Babies Born ~ September 2007 #74

[AnyDream]

LOL at your fuel gauge moment. Yes, he has been giving it some thought, but the whole organisation is geared towards making each person feel disempowered by requiring them to ask permission any time they so much as want to scratch their foot. So, needless to say, like many before him, he has no idea of what exactly he could be doing out there and no sense of why anyone would want to pay him good money for his time.

i would be p'd off about shortage in study time too. In fact I was - pretty much all week. Managed to get a very desultory essay handed in the day after the deadline - not happy jan - but with him away and a torrid bout of fatigue that I couldn't throw off it was the best I could do. Que sera, sera.

ETA - playdough is still massive in this house! Mind you I have never actually cooked up a batch... but we have every playdough gadget on the planet, especially the cooking ones. My girls (and their cousin/guests) will sit for hours "cooking" and then there are masterchef-style judging sessions afterwards LOL.

[Artechim]

Easy peasy to make - two cups of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, dash of oil and two cups of boiling water. I like to add the food colouring to the water so that it is uniform throughout the dough rather than the streaks you can get if you add it after. Don't need to worry about the cream of tartar - I have never used it and mine works just fine.

My lecturer was in hospital for a couple of weeks and it looks like our big assignment won't be marked in time for the exam. I like to know exactly what pass percentage I am aiming for in an exam!

[Cally]

MD - yes, the conversation did go a bit like that. The man who cannot make a decision, took me by surprise.

I was in one of 'those moods' this morning. Every time DD spoke I got cranky. It's amazing how an hour out can make such a difference - went for a walk and watched the big waves crashing on the beach.

Hope those of you single parenting this weekend are doing OK.

Oh and the cat has fleas - which I knew about, but wasn't really worried, until I realised there were about 10 larvae wriggling around in DD's bed. Icky. Cat has been Frontlines, bedding washed.

Arte - lol at your petrol light! I rely too much on that light, would be really stuck if if ever decided not to work.

Md - those wheel nuts are super tight if they've been done up with an air wrench. The RAA man may moonlight as The Incredible Hulk if he was able to do it! Yes, that is how we did it. The recipe originally called for caramel type biscuits and it served them warm so the caramel was all melty. But we don't like caramel so we put mint slices in. Biscuit was still crunchy, hard to cut through with a spoon.

[Cassius2]

S
We have reasonable AA here - we ran out of petrol a few weeks back and the guy was there in 20 minutes! I told him our car doesn't have a petrol light (electric seat warmer, but no petrol light!), but then he pointed out it does have a fuel gauge. We agreed not to speak of it any more.

Oh arte!! that is too funny hahahahahaha!

MD: that totally sucks mega butt that he is away He better be able to come home in time xx

Cally: ooh the i30 looks so lovely! we had one of those hyundais when we hired a car from sydney a couple of years back and it drove beautifully. I was really surprised.

AFM: we have had a horror week. but there is some light! miss e hasnt got anything really dangerous/fatal. we cant yet rule out epilepsy....but we kinda have as i have latched om likw an eager terrier to our neurologists gut feeling that she has benign myoclonus (basically an imposter syndrome of the very nast 'wests syndrome'). he said het seizures need to be monitored for longer so we have to try and film a whole range and then meet in a few weeks again for another review. but her EEG came back normal and *of course* decided to NOT have any seizures while we were there...darn it! but she is gorgeous and we havent had any really major ones now since thursday (the usual small ones...that are still full on but not so massive and distressing for her ITMS).

Oh...and someone left a gorgeous wee package on our doorstep....a mystery someone....

[Artechim]

Cass, that is great to hear that E hasn't got anything really nasty. I really hope that it is benign myoclonus and that she grows out of it quickly xx Things sound so much better when they have the word benign in the title. Also, you referenced in your blog! You can take the girl out of academia…

I should be doing some study.

[Cassius2]

hahaha, i was totally not going to reference...but then i thought that the gods of academia might smite me hahahahahaha.

[Artechim]

How is everything going with E now Cass?

Same old here. A big storm front passed through but we didn't get the predicted snowfall - only an inch or so. Soccer was cancelled today though and I am struggling with the cabin fever. Feels like we have been shut inside for weeks.

[Cally]

We seem to be struggling from a bit of cabin fever here too. Wet weekend, plus DD has been really hard to get out at all over the previous weekends.

Going to a fundraiser tonight - one of DH's colleagues has a massive brain tumour. Such a sad situation, she's got a 4 & 6 yr old.

MD - how did the double birthday go, did DH make it back in time?

[AnyDream]

Cally - have you been enjoying (joy)riding out in your new car? Now that we have a new(ish) family car I also dream of having a new(ish) Marydean car... especially want one where you can plug your phone in and talk to it, Nightrider-Kit style. LOL. But really, I would settle for 4/5 doors and cupholders.

Cass - I bet you're still feeling relieved, but a weird mixed-up kind of relieved . I hope that all the results keep coming back promising, and your wee little poppet get some peace and respite from the episodes. Love to you all. xxx

Arte - so it's it all white and pretty at your place, then? What is your new house like during winter - have you got good heating & room to move inside? Have you had your exam yet (and how did it go in the end)? I got my last essay result and despite my misgivings I did ok, but it does cause me to wonder about the way the marks are assigned. The previous essay was objectively MUCH better than this last one and yet there were only a few points difference between the grades. Hmmm...

All good here. The birthday boy arrived home in the late afternoon so he was allowed to have presents and cake with us. I went out to tea last night with a group of mummies from Miss E's school - fantastic night, really glad that they are all sociable and friendly and inclusive . Not sure if I'll get any new besties but I don't feel quite so much that I'm floating along on my own iceberg, kwim?

ETA - Cally! Missed your post there... did YOU have a lovely birthday?? The day went by in a bit of blur here, but I think they both enjoyed it. Miss E had an excursion to the wildlife park that afternoon, then the excitement of double birthdays + daddy getting home... I let her sleep in the next day and she went to school late, but she's obviously still tired because she's been a rotter for the remainder of the week. Aiming for a quiet weekend here, it's (predictably) cloudy and raining after mid-week sunshine but I think some fresh air and open space could do us good even without the sunshine. That's very sad about your DH's colleague - but I'm sure all the support of people caring enough to do a fundraiser will do just as much good as the actual funds. I hope it's a nice night out.

[Cally]

Yes, I had a good birthday. No new car yet, it's on the docks in Sydney or something like that. Pick it up in about a fortnight.

[AnyDream]

What an anticlimax, Cally.

[Artechim]

Cally, Happy Birthday! I must have missed it. Glad you had a good day.

MD, exam is all over. I guess I did alright. I mostly remembered the essays I prepared. I am with you on the marking inconsistency. We were given a really open major assignment, just to summarise the course in any way we wanted - from a straight summary to a alien perspective to a scripted conversation etc. Then the only lecturer went to hospital and someone else marked them and not how we were led to believe would be acceptable. There is a minor uprising on the online forum lol.
This house is well insulated so retains the heat nicely but our heat pump doesn't work on the really cold days. But we have an oil heater running 24/7 so it is alright. The snow only lasted one morning and then got rained out.
Nice that you had a good night out. It makes a difference to have some friends, even if they are only casual ones.

[Ginger]

hi girls,
ive been mia really busy but am having a home day today with the boys so thought i'd pop in and catch up. have been reading but just not posting!
cass- how is everything with E now? you had us all very worried little missy!!!

we have been busy busy. L is loving school and is making some great friends (and a new girlfriend, who you may have seen on fb). he is doing really well and is really happy. doing lots of early intervention with J. he has come along way, especially with his speech, but still has his moments. i also find that the older he is getting, the more apparent it is how different he is from his peers. i have enrolled him to start 4 yo kinder at a mainstream kinder next year, which if it goes well, will be totally huge! we are going to start him in the mainstream route, and just see how he goes/copes. we are not sure yet whether he will qualify for an aide.
we had an accident a few weeks ago, J pulled a fishtank over on top of himself and cut his lip so badly that he required plastic surgery. he has recovered really well, and hopefully will only have a small scar, but has just shown us again how much he has absolutely no sense of danger/no fear. i have no doubt that he will end up some sort of motocross rider or something!
one of our bunnies got out and was unfortunately killed so that has been really distressing for us. luckily, i was able to save 2 beautiful baby boy lops from a local breeder who has the rspca and the council on her back and was planning on freezing them and eating them last weekend. they are going well but are very messy!! and have been taking up lots of my time in cleaning up, handling them, and trying to bond them with our female rabbit. anyways, i guess thats about it. hope everyone is going well xox

[Ozstar]

Hey lovelies!! Its been sooo long. Sorry I've been mia things are crazy busy around here. I had an early miscarriage/chem pregnancy in Feb and then in May I had a miscarriage at 11 weeks. The last 6 weeks have been hard It happened during my busiest time at work and instead of stopping and taking some time for myself I just kept on going. L had his tonsils out last week, his recovery has been awesome though. Hopefully this means better sleep for him and a less cranky little boy. Work is crazy busy despite me promising myself I wouldn't take on so much...
I am off to try and read back through and catch up a little. Going to try and be a little more active in here!

[Artechim]

Hi G and Oz!

G, sorry to hear about your bunny. It is hard to lose a pet J's accident must have been scary.

Oz, very sorry to hear about your loss Take it easy on yourself xx

[Cally]

Oz - so sorrry about your loss, Hope L is feeling better now those tonsils are out.

G - oh dear, poor bunny. And poor J, hope his lip is OK.

[Cassius2]

Oh Oz

That must of been so so hard to lose those precious pregnancies xx And especially in your line of work. oooppphhaaa How has recovery been since your later loss at 11 weeks? I know that I was pretty wiped for quite a bit.

G: phew woman! you have me tired just reading about the hectic schedules lol. but i am loving your pics of the boys on FB. they are so rockstar it's cool.

MD: totally awesome that you have some friends to do the whole dinner and a chat thing with. my mothers group do it once a month and it has been a life-saver to just get and be adults and do the girly thing of laughing and catching up.

Arte: i saw all the snow on your FB looks cool...pardon the pun

[AnyDream]

Arte - I hope you went ok in the exam. That's crazy about the marking... a similar thing happened in my last subject (some kind of difference in marking the first assignment) and there was a minor uprising and they rescaled all the marks... in my case down. 2 points. Difference between distinction and credit LOL.

Ginger - Lovely to hear L is loving school. J sounds like he's going great guns - kindy will be an awesome achievement. The fishtank must've been so, so scary - glad he's ok now . Sorry to hear about your bunny. Your rescue buns have gone to a very good home.

Oz - Gosh what a tough time you've been having. I'm so sorry to hear you lost your little ones . I hope you are able to carve out some quiet time for yourself
I'm glad to hear L's recovery has been good - I'm sure you will start noticing the benefits very soon!

Cass, how are you all holding up, chickie?

Here: job application was a FAIL. Guess I'll have to save my plans for world domination for another time :P.