We are special

Mr Pickle's classic quote of the day:

"I am very special mummy and so are you." I asked, "what about Daddy?" Mr Pickle's reply, "Daddy isn't special, he is all funny and silly with big eyes."

Ha ha.

We are off to the park again this afternoon. There will be scooting and pictures to follow.

That cannot be very comfortable!

Now that I know the shipment is imminent, I have been surfing the Internet for new and interesting felt creations. I found a great website:

www.cutoutandkeep.net

There are some very funny things on there with instructions on how to make them.

As with many websites, this one is supported by advertising and sponsorship. This particular website is sponsored by American Apparel and has the most uncomfortable looking banner that I have ever seen. Just two words - Tank Thong! All the girl needs is the leggings and she could be living in the 80s.

Hurry up felt stash.

We love you Bris-Vegas

So, having taken a hop over to the UK where I spent most of my time surrounded by cardboard tea chests, we are now in Australia!

Mr Pickle and I did manage to spend some quality time with family and friends in between moving boxes between storage units and Mum and Dad's garage. We are missing everyone but our surroundings are definitely making up for the fact that we are so far away.

Mr Pickle and I have been here for two and a half weeks and we have been to the park every day, because we can. We miss the friends we made in Balikpapan but we don't miss the fact that we couldn't take a stroll outside without being eaten alive by mozzies or nearly being knocked over by ankots and motorbikes.

So far we have taken the river cat across to Bulimba to make use of the fabulous playground there, we have been on the Brisbane wheel (a bit like the London Eye but smaller), splashed about in the water features on the South Bank, joined the library, put Mr Pickle's name on a waiting list for a pre prep school and found a Thursday morning playgroup and done some shopping, some more shopping and then a bit more shopping. We have even been to Ikea.

Jeremy found us a fab house and we signed the tenancy agreement while I was still deranged with jet lag. We take over the place on the 19 July but it looks like we won't have any beds on the day. All we need now is our stuff! Hurry up shipments.

Celebrations

So it has been decided that having waited this long to organise a Birthday party for Mr Pickle, we will be having an impromptu pool party on Thursday (Chinese New Year and a Public Holiday).

I am planning the cake. It is going to be a Very Hungry Caterpillar cake, as seen on Facebook when Rachel asked Rudy if she could make her one.

I bought the small round cake tin today and Yuni and I will begin the grand bake off tomorrow afternoon. I am going to be making red fondant icing and two tone green swiss meringe buttercream icing for the cupcakes that will make up the body. It is a great cake for a party as the body is made up of two dozen cupcakes and we won't have to cut the face cake up. The cakes are going to be chocolate cakes, as requested by the birthday boy. Daddy will also be pleased.

Watch this space for pics.

What's black and blue but thankfully not red all over?

The answer is.........me! Bruises but no sunburn.

I joined the cycle group on Thursday up at the Chevron site, located at the top of Balikpapan. As Angela's car climbed up the steep hill with our bikes on the back I was thinking a) we've got to come back down this and I don't know if the breaks work that well and b) OMG - I've got to cycle back up this!

Five new people joined the group (including me) so I was hoping that the ride wouldn't be quite as crazy as advertised. We cycled around the kampungs and trough the city, up and down pretty steep hills and I only had to get off and push near the top of one of the hills where I ran out of momentum. It was perfect cycling weather, overcast and not too hot.

We were on the home stretch, which happened to be quite flat, when my front wheel went down a hidden deep hole. In the seconds before I completely wiped out lots of thoughts went through my head, including:
1) here we go again (this is not the first flight over the handlebars I have made)
2) this is going to hurt, alot
3) try and do a break roll, try and do a break roll, which I tried.

So, I let go of the handlebars and as the ground came up to meet me I put my hands on the floor, brought my shoulder round, tucked my head in and.........stopped, suddenly. What a shame the hole was so deep that my bike was embedded in the road and my right foot was trapped underneath. I was also wearing Angela's long sleeved cycling shirt.

So the upshot of the accident is that I have a skinned elbow from trying to push myself round, and a bruised leg from the crossbar. Not a mark on my face and I have all of my teeth still in my mouth, not in a jar for the tooth fairy. By all accounts, the fall looked quite spectacular from behind.

Apart from the slight mishap, I enjoyed the ride around the parts of Balikpapan that most ex-pats never see and I will be donning the bright pink shirt again next week and hopefully I won't be told off for pedalling to slowly because I don't think we will be going as easy as we did this week. I will also have to take more water as I drank the whole two litres in my camelbak plus my emergency bottle of water before we reached the finish post.

Thank goodness for friends

For reasons that I don't want to dwell on, I have lost my laptop. If you would like to read why I have lost my laptop you can read Jeremy's blog. I would like to put an R rated warning here because Jeremy's language is a bit naughty.

http://northseaadventures.blogspot.com/2011/01/thieving-indo-bastards.html

Thankfully, a friend here in Balikpapan has lent me her spare laptop so that I don't feel completely cut off from the modern world. All I need to do now is work out how to get Skype working so that I can see eveyone across the miles. Thank you very much Fiona!

Also, thank you to the expat community here for all the goodwill and support over the last few days.

On saturday Mr Pickle and I went to the cinema for the first time here, to see Yogi Bear. It was a 3D showing and Mr Pickle wore his glasses for the whole time and only tried to escape once.

We were having a great day on Sunday, we went over to Liesbeth and Jos' house where Liesbeth and I made 6 curries with basmati rice while Jeremy and Jos entertained Mr Pickle with a trip to see helicopters,a walk around the BHC compound and a freindly game of football with some other expats. 

Anyway, I am going on a crazy bike ride tomorrow. There are quite a few new cyclists joining the ride with me tomorrow so I am not so worried about being the only one puffing away at the back of the pack!

In between looking after Mr Pickle and the daddy, cycling and cooking Indian banquets with Liesbeth, I have crocheted a chibi totoro and am in the process of making some play food for Mr Pickle out of felt.

I have also started crocheting a blue Totoro and found a pattern for a very cute cat called Amineko.

So, for now I am making do with 20th century technology to keep in touch with Nana Mac.

Crazy cyclists

Balikpapan has a group of ex-pats who enjoy punishing themselves at least once a week by heading out on their bicycles and propelling themselves up hills on two wheels for about 40 kilometres. I have also found out that most of them pedal going downhill too. Completely nuts.

I will be putting down my crochet hook and sewing needles and will join them on Thursday. I am sure I won't be able to walk for days afterwards.