivered my Laugh Out Loud card of the weekend:

To begin a brief recap, last week during school holidays, Sonofagun NO.2 and I visited Werribee Open Plains Zoo.  If you recall several weeks ago we visited another of the Zoo Victoria zoos at Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary which was very Australian Animal-y.

Werribee is very Africa-y with African Native dogs, lions, rhinos, giraffe and deers and oryxes and all of those animals with crazy horns and crazy names. 



There's a lion in there somewhere...

This is the super cool Jeep thingo kids can stand on/ sit in to see the lions.

The walkway up to the viewing platform to the African Wild dog enclosure.

Sonofagun No. 2 thought it would be funny to take a picture of me sunbathing. 



The Super Extended Magic Bus



In the Open Range section, this photo was taken from one of the Super extended Magic Bus



View from the carriage. Look Ma! No windows!



The view from the Café. A large MeerKat enclosure where you can sip your cappuccino and watching all the furry shenanigans!

I must say, the Zoo staff at all the Zoos in Victoria are so super friendly and helpful.  The enclosures are large and spacious and there are many 'Meet the animals' opportunities and Keeper shows you can attend. And best of all admission is free for Kids on weekends and school holidays. All the time!

The Mothership, my sister the Blonde Amazona and I paid a brief 3 1/2 hour visit to Ikea on Saturday.

Now normally this would be a shit idea.  Ikea. Saturday.  Worst combination ever.

BUT this Saturday was no ordinary Saturday!

It was the day of the AFL Grand Final!

The streets and freeways were nearly deserted!

Being a non- footy watching Amazona in Victoria on Grand Final day is heaven because I can peacefully shop ANYWHERE in Melbourne.

Almost every man, woman and child are either at the MCG, at a BBQ for the GF or hosting one.
I bought stuff.  Ikea type stuff. Like, oh crap, I can't even remember most of it now. You know, Ikea-ish stuff.

What I did set out to buy was a cabinet to store my yarn and supplies.  I chose the Hindo Outdoor Greenhouse Cabinet.  I sort of liked its industrial look.

I apologise for the dodgy photo. I couldn't get a good one without the sun streaming in...

Hindo Yarn Cabinet.

 I know it doesn't look like a lot of normal sized yarn (the DKs and merinos down on the bottom shelf).  But I have finished not 1 but 2 afghans in the past 4 months and haven't replenished my stocks since then!  The rest is all different plys of cottons.

On B Day, I received some lovely pressies.  I was super spoilt.  See that book in the middle?

That was one of my pressies from the Mothership. A colouring in book! 

I had recently decided I had to buy myself a good quality 'definitely not suitable for children' pencils as I often colour in little hummingbird drafts in my crochet ideas books to help me decide on colourways.  Now I have a really good excuse!

I then dropped the kids off at school (their 2nd day back after the holidays), and my Bear, parental units and I trotted off to Yarraville for breakfast, shopping and a movie. We saw the Martian. It was mind blowing.

Yarraville Shopping Joy

 One last thing, and you're probably sick of photos and rambling by now but I had to show you this beautiful teacup which was a gift from the Blonde Bombshell.  A Hummingbird Teacup. Isn't it exquisite?
Remind you of anything?

In other interesting news, I have been invited to participate in the Reso Box Amigurumi Exhibition in New York in December.  Have any of you guys participated in anything like this before? Or even this exhibition last year?  It looks interesting. I'm just not sure at this stage whether I'll have the time to produce the required minimum of 10 pieces to arrive in NY by the required 30 November deadline.
I'd love to hear what you think! Or did!

So back to the original meaning of life. Have I found it at age 42?

xox

Louise

The Red Haired Amazona