Chubby Hubby.

Yes, the inevitable has finally happened.
Chubby Hubby's chin has met with where his waistline once was !
Unfortunately I cant blame it entirely on gravity nor overindulgence. He has this weekend, had a near death experience with a tooth abscess which has caused one side of his face to swell up to the size of a Rock Melon.

Of course he has now become the Funk and Wagnells of pain. Apparently childbirth does not compare to the pain of a tooth abscess !! The swelling has also required continual observation, so much so that he has spent most of the weekend in front of any available mirror measuring it's progress.
I've also had to put my eyeballs down his neck at hourly intervals to give feedback and a prognosis, and make the required ooh's and ahh's.
Thank God for modern medicine because I couldn't press hard enough on the pillow over his head.

He's been to the doctor, the dentist, is on antibiotics and analgesics and has been reassured that it is not going to be a life threatening problem.

But ladies: He is going free to a good home, remote included but strictly a NO RETURN policy !

During my Blog Hopping this week I have noticed that many with running blogs post their weekly mileage. What a great idea. So here's mine, but I must point out that in OZ we work in kilometers and not miles.

Monday: Anstey's Hill Trail 7km.
Thursday: Anstey's Hill Trail 7km.
Saturday:Kersbrook Horse Trail 23km.
Sunday: Norton Summit Trail 13km.

Total: 47km.

This is not as much as I would have liked but some weeks life gets in the way.

Our main practice trail for the week was the Kersbrook Horse Trail, 23 km through the Kersbrook Pine Forest and surrounding bush and farm land.

A very pretty trail, mostly undulating with some steep inclines.

Only a few areas of the tracks were rocky so it was fairly easy on the feet and my new Brookes Cascadia Trail Running shoes were fabulous. Super grip on the trail and no slipping or sliding.

On Sunday we tackled the steep climb from Morialta Falls to Norton Summit, never nice but the hamburgers at Norton Summit Pub made it worth while.

Tracey stealing all the green lollies.

Two of the Twisted Sisters and two Chubby Hubbies.

I just had to stop and talk to the cows.

Happy Running,
Cheers Karen.

Posh Pups.

This morning three very dirty looking dogs went to the hairdressers.
Tonight three very polished looking senior citizens arrived home.

Lachlan.

Myfanwy.

Miss Casey who refused to pose!

Thanks for dropping by,
Cheers Karen.

New Stash.

Stash Enhancement is a must when one visits Victoria.
We are very lucky here in Adelaide to have a truly beautiful Quilt Shop called Hettie's Patch and I'm quite sure I must have paid for at least a shelf there. But a girl can never have too much quilting and stitching stuff.So my fave Victorian quilt shop is an absolute must; Fragrant Cottage at Warrnambool. Absolutely divine! At the risk of inviting comments from DF Leann and Amanda I must confess to buying one or two, or maybe three or four new bag patterns! My fetish for bags is well known. I'm not fussed about shoes but OMG bags is another story.

Bags and more Bags.


And some divine polka dot bag handles.



Fabric, linen and cushion patterns.

I also managed to finish my third block of SOHRH and I'm quite pleased with it.

Progress at last.

And one more small confession; I just had to order the set of Blackbird Designs Stockings.





Happy Stitching,
Cheers Karen.

Back from vacation.

Nope I haven't dropped off from the face of the earth, been kidnapped by George Clooney, succumbed to the Ebola Virus or accidentally crossed the equator in a marathon. Rather DH and I flew the coop for 2 weeks for a winter holiday at the coast.



DH and I are not summer lovers and we both prefer winter, so the idea of two weeks away in winter by the sea is pure bliss. DS went off to his supported accommodation house and our 3, four legged, slobbering, sausage stealing poltergeists were puppy sat by their Nanna, and we ran away to Pt. Fairy on the Great Ocean Road. I love the wildness and emptiness of the beach in Winter with the rough seas and howling wind and rain. I also love to feed the seagulls.



In Winter you get to have the coffee shops all to yourself. It's so peaceful,quietly sipping your coffee, eating a calorie free cream cake and all minus the usual Yummy Mummy Brigade with their babycino slurping noisy offspring who always haunt a good coffee shop.Now I like kids, in small doses but dogs are better. When babycinos first came out they were free of charge. Now I notice they charge for them lol! I like to think of them as a Brat Tax.





We didn't get as much trail running in as I would have liked, as some days the weather conditions were too extreme. So with the Sydney 100 km. event only 8 weeks away, some serious salvage work has to be done. Unfortunately when on vacation I get a bad case of PMS; PERPETUAL MUNCHING SYNDROME. I have come back with a six pack, but they are cream cakes and not abs.

250 km of pure trail running bliss.

So I have 8 weeks to get from being a fat Labrador to a Whippet. I've explored a few quick fix healthy eating plans and have decided that The Masking Tape diet will be best for me. Tape over fridge door and Tape over mouth.

Trail Running heaven. Bridgewater Bay, Portland. Victoria.

Now for my stitching bloggy friends, a trip interstate is never without visits to the Quilt shops. I'm happy to report that some serious Stash Enhancement was achieved.
DH sheepishly inquired if he needed to put a trailer on the back of the car?
DH is a patient man and he's happy to wait for me in the car outside the Quilt shops. There have been one or two times however, when I finally returned to the car, buried under my new treasures and only his skeletal remains were left!

Please do not pity him. We have a fair exchange system in place. As a wannabe, frustrated fisherman he is totally obsessed with boat ramps and wharfs. So here's the deal; 3 wharfs for one quilt shop! And my God I have seen thousands of bloody boat ramps. Happiness is looking at another BORING slab of cement sliding into the sea.
DH has only ventured into a Quilt Shop on very rare occasions. He takes exception to being locked in the Husband cage away from the cash register.

I will post on my new stash and stitching progress tomorrow.

The beaches are lined with these colourful beach huts along the Mornington Peninsula.

Thanks for dropping by
Cheers Karen.

Border Patrol for Chooks.

Now here's the thing; over the last few years our government has been banging on about buying Australian made. Now I'm happy to support this, keeping jobs in Australia and such, BUT our labeling laws are CRAP.
Case in point: On Wednesday I bought a carton of eggs, checked the label out of interest and guess what? EGGS made in Australia from local and imported products. Now I don't consider myself an idiot but really how can you have an egg with dual nationality?? The bloody egg is either an Aussie or it isn't, but it can't be both.

So as my mind wandered as is it's wont I began to ponder this highly intellectual dilema. Could the chook be an illegal immigrant? Perhaps it boarded a boat in Indonesia and then laid the egg on Ashmore Reef? Or did the chook go on vacation to Indonesia, have a liason with an Indonesian turkey and then come back home a bit pregnant? Do chooks need a turkey to get an egg ? I really don't know as I have never studied Poultry Obstetrics.
So whilst I ponder, here I sit eating a bag of nuts labelled: May contain traces of Nut Products. duh!!!

I have new running stash! One of the problems of being a trail runner is the difficulty in getting appropriate running shoes. Your ordinary road running shoes are not strong enough to withstand the rough terrain but your regular hiking shoes are far too heavy to run in. The main shoe companies only produce one or two trail shoes and most dont make them for girls. I've tried Asics Trabuco, but they only do a very narrow fit and when you are covering up to 100km foot swelling is a problem.
So this time I'm trying Brookes Cascadia. I did a trial run in them this week and I liked them. Very light but soles with excellent grip over rocks and through mud. My only complaint; why don't they come in pink? I also treated myself to a bottle belt as I really don't like the Camel Backs.



All is going well in the stitching department. I've finished block two in SOHRH and am pleased with the result. I've started my third block although it did nearly turn ugly last night. I was doing the black outer boarder and when I got to the top row found I was one single thread out. I counted and counted 92 x 92 until my eyeballs were almost bleeding and just couldn't find where the error was. After an hour I found that I had miscalculated over one small imperfection in the linen. And so the unpicking began. Grrrrr!!!

Thankyou for dropping by,
Cheers Karen.

A Race for Ducks.

Sunday morning saw 250 die hard maniacs line up to compete in the 26km Pioneer Women's Trail Run. You would be excused for thinking it was a race for ducks. It was absolutely bucketing down with rain. The rain had been falling for about 24 hours so the trail was exceptionally muddy!! Sunday was National Trust Day and this race was to honour the Pioneer Women who used this track several times a week carrying vegetables and dairy products on their backs or on yokes on their shoulders to Adelaide 35 km away. You can only be in awe of their toughness, doing this without all the fancy pants running gear and support that we had.

I got off to a good start with my race number upside down!!! Well I could read it.





As usual I took my place at the back of the pack. I play a vital role in SARRC because when I front up for an event the anxiety of coming last is removed from the other competitors because that is my job. And I carry this status with pride, although my friend Evi is trying to steal it from me.




Being at the back of the pack has enormous benefits. For starters I never have to worry about anyone overtaking me and more importantly girls, I get to perv at all the young bloke's bums running in front of me. You know the sort I mean; baggy little running shorts with just a hint of butt cheek showing . Does my hormones a world of good!!

There is however one chap who turns up occasionally and OMG it is tragedy in motion. Tight white shorts pulled up as high as his armpits with his " bits " almost in his ears. And it gets worse; crew socks pulled up to his knee caps.
So any blokes reading this, there is a dress code for running so please consider us fat Labradors at the back of the pack. A tight little butt in shorts is worth increasing our pace for. Tight white pull ups; NO WAY, I'm just gunna run backwards.

At the 5km checkpoint and still fairly clean!

I ran this race in my new Wizz Bang 2xu running tights. Word has it they're much better than the usual Skins and almost guaranteed to turn anyone into an Olympian! At $185 my hopes were high. I told DH they cost $300, then waited until he had recovered from the shock. Then when I told him the real price he was so relieved it wasn't the first price quoted he realised I hadn't spent all that much really.

Tight and supportive they certainly were. When I was 20 they would have fitted quite nicely over my svelte little butt, now they just held everything in and up and stopped me falling over any stray bits. I was given a free gym bag and towel when I bought them. NICE! but a bag of poly filler for the cellulite would have been more useful.

Now despite the really challenging conditions this run was an absolute blast and the running team I belong to The Twisted Sisters all finished in good times albeit in a very dirty, muddy and wet state.

Evi and DH in a heavy down pour of rain.

The Lions Club had a sausage sizzle waiting for us when we finished. Who would believe the humble snag could taste so good ?

The End, the feet tell the story.

Thanks for dropping by,
Cheers Karen..