My New Cufflinks

Just because I dress like a grownup doesn't mean that I have to be a grown up. I love weird cufflinks but they can be a bit tough to find. These are the latest additions to my small but ecclectic collection. Going clockwise from the top left, we have footballs (I'm pretending that they are rugby balls), cricket bat and ball, the TARDIS and Daleks from Dr Who.

These beatuies came from Benjamin Cufflinks and, in addition to the above, I also have their red lips cufflinks. But, just now, when I went to their site to confirm the link, I noticed that they have Budwiser can cufflinks and Cuban cigar cufflinks. Oooooooo!

My Big-O Birthday Party

I recently celebrated by 50th birthday party with a very select group of friends over lunch in the city.
Here I am demonstrating my prowess with chopsticks.

Some want to come to my party for the good company and lots of laughs. But, truth be told, it's for the desserts. You can see why.

I asked that, instead of giving me presents, my friends buy a gift from Oxfam Unwrapped, which resulted in:

• Sewing training for a group in South Africa that offers support to women affected by HIV and AIDS, providing not only an income source and skills training but hope for the future,
• Training for parents in East Timor to prepare nutritious meals for their children,
• School fees for one year, including the cost of uniforms and books, for a child in Zimbabwe who has been orphaned by AIDS and
• Support for a grandmothers' group, bringing together Indigenous female Elders to work with and support young people in the community.
  

No village goats, but, hey, there is always next year.

Others chose to give me a gift certificate from Kiva so I could make a loan to an entrepreneur in the developing world. My Kiva portfolio includes loans to Guatemala, Lebanon, Dominican Republic, Nigeria and Togo. Not exactly blue chip in the conventional sense, but much more important than that.

But the best pressie of all the Hilary Clinton nutcracker. So appropriate.

Stash Enhancement Expedition or S.E.X.

There has been some discussion on an art quilt list I belong to about your stash, why you have one and what you use it for. It got me thinking, well, remembering really.

I am a member of Southern Cross Quilters, SCQuilters, an online group for quilters in Australia and New Zealand, and going shopping for fabric to build up your stash is referred to as 'S.E.X.' or 'Stash Enhancement Expedition' in emails. Which caused interesting problems for our members who used their work emails for SCQuilters because spam filters kept picking up those emails where the '.' were left out. The term may have migrated to our list from a knitters list but we have taken it as our own.

The Queen of S.E.X.

On the SCQuilters list, someone who exhibited amazing prowess at fabric shopping, usually buying an entire bolt of that special fabric, was referred to as 'The Queen of S.E.X.' in appropriately hushed and reverent tones. Flurries of emails debating who held the crown flew around the internet regaling us with tales of almost mythical shopping feats as new contenders for the crown appeared.

Emails about when you last had S.E.X. or how much S.E.X. you had or confessions that you are addicted to S.E.X. still show up from time to time.

Telephone S.E.X.

Some of my Sydney SCQuilter friends were shopping one evening (most shops here aren't open in the evenings) because a SCQuilter was visiting from overseas, and they found that the shop owner had wool wadding (batting) on the roll and knew that I was looking for some. So while the SCQuilters shopped away, Laurie, the partner of one, called me to see if I wanted some wool wadding and how much, etc. To this day, he still quite happily tells everyone that we've had phone S.E.X., which still raises eyebrows.

The Best S.E.X. Story

Fellow SCQuilter Kathryn worked for EDS and found that the husband of another SCQuilter also worked at EDS and knew all about S.E.X. He was in Adelaide and she was in Sydney and they had a regular conference call with the rest of their team. One time, they were both early to the conference call and chatted, as you do, while waiting for the others to join the call.

So, very innocently, Kathryn asked her male co-worker, 'Has your wife had any S.E.X. lately?" He calmly replied that she and a couple of friends from her local group had had a lot of S.E.X. on the weekend. Which brought gasps from the others who had joined in the conference call while that little conversation was taking place.

I don't know if they ever explained to the others or not. But, even after all these years, it still makes me laugh. Who knew that S.E.X. could be so funny? And on purpose?