About Snoskred

Shoe Sunday – Pearl Harbor

2 Comments Posted on December 7, 2014June 1, 2015 by Snoskred

Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It is not my intention to tell the story of the attack, or the leadup to it, or the aftermath. If you don’t already know the story there are loads of places you can find out – starting here with Wikipedia – and more than likely your local history channel will air a documentary about the attack at some point today..

I could not do justice to the story of what happened, nor could I do justice to my own personal feelings about Pearl Harbor. I cannot tell you the story of my meeting survivors of the attack during our visit to Oahu in 2011. I will simply state that Pearl Harbor is an incredibly special place for so many reasons – and so is Hawaii overall.

What I *will* talk about today is the shoes I wore to visit Pearl Harbor, and a special map moment that happened while Sephyroth, The Other Half, and I were at Pearl Harbor in November 2013.

These Adidas Climacool shoes were the first pair I bought last trip and the photo above is me trying them on in the store. I got them at Ala Moana on Friday the 1st of November. You may recall, I also own Adidas Climacool in green.

The green and pink Climacool shoes saw a lot of wear while on Oahu because they are super perfect for a hot environment – most of the other shoes remained unworn until they arrived back home.

At Pearl Harbor there is a large map drawn on the ground near the entrance. You can see in the image above my feet standing near Sydney.

At the same time, the feet of Sephyroth were standing around abouts where he hails from in North America.

And there you see our feet together near the map in Hawaii. Oahu is around 10 hours flying time from home for both of us, so it is a perfect meet in he middle location. This is the second time our feet have been together in one place – first was when Sephyroth travelled to Australia in 2011, second together in Hawaii in 2013, where will the third time be? :)

Please to note –

this will be the last Shoe Sunday for 2014 – we will be taking a break over Christmas and the New Year. Shoe Sunday will be back mid to late January 2015. :)

get the InLinkz code

About Snoskred, Sephyroth, Shoe Linkup, travel

Quirky Snoskred

7 Comments Posted on November 22, 2014August 24, 2015 by Snoskred

Tell us about a quirk or odd habit that you have.

Many of my best one liners are courtesy of NYPD Blue. The one I use the most was from the first season with Jimmy Smits, where they had a “skell” in the room and they said something to him, and he yells “I decline that”.

I took this to work by simply adding the word “respectfully” in there. I was respectfully declining all kinds of shiznit. Nobody minded, because of the respectful aspect. I even used it on the phones with callers, on one occasion with great success to a prank caller who wanted me to.. well, things I wanted to decline with great prejudice, and possibly to decline with my fists, if such wants had been requested to my face.

No became a word rarely used. And to be honest, I liked declining a lot more than just no. Why use one word when you can use three or four? It fit in with my quirky, Aspergers nature. And with my friends, it was an in joke, as well. :)

I’m like a virus, my words are contagious, they don’t just stay with me, they go places with people. I heard someone respectfully decline that at the supermarket – someone I never met myself, but someone I know is a friend of a friend. And that was kinda cool.. :)

About Snoskred, Asperger Syndrome, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2014

One Year Later

10 Comments Posted on November 21, 2014May 31, 2015 by Snoskred

I have not mentioned it here before, but last November after we got home from our amazing and wonderful Hawaii trip, I had a very large Pulmonary Embolism which could easily have killed me.

After we got home I felt like I had a flu, I couldn’t catch my breath. But I didn’t have any of the other symptoms you get with flu. My doctor suspected PE and sent me for a V/Q lung scan and in doing so he saved my life..

They put me in hospital for 24 hours – they wanted to keep me for many days to monitor me but I refused because the other half can nurse me better than anyone else can, we have an oxygen monitor right here at home, they needed the bed for much sicker people than me, and I wanted to be with my cats because a cat purring on you is the best medicine anyone can have.

So, they sent me home with some hospital charts that the other half could keep all his observations of me on, and I had the longest shower ever. Ick. I am a germophobe, so not a big fan of hospitals at all. I was back at work the next day, o2 monitor attached set to alarm if my blood oxygen went below 90.

In speaking with the doctors I know exactly when the clot formed – probably 3-4 hours into the flight home, one of my legs went to sleep and when I got up to try and wake it up, there was this pain in the back of my thigh. It felt like a muscle cramp, so I asked the other half to pummel and massage that spot a little – and he did. This may have been an excellent thing breaking up the clot into smaller pieces. It might have actually saved my life.

The doctors put me on a wonderful new-ish medication called Rivaroxaban which is the alternative to Wharfarin and does not require constant blood tests and monitoring. Anyway, enough about that – all this just to say I have been getting some tests done to try and determine why this happened, and if it is likely to happen again, and so I can get off the medication and be cleared to snorkel this summer. ;)

About Snoskred, health, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2014

Calibre Book Sorting

14 Comments Posted on November 18, 2014May 31, 2015 by Snoskred

The Other Half and I have a huge collection of E-books now.

Over 14 thousand books at last count, many of which I (or we) have never yet read.

November was already crazy busy, what with

– trying to leave comments on 1,427 blogs – which is 47.5 comments each day if I want to finish this commenting challenge

– walking 5km every day on my borrowed treadmill

– chicken chores, house chores, cooking, general life duties

Somehow we have decided that now would be a good time to sort through these books! We’re using a free program called Calibre which allows us to grab metadata from the web for each book to make sure the info is correct, plus you can choose from different covers if the book had several different covers over the years.

Deleting A Book.

How do I make a decision to delete a book I have never once read? This is a tricky one, but the answer is actually quite simple on some occasions and within 5 seconds of loading the book, I say delete – if the other half has not already hit the key. Here are my rules for deleting a book.

– If the cover involves a bare male chest, delete.

– If the cover has a half naked lady, delete.

– If the cover has both a bare male chest and a half naked lady, delete.

My sister reads a lot of erotic fiction and somehow we’ve ended up with all of it in our collection.

So if a book survives the cover inspection?

Is it a book I have heard of? If no, then –

Is it an author I have heard of? If no, then –

A quick read of the book summary can usually tell me everything I need to know if I will like this book. Hey, I’ve known me for 39 years now, so I know what I like.

I like mysteries. I like books with medical examiners, detectives, police officers, investigators of some kind as the central character. I like airplane stories, zombie stories, stories of surviving an apocalypse of some kind, I love everything from Jane Austen to Stephen King via Jodi Picoult plus Tom Clancy. I *love* an autobiography. Overall my tastes are wide and varied and I’ll give most things a try.

Right now I am reading The Skin Collector by Jeffrey Deaver which is another Lincoln Rhyme book – you may remember The Bone Collector which was a movie with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie – there is a series of 12 books with those characters.

Yesterday, I was reading Hard Choices by Hilary Clinton. Last week I revisited Lizzy and co in Pride and Prejudice. Before that I checked in on Tom Ripley. Did you know there were 4 more Ripley books after The Talented Mr Ripley?

Physical Books

A few years ago I did go through and put in all my actual books into Library Thing. You can see them here. However I have probably added 50 or more new physical books, plus some books that I got in e-book version I took to the second hand bookstore and traded for new books.

Over To You –

How many e-books do you have?
How many real books?
Have you switched to an e-book reader and if yes, do you prefer it?

About Snoskred, books, e-reader, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2014

Blingtastic Bling!

3 Comments Posted on November 7, 2014May 31, 2015 by Snoskred

So yesterday we were talking about one of my favourite things – Bling. Let us take a closer look..

Watches, brooches, bracelets, oh my!

It occurs to me I have quite a few reptile brooches – here you see one lizard, and two turtles. Obviously the turtles originated in Hawaii, turtles are a bit of a Thing over there.

You also see my favourite Peacock Crystal Flower Pin which you can read more about on my Headless Fashion post, and there is a dragonfly brooch, and the Heaviest Brooch Of All Time. I never met a brooch I did not love, they are my kryptonite.

My ring collection.

My blingy watches.

Do you wear any jewellery?

If yes, what kind?

About Snoskred, brooches, jewellery, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2014, shopping

Favourite Things – Bling!

3 Comments Posted on November 6, 2014May 31, 2015 by Snoskred

Over the past few months, we have been working on de-cluttering, tidying, and making our house more of a home.

When I was working, I created this blinged up box – which I would use to take all my “stuff” to and from work. I am a high maintenance girl. I need stuff, during the day. So the box is pretty large – it is 15 litres and measures 40cm x 28cm x 19cm.

What kind of stuff do I need when I work? This box – without the lid – used to carry the following to and from work –

– A box of tissues
– A roll of paper towel.
– A bottle of Soda Water.
– My plastic cup for the day.
– An apple, a plastic Ikea plate to cut it up on, and a decent knife.
– A 2 minute noodle snack with a container to “cook” it in, and a fork.
– Hand sanitiser
– Lip balm
– Hand cream
– My handbag would sit on top of the “stuff”.

Now, it has become a home to my bling. The lid keeps the dust off and the bling shiny!

Please to note, none of my Bling is expensive – the most costly item here is likely my Michael Kors watch at just under $200. The other two watches were less than $100. Everything else is below $30. They are doing some amazing things with crystals these days.

Do you have bling?

If yes, where does it live?

About Snoskred, jewellery, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2014, work

Secret Snoskred

12 Comments Posted on November 4, 2014May 31, 2015 by Snoskred

Share a secret not shared on your blog before

I am a huge Sons of Anarchy fan.

I found the series late – only last year – but I devoured the 6 seasons that existed in a very short space of time, and have been eagerly awaiting season seven which started in September.

The show is dark, which you would probably expect, being about a motorcycle club.

But it is also, in its purest form, a soap opera about a motorcycle club.

Some of the storylines are so soapy, they would not look out of place on The Bold and The Beautiful. But that is part of what makes the show so brilliant.

My favourite character is Tig, played by Kim Coates.

Though of course Jax, played by Charlie Hunnam, is fascinating eye candy to watch.

Do you have a secret to share?

Do you love a TV show that I should add to my must watch list, or do you have a secret to share? Let me know in the comments!

About Snoskred, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2014, television shows

A Cup Of Tea

12 Comments Posted on November 3, 2014May 31, 2015 by Snoskred

Do you like a cup of tea?

Snoskred loves a cup of tea. Bizarrely, her favourite brew was invented by Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister and foreign minister of Australia. Dude can’t delegate work to others or run a country without getting backstabbed by his own political party, but boy can KRudd blend a tea. He won a competition back in 2011 for his tea blend..

Originally meant to be a limited edition for just 12 months, the Australian Afternoon Tea proved so popular that it is now a permanent member of the Twinings range.

I am not a fan of KRudd at all, but I love this tea blend, and I recently picked up 100 bags for an insanely low price which will last me quite some time.

When and why?

I do not drink tea daily. On a day that I drink it, I will usually brew a cup mid to late afternoon. Rainy or cold days are more likely to result in a cup of tea.

What else do you put in it?

I like honey in my tea as the sweetener. Something magical happens when you combine honey and tea.

For some teas like the Australian Afternoon Tea and various forms of black tea I will use a dash of cream if I have some, milk if not.

For teas that are more herbal in nature like the Madame Flavour range, Cinnamon and Orange, Lemon Ginger, green tea or fruit flavoured teas I will only add a touch of honey and no form of milk or cream.

Here are some of the teas in my tea cupboard –

Overseas readers – want to try the Australian Afternoon Tea?

Shoot me an email to snoskred {at} gmail {dot} com or contact me via the Contact Form with a postal address – don’t leave it in the comments for safety reasons – and I will send you a sealed Australian Afternoon Tea Twinings tea packet, from their range where you buy 10 foil sealed teabags in a box! Make sure to include your blog address if I don’t already read your blog, so I can add you to my feedreader.

Do you like a cup of tea?

Leave a comment to let me know -or write a post on your blog and link to this post. :)

About Snoskred, Aussie Culture, food, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo 2014

My Living Space

6 Comments Posted on October 10, 2014May 31, 2015 by Snoskred

I suppose I am a little odd. Not everyone has a full size plastic skeleton hanging out in their lounge room. I know, that is totally unbelievable, right? Why doesn’t everyone have a Carter? :) But, we had some people drop by the other day and we are so used to Carter neither of us thought to warn our visitors they were about to encounter him. They were a little freaked out when they spotted him.

My recliner is the chair with the blue rug. Let us take a closer look.

Tissues, laptop, tv remotes, water glass, all within reach.

This space used to be cluttered, but I have streamlined, and also did a little re-organising, so all the things that would clutter up this space are now re-organised.

Hand cream, nail clippers and Sally Hansen Hard As Nails which I swear by, nail polish remover, cuticle tools, dental floss, general body care items that you might need in the course of a day are now living together in this cute basket I got from Hot Dollar.

This is what I see from my recliner. There are my trusty cordless headphones. There are my cotton buds. There on the floor is the pair of socks the little kitty picks up with her mouth and runs around with, then throws them on the floor and attacks them. They must have done something really bad to deserve this treatment! ;)

Here’s a look at my remotes, and my clipboard. That might contain a project I am working on – at the moment I have printouts of my blogroll, because I am trying to drop by and say hi to everyone on it. Other times, it might have todays To Do list on there.

It is blank right now, because I Got All My Shiznit Done! YAY!

Oh, why do I have a copy of the alphabet printed out there? I seriously am terrible at alphabetizing things. If I do not have that piece of paper, I do the mental abcdefg thing in my head, and that takes up more time than I would like, so I just printed it out and I keep it there, it works for me.

Next week on Friday I will be sharing my daily routine with you. I am really Getting Shiznit Done here, people, and it is all thanks to my set routine on weekdays. 4 hours each day of solid writing or chore time.

The post you are reading today, I wrote this on the 16th of September. On this blog I already have some blog posts – like the Wordless Wednesdays – scheduled out to December already. No kidding.

On the Rewatch Breaking Bad blog, I am writing the post for Season 2 episode 2 today. I’ve upped the posting schedule to twice a week and even so, that blog is already scheduled out to the end of September and this week, I am planning to write one post a day over there. If I can do that for 2 weeks, I’ll be scheduled out to the end of October very quickly.

Happy moments all around!

About Snoskred, Carter

Life Rules

2 Comments Posted on October 9, 2014August 24, 2015 by Snoskred

Sometimes, as a person with Aspergers, I make mistakes.

It would be so much easier for me if I would allow myself to delete them and pretend like they never happened. Wouldn’t life be so much easier if we could all do that, when we screw up?

But if I did that, I would learn nothing from those mistakes. These mistakes must remain in existence for a reason. I made myself a life rule some years ago – I must never delete something I type. Even when it would be so much easier.

These mistakes come along when I am feeling comfortable enough with people to type things I should not type, the things I should only think and never allow to be typed out loud.

And isn’t that an awful thing – to know that every time you begin to get comfortable with people, to settle in, to be accepted, to feel like a part of a community, that you are going to screw that up, possibly in un-fixable ways.

It makes me want to retreat, to hide, to disappear. And that is dangerous in itself.

I know I’m a good person. I’m generous, with my time, with my money, with others. But like everyone, I am not perfect.

Believe me, that thing I said wrong, I’ll still be kicking my own butt over it months, maybe even years later, long after you have forgotten it. That is the only way I can learn and make progress and not make that mistake the next time..

About Snoskred, Asperger Syndrome, life lessons